The Finest Woven Threads

     Once upon a time... so long ago now it seems more fable than history, we not just understood, but innately knew, that the richness of our life tapestry was interdependent upon our relationships with one another. Generations of knowing your own family, of knowing other families, of meeting and understanding new friends, all was shaped within the rich cultural tapestry of a community of personal relationships.  

     What hues have we lost from our tapestry today as we have forgotten how we birthed, nurtured, and cared for these relationships so carefully woven in the past?  How much of my self-thread have I lost from the wondrous loom-of-life, as I have misplaced and cast aside woven fabrics of warm hospitality, threads of a deeply resonating friendship, or lost rich colors that can only be discovered in sharing story over tea?

     Here, in India, generation after generation of families have shared hospitality with one another, so that even the potentially banal experience of shopping is transformed and explodes into a richly woven cultural exchange that is, again, at it's most fundamental level, all about...  relationships.  

     This morning, we witnessed, experienced, and basked in these waves of hospitality.  We drank of hospitality.  Our feet rested upon cushioned pillows of hospitality.  Our backs rested upon padded bolsters.  Stories were shared.  Silks were thrown.  Pile after pile after pile upon the floor.  Lustrous, shimmering, oodles of fabric.  Some seemingly magical as the iridescent interplay of shadow and light changed fabric from indigo blue to wet ocean green. 

     Smiles were exchanged.  Prices were ascertained.  Our fingers felt the "oohs" and "ahs" of what our eyes were seeing.

     Masala tea was brought.  And more Masala.  Again.
     How did we arrive here?  How did this happen?  Hospitality.

     Waves and waves of hospitality.  Amazing and generous hospitality as we shared with our friend Naval that we were interested in shopping for some fabrics but had no idea how to begin, where to begin...  Hospitality as Naval called his friend, a shop owner, for us… two families who have known one another for four generations.  Naval makes the call… we experience more hospitality as a shopkeeper's son drives all the way to pick us up and take us to the shop in Madanpura.  Wait, more want to go.  More hospitality as our friend Naval then goes to his home for his car to drive even more of us (and, all of this especially significant as you come to understand what driving anywhere in Varansi and especially along the ghats really means). 

     Hospitality.  Yes, we exchanged smiles, fabrics, and tea.  But as we said our good-byes, we understood that this trip was not about the fabric.  It was about these relationships and especially about the sharing of hospitality.

     Once upon a time seems just moments ago here in India.

     Thank you Naval.  Thank you Ashraf.  Thank you Suhail.   Thank you for teaching me anew to invest in all my relationships more richly,  consider hospitality most carefully, and live for others most graciously.

     Thank you for helping me to better understand that the magical richness of color in our own tapestry is manifest in how we weave…

Lanny Potts