Travel.... it always churns up a million emotions within me. Anxious anticipation is always the biggest. I don't fear for my safety when I travel. I don't fear that my plane will crash, that I will be stranded in a random city, or most of the other things that people generally fear when they travel. My fears are internal things. What if I don't come back the same person that I left? What if I am forgotten by those I care about the most? What lessons will this trip hold for me and will I be ready for them?
I believe my journey to India began years ago. Indian culture has always fascinated me. I loved seeing pictures of all the colors, the Taj Mahal, ladies in bindis and saris. When I was 16, I attended a gathering of young people who had just returned from several different countries. I remember nothing about that night except that the team returning from India played a song that went, "India, I love my India." That phrase has literally played over and over in my head for the past 13 years. I thought to Google it last week and was amazed that it actually is a popular Indian song that sounds exactly as it has in my head after all these years.
2 1/2 years ago I was just coming out of one of the hardest times of my life. The night before I was supposed to begin a road trip to NYC to meet up with a friend for a long weekend, I watched "Slumdog Millionaire" and couldn't stop crying. The next day on a detour to visit dear frieds in New Haven, CT, I found myself sitting across from the incredible Brenda Jean Lewis who had just returned from another of her trips to India. Again, I couldn't stop crying as she told me that I needed to come.
And so it is. I believe India has been calling my name for years. And now I am finally ready to answer.
