Winding Road & Wild Companions

Did I write this nearly a decade ago?

First published on February 9, 2013 shortly after my month long stay in Bhutan.....the trip I had made to find a direction. I was lost. I had a job, a regular job that people would be envious of.  I craved for expression. Writing that touched the soul, not just copy, pasted and recreated from other people's work...often call research ...especially in humanities....

I have gotten better both at academic work and have published more creative work, so in an essence a balancing act has been achieved. 

I still look for direction. But one thing I have found is that most people are looking for direction. Humanity knew it, so it created things like family, and marriage and rearing children.  It is an automatic way of providing a direction, while having some organic fun along the way!!

It is special day...Sunday, in August, and I am going to go for a walk...with an open heart and mind....

May be some new messages will be air dropped by invisible forces!

PS: I am making up for this past friday that I missed....

This was my walking path for a few weeks, right behind the hotel.  The country is at a high altitude. The hotel where I stayed was even higher.  This path that you see goes a step further.  People lived up here.  Construction in several places is also a sign of rapid development in Bhutan.  

This was my view for nearly a month. I would walk down the hill towards the town and on the way, stop several times to simply stare at the silence.  Often I would walk back with grateful smile on my lips. Bhutan had been a dream since I was a child. And especially since I knew that their Prime Minister also went to Penn State!! Yoohooo!!

My wild but compassionate companions: October 13, 2012

Paro, Bhutan, October 13, 2012

I had meant for this post to follow direclty the winding road around this wanton world. 

I get a daily email from 'dailyom'.  They are usually spiritual messages that either shed light on the things we tend to ignore or provide us with new lenses to look at things. I do not have the time to read them all.  So I get them on two different email accounts, and hardly ever delete them before at least browsing through them.

On this day, I got a message that directed us to look for messages from Animals in nature.  Messengers in Direction. 

Animals in nature always have a message for us, start noticing what animals show up in your life and when.  

I read it, looked around, found some bugs, and discarded the idea.  

Like always I was contemplating much at the time when I was trying to shun all thought.

When I went for my little promenade (walk) that evening, I saw two dogs tag along.  I love 'beings' so there is no particular aversion to animals, but because of experience I am wary of them. They are animals. And not always rational.  Just like us human beings, only with less accountability.

So I kept to one side and let the dogs go ahead of me. Then I thought I should slow down to increase the distance between them and I.  So, I slowed down and finally stopped for a few seconds.

Only to realize that both of them would stop only a bit ahead of me.  Then wait, until I started moving again. I did this at least three of four times. And they would stop each time.  I could not stop smiling.

It was a crazy evening, and for a short while I had contemplated solitude, its advantages and sort of 'disadvantages', but these 'animals in nature' had come, of their own accord, to keep me company.   I got close to one of them and petted it. The dog was dirty, unkempt, and smelled bad. But I could not ignore that they had formed a connection on their own with me.  That they had given me attention, without me giving them anything. 

What message were they bringing me?

May be that, sometimes too much inward thinking can make us overlook those who notice us and care for us.  So, on the days when all is not going well, may be we should recognize that we do have companions.  Even when we do not appreciate them.  

That we have many companions on our path.  Each for his/her own reason, for his/own time, with a specific rhyme and reason.  May be, no particular message except to recognize that we share this experience with numerous others.

When we came down the hill, I bought some crackers from the tuck shop for the dogs.  One of them I noticed was a 'she'.  She showed a completely different side of herself when I fed them the crackers.  She was ferocious and scared the other dogs away.  Even I was scared of her then.  But because I had seen her gentle side only a few minutes ago, I had to come up with various other reasons to understand her.

May be she had been treated badly, may be she always had to fight for food.  May be she was saving it for her children (pups)?

What message was she bringing me?  

That we cannot make conclusions on knowing people partially.  But more importantly, that we always know people partially.  

So, this winding roads our life path, we must never take our understanding of others too seriously.  That our companions -often- carry within themselves both the compassionate and the wild simultaneously.......

As I strolled back to my room, I tried to hold the image of this neglected dog, who not only kept me company without asking, but stopped every few minutes --so I could catch up. 

We all have this silly, loving and wild companions on the winding roads of our life!!  I wish you many kind ones!