It's a nice trip

As a travel agent,

I often get asked advice on a destination.

I usually recommend Terra 3.

E motion

 

E motion, dear engine

You run like a wild horse

An untrained monkey

Jumping from a tree branch to the next.

I fell off the horse

Got bitten by the monkey

Burned by your fire

I had to face you.

Egg

Blue and white

A calcium field

Walk on the Moon

It's all soft on the Earth.

Spring is here

Spring is here,

Birds chirp in the blue

Tiny seeds rise up from the underworld

Colors, more colors.

The watcher

The watcher

Some say the watcher came from another time

Others mentionned space

Most rarely say anything at all

What is sure 

Is that no one knows

Where the watcher came from

Or if it ever 

Existed at all...

Once upon a mind

Once upon a mind

Pen on paper

Blue Bell

Blue Bell

Glow in the dark pigments and acrylic on canvas

 

Roots

Don't know how
Don't know when
One day
I became a gardener...

Swoyambhu 2 months later...

 Swoyambhu
2 months later...

2 months laters, Durbar Square

2 months laters, Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal
Bairav stands...

Shishir bakery

"What do people need here? " I ask my nepale friend?

"Knowledge, we need to learn how to make things. The building and all is good, but what we really need is teachers with knowledge. " he replies.
As the country is rebuilding the best it can, the real problems still are their for those that have eyes to see. The problems run deep, very deep. And if the building is a great step, the real issues are still hiding in the shadows of the past. Education, the caste system, the extreme corruption, the bank loans, a 3rd world country, Nepal is Nepal, and to help Nepal, one has to first spend some time in order to understand the country. The buildings are great, but really, what is needed is... teachers.

One of the ways to get knowledge is through books. Books contain stories, information and much more. So, Funky Buddha Hands got a few books for the Shishi bakery.

Let me tell you a bit about Shishir bakery...

I kiss the sky...

Life stands still
Only the clouds
I kiss the sky...

Blue boats and a dog...

 

 Blue boats by the lake...

For better and for...

A week, maybe more, I don't know. The days pass and I sit in  a room. My sprained ankle slowly recovers and every day I walk a little further. Outside it's hot, sticky hot, impossible to move anyhows under this type of heat. 40 degrees, it beats the last 3 years heat records. So I sit, I watch a few science fiction movies, read a bit, mystify some, listen to some tunes with a joint. I relax and watch the fan ceiling turn around and around. The room is filled with a few nothing, a couple pair of pants t-shirts, a bunch of art supplies, paper, pencils, a set of water colors, a tattoo equipment box. Lying around, incapable of walking for a few days,  I thought I would get some writing done, but instead of this, I sit, I study, and I digest the new changes happening in myself. I sit and I enjoy my quiet space, my silence, only going out for coffee and some food socializing. In the afternoon, I listen and watch the rain drops falling on the lake.

I am in Pokhara, Nepal, I sit on top of the world... and I watch it crumble...turning into... well only the future will tell...

Lotus seeds.

According to the Buddhist tradition, there are 3 types of people.

The 3 types are like lotus seeds.

The lotus is a flower that comes out of the mud, going up to the light.

It is the rose of the east, it represents the eastern belief in illumination...

Sarangkot

Mountain punks
Sarangkot, Nepal

Shanti Stupa

 A Buddha looks
on top of it's hill in Pokhara
a World Peace Stupa...

This was then...this is now



 

"Life is getting back to normal", " we will rebuild stronger and better", this is the words we tell each other, this is the words we say to keep going. But life will never be the same again, everything is changed, and we need to face and accept the fact. Normal? What was normal life in Nepal? If some new comers to Nepal come and discover the country on top of the world, those aware of the local situation know that the problems here are nothing new. If many people are still in need of urgent help, the actual re-building will take many years. So for those that feel that time is running out, stop worrying, worry does not help anything. There is plenty of time, same same but diferent as they say here. The shelter and the food situation is just the visible part, the questions are much much deeper than mere food and shelter, even if food and shelter is always the basic start, it is just a start. The people that are in most dificult situation now are the same that had the hardest life yesterday. "Aphno manche" the nepale moto of working only with one's own group is put on trial by the current events...

A month after...

 

3 weeks later, and it's almost a month since the shake. Every day we say "slowly life is getting back to normal"... normal, whatever that used to mean. But nothing is the same, everything is changed. Here, nothing will ever be the same again. No one knows what tomorrow will be, because today is simply enough to deal with. Keep the mind cool, outside it's hot, sticky hot. moonssoon is coming soon, the skin is sticky...

Begnas tal

Begnas Tal, 45 minutes bus ride from Pokhara...

it's quiet here...