Tuesday, May 1, 2012

To India and Back Again

   This is a quick post before I go to bed (again), after having woken up about an hour ago. I'm still trying to recover from the accompanying jet lag after returning from a vacation trip to India on Sunday. I thought I'd use these few minutes to update the blog. I was too busy to write while on my trip, and didn't have access to an internet connection everyday to do so.

    I was visiting my hometown in India after more than six years. After finishing my undergraduate and spending some months with my grandfather and other relatives, I had left at the end of 2005 to move to Canada to study, work and live here. My main objective on this vacation trip was to spend as much time with my only surviving grandparent (my maternal grandfather) as possible. He is turning 90 in June, and had not seen me since I had left. As he has grown older since I have been away, he has grown increasingly anxious to see me, not knowing when the time will come for God to call him home.

     The  nine days that my mother, sister and I spent together with him were wonderful. As I write this after having gotten off the phone with him, he is still very much healthy and happy and I hope God will grant him many more years to live.

     Aside from the time spent with my grandfather, this trip was a wonderful time spent revisiting childhood places, memories and people. But it was also a time for reflection, as I took in the shifts that have occurred in the land, culture, economy, people, places, and attitude. Although much has changed, much has also remained the same.

    Over the next few days, I hope to process some of those experiences of my nine-day vacation and the accompanying lessons that I feel God has imparted to me through them. I will also be sharing some of the photos and videos that I took on the trip, which I hope readers will enjoy!

     Until then, it's time to go back to bed and hopefully get back to my usual waking and sleeping schedule. Vancouver is telling my body it's time to go to sleep; India is telling my body it's late in the morning and I should have got out of bed a long time ago. Till next time, good night and may the Lord be with you!
- The Wisdom Seeker