Essay: Beauty by Balu George

In this personal essay, Balu George shows us the world as he sees it and how he strives to find beauty around despite everything.

I have traversed all across America with Steinbeck and his beloved dog Charlie and walked down the mean streets of Los Angeles with Philip Marlowe. I have seen men gored to death by bulls with Hemingway and experienced life in the suburbs with Cheever. I have farmed along with common peasants in China with Pearl S. Buck. Moreover, I have travelled through time with H.G. Wells and wondered whether Androids dream of electric sheep with Philip K. Dick.

Ask anyone, what is on top of their bucket list. I can safely bet that it will be to travel all over the World. So is mine. I have schizophrenia and my work resume is erratic, to say the least. By which you can assume that I don’t have too much money. One day I was complaining to my dear, departed Mother as to why God had punished me, as in my mental issue. She said, quoting Jhumpa Lahiri,

It took time for me to realize it. But now I have. Hence the first paragraph.