31.3.2008

Life brings surprises!

I love life and the surprises it brings, let it be bad or good. I have no idea what's around the corner or who is around the corner but I had yet another experience of it today at the internet café. I met a really cool Swedish guy who lives in Varanasi and studies here. As I had wondered what it's be like to live and study here some time ago it was funny to meet him. We just exchanged emails in case I had questions to ask him later on and got back to our business on the internet.

Then I went to have lunch after he left and write my postcards in a restaurant. As I sat there for a good 30min guess who walked in, it was him again. So this time he joined me at my table and we got talking.

He's from a place I don't know in Sweden above a lake from a small town. Brought up by atheist parents, never knowing about religion much and getting the commercial taste of religious events like the Christmas he came to India travelling in 1998 and that became the turning point for him. He described it as "being struck on the head with the reality". He was exposed to a lot of rituals and religious ceremonies in India and began to question things. His curiosity later on led him to study a 5 year programme in Religion and Psychology so he's doing 3 years in Varanasi at the university, living here…

I was intrigued to find out how he found religion and how he became to believe all of a sudden, he replied "by experience". We talked about how difficult it is to explain this belief in something greater and the connection between us all but again he replied "I cant prove someone an orange what it taste like, what it looks like if they have no concept of it. They have to learn through experience, by eating an orange". So we sat and talked for some time, bouncing ideas, having a laugh. His future is just as relaxed, he has no idea at this point what he'll end up doing after his studies as its another year to go, he's stopped planning his life, stopped bringing strict structure to it, he commented that he didn't want to close doors to what may be potentially a great opportunity. One thing was that he is very enthusiastic to share all he's learnt so far so he will surely do well.

He gave me some ideas about philosophy books I could read and from there left to get on with his daily studies. It was so weird, I know that my lesson is to learn to let go of this reins, to release the control freak that I can become sometimes, always thinking ahead of what is next. And yet when I get rid of that structure in my day I always have great encounters with great people, who always walk away with good messages.