...and so I wrapped things up in India and bid it a farewell. And live happily ever after in Cape Town, my beloved city. After 5 years we are joyously reunited again. India has taught me new perspectives, things to be grateful for and showed me to focus more on what I want instead of what I don't want.

THE END

The Waterpump

It's June, I am in Delhi, it is summer and it is hot. I'm talking 44 degrees Celsius going on 322 percent heat! I was on a beautiful holiday in Dubai and then South Africa, from having gorgeous weather, to scorch in Delhi's Dilliness!

As most of you know, I live my life as a student. A spiritual being trying to figure out this human thing. Always willing to understand the law of attraction, always attempting to tune in to positive channels and making a whole candy coated adventure out of life. So here is my story for this month. A series of unfortunate events as I have tuned into a shaky frequency. As I am making a conscious effort to become aware of my limiting beliefs again, I am getting myself slowly out of this uncomfort zone. It is fabulous. I am learning about myself every day, humbling myself to this big universe and learning to appreciate things that we absolutely take for granted.

Today is the fifth day we've had no running water. Even though I am African, I never thought I'd experience this. Our waterpump blew up and our tanks ran empty (in Delhi, each building of flats has a couple of water tanks on the rooftop or at the bottom which get filled up with water by the government twice a day, you need the waterpump to get it to your apartment). So as usual in India, we were promised that'll be fixed the next day. But you know, this is India and people are laid-back and there is apparently no urgency for such basic necessities. So we started showering at our friends' houses and then eventually asked our neighbour (who befriended the cat) for water. Two buckets can get two people bathed, the (pile of) dishes washed, drinking water for the two cats and flush the toilet once. Well, the pump has been fixed, but the tanks are empty because well... tomorrow another guy comes because the 'sensor' is broken too (the thing that 'senses' that the tank is full or needs water, and therefore didn't 'sense' that we needed water)

On top of that a guy threatened to slap me and called me horrible names, our scooter's starter got stuck and so did the scooter. My rental agent owes me one year's rent and cannot be found. I ran out of cash for a little while and lived on 10 Euro for a week. The cats were hungry, it was hot and life just sucked! Man, it gets hot! I feel the need to shower 11 times a day, my skin is dry and my hair is falling out, I sweat behind my knees, haha. BUT!
I (and all of us) have the power to undo all these things and recreate our future with our thoughts as we have put ourselves in our current situation in the first place. This I knew, and yet it's never easy to admit it. I have blinded my sight somehow by blaming others for yucky stuff happening to me and eventually became a blob of selfpity.

Today I accept and approve of myself exactly the way I am. Today I have the power to make myself happy or unhappy.

Water is so precious. I see the neighbours using about 4 buckets of water to clean their driveway, and that almost hurts to observe, ouch. Water is so powerful. It blesses our lives!! Please use water consciously and carefully. Be kind to your neighbour. Be humble. We are no better than the guy taking out the garbage or cleaning public toilets. Show them respect by just acknowledging them and perhaps say hi or thank you. One thing I adore in India is that I can put my palms together to greet someone as it is respectable and common - and oh so humbling and kind. I do this often while I can, because back in South Africa, I'll just be another hippy freak.

This whole little struggle and challenge came as a blessing. Burnt the fields down so that new flowers can grow.

I bow down to thee, the god within us all.
In gratitude


Ps.... and then the water came :-)



“In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference”
Rachel Carson

Bike Me

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul."

I've always wanted to write an entry about riding a superbike and today I learned (again) a valuable lesson.
I am currently in Dubai on holiday. When I used to live here and owned my own bike, we used to go on regular bikeruns (riding in a group with fellow bikers to a specific destination and have breakfast/lunch together) We reunited today and aimed for Hatta Fort Hotel, a gorgeous oasis surrounded by the Hatta mountains. It was a different ride. Little sandstorms greeted us everywhere and I wondered if going slow or going really fast was better. I was afraid. Fear is no state in which a biker should find him/herself. While going down a highway at 200kph, I think how insane it must be if one of the wheels had to burst, or the chain came off, or someone changes lane without seeing me, or, or, or... And when I get over this feeling, I go a bit faster and rather enjoy the ride. There is a saying that: "only a biker knows why a dog likes to stick his head of out the window' :) There is something absolutely mindblowing about feeling the wind at that kind of speed on your bare body, knowing you are in the open, fragile and then you go a little faster. The road to Hatta is full of twisties (you know, those wide winding roads straddling the mountains) and for a moment I feel like Rossi - I look at the turn ahead of me, I look where it starts, where it ends, I estimate the angle, I change gear, I brake a little so that the weight of the bike sinks into the surface, I shift my bum and body to the side, tilt my head a little and then bam! Lean machine. What a beauty! Those bikes understand twisties. They are true iron horses! Whip it some more and see it goes.

Bikers, I believe, are better motorists. We have to know what other people are up to. We know who is behind us, what 5 cars in front of us are doing, left, right and find ourselves in constant peripheral vision. Especially on a highway like Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, I find myself calculating space & time & energy particularly when I'm in competition with myself or another biker. In highway cases, you have to go with the flow of the traffic, right - so you analyze the speed of different lanes and then match that with the space between cars in order to overtake them, in a continuous manner. I LOVE doing this! And my favourite was when I came back from a yoga class feeling all zen and calm and sped down this highway as if I was in a video game. Yes, I'm sure you're reading this thinking, perhaps judging, how mad we are, but it's doing what I love and it's overcoming fear.

So, back at the sandstorms of today. On the way back after breakfast, I slowed down because my borrowed jacket was too big for me making me into a human kite. So I fell behind and the boys didn't wait for me (they'll usually wait at exits and round-abouts) And I took a wrong turn. At first, I was upset and blamed them, and then accepted that it would've been really unpleasant waiting for someone through a sandstorm anyway. Even though the turn said "Dubai", it was just one loooong tar road dividing the ocean of sand. It looked like an orange river flowing, and softly sandblasting my face (it managed to get into my helmet). There I was, alone, tired, lost in the desert and not one single soul or sign to get me back on track. Then I realized our options in life. There is ALWAYS an option. In my case today, I could've given up (which would've meant letting go of the bike and falling) My hands were hurting and cramping. Or I could've stopped (which would mean I stand there in the sandstorm holding up a bike without a free hand to make a call) So my choice was to look into those ripples of sand and persevere, go through it and know I will come out fine at the other side. This was not like in the movies. This was not easy. I was on that road for hours, keeping my bike up against the wind, letting sand scratch my eyeballs, letting the heat of the day drip down my back. But I talked to myself, I sang, I focused and stayed confident (even when I wanted to cry), and I remembered that sometimes we feel lost in life and that we want to give up, give in. But honey, you sometimes gotto go through the storm to see the rainbow (in my case a shower and drinking water).

The experience reminded me that I am a tawwe koekie (tough chick) and that I can achieve whatever I put my mind to (if I focus on the sandstorms, life will throw more sandstorms at me) This goes for when you ask god/the universe to teach/give you patience and it throws a big queue at the bank back at you. You might be blinded by frustration to actually see this perfect opportunity to teach you patience. The experience reminded me that we can't always be in control. All these outside factors made me look inside. I was one with my bike and one with the universe. And then I found my way back. I survived and I was thankful.

I am thankful for all the opportunities I have realized in my life. I am grateful for friends to whom I'm so different from and totally accept me the way I am and sometimes allow a friendly debate. I also thank the friends who happily have my name on their bikes and have it available to me when I visit! May these appreciations ripple through my universe and create a reciprocal gratitude effect.

Now, let me go put my high heels and lipstick on :)
Cheers


"I'd rather be riding my motorcycle thinking about God than sitting in church thinking about my motorcycle."

People and friends from all over the world

It's the first week of Spring and I survived the horrific Winter fashion, haha! It is common to see locals wear two-toed socks with their sandals and sarees, older ladies wearing beanies that say “Canada' on it, open tummies with a scarf, men with sleeveless woolen glitter sweaters, and cows, dogs and goats wearing jerseys. What a hilarious spectacle!

Diwali is a festival and celebration comparable to Christmas to Westerners and I experienced this for the first time. Imagine (really imagine) an entire country lighting fireworks all at the same time for 2 days non-stop. It's like something out of a movie, a war-zone - distant, nearby, noisy and everywhere you go. I'm used to seeing fireworks perhaps twice a year – New Year's Eve being one. Here it's at EVERY wedding (I've been to MANY), every celebration, every festival (and there are many) and every time you feel like it. The dogs & cats are freaked out and the earth is disgustingly polluted and littered as people just leave the packets and residue lying around. It killed it for me. Fireworks will not light up my face with a smile anymore.

And then there was Holi – the festival of colours. On this day, people throw and smear coloured powder (more potent mixed with water) on each other. It's a playful, colourful & fun event, although it leaves a dark mark on the environment. There are chemicals and oxidized metals in those powders, it's poor for your health and skin and stains everything it gets in contact with. It probably takes a year to degrade just in time for the next Holi, haha.

I don't mean to sound negative as much as realistic. Tourists who travel to India often say how nice and positive the people here are and that even though traffic is mad, they rarely make accidents. It is, afterall, a funny, unusual experience. But, reality check!! People are miserable and there are nasty accidents, DAILY and a life almost means next to nothing (I often see pictures of dead persons in the newspaper appealing for identification). It's a 'sweep the dirt under the carpet' attitude. Thing is, no one will ever say anything bad about India when asked about their experience. I gave my honest opinion once when asked, and I thought my head would be chopped off. So defensive!
A lot of celebrities come here all the time, which is pretty cool – it's like, ah, Lady Gaga this week (whom I saw live by the way) and Oprah the next.

I have been given the amazing opportunity to model in India. Just when I thought I'm over the hill for that, I found myself catwalking in Fashion Week. It was a dream come true!

I'm a celebrity, get me out of here....