Christmas Day Reflections on India

December 25, 2010

It is Christmas Day. I am sitting in a warm sweater, jeans and two pairs of socks feeling toasty from the burning furnace heat and typing under the glow of red and green Christmas decorations. Behind me is a window that exposes the yule-tide spirit of Christmas snow blanketed across the ground; the cold air fogging up the window as it meets the warm heat from inside my Mom's house.  I am back in Ohio, finished with my final semester at Berkeley, and celebrating the new-age Christmas of Coca-Cola Santa Clauses and shopping like a maniac to get everyone the perfect gift. It is the Christian holiday that celebrates the remembrance of a miraculous birth of Christ. India has never seemed so far away as it does right now. . .

I physically got back from India about four months ago after three months of living in the subcontinent. I mentally arrived about two or three months later, and I am still feeling slightly culture shocked by the lack of spicey food, constant car honks and upfront aggressive bargaining. On the verge of yet another departure, I am still in reflection mode of thinking about what happened to me this past summer in India. I haven't updated my blog in awhile as I started to really become immersed in thoughts of what India is and what my experiences were telling me. I also tried to focus more on being present rather than being too in my head and analytical on what was happening. By the time I got back to Berkeley, my mind became quickly involved with spending time enjoying my last semester with people I loved and getting to know my brand new co-op life inside of a crazy house called Lothlorien. It was also filled with a busy schedule and taking random North American adventures! It was a privileged semester for for sure, but I balanced it out with working hard.

When I got back from Orissa, I got right to work to finish my internship with Tata and to begin traveling. I had a little more of a grasp of what it was that I wanted to accomplish, but at this point was just trying to get my project done with the little resources and time that I had. By the end of my time in Jamshedpur, I began to feel connected to a few people and some communities that I was visiting more often in the rural areas. I had never expected to spend so much time in rural India, lost amongst heavy traditions and ways of life that I had no idea how to relate to. Yet, my last week or so, I ended up getting to know the village of Murkum outside of J-pur a little better through some amazing young guys involved with their local RISHTA projects that motivated me to put myself out there more. In lieu of the world cup, I actually played my first big soccer game with them that totally kicked my butt! It was great. The last few weeks were spent wrapping up my internship with my closing presentation and report creation. It was a very good lesson to learn how working with an NGO may go, but also how to do things like collect and compile data, conduct proper field research and try to communicate my recommendations and where I am coming from to a big company. I was a little bitter towards the end and during the process of making my report as I began to see all of the gaps of the internship. I had a visitor from Berkeley come to evaluate my experiences. She was so surprised at where I was, since she could not fly in or out of the state of Jharkhand due to warnings and dangers of Moaist activity constantly breaking out. It was crazy to feel myself in the middle of these conflicts stirring so much attention. It was even crazier to feel the sharp contrast between peasantry life and the pervasion of capitalism upon all areas. Either way, my visitor Puneeta from the Center for South Asian Studies at Berkeley reminded me of what Jharkhand looks like coming from outside. Leaving became slightly difficult as I built so many close relationships with some really amazing and beautiful people from Jamshedpur and began to see the beauty of the state. I had to leave my new great friend Mini behind as well as she began to settle more into India as her new home. I tried to do everything I wanted to do before leaving, including hiking around a national forest, and then took off on a train to Kolkata. I was split between wanting to stay and completely ready to leave. I do miss that guest house with all that amazing food though. . .

The last few weeks began back in Mumbai with the rest of the interns. After two months, Kate, Marie, Neda and I found ourselves back at the same hostel we stayed in when we first arrived in India. It was so weird to see them and feel how India had affected each one of us. I just kept wondering how different our experiences have been the two months in between. Kate had been in the mega city of Dehli and Neda and Marie were in the most isolated and rural area of Mithaipur. After our very official final presentations at the Bombay House with Tata and an uber-formal book release at the Taj Hotel in Colaba, we were set free to India for our remaining time. I got to meet up with awesome friends from Berkeley and the HMS group and finally had a crazy fun dancing night out that I had been craving after two months in Jamshedpur. It reminded me of how much I love Mumbai with all of its dynamic extremes. After a two days, Marie and I headed together through the south--going to Pune, on to Bangalore, to Mysore, Kodaikanal, then Kochi and finally Alleppey. This trip through India was a little different as I was able to stay with friends living in Pune, Bangalore and and in Kerala, feeling more closely connected to some Indians. It was incredible to have such amazing hospitality and Indian guardian angels look out for me while traveling. Our friend Shreyes from Bangalore set us up with a nice place in Mysore as well. The most memorable moments were: delicious Maharashtrian thalis with Mugdha (my favorite food in all of India); the modern streets and settings of Bangalore with sprawling temples and a massive sized Shiva statue; the easy bargaining, smiling faces and impressive palace of Mysore; the breathtaking views and cool air of Kodaikanal; and the amazing Keralan private beach with a palm tree forest, vibrant green rice patty fields and moseying boathouses through Keralan backwaters.

The trip was not all perfect all the time, but as I sit here on a snowy cold Christmas day in Ohio, I am slipping back into memories of the ubiquitous beauty that always enchanted me about India. It is a place of extremes, and a place that is intense for a Westerner like me; yet it such is a unique place unlike any other I have seen, and I am glad I got to spend a whole summer of my twenties there. Until next time India. . . chalo!

Best of the end. . .