In My Heart Is A Song

It’s 11:14 PM and I’m finally sitting down to write. What a day! It started off much different than usual. My friend Terrence is a videographer and he wants to make short videos profiling people, that show what it’s like to be you – what is it like to walk a day in your shoes? So he asked if he could follow me around all day, and see what it’s like to live a day in the life of Mita. All day long it felt like there were paparazzi following me! I guess this is what celebrities feel like. Here is a pic of Gosia and Terrence at the reference library:

He also wanted me to do a voice-over for the video, so I picked a book off my shelf called “when you first called me radha”. It’s a book of poetry written by Swami Sivananda Radha, a woman from Germany who suffered great loss and then became enlightened. She devoted the rest of her life to God, yoga, and the divine. I found a poem that resonated with me called “In My Heart There Is A Song” – here is a portion of it:

My song answers Your flute,
Your call to come home
yet I have been a truant
wandering over the world
in search of You

Now Your maya has lost its
power over me
the pain of your teasing
is ended.
I am at the horizon waiting
for Your chariot to take me home

I walked my usual route, up University Avenue and stopped at the Starbucks where Gosia and Terrence took some footage. Then I continued on to my creative writing class. It was the last one! Kelli was away sick so there was a lovely woman, Sandra Campbell, filling in for her. We learned about the publishing process – what it takes to get your work published, and not to be disheartened by rejection. She said that learning how to live with rejection is an art that every writer must deal with. She had an encouraging message at the end of the class – that every person’s creative self is unique; it’s like a thumbprint. There is no one else like you, no one else that can offer to the world what you have to offer.

Following class, I stopped at the ROM gift store and saw a beautiful display of Indian film art and photography (picture above). Then I went to Balzac’s where I tried to do some work on my project management assignment. I’m taking Leading Projects in Organizations at U of T, and we have a presentation coming up on how to establish a PMO in your organization. Our group’s company is called Transform-A-Care, and it is a healthcare consulting company that works with healthcare providers to implement electronic solutions that improve efficiency and quality of care. Very similar to what I was doing in my old life. (soon to become new life I think?!).

While I was there I read an article in The Star about a woman from Bangladesh who was a victim of an acid attack. However this attack was even more gruesome than usual – her husband tricked her into drinking a cup full of acid, which she thought was water. It completely destroyed her esophagus and almost destroyed her voice. Because of a visit by a Canadian plastic surgeon, she has been given some hope in getting the help that she needs – the surgeons would remove part of her stomach and reconstruct her esophagus and voice box. “There are only a handful of experts who can do this kind of operation in the world and they happen to be in Toronto,” said Dr. Toni Zhong, who was on a medical mission in Dhaka to help women with severe burn injuries.

In the evening I went to see historian Margaret Macmillan speak at the Bluma Appel Salon. She was the keynote speaker for the annual Bluma Lecture. I somehow managed to sneak in even though I came late and didn’t have a ticket. I felt really honoured to be there. She is a phenomenal speaker, humorous, and insightful. She has written many books, including Women of the Raj, which I happen to have – I found it in the summer at a book sale at Victoria College. This is me after the lecture:

 
I went to Chapters after and then began what seemed like a long walk home. I love walking through Nathan Philips Square at night. Tonight it was deserted – no skaters, no music – I felt like I was the only one there and it was beautiful.