"You used to walk around with a little bag on your back, and you'd say "I am going" my mother used to say to me. I don't remember being a kid. The years passing seem to be compacting old information, to let room for new information. Years at a time become an instant in a blurry memory, like a flower out of focus. Being very fortunate I was allowed to follow my childhood dream. I travel.
For the last 2 years, I have been from the North to the South of India, to the Himalayas. As for all the other trips of my life, this one was never planned. What was supposed to be a 3 month back and forth trip to India has become another life. Yet another life, another garden to grow, with new flowers and new branches.
Sometimes I wander how many lives we can live in one life. As if there was no need to die, so many lives already in one life. Each life, like a new flower in the garden. Looking through my many lives, the one thing I see that is constant is my family. My mam remains my mother, my father my father and my sister remains my sister. My family remains the roots of the tree I am. With each season, old leafs let way to the new leafs that grow on me, like a book, each page a new chapter. So, I keep on reading, each new road like a new story. Yet, the root remains the same, unchanged. The roots are like the center of my being, I can always go there to rest my head.
They say the stronger the roots of a tree, the more the tree can grow. My roots are strong, thanks to my family, I know where I come from.
Roots are most important, without them the tree can't grow.
So take care of your roots, give them love and you will give yourself love. Go back to your roots sometimes, but don't be afraid to grow your own branches. To take care of your tree, sometimes you will have to cut some branches. Don't be afraid, new branches will grow where old ones were. The old branches happy to go.
Spring is coming. Here, the mountains are still very quiet, except for the sound of the new hotels being build. The crowds of tourists have not arrived yet, they are staying where the weather is a bit warmer. The season in Baghsu seems to start slowly, the cafes and shops still being build.
"I start going in the garden again" writes my mam. As far as she is from me, I can sit with her and the cats, while she is taking care of the roses and the crocus fresh out of the snow. I know that soon tulips will come give sunlight to the garden. I look at the flowers here, and I think of my mam. I know she loves the red of the rodhodendrons on the trees, like the patches of color on the impressionist paintings she loves. I think of the silent times we spend together in the garden, pulling out the bad weeds to let room for new flowers. Dad, watching with a cigar in his hand and a smile on his face.
Later on the day, we'll all sit together around the table. We'll watch the evening news and we'll eat diner. We'll all go to sleep quietly, dreaming about our garden, each flower with a different story written on each petal, yet in the same garden.
And it's a beautiful dream.
Pour la fetes des meres, voici quelques photos prises En Inde et au Nepal durant les 2 dernieres annees de voyages. 
Une pensee pour toutes les mamans, et une pensee speciale pour ma maman. Une pensee pour ma soeur qui est devenue mere de mon petit neuveu Bilal en octobre. Une pensee pour une tres bonne amie a Los Angeles. Une pensee pour toutes les meres qui sont, qui seront et qui ont etaient.
Une pensee pour tous les hommes qui aiment ses femmes et les font meres.
Joyeuse fetes a toutes les mamans et un gros bisous a ma maman.
For Mother's day, here are a few pictures of flowers collected in India and Nepal during the last 2 years.
A thought to all Mother's, and a special thought for my Mother. A thought for my sister who became a mother in October of my little cousin Bilal. A thought for my very good friend In Los Angeles. A thought for all the Mothers to be, who have been and all those who are. A thought for all the men who love those women and make them mothers.
Happy Mother's day to all the Mothers and a special kiss to my mam.
With love from Baghsu, India.
