Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A General Apology

I know some of you (or I at least hope) that some of you are interested in my travels here in India. I have tried diligently to post a least once a week, but you'd be amazed at the ammount of effort that it takes. Partly it's the physical effort of riding into town for an hour and half and then dealing with uncertain power supply (it always seems to go out when you're just about to email or just about to post something...the fates!!). The other part is this...I don't quite know how to explain this. Yes, I am in India. India, the land in the East that people say with a dreamy voice that drips with exotic spices and beautiful colors. But, it's not like this is an alien planet!! People live here--thay have been for centuries. While their culture is different, which does make things frustrating and difficult, but at the same time more interesting and fun to decipher, it's not that different. I don't feel the way I used to about this place. This place is now just a place I've chosen to be for a while. Just like a couple thousand BYU students choose to spend their summer in Provo (like I did last summer). I'm still me, not any better or worse or any cooler or nerdier for choosing India this summer; and yet I feel like we give a certain prestigue for those who have traveled. I kind of hate the idea of using the experiences I have here as conversation pieces that make me the center of attention. So, as I think about posting all my cool stories about the "locals" I feel a bit of unease. I don't know if this is a sign of maturity or if it's just silly. So here it is, a general apology for those who check back regularly and find I haven't posted anything new. Sorry. I'm still alive and enjoying India, we'll hopefully have long poetic talks about it when I get home.

3 comments:

Ransom said...

I think I know what you're saying. Ukraine's kind of the same way. Except I haven't been back yet.

Michael Paul Bailey said...

That's the interesting thing about foreign places. The longer you're there, the harder it is to point out weird stuff, because stuff stops being weird. When I went to Argentina, my brother encouraged me to write about all the weird stuff and take all the photos of the weird stuff as soon as possible, because soon it would become normal. He was right.

Kjerstin Evans Ballard said...

Um, and it's super voyeuristic feeling, and somehow disloyal? To describe your friends and experiences as an observer in order to elicit a response from your crew at home? Scuzzy feeling to the max. (So you, how are you doing? What are you thinking about? Hog the spotlight, honey, because we all care about you and want to know how what you're thinking about. :) Loved the latest.)