Sometimes a series of events takes place that initially sprouts with something completely prosaic, but the result is something unexpectedly beautiful. Not necessarily revelatory or enlightening – sometimes its just a reminder or a sweet something to ponder on – but ultimately it ends with a happy little curling upwards of the lips and a contented sigh (a little like just after you’re finished with a tub of Ben n Jerry’s while lounging on your favourite sofa :)
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My latest experience with this is quite sappy and twee – but I’m going to share it anyway :p. It all started with the Eid weekend and a cousin getting married, which resulted in me missing Surabhi’s singing for Navratri. She was only singing for a couple of minutes, but the guilt stick dangled over my head and made me realise that our dutiful weekly Sunday breakfasts had dwindled to the occasional lunches and emails now and then – a sad fate for friends with the history that we have. I won’t go into the whole story – but the tale starts like this: Well we’ve known each other since we were seven… and blah blah blah :)
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Anyway. Me feeling guilty was coupled with a sudden craving for Italian food, and my wrenching absence from a decent bookstore in a looooong time. In searching for a solution to kill all the birds in the equation with one stone, I stumbled onto success: an Italian place near a bookstore on a day we were both free. It’s amazing what I’ll consider as a success these days – time is slipping slipping falling crashing running dashing darting away ever so quickly.
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The restaurant I found was called Piccolo Mondo.
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Freetranslation.com: Piccolo Mondo is Italian for ‘small world’.
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Flashback: Sitting on the little boat in Disneyland (with Surabhi, no less!) on the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride.
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Recollection: The lyrics to the song that my brother and I played repeatedly when we were kids. Sorry Hargobind, I wouldn’t have dragged you into this but the truths of your past cannot be buried :p
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It's a world of laughter, a world of tears.
It's a world of hopes, and a world of fears.
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware,
It's a small world after all.
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Chorus:
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small, small world.
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There is just one moon, and one golden sun.
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide,
And the oceans are wide,
It's a small world after all.
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Are you paying attention?
Read the lyrics again.
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It’s just a children’s song on a theme park ride with animated dolls depicting cultures and scenes from around the world. Any admittedly, it can get pretty cloying after a while.
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But pause. Think about the depth embedded in its simplicity.
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This song reminds me that it all boils down to Ek. One God, one world, one soul. It’s not only a small world; it’s our world, and our only world. These are things we all already know, but how often do we think, and I mean really think about this? The concept of ‘one’ is so simple and yet so unfathomable.
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‘Modern’ thinking resists; it screams of individualism, independence, uniqueness. It raises walls to guard the entity and protect its distinctiveness. We are programmed to see the differences, but ‘Ek’ calls to us to forget the divergences – those are superficial and physical and man-made. Seek only the essence and the root of everything, for in that there is only one.
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If you believe in Ek Oangkar, then you must believe that you and I are one. Our atma is a part of the same Parmatma; His/Her spirit that lives in me is also in you. As Yogi Bhajan says: if you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.
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This is my Everest. My ego fights back and in my mind there is a perpetual slide show on how to create Maginot lines to preserve my distinction from you. The automatic response is always to judge, to hate, to separate. Tolerance and compassion are slower to act, and oftentimes too late.
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The website I copied the lyrics from ended the page with a note that summed it up for me:
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Repeat ad nauseam until it's permanently etched into your neural synapses.
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Maybe that will help, knowing that “there is just one moon and one golden sun”. And it’s a small, small world.
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How strange. This post began with a cousin’s wedding, transitted at an Italian restaurant (which we ended up not going to, by the way) and ended with a new mantra to live by.
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You see what I mean about random events?
Hargobind with his batch mates
Our parents and grandparents
All winged-up!
Hargobind, I love you but even more than that, I love all the benefits your flying entitles me too! ;)
With our family
Technically speaking they were not wearing graduation hats - they are actually a part of their uniform - but they couldn't resist!
Before anyone gets any ideas, let me point out that my brother was only there for the photo and did not participate in this tradition :)
After the ceremony, Hargobind took us around for a tour of the hangar. Here he's showing off some fancy new airplane to Pilot Sr. All I could think off was hmmm... the plane looks cute but I might wreck my heels trying to get in and out of it! 
Engineers in action at the hangar 
The only sad thing about leaving Langkawi was leaving Artisan's - Hargobind's favourite diner on the island (which is also where we celebrated my birthday earlier this year). This is his expression of pain as he has the last slice in a looooooong time... 
