Looking Up

Cows are sacred and beautiful animals, but there’s no denying the insane amount of foul-smelling brown mush they excrete. There’s so much, all over the cobblestone alleyways, that I spend the majority of my time carefully watching the path in front of me, protecting my faithful flip flops from a messy, squishy fate.

Luckily, at present, I have yet to have stepped in said unpleasantness. Andrew, on the other hand… Let’s just say that when I hear him curse loudly under his breath, I’m fairly certain of what he’s just encountered.

“Watch the road!” I tell him. “I can’t believe you didn’t see that. It was right there in front of you!”

“I know, I know,” he says. “Trust me. I know.”


Tonight, I was walking home from Hindi class, back to the program house. For some reason, I looked up. Maybe I thought I heard a motorcycle coming, maybe I heard a child’s yell – I can’t be sure. But for some reason, I looked up. I noticed, above the door of the house next to our program house, a beautiful design. It was a flower, outlined in red, artfully decorating the otherwise plain white building.

“Has that always been there?” I asked Chhaya.

“Yeah, haven’t you seen it before?”

No, I hadn’t seen it before. I’d been watching my feet. I hadn’t realized it before, and was a little embarrassed to admit it when I did – I just haven’t really been looking up. I’ve travelled just about as far from the familiar as I possibly could, and I’ve been so worried about keeping my feet clean that I’ve missed the details that, albeit small, make a different place what it is.

Andrew has been looking up. Without thinking twice, he takes advantage of opportunities that normal people wouldn’t even consider. A shave in a small barbershop in a remote Indian mountain village? He’s there. A stop in a traditional Indian wrestlers’ gym during a walking tour? He and Joe didn’t even wait a day before waking up hours earlier than usual to join the wrestlers in their akara. Granted, sometimes he gets a little dirty. The barber tries to overcharge him. The wrestlers in the akara are pretty rough. And sometimes, he steps in an unfortunately located cow patty. But when I think of all the things he’s gained from his experiences, those small daily risks that have made his time here outstanding, I guess it’s worth it.

I’m learning from everything around me these days – including my fellow students. I think I’ll try to be a little more Lotus-like for these next few months. I’ll just carry around a handkerchief to clean my shoes off along the way.