Week 10 - Love is the Cure
Oh man. This week flew by – I am writing this post from the comfort of my bedroom back in New Jersey. Week 10 allowed for reflection and time to catch my breath. I was even able to be a tourist for once, getting out to some of the Delhi sights before I left.
I forgot to mention in last week’s post, but I was able to make it back to Bombay for one more weekend! Coming to visit my family here has been one of the biggest boons of this internship. It allowed me to get one-on-one time with my grandmother, aunt, and cousins, something that almost never happens. My grandmother suffers from Parkinson’s disease, and it has taken a toll. She has always been a worldly person, and her work with Air India took her across the globe twice over. These days, it is a struggle for her to get out of her apartment.
With me nagging her, I was able to get her out of the house multiple times, and I really noticed her mood improve. We went for a play – The Play That Goes Wrong – and had a great time. The play’s premise is that it is the opening show of a murder mystery play, but as the name suggests, hijinks ensue. Props fall everywhere, characters miss their cues, and lines are forgotten. An interesting wrinkle was the stuff happening before the play started. While everyone was getting into their seats, you could see stagehands setting up on stage. I got my grandmother to her seat and went back to find my cousins. When I came back, she looked at me slightly bewildered.
“There were people coming through the rows, asking if anyone has seen a dog! Apparently, there’s a dog loose in the theater!”
Now, my grandmother is not fond of dogs, and was quite unnerved by the suggestion. I could not believe that there was actually a dog loose in the theater – but then, I had never been to a play in India. It was all a gag – the dog was supposed to be in the play, but he had “mysteriously” vanished. Instead, one of the actors held a leash and made the dog noises himself. I was dying; my grandmother was beside herself. It was the most I had seen her laugh in a long time.
India has its problems like any other country. With a population of over a billion, progress is trending in the right direction. The work my colleagues at IBJ are doing are vital and essential to repairing socioeconomic relations in the country. And based on my interactions with other people in the city, there is a strong appetite for social justice and progress. IBJ India’s program director, Ajay Verma, calls the fight for human rights like an ‘infectious disease.’ From the founding of IBJ India, Ajay has dedicated more and more of his time towards helping the disadvantaged peoples that he meets through IBJ’s work. Sometimes, it is to the detriment of his own private practice. But even as he puts in his own money into keeping the organization afloat, he would not change anything.
“These people need our help more than anyone. You can try to ignore it, but once the problem is in front of you, it follows you everywhere. It haunts you, infects your thoughts.”
My ten weeks in India has been the longest I have been in this country since I was a child. Going for one or two weeks at a time never gave me the full perspective that this trip has provided. India has always had a romantic place in my heart, as my family’s homeland. But I never considered this place my home. For the first time, I could see myself coming back and living here. Maybe because I have also been infected. I hope nobody finds the cure.