Departures and Arrivals

We all leave something behind.

Those essential items - medical scripts, travel insurance with evacuation clauses
A replaceable item - toothbrush, boyfriend (sometimes these fall into the essential category) and the comfort item - old t-shirt, an ipod loaded with favourite songs.

More often we bring too much and it weighs us down until we let it go. the push and pull of universal will. The hardest of these being our attitudes and preconceived ideas (principles, it seems we have no trouble getting rid of like a clingy white t-shirt at an Ibiza party).

Actually that's just philosophical bullocks. Something you are expected to be writing from india. well i aint there yet matey. no sireeeee. it's only been four days and i havent climbed the ashram walls yet (i am speaking transindentally of course). because right now it aint my attitude that's giving me backpains, it's my 20kg backpack. and don't blame the 15 silk saris. they're neeeded for cultural camouflage. and plus they weight less than the 3000 silkworms it took to make them (fewer than a nike sweatshop that is)

Let's face it. We all carry it. deep inside: that rucksack filled with pesty (pity we cant immunise ourselves against these) "just in case" items...

In (the) case...

• it's freakishly cold (tick: k-way tops, all-weather jacket, multipurpose gloves)
• i climb some serious mountains (tick heavy hiking boots, thermals)
• i want to go clubbing in mumbai (tick choice of heels)...and in colder delhi (tick smart but warm outfit)

i think you get the point cause i defintely do everytime i try to hoist it, and the bits falling off of it, onto the luggage rack of packed train. (actually everyone is forced tyo get the point then).

That said, there were a few things that i'm glad i checked in (mostly attitude related) and the few that i left out (mostly attitude related). because let's face it, these past few months i have felt like (and often looked like) a badly packed bag...filled with items i don't need, i can't use or that simply don't fit anymore. (pop pyschology is allowed. philosophy not yet.)

I think Borrie said it best when he said, "Cat, you haven't exactly been a bag of kittens lately." Exactly the point B. it's about being playful again. Saying goodbye to the Wild Cat, Minx or Lioness. It's time for the Kitten. (Lisa knew it all along). Cause, if only one thing i hope that i would look at these next few months in India as a kitten (read Milo Lisa) would an empty cardboard box. (no need for elaborations here).

So bring on the yarn my friend/s...cause i'm about to spin it in a whole new direction!

PS. If i do lose a few items along the way, there is one i will keep come Hell or El Nino. My super warm sleeping bag. Why, you ask, intelligent reader? Not because it was a present from my best friend, skinny, but because the note written on a big plaster (??) stuck inside is really the gift that will remind me why, when i am meditating on a tranquil Goan sunset, why i will happily depart again to journey home.

Namaste. Happy Dewali!