The Unexpected
Day 20 (Day 7 of our Wonder-Bike Adventure) – 9th May 2018
Sun rises early in this part of the world and as its rays
gently start blinking through the white curtains, we smile at each other happy
to be here, despite the night’s tribulations, happy and at peace for all is part
of our infinite treasure of Life.
We decide to go for an early morning walk on the beach and
eventually another dip in the ocean.
We see a man crouching at the edge of the ocean’s soft surf
and watch him washing his backside, which we assume to be a way of hygienically
greeting the new day and make nothing of it.
As we start our walk on the sand, merrily enjoying the feel
of the sand beneath the soles of our feet, we see a pile of red stool and
wonder what kind of large dog might have been the author of this signature dung
sculpture. As we keep on walking we see another and yet another and then again
further on another man crouching and lo and behold! Realization strikes us like
a thunderbolt! The red piles of stool are man-made! Apparently the men around
here prefer to go to the edge of the ocean to leave their “mark” rather than
use the bathroom which their houses now have and instead of at least digging a
hole for their bowel’s refuse, they just leave it there, lying on the sand for
the high tide to later on wash away!
So that’s what the strange smell must have been yesterday!!!
The sand has this smell impregnated in it from days upon days, upon years and
years of poo being non-challantly left on the beach without a care in the
world… A tradition surely passed down from generation to generation, time and
again – a tradition so strong that not even the advent of sanitation, toilets
and running water has managed to erase, with the added surplus of current
population making this habit a definitely “shitty affair”! 😊
We are mesmerized… or should I say shocked… well, humorously
dumbfounded would maybe describe our reaction best. Laughter starts tearing out
of our bellies incessantly and we laugh so hard that we cry, realizing how the
dichotomies of duality can be so contradictory, making us believe we are in
Paradise at one moment and then that we are standing on a huge toilet, all at
once. Our initial idea of going for a morning swim fleets away like a boat in
the mist of our laughter and we look at the sea with renewed insight as to the
reason for its not so clear waters.
Actually it would make no difference at all for us to go for
a dip in the sea, since yesterday we did so… when we didin’t know the hard
facts 😉 But knowing
them, makes a bit of a difference, though we realize deep inside it really makes no
difference at all. Yet, we do not venture into the water again…
We become extra careful of our steps, minding each one,
which makes our walk all the more focussed – a fine way of active meditation –
total focus with a smile.
Suddenly along the way we see a huge pack of stray dogs with
their litter and they start barking, frightened of our presence, immediately identifying
us as strangers. We realize they are all she-dogs, fearful of anyone harming
their little ones, so much so that one of them courageously comes up to us and
manages to bite Pedro on one leg, though not hard – just a warning graze. I
suppose since I am a female, they take no notice of me, they view me as a non-menacing
equal.
What happens next is impressive. Young men spring out of
nowhere and shoo the pack of dogs away and then, very concerned, they approach
us to see if we are ok and are very worried about Pedro’s bite. Many stray dogs
around here have rabies and they insistently warn him to take care of the wound
immediately. We take heed, calmly, thanking them for their help, but move on,
knowing all is well.
Some time later, when we are already at our cabin, Atul
calls in to see if everything is ok. The news has already travelled up to him! We
are amazed at the efficiency of this mouth to mouth information service, but we
calm him down, letting him know it is somewhat inflated and everything is fine.
Anyhow, we feel deeply thankful that despite being on foreign land, we are taken
care of with so much love. We really appreciate it and in our non-dramatic
attitude receive only the best part of this care.
Love whispers: delicate
and fragile like a flower, Love spreads its abundance unconditionally.
Our “plan” for today is to visit the estuary where three
rivers converge to the sea, right around the corner, and then go to Manipal and
visit the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village that Atul has spoken so highly of.
Once again we get to experience riding on a thin strip of
land with sea on one side and river on the other, with no helmets and a broadly
smiling heart, allowing ourselves to take in the simplicity of this place,
where temples are aplenty, houses as quaint and modest, nature is exuberant and
peaceful and everyone is calmly going about their daily chores, in tune with
the hot, humid weather.
We go right to the edge, where the land ends and rivers and
ocean meet and meld into a vast expanse of water, becoming one.
We watch a lone fisherman throwing his net and contemplate
the silence. Thankful.
On the way back, we stop at this beautiful white Hindu Temple,
take off our shoes and go in.
Peace. It is always the Peace that I most revere
at these places, out of celebration times. I find all places of worship, of any
religion, to be equally peaceful for their very purpose – to honour the Divine,
and in doing so, even oftentimes not knowing it, to honour God within each
and every single sentient being and even beyond that, within all that Is form
or formless. It is this all pervading, omnipresent blissful peace, the same one
I feel in my Sacred Space in my Centre, that I feel in all places of worship.
If only everyone stopped inside their own selves to honour the Sacredness
within them, with the same devotion as this is done in Temples, all would
indeed realize that there is no place where the Divine is not, living in honour
of each other and thus in harmony and respect for all that Life contains.
On the other hand, All is Well in All of Creation and it
matters not whether some know of their True nature and others are unaware,
because the True nature of all that Is does not depend on knowledge and the
pure perfection of this creation called Earth, allows for zillions of
experiences, all flawlessly fitting each one’s evolutionary path. When each day
I stay in this special place within me and contemplate the absolute perfection
of all, I always feel overjoyed to tears for the sheer abundance of infinite
possibilities, resting in my blissful harmony of surrender to the God that I Am
also, happening moment to moment, as we Are all.
And so it is that on our way to Manipal, we come across this
beautiful Catholic Church in honour of Our Lady of Fátima, a world renowned
Lady that as legend goes made her appearance in the town of Fátima, just 30 km
away from where we live in Portugal. When we travel, we realize the world is a
large village where everything is interconnected.
Manipal happens to be a large city with many universities
and as is common in India, many youngsters. Indian population must be amongst
the youngest in the world… and growing. Hopefully these youngsters will soon
become aware of the garbage surplus and gradually find cost-effective solutions
to curb this growing economy related issue. I believe education will be key for
this turnaround to happen, for no government can single-handedly change the
habits of over two billion people! It’s around 20% of the world’s population in just
one country!
Arriving at Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village is not easy, as it
is not signposted but the GPS on the mobile clearly says it is here. We
tentatively walk up to the gate to ask, and yes it is. Thank goodness for the advent
of the GPS!
Apparently there will be a visit at 11 am. We are the first
to arrive so we wait and admire the beautifully carved wooden portico we are
brought to.
The guide warmly welcomes us and a few people start arriving.
A young man approaches us, asking us where we are from and we engage in a nice
conversation until the guide begins to speak.
We find out that the young man happens to be the son of
Vijayanath Shenoy, founder of Hasta Shilpa, as he briefly recounts what it was
like to live as a child in a house that was a Museum, with hundreds of people
coming into the house’s private places each day. The reason for this is that
his father, Vijayanath, though working as a banker all his life, had also
always been extremely passionate about conserving architectural and cultural
heritage so that the precious beauty of each epoch’s creations would not be throughtlessly
destroyed. He began by using beautiful pieces of homes that had been torn down
to build his own family home, back in 1990. He could not bear to see centuries-old
homes being demolished and their intricately carved wood being burnt in the fireplace, so whenever he could he restored them to their rightful
glory in loco. Whenever this was not possible, he translocated them to be
reconstructed in Manipal. This is how in 1997 the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village was born
in Manipal, not only comprising reconstructed buildings, but also arts, crafts,
utensils and tools, textiles, furniture and toys together with the
documentation of lost classical and folk traditions. Hasta Shilpa has thus
become world renowned amongst art and architecture scholars in India and in the
rest of the world, being the object of studies that shed greater light into the
history of the people who have crossed and lived on this land.
This man was driven by amazing passion and this place is
once again proof that when one dreams with enough conviction, virtually
anything becomes possible. Living proof that Life is willing to serve you when you are willing to Love it.
We thoroughly enjoy the 2 hour visit, listening with all of
our senses, deeply impressed with the amount of dedication this whole complex
exhudes. Each artifact speaks a story, each stone has a purpose, each building holds
centuries of knowledge.
Thank you so much Atul, for guiding us to this beautiful site.
Fulfilled and honoured for having had this opportunity, our
next choice is to have lunch in town to celebrate the day’s bounty.
We stop at a nice looking restaurant with air-conditioning
and not only relax from the strong heat, but also once again enjoy a fine Indian
meal… and a pizza, Indian style 😊
Back at our cabin we sink in all of the richness we have come to
encounter so far, letting it settle into our cells and dissolve into the pool of
existence that we are, making way for more… In India there is always more. Such
an abolutely abundant country in all possible senses. As I have said before:
Intense is the best way I can find to qualify the whole experience of being here,
in this overflowing now moment.
Later on, after enjoying the sunset, we take a walk down the
nearby village’s main street and eat some street food, trusting our bellies are
now harmonized with the local concept of cleanliness, always being careful about
the water that we drink, of course. Next time we must find a way of being more
ecological and not having to buy plastic bottles on the go. I have heard there
are some pills that are dissolved in water to elliminate bacteria. I’m sure
that will be a good solution.
Brimming with joyful freedom, we are ready for our night’s
rest and so is the thunderstorm.
Today, as yesterday, nature whips up a powerful spectacle,
complete with power cuts and with the added bonus of a coconut falling on
our roof and breaking the tiles, so that the rain can pour in at its own
leisure. Once again we are fortunate for it not to have happened over our heads
and for the water to be streaming beside our bed and not towards it. The
muezzin once again chants from the nearby Mosque’s loudspeakers – the fifth
prayer of the day. To us it seems like the 10th, since each time we are settling
into our silence, here comes the unexpected prayer. When there were no
loudspeakers I trust it would have been different, but then again, now is not
then. We highly respect all faiths and do understand that without these loud reminders it might be hard for followers of the Muslim faith to remember to stop at the 5 right times every single day, but we ourselves could definitely make do without the loud chanting.
Since there is nothing we can do about the rain pouring in or
about anyhthing else happening right now, we just cuddle together and allow ourselves
to gently slip into sleep valley, knowing all is well in all of Creation.
💙💚💛💜
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