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Journal

Newer entries, July 2021

A decade of listening

Close up of a dilruba, a traditional Sikh string instrument, resting on a blue and white woven fabric with its bow beside it

The dilruba found me during the pandemic.

I listened to Jatinder Singh Durhailay for nearly a decade before I finally picked up the dilruba myself. It took a pandemic and a lot of stillness to get there. There is no rushing this instrument. It does not reward impatience. You sit, you bow, you listen to what comes back. It has become one of the most meditative parts of my life and I did not see that coming at all.

Mirror

Dense evergreen treeline reflects in the flat surface of a calm lake beneath a pale dusk sky.

A treeline meeting its double on still water.

The lake gave the forest back to itself without a ripple. I stood on the bank trying to find the line where one ended and the other began. There wasn't really one.