heading out of mangoland early in the morning and i finally got around to taking some pictures of the nursery, mango hut, etc. im absconding with two kinds of pickle — one spicy and one a shredded jam — and a few kilos of rice, which some of you may get to joy if the goods make it over the border. also have seeds for three kinds of holy medicinal indian basil (ocimum santum) which i’m very excited to plant in the western hemisphere.

but the point is i helped start a nursery for vegetables and trees, and worked for the second year on a permanent vegetable garden, and, most importantly, all the little cowpea (it’s a bean) guys i direct seeded into the field last week sprouted, grew, and ARE ALIVE! all of them. this is no less than a miracle — a little plant in every place i buried (“sowed”) the seeds, sometimes two (there were two seeds in every hole), and — in one hole — THREE. truly a miracle since i diligently put two seeds in every hole. but then again the plant kingdom works in mysterious ways.

so, you know, i win. one day, getting closer all the time, i will actually stay in one place long enough to eat those dang beans and save seed for my friends. it’s coming.

on to ahmedabad tomorrow, to meditate with mukeshbhai, my friend and teacher, the guiding light in my life to return me to the focus on the One Love in the Amazon, though he wouldn’t quite say it like that. during our last chat he gave me new instructions (instead of the mountaintop, i just have to answer the little matrix phone these days)

“Ankur, no meditation: Only Love. You are made of Love.”

by which I think he means, meditate as much as you can, and when you do so, just feel the love in your heart. but really, what do I know of what he means. that’s why i continue to sit with him as often as I let myself.

travels ahead, troubles behind, pickle recipes on the way, and praying that the photos uploaded. there are also some other, older, smaller pictures Butter sent me that finally got up to the server, from our couple of weeks together in delhi and uttarkhand. the address is

http://www.somethingconstructive.net/photos/ghee

(what else would you call Butter in india? obviously.)

and the pictures of my mango hut, to which I said goodbye just hours ago, are at

http://www.somethingconstructive.net/photos/futane

and some posts I wrote last week but did not publicize are here:

http://www.mangolandia.org/archives/269

http://www.mangolandia.org/archives/268

and I am giving a reading at Bluestockings Book Store in NYC on August 9th, at 7pm. Teleport in and we’ll have a powwow.

under the stars,
ankur-la