Why does M.I.A describe India so perfectly? Of course that's the biggest cliche ever, as well as slightly racist, but there it is.
I've said it.
Everyday on our way to school, I'd listen to Kala and look out the bus window onto the dusty, bustling streets of Hyderabad and I'd think to myself 'I'm in a fucking movie right now.'
The combination of the street with all it's color and grime mixed with M.I.A's perfectly chaotic beats come together to form the biggest cranial clusterfuck of your life.
And I mean that in a good way.
Everywhere you look there's a million things going on--there's a million colors, a million people, a million cars, a million sounds. Everything you could possibly imagine happening in one place at one time is going on. And then some.
It's like New York City on acid. Everything moves so fast and changes so frequently if you're not constantly paying attention you miss it all.
It's funny... (Although not at all) It is a place where despite the extreme poverty--despite the pollution, overpopulation, heat and corruption, India is one of the most alive places I've ever been. There's a kind of spirit there.
And it's quite infectious.
So even though you produce more sweat in one day than you ever have in your entire life leading up to it, and even though you feel a deep sense of guilt as you pass tent city after tent city, you can't help but feel a sense of happiness--a sense of purpose when you're there.
Like traveling to many places, Nothing (capital N) can prepare you for India. As a part of our schools study abroad program we had to take a bullshit class on "Global Leadership." It makes me laugh thinking back on that class, and how little it actually did for us.
All that preparation for nothing.
You can eat all the Indian food you want in preparation, but you've still never tasted real Indian food.
You may think you know what a "hot day" is, but your sweltering hot summer days are like winter compared to India.
I ate food so spicy I thought I would never taste again.
I sweat so much I had to take two showers everyday, and I still went to bed with a thin layer of grime on my skin.
Something I never expected in a million years--or maybe I expected it but I never really thought about it, was how much I, a lighter skinned American female, would stick out in a sea of chocolaty brown people.
People would stop me on the street just to touch my arm, and compare colors.
I would turn around and catch people taking pictures of me.
Bizarre.
I have never gotten so much attention as I did in India. There was something so uncomfortable yet so lovely about it at the same time. Everyone at school knew our names, and wanted to be our friends, but it was similar to being a celebrity--they didn't really want to get to know us, they just wanted to say they'd met us. We were something to brag about.
Ultimately I think not knowing what to expect is what made India so special. I think it's what makes anything special.
Wouldn't you agree?
We did a little of everything in India. We broke all the rules. We were in a country where it so easy, why the fuck wouldn't we? There was a sweet satisfaction in knowing we could spend the whole day in a hookah lounge blackening our lungs then go straight to a school function and nobody had to know except us. It was like we were flipping the bird to our teachers with giant flashing signs and fireworks all around us, and they couldn't see us. It gave us such a buzz. It gave us a little pimp-limp in our step.
No going out after 8 o'clock? Yeah right.
No riding on motorcycles? Haha!
No drinking? No smoking? Woops.
No amorous conduct? Yeah about that...
The one regret I do have about the trip was that I didn't shoot almost any pictures, and the ones I do have are simply dreadful. I have a few that aren't too horrific to show, so I'll post them here, but they don't even begin to describe what Indian life is really like.
My hope is to someday return and attempt to do this country a little justice.
जीवन और प्यार
-Lo
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