Hello sir, welcome to the Oberoi Hotel, are you comfortable inside the car? – Said the voice on the other side of the cell-phone the driver had strangely handed to me… I’m still dizzy from the flight and happy to have my entire luggage and that the hotel really sent someone to pick me up at the Airport… Could I wish for more?

I come out of the car at the hotel and I’m saluted by a pleasant young lady treating me by my name… On my way into the hotel, four other persons will salute me that same way…

Later on I’ll have sushi for lunch, I’ll go for a city tour and at night I’m having an Italian dinner with the finest risotto, a fresh salad, and a glass of red wine…

In case you did not notice it before I’m in India!!!... By the time I received the call in the car my mind was already bubbling with more questions than those I think I‘ll ever get answers for…

Why… How… What are these persons doing sitting on the ground at 7am???... Why do buses have bars over the windows???… When did time stop in this part of the world???... Even so there seams to be more order and understanding in this strange flavor of chaos than in other realities I face in my daily life…

Still… At dinner I paid more for a single glass of wine than for a four hour drive with a taxi driver… I do not know if I’ll ever find the answers, I know I can’t change reality as I see it, but the conflict still arrests my thoughts…

Today I chose not to show pictures I still have no explanation for… Of course, there are nice monuments in Delhi, colorful Shari’s and all the pictures you might have imagined but still I see to much barriers arresting this people as I’m also too much looking at all this though a looking glass…

Ok, we can confirm flights - Someone said… The agenda and the itinerary have been checked so many times that I’m sure I’ll forget something on my way there…

As the world spins down bellow my notion of what’s essential is reduced to three simple items: Plane Ticket, Passport and Credit Card… All the rest, including photo equipment, can be bought, downloaded or replaced with more or less effort…

Obviously there are compromises and money imposes its limits, but I wouldn’t have the peace of mind to even get a disposable camera and go through the game of dealing with the limit of 36 photos in one week after finding out I had to deal with all the paperwork that comes with loosing a passport…

"How are you? - someone asked after not being with me for more than 7 years - I know you travel a lot and take lots of pictures"...

I thought twice before answering that I could be better. It's a strange feeling that in certain perspectives our lives just couldn't be better; but when we live them the definitions just don't come close to the real experience...

We tend to envy other people without wondering the price they pay for being whatever they are... I love traveling and creating images, but in my case that comes with a dose of uncertainty that sometimes just seams unbearable: where will I be next week, will I have an hotel when I get there, when and how I'll be back are matters that no longer show in my priority list... Still, I can't stop this and live another life...

In some strange way I find my balance in the middle of this chaos of not knowing or to controlling whatever comes tomorrow...

Someone asked me what I was doing in the office at 7 pm on a Friday... I'm on the departure lounge - I said to myself - while answering politely that I was helping someone on the other side of the world...

I'm entering the emptiness state of mind that usually precedes great trips... I'm tired and just stopped caring about what I'm leaving behind, tomorrow I might need more strength, so there's no point on thinking about whatever I should think about...