TRAVELER'S MIND

"Daddy,,mummy, I wanna be a....when I grow up....." I am sure we are all familiar with this phrase cause at some point or another we were wanna be this, wanna be thats. Its the norm in any ones life to look ahead of time and to imagine what life has in store for us.
I don't know exactly what you wanted to be neither do I remember for certain what my mind was up to at the very early stages of my life.

Life events can be equated with a traveler's mind with every character that comes out of the nine month hide out acting as a traveler. The journey commences and with or without our knowledge, we start emancipating the excitement and thrill that lies ahead but lack the slightest clue of what exactly it is. It then becomes trial and error cause we face all sorts of environments, nurturing and counsel, ideas that compete to shape who we are in one way or another. In the course of our living, we interact with our master source of our identity as we search for temporary and permanent stops along the way. Its a journey where by the master decides when we stop and for how long.

One  influential organ that determines who we really are is the mind. Last week on 10th November, I traveled to Nairobi from  Mbale Uganda. I aint going to write in detail about the entire trip in terms of what I saw or experienced along the way to Nairobi. But for the travel maniacs, I might as well say in summary that the journey was fabulous. Uganda being a great land fascinated my eyes which were glued steadily outside the window for a big part of the trip. So did the land of all beauty, my motherland Kenya.

I happened to have landed the cherished any traveler's sitting position; next to the window just behind the front seats. This means I was guaranteed of all the exciting scenarios along the way from my favorite Wanale hill as you leave Mbale to the Tororo landmark hill. It was a breath taking view owing to the fact that I did not have any obstruction from my sitting point. To cap it all, sleep not being my number one friend during the day, I was hyper alert. The cool blowing fresh wind was swiftly finding its way into my nostrils heading for the lungs through the slightly opened window. Serenity was at least a part of me for long and I was enjoying an environment completely opposite to the one I am used to. Unlike the urban setting where hooting motorcycles, cars and lorries was the norm, this one was characterized by a monotonous roaring engine acting as a lullaby, soothing Benga tunes (as she calls them) from the stereo and the spacious view outside the grand bus. The driver who was an old mzee must have been a mind reader. I am not a follower of yoga though I greatly respect the practice but this was an opportunity worth giving it a shot. I was on a journey to paradise, one would think from my narration.

I was enjoying a momentary near heavenly bliss and my mind was at peace. My eyes were BUSY SPOTTING NOTHING in particular.  It was a state of peacefully relaxed body verses a preoccupied optical sense and generally busy mind.

The  last paragraph completely explains the title of my article; TRAVELER'S MIND. I can as well stop here because I have met a writer's number one objecting of making sense of his title to the reader. But then my conscience will never forgive me and my itchy fingers will be held to account by the supreme commander of the me; my mind. Mr brain dictates.

As my mind meandered with the direction the Uganda Roads Authority board dictated, I found myself thinking and trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I believe we have all been in a fast moving vehicle because we are in the 21st century where donkeys have had a chance to rest for a while with the coming of faster automobiles. At least that one I am sure because speaking as an African, we want to reach to our destinations faster though no one wants to be by the bus station on time. Furthermore, the faster the driver spins the wheels, the higher the chances of his children making it to college in this economic times. This also means the corrupt traffic officer will have something to take to his/her demanding boss.

With an almost flying automotive, the traveler's eyes normally have a hard time noting things close to it in detail. Everything seems to fly backwards at an alarming speed. That is a normal thing which I would have explained in detailed and sensibly if I had made it to the American Wing as the founders of this college at the University of Nairobi decided to name it. You will have to  understand it in my artistic perspective because the Joint Admission Board(JAB) decided to sharpen my artistic skills at the college of humanities and social sciences at the expense of the scientist in me. At this point, a good reader should have sensed and thanked the gods that he/she is already ahead of me in the flow of my narrative events.

This state of mental relaxation and partial activity thus acted as the centre of my comparison between the way we grow up wanting this and that some of which we cant access. As I stared outside the window, a number of things were running through my mind as my eyes were not idle either. From my sitting position,  people, vehicles, trees, buildings, unploughed farms were some of the sights that caught my attention.

The mind is so powerful. It has unlimited potential. There are so many ideas crisscrossing our minds that prove our potential. Some come as ideas which take time to mature. Others come as flashes which we rarely even grasp. As these objects passed the traveler, some could be identified but some could not. What fascinated me is that items or objects from a far off distance were clearly identified.  I likened this to things that take time to mature in our minds and end up defining who we are. These could be the clear ideas which pop up and are build on with time thus giving us an identity. On the other hand, the unidentifiable close objects were to me the daily ideas that pop up but are never emphasized or built on. Its like the idea that comes to you;" I think I can sing" but with time you realize a croaking frog is in a better position to lure a child to sleep than you.

Early in life, I thought I would be a doctor. Not that this was my dream career. It was what every other kid at least wanted to be when they came of age. This was more so emphasized by the little priviledge of acting the family doctor when my parents were away. Coming from a BIG family, my parents had entrusted me with the key to the pain killers cabinet. Thus I could prescribe the basic dose for a head ache, cough and a bruised knee. That was a young lad whose environment wanted a doctor our of him.
But was I at my end? No. I was only beginning the traveler's mind safaris. Am I a doctor now, NO. The journey had just started.

We all have our own stories to tell. A good majority of us are not doing what they had  thought they will ever be doing. Some had been into courses they never practiced latter in life. Some joined careers to please their parents. Life is a journey we travel trying to find who we really are and what we were meant to be. Our purpose. Our destiny. Our mind is our guide. We think of so many ideas which only serves to guide our search but does not necessarily guarantee our destiny. After all life is one long journey. Others landed job offers totally opposite what they studied for and this became their life. They found themselves. Their found destiny accidentally.

At the teenage and the early adult hood stage of life, the mind does not go to sleep. Music, theatre and performing arts excite us. We aspire to perform physical wonders and be the greatest athletes. Although the likes of Maurice Green, Marion Jones, Paul Tergat, Rudisha, Jelimo, Lebron James,  among others made it in this industry and some how found a worth while stop, others have to move on. Some opt for music. These get carried away by rock bands, the likes of Linkin Park. Reggae fans like me loved and still love Bob Marley, while the benga fans like Ole fall for the DRC land. Hip hop and RnB does not spare others. Tupac, DMX, Scarface, Nas, T.I become our icons at some point in life. Soul, classical and the Hollywood movie idols; Brad Pit, Denzel, the Angelinas pull us making us think we are the next big thing in the celebrity world.This is normal at that point in life. After all we are only traveling as we are a traveler's mind.

Then enter Daddy, Mummy and their lecturers before the real college lectures. " Son, I want you to be this and that" " Honey I want you to be a doctor/nurse/teacher/social worker/ lawyer name it,,, because of this and that" We might do as they say but then we have our own minds which latter catches up with us. You will run but eventually your destiny is catches up with you. It might take forever, some unnecessary stops as you travel the road. Keep traveling.

I am not writing my autobiography because I am yet to make an impact in this big world. Did I get it wrong? I don't know. I thought only the big, the great and the mighty who have seen and conquered, been there done it and have testimonies to share with the world write their life stories. I could be wrong because a young ambitious man walked into GNPI Mbale studios the other day with an intention of putting his life story in the limelight through media. So I can as well go ahead and talk about my journey trying to find myself.

Just to save you the positive pain of laughing to the tales of another interesting Muturi life travels in search of a ME, God helped me make it to college where I did arts. It has been a long journey. Many interesting stops came my way. Mark you I never planned to take Arts in college though I latter realized this is the best stop I could have ever made. But that's me. You have your own journey. This was one of the best experiences in my journey. My brief four year stop is coming to an end and on 3rd Dec, I will be taking what God has enabled me achieve. I don't have any regrets whatsoever and it clearly appears to me that it was a worth stopover.

In case you have forgotten, I am still a traveler. My mind is still busy looking around for the next thing to do. I fancy sitting by the bus stop cause that is where I belong. My favourite book is in my hand. I have already said my prayers. God knows where I am headed next.  I am sure when the time is right, the next bus that comes to a halt will be the one to take me there and just in case you have forgotten, I AM A TRAVELER.

After all life is one big journey where we travel blindly with the mind serving as a walking stick.
Dear traveler, you have just boarded Mind Airways flight number....Welcome aboard. Its the traveler's mind.