Letter to my nephew

Happy New Year Pravir,

I wish more peace and happiness for you this year.  Time is a concept that none of us really understand.  How one moment actually changes to the next.  Why space exists, why movement exists, why all of this has created all of us?  What is it all supposed to be about, what are we supposed to be doing?  At best, we are experimenting with our time here, either to create a legacy that will last beyond us, or to experience more happiness than the moments that have already past.  At best, we are always stepping into the unknown.

Life, a movement from one unknown to another.

You may be too young to understand some things, but I know that you already understand the one thing that matters most in life: Love.  Your grandfather, grandmother, father, mother and ¨chachu¨ love you very much.

The world belongs to you, and you to the world.  Everything is a circle and we are all points along this circle.  Anything you do to one part of the circle eventually touches every other part of the circle.  It is never ending.  What more is that everything that is inside the circle is the same as what is outside the circle.  Emptiness inside, emptiness outside.  Infinity inside, infinity outside.  Only a thin line separates what is inside from what is outside.  That is a circle.

I´m in Quito, Ecuador right now.  I went with 15 other friends who wanted to make the world a better place.  I think of you often.  How the part of the world that is somehow brighter because of our actions will somehow directly ripple brightness into your life.  If everything is truly a circle that I have faith that what we do here will be good for you there.  What is good for others, is good for me, is good for you.

I love you.  You are in my thoughts, in my dreams, and in my convictions.

In this part of the world they say ¨Feliz Ano Nuevo¨ (Happy New Year).  Maybe one day we will have a conversation without words.

People Everywhere

When we see the kids from the streets here, they are just like the kids we met in India, or the kids we met in South Africa and Kenya.  Every face that i look at feels familiar for some reason.  As if they are already known to me.  I cant speak their language yet the love in their hearts and the love in my heart is the same.  We are all known to each other.

There are many good people that we are meeting here.  They work with determination, with faith, and with unconditional love for the people.  We heard a Christian Pastor speak about his life and his inspiration today.  If I would have closed my eyes I would have felt as if I was back home at Manav Sadhna in India, listening to Virenbhai, Jayeshbhai and Anarbhen speak about what they do there.

There is love everywhere and goodness pervades through every soul on this earth.  We are fortunate to be surrounded by people and opportunities that help bring that out in every moment.

Wake up call

I woke up to a knock on the door and a sweet voice gently soothing me back to reality.  I was dreaming of a far away land.  Enter Ann Nguyen. 

Each year we embark on our service vacation trips, Ann Nguyen always participates.  No, she doesn’t hop on the plane with us but she is with us on every step of journey.  Each year, before we leave, Ann makes sure she gets the names of all the travellers and brings a gift for each and every single one.  This year was no different.

I had forgotton about our breakfast appointment and slept in from the late hours the night before.  Instead of dismissing the meeting, Ann decided to swing by my home.  It is the day we leave for our trip and I am awoken by one of the sweetest sounds known to mankind.  In that moment, it felt as if my own mother was calling for me.

She carried with her 16 cards for each of the travellers.  She told the story of the woman who helped make the cards: a sister who spent part of her life in Peru, one of the countries we will be visiting.  She mentioned how this woman, Sister Grace, had been badly burned at one point because of a prank some youngsters pulled.  To this day, she doesn’t have any ill will towards these kids.

Before Ann left, she told me that she and others will keep all sixteen of us in their thoughts and prayers.  I thought to myself: what power, we haven’t even left for our trip and yet there is already a force of support behind us.  I know that Sister Grace’s thoughts, Ann’s Prayers and all those wishing us well will help make our own efforts in South America more meaningful.

Sukh