Arrival in Orissa

It’s funny how some days you get a fresh new perspective on life. This was one of them.

As I was sipping chai in the Delhi airport, I reflected on my past month in India and thought about the week ahead of me. For the past four weeks I traveled all over India with a group of eleven other students and a professor from Hope College studying Indian religion and culture. I enjoyed my time with the group traveling and learning, but I have been looking forward towards this week since I arrived in India: the week I will volunteer at Kalinga Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Orissa with Unite For Sight.

I collected my luggage and was greeted by a man holding a sign “UNITE FOR SIGHT: KALLIE E. WALKER.” He smiled, introduced himself and told me we had “veddy more distance.” On the long ride to the hospital we stopped at a roadside stand and I was offered some Gulab Jamun (Indian sweet). Boy do they know how to make me feel right at home!

I knew this was the beginning of the end, my last week in India, so I sat in the backseat of the van with my eyes closed trying to soak up my surroundings with my remaining senses: the hot wind blowing in my face, the dusty air filling my lungs, the honking of rickshaws and loud drumming of Oriyan music while the van gracefully weaved in and out of traffic.

This is India.
This is India.
This is India.