New and Different Adventures, but First a bit about India!

I’m sitting, slightly stranded, in The Dalles, Oregon at the Les Schwab parking lot for the second full day in a row on what is to be a 6 week road trip with Baja being the destination for my (our, as you’ll remember my current boyfriend and I share the exact same birthday) 50th (gasp!!!) birthday.  But before I get into that story I wanted to say a few things about my last trip to India.  Better late than never...

India.  Describing India using words is like describing the memory of the dream you had that’s slowly fading in the waking hours of morning.  Those feelings and the visions are still in your head but when you start put it to words they start to fade and the person who’s listening can’t quite catch the essence.  It’s somehow nostalgic, familiar yet new, beautiful even when painfully hideous,  peaceful, chaotic, welcoming, off putting and always present and always alive.

I’ve written similarly before about this Indian phenomenon.  How India, works with the the universe very closely to put you in your place in no time,  she will put lessons in your path that you’ve been avoiding. She will humble you while showing you amazing transformation and potential.  If you are open to this.  Otherwise you will struggle internally and externally.  It’s amazing when you can look for the lessons and see them, when you can laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously.  

When I think of India I can only think of beauty.  Even in the saddest ugliest sights I feel the beauty.  I’m reminded of a scene in Rishikesh, I was walking from our hotel into town along the busy road, cars and tuktuk are racing by honking at each other and everything, racing and passing.  The side of the road is littered with plastic trash and as I come around a corner I see a particularly heavily laden area of trash with two cows rummaging for a snack.  The cows are eating the trash, they are hungry and thin and looking for anything to fill their stomachs.  But somehow even in this trash heap and chaos of sound there is beauty.  And a constant reminder that we are all in this together.  

If you follow me on instagram or facebook some of the pictures and text will be familiar. 

One more note about india.  When people ask me what my favorite thing about india is, aside from the amazing food, I say the connection with the people.  Specifically the woman.  There is nothing more heart warming than making eye contact with a woman in India and exchanging smiles.  It’s amazing to me that I can communicate so much with a smile and a wave or slight nod with someone who does not share my culture and does not speak my language.  The sincerity in those smiles and gestures is something I rarely see in my day to day life in portland.  Sure someone will smile and ask how I am, but it’s often an obligation or automatice response. There’s a shared sense of curiosity and appreciation  and even a sense of sisterhood that bypasses all of the external differences we may have.  It fills my heart with love, peace and reminds me of the interconnection we all have with one another and the universe at large.  

These woman were a large family enjoying the giant shiva statue and they kept taking turns with who was taking the photo but someone kept having to be out of the photo so I offered to take it for them, but there were more interested in taking a photo with me!  I didn’t know what to do with my arm and hand and I love the way this ended.  They didn’t speak much, if any English and it just didn’t matter.  We all left happy.

Love and hand holding to you!
Serena