I read this book called "The White Giraffe" today. It was filled with the smells and sounds and landscapes of Africa.....it just made me feel so raw...so close to the basics of life. It made me think back to those few months I spent in Coimbatore......where walking bare foot from one end to the other in the mud, soaking in the rain, seeing the frogs jumping all around, smelling the beautiful flowers, seeing the velliangiri mountains each day....made me feel more and more unrestricted by the little physical things that tend to annoy us in the cities. But it also made me realize, that no matter how beautiful, how raw, how sensuous the place we live in....we carry this mind wherever we go. It is ultimately this me that needs to get to peace, before i can really begin to enjoy all that existence has created for our senses to play with.