Dwanjabi: Seaside snowball of creativity

In what feels like a blink of the eye, I have spent two and a half weeks in Arambol.
Yet in this blip in my journey I dove deep and found exactly what I needed.
...

Many many people are drawn to the beaches, sunshine, relaxation and people of this touristy beach town of Arambol in Goa, India. Even more than that brief list that attracts is the feel of a special and calming energy.

If you’re like 50% of the visitors to Arambol it is likely you will walk away from a 1-2 week experience with a generic "relaxing, funky and fun beach town" description. But if you are able to go deeper here, you will gain much more understanding as to why.

Arambol is a crossroads and gathering space for artists, musicians and various creative outlets. Sure, during my past visits I noticed the regular availability of live music. But it wasn’t until this visit, when I made it a goal to go deeper and discover the source of this amazing energy.

I hit the jackpot when I decided to get a room in the Piya Guesthouse vicinity, an area that upon first glance seems an unlikely place to be a popular gathering spot for long term visitors. All I knew when I arrived was that the Arkan Restaurant at Piya’s was a festive place to meet other travelers who also prefer to avoid the places found in every printed travel guide.

But little by little, as I passed my time relaxing in Arkan’s garden I discovered that each one of us sitting around a table has our own special passions and talents.

and we are all choosing to live them.

The first few days at Arkan I admired the evolution of a coconut shell found on the beach as it turned into an intricately carved bowl adorned with tiny shells and gemstones at the hands of a new found friend. Then another moment I perused the collection of travel photos from another...as I sat swaying in a hammock moving to the beats of yet another creative soul mixing live beats from his laptop.

Slowly slowly

until i really opened my eyes and realized
wait a minute!

everything around me is one of two things:
1) beauty in the nature and 2) beauty in the creation.

I was completely surrounded and affected by this surge of creativity and expression.
The range of talent is varied but one thing is consistent: each person has chosen to pursue a passion by eliminating the fear of defeat or egotistical expectation of the outcome.
A gathering of pure expression for the sake of the joy of creation and experimentalism.

And it’s a really catchy situation!

To see one woman’s new tattoo creation
or to stroll along the beach past intricately magnificent sand castles
or a dull canvas of an ordinary chai mat brought to life by paints, imagination and the willingness to just try...
and unlike the occasional abdominal sickness one tends to get while in India, this is one bug that’s worth catching!

While in Arambol I wanted to track down at least two designers/artists of whom I plan to sell their work. The first were the two Israeli seamstresses who brought me to their house in an even more off-the-beaten-path neighborhood than my own. It was at this point that I realized Arambol has an international community of residents! These are people who are not just visiting Goa for a month or two out of the year, but have completely changed their lives for the purpose of creating the art that resonates with them: their calling.

Yael and Nath, for example, were once in the high tech web design industry in Israel. Now they reside in Arambol creating their own "global" fashions comprising simplicity and sexiness.

It’s a very nice combination, indeed.

Another duo I ultimately had to track down before departing from Goa are the creators of these GORGEOUS lamps! These lightweight, atmospheric lamps have the flexibility to take any shape or size depending on how they are assembled. The glowing orbs can be found bringing ambiance and light to the more chic hangouts along the beaches of Arambol.

It has been such a treat meeting all the folks who are putting together the amazing items I've come across so far in India. When sitting down to discuss acquiring the lamps, for example, Simona and I found after two hours of talking we only used 15 to discuss business. The other 1 3/4 hours were spent sharing stories from our lives and swapping philosophical recommendations, such as Simona’s suggestion of books by author Louise Hay.

Aside from the art community in Arambol, I was able to begin to delve into interpersonal friendships that always develop along my journeys. I’ll swap those Anjuna dance floors any day for the conversations and laughter found around the tables of Arkan.
Finding myself surrounded by Barcelonians, Irish, English, Brazilians, Germans, Swiss, Italians, French...and me, the only American.

I had been feeling awkward when I arrived to Arambol since I had just spent two weeks in India already without having developed a network of friends yet.
The lovely people who gather at Arkan not only welcomed me, but they encouraged me...
with each of my attempts to open up more I was rewarded with deeper friendships.

And it is these friendships that made it incredibly difficult for me to peel away today from the vortex of Arambol after 2 1/2 weeks.
sigh.

For the first time while traveling I made very little effort to collect email addresses from newly found friends.
I know I'll see most of them again

...next year
...next month
...next week

our paths may cross
and will occur when ready