The Tourist

I bought this shirt while I was in India that said, “will dream forever”. I basically thought it to be a cute yellow, and the sleeves fit me just right. I liked what it said, but I wondered if I would stay committed to the declaration I was making…

My dream to go to India with my closest friends from the US came true. What I had literally dreamed about when I was younger actually came true this summer. My two worlds did meet, and I had an amazing time. I stayed in the most royal of hotels in India, I watched an Indian movie with a random Chinese kid in China. I was requested to be in pictures with random Chinese people on top of the Great Wall of China. I was in a rikshaw in crowded streets of Chandni Chowk with 3 Americans who entrusted their lives into my hands in this foreign land assuming that I know all. I saw the dabbawalas and dhobi ghaats of Bombay, and chilled at marine drive with the love of my life best friend gringerberger! I have lived my life like there is no tomorrow. I have taken risks and chances that I probably should never have taken, but that I would undoubtedly be incomplete without.

When I think of this summer 2010 trip, I always take a deep breath because I just feel more satisfied with life. While I have no idea what my future will be like, I really lived the present. Murgi kya jaane ande ka kya hoga…but I know..ki at least..changey marenge =)

I had once also dreamt of London. I wanted to go there, live there, study there. That part didn’t come true, but I visited London with one of my oldest friends from India. And it was surreal. I can proudly say that despite the ups and downs in life, I have been severely blessed to have seen different corners of the world.

Not only have I seen Glasgow and London with a close friend, but I also managed to travel in China with another friend. Each time, the trip has been long anticipated and imagined, and then that finally, realized.

I was watching the videos of the Ramayana play I worked on in college. These are dreams that I never dreamt when I was younger, but they developed with time. More so, they developed because I was pushed in charge. I still cannot believe that it happened. I still cannot believe all of the above has happened. I cannot believe that I have so much to be thankful for, so much to keep storytelling about.

I was on my way to Shanghai from Delhi, when I met some people from Mumbai, who also happened to be coming back from Shanghai on the same flight with me. When leaving the flight at Delhi, I pretty much said final and forever goodbyes to my fellow travelers because I never thought I’d see them again in just less than a month in their hometown in Mumbai. I merely expected to see them a couple times during my stay in Bombay, but they really took me and Grinner out to see amchi Mumbai. We taught them, “Changey Marengey.” And I learned ki kabhi alvida na kehna…

I never thought I would take my bestest friend from the US to the chemist ki dukaan by my house where I grew up. I bought her chawanprash there by the same guy who used to be this cute hunk when I was ten years old. He is still cute today, but not in the hunky way, but in a cute married with some gray hair kinda way.

In this last month, I have sipped coffee in these cute new fancy shops in India called Café Coffee Day, CCD in short, and Costa Coffee with different groups of friends: American friends that had come to visit India, friends I made when I visited in India last, classmates from when I used to live in India, and those friends that I made on this very trip on the way to China.

To top it all off, I sang the song, “I love my India,” while freaking out on the backseat of my cousin’s motorcycle as he showed me all of Delhi on this fatal and life-threatening yet life-fulfilling ride with the Delhi loo (hot wind) hitting my glasses, all the dust of my hometown collecting on my skin, and the sweat running the colors of my shirt. WOW, London dekha, shanghai dekha, aur dekha Florida, poore jag mein koi nahi hai doosra Hindustan…doosra Hindustaaaan..

I am now back here in Gainesville, and I just watched videos of my crazy friends from about a year ago, and again the pattern remains the same: I can’t believe it happened, but it so pleasantly did. I have had many of my dreams come true, some of which were never even dreamt out loud.

I have journeyed on in life, collecting moments, collecting experiences. Many losses on the way, but I’ve got my smile on, and I know that I will dream forever ;-)

Changey Marenge!