Around Here

When arriving in a new neighborhood, everything is fresh to the eye. The streets, the shops, the habits are all foreign; the attention is drawn to the picturesque. The days and months and seasons pass, the routine takes its toll on the interest one can have in the surroundings. The days become weeks; the weeks, seasons; the seasons, years: the spirit gets used to the neighborhood and it dreams of novelty in other areas, cities, continents.

It takes a bit of will and the conscience that true travelling is not about chasing the next landscape, but about transforming one’s way of looking at the landscape at hand. One can follow the slow progression of changes in the everyday life downstairs and quench her curiosity, as long as the eye is attentive and the spirit is prepared. The focus of our attention reveals as much of our souls, as our manners, actions, ambitions, values do.

At the end, the way one looks at her neighborhood is a mirror that reveals oneself. Our daily itineraries, the shops we prefer, the windows we stare at are as much part of ourselves as of the surroundings. One can lose herself in Zanzibar, Kolkata or downstairs, at the end it does not really matter.

In fact, we are eternal wanderers within ourselves, there is no landscape but who we are.