A Change in Scenery

Cam MacFarlane

As someone who values their personal space highly and who has the utmost of respect for quiet time, I think I can speak on behalf of most of the boys that Darjeeling and Saraswatipur acted as a refreshing change of scenery after a hectic time in Kolkata. Kolkata was an incredibly humbling experience and has certainly already acted as an eye-opener to me; nonetheless the barrage of cars tooting their horns, the consistently filthy streets, the overwhelming smog, and multiple times our country's population crammed into a beautiful, confusing and thought-provoking city well and truly had worn me out physically and mentally.

I feel privileged to be in the first India Immersion Programme to have visited this stunning part of the country (Darjeeling). The nippy climate, cleaner air and tranquil environment agreed with me more and the Himalayan setting offered a means of reflection. Despite developing some issues in the digestive region (I'll leave it at that) in the blink of an eye from a seemingly innocent English breakfast, accompanied by some time spent in the bathroom, I had a painful yet solitary time to reflect on a personal level (as I couldn't make it to debrief).

I thought about how in Kolkata and the slum Brooklyn that no matter how bad a situation may be, the people continued to fight the battle of life. No matter how hard it gets, if you flick a smile in their direction you're bound to get one back. The fact that these people don't let their circumstances affect their attitude to life for the most part has inspired me, because at the end of the day I think life truly is a battle. This battle is certainly not fair. But it's the silver linings and the people and the smiles that make it a battle worth fighting. Instead of feeling sorry about myself when I'm sick or when things aren't going my way, I'll now try and concentrate on how much worse it could be; and how much better I can be conducting myself. Despite being tired, I now look forward to pushing myself more in the big cities we are yet to visit.