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Traveling feels like this huge limpia to the soul. The Universe takes my soul over rocky river washboard and starts sifting all impurities without the thought of pain. The smell of sacred ruda in the background to get what’s not purified by water. My departure full of fear, My trip an uncertainty to plan. My return a peaceful graceful calm that says I want to do it again, admiring the world just like God asks everyone to.

My friend thinks that all these journeys are part of myself that are asking exploration and attention. Other friends tell me, “You’re running away. Come back to the people that love you and the community that you can contribute to.” I feel like a hydroponic plant suspended in the air. How can I argue from there that I do have roots, that though they don’t touch the ground they can hear from me within 24 hours? How can I say that from above I see the word community different than you? How can I let you know that rhythm of life will continue even when I get back from flying around the world and everyone will be the same and soon they will forget you stressed by financial and familial duties, but you will never forget the world? The world is huge and the opportunities to explore it and yourself are infinite.

My favorite memory of India, this woman I never met. It’s so easy to spot the beauty when you come from the outside and so many things people don’t tell you but they forget when words are so important. She is so dark and bright, peasant but rich, happy but self aware. When else would I get to see this moment? This mix of emotion and richness of color to match it? Sometimes I wonder if people see the same when the ask me, what part of their country I’m from.

I think about how I see India, the big city cauldron of steaming heat that mixes the smell of human drama into condense squares, to the quiet country prasing everything in their quiet being and home to Krishna. I see my hands in praise and beauty, with henna or like hers with different finger nail paints just to celebrate she can. That is India. This is me.

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