Could I actually be somewhat adjusted?

So it’s been awhile since I’ve had time to update, which is not because I have nothing to say…I have TONS of things to write about, just very little time. I think tonight though I might lose a little sleep to catch up on a few things that I’ve been thinking about recently.

The normal lunch at the CEPT canteen: dal, rice & roti

The first is adjustment. Over the past few days, I’ve moved from the semi-panicked, partially paranoid, and doubtful mindset, that at least for me, was unavoidable when coming to India. This place requires a massive amount of patience and flexibility…two things that I definitely don’t do well with. Add in the most unfamiliar food I’ve even been exposed to, bathroom facilities that continue to perplex me, close quarters with a study group I’ve only recently come to know, and the most uniquely peculiar phenomenon that is the Indian lifestyle and mindset, and I was essentially completely lost and 100% disoriented upon arrival.

Laudry drying in the pols

Even after the first and second weeks when I felt like I had seen and experienced so much, I still didn’t know any sort of comfort in this place, and I certainly had no desire or intention to settle into the way things are here as if I were to try and live as the Indians do. After the third week though, heading into the fourth, I have begun to develop an immense appreciation for this place, both Ahmedabad (the city we’re staying in…of 6 million + people) and Khadia (the district where we’re staying, part of the old city, very dense, compact development centered around ‘Pols’, which are essentially courtyards and cul-de-sacs around tiny roads and pathways).

I’m not sure how I came to achieve, or at least how I started to achieve, this adjustment, but I have a few ideas. One is that as I begin to see other parts of the city and state, such as the new city area on the other side of the river in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar still in Gujarat (the state), I’m beginning to appreciate what is here is Khadia. There is a constant vitality here that is evident by the sheer volume of people and the intensely packed sidewalks full of people eating, selling, buying, bargaining, sleeping, and talking, and the constant bustle and rush of the two wheelers and rickshaws that nearly brush your shoulder as they seemingly carelessly fly past.

Planned residential area in Gandhinagar, built around 1970

The new city, though it is still full of life and activity, has a bit of a Western taste and a lower density of development that seems far less profound than the delightfully crowded and congested old city and Khadia. Similarly, a trip to Gandhinagar, a new city (last 50 years) that was planned specifically to be the capitol of Gujarat, was mildly disappointing. A general disconnect was felt between different parts of the city, the highway felt so Western that I almost wondered if I was in Illinois, and the scattered density across the large space felt more like a suburb that the state capitol. So in short, the density and vitality of Khadia is invigorating, though at times somewhat exhausting, and seeing these other places is allowing me to appreciate the place where I am now.

Homes on the heritage walk

Also, on Monday we went on a “Heritage Walk” of the old city in Ahmedabad, which was actually partially in Khadia. A slideshow was shown previous to the two and a half hour walk that described the city’s development over time and laid out the organization and connectivity within the city. For the first time after three weeks, I actually had some sense of orientation to something other than the river. The walk in general was fantastic and definitely gave me a sense of understanding of this place that I was lacking prior to the tour.

Some of the great Budhan guys, Tad, Wenya, and myself

Another reason that I think I’m becoming more comfortable and feeling somewhat more adjusted is that we’re actually getting to know people now. We’re becoming good friends with the translators/Budhan theatre guys in Chharanagar, as they are mostly our age and have many common interests. There is also such a genuine curiosity between those guys and our group that we have much to discuss, ask, and learn about.

Me with some of the kids in Chharanagar

So as I pass this three-week mark, I pass my max travel time in the past. I was in Europe for three weeks slightly over six years ago, but even then I moved from place to place every few days. From my experience here, I’m learning the incredible value of “temporarily settling down” somewhere. There are many things I still don’t understand about Ahmedabad and Khadia, and most of them I won’t even come to know. I will never entirely understand this place; I doubt anyone who even lives here can. But there is no way that I can even have a slight idea what life is like here without spending at least this amount of time here. Not to say that three weeks can give me a holistic understanding necessarily, but it can give me more from a place and a travel experience than I’ve ever had before.