spring clean up

translation? my email is not cooperating...

so i'm responding on this mofo, my link to the world back home.

My brother is officially a senior in college!!!! I'm so proud that i'm blushing. Yay, Vimz! (Did you ever get the package I sent?... make sure you set up forwarding your mail to home @ the post office.) I'm so excited to see you guys in July!!!

Jennaiya!!! You owe me 75435425 punches in the nose. Your birthday came and it went and I was too far removed from calendars to know. Aaaa! Please, forgive me. Happy Birthday Babydoll! Btw, you have yet to send a mailing address.. ; send your cell # too. My email is still (mywholename)@gmail.com. It should be working fine when the computers here aren't throwing temper tantrums. :) Give our corners and Mama G a huge hug for me.

Robyn!! Happy freakin Bday to you too!!!

Aditya, i know that picture isn't so great. But broke ass!?! I'd like to see how much of a rockstar *you* look like after a year of living like the salt of the earth in the desert. :P

Nikhil- the CD's and magazines rock! Thank you sooooooo much! I put the 1st CD in and homesickness washed over me like no one's business.... but in a good way. :) Totally made my week. Thank you!

Hardyduss, I miss you tons too. Congrats on finishing pharm school! You should celebrate--- come visit me! I guarantee you won't regret it. It's amazingly beautiful out here. And there's 2 bicycles and on open desert horizon with our names on them. ;)

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Now, down to business. This fellowship is over in 2.5 months. I have a huge decision in front of me. Anand, Indicorps founder, wants me to stay another year on a paid PR position. Awesome opportunity- writing, putting together a collective book and videos, counseling projects, traveling... it would be amazing. And it would put together a lot of the pieces for me.... laying an amazing foundation for the things I want to get into when I get back... (and I would have time to apply to grad school)

There's also an opening at UNESCO (i.e. the united nations!!) that this project has given me the perfect entry for. It's kind of funny how life gives you exactly what you ask from it. I've been wanting to work for the UN since I was in high school. ... and now there's an opportunity that is punching me in the face: "here I am. Exactly what you said you wanted. An international career. In the field of art. Empowering communities. Falling asleep at night *knowing* you're doing something that matters. Something that fits."

So the problem? I am ready to come home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. My brothers, the most important thing to me ever, are growing up without me. Quite literally, a 16th bday, a 21st bday, a driver's license (!), a senior in college. My mom is the president of our samaj. my dad is now running daily (!). My friends are all at some crazy amazing turning points. And the first corners' trip is planned for this sept. Home is pulling me back relentlessly.

But I think I need some time to readjust. I need to stay in India a while. To unromanticize the idea of India in my head. Because, realistically, India is not the adventure that I have been on this past year. It's a nation like any other, with a wide disparity btw socio-economic classes. It's got a highly standardized, globalized urban yuppie city culture (my favorite... ummm... right....). But it's also got masses of people who live on very little, who are mostly illiterate, surviving on the strengths they have, surviving on 'whatever God gives them'. Neither end of the spectrum is bad, I've come to realize. It's all in the eye of the beholder. India's got a whole lot of character and beauty if you know what you are looking for.

Anyway, I am considering staying (a few months max). It's still a debate at this point. Questions/ comments/ concerns? Email me. or call.

Much love.
PEACE.