Thailand Travels & Irony

Boon, Korea's famed illustrator of children's books, helped me recuperate after an ugly motorbike accident in Pai Thailand this past July. We sat in hammocks drinking Lemongrass and Ginger tea, my leg propped up and Boon applying herbal oils to my wounds. She showed me her current masterpiece, freshly painted illustrations for the Korean version of The Little Prince. Her English was the best I'd heard in months. After days of painting lessons and philosophical twisters, we sadly said our goodbyes. I offered her a book I had finished reading on tantric philosophy and she handed me a book titled, Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald.

A week later, my wounds were healing and I could actually move without groaning.
I had blown through Holy Cow the day Boon handed it to me and the scenes constantly rolled through my thoughts. Holy Cow is a hilariously personal account of Sara, a female Aussie reporter whom decided to move to India for a year with her soon to be husband (also a reporter). Her brutally honest impressions of India and it's people colliding with the massive sales and popularity of the book angered and embarrassed enough Indians that she now refuses to return to the country.

Anyway, I laughed... hard. Point being and the relevance to this article's title is, I ran into quite the ironic moment after reading the book. Traveling further north by bus, foot, and motor bike ;), I landed at You Sabai, a community farm and cooking school ran by two of my closest buddies, Krit and Yao. I learned Thai cooking and taught yoga class at dawn with the sun breaking over the lone Buddhist temple built atop quiet hills and among chirping grasshoppers.


One night after way too much Mango Sticky Rice and Mau Soi (...and cheap Thai beer...blah) we were all speaking about India. I mentioned Holy Cow and Azrial, a unique man with a full blown Jewish past and a major player in our Eco-villages movement, whipped around and said, "Holy Cow? You've read Holy Cow? Well, what did you think??!" Well, at that moment I thought he was off his rocker. Then he asked if I had read chapter 13. Considering there were 21 chapters in the book, I relied yes.
"Do you remember what it was about?" He asked. I said no.

Lo and behold, it was about him. Sarah and he had met and traveled together for about a month through central India. Blown away, I asked him if he remembered the conversations he'd had with her. He remembers her being incredibly curious and wide eyed. She had never mentioned she was a writer, or a reporter for that matter. When the book was published, Azrial's close friend handed him a copy of Holy Cow. Thinking the book was below his intelligence Azrial stuffed it in his bag and only months later on a LONG flight did he rediscover the book and read it.

Well, being on a flight and reading about yourself in a very popular novel not knowing your a large part of the content, is enough to freak anyone out. Azrial told me his heart pounded beneath his chest harder than he thought possible and his face dropped beads of sweat onto his plane tray. Nothing negative had been written about him. He just couldn't believe a blip in his memory was now a tangible quality for millions.

I find myself writing about this experience only because often I wonder where my words stick and my conversations echo. Where do they fade? What I know know is, they don't fade regardless of having a writer, reporter, newscaster, agent, friend, or lover around. Words and actions influence, inspire, or inflict. Be wise with your words and actions, they may multiply on you. I love multiplication. ;)

Enjoy!