Writing from the laptop

India is incredible not in the way that it is portrayed in tourism campaigns, but in how much is revealed of yourself when you muster enough courage, and with a stroke of boldness, travel to the back allies of this diverse land.

In India, the dormant heart was jolted to life by the raw beauty of the countrysides: Growing up in an artificially designed landscape of concrete buildings and cemented pavements, children running wildly through yellow fields of barley sent my heart rejoicing together with the spirits. In India, leprosy hardest at the bones of children as sympathy and compassion echoed loudest within me. Beggars with an insatiable appetite for money more than food, I found their greed repulsive. But upon contemplation, realised that it stems from the uncertainties in ensuring that basic necessities for living were met, the familiarity of Death lingering in every hour of the day– The simple desire to be happy, to avoid suffering spiraled out of control and became Greed.

In Bodhgaya, a chord within me harmonised with that of the Tibetans. With a vastness in their heart resembling the wide Tibetan plains, they inducted me into their community, showed me their ways and stories. I saw the sorrow in their eyes when they spoke of a Tibet that is no longer theirs but of which they still belong to: self-immolation incidents, environmental destruction, lost of culture, restrictions on religion. Later, I began my journey as a fighter for their cause–‘Free Tibet’.

Sunsets–impermanence; Varanasi–An unquestioned faith, a precocious girl; Hungry mosquitoes and stray animals–generosity; Bodhgaya–‘everything occurs either as a blessing or as one in disguise’.

In India, I learned that if you open up to life, life embraces you in return. Everything becomes a joy. Everything is a joy.

there is always something about traveling that appeals to the soul of the oldest person alive. Up above sitting in the cabin at the seat adjacent to the tiny rectangular window and peering out into the beautiful white clouds our airplan is passing through. white vapour culmlating then dispersing then coming togeter again to form larger masses of cotton-candy liked clouds, a beautiful backdrop of the celestial realm.

our plane now makes a swerve and tilts slightly to the right. in the immense vastness of space, our tiny aircraft resembles an ant crawling through the wombs of the mighty universe–small and insignificant, but nonetheless causing considerable disturbance to the peace of the skies with its loud engines humming nosily.

I imagine countless heavenly beings making their homes amongst these palace clouds.

(pause)

What is true will always remain true

this battle is officially over. post again another time, with a longer post