Writing, Swimming in the Ocean and Talking to the Stars

I grew up on a healthy dose of National Geographic travel shows. I was such a romantic. A travel writer once wrote back to me. This was what he advised me, pack your bags, travel a lot and write about it. I knew that already. Why was he stating the obvious. Or maybe the best self help advice, is always just really obvious. Maybe it is just common sense. I spend the afternoon reading bill bryson and vs naipaul. You have to understand what is out there, before you want to transform it. 

Food and Reflection

I am in Palolem, Goa. After a long afternoon nap, I wake up by 4 3o pm. It is still blazing hot. I am drenched in sweat. The stupid fan did not do its job. Ughh. Wash my face, change my sweat drenched clothes and walk out of the shack for some lunch. I settle down at a beach shack come restaurant, with an open sea view. Buy some rice and chicken, for my starving stomach. Then just wait. Look at all the people out there on the beach. There is so much shade here, there is none there. Can you store some in a jar and sell it on the beach?

Riding into Palolem's Beaches

An hour into the ride and I realize that I am carrying 10 kg's of weight around, with me. Now I know why, all those travel websites advised you to travel light. The bags were weighing down on me. The sun was weighing down on me. Then it happened. The wind took my cap away with it. We were riding away at the speed of light. Stopping for a fallen cap, was not an option. But this left me exposed. The sun was out to get me now. It was 1 pm on hot march summer afternoon in Goa. We had two more hours to reach our destination. After an hour, I thought I would die. I did not want to the policeman to stop, but as soon as he did, to refill gas, I breathed a sigh of relief. I put on an extra long sleeve shirt (bad idea), and covered my head with a handkerchief.

Goa and Hitchhiking

Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist scholar, spoke about "why you must understand the root cause of suffering of another person to really be able to give them love." But it is hard to really understand another human being. I wish I could. It has been a long time since I sat down in front of another being, looked them in the eye, and really listened to what their heart told me. We all had a life goal to achieve. Sitting down for a conversation would interfere with our productivity.

The train leaves the station. I try using my laptop. I already regret bringing it along. It is too shaky. I shut it down and read Bill Bryson for a while. Bryson is such a fun writer. Soon I fall asleep. I like Keroauc too. He was a master wordsmith:

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”