Departure

In less than a day I will leave for Canada. But honestly, throughout my journey eerily enough, I’ve never felt far away. There were always instances of the familiar helping me maintain a grasp even on those things alien. The departure will end an extraordinary era spanning three months of this amazing country.

Both India and its cities may be crowded, filled with pollution but there is a sense of vibrancy that keeps it going. It is the sheer energy that cannot be described and is the very thing that led to me being out all day in spite of a 18 hour flight and 12 hour time difference on the day I had arrived here. On that very day I had met a friend after three years and it seemed that the trip would never end. In this country I could make myself understood in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and a bit of Marathi. I could sit with gangsters, slum-dwellers, or academics claiming their goodwill and sometimes respect. All this in some way made me feel accepted in the larger community though I belonged to none.

As I prepare to leave I remind myself that at the end of the day we keep searching for the truth and add our consequence to the larger tides social change. Along with this is the hope for a better tomorrow and taking ourselves into the new day. I keep searching for hope and humanity in everything I see from a small child to a house of worship. For as long fate allows it I will go on. At the end, I pray that God help us and forgive us. I live on.