Not that weird

One of the weird things about being catapaulted from Kathmandu to Canberra in less than 24 hours is just how weird it isn’t any more! I used to come back and be overwhelmed by the choice of shampoo in shops, the orderliness of the roads and the car parks, the quietness. Now, it is just part of the two worlds I live in. I can arrive in either place and feel a bit like I have never left.  On this most recent trip, Ron Lehocky (well known to many in the polymer community and a man who took possibly several thousand photos in ten days) asked when I stopped taking so many photos. Not sure! I know that I often get sent gorgeous photos from Colourful Journey travellers and that on my first trip in 4 years last November, I took more than I had for years. But more and more I find myself just...being there.

Here.

So far, I have had the luxury of not having to think that this is going to be my last time in Nepal.  However I always need to remind myself that each trip might be my last time there. That today might be my last day on earth. Not in a morbid way, and not in a desperately squeeze the last drop out of every second way which used to be my modus operandi! More in a savour this; be here now kind of way.

Usually, it is the very ordinary moments that I treasure;standing in the kitchen with Babita and Kopila chatting about what they are making;chatting with my parents on WhatsApp with the deep reverberation of Kopila’s oms filling the air;meeting the milkman on his bike as we head out to our morning walk;listening to the anxiety bird’s anxious calls (actual name: koheli. Anxiety bird was the name we heard in Dharan and it’s stuck!);negotiating the uneven path to the Samunnat buidling saying namaste to all the neighbours who have seen my comings and goings over the years;sitting with my bhai Bishnu enthusing about new adventures...

I don’t ever take for granted the good fortune that I have in being able to do this. To have these homes in two worlds with the blessing and tolerance of my family and friends. I feel like it all fits in with my work...loving the world...standing still and being astonished! To quote Mary. Again!