….. clearing space on the desk and I come across some maps and bits of paper – the notes, email contacts, reminders of people and things that I must follow up with/on – all connected with time spent in Baroda, India last May/June. Baroda – one of my homes, one that I grew up in and moved away from, and one that I am getting to know again. The ‘map’ keeps changing and I am not sure how much I really know or can grasp about this place, or even of Bangkok where I now live. But there are other, more ethereal things that strike a chord, stir up memories, such as the intense and stifling heat just before the monsoon breaks. Thinking back about May time spent in Baroda and I can smell and taste the anxiety of waiting for the rains to come. I was waiting to plant some trees and the summer-parched earth was not ready to receive yet..
I would like to be there now. There is a piece of land, a half acre small farm that is surrounded by water on 3 sides – 2 flowing irrigation canals, and a seasonal pond that fills up in the monsoon, which has a majestic banyan tree growing on its bank. I think of this half acre, and how having it could become a way to re-root in this place whose smells and sights I long for from time to time.
