A Special Journey…completes with belief

I’m lost for words

I arrived at the second Holy gate.
The driver and I departed without ego,
One more evening before my pilgrimage begins,
Time to unpack and rest my tired mind.
At 5am my eyes open from darkness,
The rain is pushing against the window,
‘Will we be able to walk today’,
‘It rains 5-6am each day’ I hear,
By 6am I am focused, no rain!
With my mum I make the climb,
It takes several hours, lots of encouragement,
People of all ages are climbing today,
Each with a reason for their soul,
Alas, we have reached the very top,
I am now lost for words, speechless,
My troubled and angry heart at peace.
***********************************
[“A special journey” series – Wednesday]

 

 

A Special Journey…continues with faith

My ego combed, I continued

We arrived at the first Holy gate,
Here I was supposed to let go,
But it seems my ego held tight,
While others forsake comfort to sleep simple,
I slept on silk sheets dreaming pleasures,
Next day we began the rocky drive,
Our driver was in a foul mood,
It seems he’d fought with loved ones,
His ego was overwhelming his driving ability,
The roads were narrow barely enough room,
I sunk my head in prayer for safety,
Thoughts of my two angels back home,
Rang deep in my now nervous heart,
With each breath I chanted for strength,
In that moment a mirror image revealed,
My ego I had to comb away,
The barrier I had to tear down,
Fear had now dispelled itself from me,
The path ahead now was much clearer,
Two strangers had found solace and peace,
I arrived at the second Holy gate!

[“A special journey” series – Tuesday]

 

 

A Special Journey…begins with a thought

A Thought begins here

 

There was a thought in my mind,
Amidst the chaos and noise that was,
A thought which I couldn’t take back.
Upon that thought I made a wish,
From the wish a purpose lay ahead,
Now the purpose had to be reality.
The reality drove us to start planning,
Our planning led us to a runway,
From the runway the plane took off.
Hearts sank as two angels left behind,
Tears now dried from weeks of crying,
10,000 miles later the plane landed home.
Home where once my ancestors had lived,
Vulnerable and unprotected we now felt exposed,
Further exhaustion lay in wait for us.
But repetition of our fate was temporary,
We both had something to cling to,
‘Take me there’ a humble request parted.
As the hot Delhi dust finally settled,
And ashes were merged with sacred waters,
It was time to fulfil that wish.
Busy roads crossed, horning cars we passed,
I dismissed the heat and maintained focus,
Then three days and two nights later.
We arrived at the first Holy gate!

[A special journey background]

 

 

‘A Special Journey’ series this week

Something to share

Each day this week I will be sharing fragments of a special experience in my life from 1993, when I was the tender age of 16. The experience was based on a journey with my family. I won’t give too much away and hope the build up is worth it when we get to Friday. Do you have a journey of your own you made that was a turning point in your life?

 

 

Invitation Accepted

Book update: An Austin, Two Singhs and The Road

Inder and Gurcharan Chhatwal, like many other Asians before them,  toiled with the thought of leaving their homeland to come to England in search of work. Post the Commonwealth Immigrants Act in 1962,  this meant obtaining a government-based work voucher; some were successful, others not so lucky. But this story wouldn’t have existed if the brothers weren’t successful in obtaining their voucher.

Enjoy the snippet on this post, the authentic work voucher obtained by Inder Singh Chhatwal in 1963.

In the coming weeks I will be visiting the multi-cultural town of Slough to better understand what life was like during Inder and Gurcharan’s time, also hoping to visit the houses where they were renting when they first arrived.

Related posts: A Story needs sharing