Tangers, Morocco

soooo…manana, Fez or Rabat???? it will be decided in the morning…

had an interesting day in Tanger…those of you who know me, and how i have absolute no sense of direction…the amazing streets that wind and turn, people walk, children play and stores do business…i stop to buy a hair cream to calm my hair, this guy has a store where everything is packed, and yet carefully he is able to show me two different hair products. He spoke amazing good English, self taught with a British accent, there were books on his counter, apparently an avid reader. I gave him the remaining Figs, that i had bought, they were fresh and delicious, but the guy gave me too many for a euro, so it was time to share.

I walk through the Kasbah, and find this store with natural oils and creams, i spend a long time trying this and that, conversing between Spanish and French, i was just making small conversation in Spanish, the store man was rambling away…after buying a few products, aragon oil, soap oil, saffron cream for the lips and savon, and somewhere in there finding time to discuss yoga, i left them with two brochures of Rancho Margot, the last i remember is their eyes gleaming looking at the pictures…

The walk continues, climbing and winding…soon i have no clue where i am, a French speaking lady had said if i keep going i will come to this great restaurant where i can find sheesha, hence my motivation…

so i continue, pretending i am some detective, following one person or another…and suddenly i am up on a terrace area with the view of the mediterranean and the long shadows of the evening sun…after a while i realize that i had better move and find my bearing before it becomes dark, i see the street below and instinctively know that is the main road I have to reach...
a group of about 10 or so teenagers, wanted me to jump down to the street…luckily one of them spoke some spanish, so i convinced them that i am not doing that, and then the noise, so i turn around, close my eyes, bring my hands to the heart centre and say: "silencio, es muy importante para itelligente mente" so this kid, his name is Hamza understands me, apparently he went to visit Barcelona and learned Spanish, Arabic is his mother tongue…so i ask them if they go to school and they say no, i go "WHAT, you spend all your time playing?", and they have a good laugh…They agree that they play futbol, and I tell them about a friend who plays futbol and always meditates and does some yoga before his game, which makes his game so good... continuously the boy Hamza pays attention to all that I am saying and translates it for the others…they loved my next question, I asked them if they all had girlfriends, and I got a big smile from them…we walk down towards the street, they all surround me, and i felt like we were part of some gang, at one narrow part of the street they were following me like i was the pied piper…

we ended near the cafe where i was going to eat, and even though I asked them to join me and have at least tea, Hamza said "no, we are too many and its not fair"…all our conversation was through Hamza, the boy who spoke Spanish, he was so attentive, as his peers were all rambling at the same time, he would ask them to quieten down, attentively listen to my broken Spanish,and translate…

we parted, with me promising that i will meet the group once more tomorrow morning at 10, we shook hands, gave high fives, amidst cheers and clapping…

what brought me to Tangers? i think i got my answer…

nowhere to go, no one to be and nothing to do…

i have heard the above line when i am in Savasana, and I often repeat this in my sessions…

As i sat in the bus today, these lines came back to me, universe was saying this to me, or maybe i was saying it to myself…an immense sense of freedom and calmness surrounded this awareness…

The travel which began on September 6th, started with a known destination…and somewhere along the line, i was sensing that this trip is leading into the unknown…the effortless flow of events, bookings, landing in Malaga, Spain…

I have lost track of time, when there is no benchmark, each moment is just that, how long have i been travelling, is unknown…i have seen some of Malaga, met an interesting German Lady, who just happened to be on the street that I was wandering, and she directed me to the Bus Station, I bought her coffee and she shared her life story, Luis Beermaann…living twenty years in Malaga, a traveller to South America in the seventies, and to India…places that were relatively unvisited by women travelling alone, she has been there.

Liam, the Irish guy at Victoria station…he is ready to quit his corporate life and travel to Ecuador, he and his colleague looked through the Ranch brochure, and were fascinated…we shared a hand hug through the glass window…

Yesterday, a day and night spent in Granada…Salim, the owner of the Indian grocery store on San Martias, trusting me to take a whole bunch of adaptors and pay later, also met his wife Bilquis, they have lived in Spain for six years, speak fluent Spanish and love it here…

Last night I smoked sheesha, eating at a middle eastern restaurant, and spent chatting with the girls from the U.S, a group of three travelling in Spain, a reunion for them, they had first met doing humanitarian services in South America…

Oh yes and doing a lot of people watching, sometime in wonder, ?is there the same energy in them and me?…do they take time to contemplate, is there gratitude in their lives, do they love with abandonment, just because…

...at times i watch and there is a sense of oneness, as if our separate forms are just moving bits of light...

In the unknown, there is a known…i wait for the bus to Algeciras, another hour to go…and i find McDonalds', with wi-fi…the fish sandwich tastes good...

Reminds me of the existence of a lotus flower, a stalk that is fine and delicate, can bend but cannot be broken…the lotus flower moves over the water, the stalk is attached somewhere deep in the mud, as the lotus moves, its grounded without attachment…

unknown...

how is life my teacher, i ask this life…
and the life answers:

ask no one to guide you, travel your own path, be the trailblazer...

all that is known, was once an unknown,
in the vastness of that unknown, a thought was born...a life created.

empty the life and the thought, and move into the emptiness of the unknown...
in that space, lies the freedom to live, to explore, to love, to grow….

language for communication...

in one aspect of life, "silence is golden", and to borrow these lines from a song "you say it best when you say nothing at all…"

But we teach our young ones to speak, to read, and sometimes to communicate…

So I start to learn Spanish, again, with the Spanish teacher, a different one...and I ask myself why can I not invent a language, that no one has to learn, and i smile cos we all know the answer to this one, the language of love....the hardest to master….we all think we know it and speak it, but who gets it? I guess no one, hence, all the conflicts...

Back to Spanish. this is Latino culture, so the “words” of love are spoken generously, and i find myself repeating those, they stay...slowly conversations are happening, between the “no entiendo”, “repete por favor”, and of course “si”, when in doubt.

The other day in the buffet area, i was asked a question, i was not attentive hence, “si” was easier to say, the girls in the kitchen were looking at me expectantly, and seeing the nodding of the head, they all shouted, “no, si”....the guy was asking me to reaffirm that on first sight women check out a guys butt...when i said “eyes”...all the chicas gave me a “high five”...i guess people, generally men and women focus on different things, at different times…

is this a lesson in a language, or just a lesson...no se

Love is... no boundaries, no form…i am born

on this day...i am again reminded how life unfolds, each moment, always flowing into the next...

birthdays, milestones, do they take us away from the moment, or bring us deeper into the moment...

twenty two years ago this day dawned, changing the course of life, affecting and impacting so many lives....a beloved form, called a son, brother, father, husband, but most of all a friend, disappeared somewhere into the mountains of himalyas...everyone who met him felt he was their best friend...his purpose was done, so short lived? but then that is our desire, our attachment which wants to hold, to be near, to see and feel through all the senses, make infinite from the finite...

gratitude flows, my brother, my friend, who i last saw 22 years ago…left his form, on this day...

never forgotten, i love and miss you, even through tears, each tear turns into a smile…
when i see the love in the eyes of souls, your presence prevails in each moment....i hear you whistling “don’t worry be happy”...that was your message to the world…

the presence of truth and sincerity wrapped up in the big bow of friendship….this is your birthday present to me, Thank You, my friend…i share this gift, so you continue to live...