Mapping India

Rajasthan, then Mumbai. Stayed in the desert for three days, then on to the oceanfront. Met up with the rest of the Indicorps team, and it was absolutely *amazing* to see how much we've all grown. I'm finally in a space where I feel like I can navigate India while being culturally appropriate and while (and this is the key) still being myself.

I saw my first crab on the oceanfront. Also met Rajni Bakshi, author of Bapu Kiti. I have yet to read the book, but we had a discussion of the similarities btw the civil rts mvement in the states and the Dalit movement in India. Interesting. She seemed well informed... but, like I said, haven't read her book yet.

Since I don't have a TV or radio out here, I have been writing a lot. Not reading as much as I would like to.... but some books I read recently and enjoyed:

the God of Small things (Arundati Roy)
The bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad)
What Should I do w/ my life? (Po Bronson)
Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
Seven habits of effective ppl (steven covey) (obvious suggestions, but well organized)
and, as always,
The giving tree (shel silverstein) and Oh the places you'll go (by the Dr. himself)
(b/c some books are just timeless)

I have this huge pile of books I've bought (books are super cheap in India) (getting to a point where my mountains of books are almost as high as Robyn's) ... that I am still chiseling my way through ... stuff I've been meaning to read or read about forever... but there is so much to know. Like Freud and Fountainhead and Tagore and Gibran and Isreal and the Phillipines and Egypt and Saul Williams and Ruth Foreman and the Black Panthers and the Tipping Point and Haruki Murakami and Gandhi.

Whatcha got? Send over any titles you'd recommend my way. :) I'll start doing the same.

Things begin to click

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't really fit any mold. I'm ok w/ this. I've come to appreciate always being a little different, always looking in from the outside. It gives me an edge - the ability to see things in a different perspective. I've come to terms with the occasional necessity to swim upstream and against the current. It's the way I was raised. It's because I know my path is unpaved.

But it is nice when the people I love support my decisions. It's an inner peace that can't be found in any other way. Soooo.... getting to the point....

I have a few opportunities open to me after this August. So I am thinking about staying back for a bit after my fellowship (After, of course, my family visits.... 3 weeks!!!! Yay!) If nothing else, the time will help me transition back into the life I led before I got here. (I can only imagine how traumatic it would be to go straight from a remote village in India back to life outside of Chicago without any time to adjust!)

The point of this entry is that (although my decision is still not 100%), I might stay for a while. And my family, who I thought would be competely against this, are actually super supportive of the idea. That simple statement eradicates so much anxiety. Having my family behind me makes me happier than I would ever let on.

I send a transAtlantic, intercontinental, oversea tackle hug to everyone I love. You know who you are.

:) (in the words of Vimal McBrother, "Wink!")