Last Wednesday early morning my wife brought me to the train station. A few minutes later the lights of the train appeared at a distance and grew bigger until the wagons stopped. When I entered, I thought, now my 21st journey to India starts – what might it bring this time? About 1.5 hs later I was at the check-in of Qatar Airways in Zurich Airport. I was looking around to find my friends Anna and Meini but no one was there. When I entered the plane I thought, it seems that I’m traveling alone. But suddenly they appeared – they were the last ones to get through the check-in… In the afternoon we changes planes in Doha, then arrived past midnight in Hyderabad, where we took a 2hs nap in a transit hotel before going through the check-in controls for the flight to Vizag. And one hour later the voice of the stewardess said: “Welcome to Visakhapatnam airport”. Murthi was already waiting at the entrance and brought us to the taxi.
We were much astonished to see that not only the airport was looking like new – it had been demolished by the hurricane of October 2014 – but also there was a lot of green and new trees, not only around the airport but all along the highway – I could not discover any traces of the severe devastations of 14 months ago.
We stopped at the new house of Sri Kumar where my friends were to be lodged. I waited outside, but an Indian couple came out the house and told me to go up to the 4th place, where Master Kumar and Kumar were just sitting in their living room. They greeted me with a warm smile and some words of welcome – a beautiful surprise.
Later at the WTT retreat center some Belgian and Spanish friends were smiling – such a cordial ambiance. We were about the first ones to arrive. This time a lot of group members from Europe and Argentina will attend the seminar, so not all could be lodged in the retreat center – some at apartments near the beach, others at an apartment in Sri Kumar’s house.
In the evening after meditation Sri Kumar addressed some words of welcome; we shared a chocolate cake and sat together for some time before falling into our beds….
Early next morning, 1st of January, we set out to a walk along the beach road to Master EK Sundavaram, a statue of the master set up 20 years ago. Members of the local brotherhood had beautifully decorated the place. After the meditation they were singing some stotrams (holy recitations) followed by a small ceremony. Then breakfast was served to all. When we returned to the retreat centre, the Sun had already increased his power. We were intensely sweating when we were back at our home.
Sunrise at Hyderabad airport when entering the plane to Vizag