Dogs fighting for a left over piece of food while the black pigs are watching them.
The pungent odor of mothballs, curry in all colors, drivers that didn’t shower for a while.
The smell, I will always remember the smell of India.
Radiant colors of Sari’s, real and fake flowers, skin in all possible varieties, golden rings at the feet of the married women and sparkling earrings on the men.
The sight, I will never forget the beauty my eyes saw during my trip to India.
The praying of the Hindu priest very early in the morning announcing it is time for Puja, the motor bikes bringing goats, babies, mother and children through the never ending traffic jams, honking, honking, honking…
The sounds, I will always think back of that hideaway I found last minute in Goa, where the only sound was the wind through the leaves of the beautiful garden.
Spicy food, more spicy food, even if you ask for it mild.
The taste of India is specific, and will stay on my tongue.
The hands on my white skin when they ask a picture with the family, the fingers with red color giving me a blessing when leaving their house. The dusty road in the temple where you need to walk barefoot. The cotton picked from the fields.
The feelings with my hands and in my heart, remarkably different.
I knew I was someone sensitive for details but it’s only in India that I realized that having this gift of enjoying the beauty of life in the details also has a danger. The danger of getting overwhelmed. Too much dirt, poverty, smells, lights and honking cars was definitely becoming hard to bear sometimes after traveling some days in India.
I guess having the gift to have senses that see, hear, smell, taste all the little details is also one of the reasons I am strong in communication, because what is beautiful for one might be standard for someone else and even ugly to many. It is important to know that, to accept that when you interview people.
But poverty, plastic in nature and in the oceans, I hope that is something that strikes all of us, human species, all over the world, and I hope we all realize that we need to take care of mother earth in every single detail.
