Today, when I called my credit card companies to tell them I was leaving my normal cowtown land, a great small world moment happened. The operator at X Bank asked me where I was headed, when I said India, he told me how lucky I was, how it would change my life and that especially going to Varanasi was an experience that I would never forget. He never said where he was but I knew.

We all go so fast in this life. Call Center operators can become anonymous people so much of the time – blank voices on the phone outsourced to lands far away (unless they make a point of telling you they are in the USA and this is alarming in another way… I don’t need someone here to help me or think they’d be any better at it… so there).

I told him I felt really lucky to be able to come see his country and I had waited a long time to go. Without saying more, He said India was more than worth the wait and don’t be afraid of how crowded and chaotic it was, to try to see beyond the crowds, the heat to really see the beauty because it was one of the most beautiful places in all the world. I told him thank you and promised I would, and I promise, friends, I will.

Countdown to India: days, mere days.