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RISH SANGHVI writes about his unique gap year experience with Indicorps
bled me
why does no train or bus journey here, ever turn into an animated, ridiculous conversation, with every passenger tossing in a comment or two? Half hearted smiles and reluctant glances are the best we can do here. We complain loudly and obnoxiously when our hosts in India feed us beyond capacity. Here, we find no one notices or cares when we skip a meal. The loss is ours.
when we arrived in India. And when we did, we met people like Ishwar Patel, recipient of the prestigious Bharat Ratna Award, frontline worker of rural India. When you see someone like him, dive into a pit of faeces to clean it, what remains but to set these notions of grandeur aside and dive in alongside?
I met numerous other inspiring individuals along the way, from the artist Jagat Sukhadia, who pours his heart into the art he teaches to children, to the visionary president Abdul Kalam. Meeting these people, I have come to believe that India doesn't need my help to paraphrase Vivekananda, "It is the help of the world!" The reason is that the people of India, the woman in the Ganges, and the child in the slum, have something in common that is powerful and inexplicable. They believe. Fervently. Unreasonably. Endearingly. And this faith moves mountains.
A hundred thousand kites colour the sky. Thousands of people on the roof of their homes. Hopping easily from terrace to terrace. The spirit of the nation soars like the kites.
This experience is undoubtedly a spiritual journey. For India reveals herself as a reflection of the philosophy that she gave birth to. The infinite play of shape shifting realities, richly textured plurality, works itself out to the logical extreme in this country.
But the same nation that variegates, confounds and distorts any one reality, is equipped to transcend its own illusions. Ultimately, something about India enables me to make peace with all that is India.
And now, I return home, once again ill equipped, and much as a stranger. After one year away, what shall I expect? I stare blankly out of the car, windows rolled up, to shield from intimacy. Cars
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whiz by. I know I am expected to celebrate this crossing of cultures, this grand melting pot. But my eyes are open wider and I am cynical.
In my graduate program, I struggle to connect my recent experiences with what I learn in the books. I learn that the Western world is clearly great -unparallel in GDP, GNP and any other statistics you care to compare. And we stumble all over ourselves to get a piece of that GDP pie - frantic job searches, writing and re-writing that résumé to be perfect, dashing - and innocuous. What happened to connections of the heart? What happened to community? Is there a place you can go to learn about that? Do these great nations suffer from too much distance, from too much efficiency? Why are we afraid to show up at our friend's home without calling first? Why don't children in the park hang from my arms, or swing from my neck, like I was a banyan tree? And
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People frequently talk about the power of East meets West, perhaps neglecting in the process, the risk of the immigration experience. Hasty and eager as we are to blend with our new country, do we leave behind more than we intend to? Holding on to dogma, to rituals, and an occasional Diwali dinner, we claim Indianness, the one we remember from our years in India, or perhaps from what our parents told us. Yet we can barely speak to our grandparents in our own tongue. Many things are wrong with this picture. But time is on our side. For endlessly, patiently, the Ganga flows on, awaiting our return. ⚫
Rish stands amid happy children at the Gandhi Ashram
RISH SANGHVI was Indicorps Fellow 2002.
Indicorps is a programme offered by Connect India, a UK based charity (undergoing registration). For further details on how to apply for the Fellowship, and for frequently asked
questions please visit www.indicorps.org or contact
meenal@indicorps.org.uk
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