India Has Mesmerized Me
India has mesmerized me.
At first with her smells.
Wafts of sweet rose
and fresh dirt.
Homemade meals packed with spices,
Burning incense and charcoal fires.
She has showed me her wealth,
As I found myself being waiting on by servants and traveling with drivers.
And in true form,
she also showed me more garbage and dirty pigs,
more rusty, broken pipes than anyone should see, let alone live with.
...But then somehow even the dirty and smelly and broken in India becomes beautiful,
Simply because it is part of her too.
The land of opposites and extremes indeed...
There are people, cars, cows, tik-tiks and buses EVERYWHERE.
All of my dancing in the rhythm of Chaos has made it surprisingly easy surrender to the mayhem of the roads,
Trusting that the lane my auto rickshaw driver created for himself,
In between the garbage truck who is driving on the road's shoulder and the cow looking for grass to chew in the middle of the street,
will get us safely to our destination.
I am constantly in awe of India.
In awe of the Sikhs who pause to pray together on the train after dusk while a man passes their berth offering homemade chai.
Of perfectly folded saris made with the most beautiful and boldest of colors:
Bright blues and purples, blood oranges and reds worn with pride,
Amidst the mud and the monkey shit.
Of adorable little Indian girls who recite to me the story of Rama and Sita,
And tell me how they learned in school that the most important value is cleaning up after yourself:
To throw away your garbage.
And on the inside,
I've had tons of moments already in India where I'm sure I've know that person,
or witnessed that scene before, or already had that conversation.
Déjà u moments.
I make them mean I am still going strong on my path.
(But then again, can we ever REALLY be off of our paths?)
Life is a dance,
and we are the dancers.
I feel that India is taking me for a glorious and wonderful whirl.
She is showing me that every time I follow my heart, the Universe (God, whatever word you want to use) provides. Always.
When I let go of all the thinking and journey from my mind into the depths of my heart, I am always provided for.
A mysterious game that I am collecting all the pieces of the puzzles for,
Following the bread crumbs of my existence.
I am being led by God
(when I let God lead me).
Life unfolds like a perfect dirty rose,
And I am shown the divine order in the midst of the chaos.
When I move through the shock and discomfort of a brand new moment,
I feel more alive than ever before.
I feel alive without ego.
Without pretense.
I am so small and insignificant in a massive world whose magic I won't ever understand
and will never cease to enjoy.
In almost every free moment I find myself acknowledging India,
Saying her name to myself like a new lover whom I can't help but adore
I get thrilled, humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be here.
For the opportunity to grow here in all the ways Im not even present to yet.