END VARANASI VISIT   JAN. 30

Leaving Varanasi to fly back to Delhi for just one night. Unfortunately, there are no flights from here south to Cochin where we head tomorrow. 

At the airport in Delhi

In our tuk-tuk

This morning we had a yoga class on the pool level run by a dr. with a very soothing voice! I was actually able to rest on my knees for a couple of positions, putting the weight on the outside, that wasn’t replaced. So I did most of it. Later I bought his CD down at the spa. 

After breakfast we were treated to a sitar and tabla (drums) concert in the lounge. The sitar player, Tarak Nath Mishra, is from a family with 7 generations of musicians, dancers, singers, etc. The drummer was his nephew. His family has lived in Varanasi for 4 centuries! George Harrison and Ravi Shankar did a concert together here called East Meets West. (Ravi Shankar performed at Clarke in 1964 or so and I met him backstage (I was running the curtain, I think) and got his autograph! I’ve always enjoyed the sitar music. They were both very enthusiastic players.

We then departed for the airport and our hour or so flight to Delhi. I sat next to Daisy who had started knitting her wool that she purchased in the market; she’s knitting and crocheting a sweater for her daughter who is 24. We said goodbye on arrival and getting our luggage to Lee and Ninawho shortly had a flight back to Asheville, via Abu Dabi, New York and Charlotte, NC!

We had a final dinner together before Mick and Suzanne left on their flight back to Denver. We said goodbye to Debbie and Larry who were sleeping in the next day and leaving in the evening. They were flying to Narita and then home to LAX. Susan and Tom were leaving in the middle of the night for Philadelphia. The rest of us 8 were departing at 6 a.m. for the airport for our post-trip to the south of India for 5 days.