Where Nothing Is Lost

I wish the world would understand what we look like when the stars see us. A blimp in the blackness of the universe. A sole blazing sun supporting this delicately balanced eco-system. Perhaps we would then stop rampaging through this world and her resources without a care. We as a race completely fail to see the significance of anything beyond ourselves.

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What if we stopped buying love, as sold to us by these community wrecking companies which seek to train our minds in to thinking the way they want us to – to be singular individuals with the sole purpose of owning far too many commodities.What if we instead focussed on building communities which live in communally owned land, consume only what they grow and need, and built a support system comprised of like-minded, free spirited families with visions of a greater good?

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What if we ceased to be lost in our warped fantasies of ‘superior intelligence’ and instead created a system where information, knowledge and awareness was freely shared? It’s easier said than done, to smile and to forgive, to attempt to change or understand a world where mediocrity and extreme inefficiency is not only accepted but encouraged. But it needs to be dealt with. And understood. Unfortunately, we cannot always hide in our homes or with Hobbes. It’s been simpler to seek out similar people instead. People who believe, like me, that nothing is lost.

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We seek and find people who complete us. And when their contribution to our daily epiphanies are done, the universe dictates they move on. I’ve learnt that mum was right as usual. Auras and Vibes.  We attract auras we give off I guess.

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The ‘Normal’ world (yeah, the same one that commercialized love and compassion) is the one which paints large, old, weathered rocks on beautiful (now-deforested) hills. Goa pays the price for rich people wanting to cavort in cocaine fuelled ecstasy, staking their filthy claim on free sunshine and forests. This ‘normal’ world doesn’t understand the fascination of owl-spotting in mango trees on moonlit nights. I can’t even disclose these locations, because every beautiful spot discovered in our lost rambles across Goa have had to be hidden. From you. Yes, you. You, who logs onto that infernal watsupgoa website to find pseudo ‘parties’, where you grind up against girls, labouring in your assumption that you are most attractive when your pelvis is uncomfortably thrusting against women. Yes, it’s the damned network, and connectivity that allows these creeps into our paradise. And corruption, but that again, is a different story.

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This world needs to learn to to be simple.  It needs to learn to love the hot afternoon sunlight. The way it sparkles on the river. It needs to learn to discard money as the primary method to measure success, and needs to learn instead to map life in terms of health and happiness. And no, your pelvic pumps to make ‘friendsheeps’ really don’t count – it’s easier to be friends only with those who are sheep no more. We need to re-engage with art for protest, and guerilla re-forestation. Not 100 days of happiness which perhaps is a well-meaning idea barring that it limits documentation of ‘happiness’ to techno-geek city-slickers.

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How am I supposed to photograph that rippling tanned fisherman’s back yanking the boat on to the beach? Social norms only allow me to look down upon him and dismiss him as an illiterate fool. Social norms restrain me from engaging with him or learning about his life and home.  Social norms dictate I must not be out of my home post 8 p.m. And especially not at the beach banging my feet on the floor boards with loose, immoral abandon. Somehow I’m not yet convinced I need to scramble towards the nearest tourist infested spot to find ‘free hi-speed wi fi’ to be able to post/tag every time I pose pouting against the sun/mirror/bathroom/whatever-catches-my-fancy. It’s just an indicator of every single time I’ve denied myself imaginative, intelligent conversation with another individual.

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There’s much to be done, and too few people doing it. Systematic disposal of garbage and curbing useless generation of junk synthetic inorganic goods are unfortunate grim realities we must engage with. This constant need to be connected should be channelized into building alternate channels of information exchange. We live in the age of the World Wide Web. So whether you re-post articles from your work desk, or you draw up a contrived plan to teach your mum how to segregate garbage, share, for there is much to be done.

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There exists an alternate world where freedom of spirit and love are openly celebrated, respected and encouraged. I smiled at a stranger. He tucked a flower behind my ear and walked away.  Dogs live free & safe, and cattle roam wild, deftly picking out tourist trash from plastic bags strewn around after a ‘trance party’. Night time spooks include my own shadow which sends me sprinting down the beach. Far away thumps of bass vibrate the moon’s slender shadow over Chapora River. Our toenails are silver in the lightwash of the moon. The dog flopped out at my feet quivers in his dreams and rolls over. A gang of Europeans whiz by, not noticing the shadows by the road. This life has taught me to look beyond a world caught up with what they’re being told on TV.

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So here’s what I think. I think we ought to look towards a life full of love. To every moment we can enjoy sunshine and fresh air. To find fresh juice in a world obsessed with tetra-packs. Give, give without a thought to getting back. Because you shall. Always. Two-fold. Nay, manifold. And yes, you will be battered by the bad ones which over-populate this planet. And you will be cheated, and lied to, and lied about. But never forget to live free, without negativity to narrow your vision, and live with love.

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For when you’re low, looking mournfully at your computer, thoughts of looming deadlines and unpaid bills messing with your mind, your cat climbs into your lap, suddenly needy after months of completely ignoring you. And love is scattered around in the hearts of all the lives we matter to. Our loved ones come and go and live and die but remain in our memories for ever, like little bubbles of colourful love. With rainbow explosions in our horizons every time they see the same stars we do, or wish us well. For a world with love is full of free sunshine. It’s a world where nothing is ever lost.

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