February 20, 2025

The Shoes I Brought

I brought three pairs of shoes to India: my vans, which I wear everyday regardless of weather or occasion; my running shoes, because apparently I’m an optimist; and my climbing shoes, a Christmas gift after I wore a hole in my previous pair. My mother asked if i wanted something else, something for India, citing she would get me shoes as a birthday gift upon my return as my birthday is during this course; however, I claimed the shoes were for India.

When I packed my carry-on that I worried would be too large, I place my chalk bag, filled with what I hoped was enough chalk for 10 weeks and my new shoes in and wondered how long it would take me to find a climbing gym. The answer was two and a half weeks and only one instance of showing up at a gym that was no longer in existence.

India has been filled with new experiences, from the fact that this is my first time working in any internship like program, to being surrounded by completely new peers, to encountering cows roaming the streets with more freedom than the cars (which is really saying something). Going to a climbing gym has felt like a piece of home that I found here. I will happily rave about the climbing community, you learn from watching strangers and those strangers in turn offer encouragement and praise when you complete a climb you’ve been struggling with. I will engage in long conversations with people I will never see again. Conversations that begin with comparing when we began climbing, progress to discussing his passion for creating climbing games using a projector and his coding skills, and ending with recommendations to local pizza shops and comedy clubs and even an invite to his upcoming show with his band.

Yesterday as I put my laptop in my bag for the day I glanced at my climbing shoes and chalk bag then tossed them in as well. I knew it was going to be a busy day, but with a busy weekend approaching I figured it might be my last chance to go climbing for five or so days. I quickly forgot about the addition to my bag and spent the following hours laboring over my computer to create a blog website for my organization that will go live today, just in time for a large exhibit that is taking place.

As I devoured my chicken sandwich during a late lunch I remembered the addition to my bag. With the blog nearing completion I told myself if I could finish it in a timely manner I would climb. When the time came for my team to return to the hostel I told them to leave without me, I knew I was close to cracking the formatting complication and was itching to climb. Sure enough within ten minutes I was done, I’m not embarrassed to admit I kept out of my chair and let out a whoop of excitement. I had spent about an hour and a half on that formatting issues, not exactly completed in a timely manner, but I was finally done.

In less than twenty minutes I greeted the employees at the gym, listened to them butcher my last name as they checked me in, and returned the fist bump they offer to all the regulars. Thirty minutes later I alternated between working on my climb and watching a man workshop a climb I planned to attempt later. After I finally topped out the climb I had spent the weekend working on he complimented me and we compared our methods for starting that climb. Then I tried the climb he had managed to complete and immediately banged my hand on the wall. We laughed and he teased me about making excuses and we shared that we were both in the city for school. Shortly after he wordlessly offered me a fist bump as he went to a different area of the gym. I stayed in the same spot and continued to work on the climb he had completed. As I sat there I thought about how finding the climbing gym wasn’t actually like finding a piece of home, it is more like a piece of me that finds a spot in this new unknown area.

By,
Stella