My First Trip Back After 14 Years!!!
Last month I took my first trip back to India with my husband and two children. It was also my first trip back as a mother. My children had never been there as well. All of these reasons led to this trip being very memorable and very different than my countless prior trips in the past. Seeing India through the eyes of motherhood and through the eyes of my children was truly a different experience. I remember my memories as a child of my trips to India. What I remember mostly is of course the poverty (specifically getting off the plane and being surrounded by children begging us for money) and the importance of family and tradition. This time, the beggars were far less prevalent but the importance of family and tradition still hold true today.
We arrived the first day tired and jet lagged from all of our travel. The next day my parents had planned for a trip to visit my father's side of the family in a neighboring town about 3 hrs away. We left at 8 am and finally arrived in my father's home town 3 hours later. We went from one family members home's to many others. At each home we were greeted with love, kindness, excitement, pure joy and lots of food! Most of my relatives had not seen me or my husband for 14 years and had never met my children. We were welcomed not like people you had not seen for 14 years, but instead like loved ones who are present daily in your life.
We had one day to complete all of our shopping for all the things we needed to bring back including Indian clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc. My father's childhood son and his wife dropped everything they had planned on doing that day to take us around since they knew where to go and had a private car. We spent the next ten hours going from store to store. One thing you have to understand is that shopping for clothing in India is anything but easy. They bring you into the store and then bring out item out item of Indian outfits. Most of the time you are at these stores, they keep bringing out stuff that is not what you are looking for so you have to wait it out to find that magical piece you were hoping for to come along. I kept thinking when will they get annoyed and frustrated by all this shopping for someone else's stuff! Instead they stayed with me patiently, happily and with such generosity in their hearts. That is the beauty of our culture- the love and loyalty of family and friends, the ability to find connection even when you don't speak the same language for the most part, and the importance of family and doing all you can for your loved ones. I hope this is what my children remember most about their trip to India.
