A thousand blessings

Losar Tashi Delek! Ever since I first set my eyes on the prayer flags strung across the impossible to reach jagged cliffs of the Himalayas, I was drawn to them.  The seemingly disparate colours, standing tall in their individuality and yet coming together to make a harmonious whole.  The five-coloured pattern weaving together a tapestry…

31 Days of Metta Travels #Day 23: Dream a little Dream…

I love mornings and evenings in the hills, when wisps of fog and mist swirl and drift about like fairy wings.  I love walking on paths covered in shades of muted greys, as the surrounding landscape takes on a sepia quality and you can smell the moisture in the air, a fragrance as precious as…

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day 20: Clap along if you know what happiness is to you…

Having grown up at the foothills of the majestic Himalayas, the call of the mountains is very strong in me.  My favourite memories are of walking up and down the mountainous paths as the sun played hide and seek through the conifers, the air heavy with the earthy concoction of wildflowers, wet moss, and pine…

31 Days of Metta Travels #Day19 : This little light of mine, I am gonna let it shine

Picture: A few years ago I decided to visit Bodhizendo (a Zen meditation center) for a short meditation retreat (or a “sessin” as it’s called in Zen) around Diwali (Deepavalli: Festival of Lights) . Bodhizendo had been on my heart-mind for years before that as I had stumbled upon it while searching for Zen monasteries…

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day 16: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

The first time I visited Kashmir, I was all of 11 years old and I could see why the songs equated its pine-scented air to “zanjeer” (chains) that bound your hearts and souls making it difficult to say goodbye. I remember the gondola rides over ski slopes in Gulmarg, the houseboat as it rocked us to sleep in the Dal Lake, the pony rides across meadows filled with millions of wildflowers, and of course the customary posing of pictures in the traditional Kashmiri dress.

31 Days of Metta Travels #Day 18: River of Dreams

It’s been exactly ten years since the first time I set foot on the hallowed grounds of Ladakh. If I close my eyes and venture into the Ladakh-shaped room of my heart, the beautiful memories rush back in. I still remember how we all went round and round in circles on the tarmac of Leh’s…

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day 16: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

Picture:  I had heard stories of the beautiful valleys of Kashmir even before I had learned to read an atlas.  It was my father’s Shangri-La and I think he had lost and found himself there during his early trainee days.  I experienced Kashmir through his eyes and his stories, and also through Indian movies that…

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day7 : We are stardust

Picture: Every time I have visited Bodhizendo for a sesshin (Zen silent meditation retreat), I have found a water lily bud floating serenely in the koi pond, with its petals tightly tucked in like a cocoon. Until the day we finish the sesshin, and then it blossoms – open, complete, and a miniature of cosmic whorls….

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day4: Mercury Falling

I am still recovering from the flu and my head is all woozy from the drugs so this one will be short one (hopefully!).  Yesterday, the mountains were calling me, and I was missing the winter chill in Bangalore.  And although I was born in the summer months, my heart is softest and warmest in…

31 Days of MettaTravels #Day3: A spoonful of mountains makes the medicine go down

I had a very “Earthling in an amber moment” kind of day. The flu is back with vengeance and things that were not supposed to go wrong went wrong.  So, I decided to self-medicate (which I am very good at, and probably the only time when I take the Dr. before my name seriously). I…