Falling in love with India one little piece at a time

I'm beginning to fall in love with this country. It's as simple as that. It's not because of the city (which is lively but very overcrowded) or the food (which is delicious but tends to trigger the pain receptors on my taste buds). It's the people who have turned out to be the kindest and most hospitable people I have ever met. Yes, that's right- they are the MOST hospitable people I have ever met which is saying a lot compared to the Italians who shove food and drinks down your throats. They insist on serving you coffee and tea which is awesome because who doesn't love coffee and tea? Stupid people, that's who. I'm not stupid, I'm grateful.

How hospitable are Indians? Well, we went to a small village outside of Bangalore and followed a credit collector as he collected on small loans given to women to start their own businesses/ feed their families. The women invited us into their homes, answered all our questions, asked how we were enjoying India, and smiled at us the whole time. Let me put this into context, this would be the same as your debt collector showing up at your house with 10 people the likes of which you have never seen before. They then crowd into your house so that some of your family has to stand outside and watch as you tell the collector that you can't pay your loan. Instead of being pissed off that they're are there, you make sure that they are comfortable, answer any questions they may have, and thank them for coming. Yeah right people, that's not happening in America any time soon.

Over the past couple days, we also had the opportunity to visit some Indian schools in both the urban and rural areas of Bangalore. For the rural school, we were the first white people that many of these children had ever seen. For this reason, we were treated like rockstars. I'm not exaggerating, I shook about 100 hands and then they swarmed the bus. The kids were so excited to meet us and practice their English which I feel was somewhat limited as they repeatedly wished us a happy new year and "happy journeys." They sang and danced for us and then we jumped down on to the playground and played catch and volleyball with them. We were visiting these children as part of a program which sets them up with rechargable batteries for lamps because many of these children do not have electricity to study by. It also incentives them to go to school because they can only charge the batteries from solar panels located inside the school. These kids were so grateful to have light to study by. It really opens your eyes, I will never complain about homework again. That's a lie. I will complain less. That's also a lie. I will try not to complain though, I will really try.

In addition to meeting students in the villages outside the city, we also met students who receive the free meal program from Akshaya Patra which is an incentive program for the children to keep attending school because for many of them, it is the only hot meal they will receive that day. We actually got to visit the AP kitchen to see how the food was prepared as they cook for over 150,000 students in the Bangalore area every day. Then we got to go to the school to serve the meal which is traditional southern Indian cuisine and rice. The kids were so excited to have us there (which I feel was amplified because we also happened to be serving them food).

Seeing how excited and grateful these children could get for just having us there really opened my eyes to how I need to remind myself to be grateful for everything I have around me (mainly food and a pair of shoes without holes).

Pictures and videos posted soon

Mia