The lake...

A few hours before the sun would rise, I stumbled out of bed refreshed from a good nights rest. Opening our balcony door, I lit a cigarette and listened to a sound I hadn't heard in a very long time - the rustling of leaves still on a garden full of trees and silence.

Quietly, not to rouse my friend, I slipped out to the lake our hotel overlooked, sitting here now, I fell whole again by the water, a strong, warm breeze blowing through the valley, mountains rise around the lake, lights surrounds its watery edge.

In the distance the moans of elephants protesting another day's forced march can be heard, the magnificent palace sits quietly in the center of the lake, abandoned but its memories of entertaining Hindu kings and their many wives are not dead...

When have I last seen such an open, clear night sky with twinkling stars, the outline of dark mountains softly disappear into its spacey abyss.

And now a chant I haven't heard in 8 months.. "Allah Hu Akbar", God is great sounds from mosques, at least four distinct voices pierce the quiet of this morn. The call to prayer, much more colorful and feeling than their counter parts from my past. "There is no God but God." A certainty of faith that adds to the peace of the lake.