It is relatively quiet here. (Just wedding music playing in the evenings and the constant pipping of horns in the middle distance on the Kamptee Road.) It is also very beautiful – well kept open spaces with lawns and flower gardens, purpose built buildings and the massive walking bronze Buddha overlooking it all. So I'm aware that I haven't yet really seen India yet, that will come later. But it is an amazing location for the second Triratna International Council which is just starting.
The International Council is probably the context where you get the broadest range of interest groups in Triratna... My own special interest is the well being of the Order in Spain, but I'm rubbing shoulders with Buddhist centre chairs from the USA, Indian public preceptors, Order convenors from the South Pacific , Latin America and mainland Europe as well as people from the UK.
Despite the diversity, which could make you me wonder if it is possible to be on the same wavelength, as soon as you get into conversation with someone, you discover an implicit unity. At the end of the day, even though we speak different languages (or the same language with a different accent), have different coloured skin, different ways of preparing food or dressing or being polite, all of us are essentially interested in the same thing... Perhaps best expressed as overcoming ego-clinging.
That's my first impression after one day! No doubt there will be plenty more...