Six years ago I got a phonecall from a friend. "Do you want to go to Rome? I am organizing a bustour for deacons, and I have one seat free for you. But you have to decide at once." Though I have been in Rome at least once a year since then, I had never been there when the call came. "Oh, please, give me a break. Decide at once? Can I call you back tomorrow? I must go home and discuss this with my husband first. And I must ask to get some time off at work........"
My heart was poundering when I went home that day. A bus trip down through Europe, stopping at several wonderful places, ending up in Rome. A city I had dreamed to visit for years.
First think I do when I come home from work, is to check the mailbox. That particular day, in between papers and bills, was a postcard. From Rome! Showing the Colosseum. The postcard was from my penpal through many years, Caroly, who lives in India. She wrote: "Dear Britt-Arnhild. I am in Rome visiting my daughter, and due to circumstances I must stay here a few months. Now, when we are in Europe both of us, why don't you come down to Rome, and we can finally meet."
Had I got this postcard the day before I would have had to say "oh, I am sorry, but Rome is so far away, there is no way I will be able to travel there....." Now I sat down first thing after dinner and wrote. "Dear Carolyn. I am coming to Rome. We will finally meet!."
Carolyn has been my penpal for about 12 years, all since I had my name and address in the penpal list in Quilters Newsletter Magazine. Every few months I get a thick envelope made of handmade ricepaper, decorated with colourful stamps, from India. It is a highlight to read Carolyn's letters, with her words, with photos of her big family and beautiful home, clippings from local newspapers, pamflets from organizations working in India, wise reflections on political issues......... And in every letter Carolyn invites me to come to India to visit her. Over the years it has become a dream for me to go there, to India and Mysore, to visit my dear friend. A dream I keep deep in my heart, but like so many dreams I never really believe that it will come true.
Untill suddenly I said to myself: "Britt-Arnhild, you have had this dream for so long now. Have you realized that the best person to make the dream come true is yourself. Next year you turn half a century. Why don't you give yourself A Passage to India as a birthday gift?"
All through these years that I have dreamed of going to India I have bought books from and about the country. Now I have Indian books that will last me several years :-) And to prepare for my trip I am now reading two of them. Dervla Murphy's travel tale from 1976, On a Shoestring to Coorg", where she writes about an experience in Southern India, where she travelled with her then five year old daughter. And an old classic, E.M.Forster's A Passage to India.