Incalculable Distance

“The mind is like Times Square at noon.”

I thought about that as I captured the picture. I caught it just in time. Just before the wedding photographer leaned too hard against the white and red bear that adorned the hood of the stretch limo. Just before the groom, realizing his bride was fixed upon a far away place, turned his head to face the camera instead.

“The heart is like a cave in the Himalayas.”

That was my next thought. Then I tried some calculations. Even though math had never proved anything for me, I tried it: If the mind is Times Square and the heart is somewhere, in a cave, in the Himalayas....approximate latutudes and longitudes..... ... God, I could really be concrete sometimes....

Finally, I announced to myself: “The distance between the mind and the heart is around 6284.721820 nautical miles. This accounts for the poor communication between the two.”
Times Square’s lights briefly increased in luminence and the number echoed in the cave into silence.

My Guru, who was training me to concetrate on the cave, had dubbed me Lakshmi. I preferred to spell it with an X. Laxmi. I felt this spelling described me better because I had always felt like a pirate’s map. There I was behind the X bursting over with lotus and coins, for a long time, waiting to be found.

Aparna, calling out to me by my catholic name (she preferred it), tossed a bottle of water and picnic blanket into the back of the car and blew me a kiss.
“That's exactly how I want our wedding...” she said sarcastically. “...white gloves and all!”
I smiled. “You know what they say baby, no glove no love.”
“Yes, and you can’t have manslaughter, without laughter”.
That one took me a minute. But as I laughed, I realized my cave was warm.
The heart is like a cave in the Himalayas and every once in a while someone comes and lights a bonfire in the middle of it. Today, there was no distance to measure.

I didn’t try to calculate the speed with which someone could pull everything away and disappear, as it involves the height and age of about 30 gypsies,the girth of tree stumps and the weight of wet canvas. Plus, I didn’t need to calculate anymore.

But still, I could remember what it felt like to be laying two inches from someone approximately 6284.721820 nautical miles somewhere else. The picture proves it.