lives that have changed and challenged me.. soiled egg

Refreshed by the greenery and the light fresh air in the presence of a group of young women was i trying to understand their world, a contract from the city rush, noise and grime that had become a part of me. After a noon of working on various issues tying to bridge both worlds with their bright colored weaves and hue, I was invited for lunch.
Lunch it was! With a group of elderly men and women squatting beside each other with beautiful piercing in various part of the face eager to have me share their lunch. With great difficulty did i manage to taste the platter of strange food, lo! from inside the thatched hut strode an old lady bent over at the waist, palms greased from the coal fire she was cooking. Stretched her clasped fist and offered the most precious gift. The biggest gift one could ever get... an Egg! Hard boiled and pealed..But, BLACK from the soiled hands...her smile hushed in me all thoughts of throwing up...and her love made them appealing like the cherry on a cake.

lives that have changed and challenged me...angels bed

Dry, hot and blazing was the place, itchy, red and burned was my skin from an allergy, full from lunch, restless and waiting was the team i had to address in a remote village. Dazed, broken and weary was my spirit. I needed rest.

Walking by a line of bamboo partitioned rooms, all messy...no fans..down the aisle to the left was a small cocoon. Looked warm not from the heat but the tidy neat bed made on a stone slab, just enough room for a person and a chair. I bent over the entrance, ruffled the neat pillow and lay down dazed by the medication for the allergy. 

Dawn!!!! i woke up to a wall full of little diamonds formed by the light beaming through the bamboo partition, i looked around the small unfamiliar room wondering where i was...to my right was a face, head tilted on the right shoulder and sleeping. Hoooo! God! 'i am in someone’s room' was my first thought.  Got up, and looked deep into that face, lovely and beautiful propped on a wheel chair was a frail body.  I gently slipped out the doorway moving the crutches to make place and shaken, that I spent all evening and night in an Angels bed. 

Angel Bhavani gave away her bed for someone she never knew and spent the night on her wheelchair. The face left a mark for life.