Looking at the sea can be soothing. The waves compete with each other and seem to be in a perpetual rush to the shore. To beat the other wave, to rise above all else.
At the shore, they seem to dissipate into nothingness. Spent energy, and spent drive dominates the air.
Perhaps thats why we go to the shore. Perhaps thats what we need to remind ourselves looking at the shore. The pointlessness of daily frenzy. To hold ourselves lightly but tighly.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
The American author John Steinbeck wrote a line that left an indelible imprint on me. “People don’t take trips, trips take people”.
After yet another trip, as I download my pictures, dust my shoes, clean up my suitcases and unpack my memory, how small the world is. How similar we are and yet how different. The richness in our differences gives us numerous opportunities to learn and rejoice. This time around the trip was to quieten the mind and take the opportunity to reflect and renew. Much of the trip was spent doing nothing. Or just shuffling my feet to street corners and vaguely staring at the world go by.
Only that the world doesn’t go by vaguely, if the world happens to be Thailand! Its sights, smells, voices can be arresting to energise every pore. The world comes to experience ‘Amazing Thailand’ for that very reason. The land has much to offer. Especially so, if you are able to go past the richness that is on offer and dished out on a plate to anyone who lands there. To be able to transcend that richness is an ask, I must confess!
But beyond what lies on the surface, there is true pageantry to the soul. A wistful energy in the eyes and an authenticity in the smiles. Talking to people on the road will expose the smiles in their heart and somehow a certain unpretentious completeness in their way of life and livelihoods.
My Thailand Diaries are full of random scribbles and rapid notes. Deciphering them is going to take a while. Few pictures are here. Over the next week, I hope to have at least a couple of blogposts up on my experiences.
As always, do let me know what you think! 🙂
It’s never about the weight. It’s always about the way we carry it.
It’s never about the work. It’s always about the ‘why’ of the work.
It’s never about the grand sights. It’s always about the story behind the sight
It’s never about grand things. It’s about discovering grand meaning in simple joys.
That’s where real happiness and real joy is. Ensconced and precious. To find it means to see it and let it be.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
He is a slender man. All bone and muscle. A pronounced jaw, a tanned skin and a stubble for the head. But he packs a punch with his smile. A smile that gives his broken uneven teeth even more mileage.
He helps us with the water scooter on the beaches of Pattaya. He negotiates the waves and the machine with an alacrity that would expose his experience.
The waves seem to be no match for him. The water scooter seems to do to his bidding. He keeps waving at us from the shore. He asks us to take more time in the sea. ‘Have fun. You have time’. He says.
As one more wave rushes to the shore and the scooter bobs up and down in a helpless rush, he settles on the the shore. ‘You had fun?’, he asks.
When we nod in enthusiastic affirmation, he puts on display his uneven tooth and the big gap in between them. ‘Enjoy it while you have the time’, he says.
He perhaps doesn’t know how profound his statement is. Perhaps he does. There is wisdom in the ordinary man beyond what we give credit for. In their leading of life
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
As a talented pair of hands whipped up a new flavour at the roadside cocktail bar my eyes wandered to the camper van with bright lights that served as the base.
Now, the Volkswagen Camper van stands for something beyond an automobile. First introduced in 1950 it went out of production in 2013! Having had spectacular reincarnations and simple, astute deployments.
It morphed from a carrier of people to transporter of parcels. From tourist support to ambulance. From everything commonly possible to everything conceivable.
To age as gracefully as the Volkswagen Camper requires staying relevant to changing times and needs. That means disrupting oneself constantly. On a daily basis.
To look beyond what we see and to constantly redraw the finish line.
It isn’t easy. But it’s possible. Just ask the VW Camper.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
If you seek to grow, watch your children. In their curiosity, in their seeking, in their sense of play they teach us so much.
In seeing them at happy effortless play with kids with different skin colours, I learn that it is human to reach out and relate.
It is when I see them jump with joy at the sight of everyday occurrences (‘Yeahhhah, the Sun is back") needles me in the direction of wonder and joy.
And when they discard their shoes to walk barefeet, I learn the joys of feeling the earth. It teaches me a thing or two about staying grounded.
Watch kids. They can teach you a heap.
Try.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)