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Would I Do It Again?
Posted by
jyoti
,
21 November 2008
·
27 views
Would I do it again? Commit two years to a country I'd never been to on a continent I'd never seen?
The last few weeks in India, I found myself incredibly frustrated with all things India. The filth was overwhelming, sitting at the bus stand moving every 30 seconds to keep flies off my feet, women sitting and spitting paan onto the ground in front of them all became unbearable. Why after two years did it suddenly hit me so hard? Part of it was simply because I didn't have to deal with it anymore. Soon, I would be back in the US -- a magical place where cars drive in straight lines, people put their trash in trash cans, and cows stay behind fences in grassy fields. I realized that one of the benefits of being in India long term is that, rather than tolerate the frustrations until I leave, I had to learn to deal with them. This made the issues less frustrating, because I wasn't looking at "going back home" but rather took it as something I was going to have to live with, and therefore needed to learn to deal with it. Getting ripped off a few times wasn't the sum of the trip, but rather the beginning of a learning process. Another day would mean another chance to perfect my bargaining skills and, once again, trying to explain to the tailor that I really did want the seams to be done properly.
Long term also meant a very different kind of trip. Rather than the "visit 20 places in 10 days," I had the chance to take things slowly and really absorb the world around me. I got to settle into a household rather than skipping from hotel to hotel. I got to experience every day, homemade Malayali cooking rather than a constant barrage of (unhygienic) hotel food, and rather than buying SK (Salwar Kameez) as a novelty, I had the time and opportunity to learn to wear it properly.
But, oddly, being in India long term with a commitment to a workplace also meant that I got to see less of India. While there wasn't the stress of 20 places in 10 days, there was also the settling down and spending less time on the trains, traveling to and fro. Tourist who come for two weeks, two months, etc. have seen more places in India than I have. Yet, the places I did get the chance to visit were while visiting friends, so I might not have spent much time in tourist-Shimla, but I got to visit the markets and take a trip into the mountains, exploring a 500 year old wooden palace like a modern day Nancy Drew, and snuggled up on a couch looking out at the Himalayan foothills while drinking hot cocoa. Being there long term means being able to say, "I can always do that another day," but it also means putting things off and therefore missing experiences I might have had if I hadn't been so settled in...
Would I do it again? Heck, yeah. Not just because I love India and want to be back there, but because after being out of the US for two years, I can't imagine experiencing something so huge without letting it seep in, get under the skin, giving it time to change me into something that I wasn't when I started.
The last few weeks in India, I found myself incredibly frustrated with all things India. The filth was overwhelming, sitting at the bus stand moving every 30 seconds to keep flies off my feet, women sitting and spitting paan onto the ground in front of them all became unbearable. Why after two years did it suddenly hit me so hard? Part of it was simply because I didn't have to deal with it anymore. Soon, I would be back in the US -- a magical place where cars drive in straight lines, people put their trash in trash cans, and cows stay behind fences in grassy fields. I realized that one of the benefits of being in India long term is that, rather than tolerate the frustrations until I leave, I had to learn to deal with them. This made the issues less frustrating, because I wasn't looking at "going back home" but rather took it as something I was going to have to live with, and therefore needed to learn to deal with it. Getting ripped off a few times wasn't the sum of the trip, but rather the beginning of a learning process. Another day would mean another chance to perfect my bargaining skills and, once again, trying to explain to the tailor that I really did want the seams to be done properly.
Long term also meant a very different kind of trip. Rather than the "visit 20 places in 10 days," I had the chance to take things slowly and really absorb the world around me. I got to settle into a household rather than skipping from hotel to hotel. I got to experience every day, homemade Malayali cooking rather than a constant barrage of (unhygienic) hotel food, and rather than buying SK (Salwar Kameez) as a novelty, I had the time and opportunity to learn to wear it properly.
But, oddly, being in India long term with a commitment to a workplace also meant that I got to see less of India. While there wasn't the stress of 20 places in 10 days, there was also the settling down and spending less time on the trains, traveling to and fro. Tourist who come for two weeks, two months, etc. have seen more places in India than I have. Yet, the places I did get the chance to visit were while visiting friends, so I might not have spent much time in tourist-Shimla, but I got to visit the markets and take a trip into the mountains, exploring a 500 year old wooden palace like a modern day Nancy Drew, and snuggled up on a couch looking out at the Himalayan foothills while drinking hot cocoa. Being there long term means being able to say, "I can always do that another day," but it also means putting things off and therefore missing experiences I might have had if I hadn't been so settled in...
Would I do it again? Heck, yeah. Not just because I love India and want to be back there, but because after being out of the US for two years, I can't imagine experiencing something so huge without letting it seep in, get under the skin, giving it time to change me into something that I wasn't when I started.
