The word Gypsy has come to mean so many things in the 21st century, today I define the word Gypsy as someone is in constant motion.Someone who is drifting from one ideology to another, someone who is continuously immersing themselves into different ways of living.
I am Calypso Alaia and I call myself a Gypsy, a new breed or kind of Gypsy in the 21st century.
For the past 24 years of my life I have spent it on understanding one culture, that which is mine The Filipino or Pinoy Culture.
Just like any other Filipino college graduate I had my own series of questions in life that is why I took up Philosophy in College.
I know I should have taken up Nursing at that time because parents and almost everyone is telling us...taking up Nursing is the way to go.
If I have accepted that choice that was made for me a long time ago...I will not be writing at this very moment.
I would be looking at a hospital window somewhere asking myself if it was right to follow what my parents have told me...
To fast track the story... I have decided to move to Bangkok for 1 year and leave behind the life that I know in Baguio, City.
Baguio is the home of artists, the home of musicians, the home of poets, the home of writers, the home of journalists, the home of lawyers, the home of dancers, the home of theater directors and performers...it is the home of film makers..
This is no longer something that is weird because Baguio has been the main hub of education.
Theories and ideologies are being discussed here every day, it is normal to encounter people here who have read 500 or more books...
The culture is different. It is possible to meet groups of people discussing some Western or Modern Philosophy at a coffee shop somewhere.
Visit the blogs and Facebook groups of core people in Baguio and you will notice varying points of view.
It is true that you cannot scream like a crazy hyped up teenager for a celebrity coming from Manila walking in the streets of Session Road.
Baguio is different from the rest of the country...the way the system works and the way people react is different.
You need to be able to write, you need to be eloquent, you need to choose your words well lest you be bitten.
The Gypsy life in Baguio
I came from a group of people who love dancing near the bonfire, in short I am a freelancer writer who works at home and finally decided that I needed to extend my learning somewhere else.
Perhaps life became too easy, perhaps I asked too many questions on where I should be as of the moment, perhaps the gypsy wanted to listen to the call of the modern world in order to become one herself.
My normal way of life is lying on the grass, listening to a stranger playing guitar. My way of life is doing some jamming with friends using a djembe drums..my way of life is that of a freelancer...you cannot expect me to wear a corporate attire, you cannot expect me to go to office from 8am to 5pm every day just like every normal person would do.
I have chosen to become a really different person, to follow my instincts, to hear the inner voice inside my head telling me to do what I love to do...but at time forces in life play tricks on you... I don`t really know why I chose to travel to Bangkok and more things will unfold and become clear to me in the coming days...
The Gypsy life in Bangkok
I am writing this blog in order to compile the stories of my reflections in a fast paced world...Can a freelancer gypsy non-committal person like me survive in a modern city where people are walking to and fro as fast as they can.
They say Thailand is more laid back than other countries especially when compared to China and Japan,they advertise it as a city of spirituality and I am here to research if that statement is true.
It is my first month here in Bangkok and I have taken the time to inspect the city and what it has to offer a gypsy.
I don`t know if I can call myself a free soul right now because I had to transform myself in order to blend in, most of the time I ask myself why am I wearing a corporate attire.
Why do I need to rush to go to work and get paid with a meager salary when nature should be free.
The rivers, the lakes, the streams..the oceans and the land they have all been given for free.
Why is the world so complex right now...we are all trying to rush and we are all trying to play the rules of bigger companies out there and we are subjected at their mercy.
It feels weird to wear a short skirt and to wear corporate clothes just because someone told you to do so. I don`t know who makes all of this rules but I suddenly miss my friends who can wear anything they want.
Why can`t we wear anything we want...and why should there be a magazine or a television telling us what we should wear and what we should not wear.
Disconnected with the Alignment of the Universe
Writing because I feel lost somehow and disconnected with who I think I am.
Whenever I look at large buildings, people holding their attache case and mobile phones of all sorts I feel an emptiness somehow...
I began to understand how different my beliefs are from how the world works... most of the time I stop and reflect at the people who are walking, they are all strangers to me...how can I remove the gap that separates me from the souls I interact with every day.
It is the same story time and time again, people working to feed their families, people rushing to go to work, people rushing to go to school, people walking to and fro to buy something, to eat something to see something..
Why do we need to work so hard for something that has been given to us for free a long time ago...
People who are afraid of each other, people who rarely dance if not required.
But there are very few of them...who can still the whisper of the trees...
I cannot help but ask their constant state of the soul... the constant state of the soul of people who are forced to dress up a certain way.
If not forced, have submitted into full acceptance that this is how they should dress...this is how they should look like and this is what there life is all about and nothing more.
No wonder we are all lost, we all want to fix our attention to our mobile phones..we are more connected than ever by technology... but also disconnected in so many ways.
I am a gypsy lost in the city of Bangkok, trying to understand why I am here,what am I doing here and why is the world set according to this reality...when there are so many realities possible.
Suddenly I miss sitting down on the grass, hearing the strums of the guitar as I sit and look at the moon...
...can a Gypsy survive and can a Gypsy connect in a world which is constantly in motion....
Is the world willing to welcome people like me..
people like me who love to hear their inner voice...
People like me who love to dance and sing by the river...
to be continued....
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