A wandering eye of an Owl: My India: Home is a feeling (Part Finale)

Anand and me, Tableland lake, Panchgani, India

Have you ever met someone that surprised you? Like, you meet this person, and at the first you hardly pay any attention to them. You may not be at all attracted to this person, but as you get to know them, you notice yourself falling. This person who was once nothing to you has become everything. All of the sudden, they’re the most beautiful person you've ever met. It’s just funny looking back. You never saw it coming, it just kind of…Happened.

We meet a lot of incredible and inspiring people who leave a mark on our hearts. Some, we recognize at the first site and for others we need time for our hearts to recognize. And the best of them surprisingly are the ones that we might have crucially judged or avoided being with, or simply they are visible by sight but their presence might be innocently insignificant for us… In India I met a handful of these people, but only few settled down in my heart and left a huge impact.

Interns group, Tableland, PAnchgani, India

And they are the reason that makes my experience to die for, they are the ones who made saying goodbye one of the most painful things I’ve ever been through, who even made me feel that am not home at my own home. And indeed a lesson had been learned, “Home is a feeling, not a place, it’s where the heart is”.

Kohima, Nagaland, Northeast India

These people taught me what it means to love and to be loved. What really matters the most in life. It doesn’t matter how you look, or what you’re wearing, what you say or how you think. As long as you’re being yourself and that’s all that matters. As easy as it sounds, if you looked at yourself now! this second you are reading. Pause for a sec and look at yourself, are you truly being yourself? Saying what’s on your mind, loving who you want, doing what you love without any limitations or constraints, wearing what you love and what you’re comfortable in? not worrying at all if you would look stupid or not, worrying if you don’t fit in or not. And then you’ll know that it’s absolutely true, that being yourself is the most courageous thing you’ll ever do, and the greatest gift you’ll ever give to yourself, and to others, who are meant to be around you, with you, and part of you.

Pune, India

They taught me that rare source of absolute joy and happiness, that rewarding feeling of being a part of somebody else’s happiness and celebrating their joy and success. It’s that moment when your need is fulfilling other’s needs. When you are no more self centered but, transforming into being a selfless being. When you genuinely care for other people’s needs, when you love with all your might and all your heart. When they become a part of you and you part of them. When their problems become yours and yours becomes theirs. When you know that you’re not standing alone and never will anymore.

Interns group, Tableland cave, Panchgani, India

They taught me how to preserve the love I have for my people in my heart and how they did the same with me. That you don’t need them to be physically present, for you to love and cherish. They taught me that beautiful trick of holding that person in your heart and breathing that love in. The way it vibrates from within, leaving it for others to feel it and to see that person you’re holding in, through your eyes.

Pune, India

And finally they taught me that divine language of the eyes, shedding stories and epics of pain and joy through that sparkle from within. A gentle spontaneous stare screaming a thousand words, concluded with a gentle beautiful smile whispering softly that everything will be alright. And those hugs! Oh boy! I would give anything in the world to have one right now. They didn’t only hold my entire being, but also held my heart, disconnecting me from the whole world, disarming me from time and place, from their digits and names. They showed me a whole new dimension of the world when they held my hand tightly to their hearts. With a squeeze reminding me of the beauty of being present. The beauty of the gentle cool breeze out there, the beauty of every sunset and sunrise we witnessed, the beauty of every silent walk we took and every star gazing we did. It was the other face of life.

“Moments that makes time illogical, and distance only a thing created by the heart”. Nicole Jao

Nicole, Evian village, France

Moments that made me feel that am ready to leave this world happily and with no regrets, as if I achieved my purpose in this life, finding the one who is a reflection of my image and completes my soul, making my spirit high on love.

Asia Platue Family, Community room, MRA center, Panchgani, India.

Before it all happened, before India, before my Swiss experience, before my university phase, and before shifting to Lebanon, let’s go back to my 14 years back in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah city. Who knew that any of this would happen? Who knew that we would meet such people, who knew that we would transform in this way and be as such and be the way we are? No one knew. You never know what’s going to happen next. At that moment you might feel choked, trapped, and stuck, helpless with no signs of hope sinking slowly. Worrying about what’s coming and what’s going to happen next, missing all what’s happening now, so occupied with what’s coming, and when it comes, so occupied with what’s coming next, missing out on the present. Just pause, embrace the moment, embrace yourself with all your faults and imperfections, embrace yourself with all of the pain and joy you feel, feel it all deeply, open up and be yourself. It’s okay to feel that emptiness, it’s okay to feel lonely. In the empty sky! Is the space where all the stars the sun and the moon are held, and in solitude, we truly find ourselves. “The more you understand yourself the more you understand the world” Paulo. And the right moments with the right people shall come without you knowing it.

Be brave… brave enough to be yourself.