Happy Diwali

Hello people. It has been a few days, and again it is hard to know where to begin, although my time here has been relatively low key. My mother requested that I put more pictures up of myself so I made an effort to in the last few days. So a few days ago, I am not sure what day, it all rolls into one, I moved from Ved Niketan over to Laksmanjhula on the other side of town. The strangest coincidence occurred on the way over. I ran into a guy a went to elementary school with named Nikunj. I heard my name and was totally surprised and then we chatted for a bit. He was born in Bombay and is here for a wedding with his family. It was really crazy running into him and it really tripped me out. Nice to see somebody from back home too. So after the long walk over to Laksmanhula, a guy insisted that I take a look at his ashram rooms and I decided to stay there after inspecting them and finding that they were immaculate compared to my cell at Ved Niketan. The people there are really nice and helpful. And the place is a lot smaller than other ashrams around, and much different. I decided to go to Osho mediation center up the road a ways, because I had heard about the classes there. It was just me and a few of the devotees there, and I took part in a meditation that was totally different than anything I expected. It consisted of a few different parts. First standing up and shaking your body from the knees, then dancing along with music and letting yourself go with it, then sitting and then lying down. It was quite interesting and a kind of enjoyed it although it was not what I expected. I also did another yoga class yesterday at an ashram I had heard of that was really nice and maintained well. This was Hatha yoga ad I enjoyed it most out of any of the classes I have taken. For the last few evenings I have went to a litle beach are on the river, where the had evening ceremonies. It is really cool hearing bells and chanting off in the distance from every direction. Oh and I forgot to mention Diwali. This was at it's height two nights ago and was really cool. Tons of lights strung up everywhere, candles lit and lots and lots of fireworks. Every ten seconds you would hear a boooom. I went outside of my ashram and some kids were lighting fireworks and even let me light a few. Always nice to be in on the action and not just a spectator. Still there are fireworks today but a lot less. Other than all this, I met an American couple who had just gotten married and we talked for an hour or so at this cool; little restaurant called Ganga Beach. There are tons of travelers here, after the Americans I met a few German girls and had a sweet lassi with them. For those of you who do not know that is a drink. Today I was not feeling my best and took it very easy, napping for a good while. I felt quite bad in the morning but it passes rather quickly. Hopefully whatever it was will not come back. I decided to bypass Shimla and go straight to Dharamsala on a 14 hr bus ride...yay. The shimla bus is a local bus, and I have heard some nightmare stories. At least this way I will be on a tourist bus which should be a little nicer and comfortable, but will still probably be tough. Thats all I feel like writing for now, talk to you all in Dharamsala.