Magical Mystery Tour / Jadu Life

I feel a little bit like I'm living a charmed life. Not that it's a little bit charmed, because it is certainly a LOT charmed, if it is at all. It just feels a little bit unreal. But it's not unreal in the cinderella-pumpkin-prince-charming kind of way. More in the I-just-ate-five-hundred-gelabies-and-went-to-a-halloween-party-in-new-delhi-plus-did-i-mention-i'm-in-india-and-i-have-a-bit-of-a-headache-from-the-swig-of-whiskey-i-had-in-the-bathroom kind of way. (Note 1: Happy Halloween! Note 2: No, I'm not drinking alone in the bathroom. Just being a proper 22 year old with other 22 year olds for once. Plus I only had one swig. Or three. Really though, just three. I promise.)

I'm sitting on the back porch with my laptop, my water bottle, my headache, five liters of bug spray, and the moon. My face is painted in what I hoped might be a butterfly-esque kind of way, but may have just come off as borderline juvinile, and in any case is, by now, just smudges of black and blue. Children chattering, yelling across the park- shouldn't they be asleep? Their response- shouldn't you? Firecrackers go off spontaneously in the background, purportedly for some holiday or other, but interestingly enough there seems to be no end to the holidays for which firecrackers are required here in New Delhi. Stray men and dogs circumambulate the park, maybe looking for something, maybe having found it or each other.

Once, I met a friend at a party who was there out of obligation rather than free will.

A: I'm sorry you had to come tonight.
F: It's OK, I was excited to see you.

We don't always find what we want where we look for it, but often we find something better, something we couldn't have imagined. Maybe that's what makes it so much more special. We couldn't have dreamt it, it could only exist life. Is it possible that in the space between dreams and the life we expect lies the life we live, equal parts imagination, pain, and kaleidoscopic color?

One of our homework assignments here in India was to interview someone in Hindi. The interviews consisted mostly of information about how the interviewee was feeling, what time they got up in the morning, and what time they expected to get up tomorrow. One of my classmates however had a slightly larger scope for her interview, which she conducted with the maid who works for her homestay family. She asked Vidya what she would like to be reborn as if she could pick anything at all. Vidya's response was, herself.

How much time do I spend wishing I was somewhere else, in some other situation, some other person or some other me? Did something differently or better or more deftly and less haltingly? What if I just loved being here, me, a little awkward, but also funny and kind. Sometimes not so kind, but there you have it. I see the moon and it's beautiful, and I'm OK that my companions are mostly mosquitos and dust.



Addendum: Take a stroll down to the Halifax if you've got the time. Kate writes life at its most grubby and magical.