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Seeking the Meaning of Inner Pilgrimage
When I was reporting from a remote village in western Nepal, a senior UN official made a remark that stayed with me for years.
“The future of this country is bright,” he said.
I asked him why. His response was neither technical nor economic. It was human.
“Look at the faces of people,” he said. “There is happiness. There is light. You won’t see this in many parts of the world. I’ve travelled across continents. This is rare.”
At the time, I thought he was being generous, or perhaps flattering the moment. After all, the people around us were poor, many without proper homes, some without shoes, and most without modern comforts. How could there be happiness where there was hardship?
It took me ten years to understand what he meant.
One evening in London, crowded inside a packed underground train during rush hour, I looked at the faces around me. Clean clothes. Expensive watches. High-end gadgets. Silence. Everyone was absorbed in screens, laptops, phones, and earbuds.
But not one smile.
Not one.
That moment, in the soft hum of the train and the glow of artificial lights, I remembered the village and those radiant faces. I finally understood.
