I’d like to share some musings on 'nostalgia' I just had with a friend of mind Ansuman Biswas, who is currently in India, on a an Arts Council England Research Placement at HP Labs, India. His blog is http://diffractionbangalore.blogspot.com/
Hi Margareta,
What you say early on about nostalgia for 'home' really resonated with me. What happens when you visit somewhere without that halo of emotion, and start relating to it as just another place? I certainly felt that happening as I came back to India last week. After less than three weeks in London!
HI Ansuman,
glad it resonated with you, yes, it is interesting that lack of nostalgia this time. The transition from one place to another seems more seamless…and I feel more grounded…I thought that meant that I am not ready, but maybe I was more ready then any other time?
I was thinking that this time you are actually living in India, rather then visiting, so it is more real, also more close, more intimate…Is nostalgia a way of keeping the idea of home intact whilst on some level not engaging with the reality, with what's really there?
Hi Margareta,
I constantly want what I haven't got. I'm surrounded by fields of desire. In fact I'm nothing but the landscape. As I realize that the greenness of the grass, on the other side of a fence I build, is only an optical illusion, I learn to stay put. What's left when I'm not looking somewhere else? That's when the real work starts. But that's only if I can avoid the incessant hurdling of fences in
search of the ultimate green grass. Or the stagnation of nostalgia, which as you rightly say, can be a buffer against reality.
All this applies, I think, not just to place, but also to action, insofar as all action is based on desire. With each new satisfaction, if addiction can be wrestled down, the craving for more may be understood and quenched.
Eventually the wisest thing to do is nothing.
Takes a lot of hurdling to get there though. Which is I guess why we're travelling the world. Have fun!
Hi Ansuman,
That is beautiful said, I can feel the meditation just by reading your words. Doing nothing for me is about creating connection with stillness which is so important in order to see how it all works, nostalgia, desire, action…But it is an ongoing challenge for me to 'do nothing', especially here, with so many undercurrents present. I can feel them – childhood memories, familiar smells, learnt behaviour, all of it has such power. It is seductive and repulsive at the same time. There are so many deep deep levels in which to understand 'going home' and 'being home', and yes, it takes a lot of hurdling…But like you say maybe that's why we keep travelling…
