Thursday, March 10, 2011

10 March 2011 (Thursday) China - Changsha

Thinking back on India

I've been trying to characterize in some way what India is to me, in terms of sights, smells, people, practices, and places. There was one point a week or two ago where I had an almost constant inner monologue about all the pieces that meant, on a visceral level, India to me.  All those things we were experiencing that were new, strange, and uniquely Indian, yet became so normal and everyday that it is difficult to pick out what was so special about living there.

India has a way of bringing you down to earth, of taking the human condition and setting it raw in front of you to experience. There is such poverty, wealth, discrimination, abuse, color, life, death, suffering, pollution, dirt, destruction, gracefulness, stagnation, growth, corruption, and potential. We met an amazing variety of people there, those who helped us, told us their stories, cheated us, cared for us, and just observed our madcap mistakes as we tried to delve deep and really figure India out.

I know I learned far more than I expected from our five weeks there, about myself, the group, and the country. And I know I want to return to India in the future for a much longer stay because the people there really do deserve the brightest future possible, and they are working their hardest to get there, so I believe we should be working our hardest to help them.
    
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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