Art By Tali Landsman

At the last minute, we chose to fly from Delhi to Dharamsala instead of hiring a car with a driver. It takes eight to nine hours to drive there and many travelers described the drive as hair raising and very religious.... That is they spent most of the ride praying that the driver will slow down, stay in his lane and not get into a deadly accident.... Before we made arrangements to hire a car, we had wanted to fly there. Flying is the most expensive way to get to Dharamsala, but it is painless and it takes only one and a half hours. Only one air carrier flies into Dharamsala, and it is the bankrupt Kingfisher airline. When I looked into booking, their pilots just had gone on strike and flights were canceled and backed up for days on all of their routes. A short time later, the pilots went back to work and since it was closer to the departure date, the price of the flight to Dharamsala was reduced, so we decided to fly instead of hiring a car after all. We landed at the tiny...

On the roof of the Leela Palace hotel in Delhi, there is a rooftop pool. From the minute the pool attendant opened the large doors for me, and I gazed into the infinity pool lined with sparkling glass tiles, I forgot all of my plans for the day and felt a strong urge to go for a swim. I currently have a pinched nerve in my shoulder, that is making my whole back and arm achy, and I hoped that a swim and a day of relaxation in this wonderful pool, would help to release the pain. Back in our room I put on my bathing suit, covered myself with a fluffy bathrobe and made it back to the pool. I chose an elegant shaded canopy and spread my body on of the comfortable towel- covered sun bed. The pool attendant brought over to us a big complimentary basket. Inside of it was an ice cooler loaded with rose-scented, cool face towels and many small bottles of mineral water. In the basket there was also a bottle of organic suntan lotion, two lemonades and a selection of newspapers and mag...

Delhi has changed so much in the six years since I've been here. As our taxi driver put it, Delhi today is the opposite of how it used to be. He said this by flipping his hand over to indicate the difference between the back of his hand and his palm. When visiting big urban sprawls, your perception and individual experience completely depends on your frame of mind. If you wish to, you can see the ugly side of a place, or you can find the charm and beauty of the place and select the kind of experiences you wish to have. Big cities have and offer both kinds of experiences. We haven already visited many of the beautiful historical sites of Delhi like the Red Fort, many of the gorgeous tombs and minarets, the monuments and neighborhoods, as well as spent time exploring the markets and the narrow lanes of old Delhi. This time we chose to stay in Delhi for just a short time, because our objective was only to decompress from our long flight, get some things done, adjust to the...

At my local supermarket, Two new dolls appeared inside the Claw Crane machine. The Presidential elections are coming in November And between the teddy bears, Dressed in a black suit, Now stands a Mitt Romney doll that resembles a silver fox, And a doll representing Obama With big ears and a wide warm smile. I did not put fifty cents into the machine I never play those machines, And I was afraid to see which one it would pick FOR me. I am not in love with seeing the world through the eyes of politics... If you believe in Face Physiognomy analysis, which says that a person's facial features and expressions Are indicative of his character, You could conclude that the Obama doll, Depicted with big ears, Signifies that he LISTENS better to the people..... Back home, we had an email from the State of Colorado. Our absentee voting ballots were ready We can now vote online. Are we the very first Americans to vote this year? I wondered as I gazed at the ballot on ...

We went to our local bank to withdraw cash for our upcoming adventure to Bhutan and Northern India. You would think it should take no time, but we wanted the whole amount in crisp new hundred dollar bills, and it took a long time for the friendly cashier to sort through piles of cash in her vault, in order to select for us bills that were printed after 2006 and had no small tears or pen marks on them. After our experience in China, where a bank teller refused outright to exchange most of our money, we now make sure to bring overseas only crisp new bills. More than once while cycling around China, the bank tellers completely rejected our American bills, saying that they were "no good" because the image of Ben Franklin was too faded, or because they had a minor and almost invisible tear or a pen mark on them. While we sat patiently waiting for her to scrutinize and select nice new bills for us, I picked up and read a children's book with animal cutouts in it, in t...

If I told you the Truth about yourself, you would probably dismiss it as nonsense... I will say it anyway, because it is the Truth, and it is your only real reality; all else is just what you IMAGINE about yourself and how you have proceeded to live according to your beliefs. You have NO problems. You CANNOT be sick or poor, nor die. You can imagine all those misfortunes befalling you, and you can go on living a life that is paved with limitations and imagined shadows, but you cannot dim the Light in you, and you cannot change the fact that your True Identity is secure and wholesome. You ARE a child of God, eternal, powerful and perfect. Your ONLY need is to remember who you ARE. You may shake your head in disagreement, wondering why you signed up to get emails from this crazy lady, who says things nobody believes to be true... You may remember your many ailments and physical needs, and you may think to yourself that yes, you do have problems and needs, but allow me to a...

Many people in the music industry know that what makes a band successful is not necessarily talent, but being able to "sell" their image as being "cool" to the public. Being cool or edgy, and sounding like you 'speak' from the heart of the people about what the culture is struggling with, is what makes musicians and bands popular. It is ultimately the image of the musician or the band that sells records and gets them popular. It is the same way in the visual arts. What makes many of the artists in the world today globally recognized is not necessarily their talent or the uniqueness of their art, but their life stories, their participation in an art movement, or their popularity which brought them into the "right" kinds of social circles.... The movers and shakers of the art market. History is full of talented artists who have lived in obscurity, because they did not participate in the 'games' of social pretense, favoritism, and acad...

Often times, I think that I live in one of the most beautiful and pristine places on earth. The more I travel around the world, the more I come to appreciate untouched natural beauty, in which people operate as guardians of the land, and do not exploit every part of it. These kinds of places are becoming rare around the world. Our home in Sweetwater, Colorado, is located in one such beautiful place. When hearing about the State of Colorado, most people think about first-rate ski resorts and high alpine landscapes. It is true that Colorado is home to fabulous ski resorts like Vail, Aspen, Beaver Creek, Snowmass, Winter Park, Steamboat, Crested Butte, Telluride, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Copper Mountain, to name just a few. Each ski resort is fabulous in its own way, and each offers a different ski experience, based on the terrain, the elevation, the snowfall, the resort management and the quaint towns that surround it. The majestic Rocky Mountain belt, which runs t...