Pebble On The Tongue* “The longest journey is the journey inwards … quest for the source of (one’s) being.” Dag Hammarskjold, fr. Markings Almost 59 years ago, Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, his plane on fire, plummeted … More Hammarskjold: The Longest Journey of All
I met John in a garret office just off Maryland Ave. in the Capitol Hill district of Washington, DC. His tired, disheveled attire might have suggested life on the street, but spritely expression and chatter hinted at something beyond that. We whiled away the time, and this is the story he told. Like many in … More Hacker Comeback: Survivor From the Streets
The treeless hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape roll down to the Indian Ocean where they form the Wild Coast: the sea, the wind and spray pounding a rocky shore. Here and there lie pocket beaches where rivers tumble down to meet the surf. That beauty has attracted seaside resorts and casinos for the well-heeled, … More Mandela* Moment of Truth: Rite of Passage to Calling and Glory
In a class by itself as historical crossroads go, within Herat’s crumbling walls and precincts hangs a brocade of culture with few equals in the world. Where else might you find cheek by jowl a citadel of Alexander the Macedonian, records of Nestorian evangelists, tombs of Timur’s martial descendants, traces of Persian poets and philosophers, … More Mother of All Roadtrips XI: Herati Hookahs and Heady History
National Highway 1 from Kabul to Kandahar, will bring you under the walls of the storied, but now humbled, city of Ghazni. Its ramparts once sheltered brilliant Persian poets the likes of Hakim Sanai, the ‘eyes of Sufi poetry’ and inspiration to Rumi. The memory of that elegance now in tatters, the city suffers one … More Mother Of All Roadtrips – X: Majesty of Tower and Tunnel
There is a traveler’s proverb in southern Africa, “Tsela e kgopo, ga e latse nageng.’ (The crooked road will not leave you sleeping in the wild.) It applies on the road to Kabul just as readily as elsewhere. True to the proverb’s implied wisdom, the tarmac – but, gated – highway at Surobi (see previous … More Mother of All Roadtrips (IX) – Mirage on the Road to Kabul
High in the Maluti mountains of southern Africa, there is a pass for ponies and trekkers called ‘Molimo O Nthuse’ (God help me!), the prayer of mountain travelers everywhere. Thin air, vagaries of sleet and snow, rude slopes, snake-like footpaths, solitude; all can conspire with lethal effect. Prayer is sometimes the traveler’s only recourse. Such … More Mother of All Roadtrips (VIII) – Khyber: Rite of Passage and Prayer
