After she arrived on the Kingfisher flight, we zipped back up to dinner with Liz and Kylie and their families, then sent them off and had ice cream for dessert, in honor of Mom spending so much of the day in Delhi's heat. She and I slept at the apartment for one final night.
The next morning, after breakfast at Peace Cafe with Sam and Julia, we packed and went to my host family. I hadn't been able to get in touch with Amala on the phone, but she answered the knock, and we joined her for tea and capse! Mom gave her some gifts, Amala gave Mom some gifts, I showed Mom around the apartment, and then we all started talking about jewelry. Women talk about the same thing in every culture, it seems.
After handing over the keys to my apartment, Mom and I headed to the temple, only to find out that it was closed in honor of HHDL's returning to town. We walked Kora and Mom spun the prayer wheels and generally commented on how beautiful, and steep, the walk is.
We got some lunch and coffee, did a lot of shopping, and went back to the temple. Inside, around 30 monks were chanting and participating in a chalachakra tantric ceremony, which meant they wore brocaded collars and hats with antennas and held conch shells and bells to aid their practice. It was the fourth day of a 7 day ceremony, and that day would run for 12 hours. I hadn't seen anything like it my whole time in McLeod, but Mom has pretty good luck!
Sonam, my old roommate, came to meet us at the temple, and I introduced the two of them and said goodbye to her for the final time. It's weird to think that after four months I won't be going back to that part of India any time soon, if at all. But I was so excited to show everything off to my mother, and introduce her to all the people and things that have kept me sane these past few months.
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