Parting Thoughts

Today I am leaving India.

It's a weird feeling - I can't quite get my head around it. Looking back, it seems like the months passed in the blink of an eye, even though at times I felt like I would never get through the week.

I know I will go home and people will casually ask me, "So how was it?" But how do I sum up eight months of living and traveling and working and laughing and crying on the Indian subcontinent? It's not possible in a sentence, and not even possible in this one blog post.

The problem with describing India to someone who has never been is that it seems to be everything at once. It is simultaneously beautiful and nauseatingly ugly. It is colorful and mesmerizing, but also at times cold and depressing. The endless crowds can bring on a deep sense of loneliness, and the vast, open, empty spaces can inspire a sense of inner peace and pleasure. There is an abundance of glitter and gold and opulent wealth with sewage-smelling slums at its doorstep. The streets are at once full of joyful dancing and pain and sorrow. Markets smell of mouthwatering spices and fried delicacies, but everywhere people are going hungry. Life and death are constantly battling it out right in your face. Even the wealthiest tourists cannot completely seal themselves from the confounding, overwhelming, and fantastic complexities that define India.

I think when I am asked, over and over, "How was India? Did you just love it?", I will smile and respond, "India is really amazing." What else can be said? It is such a unique place and I have had such a multidimensional experience that I am left with too few words to describe it.