January 14th - First encounters

Located near Batra Hospital, the Meher Baba Center in Delhi is a charming place kept by incredible hosts.

It has 4 main floors: the first one has a prayer hall, the second one had beds for ladies on the mezzanine of the prayer hall, the third had bedrooms and a living room hosting some of the men and the fourth one had a meditation hall turned into a dormitory for the male. This was the one I was in with most of the guests of the center.

Shoes had to be left outside the room but this rule sadly did not apply to loud snoring...

The first thing I did after arriving in the center on the morning of the 14th with quite a few others was just to get some sleep and try to calm the travelling anxiety down and relax before exploring the area. I found it very easy to do so as the room I was sleeping in was so comforting, it had a very suitable atmosphere for resting, despite the noise outside and the excitement.

It reached the point to which when Yuri brought me my bottle of water, I said "thank you" in my sleep and then had to ask Ralph, my bed neighbor, what actually happened because I couldn't remember what was part of my drifting, my dreams and physical reality...


After waking up, Marc offered to lead us to the cafeteria for our first Indian lunch. As we started walking outside, one of the first things that struck me was that the center had the Indian National Rifle Association on its left and the Rotary Blood Bank facing in front.

It seemed funny to me to see that the Meher Baba center had these neighbors and it contributed to all the successive funny and interesting details that made this trip even more intense.


Brice met his first Indian fan club during that walk too as he was taking a picture of some kids playing cricket next to the center. They noticed it and starting cheering. After that picture was taken, they were walking in front of the center cheering for 2 days reminding us of their presence and enthusiasm. This was the beginning of our journey and it symbolically started my amazement for the kind of relationship that we as westerners were offered by the local kids.


This is our first rickshaw ride ever. It lasted more than an hour in the streets of Delhi during night time. The least I could say is that it teaches you how to test your faith and how to trust someone...

-Aurélien

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