Journey

My journey is a journey through different worlds

Starting in a Quonset hut in student housing in Minneapolis

Back to India to my grandparents village

Mud huts, community well, bullocks in the front courtyard

To the mountains of Ranikhet where my father taught

Flight to professorial life in Carthage Illinois

And the coulees of La Crosse Wisconsin

Flight back to India to the teeming city of Lucknow

My parents garden-filled home for eight kids

Back to La Crescent Minnesota, precious time with my father

Married in Minneapolis and life in student housing

The West Bank and Como Avenue

The vibrancy of a rocking metropolis and graduate student life

Onwards to another midwestern haven Cincinnati

Penthouse apartment at the New Forum in Clifton

A balcony and a fireplace

To a Bishop Street row house, walking to school

Settling in suburbia Kenwood- a fence, a dog, two kids

Years of teaching, partying, raising kids

To Mistymorn, surrounded by books and greenery

Trips in the great US- New York, San Francisco, Vegas, New Orleans, Boston, Florida….

In between were trips to India, stays in Lucknow, Delhi, Dehradun

Trips to Singapore and Bali

Trips to Europe, family in London, Germany, Zurich

But there ends the physicality.

 

It was a journey of learning

Different cultures, new vistas, new awareness of philosophy

Learning to go with the flow

Learning to stop judgement

Learning that the saying “this too shall pass“  applies to both bad and good times

Building our village, because life is not complete in a bubble

Learning to accept that life happens

You have no control over events

You only control your actions and reactions

Learning to love each universe you are placed in

Every place grows on you

You make your own memories and associations

They are always rich

Learning that to love the world you must love yourself

The last five months have been a different journey

A journey that started with bewilderment and uncertainty

A pandemic, racial riots, political polarization

Beasts released from the recesses of hearts and history

A journey that has joined people to alleviate misery

A journey that has divided some on irreverent issues

A journey of introspection, isolated from the village

Family together, friends reaching out

Zoom weddings, zoom funerals, zoom classes, zoomed-in life

A journey of gratitude and appreciation

Gratitude for what we have, appreciation for its hopeful consistency.

Awareness that in unprecedented circumstances, we need balance and grace.

And the journey continues.