Being nobody but myself - Thank you Mr Cummings!

I have just raced in, breathless from an hour's bike ride over the hills of the Gers. The fields look like huge, green, waves of earth and I just felt like this little cork struggling to bob up to the crest of each one. Victorious and grinning with each rise to the top! I  imagine I still looked somewhat akin a cork struggling and bobbing my way up the crest of each one though!!

Hehe, I would like to be more like a balloon wafting effortlessly up into the air, with not a care in the world :)

Today is a glorious day. The sun is shining, the messmonsters are outside at the neighbours horseriding and biking, and I got back to the wonderful surprise of having an hour more than I thought up my sleeve. Wooohooooo! Lucky you me!

Alors mes amis, am I going to shower straight away like I should? Then throw myself with wild abandon into the preparation of tonights vittels? 

Et NON! 

I am ALONE! 

ALONE ALONE ALONE ALONE ALONE

(joyful  murmurings of a Crazy Woman!)

 I am going to firmly sit here and smell blog away to my heart's content, knowing I am not bothering anybody, then open the windows wide when I leave to pick up the possums :)

You see, I have this juicy  little piece of wisdom from E.E Cummings that I really wanted to share with you:

To be nobody but yourself 

in a world which is doing its best day and night 

to make you like everybody else 

means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight

 - BUT NEVER STOP FIGHTING! 

That just hit the spot for me today. 

Especially as I'm still on my Tibetan trip and they have such a gentle but fighting spirit. Speaking of, here's a little more colour for you,  in the form of the glorious Tibetan costumes from the 50th Anniversary TCV festivities held last October in Dharamsala. 

I acutally have some exciting news to tell you about my plans in Dharamsala, I've just been a little shy about spilling the beans. A splash of colour first - and I'm sure I'll be able to recount the tale in a couple of days. Let's just say I'm taking you on a colour trip first. 

Have a great mid week everyone.

Hmmm - I'd better go have that shower afterall - it's become too chilly to open the windows ;-)

Love

Others Before Self! : A Tibetan cry of colour

*@!!!*!!@&!!** (Mac Speak for ARGHHHHHHHHHHH)

  I just spent half an hour trying to be brief yet witty in my explanation as to WHY I have been having soooo much trouble posting about India, and with one false 'tap' on a key, I've wiped it all.

Sigh

That will teach me two things:

1) Not to make excuses

(sheepish grin)

2) to be more present with what I am doing :)

Honestly though, the real problem is,  WHERE DO I START?

It's not just that there are 2000 photos to go through (yes, you did read right, 2000 photos in 3 weeks). It's more about the inspiration and admiration I feel each time I flick through them again. Now how do I convey this adequately to you? In chronological order? 

I could regale you with quips (a 'Mise' word that I like very much ;-) and anecdotes about missing planes and having to take buses 500km overnight after endless hours flying and a 12 hour wait in Delhi airport. You might think it interesting, or even entertaining. Even a tiny bit. 

However, it has come to my attention (through repeated frustration personal experience) that life does not happen in quite the chronological order one, or at least I, might expect!

So I'm cutting straight to the nitty gritty.

It's not about me.

It's about THIS!!

The colour, gratitude, generosity, courage and love 

that exploded forth during

The 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the

Tibetan Children's Village

Below are a few words to describe the TCV's beginnings in a nutshell, but I strongly advise you to click on the link above to find out more. It is truly a message of dedication and strength, as well as being a testimony to the value of education (you know -  the subject I get on my high horse about ;-). 

After the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950, and H.H the Dalai Lama's escape to Dharamsala in 1959, many Tibetan children were left orphaned and destitute, separated from their parents during their long and arduous escape from their homeland.  On 17 May 1960, fifty-one children arrived from the road construction camps in Jammu, ill and malnourished. Mrs. Tsering Dolma Takla, the elder sister of His Holiness, volunteered to look after them. 

When her older sister sadly  passed away in 1964, Jetsun Pemma, who came to be known fondly as Amala (mother) left her studies to dedicate her life to the education of an increasing flow of orphaned Tibetan children.  Since its beginnings, the TCV has grown from one small live-in nursery school, to a number of schools spread across India. More than 34,000 children to date have been educated in both Tibetan language and culture, as well as receiving professional training so Tibetain children have a viable future not only in exile, but the day they regain their homeland.

I could go on about this forever. I have frivolous photos, slightly more arty ones (although you and I all know I'll never be a photographer) bits and bobs of colour and calligraphy from around Dharamsala that I will undoubtedly inflict on you over the next few posts. 

However these are my favourite. For the colour, yes. They vibrate with aliveness. But more importantly because they inspire me every time I look at them and remember the sincere gratitude and dedication  these children showed to H.H the Dalai Lama (yes!! I saw him up close!!), to their teachers and to Life itself.

"From the day we became refugees, our basic objective was to rise to the very place from where we have fallen down."

- H.H. the Dalai Lama 

What better lesson for us, than that?

Love to you all

See you in a couple of days

I may be on a roll with this ;-)