Hello and Good-bye

Living in India has still not fully hit me. Though I walk the streets of Hyderabad, explore the neighborhood of Ameerpet while visiting my Gurudwara, or am driven with my fellow DIG students from Tagore International House to our destination (air condition on high for some of us), I am visually present, but my mind has not accepted it yet. I don’t know if it ever will. I think it is because without the constant distractions that tax my time at Duke, I spend all my time thinking about my future: Where will I be next year, what will I be doing, what do I want to do with my life. This leaves me thinking not in terms of what I am experiencing.

It has seemed like a blur that we have been here since early October and it is now almost Christmas. I wish I were a better journalist to write down my daily experiences.

This past week has left one of the most unique feelings upon the atmosphere of Tagore House. Since we are here mid-terms (i.e. middle of Fall semester-middle of Spring semester) we experience the exodus of the fall semester students. We get to say our good-byes to people we will most likely never see face-to-face again. We lose sleep to be up in time for our final good-byes, we shed a few tears, and after it all, we DIG students will still be here. As people slowly disappear, we pile of supplies left in the common room grows.

As for our work, Finals are fast approaching, my stress level is increasing daily as I do hours of Hindi review per day. I wish there were a coffee shop to sit in and listen to Hindi conversations. As our work with the migrant school is concerned, Yvette and I have been working on lists of people who may be important and helpful to creating a sustainable effort at the school, while also attempting to make a general overview that would be applicable to other similar sites in the future. We have written to the Duke Chronicle hoping a story will come of it and are still waiting on a response.

Looking forward to the week ahead

Faithfully