Dearest friends!
I cannot believe how time flies!!! Year 2008 already! Jean is joining me in wishing you a wonderful year, filled with all you may desire!
It seems that during the latest trimester, Jean did cross over more than one planet… After a walk through Iran that will forever be engraved in his heart, he boards the ferry to Dubai where he lands on another planet!
What is this city that seems a huge construction site in the middle of the desert? Traditional wooden boats transporting all kind of material go alongside great buildings of well-known companies… goods await their delivery. Edifices all more magnificent than the next spread out on a cerulean sky while others are being completed. You can see all kinds of people!
On the day after his arrival in this incredible city, a no less incredible family invites him, welcoming the walker with lodging and food for more than a week. Many thanks to the Sequeira family, the angels of Dubai, who supported him in all and every one of his steps. Many thanks also to the ECCO Boutique of Dubai that generously supplied him with a wonderful pair of shoes.
A short symbolic 5 km walk in Dubai and in the evening of November 8th, Jean boards a plane to Ahmadabad in India, the passage by Pakistan being forbidden him because of the state of emergency decreed in the country.
Once again, he lands on another planet!!! He writes: “India is a country of extreme contrasts on a human point of view… but the more you look at it, it is a country of extreme contrasts on every points of view.†Jean wishes to begin his walk in India in the city of Porbandar situated in the more western part of the country and the place of birth of the Mahatma Gandhi. For this, he takes the train from Ahmadabad to Porbandar and an Indian family invites him to share their meal on the way there.
Always under the protection of his lucky star, it turns out that Jean enters India during the holiday of Diwali, which is one of the major holidays of the Hindu almanac. In the region of Porbandar, it is the celebration of the New Year! The daily routine is neglected; decorations abound in front of houses; it is the festival of lights, of colours and fireworks. The Kotecha family welcomes him with an open heart and invites him to share their festivities.
Vipul Kotecha takes the walker under his wing and assists him in every way in organizing his trip through his country. Vaccines that must be renewed, routes, cellular phone… Vipul sees to all and everything! He is Jean’s Hindu angel, even if being very modest; he does not like being attributed with this title…
Jean leaves Porbandar on November 12th, but his walk starts very slowly. He must get back in shape after a 3-week stop. Furthermore, he has to get used to this new kind of food… he who cannot bear hot peppers, his stomach is filled with fire eating Indian curries! He writes: “The food is extremely hot… at some point I cannot eat anymore… so I stop …
Nevertheless, they say it is not spicy. I think I will lose weight in India.†Finally after quite a miserable week the physical shape and the digestive system recover and the walk continues more merrily!
Friend Vipul phones him almost every day and waits for him in his house in Vadodra, situated about 450 km farther. From there, Jean will take the train to Mumbai for a bit of promotion for the Decade.
During this time, back in Montreal and missing my walker very much, I try to find a way and a place where we can meet for our annual honeymoon. Luang Prabang, Bangkok, Dacca are pushed aside for all kinds of reasons. We finally decide on Kolkata! Thus I shall leave Montreal on February 19th to return on March 13th. Besides the happiness of seeing my
lover I shall spare myself a part of the winter!!!
During the same period, I am delivered a box containing personal effects that Jean has entrusted to Fatima, a nice Canadian-Iranian woman he met in Bandar Abbas. Fatima had offered to bring his things with her on her way back to Canada. Attentive to my slightest wishes, my darling got me a virtual flying carpet!
In Mumbai, from December 3 to 5, Jean complies with a well-filled program elaborated by the Canadian Consulate. Visits to schools of which Podar International School where the pupils enchant him with a spectacular demonstration of Yoga. He also visits NGOs such as SUPPORT working on the rehabilitation of children with drug problems among others and
AKANKSHA that looks after underprivileged children.
On December 6th, he is invited at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai to a dinner reception hosted in honour of the visit of the BC Premier, the Honourable Gordon Campbell who is accompanied by a delegation of representatives of Universities of Canada’s West Coast. Although this first acquaintance was in no way premeditated, Mr. Campbell is captivated with Jean’s
walk and makes a commitment to bring his support for the beginning of the wwwalk in Canada in early 2011. What a magnificent opportunity! Jean dreams to establish associations to begin a campaign of fund raising and thus extend towards the future the noble purpose of the Decade that just ended in 2010.
Jean resumes his journey on December 11th despite of a light pain in his right knee. Two days later, the “light pain†changes to an “ugly inflammationâ€. Deepak Potel and his family take great care of the walker: massages, anti-inflammatory medicines and even the visit of the doctor.
Other good people will also help him to a great extent: Gurgit Singh Chhabra and Shalindra Potel will follow his steps with much concern.
Jean obtained his Indian visa in Dubai and it expires on February 3rd. It is thus necessary for him to obtain an extension if we do not want to spend our holidays apart from one another… After several inquiries, he learns that this extension may be acquired only in New Delhi. He thus decides to modify the beautiful route drawn by our friend Vipul and head towards the northeast of the country from where he will travel to the capital by transport.
This year, Jean spends the Christmas and New Year holidays without a single representative of his family. On the other hand, he is welcomed in a Hindu family with much warmth and friendship and that eases the nostalgia quite a bit. Furthermore we received a lot of emails from our friends all over the world, wishing us the best for the New Year. “This fills the heart with Love,†writes Jean.
Till later…
Luce
www.wwwalk.org
Be the first to comment