India- Losing My Religion(s)
My epic visits to South India—Goa and Cochin—have left indelible impressions. The first time was in 2011 aboard the Crystal Symphony with Saarah, and again in 2018 on the majestic Cunard Queen Mary 2. What a contrast between the chaos and calm, the sacred cows and sizzling cuisine.
After time spent in India—a place where professional thieves, beggars, con artists, and very skinny cows rule the streets—you quickly realize that a vegetarian is only as lactose intolerant as his options.
The happy-go-locals will eat anything with wings except airplanes, and everything with legs except tables.
Margaret Mead once said, "It is easier to change your religion than your diet." I’ve found that in America, you don’t need to change either—just keep an open mind and an open mouth.
Picasso took 10 years to paint like Rafael, and a lifetime to paint like a child. I’m now eating like a child again—gullible, curious, and hungry, all the time. Six to seven small meals a day, thanks to the 24/7 cruise ship buffet.
The Apprentice — "Everything in life is luck." — Donald Trump
I call myself a "Math Atheist"—yet the hardest arithmetic I’ve had to master is counting my blessings. Maybe it’s the 10,000 hours of practice Gladwell wrote about. Or maybe it's the fact that the sea has a way of turning can’ts into cans and disasters into serendipity, as if aided by a thousand unseen hands of synchronicity and the Michelangelo Effect.
One Starbucks philosopher said to me, “What a gift—to travel like that, selling art, and getting paid too.” I may be rewarded more for my persistence than my talent, but that’s enough.
Travel is the greatest gift—it’s not bought or found. It must be given.
This passion for travel is my private religion. It evokes that vivid, fresh, exhilarating sense that everything is meaningful. It’s a journey to nowhere—and yet that’s where all the meaning lives.
Time doesn’t exist at sea. And in that freedom, cruising offers something rare—respectability for slack and space for sacred procrastination. As Nietzsche said, "Be careful lest in casting out your devil, you exorcise the best thing in you."
Laziness isn’t our enemy—fear is. I’m not afraid to keep procrastinating, to keep living this mini-retirement. After all, the work we do when we procrastinate may just be our life’s true calling.
I know that it's time for a cool change
Now that my life is so prearranged
Well I was born in the sign of water
And it's there that I feel my best
The albatross and the whales, they are my brothers
There's lots of those friendly people
And they're showing me ways to go