It’s about time to write a final post to bring closure to the India section of this blog. It is hard to believe that I’ve now been in the States nearly twice as long as I was in Pune. 

Since I’ve been home I’ve submitted a few college applications, I’ve run at Northfield mountain, and I went to a Diwali festival in New York which was wonderful. My host sister’s birthday is in ten days, and so is Thanksgiving. There are  six months until I graduate High School, and fifty-four until I graduate college.

I’ve done mehndi on many of my family and friends’ hands, I’ve made them chai, and I’ve worked steadily on my collection of bollywood songs and movies. I’ve hung up Indian tapestries on my wall and have a Ganesh sitting on my bookshelf. I tried to bring India home with me in every way I could.

The first few weeks were strange.  One time I took a walk down the river and kept smiling at how…Life felt good. Seeing everyone again was so nice and I appreciated my friends’, sister’s and parent’s company more than ever. Yet I’ve had moments of almost criying because I couldn’t conceptualize that I was actually home. I missed my host family and Nsli friends and the cheeky smiles from the kids and people I saw every day.  How I miss the people! I was told that the amount of people in India would be oppressive, that I would always be stuck in a crowd. But I loved it, everywhere I turned there was a new face and a new life to think about and a new set of experiences to wonder about. I was never alone, even at night I had the comfort of sleeping with my host sister. Here I run my own life and do my own things, and now with my driver’s license I’m even more independent. While I have plenty of fantastic friends and family, the way my routine is set up I spend many moments alone.

I’ve told so many, (perhaps too many) stories to anyone who’d listen about our bus driver and the clothes we wore and the sights we saw. But there are experiences and memories that only those who were with me can share, and I want to make more! I long to ride my host father’s motorcycle again, answer my host mother’s questions about Colombia again, and to paint another painting with Aishwarya. 

These trips are like a drug - once you’ve taken one you can’t wait till the next. So of course, I’ve began applying for more scholarships (YES-Abroad program, crossin’ my fingers!) and trying to plan ahead, but it’s hard and the money isn’t always there. For now I am infinitely thankful for what I’ve been able to do, and I say to everyone involved:

बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद for the summer of my life! <3 

Well, I’m writing this from the plane and it’s still surreal to me that this is all over! Im going to describe the last few days in excruciating detail so I can try and keep them with me for as long as i can…

The whole last week was mostly dedicated to preparing for the final ceremony that happened on Thursday. We practiced our songs, dances, and speeches countless times, but also had a lot of fun because of the lower amount of structured classroom time (and the amount of kindergarten toys at the new classroom we were using - straight up trampoline and seesaw INSIDE the room. So good!

The ceremony finally happened on Thursday, and went pretty nicely…

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(Girls in Saris and guys in Kurtas at the formal dinner)

It’s hard to believe that the trip is so close to being over! Six weeks now feels like nothing, even though so much has happened within that time. Yesterday we had the formal dinner where we all wore saris, which made it really fun to see everyone’s outfits. Not gonna lie - I wish it was socially acceptable to wear saris in the States everyday…because I absolutely would. All the families’ presentations were cute as well, I think Rutuja got mine on film so I’m hoping to be able to put it up to show you all. Today we spent a while planning all the thank you gifts we have to get, which began to sink in the fact that it’s almost time to go! I’m going to miss this country…its food, its hospitality, the colorful clothes and the loud music! I’m going to miss all my new friends and my new family that I’ve come to love. I’ll miss the bus rides where we jam to Bollywood music, and stop to buy enormous chocolate bars for close to nothing. I won’t miss the smell and the trash and the cow shit but I’ll miss laughing about it a lot. I’ll miss laughing with the other nsli kids, with the host siblings, with the kids from the orphanage, from the Godavari school, and with my friends at the gym. I’ll miss philosophizing about random shit and most of all I’ll miss the thrill of having new experiences every single day that lets you live like you’re seeing everything for the first time!

(Me with some of the kids at Vigyan Ashram)

(Tulapur Temple)

Today we had our last excursion. We went to a famous temple called Tulapur  that is located in a crossing of three rivers. The inside was really nice and cool since it was made up of all stone. Vrushali explained a bit about the history of how the family of gods works (who ganesh is related to, etc.) and Alpana (our other teacher) talked to us about how spirituality doesn’t need a religion, which I think is a very valuable point. She also discussed the fact that lowering one’s ego is considered the most challenging but most valuable way to better oneself. This is something I want to discuss more about because I feel like it is good to have some confidence - although of course not too much. We meditated in the temple for a while, then went down the steps to the river where we saw some women from the local village gathered who were chatting while washing their clothes. It was beautiful to see them all dressed in their saris, chatting and sincerely enjoying this time:

After the temple we went to the Vigyan Ashram, a place kids who are failing out of school and aren’t doing well in the education system come to get vocational training and a lot of hands-on experiences. They were having an open house today, and seeing all these kids’ projects was remarkable. The amount of initiative they take at this place truly sets them apart from the stereotype we have of “lazy high school drop-outs.” During our time their, two girls who were a pair of peppy, blonde, British engineering students from Cambridge led us around the Ashram. They were volunteering to add some theory to the vocational lessons the students were getting. This place was absolutely worth the long drive, and like the other outings we’ve had, it was really nice to see a bit of rural India which we tend to forget is so beautiful when we’re in the crowded and hectic city all the time.

Well, this is it. I think we can all safely say that we’ve begun to feel what “the real India” is. Although I’m still having a great time, I have definitely been able to witness both the positive and negative aspects of the culture at a more intimate level. The injustice of the caste system has become more apparent with several awkward conversation with the City Pride kids. Bizarre beliefs like that “the poor don’t mind being poor because they adapt, and anyways we don’t need to help them because it’s their own fault that they have a tough life since they did something wrong in a past life…” The kid who said this was 11 years old, so it could simply be a lack of basic understanding of the world, but in any case these beliefs from early on seem to be what has lead to a very divided society. Several of us have also witnessed the subtle but significant sexism that still exists in all facets of Indian society: from small things like planning an outing with friends to large establishments like marriage, it is more than a mere annoyance in many women’s lives. That is not to say that I’m seeing only the negatives of this culture: the value that is placed on peace, and kindness, and the way that most religions are based on individual and spontaneous trips to temples instead of scheduled masses are a few of many pieces that I’ve come to admire greatly.

In today’s Hindi class when we memorized a poem about a baby bird. He is so excited to learn to fly because he just HAS to get away from home, then he does and goes to all these beautiful places and finds them all stupendous and has a great time, but finally realizes that he loves his home the most. I gotta say that I can relate to this baby bird..

The truth is though - I’m having the time of my life here and it’s hard to believe that this coming weekend will be the second to last one here! I’m going to be sure to make it a good one - tomorrow after the gym I’ll be going to Ariel’s again, this time with Aishwarya who will help us make some rice crispy treats. On Saturday we have some sort of Cultural day planed at school in the morning. On Sunday I’ll be going to the new Bollywood movie that’s partly in Spanish so it should be fun. Then in the evening we’re all going to Sidney’s host sister’s party which will be a nice way to hang out with everyone together again. On Monday we’re trying to organize a double play-date with my host sister and Sidney’s host sister, and basically the plan from now on is to enjoy every second before the trip ends!