Batik from the heart

Ok it's time to end the drought and post an entry on this Blog.  I've been staying here in Malaysia for over a month now and I realize I should not wait for a monumental event or revelation to hit me so I have something to write about.  So I'll write about nothing... because nothing is still something.  

What I miss most living here the past few weeks is the tranquil embrace of nature.  This apartment is situated next to the city and walking through the mall across the street makes me feel like an electron battling it's way against the current in a closed circuit due to the sheer number of people that I weave my way through.  At the end of it I tend to shift to an agitated state of energy, certainly not as grounded.  On the other hand, Nature loves unconditionally. 

Last night I met a man in his late 40's who had left the city and moved closer to Nature since his wife and soulmate passed away unexpectedly nine years ago.  He's a Batik designer who now lives close to aborigines of Malaysia in the forest.  There he dyes fabrics on his own.  He used to run a successful business with his wife creating batik clothing.  She was the fashion designer and he was the artist.  She was the canvas and he was the paint, the colorful patterns they created together was adored by many.  When she passed away, he lost his soulmate and business partner.  The business was dissolved, his home was sold and he retreated into the wilderness in a depression.  The past few years of isolation in Nature was his therapy.

He had brought with him a plastic bag and in it were 3 articles of clothing that someone had originally intended to discard, he had applied his skillful batik techniques to transform and disguise the offending stains.  The end result was an entirely different garment and quite beautiful.  This was his new business and he called it "I dye for you".  

I was moved by the way he spoke of his wife.  Since then he had dated a few women but each affair was brief.  It seemed that he had resigned himself to a solitary existence, there was still unhealed grief.  I thought of my previous post about Soulmates, I told him there is more than one Soulmate for each of us.  Another one is out there.  "It was hard enough finding her", he said.  I objected and I wanted to change his belief to help him, but I couldn't because inside I shared it.