have you read the vagabond muse?

hello! if you haven't read my poetic india vignettes yet at the traveling stories magazine, i would be delighted if you did so. i promise it's nothing like getting your teeth pulled. . .



i would be even more delighted if you rated the piece (carefully click on the star of your choice under the story's title).



i would be even further delighted if you rated it a five, but, well, that's entirely up to you of course!



go ahead and rate the other stories while you're at it. and tell your friends to join in on the rating too!



i was in second place for a while there, but have dropped to third. not that i'm competitive or anything!



the winner will be announced on sunday.

thanks to all those who have already participated, and who have left lovely comments. and thanks for bearing with my shameless self promotion!

please take a minute to rate my travel story!

i've entered a writing contest on traveling stories magazine, and if you read my story, you can rate it! the prize is a $125 and a featured link on their site.



the rating stars are under the story's title. the stars should change color as you wave your mouse over them. be careful not to click until your mouse is over the appropriate star (five of course?). you can't rate on an individual's story more than once, but you can rate more than one story.



follow the link here: the vagabond muse: two women of dharamsala, india to read my story and rate!

T is for Travel with Tashi

you know this already. i love to travel. my mother was a travel agent and took me along on many trips throughout my childhood. it wasn't always fun, yet i was left with so many global impressions that it made growing up in a tiny pennsylvania oil town bearable. i knew there was more out there and that it was attainable.

something that first attracted me to my husband was his backpacker spirit. i sensed it in him right away. to us having a child didn't mean we had to throw away our sense of adventure and give up the road. tashi was with us on our honeymoon when we spent a week in mexico. we went to london, to greece and to cyprus, before spending a year in india. she drove across country with us when we moved from the west coast to michigan. and she's driven back and forth with us between virginia and the midwest several times now. tashi and i have taken a few trips to new york city together on the train. we went to london and cyprus again last summer. and tonight when we were looking through old pictures, tashi asked me eagerly when we could go back to india. the love of travel has already been nurtured in her, and she has always been a terrific companion: patient, curious, entertained and excited. a few nifty fifty mile treats, an excellent sketchpad with a good set of colored pencils, and some delicious portable snacks will get you a long way. that, some travelers tales for mothers, and the lonely planet guide to travel with children.

all the photos in this post are pictures of pictures. i don't have a scanner so i used my digital camera to take pictures of pictures originally developed from film. the above shot is of tashi and i at the bhagsu waterfall, near dharamsala, india. below she is with dan and my cousin david, in hampstead, england, before taking the underground to the airport where we would board our flight for india.




international travel with a child opened up a whole other dimension to us. her presence drew people to us, and us to people. we met other children, and befriended other couples. despite the fact that we were from america (and the judgments this can lead to), we were respected. we experienced things on another level. we couldn't just eat in restaurants all the time, we had to shop at the bazaars and cook meals. i had to wash and dry cloth diapers in monsoon humidity. i had to face my fears about disease, and dis ease. having a child with us helped us to not just visit, but to live.



tashi's presence added so much more journey to the journey. the impressions will stay with her forever. as will the openness, the worldly wisdom.




traveling has been really good for us as a family. it is a true test of team work. and a great source of joy.




travel itself can bring you closer to your god, or goddess, or the spirit in all things.



there was so much amazement when we were in india. like when i was almost run over by the nechung oracle while taking this picture.



there were so many warm smiles and intense gazes that redesigned my heartbeat.



exposure to language. mantra. and the richest of colors.



we even had visits from friends and family while in india. it is truly a gift to be able to share the magic.



it's been seven years since we were in india. i long for similar experiences. i'm certain more lies ahead. and there are the surprises. like last summer when tashi and i went to cyprus for a month with my mother.



i am a bit like the fool in the tarot deck, willing to step off the cliff and take the plunge into the unknown. that ionian sea sure does look tempting, yes?

the golden border

summary of teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, september 1--7, 2000


offer flower (it is given back)
place at forehead (bliss)
remove blindfold (see clearly)

the golden border

in 2000 i went to india. upon my return i created a book about the experience. the book is a compilation of poems, journal entries, notes from buddhist philosophy and medical classes, prose vignettes and emails. every time i think the book is complete i pick it up and start revising it again. i hope to someday have it published, but in the mean time i thought it might be fun to share some of it here. so anytime you see a post titled "the golden border," you'll know it's an excerpt from my book.

the following is about our first morning in dharamsala, the village we lived in for a year.


Awakening


loads of beggars line streets hoping for cash on saga dawa, the buddha's birthday. entire families camp on roadside, huddle under one blanket, laugh and extend ragged limbs. man with thick black dreadlocks cooks dal over tiny open fire, his small children squatting close, gazing out.

rising at 4:00 am for sunrise puja, we have been in dharamsala just eight hours.

run into mark moore and dara ackerman at gates of temple, friends of dan's from previous visits, proprietors of khana nirvana cafe. mark, sharp and quick, dashing about casually. dara in comfortable chuba greeting us with lengthy smile and intelligent dark eyes.

on flagstones, blanketed by dalai lama's prayer, crawling through veils of dusk and light, morning dawns. we huddle close in cool mist. small skeletal trees grow in courtyard. areas of construction lie in disarray.

having understood little of what his holiness had chanted or uttered, we file out with crowds of jostling tibetans. mark yells to us from high perch. in two hours we'll join him and dara at cafe.

khana nirvana cafe is up steep numerous concrete stairs, a lofty room overlooking kangra valley. interior is comfortable, wooden, with khadi pillows and dusty pink walls that resemble adobe. there is an exhibit, fading photographs of local lepers, their histories included. already i recognize some. on bamboo bookshelves we find quirky collection of children's stories, tattered travel guides, various religious tracts and cryptic hebrew texts. barstools are piled with binders of volunteer information and fliers, near table buried deep with educational matter. there are a few shabby stringed instruments and several drums.

dara and mark serve us vegan muffins and huge plates of tofu scramble.

tashi wrestles with amma la, matronly tibetan woman who works at khana nirvana, and on this particular morning, sleeps there. her toothless grin and mad laughter stir us.

dan, tashi and i flipped from sleep deprivation.