Reflections of India

Posted on August 31, 2017 under Storytelling with 5 comments

Lotus temple in New Delhi

 

So, why, exactly am I going back to India?

Good question.

I ask myself the same question almost every day. I have spent the last four months trying to process my journey half way around the world. Make no mistake about it. Spending six months in any new place would be challenging enough but doing this in the most populated country in the world was not easy.

India is ,in many ways , a taxing country in which to live. Every village, town and city is jammed with humanity. If you don’t like crowds, you will not do well in India. Ditto for noise, heat , pollution, garbage and traffic.

Since my return home, I have spoken to a number of seasoned travelers who have spent long periods of time abroad. I was happy and a bit relieved to hear them express that they too, suffered the “blahs” upon their return to Canada. So many people asked me in the days after getting back to Antigonish if I was excited to be home. At the time, it was more like relief after my three week ordeal at the end of my stay. In case you missed it, this is what it feels like to be held in a foreign country against your will.

https://www.week45.com/delhi-dilemma/

No. I didn’t feel excited to be home nor was I pining for India. I was in “ no man’s land” for the better part of two months not feeling much of anything. Spending the month of July with my granddaughter fixed that!

I guess I have to admit that spending 6 months in India was a very large culture shock. Even though I thought that I had “ surrendered” to India, it is still enormously difficult to shake off cultural differences. It is mentally taxing when everyday, something happens that you don’t expect. Many times these were pleasant experiences like going to a market , a temple or a cultural event. But to experience constant power outages, unpredictable internet access, listening to the incessant honking of horns and other noise pollution, it does get on your nerves no matter how hard you try to block it out.

And of course, the poverty in many places is quite jarring.

While the human brain has seemingly unlimited capacity, I think it shuts down when your senses have been assaulted daily for 6 months. And then you come back to one of the most tranquil places on the planet and stagger around in a haze. No wonder adjusting is difficult.

I have replayed the visa ordeal over and over in my head. I’m not obsessed with it but I definitely have flashbacks. I was incredibly lucky to have my brother Don with me. If you took the previous six months I spent in India and applied a factor of 10 ( for you math whizzes! ), it might give you some insight as to the toll this took on my psyche. And I was one of the lucky ones. I could have cried for some of the people caught in unfortunate circumstances like me.

I will always remember the woman in the burqa trying to understand the mess she was in, all the while dealing with a young, severely handicapped boy who was throwing tantrums every ten minutes… in 45 degree heat. How do these people manage? I know that they have no choice but it is painful to watch.

And then I think of refugees and give myself a good swift kick in the arse. Yes. My situation was far from pleasant but I can’t possibly imagine what it would be like fleeing from war and then trying to figure out the bureaucracy in order to get your family to safety.

The main reason that I am going back to India is because of the inspirational work of a congregation of Roman Catholic Sisters, the Daughters of Mary. They do so much… for so many… with so little. I understand charity with much better clarity. I feel like I can make a difference, albeit a very small difference. The Sisters have a motto that they live by: “ Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something.”

Lucy Miller, a St.F.X. grad and winner of the City of Calgary’s 2016 Citizen of the Year had this to say: “ What’s the one thing you can do today to move  it forward? How can you make a difference today?”

Will YOU make a difference in someone’s life today?