Blog 61 Jaipur Rest Day Revival

19th November

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So a new idea for the blog - "Rest Day Revival" - is me needing to revive! I don't think I've worked so hard on a project ever, except maybe the record breaking rides when either I was cycling 173 miles a day or the motorbiking records averaging 1000 miles each day, but then I had no time hardly to film and definitely no time to blog. So no riding today, just a bit of house keeping, catching up with the blogs, thinking up new ideas.

Parallel World Ride 2008 - The Crashed Flour Truck

Came across this in India a few years ago. the poor driver was held responsible but knowing Indian attention to detail on truck maintenance in those days the steering wheel could easily have come off in his hand - the truck was probably overloaded or the driver hadn't slept for a couple of days. Anyway, the owner was there to put a brave face on the matter and he seemed cheeful enough.

The Sadu Who Never Spoke

Same period. Imagine coming across someone who set off not to speak maybe for the whole of his adult life. We are unusual as humans but this one is one of the strangest. This fella hadn't spoken for ages, well, I wouldn't know because he wouldn't speak to me. I told him a joke and tried to get him to laugh - not my best moment....

"Billy stops Paddy in Dublin and asks for the quickest way to Cork.

Paddy says, “Are you on foot or in the car?”

Billy says, “In the car.”

Paddy says, “That's the quickest way.”

No response from the Sadu.

A Bit of Information

Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A major spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in India, but with a significant number in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Meher Baba's map of consciousness has been described as "a unique amalgam of Sufi, Vedic, and Yogic terminology". He taught that the goal of all beings was to gain consciousness of their own divinity, and to realise the absolute oneness of God.

At the age of 19, Meher Baba began a seven-year period of spiritual transformation, during which he had encounters with Hazrat Babajan, Upasni Maharaj, Sai Baba of Shirdi, Tajuddin Baba, and Narayan Maharaj. In 1925, he began a 44-year period of silence, during which he communicated first using an alphabet board, and by 1954, entirely through hand gestures using an interpreter. He died in 1969, and was buried in Meherabad. His tomb has become a place of pilgrimage for his followers, often known as "Baba lovers".

The Big Divide

And so to the final clip from 2008 when I found a fabulous hotel and booked in. Not expensive and I'd been riding hard across India on my R1. Couldn't have been sweeter; tea & coffee machine, air-con + fan, nice big comfy bed and breakfast included. But I only had to look through my balcony window to see how big the divide was between my indulgent lifestyle and people who could never know and understand what it is I do and why.