Exciting week over here! I’m actually in Bangalore right now as a part of a weeklong vacation through Southern India and will be posting lots of stuff about my travels.
Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to spend an evening at a slum nearby and found it to be such a rewarding and interesting experience. The slum was made up of migrant workers from Rajasthan and Kolkata, and you could see the visible difference between the two groups that were living there. The residents were extremely kind and were excited to be receiving guests like us. I think we often come into these communities thinking that we will save them, but who really likes being told that their way of life is not good? I just felt blessed to have been received so warmly by these people who could not even communicate with me (very few of them could speak any English).
So now about how they received me…I was essentially a celebrity! Regardless of what I communicated to them through my Indian friends, they kept asking me to perform kung fu (I faked some “moves” after maybe the 5th request) and asked me if I had trouble seeing because I had small eyes. I guess we’re all racist hahaha. But nevertheless, they loved us, and particularly the foreigners. The boys continuously grabbed at me and introduced themselves over and over, and the girls kept blushing when I looked their way. Perhaps one of the most interesting interactions I had was with this one elderly man who I shook hands with, thinking that it was the appropriate way to greet him. After shaking my hand, he turned away from me shyly and said “you’re so beautiful.” I really think that might be the first time in my life someone has actually called me “beautiful,” you know, apart from when you hear it at one of those super emotional church youth group retreats.
Here’s a guy who was my friend and main guide throughout the night. He would hold my hand and lead me around, which I think made the other kids a little jealous haha
And…I made it into the local newspaper! That’s me in the red circle 🙂
