My last pleasure trip was twenty months ago. A lot of things have happened in between. Marriage broke down. Mama died. I was happy to somehow breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps a break is a good sign that I am recovering from my ‘life changes’ at a steady and reasonable pace. So I planned a trip to Sri Lanka. 

I climbed rocks and trekked the mountains of Sri Lanka – the manageable ones for someone with a dodgy knee but in high spirits. I ignored the buckets of sweat and the knee sprain because I totally enjoyed what I was doing. I was free. It felt good.

I was in my element.

When I reached World’s End in Horton Plains National Park, a sheer cliff with a drop of about 4,000 feet, I couldn’t think of anything else but Mama. I know she was with me. And she’s happy. 

She is very much alive. I still feel her caring for me through my friends and family. Random conversations somehow turn magical when I hear or see something Mama would have said or done.

I guess a mother’s love surpasses mortality.