I want to go to India

You know

Into one of those beautiful color parades filled with music, laughter and explosions of red, orange, yellow and purple powders filling the atmosphere.

I want to visit a local street fair, meet new individuals

A wise old man with wrinkles so deep they look like they’ve been carved into an art form

Wrinkles so deep you wonder what is inside

And the crease of his smile so wide you can just tell that he has lived an extraordinary life

Sun kissed skin, bruises, a bronze skin color, hair in patches with gray fluff on top

I want to ask him about his children, grandchildren

I want to ask what makes him smile wider than the sun

I want to try his home made naan and curry, ask him what religion he studies, if any, and what I can to to live an extraordinary life too.

I go onto a rickety bus

No windows

A thick layer of dirt covering the whole bus that you would never know the color was as yellow as a bumble bee.

We drive though the main part of the town

I see a little dog sitting near a building, she looks tired but fulfilled at the same time

She is nursing her babies trying to make them rest

She slowly licks their little brown heads until they close their tiny eyelids

Covering the bright blue iris that shines like the ripple of the moonlit ocean at midnight

The essence in the air is earthy

Fresh

Smelling of fresh soil.

I whiff turmeric

Garlic

Pepper

I smell simmering vegetables in pots

Fresh steamed rice with steam emerging like ghosts are haunting the entire village

Creeping their white, fluorescent hands upon all of us

Seducing us with their scrumptious fragrance

I step out onto the soil

I remove my shoes

And I walk up to this group of children.

Feeling the earth between my toes makes me feel like I’ve sunken into the planet itself

I am united

I am free

I am being

I walk up to one of the little boys and I wave

I’m not sure if they understand at first but then suddenly…

He says, “Hello!”

I’m shocked

I say, “Hi there, how are you?”

He turns his head looking confused

Like that look you get from your puppy when they don’t understand you

I thought to myself quietly, whilst he was still looking at me, along with all of his friends

Then boom!

I got it!

I whipped out a piece of paper, and used my palm to fold it in a like manner

Then with my hand closed

I hold it out to the little boy and I gently grab his hand and face it palm open

He grins in excitement

I release a scarlet colored paper crane into his little hand

Immediately after, he gives me a big hug

My stomach is fluttering and to be able to feel such connection with one I cannot physically speak to puts me in a whirlwind

It makes me feel like all of the earth’s species are connected

We are one