Thin places

I read recently that in parts of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England (i.e. the UK), there are places called "thin places", where it is said that the distance between earth and heaven has shrunk, and hence these are "holy" places. So, people build churches, put stones - mark the place for worship. To find them, you yourself have to be both reflective and receptive. Marguerite Theophil's article called "The Joy of Discovering Those Special Places" which has appeared in the Times of India makes for interesting reading. She says, "Take some time off to think about and remember the thin places in your own life."

Recently I went for a trekking expedition where I got to both ponder and discover these thin places. They say that Uttaranchal is the abode of the Gods. One has to agree.

Coming to other matters, recently there has been a lot of debate on identity - what with the racist attacks in Australia and the issue of statues in India. Eric Hobsbawm wrote once "Identity is all very well but what after identity?".

Philosophers like Osho ponder another dimension: "The truth is, I am, therefore I think. We exist first adn then express ourselves as bodies in physical dimension."

What does one do though? Is someone unpatriotic because they may be a country's passport holder and yet supports another's cricket team? Because they maintain their own culture and they don't want to assimilate? I recently read a very disturbing article on this which basically said that we are ourselves to blame because we don't assimilate. We are different. We like Bollywood music and we dress our way.

Egad. Have you read Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh - where he discusses what borders are and how they've created boundaries - many of which don't really exist?