It has been a while but I am happy to be back, even with your slow wifi, over flowing trash bins and the variety of prices for the same item in different shops. I know we all are trying to make a living, have money in the bank and live a healthy life. But when I am visiting your sacred lands I feel an inner peace and contentment, like nothing else in the world matters right now. I am happy with hearing the waves crash on your shores at night time, watching the sun set, eating fruit and thosai for breakfast and with a the variety of your curries slowly agreeing with me.

Food really does taste better when eaten with your fingers. The relationship between the food, fingers and the mouth is vital. Not only do we develop a sense of connection between the fingers and food with the texture but we also have permission to lick our fingers and feel like a kid again. Who needs a knife, fork and spoons when we have five perfectly capable fingers which manage very well.

You amaze me everyday. I wake up and feel so grateful to be on your land and witness the day to day flow of life here. The simplest things can be taken for granted but you have a way about you which really encourages and supports growth on all levels, regardless of how close to enlightenment we are. The poetry of your language has a beautiful musicality about it that sounds like a lullaby which is a constant hum on the streets, in restaurants and homes.

You certainly know how to put the spark into sparkle. After coming here for the first time as a young child you introduced me to my love of jewellery and bindis. To this day I feel naked without my rings and slightly obsessed about anything that glitters and sparkles. You really do the whole sequins thing really well!

Thank you for your head wobble. This simple gesture seems to answer and solve even the trickiest questions, defuse the most heated of conversations and express kindness in the most loving of way. I can not help but mirror this back when I see it. It makes me deeply smile and my usual head nodding action seems so useless and unworthy. With the simple head wobble I feel any tension in my neck dissolve and I remember that my head is a big heavy weight on my neck and to soften my jaw from time to time.

I love how it is ok for both men and women to wear skirts – ok, so I know you call them lungis for men but you seem to have mastered the art of wrapping and tying them around the waist with such ease, I have tried and can not figure it out! Please teach me? Oh, and please teach me how to make the most amazing chai in the world. This combination of spices, milk and sugar is genius, my world would be a different place without this fusion of flavours.

I think you have silenced my inner world. No more do I feel this inner pulse to write, read, practice or to push and swim upstream feeling the need for money, fame and recognition. Being in your embrace I feel so content, so at ease and so timeless knowing all is perfect and taken care of. Even after this morning’s muladhara shifting, you still hold space for me to just be. There is a certain type of peace in amongst your chaos, there is a certain amount of acceptance in the stares and the many smiling faces who live, work and sleep on your streets.

You are going on my wish list of places to visit each year. I feel your energy of ease serves mine very well. I find it hard to stay away from places which make me laugh and smile at every street corner and where there are temples to crack coconuts in and your abundant of lights which garnish statues of your gods and goddess, lighting them up like a pumping Bollywood movie set.

With gratitude I acknowledge the lessons I have learnt while being here and will be leaving with my bag a few kilos heavier with statues, beautiful fabrics and my heart over flowing from your graceful attention during my time here. 

Thank you.

Yours gracefully,
Delamay Devi