Life's Ups And Downs!

The beauty of life is that it is unpredictable! We never know what's coming up next. Sure, we can plan and prepare and most of the time, our plans follow their course. But realize that there are no guarantees and no assurances that our plans WILL indeed follow their courses. We are so used to it that we expect nothing different. Yet, life happens as we make plans and we are forced to react and respond to it. Our response, our attitude, our approach determines our experience of the change in plan be it positive or negative.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to India in December, 2011. These were taken as we drove between Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Since we were on a schedule, we couldn't stop and take photos as I would have liked, thus, I had to settle for taking pics from our moving van, through the windshield or the glass window.

Please take about 10-15 secs to really look at each photo. There are so many details to absorb.
These photos below were taken early morning and we can see the fog lingering close to the earth as the villagers begin their day.

Check out this guy on back of a rickshaw which is actually being pulled by another man! I abhor these!!! It breaks my heart to see a human being having to not only pull the heavy frame of the rickshaw but also, carry and tug the weight of his passengers!!! What a way to make a living. 

Garbage littering adjacent to shacks are a common sight all across India.

These make shift homes/shacks house families with small children. The cots standing against the walls are what the villagers use as beds. This simple cot is in fact a luxury item for the villagers. Most families spend night after night sleeping on a hard, dusty floor with just a thin sheet of cloth or newspaper between their tired, aching bodies and the floor. Check out the heart with the arrow drawn across it. Guess this can be added to yet another universal image depicting cupid's arrow.

The townhomes on the left are a huge step up. Also, check out the wife holding on to her husband as he rides them on his bicycle.

On our way to Jaipur and Fatehpur Sikri

Cows, buffaloes roaming in the streets and the sidewalks are an everyday thing.

Just another street with auto-rickshaws, scooters, cars and bicycles sharing the same road.

On the left is the line of rickshaws waiting for their next passenger.

The local market area where farmers sell their fruits and vegetables. 

A head of sheep on their way to greener pastures. 

Check out the little hut on the side of the road. This is just one of the hundreds of "dhabas" - local little restaurants that serve tea and food.

A young family on their motorcycle with their young child nestled between the parents. So much for helmets and seat belts. :)

Another roadside temple.

A game of cricket in the open ground shared by local buffaloes.

Horse-carts carrying loads along with workers who will unload it when they reach their destination.

Green fields!

Check out the makeshift scarecrow to the left.

Another street side temple.

I hope you enjoyed these images which depict the contradiction that India is with one metaphorical foot in the future, as one of the global leaders of technology and the other metaphorical foot seeped deep in ways dating back to the 20th century.

By the way, I recently watched this amazing movie called, "The Impossible".  It depicts the experience of a family of five foreigners as they get caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand.  This was an incredible movie in terms of the director's ability to capture the tsunami's after math. But more importantly, it was a very good reminder of the unpredictability of life.

A wise man has said, "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." Now if we could just remember this as we go about the business of living life.

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another,
a

Day 6 contd...Aly and Zayn On The Trapeze.

I am unable to upload the videos of the boys on the trapeze so I decided to take photos of them instead.

Aly climbing up the ladder and steps on the platform. Atila is the staff member in the green tshirt. The lady on the platform is probably in her late 50's and was in excellent shape.  

Aly takes off on the bar. Look on the left side of the picture. "Mad Max" the other staff member is the one hanging upside down on the bar on the right side of the picture.

Aly swings all the way to the right and then swings back again to the left.

He pulls his knees towards his chest and tucks them on top of the bar as he hangs upside down on the bar in mid-air.

Aly hangs from behind his knees and stretches out his arms as he swimgs towards Mad Max.

Mad Max and Aly grab each other's hands and Mad max swings him to the right before bringing him back.

Check Aly out on the right side of the picture.

Mad Max swings Aly all the way out...

...and then back toward the left to hopefully catch the bar that he started off on.

But Aly misses and falls slowly on the net. 

ZAYN'S TURN!

Check out the belt around his waist. This is what they all wear so that the safety cables can be attached to it.

Zayn climbs up the ladder to go to the platform

Zayn steps on to the platform with Atila.

Atila attaches the safety cables on to Zayn's waist belt.

Zayn reaches for the bar.

And off he goes as he steps off the platform and swimgs.

Zayn swings up toward Mad Max and then swings back toward the platform and tucks his knees in and positions himself to hang from the bar.

Zayn tucks himself in.

And he starts to swing back toward Mad Max as he is hanging upside down off the bar.

And he reaches toward Mad Max and they grab each other's hands.

Mad Max swimgs him outward toward the right...

before swinging him back toward the platform.

Zayn is hanging toward the right side of the picture.

Zayn misses the bar on the way back and slowly falls on the safety net.

Aly said that he spent about 15 hours on the trapeze during the week at Punta Cana's Club Med Resort.
Zayn started up on the last couple of days. Considering how little time the boys spent on the trapeze, I have to admit that I was totally impressed.

Love and Light
Anita

Punta Cana - Day 4 and 5!

Day 4 was pretty uneventful. I spent the later part of the day on the beach in my usual spot and stayed until the sun was almost down. It was beautiful sitting on the beach at the edge of the water as the waves came to pay their respect just inches away from my feet. 

There are two distinct sounds of the ocean at sunset.  The first sound is the gentle sound of the waves lapping against the shore. 

The second is this low rumbling sound that threatens to escalate but never quite does. This was the sound of the large waves forming some 200-300 feet in on the ocean's surface. I sat with my eyes closed and listened to the two sounds and felt the cool breeze against my skin. 

 I walked back to the room around 6:30 pm, showered, had dinner with the boys and called it an early night.

Day 5 was another beautiful day. 

The boys were busy practicing for their shows that were going to be a part of. After dinner, Aly and I attended "The Ramp Show" which was presented by the Kid's Club and the Teen's Club. Zayn did a fantastic job dancing and singing with the other kids. Their performances were quite impressive considering that they had only been practicing for three days. Aly didn't participate in the show because he didn't want to attend the practice sessions. Instead, he spent most of his free time, learning how to swing from the trapeze, sailing and watching shows on Netflix when he couldn't do the other two.

Zayn on the top right with the other kids during the show.

The MC's of the night were the counselors, Hunter and Bilal, who ran the kid's club all week. These guys were super friendly and sweet. The premise of the show was that the tweens who called themselves "Young Money" would battle the teens who called themselves "Swag". What followed was a series of dance performances by various groups of teens and tweens. It's always entertaining and fun for parents to watch their kids perform.

Zayn is in the center of the picture with the white jeans on.

The Finale. Zayn is second to the right.

Their version of the Harlem Shake.

After Zayn's show ended, I walked over to the trapeze for Aly's trapeze show.  The show wasn't until 10:30 pm. I hung around there waiting and watching as the guests, including Aly, and the staff members, stretched and warmed up before the show. They were given tights and unitards to wear for the show. Aly had this silver/grey tights with these blue wave like patterns on it.

My confident Aly poses for me.

The team stretches out before the performance.

Aly is the second on the left.

The group stretches with Geneviev (she is the one in the red outfit on the left - 26 yr old, originally from Canada - she is such a sweetheart and an awesome person. )

Aly sits and watches the staff demonstrate a wicked trick! These guys are amazing!

I can't seem to upload the video so I took some pictures during the day practice. I'll post those in a separate post.

The group stands for their final bow.

The group gets together after the bow back in their corner to have a final bonding huddle.

Love and Light,

Anita