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JonathanSerrins

Salutations, how are you novemberheart india?

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Jonathan Serrins
Jonathan

sup Novemberheart https://goo.gl/2gKkiH
Jonathan Serrins

Home

A 7 hour train ride from Mysore.
A 4 hour wait in the Chennai airport.
Jon left us for Shanghai out of Chennai
A 5.5 hour flight to Hong Kong.
Tracy left us for Shanghai out of Hong Kong (I hope they did't have trouble finding each other in China).
A 2 hour layover in Hong Kong.
A 13 hour flight to LA.
A 15 minute drive to my house.

47 hours later. Home. It's good to be here.

As great as adventures in another culture are; the best part is coming back to the motherland. ;)

All Under One Heaven

I came to India looking for something enitrely different. What I found was something entirely similiar. Even in the place I was told was "as far from America [in every sense] as you can get on the planet" I was struck by how similiar we all are. In the warf slum of Tenali I saw the same despairing faces, the same teen pregnancy, the same lack of health care and poor health education, the same trash, the same insecure housing and the same desperate humanity that I see every weekend on the Skid Row of Los Angeles.

It seems like all of the differences I've found are choosen, learned, or superficial. In the grand scheme of things, skin color, clothing and art styles don't really justify distinction; language, cultural behaviors, and interests are shifting and fickle; and the rest is just how what we feel like doing in the moment.

I wanted a new context, a new cultural lense to see the world through. I was looking for the things that were hidden from me when I was in the West. I'm a little disappointed that my Indian vantage point hasn't revealed many of those things; but I have been pleasantly surprised to learn what things haven't changed. What things are universal to humanity. The things that make us the species that we are, all living on the same planet. Looking up at the same sun and moon; dreaming of the same stars. And reaching to grasp the same truth.

I came halfway around the planet to learn what I already suspected: We are all under one heaven.

The things that matter are here in India too

I've also learned that life is worth living pretty much everywhere. No matter where you go, the stuff that really matters is available for the earning: good food, pleasing weather, kind people, fulfilling work, expresive art, growing love, deep thought, and the subtle presense of divinity. The burdens that I had imagined as unbearably heavy aren't so hard on the people who live here. I've learned that as an American I am spoiled and weak. From the soles of my feet, to the strength of my stomach, to willpower of my mind, there are a million things that would overwhelm me that Indians cheerfully do every day. While there are certainly a host of people in this world suffering under the cruel hands of heartless greed, and plenty of people who don't have access to the wonderful things that make life worth living, I've learned that the world is not yet choked by despair. Joy still runs laughing through the jungles of Mysore, the fields of Tenali, and even the dirty streets of Chennai.

It doesn't take the quality of life that we have in the west to make people smile and savor life. It does make me wonder why we work so hard for it in the US though. What does it really gain us? Why do we work so hard, when what we want is the same as everyone else, when the things we're trying to buy are for sale in the market for 50 rupees (about $1)? Wives, children, friends, and prayer are free. Good books, paint and curry are nearly free.