Saint or Sinner?!

Gratitude

Blessed

Content

Detached

Free

These words came to mind at the beginning of my meditation today.

With a positive attitude, life flows by, like a river on a mountain, under a clear blue sky, in the glow of sunshine. All I care to hear is the birds' sound and the leaves' movement as they barely touch through the breeze of the fresh air.

There is always a reason for absolutely everything that happens in life. Be it a smile from a stranger, for a momentary boost of the mood, or an in-depth chat with a friend over the progress we have made along our journey to reach a state of joy within. What made me get so emotionally philosophical now was an inspiring lunch with Charlotte, talking about the fruition that comes with a good heart and a better understanding of how the world operates on a spiritual level. Let alone anger, ego, and attachments of any kind, and instead, replace them with love and forgiveness, detachment, and freedom. Free yourself of all expectations.

Last night, my new... Mmm... For now, let's call him 'my new intimate friend'; he went to the movies and had a delicious bite of Japanese at a new local restaurant. A yummy night altogether.

I picked a French/Canadian film called 'Cafe de Flore' by Jean-Marc Vallee. At the end of the movie, I was left astounded. It intertwined the life of this 'perfect' couple, in parallel to the love of a protective mother towards her son with Down syndrome. Stories separated by time and space, conjoined by love. This a definite recommendation. It reminded me of a book I once read about past lives called 'Many Lives, Many Masters'.

In case you found the beginning of this blog too heavy, let me tell you about a fun adventure that happened not long ago!

On one of my journeys of discovery of the self and places, I found myself landed in Kerala, India, with Aisha, Aida and Raquel, on an ayurvedic resort amid a garden of Eden, on top of a forestry hill, close to the sea, after two weeks of early morning meditation, followed by yoga, vegetarian meals and two hours of massage by two ladies daily. On our last night, we decided to dine at the sister resort to ours called Somatheeram, ten minutes away, accompanied by our new friend Omja, who had been most hospitable in showing us around the area on our two weeks' stay and with whom we had well acquainted over our regular visits to his jewellers' shop in the compound of our hotel. The night had fallen as we arrived at Somatheeram, dressed up in the Indian costumes we had purchased on the day for our last supper under the stars. As I took a picture of Aisha in her loosely worn headscarf, I noticed a blue-eyed young man pass by and smile. Of course, catching his glance, I asked sweetly:

"Do you mind taking a picture of us?"

And so he did. We asked him to join us for dinner, but he declined; however, he took our mobile number in case he could come by after the meal. 

We finished our meal, and as we returned back to our place of residence to catch a couple hours of sleep (not me, being last minute, I had not packed yet) before being picked up at 2am for our flight, a text arrived, from whom but the blue-eyed Vlad asking whether I needed help packing! After all, a girl could do with the company at a late hour amid a forest. N'est-ce-pas? Remember I was sharing a room with Raquel, who was in a jolly mood, chatting to us over dinner after her first half bottle of wine in two weeks.  

But that cheeky kiss he stole from me in the bushes that night before leaving must have left its mark as two years down the line, I received a text from Vlad, saying he was visiting London for two weeks and asked whether we could meet. My busy schedule had not allowed any time for a get-together since I returned from New York. On his last day, we finally managed to see each other, recalling the possibility of our brief encounter and the re-visit. Different friendships form in different ways.

Last week, as part of a cultural feed, Sylvia joined me on Wednesday at Tate Modern's Damien Hirst exhibition. Although I did not consider myself a fan, his work on butterflies caught my attention, especially their light blue circle, fine and delicate. The countless medicine cabinets, each carrying a theme as in 'Sinner' to 'Anarchy', with a recommendation of different pharmaceutical goods to take for each heading, from Zantac to antibiotics and pain killers to many more suggestions. 

We left Tate Modern in the rain to catch a taxi to the West End's Royal Haymarket Theatre to see the comedy 'One Man, Two Guvnors', which was funny but not precisely the humour I enjoy. Once our cultural needs had been satisfied, hunger drove us to dinner at the very trendy Bodega Negra basement in Soho, to be the last two leaving the entrance next to the Sex Shop on the street.

Another visit to Novikov's restaurant last week was inviting Hessa to celebrate her years at a large table with her many friends present. After dinner, A group descended to the basement club for more chatter and a little boogie.

Where else did I go?  

Omar had asked me to accompany him in Westfield (Mall) one-afternoon last week to look for ladies' high heels as he and Bobby were invited to a fancy dress party of 'black tie and stilettos'. I was totally flattered by my friend asking me, and we giggled while he tried walking in them, being thrown glances of lifted eyebrows as Omar innocently confessed to never having tried high heels before. Not only did Omar and I meet again at Hessa's party, but he and Bobby invited me and Kristel out to Noura's fabulous Lebanese on Saturday night. We met three times in one week!

Tonight, I have returned from a cocktail at Savoir Beds. In this shop, a party was held promoting their high-quality beds, filled with feathers and girls dancing in Myla designer lingerie for the evening's entertainment. The invite came from Kelly, asking Ernest, Torsten and me to join her at the venue; right up my alley in more ways than one!  

As I moved my head from side to side to look directly across the crowd, Kelly followed my gaze and smiled, asking:

"And what are you looking at now, Haldita?"

Then she turned around and noticed a tall, long-haired blonde man standing on the opposite side and said: "It's just eye candy; I knew exactly."

I blew out air and said: "I don't just have a sweet tooth, you know? But also a sweet eye!"

We parted ways before midnight tomorrow. There was a new destination in store.

As one of my friends texted:

"Haldita, are you in town or on another one of your exotic destinations?"

I had to reply: "Well, I'm off to Manchester tomorrow, out of all places. Would you call that exotic?!"

 

My life is so varied, and my stories are diverse... Now...  Am I a Saint or a Sinner?! 

Neither really, I am just me; sometimes saint, others sinner.