Back from hiatus, and North Pole Journey Day Three Part Three

I hope everyone has had a restful Christmas holiday. Thank you for your patience while I took a wee hiatus from this blog in order to do some inner work in preparation for the New Year.

In 2011, I will share here many more short and hopefully helpful blog entries intended to support your personal I AM journey so that you may live in the Positive Possibilities. Over the next couple of weeks, I will respectfully conclude the recounting of my life-changing journey to the North Pole, after which I will share new, inspirational material.

For me, 2010 was a year of clearing the deck and building solid foundations. This January finds me more focused than ever as I look to build upon what now feels like a strong base. I believe that with a true heart, a clear mind and focused actions, dreams are realized. In this entry, I share a story from the North Pole that I feel illustrates the benefits of focused determination. May it inspire you so that 2011 becomes your best year yet.

Namaste,

Parvati

Day Three: Saturday September 25, 2010

Part Three

We return from visiting the thousand-year-old Inuit village that overlooks the Resolute Bay Memorial, ready to prepare for our final journey to the North Pole tomorrow morning. As Meghan’s vehicle rolls up to the inn, Sunanda and Rishi jump out of the side of the van and immediately get to work setting up our tent. We need to test it in this weather and icy ground. It will be even colder at the North Pole and we will have little time or resources there to deal with technical difficulties. We must be ready.

I go inside the inn to review my audio gear, double check my music backing tracks and look through the costume pieces for my performance tomorrow in -25C weather. The boombox to play the backing tracks and the golden wig that brings my character Natamba to life are yet undelivered by air, missing since we checked them in at the Toronto airport.

A line from one of my songs (yet to be released on an album) goes around in my head: There is gold in the dark as I bow down. I think of the humility of traditional cultures faced with the force of Nature and the gratitude for what one had. I think of the gold we find within as we bow down in the dark of winter to find the light within. I know this light exists within everyone around the world. Here in the Arctic, I know the Inuit have great teachings on how to find light in the dark and how to find tremendous courage, the will to survive when faced with adversity.

Rishi and Sunanda come in from the cold, seeming confident that our gear will work well during tomorrow’s Arctic trek. I let Sunanda know that we still don’t have the boom box or the wig. Sunanda, who has been following up daily with the airport, feels confident that our lost luggage will turn up on the only flight today from Iqaluit, which arrives around 9pm in Resolute Bay.

We sit down together with Satish Sikha in the kitchen and enjoy the company over tea while dinner is prepared. The inn-keepers Chris and Meghan have created a feast for us in celebration of our departure tomorrow for the North Pole. We are served a full turkey dinner.

As the meal comes to a close, Meghan gestures to Sunanda that it is time to go to the airport to collect our luggage. They head out, while Rishi and I review my technical findings regarding the audio and video gear for tomorrow’s journey.

About an hour later, Sunanda returns from the airport with a look of shock and horror carved in her frozen face. The wig and the boombox were not on the flight. That was the last flight arriving in Resolute Bay before we leave tomorrow morning. Despite all her efforts to ensure the luggage arrived on time, we are left in an awkward situation. So much work, money and effort has gone into this performance at the top of the world. And now, essential pieces for the show are missing.

I waste no time thinking about what is lost and fly into action. We left Toronto with a back-up audio system, so Rishi and I quickly discuss the plan to use an alternative music sources for the performance. But the wig…that is essential and irreplaceable. What to do? Like the crown that creates a queen, like the halo that creates an angel, the character Natamba, a gold ray multidimensional being that embodies the essence of I AM consciousness, must have her top piece. The performance would not be complete without it. And we have traveled so far for this…

I feel a hot, lava-like force run up my spine. I think to myself: We leave at dawn. Natamba needs a wig. This is not rocket science. I can build one now. I look at Meghan and tell her I want to build a wig. Surprisingly, she rolls with the idea and springs into action. I know there is no synthetic hair or lightweight plastic tubing to create anything as elaborate as the wig from Toronto, but I don’t care. I am completely determined that in this high Arctic desert, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, with limited supplies, there has to be a way to create a new headpiece for Natamba tonight.

I remember that Sunanda and I thought to pack extra gold fabric, a needle and thread and a glue gun for potential costume emergencies. I ask Sunanda to please go and get these. I let Meghan know that we need something to create round shapes over which I will weave the gold fabric. Meghan looks at me with a look that somehow said, You are completely crazy and this is so much fun.

Throughout this, I did not notice that Louisa and Lisa, the gifted Inuit healers we had met a couple days ago, had stopped by the inn. Rishi had gone to greet them and show them in. He and I had asked them after our last visit if we could capture some of their wisdom on video. Rishi, Lisa and Louisa disappear into the lounge upstairs to set up the interview.

Meghan and I rummage through the kitchen and the storage room just behind it. After attempts at creating tubing with pasta and string, Styrofoam and cat-5 internet cable, finally we discover that a sharp knife will turn mayonnaise tub lids and gravy take-away lids into the circular shapes we need. The internet cables help to give strength to the gravy lids. Duct tape holds the circular pieces together.

Sunanda and I cut up the gold fabric into thin strips and wrap the plastic lids with the shimmering gold, held together by the needle and thread and the hot glue gun we had brought from Toronto. After a few hours of focused work, a new version of Natamba’s wig is born, one that is now made especially for this North Pole adventure.

It is 2:30am. Lisa and Louisa have long since completed the interview and returned home. We pack up the last bits of gear in preparation for a quick start in the morning. Now we must get some sleep. In just four hours we will rise to make the trek of a lifetime to the top of the world.