I am writing from my small one month Bangalore home. I am living in a cozy flat in Wilson Garden, one of the busiest areas of Bangalore. This is the first time I have a flat for myself since November 2017. I used the whole day cleaning and refreshing it. Breathing in the aloneness and loveliness of being, buying candles from the small shop outside my building to increase the enjoyment of my flat. Making friends with the vegetable lady, the chai lady, the milk guy and the Darjeeling tea guy outside and around the corner. Then later engaging in small talking with the bakery guy and tasting what he says is Bangalore apple cake, but has no apples.
I purchased a five-gallon water bottle. It fits perfectly into the clay water dispenser in the flat. The water and milk guy said he would carry it up in ten minutes, but it took more than an hour and two visits to the shop to remind him of our deal. In this way there is the gist of sociability in everything here.
While walking up and down the street during my cleaning breaks I am contemplating the combination of the scents of baked masala cookies, fresh vegetables, milk coffee, wet earth, all enveloped in motor vehicle exhaust gas. Conclusion; all scents fit together very nicely and make up the prevailing tone of Wilson Garden.
The settling in ritual is slow and meditative this time. Funnily, all this work is done to leave again in a month. But it’s like brushing your teeth. You do it in the morning well aware that you need to do it again in the evening. In this way the ever so nice settling in day already foretells the leaving day and the next settling in day to come.
‘One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Change is never easy. We fight to hold on and we fight to let go’ – The Buddha.
Will I find contentment in this city? Well, the ending station of the red road is unknown, I suppose.
I am training myself in starting anew and letting go without too much of a fuss. Of course all whilst having long breaks to enjoy a cup of warm Indian chai and chatting with the lovely chai lady.
This is how living on the road has small teachings that present themselves.