During my first day in India, I arrive just in time for sunrise. I eat Samosas at the Mumbai airport and anxiously await the final leg of my trip to Bangalore. I am ready to arrive to my post at Shanti Bhavan (The Haven of Peace) where I will be the volunteer coordinator who will be helping boost volunteer morale and support the academic team, as well as become the liason with Artists Striving to End Poverty and the George Foundation (Both amazing organizations you should check them out!). On arrival to the Bangalore airport, I am picked up by my driver and am eased immediately by the Ganesh on his dashboard. I go on to pass 3 Ganeshas on my two hour drive to Shanti Bhavan.
I grow in wonder of all the signs that have already been put on my path on this journey affirming that I am seeking my truth and that all obstacles before me can be overcome.
Once I am at Shanti Bhavan I learn quickly that I will be teaching a full schedule of math courses to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. I will also be responsible for teaching Theatre classes to the grades school kids. I am also asked to produce a cheerleading/dance for a show that will help ideally raise awareness and perhaps funds for our kids at Shanti Bhavan. It has been a long time since I have choreagraphed, no pressure eh?
The day flies by, I meet the staff and lots of the children. I eat the most amazing but spicy vegetarian food! I grow jet lagged it is time for me to sleep. Tomorrow, I will spring a line to hang my handwash. I laugh at this thought, thinking what my mother would say if she saw me now. Afterall, she grew up in a small village, where there was no other option but to handwash. She came to America to give her children better options, and here her daughter was, purposely removing all the American comforts and illusions, for her personal growth and benefit.
Tonight, as I bathe in cold water with buckets, there is a power outage. In the dark I begin to laugh yet gain at myself , I’ve surely outdone myself. I am living in my own adventure novel in India! A girl will do anything to prove her strength and her love. Here, she is proving herself to herself and to those who think she cannot.
I am stronger than I think I am. We are always stronger than we think we are. I am a warrior of love, a warrior of peace. I must deliver with compassion, and prove even to myself that rules are meant to be broken. I must be the rebel with a cause. My cause is the revolution I am inspiring within . Hoping that if I live my truth, it will start a war of consciousness for others to live by as I do.
Only time will tell if I will be able to survive this self- imposed revolution. The bar has been set. The journey is now…
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