I'm not sure when to say this journey began. It began in my heart in 2009, late at night, among friends at my home in Seattle. We were discussing time, culture, and everything in between when we mothered and fathered the Midnight Tea in Mumbai project in my livingroom. And like a caterpillar gorging itself into a fat pupa on leaves, I fed this idea mouthfuls of hope and belief for 3 steady years, until today I saw for the first time, the nearing fruition.
I can not express in words the fullness of India. I am only seeing small slices of Mumbai/Bombay-- a city too much for one name alone-- from the windows of weaving taxi cabs and on my walks around the city. My eyes shift back and forth to take it all in, but there is always more to see, even when I sweep them back and forth, back and forth like a blind person's cane. Even the garbage is fascinating.
On day three, I am here. I am rested enough to function without the nausea that comes from jet-lag coupled with motherhood. I am different inside and I feel it seeping into me, spreading out from my center. I can not name it like the city that refuses to choose between Toby or Kunta Kinte. It's a both/and-situation as my friend, Bettina Judd, would say.
When I went to China in 2011 with my children and hosted a Midnight Tea in Kunming with the amazing artists at 943 Studios, I thought I had gone as far outside of my comfort zone as was possible. I could never have successfully completed that project, halfway around the world, alone except for my children, as an English-only speaker, if it hadn't been for Lifen Liu and her amazing ability to multitask the way women have for generations-- with purpose, without excuses, and with an admirable determination to make space for what is necessary in this world.
I am now, a year later, fully present in my gratitude to Lifen, Xiao Mei and Jianbo, who went above and beyond to help me see my vision through. Now in India, Namrata Bhawnani (Visual Disobedience) has stepped into the role of co-facilitator-- being amazingly generous at every opportunity. Whatever I need is made available. No impossible exists in Namrata's world. That is true power and greatness. And I am humbled by it. In a place like Mumbai, where there is heartbreaking poverty at every turn, finding people like Namrata, who can see through all the potential problems to the solution-- an answer, is simply awe-inspiring. I haven't even met her in person yet, but I love her already.
So why did I start this project? Why do I do this work?
I think it might be for 3 reasons. Friendship. Beauty. And Experience.
I can't summarize my first 3 days with words. Which ones would I choose? But I will try to find words another time. For now, some images:
I can not express in words the fullness of India. I am only seeing small slices of Mumbai/Bombay-- a city too much for one name alone-- from the windows of weaving taxi cabs and on my walks around the city. My eyes shift back and forth to take it all in, but there is always more to see, even when I sweep them back and forth, back and forth like a blind person's cane. Even the garbage is fascinating.
On day three, I am here. I am rested enough to function without the nausea that comes from jet-lag coupled with motherhood. I am different inside and I feel it seeping into me, spreading out from my center. I can not name it like the city that refuses to choose between Toby or Kunta Kinte. It's a both/and-situation as my friend, Bettina Judd, would say.
When I went to China in 2011 with my children and hosted a Midnight Tea in Kunming with the amazing artists at 943 Studios, I thought I had gone as far outside of my comfort zone as was possible. I could never have successfully completed that project, halfway around the world, alone except for my children, as an English-only speaker, if it hadn't been for Lifen Liu and her amazing ability to multitask the way women have for generations-- with purpose, without excuses, and with an admirable determination to make space for what is necessary in this world.
I am now, a year later, fully present in my gratitude to Lifen, Xiao Mei and Jianbo, who went above and beyond to help me see my vision through. Now in India, Namrata Bhawnani (Visual Disobedience) has stepped into the role of co-facilitator-- being amazingly generous at every opportunity. Whatever I need is made available. No impossible exists in Namrata's world. That is true power and greatness. And I am humbled by it. In a place like Mumbai, where there is heartbreaking poverty at every turn, finding people like Namrata, who can see through all the potential problems to the solution-- an answer, is simply awe-inspiring. I haven't even met her in person yet, but I love her already.
So why did I start this project? Why do I do this work?
I think it might be for 3 reasons. Friendship. Beauty. And Experience.
I can't summarize my first 3 days with words. Which ones would I choose? But I will try to find words another time. For now, some images:
