In December 2001 I arrived in India. I landed in Mumbai on the west coast and from there flew to Vishakapatnam in the east. I spent  2 weeks there with Chandra and her husband Kumar, who is also a Reiki Master. It was a wonderful experience.

The first thing I noticed about India was the amazing sense of acceptance I found everywhere, from the people who obviously had absolutely nothing (material), to the general attitude on the roads.

Driving in Vishakapatnam was an entirely new experience!  It was total anarchy & chaos - and yet like a vast network of ants all going in different directions, there seemed to be an underlying unity and cohesion to it all. If there were rules, I couldn't work them out - not even which side of the road to use. That seemed to depend on where you wanted to go and on how much effort you felt like expending!

And yet - I saw no accidents all the time I was there. There was no such thing as "road rage". Horns sounded continuously, yet it was almost a peaceful sound as there was no anger, judgement or aggression behind them!

There seemed to be an underlying acceptance and respect for everyone else's individuality. I was amazed at times to see street dogs crossing chaotically busy roads with the same sense of assuredness and trust as the people (except me - it took  a while to get the knack of trusting no-one would run me down!) But that was the thing - everyone DID respect everyone else - that was why the horns were used so much - it was to protect others rather than reprimand. More than once I spotted a street dog sound asleep in the middle of a busy road!