Be the Cause

hi all,

this is albert checking in as mom said i have to (just kidding, bharti). actually, i was procrastinating a little bit because i wanted to try to get some other posts out on the blog before i wrote this message in order to make my posts seem sequential. i have some thoughts which i had written in my journal on the flight back, but i’ll add them to the blog later.

i think many of you guys echo the thoughts that are going through my head. i have gone to india and come back. i have been affected; my life has changed. but i keep asking myself: how? how have i changed? i don’t know yet. i’m still trying to figure out which version of albert came back to the states.

i wish i could verbalize it better, but i can’t. so instead i’ll write about things that have happened, as opposed to thoughts that i’ve had. on a side note, great stories and thoughts from everyone. i think it brings me back a little closer to india when i hear some of the stories. i think one of the worst things we could do is forget…

anyway, i write this at a normal hour for me, 10:30 PM. and normal has been the exception. after one normal day when we first got back from our flight, i apparently decided to revert into jet lag. i’ve been getting up at 5 and 6 am for the past few days when i normally get up at 8 am (after a struggle, no less), and i could’ve gotten up sooner if it wasn’t for the fact that nobody else would have been at work that early. then for the past two days, i’ve been so tired that as soon as i got back from work i’ve fallen asleep until the next morning. the good news is that i’ve been fairly healthy, which unfortunately only started a couple of days before we left india. but good health is definitely something for me to happy about.

a story you would appreciate, bharti. bharti’s talked to me about how people in india are separated at most by three degrees of separation (instead of the six in america). i come back to work on monday. i’m talking with some co-workers and there’s one person listening who i don’t recognize. i figure, oh, we’ve been hiring recently so she was probably hired while we were gone. later i am reminded that i did meet her once before, when she was interviewing with our team. she says, ‘oh, i heard you hung out with simran for new year’s eve.’ i was like, ‘what?! how did you…?’ turns out simran had im’ed with dinesh, who also works with lavanya, and all three are or have in the past worked at ameriquest and are from india. it seems that news of my vacation traveled back to the states faster than my plane could take me!

ok, thanks all for listening to my excessive keystrokes…

albert

Some of us have returned but some of us still remain. And my second journey through India leaves me with a similiar impression from my first visit — India is a land of constant contrasts.

Waiting until the fourth week of the trip to record any thoughts at all is a mind boggling experience as hundred of images start to move through my mind much like a video viewed on fast forward, so to keep things simple I will only relate some experiences from the last couple of days.

Here in Amaravati we have been woken up by the beautiful sound of chanting at 4 am in the morning Currently, we are at the Kalachakra enjoying a chaotic carnival like atmosphere along with a throng of Buddhist practictioners, saffron dressed Tibetan monks speaking on cell phones and his Holiness himself the Dalai Lama. In the last couple of days, I have discussed photography and his project of recording Tibetan refugee life with a former monk turned photographer, have been graciously welcomed into the tent of a large Tibetan family to enjoy a dinner of noodles and discussion, have been pushed and shoved in a throng of foreigners trying to enter a private audience with the Dalai Lama, have enjoyed a concert of a combination of hip/hop fused with Tibetan music at a concert and coincidentally bumped into my mediation teacher from Los Angeles who is also traveling through India. When I speak of India most of my discussion consists of relating our wonderful experiences at Manav Sadhna. I know my time there has changed me for the better and so too I feel India has guided me along my path, and helped my heart to open even wider.

I luckily have the opportunity to journey back to Ahmedabad tomorrow and I find myself really longing for some time of reflection, but I have discovered that in India one does not ever know what the next moment will bring and acceptance of this is really the key to a happy existence. See you all soon on the 18th.

Namaste,
Stacey