January 4, 2024

Beginnings

How do I begin? It’s a question I keep asking myself. It’s a question I asked myself at 3 AM as I poured buckets of cold water on myself in the shower. A question I ask as I stare at the blank faces of my classmates lackadaisically chewing their first breakfast in the dining hall. As I pick blades of grass and hear about the things we’re doing in India. All of which feels so far away from where we are now. But I know these days will soon pass and just as I begin to feel roots forming, suddenly I’m dashing through the streets of Bangalore extending my hand orthogonally in a brief negotiation with this city which has held me for less than a day. A city in which I still feel like an outsider. A place where I’m forced to confront the comfortability with which I’ve lived my life up until this point.

We ended our day with a scavenger hunt throughout the city using select modes of transportation to navigate the city and reach specific landmarks. It was a gentle shove into experiencing Bangalore at the street level. From having an auto rickshaw up and drive away when asked to travel to the Vidhana Soudha to getting tricked by other GCIL members into taking the train the wrong direction. It helped me feel a little bit more belonging in the first city I’d be spending significant time in outside of my hometown. And at the end of the day that’s exactly what I wanted. To challenge myself and broaden my experience of the world.

Digging up the courage to ask strangers for directions during this hunt and the positive responses that came from each of these queries made me realize that maybe I was asking the wrong question. There is no way to begin, no tried and true formula on how to do anything, it happens inevitably no matter what. It’s about having agency over the now and refusing to let the bustling streets of Bangalore pass you by. I was afraid of not doing enough because before long, we’ll be gone and just the memories will be left behind; so let’s try and make as many as possible.

By Quinn