What are the uses of loving a distant land?

I am off to a long work schedule leaving the warm comfort of home and my desk. I will be in Goa and Bombay for a long time till the seasons change. It is nice pink of winter here in Delhi as I leave.

This project is what I wanted to materialise for a long time and yet right now I feel rather sullen to leave Delhi at such short notice. Its the kind of disorientation anyone would feel I suppose if they had just woken from a languorous sleep were pushed to run in the cold.(At least thats how it feel right now)All the friends I could have stayed with(making the unfamiliar Bombay a little more familiar) are traveling. So what do I do?

I download all my favorite Iranian Music onto my phone

Iranian Jazz Night / Conservatorio di Milano - Documentary

This is a documentary on the jazz band that I adore. I am in love with their vocalist Golnar Sharyar. You have to see her singing in the video to see how much energy charm and warmth any woman can pack in her presence.

Fayez Khani • Jazz & Music From South Of Iran
This is spaced out track with sufi/jazz/iranian influence. It takes me to a place of peace and into the time when I would be sitting in Iran on a quite day and having a moment right there.

I fill my bag with the recent books on Iran that have arrived as part of my book gifting challenge. I struggle with how many books I can pack. I feel I would want to read both Shirin Ebadi's -Iran Awakening( I am afraid it will finish beofore my trip)

and David Ardalan's -My name is Iran- too- Just to be on the safe side.

I dont know how the sounds and smells of a farway land bring me comfort but they do. So I hoard Iran in all ways possible. Even when I have a small bag to stuff.

PS-Going to all the Parsi cafe's in Bombay is in my list too!