After light: darkness?
Published on: 21st of December 2011
Current city: Amsterdam
Amsterdam was my last destination. By this time I felt a real traveller living only from a suitcase and calling home the hotel rooms I passed through on this trip. So far I counted almost 40 cities, 18 countries, 3 special regions, 33 flights, 38 hotel rooms and about 95 days of travelling!
I experienced light in so many varied ways too: urban lighting, architecture, natural light, artificial light, interactive light, dynamic light, coloured light, light in art, in nature, in health. Amazing how light can be so versatile, don’t you think?
Nonetheless I feel that I’ve accomplished the mission I set myself on this trip: talking to people to understand how light is perceived all over the world and how universal light can be. I can only say that it has been a real expedition on lighting, but it wouldn’t be complete if I hadn’t experience total darkness too.
I wanted to finish my enlightened journey in the darkest place I could find. And that place was the ctaste restaurant where I took my long-time friend Gulcan Temel to have dinner in total darkness. We had asked for the chef suggestion meaning that we wouldn’t know what we would be eating or experience. The waiters, visually disabled people, had only 6% of vision so they were used to find their way around in darkness. Besides, they were familiar with the space too and they guided us to the dining area.
As we sat immerse in darkness we could hear some people around us. We speculated how many people could be sharing the same room by distinguishing the different tones of voice. We were explained that our menu would be constituted by a starter, a main course and a dessert. But before we were given a taster and a bottle of water was brought to the table. As we asked if the waiter was going to pour it for us, he laughed saying that was part of the experience.
So our first challenge was to pour water on our glasses. Gulcan found a technique where she left her finger inside the glass waiting to feel the water at the top of the glass. I went for the taster; it savoured of something smoked and had a foam texture. We hoped for smoked salmon foam, but I can advance now that we found later on that it was just carrot.
The starter arrived: a green salad. Not that I could see the colour, but I could definitely distinguish the lettuce, and some other leaves. There was something warm on the plate too. By this time I have to say that eating with a fork seemed to be a Goliath mission. I started feeling the food with my hands and bringing it to my mouth. Gulcan scared me as we got lost in translation and for a moment I thought I was touching something between a worm and a shell. It was just a cooked cherry tomato.
It all went really well with the scallops.
I decided to explore the area around me with my hands, feeling the corners of the table and the wall in front. We were wondering how big the room was as more people kept on coming. I bumped into something, and I whispered to Gulcan that I had found someone next to us. ‘I felt that!’ – A voice said. Everyone burst into laughter; as you eliminate vision, the other senses become very sensitive and everyone can hear what you are saying, so beware.
The first mission was accomplished and the main course followed it through. There were some vegetables, risotto and two different meats. I could smell the different ingredients; I didn’t remember smelling food with such intensity. Now, trying to cut the meat with fork and knife turn out to be an impossible mission, I believe Gulcan was better than I was on this as I gave up and just grabbed the food with my hands. How did I know if I had finished my food? Touching and tasting became my primary senses on such an experience.
Well, I could go on describing the dessert and the different tastes we encountered on the way but I would be spoiling for you. Nevertheless, we were assured that the menu keeps on changing so people can try different things.
Two and a half hours in darkness and Gulcan and I were catching up on life. We felt quite comfortable, I guess because we knew each other for such a long time it helped. In addition, the fact that we didn’t need to use our body language to express ourselves made us more sensitive to other things and more attentive to the conversation. As Gulcan pointed out it felt more relaxing too.
As we left the dining area, the outside felt strange. Not only there was too much light, but all other senses were too sensitive: smell, hear and taste.
I definitely recommend having this experience once in your lifetime at least. As much darkness I experienced I felt enlightened too. It was a wakeup call, reminding me how important can the other senses be and how privileged I am to be able to experience light and vision, this great gift that life has given me!
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