Real Girls Stories

2010 was the year I travelled to India for a few months. I wanted to work somewhere that would make a difference. Through a stroke of luck I was put in touch with Rajini who headed up the KKSS Foundation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is a foundation that takes care of needy people from all walks of life - from abandoned babies, abandoned elderly, women in need and people who are in need of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, they do it all here.

Swedish indie-alt-pop singer Lykke Li first broke onto the international music scene with her single Little Bit, where Li sweetly serenades ‘I would do it, push a button, pull a trigger,  jump off a cliff for you… I think I’m a little bit, little bit in love with you but only if you’re a little bit in love with me’. It’s the perfect introduction to her 2008 album Youth Novels, an album which paints a picture of the torment we experience as teens; being unsure, tentative, moody and brimming with intense feelings. Her songs convey the anguish and insecurities of adolescence through up-tempo beats, sweet higher-pitched coos and cutesy melodies. 

Seatbelt nyunlumpa tanpala…

The multilingual ‘fasten your seat belt’ road sign is zoomed into sharp focus for a brief moment as we rocket past in a 4WD heavily packed with Tetris precision. An interesting mix of choir songs and local bush reggae bounces and resonates through the car and I feel as though we could be part of some post-colonial exodus through the red sea (or sea of red sand). In the absence of lyrics I find myself humming Bob Marley… “Two thousand years of history, Could not be wiped so easily… Oh, children, Zion train is comin our way”. 

A permanent relocation to the Middle East could be celebrated as my most character enhancing journey until now. Unlike a fly by holiday that is logistically pre-empted, moving overseas requires substantial energy, mental accuracy, and frequent reality adjustments. It is a constant navigation through and beyond a web foreign faces, corporate and cultural refinements. The attainment of one goal only leads you to another point that is always shifting. Your world can feel destabilized as though you are living on earth that floats above fault lines.