WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

 The 1942 movie CASABLANCA which was entirely filmed in studios in Los Angeles became a cult movie and to this day continues to be considered a special movie.

I remember when I saw it first.

I had arrived in the USA to do some undergraduate courses at Columbia University and students were offered free movies.

I remember it well

I was so enchanted about this love story which was purported to have happened during the World War II. 

Paris entered my life, the city of lights and philosophers much later and is still present in my life.

Casablanca appeared and its presence also becoming secure in my heart, even though I am much more inclined towards Marrakech and Essaouira ..

WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS 

On a recent visit to the City of Lights and Philosophers (I liked very much Foucault, deleuze and Derrida, while I was reading Anthropology in London), my alter ego, Maqroll El Gaviero Judio, was seen walking along Pont Neuf dressed as a travel agent, confusing the passers by, greeting them in a dialect of Judeo-alsatian which had disappeared a very long time ago.

Le Pont Neuf 

you are always a wishful thinking 

of might have been or what it was in the imagination

you can return to your life, in cities and countries 

where there are no lights and no philosophers 

but people selling whitening creams and long stockings.

Le Pont Neuf will wait for me, unlike you,

too busy packing bags for no destination 

a cafe with a gentle breeze avec mon cafe allonge 

is Paris enough for me ..

I will always have Paris..

Of Ernest Hemingway  Of Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

of James Baldwin Of Nina Simone

of countless others who left behind their adolescences 

in countries of their birth, tainted with medieval thoughts 

rifles and strong ropes made of cotton ..

Tonight, is a special night in the Yogic calendar but I am thinking of hundreds and thousands of brave people in an east european country, shielding themselves from shards of glass and piercing noises. The women hold the children close, the men clean their rifles and bring the Molotov cocktails their mothers and sisters made for them..

While the Rasputin of the east crawls slowly towards the ancient city of Kiev

I think of you, all my friends, all over Ukraine, be strong, may the spirits bless you and take care of you, spare you harm .

Felt sad all day

and then I thought about Paris . It was an escape from that sadness.

I can escape but my friends cant. so I give my heart to them, my thoughts are for them ..

A SONG FROM UKRAINE, INSPIRING AGAINST THE INVADERS

I have been much absorbed by the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. The silver lining is the resilience of the people, their optimism, their undiluted patriotism and the moral strength of their mission to defend their land. 

I have been in communication with several people in Ukraine and getting up to the date information on the ground. On instructions from the healer from Cuba, i have been lighting candles and metaphorically lighting up the lives of my friends there. At this very moment, they need moral emotional spiritual support from every one.The big help comes from USA Canada Israel Australia Japan Europe and hopefully we would also be able to contribute to the rebuilding of the Ukraine Republic, shortly in the future.

One of my friends who lives in Lviv, sent me this inspiring video.

 While listening to this video without understanding the words,I felt i was also participating in the hopes and aspirations of the fighting, resilient, strong Ukrainian people against the aggressors from near and far EAST.

Light for my friends in Ukraine.. Kharkhiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Zaportzhzhia.....all of Ukraine..

and all the mothers who took their children to safety leaving the husbands at home to defend their motherland..

We have not seen such patriotism in a very long time. This is the love of the land of their ancestors, not inspired by ideology or religion or nationalism..

MOVEABLE FEAST OR A FEAST THAT MOVES? PARIS HAVANA AND CAMBODIA

 Once you are Paris for a while, you begin to understand what Ernest Hemingway meant by MOVEABLE FEAST 

Many of the places described in this book still stand and I have had a chance to dine at Las closeries des lilas 

If you are a fan of Simone de Beauvoir or Jean Paul Sartre, these names would be familiar to you 

I also will always remember our Gabo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, walking with head down on the other side of Boulevard Saint Germain because he felt so inferior arriving in the City of Light from his native Colombia (Aracataca via Bogota)

However much I loved Paris, it was not mine. There is no one would whisper in my ears, We will always have Paris..

My moveable feast is HAVANA

this is my street in La Habana. I miss the potholes and when I return after a trip I look at them with affection.

So when I received a photo from my friend in Cambodia, Maurits, of a feast which was moving on wheels. like Meals on Wheels, this one was a feast on Meals .. I thought of Ernest Hemingway and also of my beloved Habana.

an entire sit down or squat down restaurant was on the move.. a feast on the move..

SHABBAT SHALOM ON THIS DAY WITH HEARTFELT THOUGHTS ABOUT UKRAINE AND ITS POPULATION

The sun was about to set on this Friday evening in Miami.

What is like for people of Kyiv, Kharkhiv and Lviv and throughout the length and breadth of Ukraine?

I wait for the three stars to appear to welcome Shabbat in the millennial tradition of our people .

Earlier I had visited our neighbourhood Botanica to buy the two candles and was very comfortable by the presence of many of the Cuban pantheon.

all the messages arriving from different parts of the world were about Peace. 

Leaders of all major civilized countries of the world condemned this created confusion. Many leaders and countries and people were noted for their absence at the podium. 

I want to pray for the safety of the Ukranian people, young and old. 

I want all the jews in Ukraine to be safe, including the President of the Republic, Zelensky.

I want peace in the minds of millions of Russians who may not agree with this act of rupture of tranquility of the European Continent. Who would have thought Europe would be once again host a theatre of war ?

I put on my Kippah, bought at the Druze village in Carmel.

the two candles from the Botanica.  lehad lich ner shel shabbat

a glass of wine bore pri hagefen

a piece of bread. hamotzi lehem minha haretz

If you are silent, you are being an accomplice. Dear friends, your leaders may not condemn human rights violation, but you have a mind and a voice..

THE EGOIST  a poem by Pablo Neruda 

AFTER A DAY IN THE PARK TAKING CARE OF ITS INDIGENOUS POPULATION, 30 MINUTES OF VIPASSANA AND ITS EFFECT ON THE BLOOD PRESSURE

 When it is 10  pm in Miami, it is 6 30 am in Tehran and the city is waking up 

A friend of mine from there joins me in 30 minutes of Vipassana meditation.

I have had a nice day at the Park where I mingle with the indigenous population.

It is amazing to me, as a physician who has interest in treating patients with altered blood pressure that a simple manoeuvre such as SN Goenka's 30 minutes of guided Vipassana meditation has dramatic effects, even if your Blood Pressure was normal to at the beginning of the meditation.

10 17 pm 109/73 pulse rate 63

10:22 pm BP 109/71 pulse rate of 58

10:54 pm BP 103/67 pulse rate of 59 

AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST/ANTHROPOLOGIST AT WORK: NATIONAL PARK

 If you wish to lead  an unconventional life, you have to plan to undertake unconventional path to your life including your family life, your career and your places of residence,

Be prepared to become HOMELESS in a metaphoric sense, but as my younger brother said : You may not have a home, but there are many rooms in many hearts around the world for you.

I am grateful that my work moulded around the lifestyle I wanted to lead, a nomadic life, be exposed to different cultures which are not my own and incorporate the best of many countries and many cultures into my lifestyle and invariably into the way of thinking. 

France introduced me to a way of thinking which was philosophical. Cuba taught me the power of solidarity, American Indians taught me Humility and Myanmar taught me about the mindfulness.. the list is long .. and there are countries I am eternally grateful to.  Australia  England USA for their contribution to my character.

When the morning broke, I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting with my friend, I stay in his house when I am in Miami.

I never hurry to go to work, which is one hour of lonely drive into the National Park. Nobody is waiting for me there, and the patients are happy to see me when I show up at their homes.

Leaving the place of residence to drive to the Park

It is a fairly lonely drive but I enjoy looking out at the flora. The skies are usually blue often with couture offered by fluffy crowds.

So, I call this my office. I have no secretary. There is no need for computers or Electronic Health Records or accountants.

Soon I reach my Consultorio, like we say in Cuba.

Before visiting patients at their "homes", I stop by to say Hello to my long time friends and imagine scenarios with them. My mind fills up with joy 

But one of them today is the infamous Napoleão.. a crafty individual who trains birds and other slaves of his to spy on people and bring back gossip from far away.

Felt a little sorry for him, he seems to be suffering from a sore throat.

I was happy to see Francois, who is a good friend but he seemed to be suffering from Sleep Apnoea?

I went looking for Sebatião, the shy turtle with problems of lack of self esteem, i could barely see his extended neck. I talked to him so that he does not feel neglected and fall into a depressive mood.

I felt happy. 

The day in the Park goes quickly

Someone prepares lunch and i am given a plate. Salmon, string beans and sweet potato

On the way "home", I stop the car to catch the sunset over the park.

The night falls quickly and it gets darker abruptly.

The driving is over. 

Now is the time to speak to friends from around the world.

A good friend from Cambodia writes about what happened during the past two years in the city that he lives which is dependent on tourism.

A friend from Hanoi, that gem of French Colonial architecture.

I am waiting for a friend to wake up in Tehran.

It was nice to read a note from a friend of mine from USA .

I am a US citizen. You are a citizen of the world. I expect you may be less partial to any one countries interests.

On this very sad day , Russia invaded Ukraine, another Iraq, another Afghanistan.. Think of my friends in Kyiv..

THE VALUE OF A DAY WELL SPENT; AMERICAN INDIANS. ADOPTED FAMILY. A TASTY PHO. AND ANAPANA MEDITATION BEFORE RETIRING

Today has been an unusually calm and content day without any form of conflict . One of those delightful days 

The responsible people were a friend visiting from Cayman Islands, my adopted brother in Miami, chatting with friends from far away, helping an indigenous group and listening to music ..

Of course there is always IRAN.

CUBA, if we use the Little Poet's metaphor, is always in your heart. 

As always, Vipassana meditation ( SN Goenka) but tonight just 10 minutes, but I could feel the effect on my body.

and even if my BP were at its best at the beginning of the short session, it came down further. So there is always room for the body and the mind to further relax.

It was just ten minutes of Vipassana. 11 49 pm the first reading and 1200 midnight the second reading.

Many of the practitioners of the western tradition(of which I am one) may not give credit to the effect of the relaxation in the body by Vipassana and the measurement of that relaxation in the BP 

In Anthropology, we always ask WHY this is happening whereas in Western Biomedicine, they ask. WHAT is happening. If the BP is high, write a prescription for a pill.

If you ask WHY is that my BP attained such wonderful levels, you will find the answer.

The morning started well

I was able to participate in the early caress of the SUN while sipping a cup of Cuban style Coffee. 

Soon we left to go to the airport to take our illustrious visitor, to see him off on his way home to his family and feel grateful to have spent some quality time with him.

A lovely conversation with a mountaineering friend from Iran. 

the usual texts about patients under the care of our programme among the Indigenous people. very satisfying.

Then to engage in a lovely conversation with the owner of this house where I stay. I am grateful for him and his wife for having allowed me to stay here during the 2 years of Covid Isolation

I could ask Hafez. Fal e Hafez for a ghazal and sent it to a friend in Iran.

Doesn't all these transactions of life and love not contribute to the relaxation of the mind and the body?

Learn to ask WHY and not WHAT

Why is the time with our visitor so precious ?

A new friend from Piura in Northwest Peru.

As the Indigenous people would say 

Mitakuye Oyasin 

We are all related

Little by little peel off your attachments (material and other), get rid of your aversions, let the fire of your EGO burn down low, then you would discover a FLAME , the true flame representing WHO you are  (WHAT you are has no role here in this discussion)

That flame is the mystery we are after. You can call it anything you want.

The owner of the house brings a lovely PHO and I enjoyed it so much, the flavour enhanced by his thoughtfulness of bringing food while I was busy. thank you to this very kind man.

i kept on asking myself, why am I so happy ?

I thought of that distant day, a chance meeting with the Professor of Psychiatry, David Kennard

He said: as you get older, you would be able to appreciate the fact that you are able to help more and more people..

Out of the blue, a good friend from Nanning, who was recently married, wrote to say of the spiritual isolation she felt.  I replied immediately with words that rose in my mind 

To Jiaoying Hong, I dedicate this blog.

UNEXPECTED PLEASURES TO ENRICH OUR LIVES.. THEY ARE WAITING FOR US EVERYWHERE ..

Went inside a supermarket

Flavours of another America wafted towards 

the creaking doors warped with time and usage 

I wanted some incense, sugar which is not refined

perhaps some coffee to take to my island of dreams 

I took two packets of coffee from Colombia 

walked towards the central American lady who was at the counter, giving her a warm Buenos Dias 

This coffee, I told her smiling face, is cheaper here than in Colombia

As I was leaving, the guard came over, who must have heard my conversation , asked 

Sir, are you from Colombia? he asked in Spanish

I looked at his face for some clue about his nationality

now obscured by a dark mask 

No, I replied, but I do participate in a project near Leticia 

A project with the indigenous people who live along the Amazon River 

His eyes lit up

In two years, sir, I want to return to my country, go to Leticia and be a farmer

we chatted a little about Leticia and he asked me questions

He said, i will build a home in Leticia and sir, you would be welcome to come and stay there

In this short period of time, this human interaction had more value 

than all the costs of petrol and cars and frozen chicken

People have forgotten the value of things while they 

assiduously learn how to calculate the cost of everything including their time 

I gave him my telephone number and when he removed his mask I could say

You do look Colombian,I said, in fact you have a vague resemblance to your famous compatriot from Aracataca.

I has a strangely content feeling while I drove back, to light incense and candles while I enjoyed the sun about to set .

Leticia lies at a bend in the river Amazon where Colombia, Brasil and Peru converge to share a common border but extremely different cultures and languages. 

Tabatinga on the Brasilian side is Portuguese speaking and the food is nothing like the Colombian fare just a few blocks to the west. For a good Ceviche, you have to take a small canoe powered by a motor to the island of Santa Rosa on the Peruvian side. Most of the inhabitants of Leticia are Colombians from the Interior of the country. 

Along the river there are many Indian villages, they are mostly TICUNA but there are other tribes also present. Two hours by speed boat is the lovely village of Puerto Narino, the last of the Colombian town and a further 30 minutes ride will bring you to the Peruvian town of Caballacoche. That is as far west as I have travelled even though I wanted to continue to San Pablo, the former leper colony (you could see a reenactment of a scene at the Leper Colony in the Motor Cycle Diaries. Che Guevara was there in 1952 with his friend Alberto Granado.

All along the Amazon, especially on the Brasilian side there were Cuban doctors working as Internacionalistas until the current President of Brasil, shuttered the health care to the Indigenous people by sending Cuban doctors home. Benjamin Constant is an interesting town on the junction of the river where Peru and Brasil meet and I have had interesting experiences there.

Forgive me , my Ticuna friends, I have been absent since May 2019 but soon enough, I will be taking the fast passenger boat to Nazaret..

A LOVELY LUNCH: IT IS WITH THE HEART ONE SEES. ONE CAN LEARN TO SEE THE HEART WITH THE EYES

Things happen for a reason, say the American Indians.

I find myself in La Habana, amidst the chaos of thousands of cuban emigrants arriving from Miami with their demeanour vastly different from the Cubans in the Island. No one had suitcases but large "bultos" wrapped in plastic (blue in colour) bringing things to their relatives. My two bags arrived last, 2 hours after a 35 minute flight ..

Dra. N who is from La Habana whom I had last seen in Buenos 'Aires and recently renewed her acquaintance in Tenerife is in Habana with her incredibly intelligent daughter doing a PhD in Philosophy in Spain.

We got together for Lunch and it was a sheer delight. Good conversation, much of which touching on spirituality and the various practices some of which are unique to Cuba. I had chosen some good wine to go with the lunch prepared by my Cuban Sister: shrimp in creole sauce, congris, a chicken dish if they are allergic to shrimp, followed by Crepe Francaise, chocolates and Cuban Ice cream (considered one of the best in the world)

What Ernest Hemingway said of Paris is true for me in Havana

IT IS A MOVEABLE FEAST