So here I am, in this crazy technological world sitting on a bus going to visit friends in Vermont AND I have wifi…while flying down the highway at 60 mph! A million and one thoughts are flying through my head – last time I was on a bus was in Ladakh, our last fieldtrip and we had a massively nunba (crazy) dance party. It is certainly a stark contrast to the quiet coach I am sitting on now, the hum of the engine and my fingers tapping on the computer keys the only noise that fills the air. There is no loud music, no base reverberating, no bumps, no dust, no mountains. I am in Boston still, surrounded by tall sky scrappers and big highways, paved of course. The ride is smooth, the seats are comfy (they even have seatbelts!)
I read a blog post by Maggie Doyne (a women who constantly inspires me as she works in Nepal to help local children – visit her blog/website www.blinknow.org!) recently about the amazing idea of having so many different cultures, landscapes, technologies all hosted on this small planet called Earth. I am beginning to realize that, yes, earth is covered in a million different communities (human and non-human). And part of my incredible experience of traveling and living in the Himalayas of India is to become exposed to another community but to also face the challenge of understanding the interconnectedness of the world.
How does the village Ursi, which will forever hold a special place in my heart, relate to the town of East Greenwich? They are just under ten thousand miles apart yet they seem to be separated by a million miles while simultaneously being next door neighbors. Ladakhis and “EGpas” have a completely different sense of time, of ownership, of materialism. I feel torn between the two – wanting the “best of both worlds” (yes, I did just quote Miley Cyrus).
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