Most Popular Question – Why?

I’ve always tried to answer this question with another question… Why not? But usually I get answers like… well, it’s dirty, smelly, crowded, hot, dangerous, etc. So, I will spare you the question and try to answer “Why?” as best I can.

My earliest memory of wanting to go to India was when I was 7 or 8 years old reading a book about amazing buildings around the world and I remember seeing the Taj Mahal and thinking out of all these building this is the one I want to visit.

But it really all started, on my 18th birthday when my godmother gave me a book… A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I think this is the only book up to this point in my life that truly changed my outlook and made me a different person. I went from naïvely thinking the world is wonderful and nothing bad happens to good people to thinking bad things happen everywhere, to everyone, and there’s not much to be done to avoid it. Besides that eye opening experience, I couldn’t forget the country portrayed in the book; the balance that was so well described the love and hate, good and evil, and beauty behind the dirt. It painted the picture of India being a place of contradiction and I couldn’t think of any place more incredibly fascinating.

For the last ten years I’ve been thinking about and wanting to go to India but it never occurred to me that I could actually go. But one morning I just woke up and thought… I can go and I’m going to. When I finally decided to go, it seemed that my whole life I’ve been wanting to go and waiting to make the decision (I actually felt crazy that it took so long to figure it out).

Don’t think that I’ve totally lost my grip on reality; I’ve certainly thought “What if I arrive there and think “What have I done? It’s dirty, smelly, crowded, hot, dangerous, and nothing what I expected! AND I’m here for 28 days!” In fact I think about it all the time but for some reason I think I’ll be okay.

So, I’m going to do it, now, while I can.