What to write? Too many times I have been asked, “How was it?” and too many times I have failed to fully retell how India has spoken to me. It is impossible to quickly ‘sum up’ India in this final reflection, however I feel I can do it best by sharing a few of the lessons I have learnt along the way.
Firstly, we are all human beings, who experience emotion. We all feel joy, pain, fear and curiosity. No one is exempt from this yet so often we pretend we stand alone, distant from the sorrows of the world, failing to realise that these emotions make us who we are. What India has taught me is that accepting these emotions, and allowing them to wash over us, is truly living joyfully. In India there is passion, vitality and life in abundance. In India, struggles are shared daily, as is happiness. In India, the bright red of pain and anger stands alongside the soothing white of hope and peace, as if emblazoned on a flag. In India, there has always been a healthy hatred of watered down pink.
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
Secondly, there are very many people on this strange planet and I am only one. For me, this realization is both humbling and empowering. Humbling because there is no possible way I can continue to think of myself constantly - there is simply too little to think about when compared to the vast expanse of humankind. Empowering because as individuals we all have the power to influence others positively. All it takes is a little bit of thought and effort, and a realisation that everyone has this ability. An example of this was seen at ASHA in Delhi, where young school kids were taking their future into their own hands and purposefully changing the very communities they lived in.
Finally, the thought that life is a long, twisting road that leads to the summit of a great mountain. There are many paths up this mountain, some easier than others. Along these paths are storms to be weathered, and stunning vistas to be savoured, all the while maintaining a slow, steady forward march.
Some people believe there is a city at the top of this mountain, while others do not. Others claim that theirs is the only path to this city. It is impossible to tell for sure, as thick clouds obscure much of the landscape above, meaning that we also cannot know what lies along the curved path only moments ahead.
What I learnt in India is that this does not matter.
This road, this life, is an adventure to be undertaken wholeheartedly. We will meet many other travellers on their own walks, and we must be vulnerable and share both theirs and our own burdens along the way. We must also thoroughly enjoy the fact that we are on a perilous and exciting journey in the first place. For myself, I have learnt that I cannot be content with following behind others on an easy road – I must forge my own trail. India is filled with these kinds of people, courageous men and women who seize life by the scruff of the neck and make the most of all the opportunities given to them, however difficult it may seem. I cannot honestly say I have done the same throughout the first eighteen years of my life. Perhaps it is time to change that.
“I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I; I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
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