I am looking forward to the day that I can introduce my daughters to India. I have thought of the day for years, wondering and pondering just what part of my mother country that I would want them to see and experience first. Contrasting their experiences with all things known and unknown is the one repeating theme that I keep coming back to. There are several alternatives.
I could drop in with them to the game preserves; letting them experience the unique beauty of the dense forest lands filled with bison, elephants, deer, birds, and maybe even the rare tiger. We could head toward the parks in the rugged Himalayan Mountains of the north or journey in contrast to the hills and lakes in the south. Sport fishing, elephant polo, and camping out in native huts are all here!
We could explore the cities and haunts of my childhood. The beautiful gardens and sights of Bangalore are calling. The quiet city of my youth is now filled with shopping, coffee pubs, and fashion stores. I could entice them with the best sweets found in South India, but that would be giving too much away.
Friends old and new would love us to visit, sharing our journeys and the friendships established through several generations. These ideas and more keep falling through, all under the guise of trying to share what I find most compelling in the land that shaped my framework to life far more than I understand.
What I see now is that while all of this is important there is a gift that India gave to me that I value even more. It is here that the divine and the human are never separated. Temples, churches, and mosques are all about, but that is not the difference. Newspapers have major columnist writing on the priority of the spiritual in business success, yet that is not the final answer. It is here that I know without a doubt that “we humans [will] keep brainstorming options and plans, but God’s purpose [does] prevails.” (Proverbs 19.22)
Thanks India.
