| The Arabian sea in Goa India Pic by Brian Read |
More so because I have a Mother who is a one in a million mother whose heart expands to encompass all..and who can make even strangers feel like family..who is unselfish..caring and giving...who loves her son in law like he is her own son..and in our home the people who have worked in the family for decades look upon us as close family and not employers...because my Mother is mother to them too..
India my Mother land where to me everyone feels like they are your own...where the land is bathed in sunshine..love, warmth and genuine friendships....the warmth of even strangers and a promise not only to return again and again but to find ways to bridge the gap of distance and time and make India more our own..
| Calangute beech Goa Pic By B Read. |
| Goa India Pic by B Read |
| The shrine of Sarada devi Pune |
In India our home is always open and full of light and sunshine..it echoes with the sound of conversations and laughter..whether it be the people who work at our place , friends of my Mothers or neighbors passing by..the vegetable and fruit vendors and family dropping by to chat...there is even a couple of crows and stray dogs waiting for their 'snacks'...in the West the level of formality and superficiality that accompanies a visit or ' conversation' makes the whole experience one of just a pretentious ceremony...
| Panchgani India. Pic By Brian Read |
passed away with him..but we know that he has never gone..we can hear his voice in the laughter of his grand son and the splashing of the waves..we can feel his presence when we are gathered together and feel his kiss when the sunsets in the horizon. And the breeze caresses our faces...just as I am always with you...forever...
| Panchgani Pic by B Read |
Who is my Beloved...? This handsome and strong man .my husband Brian...brave in heart and soul whom I Love more than words can ever describe and who I married ..he is the one who crossed the oceans and the seas to follow me to my Mother and my motherland..
The man who loves me unconditionally as I love him and who stood by me when I was alone and lost in a far away foreign land..who saw the fire in me even when I wondered where the spark in me had gone a man who not only respects me but has a deep respect and sense of honor for every woman every born..a quality so rare in this day and age and sadly not common in the land of India where I was born...who is my beloved..? the one who loves my Mother and my people and my land as my own..who trusts me..who believes in me..who knows me and understand me and will stand by me even when the world turns against me..and for whom I will do the same at every step of the way...who is my Beloved..the one with whom I have shared the secrets of my heart and soul..shared adventures and journeys across the oceans and seas..sacred and precious moments that only we and God know of....experiences and teachings that bond us closer..Love that washes over us and around us like the waves of the deep deep sea..who is my Beloved....when we are one...I am he and he is me...
| The hills of Panchgani India . Pic By Brian Read |
What does my parents home mean to me ?..in the evening shadows when my Mother sits in meditation to pray and my husband walks on the terrace watching the sunset..silently I enter my parents room and lay my head on their bed..the bed where my father breathed his last...and my Mother spends each night of her life in silent prayer and lives her life as the highest sacrifice to his children and loved ones to go on and walk on for his sake...to stay true in every way to him with every breath of her life..
I bow before the photographs of their life together and cry silent tears...I feel the presence of my parents and grand parents and all who loved us and who we love in those walls that hold decades of memories...I salute them silently and whisper my words of love and send them my prayers ..I connect to that pure and immortal divinity that is within and around me...and in all of us..
Father and Mother I followed your unfinished dreams and flew away all alone to Canada ...so many many years ago...did I know how difficult and lonely it would be.but I never gave up and never quit..because that is what you taught me..To stand up brave and strong...and it was all worth it in the end..when I learned to truly Love and found true Love it was all fulfilled..when I look back and ask myself what did I ever seek and what life so far has taught me..it was not money or power or titles and privileges..it was not honors and fame that I value or ever did..all my life is worth and all that has ever mattered is how much we can love and how deep and true that love can be and that is the power of True Love..and I came back the victor and not the victim and now both of us are yours..me the East and He the West....we are here and we are one today..
| A garden path to the Arabian Sea: Goa India pic by B. Read |
My India what do you mean to me...?
Who will understand what ones homeland is?..until you leave everything and go away you do not understand its value and glory...
Even my husband..born in the far away land of Canada born of three generations of Canadians of Scottish and American/ English heritage with no known ties to India except through me....he feels this love and the tug of India's soil and the warmth and Love of her people especially those who are the simple ones..the salt of the earth..." I could live here with you forever if we were called to"...As we wade through the shallow waters of the sea and drive through the Mountains and sit by my Mother and the people who are bound to both him and me...we feel that we are encompassed by the past..present and future and for that moment ..we are all immortal. for Somewhere in time..You..me..mother...Motherland and a love that is greater than all of us has made me a part of you and you a part of me.....
| The sea in Goa..Pic by Brian Read |
Also read :The journey home to India with my beloved cowboy. Link below:
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