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October 05, 2008
afterthoughts
Now it's been over a month since I have left India. I just watched the slideshow I put together on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckybvwLlNnI When I look at the video all I can think of is good things, and I'm really glad that I have something where I can look back and see just how beautiful the experience was. But the experience was so many things. It was first and foremost a learning experience, one that made me think, one that exposed me to things I never would have never been exposed to otherwise; it was an experience that brought several meaningful friendships into my life, ones I believe will never fade; it was an experience that taught me more about who I already was, and, through time and introspection, gave me the opportunity to think about what I would become in the near and distant future; it took me out of my comfort zone at times, yet at others (like my experiences with rural life), I was brought into realities that made me feel far more comfortable than I often feel in my "realities" back home; it made me think about the (often overemphasized and just plain convoluted) notion of "poverty," making me realize that the negative connotations the word carries not only overgeneralize and stigmatize, but are, much of the time, quite contrary to the truth (one might say that there is indeed much beauty in simplicity -- and yet much of the time, these "simple" things are not at all so simple as they might appear at first glance; what's more, just because one is in the much-fabled Rural India, doesn't mean that poverty has to exist in any sense of the "dirty" word -- although, undeniably, it does, and this trip has driven me to do all i can to fight its oftentimes seemingly hopeless tide); the experience gave me time to pursue things I never would have pursued at home, such as learning a language that is peculiar to the state of Maharashtra -- Marathi (at least a decent bit of it, anyway) -- and spending some of my downtime reading plenty of entries (about places, political ideologies, philosophers, etc. in the Collier's encyclopedia collection, conveniently located in the office, as well as several other weird books I brought along with me (misconstrued notions of free trade [well, sort of...], "humour," Freakonomics, etc.); the experience -- as I would hope one's experience in another country for a significant amount of time (and without any fellow compatriots) would be -- left me quite immersed in the culture of the village, and the barriers to communication began to break down a bit -- that is, i became less conscious of them, which in turn allowed me to communicate with my new friends in a way that reinforced the universality of people: no matter where I was, no matter how isolated from "my world" I sometimes felt to be (although, frankly, such unfamiliarity is perhaps what I often enjoy most), I observed that certain (just about all, really) gestures, mannerisms, practices, rules of conduct -- these things transcend any differences noticed between people, which, while noticed, may add to the particular beauty of each culture (and which may also estrange it from one's own, rendering it an exhibit for the thirsty "anthropologist's" every desire -- this sickens me, though I myself am probably not at all exempt), at once become irrelevant -- indeed, un-noticed -- and the bright, cleansing light of humanity is all that can be seen, all that matters anymore! Well, to be perfectly honest -- aren't I always (to a default!)? -- that's not entirely true with me. I am still left debating the importance of humanity vs. the importance of the environment -- i.e., Communism or Green Radicalism, which, when put into these stringent ideologies, find themselves tugging at one another harder than ever -- and hopefully I will reconcile the two either before I pull out my all my graying hair, or, in the worst case scenario, before I die -- because one day, it just might happen! -- I may just find myself returning to India in the process. I love India, through and through.
Posted by dmbenn at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)