siddhartha

that overland trip to india almost 15 years ago... my first trip back to my roots... was an amazing adventure. i had waited more than a month on the isla de port lligat for my passport to be sent back from london: brothers were organising the relevant visas for iran, pakistan and india for me. and whilst i was waiting, i met the berlin crew, a young alternative crowd also squatting the island like me and the others. one of them asked me if i had ever read 'siddhartha'. "no", i said. "you should... your life reminds me of the character from this novel".

i thought no more about it and when i had just arrived some days in india, and was pottering around connaught place in delhi, i saw a bookstall on the streets and one title immediately caught my eye. a pink lotus lily on the surface of the water, and a small boat in the background. i saw the title and remembered the words of my friend i had met on the island. siddhartha.

 

 

it was a bootleg copy for sure, i paid peanuts for it... and when i read it, i fell in love with this story, something resonated very deeply within me. so simple prose, but so powerful the feeling they generated. of course, i saw the parallels only too well with my life... but my spiritual quest had only just begun. so many things happened in that 6 month stay in india, some amazing magical moments, a transformation happened that continues to this day.

and now, in this time since i got back 'home', sad and depressed from a love affair gone wrong, meditating on staying focused and in the present, i was at my local library and looked for a copy. a small library, maybe, just maybe... and there it was, waiting for me. i found my inspiration once more. i read the book again and knew that i have to make another trip to india. and it will be overland again. and for sure i will leave once more from spain, and from the isla de port lligat.

 

this knowledge seems to have jolted me out of the self-pity that i am oft to drift into in situations like this. since this time, i try to stay as aware as i can... i was pottering around the charity shops to look for cheap second-hand clothes and about to leave one.... when i reminded myself to stay present... and looked at the bookshelf. there sitting on the shelf was 'the power of now' by eckhart tolle. kadri had told me about this book, after we had our war of words in an angry exchange of emails after that brief encounter turned sour. of course, my arrogant self wasn't too keen on taking advice from her at that time. pity... cos this book turned out to be very interesting reading, a nice distillation of wisdom of the path to enlightenment. like hesse's siddhartha.

 

siddhartha found his way.... without explicit teachers. it was his life experiences that were the teachers. i lost my way a little and now i have to get back on my path too. and the best teacher i have known is the road.