To be somebody
Is to drink deeply of the Spirit
It is to be immersed in the Life-giving One
It is to be soaked in the new wine
It is to be taken by the Holy Wind
And carried away from the self-centred life

To be somebody
Is to be taken out of oneself
Being part of something greater
Living for a higher cause
Relating to other persons
Interacting with kindred spirits
Through the Spirit of Life
Whom you are constantly drinking of

To be somebody
is to live a life of consistent commitment
to let friendship and love grow
to become beautiful flowers
in the sacred garden of covenant
It is to allow the early buds
of encouragement and excitement
turn into full bloom
– as a foretaste of heaven
When your friendship is too costly
to be expressed in words
then the future is yours
to explore the beauty of covenant living

To be somebody
is to be adventurous enough
to dare to explore the depths of covenant love

The last Sunday in Jaipur we stayed at Atithi Guesthouse all day. After the Elephant Festival the Hindus were lightening a bonfire at the street corners as an introduction to the Holi Festival. I was given several explanations on the bonfire and the colour festival. It had something to do with good overcoming evil and getting rid of some demons through the fire.
In Atithi the festival was not celebrated, praise God. Our friends Zephry and Brenda came to join us for the day. We found a place to sit in the shadow on the roof terrace of our guesthouse. Here we enjoyed Masala Chai, cold drinks and even pizzas as the day passed by. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with our dear friends.
The next door guesthouse really celebrated Holi. We could hear all the noise and we went to look at what was taking place. There was loud music, wild dancing and throwing of colour powder on one another. A lot of young tourists from the West seemed to enjoy being coloured. I was so happy that we had a safe place on the terrace.
All the people going out in the streets were in danger of being thrown colour at. I saw one young European couple passing by. They were attacked by the Holi mob at our next door guesthouse. They were neat and clean when they were about to pass by, but when they were allowed to proceed they looked like a nasty colourful mess.
Two of the guests at Atithi hired an elephant to really celebrate Holi in the streets of the old city of Jaipur. Below you can see how these young white people from England looked like when they returned to the guesthouse. After two hours in the showers and 8 soaps the lady was still not clean!

To be somebody
is to give your blog new life
It is to start afresh
over and over again
never giving up
the hope of creative life
as you let the artistic veins be filled
with expressions of joy
each time you overcome
an obstacle of boredom

The last Saturday in Jaipur we were taken by our friend Roscoe to the Chaugan Stadium for the annual Elephant Festival. We have been coming to Jaipur for years now, but never before we had even heard of this festival! Jaipur is a wonderful city to visit, full of pleasant surprises! This wonderful elephant festival was completely free! I was totally taken by surprise by that pleasant discovery. Normally in India the foreigners have to pay many times more than the Indians at museums and places to see. The Elephant Festival was free for all!
When we arrived the programme had already started, and some dance performance went on. Soon after arrival the Elephant Decoration Competition started. That was a very impressive procession consisting of about 90 beautifully decorated elephants as well as some decorated camels and horses, interspersed with brass bands and groups of dancers. Solveig was filming the whole thing with our digital video-camera and I was shooting a lot of digital photos. There was a very exciting Elephant Race as well as Elephant Polo and a tug of war. It is worth visiting Jaipur for the Elephant festival only! It was a very exciting experience!

To be somebody
is to liberate the moment
from the dullness of being taken for granted
It is to avoid the temptation
to capture the moment
through a camera
to print it on paper
but rather to enjoy the moment
for all its worth
liberating it from memories of the past
by embracing the new moment
arriving every second

I am somebody
when I live in the present
enjoying the ever flowing Spirit of Grace
who enables me to give thanks in all circumstances
taking hold of opportunities
and letting go of past failures
as I embrace the moment of God's presence