Would I ever think of leaving my comfort zone and going to the places where I have never been before. And that too alone!!! NO WAY!!! I would have never dared to....
This goes back to a book, I finished reading recently that is EAT PRAY LOVE by ELIZABETH GILBERT.This is a travelogue of finding pleasure, spiritual seeking and defining her own self.
At 34, Liz (Elizabeth), goes through a difficult situation of divorce which is like rebel to her husband (and to herself). Her love for Italian language lands her in Rome (ITALY). The way she fights back her loneliness and depression, tries to find pleasure, gets some good friends, understands the culture, learning process of ITALIAN by joining a school and by interacting with people, the ways in which she tries to alleviate mood (which includes EATing too much of pizza, pasta, and desserts) brings out her qualities like love for independence, never say die attitude, her adaptability (Think you don't understand a word and you land in ITALY), and her travel talent of making friends.
Her love relation with DAVID means a lot for her, stays on her mind for coming months and she thinks a lot of what should not have happened ..... An expression "SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE" describes her state with DAVID (she was trying to fix up a relation, wherein she could have never been happy). Leaving apart the things which do not get along good, you must have done it much earlier, LIZ.....leave him and find your way!!!
After saying GOOD-BYE to ITALY, LIZ comes to INDIA to learn devotion, mediation, finding GOD, learn YOGA....Are we youth listening?? We better learn our values and culture. Her experience in an ashram (school where mediation, devotion are preached), changes the way she thinks. She is successful in getting out all negative thoughts, 'living in past', and getting positive energy and all good reasons to live a great life.
Dropping out her plan to 'understand India', and continuing to 'understand herself', and 4 months of effort to learn devotion, Sanskrit, mediation, yoga and all PRAY makes her well prepared to leave for Indonesia.
She's a fan of medicine man (the person who treats ill in BALI). In Indonesia, she helps a friend, buy house, learns some other mediation techniques from the medicine man, and falls in LOVE, with a person 17 years older and basically a BRAZILIAN. The unconditional love of Felipe (the Brazilian lover) makes her story end like a fairy tell. (Remember: they happily lived ever after)
She left an impression on the mind that writers who seem to be conservative, like loneliness (of course self imposed), linger in their own thoughts, the other face may be liberal, friendly, impulsive.......
Leaving with her line~~~~
"I wanted to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, the art of devotion in India and, in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two." ~~~~~ ELIZABETH GILBERT
P.S.: This is the review I wrote around 10 years ago but couldn't resist posting here.
No comments:
Post a Comment