Vacation!

After finishing up with another day or two in Bangalore, I drove with some other students North West towards a huge Hindu historical site. It’s was noted as a Hindu site because of the importance it holds for the history of the Hindu kingdoms of old. The main Hindu strong holds of the ancient India were indeed centered in Hampi, the town I spent the first few days of my second vacation. It was wonderful to take a self guided tour around the town and see the ancient ruins. After, my friend Keletso and I made our way to Mumbai on a flight that was upgraded to first class for free. We touched down in Mumbai on the one year anniversary of the Terrorist attacks on their city. To them, the November 26th, is what 9/11 is to those of us in the states. As we made our way to the center of the site of the terrorist attacks (Taj Mahal Hotel), it could not believe my eyes. There were news vehicles stretching down 4 or so city blocks. There were tons of people everywhere. It was truly exhilarating and chilling at the same time. As we felt waves of people brush against us, we couldn’t help but think silently to ourselves about what must have gone down there. What were the people thinking at the time of the attacks? Where would they have run or hid? What anger must have compelled someone to open fire on such a massive crowd of people? And then just as there are people shouting, chants being repeated; some angry and some somber, and the army people march by in their uniforms I will never forget what I saw next. Just then, a huge crowd of kids ranging in age from 6 to maybe 18 marched down the street in absolute silence most of the time as they let their silent footsteps and painstakingly white t shirts speak for them. I looked directly at one and read the blue lettering on the front as I whispered to my friend, Keletso, “make peace, not pieces”. As the chills literally ran down my spine and arms I got choked up as I looked around at the children leading the charge for peace through the absolute presence of justice and realized that people from all over India had come together for this. In this moment, there were no racial divides. In this moment, there were no Punjabis, Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists. There were no kids or adults, and there were no haves or have-nots. In this moment, there simply were people who were hurt by an unnecessary attack on their city, on their souls, on their collective spirits. And it was in this moment that I saw humanity make hope for itself for the first time in a long time.

I will also never forget the man that carried a huge Indian flag and waved it valiantly through the air as high and hard as he could possibly wave it. I looked up and saw the green of the flag crack the breeze and the entire surrounding crowd broke out into the national anthem. After that rally, we lit candles for the fallen, and made our way to the shops nearby. As we started talking to another shop owner we got into the topic of the attacks. When I asked him what he did when the shooting started, he said “we stayed right where he was. He said it was his shop, this is his city, and these are his people, how could I abandon them in their most dire time of need?”

The next morning, we went to lunch at Leopold Café (a popular tourist site that was one of the main targets of the attacks. As I sat down at the table that was up against the half wood and half mirror wall, I noticed a crack in the corner of my eye about half way through the meal. As craned my heard to see the entire mirror, I saw a large bullet hole in that glass, and goose bumps populated my entire body. Just then, I realized that in order for the bullet hole to make it to that spot in the mirror, it would have to pass through the person who was sitting in my very chair. Can you imagine the pain? Can you imagine the horror the person sitting across the table must have felt?

After a couple days in Mumbai, we made our way to Goa, a popular beach town and hung out for a few days. It was lovely to chill on the beach and just relax before returning to our home in Delhi to meet up with the rest of the group for the final week of the program. We all met in Delhi, had final presentations of our projects that we did in Varanasi, and had final dinners and celebrations.