Hello friends!
I apologize for my absence. It's been a crazy three weeks, and the rule of thumb is sleep over all else. But alas, here we go.
It's been a crazy trip. So far, we've visited New Delhi, Mathura, Agra, Jaipur, Tilonia, and back to Jaipur. My life has consisted of living out of a suitcase and praying for hot water above all else. Then good food next. And the continual quest for chocolate.
Anyways.
As expected, I'm in love. (With India, that is). But for many reasons.
First, it is just a beautiful city. On one hand, everywhere you turn is a monument or a landmark that will take your breathe away with its careful design and grandiose scale. Seriously. It's incredible. But oddly enough, the thing I find the most beautiful is the juxtaposition. From the majority of the landmarks we've visited, within a fifty foot radius from the site is some kind of extreme poverty. No, people living in poverty isn't beautiful. Actually, it's kind of heart-breaking when a mother comes up to you with a child and asks you for money. But what's beautiful is the potential you see from the two paired together. Potential for greater lives and a greater city because you can see what these people are capable of, and what kind of life they can eventually have. And believe me, the majority of them seem to want to work hard to have a better life.
Second, I've learned to love and crave Indian food. It's bizarre. And usually one meal is Indian food and the next is french fries. But anyways.
Third, there's a kind of equality and tolerance that will absolutely blow your mind. India is primarily made up of Hindus (which are broken down in various ways). But there is also an incredibly large Muslim population too. For example, we were downtown the other day in a Hindu part of town when vans of Muslims came through in celebration of some holiday. No one blinked. As Americans, we get looked at funny for a minute or two, and then people welcome us with open arms. Sure, the caste system exists. But there is no hierarchy of race or religion here. It's a mind blowing concept, but it will definitely change you.
Fourth, the education. There's a large majority of the population that is technically uneducated due to the country's rate of development. However, that's changing. Children are going to night schools with their family. While here, we visited a place called Barefoot College in Tilonia. The college takes only elderly women from all across the world and trains them to be solar engineers so they can give electricity to their village. Keep in mind, none of these women have had higher than a third grade education, and none of them speak the same language. But the college has devised a plan by which through pictures they can teach these women the engineering capabilities to light a village, and then these women can teach younger generations and other women who come to the school. I'm about to graduate college, and I couldn't dream of doing what they do. But they do it with such passion and such success that it really changes the way that America places an emphasis on such high education for often menial tasks.
Though I could go on forever, I'll end on the fifth, the children. No matter where you go, these children are the happiest children you will ever see. They always have smiles on their faces even in the worst of living conditions. They are thrilled with the simplest things. They really bring perspective to you. And personally, I melt around them, and I just want to stay and hang out with them forever.
A brief story to bring it home. While we visited Barefoot College, we had the opportunity to paint a mural for the community. Children ran back and forth, but there was one little girl who always stayed to watch. Finally, I motioned for her to sit with me, and she did so joyfully. We quietly admired the mural together. She went and got her younger brother to watch with us too. A few minutes later a friend of mine gave her a notepad to draw. She thought this was quite possibly the coolest thing ever. When she finished her drawing, she pointed around trying to explain things, and she pointed to the part of the drawing where she drew me. As if I wasn't already about to cry at her sweetness, it gets better. I gave her the drawing, and she ran off thrilled to show everyone. But she came back. We looked at my camera together and she loved pointing to see who was who and how it worked. She began looking through my bag and things, and she found my book. She thumbed through, and eventually ran across my Angry Birds bookmark. (Yes, I have an angry birds bookmark. Judge me.) She carefully considered it for a while and then gave it back. I gave her the bookmark, and the look of disbelief she had on her face when she had something so special to her that cost me fifty cents at target will forever be in my head. She then proceeded to go show her friends, and throughout the next few hours I watched her friends around the village watching it. I never saw her again, but I like to think I made her day. I know she made my year.
I apologize for my absence. It's been a crazy three weeks, and the rule of thumb is sleep over all else. But alas, here we go.
It's been a crazy trip. So far, we've visited New Delhi, Mathura, Agra, Jaipur, Tilonia, and back to Jaipur. My life has consisted of living out of a suitcase and praying for hot water above all else. Then good food next. And the continual quest for chocolate.
Anyways.
As expected, I'm in love. (With India, that is). But for many reasons.
First, it is just a beautiful city. On one hand, everywhere you turn is a monument or a landmark that will take your breathe away with its careful design and grandiose scale. Seriously. It's incredible. But oddly enough, the thing I find the most beautiful is the juxtaposition. From the majority of the landmarks we've visited, within a fifty foot radius from the site is some kind of extreme poverty. No, people living in poverty isn't beautiful. Actually, it's kind of heart-breaking when a mother comes up to you with a child and asks you for money. But what's beautiful is the potential you see from the two paired together. Potential for greater lives and a greater city because you can see what these people are capable of, and what kind of life they can eventually have. And believe me, the majority of them seem to want to work hard to have a better life.
Second, I've learned to love and crave Indian food. It's bizarre. And usually one meal is Indian food and the next is french fries. But anyways.
Third, there's a kind of equality and tolerance that will absolutely blow your mind. India is primarily made up of Hindus (which are broken down in various ways). But there is also an incredibly large Muslim population too. For example, we were downtown the other day in a Hindu part of town when vans of Muslims came through in celebration of some holiday. No one blinked. As Americans, we get looked at funny for a minute or two, and then people welcome us with open arms. Sure, the caste system exists. But there is no hierarchy of race or religion here. It's a mind blowing concept, but it will definitely change you.
Fourth, the education. There's a large majority of the population that is technically uneducated due to the country's rate of development. However, that's changing. Children are going to night schools with their family. While here, we visited a place called Barefoot College in Tilonia. The college takes only elderly women from all across the world and trains them to be solar engineers so they can give electricity to their village. Keep in mind, none of these women have had higher than a third grade education, and none of them speak the same language. But the college has devised a plan by which through pictures they can teach these women the engineering capabilities to light a village, and then these women can teach younger generations and other women who come to the school. I'm about to graduate college, and I couldn't dream of doing what they do. But they do it with such passion and such success that it really changes the way that America places an emphasis on such high education for often menial tasks.
Though I could go on forever, I'll end on the fifth, the children. No matter where you go, these children are the happiest children you will ever see. They always have smiles on their faces even in the worst of living conditions. They are thrilled with the simplest things. They really bring perspective to you. And personally, I melt around them, and I just want to stay and hang out with them forever.
A brief story to bring it home. While we visited Barefoot College, we had the opportunity to paint a mural for the community. Children ran back and forth, but there was one little girl who always stayed to watch. Finally, I motioned for her to sit with me, and she did so joyfully. We quietly admired the mural together. She went and got her younger brother to watch with us too. A few minutes later a friend of mine gave her a notepad to draw. She thought this was quite possibly the coolest thing ever. When she finished her drawing, she pointed around trying to explain things, and she pointed to the part of the drawing where she drew me. As if I wasn't already about to cry at her sweetness, it gets better. I gave her the drawing, and she ran off thrilled to show everyone. But she came back. We looked at my camera together and she loved pointing to see who was who and how it worked. She began looking through my bag and things, and she found my book. She thumbed through, and eventually ran across my Angry Birds bookmark. (Yes, I have an angry birds bookmark. Judge me.) She carefully considered it for a while and then gave it back. I gave her the bookmark, and the look of disbelief she had on her face when she had something so special to her that cost me fifty cents at target will forever be in my head. She then proceeded to go show her friends, and throughout the next few hours I watched her friends around the village watching it. I never saw her again, but I like to think I made her day. I know she made my year.
