This all seems surreal.
In my experience, I left no more than five weeks ago but it’s been 7 months already.
Today marks the day of my departure from the land of India. I am now heading home for the autumn season with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and gratitude.
Last night, I caught myself laughing profusely. Somehow, none of it makes any dog on sense. Like a passing dream, I am waking up wondering what the hell just happened.
A snap of the finger and boom: 7 months have vanished into thin air.
Just the other day, it seems I was hitting the stage in my hometown of Montréal to play feverish funk music with my friends.
Just the other day, I was in my twenties, hitting up jam sessions all around town like an addict.
Just the other day, I was playing in the woods with my childhood friends.
Just the other day, I was 8 years old with a mind full of dreams and the naïve heart of a child.
As strange as it may seem, I can’t truly remember how I got here in the first place.
All of it went by so fast.
My godamn life passed in a blink of an eye. In a moment, I’ll be 50. In another, 80 and grey haired. Then I’ll be gone: adventure finished, going back to the cosmos.
While in Pachaloor, in Kerala, something I can’t truly explain happened.
As I was sitting on the roof, filled with thoughts, a voice came over and said:
‘’aren’t you sick and tired of all the petty stories?’’
I couldn’t help but go silent.
All the ceaseless crap going on in my mind had no relevance whatsoever to living Life.
All the stories just vanished and I was left with a quiet nothingness.
From then on, days went by in seconds, weeks into hours and a full three months just poofed in the air. As I am now here in an hotel room waiting for my flight, I can’t help but go back to that place of ‘’what the hell just happened?’’
How can time be so slippery?
This trip has been the death of me. I buried myself in India. The old Simon is gone and I am here being both profoundly lost and filled with a deep sense of clarity.
All of it seems too hard to explain.
Words can only point the way and I find myself in a pathless meadow.
This journey has been such a strong cup of humility and surprises. I thought I would be helping people but I am the one who’s been given everything without asking.
I’ve made lifelong friends with the locals and boy what an adventure this all has been.
I came out here as a beggar, thinking the world to be his.
I am leaving as a king, knowing to own nothing but himself.
