As I am writing this I have been back in the US for over a week. I have therefore had a lot of time to reflect on my time in India. It changed me and only positively. I now have access to everything that I took for granted before I left and now I no longer take any of it for granted. Safety and peace are the two largest things. Safer in almost every way, probably the only exception is that in India I felt that nearly everyone I met could be trusted. That translated into me feeling much safer from violence in India. There were times when I met people there deeply resentful of the entitlement and relative wealth that I represented. For every one of those people in India there are three just as resentful in the US, here they are just resentful for other reasons. The greater safety here is in the form of the ability to, without any fear, drink tap water, shower, eat food, brush my teeth, order an uber, walk down the street, etc,. The peace is in the form of not being assaulted by car horns relentlessly, drive or be driven safely, have consistent air conditioning, having far less humidity, and not getting chased down the street by beggars and con artists.

If I meet anyone considering traveling to India or participating in SISA in the future I will not indiscriminately tell them to go. It takes a certain kind of person to look past all of the uncomfortable and disturbing aspects and realize the true beauty of India. I know this because I’ve met people that have traveled to India and they only complained about the negative things that I now know so well without having anything positive to say.

I want to and am already planning to return to India, the next time will just have to be not in June through August, when its cooler. There is something about India that I cannot describe. It’s like being in another world. It made me realize that it is closer to reality than the US is. Far less commercialism and vanity, instead people filled their lives with love for family and doing good deeds. It restored my faith in humanity and made me realize what’s important in life. I know I’m destined to return to India to keep on helping those in need there. Working with the children at that Slum School was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.