Saturday 26 September 2009
Acknowledgements
M.
Tuesday 22 September 2009
The answer is blowing in the wind
But I am grinning.
The Beginning
And Marco Polo replied to the Great Kahn: "The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is already here, it is the inferno we live in everyday, that we form by staying together. There are two ways not to suffer from it. The first way is easy for many people: to accept the inferno and to become part of it until you cannot distinguish it any longer. The second way is risky and requires attention and constant learning: to look for and be able to recognize who and what, amidst the inferno, is not part of the inferno, and make it last, and give it space" (The Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino).
Mumbai, early in the morning, tha cab is running...even my asshole is grinning.
Past the last richshaw. Past the last million of richshaws. Past the last incence scent and the last fruits stall. Past the last temple, the last reassuring Ganesha image and the last fat brahamin. Past the last sari which allows you a glimpse of the perfectly carved spine of a woman, past the last colourful queue, the last stained tissue, the last family preparing their beds for a starry night on a city sidewalk. Past the last hustle and the last incomprehensible honk. Past the last puddle of urine and the last filthy kid. Past the last filthy soul in a stainless body and the last stainless soul in a filthy body, past the last pair of worn-out feet in a worn-out pair of chappals, past the last mystery and the last doorless train, past the last nonsense and the last pain, past Baba selling flowers for the devotees at the temple, past his smile and my gratitude, past the last last cup of chai, I leave India.
And a smiling face remains printed in my mind because, in the end, people can find joy everywhere.
the bill, please.
There is a new energy in my veins today, and it doesn't come from Doctor Chandra Sen's pills. I'm going home. I don't care. I'm just going home. I'm tired and fed up. I'm somehow fearing that the Indian spell did not happen to me, that I have not learned anything from this journey, from these people and this culture. I was looking for peacefulness for my mind but my head is a twirl of thoughts. My soul is aching and bleeding. It is bleeding for what I do not understand and for what I do understand too well. But somehow I know everything is here, like in Brahma's dream. Something had happened. It's deep, like a massive millstone which has turned. It needs time, time and courage. It takes courage to be alive. And I cry and I get ecstatic. The search is not over.
So you think you've learned the mysteries of the world? I'll take you to a place full eastern taste. So won't you come? Won't you come? Say the magic word and we can fly away. I do believe in the eastern palace. I'm sure it exists. But once you can get to the East, you know you can go further East, that you can get further undressed and more free. So I need to stop just for a minute. I need to observe my breathing just for an endless minute and quieten my mind. I am just sensations. And I am equanimous to them. Then, fearless, I set myself off. The search is not over.