Mira + Brian’s Blog

I don’t think I can beat Brian’s shout out to his parents, but I’ll try.  I’m not the greatest with words and it’s always been hard for me to vocalize deep emotions… so here goes. 

I think a lot.. anyone who knows me knows that my head is always racing.. since I’ve been in India, one of the thoughts that has run through my head many many times is what my parents have sacrificed for me.  Life in Canada for a new immigrant is incredibly hard.  It doesn’t matter what sort of education you have, you will always take a step down.  But for my parents, that doesn’t matter.. the only thing that matters is giving their children a better life.  I have some sad, but wonderful memories of my childhood.  Sad because I wish my parents didn’t have to go through such tough times, and wonderful because it has made our family so incredibly close. 

My mom is one of the strongest women that I know.  She gave my sister and I everything we could have wanted, while at the same time worked late hours, manged the house and the finances.  I’ve learned so much from her… the importance of being independent, enjoying the beauty in the small things, and that life isn’t about the things you accumulate, just to name a few.  If she had stayed in India, I’m certain that life would have been easier for her.  She would have had help at the house for cooking & cleaning and would certainly not have worked so many hours.  She would have been able to go to the beauty parlor regularly and and had time for herself and her kids.  She wouldn’t have worried so much about saving and saving and saving.  On top of it all, she still manages to find love and beauty in everything.  I still laugh at a tiny email she sent me titled “I liked it”.. and all it had was a picture of one of the plants which had just flowered.  You have to understand.. this house plant hadn’t flowered in 8 years.. it was a big deal  

My dad is just plain weird.  But not a strange weird.. it’s really good.  He’s an inventor at heart.. he can fix anything.. from your broken TV, to furniture, to hacking a satellite dish card.  He understands how things work and he’s always fiddling with something.  Owning a business is hard.  My dad has owned his business since 1981 (I think) and it’s definitely had some tough times.  The side effect is that you often have to sacrifice your home life when you own a business.  I’m sure if he had stayed in India he would have been a crazy scientist and it would have been cushy.  I don’t know if he thought I was listeing when I was little, but I remember him encouraging me to have lots of hobbies… to make sure that I always had something to occupy myself with so that it wasn’t just my career that I focused on.  I definitely listened.  I also listened when he said that you must always have an element of spirituality in your life.  It has to play a role in your decisions and life goals.  Be aware, don’t walk around with your eyes closed, he’d tell me.  I think he’d like what we’ve experienced so far.. though I’m sure he’d have “suggestions” of what we should be doing instead

The word “love” isn’t strong enough to capture what I feel for my parents but I don’t have a better word.  I truly truly love them.  They’ve done so much for me and my sister and continue to be our best friends.  They opened their hearts to Brian and his family.  They’ve sacrificed so much, and I hope they will learn to take time for themselves now. 

Ok, so that’s it.. I could go on and on, but if you’ve read between the lines you’ve seen that there’s much more I could write, but I won’t.. I’d hate to break out into tears at a very public internet cafe!

My next shout out goes to the Patel family: Mom, Dad, and Ami!

Mira’s family has taken me in as their own from the very start, despite our obvious cultural (and gastronomic) differences.  They are truly wonderful people who represent the best of Indian (and Canadian) values: caring, thoughtful, intelligent, spiritual, hard working, and fun-loving.  It’s truly an honor to be a part of the family.  I look forward to many more late-night family chats about God, food, life, and more food :) 

Namaste Patels!

Our apologies again for the slow posting, it’s getting more and more difficult to find internet connections with our increased pace of travel.  Should get better now, though, as we plan to settle down here in Rishikesh for a couple of weeks.

Our last little foray was a 3-day trip to Pondicherry, a former French colony in south India.  It is a beautiful mid-sized city, considerably cleaner and friendlier than the tourist Meccas up north.  Once again, we recieved some wonderful hospitality, this time from Achyut-mama and Jaya-mami, a cousin of Mira’s mom.  We had a great homemade dinner, of typically obscene portions, including a 6-course dessert.  (That was after 6 or 7 main courses!)  Despite being nice, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to do there, so we pretty quickly beat feet for Rishikesh, the self-proclaimed (and apparently true) ”yoga capital of the world”.

One of the main attractions of Pondicherry was the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.  There wasn’t much to see there, as it is largely a private concern.  But our hosts volunteered to take us 10km out of town, to “Auroville”, a utopian community started by one of the founders of the ashram, a woman known simply as “Mother”.  Auroville was pretty cool, a great example of a relatively self-contained community built on shared principles.  They grow their own crops, everyone chips in with work, etc, etc.  Strangely, though, the main attraction of the place is a gigantic gold orb used as a meditaion hall.  It is literally made of gold (or gold leaf).  When we stepped inside, it was like something out of Star Trek.  It’s a huge futuristic circular hall, all surrounding a huge crystal glowing with sunlight.  We spent 30 minutes meditating in this bizarre place, and it was one of the more memorable experiences of our trip so far.  Only in India, a hippie commune sporting a gigantic gold globe!

I think Mira is planning to write about the exciting next stage of our journey, so I’ll leave that up to her.  Needless to say, I’m very excited about visting the Mecca of Yoga!