I was reading Pico Iyer's book Sun After Dark and came across this passage that seems to capture some of the turmoil of emotions and feelings I have been having.
"I know that a trip has really been successful if I come back sounding strange even to myself; if is some sense never come back at all, but remain up at night unsettled by what I've seen. I bring back receipts, postcards, the jottings I have made, but none of them really tells the story of what I've encuontered; that remains somewhere between what I can't say and what I can't know...We travel, some of us, to slip through the curtain of the ordinary, and into the presence of whatever lies just outside our apprehension." pg. 8
This trip has not been simple, not in any way. The confounding nature of poverty and need are placed side by side with breathtaking beauty and a tremendous warmth of spirit; deep devotion and spiritual life lives alongside incredible environmental challenges and pollution that will eventually bring India to her knees if not address. As a traveler here, I am continually stood on my head, hoping that my camera and my attempts at story telling will convey even a little of the paradoxical nature of this country. There is a saying that India, whatever is true, the opposite is also true. I believe it.
M
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1 comment:
I know there is no way that any one can know what it is like there without going there. You sound tired. I am enjoying reading about your trip. It must be hard to see all of the children so poor. We miss you hurry home.
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