And So It Begins To End

Back alley black market electronics stores, with owners calling for “Uncle” and patrons waiting eagerly in the shadows. Slim young men in flared jean bell bottoms and fuzzy lime green sweater vests, screaming static energy. Texts involving “hey ;)” and “!!!!”, “LUV YA!!!” and “y rn’t u txting me bck????”. 15 rupee cold coffees, side of ice cream please. Convincing the rickshaw drivers to let us drive, in exchange for speaking English to their friends on old cell phones. Welcomed into homes and offices for my filming, always accompanied with cups of chai and large smiles. Post office buckets of glue to seal letters. Bollywood and Zumba dance classes taught to packed rooms of the uncoordinated but highly motivated. Rows and rows of carbon copied earrings. Haggled prices and threadbare sheets. Fresh fig, pomegranate, papaya, lychee off the street corner. The fat man and his fat wife and their fat dog living on the sidewalk down the street. The security guard outside the motorcycle store with the perfectly groomed handlebar moustache and sly grin. Electronic Titanic and Christmas songs whenever cars are put in reverse. Slippery tile sidewalks that have never made sense, but are more inclined towards promoting ice skating than walking. Talking film and philosophy over hot cups of coffee and languid stares. Eight small children in perfectly pressed uniforms climbing out of a single rickshaw upon reaching school. Dancing the night away at an ex-pat party. An entire city shut down by bandits on motorcycles pledging their allegiance to a political party. Bouncing along with four grown adults on a motorcycle. Street side masala corn, no butter. Small Ganesh idols with heads that wobble. Fireworks set off at all hours of the night. Wide-eyed appreciation and narrow-eyed disdain.

I am going to really miss this country. With 18 days left of this program, the end is seeming far too near. Crazy, dysfunctional, beautiful, rigid, exciting, lazy, foul, vibrant, India has undeniably sunk its teeth into me, and I am not yet sure how I will emerge.