Filter: Bangalore

And the paradox of it all is that this was my life, this is over a billion peoples’ lives, but mine will end here and theirs will simply continue, going about on its Indian way. I think it’s the most bittersweet experience I will ever have.

We were already almost 2 hours late, but we figured they would be on Indian time. Just as we arrived at the beautiful outdoors ceremony, they announced the Hindi name and lifted their baby girl into the air . . . their very white baby girl.

It’s so India – to have people cheering for what you’re obviously doing at a much more elementary level than EVERYONE ELSE – but because we’re American, we get so much more acclaim. So unfair, but it did give us the confidence to actually do it!

They started talking, chatting all night. Within two weeks they had acknowledged to each other they believed they were soul mates. Within 3 months they had secretly married, at the town hall, without telling his Hindu family or her Jewish one.

I’ve started this post half a dozen times, with little to no idea about what I’m trying to say – it is clear that this semester has changed me, in a million ways through a thousand conversations and countless experiences.

The turkeys arrived, India style: freshly killed FROM THE CAMPUS AVIARY, but frozen solid from being in the freezer all night, with heads and feet still attached and their feathers only half plucked.

Within 5 minutes of our faces being filmed, they were ON-SCREEN, horrendously photoshopped into strange wreaths of roses, the design on the screen suggesting we were part of badly designed Barbie-themed video game.