Thursday, September 24, 2009
So the easy-smooth time is over and we will arrive in “La Cité de la Joie” tomorrow. Tara apprehends seeing many poor people and beggars (she’s sooooo sensitive) – I try to explain that it’s a question of perspective, and that I’ve seen many poor people with way happier faces than people of numerous material possessions (…) she just goes “yeah yeah yeah I know I know, money doesn’t make you happy oui oui oui blah blah blah” (I guess I’ve tried to get that point through before – hahhahhahhaa - I love – I LOVE – how the kids mirror back to you, like in this case when you display repetitive behavior ;-D )
But in the essence, none of us knows quite what is waiting for us in India. Me, I have all kinds of projections flowing around my mind – ever since we started the journey – I simply can’t wait. The comfort of Thailand was somehow uncomfortable (like one of those itches in the middle of your back that you can’t quite reach) – a strange dissatisfaction with the total satisfaction this country offers. Like R says, Thailand is like “Partir chez soi”… Although I know India will not be the same as when I arrived for the first time 17 years ago and also since we saw it last, 12 years ago. I’ve been working on my mind, so that I can avoid expecting anything (I mean, trying to avoid expecting – to the degree that my mind is capable of avoiding expectations ;) (just as I write this I already notice how I’m impatient to smell the scent of India, that unique mix of incense, chai, rotting fruit, rickshaw smoke, something unidentifiably Asian, etc blended into an olfactory intensity that I have yet to discover a competitor to) (and that Rushdie could describe so much more eloquently than me!!). Trying to be free of expectations and not be disillusioned if I discover how the growing wealth has possibly been accompanied by sufficient materialism and superficiality to make it stray away from the profoundly spiritual India I knew. And still, and still, I think I just know that Mother India will be full of strong impressions, that she will still vibrate at an intensity that so strangely corresponds to the way my soul vibrates – hm. It’s strange, but I’ve been almost frustrated by the “easy-ness” of Thailand, as though there were not enough challenges here, as if I was aching for the difficult, the pushes of strange and extreme situations that leave you in a space that you can’t quite understand or control, these challenges to the physical being that end up translating into growth challenges for your soul. Or these thrusts of incomprehension to the mind that leave you perplexed and itching for days, or weeks, before you find salvation in the letting-go. Or these strange meetings with people you just ‘had to meet’ just then, just there, to nourish your soul in a way you needed but didn’t quite know you did? Why do I keep repeating the word “soul” just now as we get ready for Mother India? Hm. For me, I guess it’s not random. We’ll see what it translates into, for each of us, when we arrive.
But in the essence, none of us knows quite what is waiting for us in India. Me, I have all kinds of projections flowing around my mind – ever since we started the journey – I simply can’t wait. The comfort of Thailand was somehow uncomfortable (like one of those itches in the middle of your back that you can’t quite reach) – a strange dissatisfaction with the total satisfaction this country offers. Like R says, Thailand is like “Partir chez soi”… Although I know India will not be the same as when I arrived for the first time 17 years ago and also since we saw it last, 12 years ago. I’ve been working on my mind, so that I can avoid expecting anything (I mean, trying to avoid expecting – to the degree that my mind is capable of avoiding expectations ;) (just as I write this I already notice how I’m impatient to smell the scent of India, that unique mix of incense, chai, rotting fruit, rickshaw smoke, something unidentifiably Asian, etc blended into an olfactory intensity that I have yet to discover a competitor to) (and that Rushdie could describe so much more eloquently than me!!
Bye Red Bull
Hadn't known this before but Red Bull is apparently a Thai invention (they say some German guy bought the recipe for next to nothing before launching it in Europe)
Bye समुई and Alex-le-tueur
Left Samui yesterday, was sad to say good-bye to Alex and Tartine.
Leaving for Calcutta tomorrow. Paid the rent and we kind of giggled - prices here are weird. R met a French group of 3 friends who were paying 10'000 bhat per night for their standard hotel room, while we paid 5'000 bhat (less than $200) for our house for the whole month... (!)
Friday, September 18, 2009
An email exchange with my cousin Anna and Uncle Rich helped crystallize several realizations. One of them was that living in a small space with few objects AND having TIME is a wonderful combination. I just finished scrubbing the floors this morning: house work can be great when you have time – cleaning the mind as you clean your floors. House work has been such a heavy burden the last few years, as we were running between job, school, admin, and work. But in these conditions it’s pure pleasure ☺ Brushing teeth in the sunset as well :)
Noam wants to post a message for his grandparents. He chose this picture for Mormor and Morfar.
Morfor et Morfar. Je vous aime beaucoup et je vous souhaite du bon travail quand vous travaillez. Ici il y a des geckos très très chou et des palmiers magnifiques. Mon papa a attrapé un poisson, il était super chou. Moi je suis hyper content d’être au tour du monde et je déteste faire l’école. Sauf le français, j’aime bien le cahier “Dire, lire, écrire et découvrir le monde”. Noam, je vous aime bien.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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