Homecoming

I traveled to Africa for the first time in late July, 2012.

Flying south from Paris, the air route takes a south-southeast direction. It crosses the Mediterranean and then over north Africa, revealing the Sahara desert as a majestic sight, even from 35000 feet. The stark desolation of the landscape contrasts with the colors of the desert, and the shadows of the clouds as they scurry over the surface.

Upon crossing the sliver of sea and reaching the land, I couldn't help smiling. I am in Africa: in a strange way, this felt like homecoming. I guess our ancestral memories -- having been formed on this continent -- pass through millennia and reassure us when we come back to our one true motherland!

(I wrote this as part of an e-mail to my wife; then decided to publish it after my friend and colleague Cliff Morehead sent me wishes that "the motherland was treating [me] well"!)