Hola, que tal?

I'm going to share a poem that a friend shared with me before I left for India.  It seems to keep coming up in my experiences here and I want to give it to you all.

Grace
by Wendell Berry

The woods is shining this morning.

Red, gold and green, the leaves

lie on the ground, or fall,

or hang full of light in the air still.

Perfect in its rise and in its fall, it takes

the place it has been coming to forever.

It has not hastened here, or lagged.

See how surely it has sought itself,

its roots passing lordly through the earth.

See how without confusion it is

all that it is, and how flawless

its grace is. Running or walking, the way

is the same. Be still. Be still.

“He moves your bones, and the way is clear.”

I'm doing my first bit of traveling here soon.  On Tuesday, I will be leaving for Shantiniketan.  It's a town North of Kolkata that is home to Visva Bharati, which developed from the open-air school of Rabindranath Tagore, a very famous Indian poet.  It's mostly an arts college, so there are a number of art exhibits and museums there, as well as a deer park.  Mostly, I'm just excited to take a break somewhere peaceful and have a chance to really take a look at the culture of India in a place where my thoughts aren't constantly interrupted by the honking.  The name Shantiniketan means "peaceful abode," so I have some very high hopes for some quiet time.

Namaste,
Melissa