When denied travelling for various reasons (job, home, family, mortgage, money)one should look around to find travel at the doorsteps waiting to be discovered. All these places where I want to go to but I can't at the moment are right here. Granted, view does not change and there are no palm trees and hot and humid weather but all these people with their rich heritage, beliefs, rituals, colorful clothes and rhytmic music are here if only I make an effort to be there with them.

It has been another annual Khalsa celebration in Mississauga, Ontario and I've spent wonderful couple hours being a bystander, listening to the drumms, watching hundreds of people walking in the parade.

One might want to research history and find answers to whether it is a religious or militant or celebration of both but regardless politics I was happy to have my ordinary Sunday turn into observation of human masses moving along the street in belief of preservation of tradition, hope of changes in the Old World, fantastic disregard of hi-tech monopolized reality in behalf of few hours of cultivation of roots.

As I watched the parade and masses of people walking I thought of Bombai (Mumbai for some reason nowadays) and my reluctance to join the crowd on the streets as I then had thought of a celebration of sorts taking place then before it dawned on me that it was a regular human traffic there. Anyhow it did feel weird today to be the only white faced bystander there hooked on drumms and colors but at the same time it made me think about my wanderings in India and I had a tremendous sense of comforting deeja vu as I stood there snapping pictures in front of Golden Grocery store where I shop daily for milk and veggies.