I cannot help but feel nostalgia and also sadness when reading this. Colonial powers have a lot of things in common in the way they treat their colonies, portraying our ancestors as insular and documenting that there was no "culture" before the Europeans came when the indigenous ways have far more wisdom than theirs.
Whew. Honestly it’s hard to read this and not dissociate from the degree of irreparable loss contained in this history. But what if we stayed with it, the grief that threatens to cut us in two and turn our vision of the world inside out? What if out of the grief this history beckons us to, we took the initial steps toward a 1000-year repair? So much will stay with me from this piece, more than I can find words for right now. Thank you for your hard and diligent labor of bearing witness, and inviting us to do the same.
You are magical. That was an incredible learning journey, thank you for providing that opportunity to us. A land without masters is such a gross way to view... anything. My goodness. I can't stop thinking about that and I know I will be coming back to this to ruminate further. Thank you for your words. ❤️
well written.reminds me of so many texts written by the colonial settler point of view...and yearning to hear the oral account of the elders.there is so much difference in both written dialogues.Well written.such a beauty of a nature space...and what precious inhabitants that maintain their simple wholesome ways of life.reading your words I am remembering many treks through hillstations of south india.Yet Nilgiris is well documented..the botany itself a treasure trove.
This is a lament, a beautiful powerful lament. The idea of looking at place and saying it has no history...I just can't fathom such thinking, of how much it destroys without any sense of humanity, of beingness. The history--the real history, of the Indigenous peoples--is incredible in such a beautiful region. What I also find so fascinating is the actions and advocacy of people like Sullivan--it's why I get so frustrated when people simply throw their hands up when it comes to colonization, racism, sexism, enslavement and say "it was another time." There are always people who have known, who have argued for a different way to be in the world against the prevailing coercion, oppression, and exploitation. There were people who were allies, although they too are so often not written into the 'histories'--and also were never able to see even what they advocated for with total clarity. The flora of the region sounds so incredible, and your descriptions make me again feel like I am with you in noticing the mosses.
I loved reading this Swarna, and I agree with others--it's a gift. So grateful to be in community with you in seeking a different way to live in the world. 💜🧚🏼
Swarnali, I have not read this entirely yet, but I do want to say thank you for writing it. I am looking forward to returning and spending more time with it. You are a gift, and your writing is a gift.
Swarna, I read this a couple days ago and wanted to keep coming back to it because there is so much power, so much feeling, AND so much information. I feel like I want to take a class reading your work and research.
I can’t say more than echo what others have here, the enormity of what you’ve brought to those of us who know nothing of this history or this place, and the tremendous loss and lament. What this world IS and still has within herself underneath all these dominating powers feels like almost more than I can imagine. Thank you for reminding me of all we’re fighting for and loving.
Thank you for this Swarnali. So much to agree with. So much to lament. Thank you too for your clear and scholastic approach. We are all certainly still choking on the smoke still burning in the past.
I'd like to share with you something I recently wrote about the terrible loss across the world when this colonial/capitalist/imperialist mindset comes and limits the beautiful spectrum of human expression:
"The cyclone then carries me over teeming oceans where I see men greedily conspiring to possess the world with their creaking wooden ships that plunder and destroy, sailing like knives to slice all those embryonic possibilities, to silence songs now never sung, to throttle thoughts now never birthed, and to extinguish the loves that now will never cast their tender spells. I see a constellation of flourishing futures strangled by these men who must own and dominate and force their brokenness upon the world."
I cannot help but feel nostalgia and also sadness when reading this. Colonial powers have a lot of things in common in the way they treat their colonies, portraying our ancestors as insular and documenting that there was no "culture" before the Europeans came when the indigenous ways have far more wisdom than theirs.
Whew. Honestly it’s hard to read this and not dissociate from the degree of irreparable loss contained in this history. But what if we stayed with it, the grief that threatens to cut us in two and turn our vision of the world inside out? What if out of the grief this history beckons us to, we took the initial steps toward a 1000-year repair? So much will stay with me from this piece, more than I can find words for right now. Thank you for your hard and diligent labor of bearing witness, and inviting us to do the same.
You are magical. That was an incredible learning journey, thank you for providing that opportunity to us. A land without masters is such a gross way to view... anything. My goodness. I can't stop thinking about that and I know I will be coming back to this to ruminate further. Thank you for your words. ❤️
Swarna, this is so powerful and so beautifully written. Thank you for bearing witness and beginning the process of telling a new story. 🕯️
well written.reminds me of so many texts written by the colonial settler point of view...and yearning to hear the oral account of the elders.there is so much difference in both written dialogues.Well written.such a beauty of a nature space...and what precious inhabitants that maintain their simple wholesome ways of life.reading your words I am remembering many treks through hillstations of south india.Yet Nilgiris is well documented..the botany itself a treasure trove.
This is a lament, a beautiful powerful lament. The idea of looking at place and saying it has no history...I just can't fathom such thinking, of how much it destroys without any sense of humanity, of beingness. The history--the real history, of the Indigenous peoples--is incredible in such a beautiful region. What I also find so fascinating is the actions and advocacy of people like Sullivan--it's why I get so frustrated when people simply throw their hands up when it comes to colonization, racism, sexism, enslavement and say "it was another time." There are always people who have known, who have argued for a different way to be in the world against the prevailing coercion, oppression, and exploitation. There were people who were allies, although they too are so often not written into the 'histories'--and also were never able to see even what they advocated for with total clarity. The flora of the region sounds so incredible, and your descriptions make me again feel like I am with you in noticing the mosses.
I loved reading this Swarna, and I agree with others--it's a gift. So grateful to be in community with you in seeking a different way to live in the world. 💜🧚🏼
Swarnali, I have not read this entirely yet, but I do want to say thank you for writing it. I am looking forward to returning and spending more time with it. You are a gift, and your writing is a gift.
Swarna, I read this a couple days ago and wanted to keep coming back to it because there is so much power, so much feeling, AND so much information. I feel like I want to take a class reading your work and research.
I can’t say more than echo what others have here, the enormity of what you’ve brought to those of us who know nothing of this history or this place, and the tremendous loss and lament. What this world IS and still has within herself underneath all these dominating powers feels like almost more than I can imagine. Thank you for reminding me of all we’re fighting for and loving.
🧡🕯️🧚
Thank you for this Swarnali. So much to agree with. So much to lament. Thank you too for your clear and scholastic approach. We are all certainly still choking on the smoke still burning in the past.
I'd like to share with you something I recently wrote about the terrible loss across the world when this colonial/capitalist/imperialist mindset comes and limits the beautiful spectrum of human expression:
"The cyclone then carries me over teeming oceans where I see men greedily conspiring to possess the world with their creaking wooden ships that plunder and destroy, sailing like knives to slice all those embryonic possibilities, to silence songs now never sung, to throttle thoughts now never birthed, and to extinguish the loves that now will never cast their tender spells. I see a constellation of flourishing futures strangled by these men who must own and dominate and force their brokenness upon the world."
https://jonathanfostersthecrow.substack.com/p/a-wild-and-tumbling-wind
Thank you again, I'm so glad to have discovered your Substack :)