I don’t know if you knew this, but all these weeks that I’ve been writing and traveling was all about coming up to this moment. Eight weeks on the road was my initiative to take advantageous off of an already good situation. But man eight weeks though and it’s been a spectacular time that I will never forget. I’ve met with and seen friends and family in eight different cities, adventured three more completely on my own and along the way hit three countries I’d never been to before. Not to mention the countless new friends that was made. I started in the Bay Area in California and am now in Bhorugram, Rajasthan, India. That is pretty close to being exactly half way around the world, with a time difference of 11.5 hours. For the next four months, Bhorugram will be my home. Don’t bother Googling that. It isn’t on a map, it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page or its own website, and even if when you have found a little writing about it, it won’t teach you much of what is going on here. And to be honest I don’t really know what is going on here yet either.
Like I was saying, travelling was all about coming up to this moment; you can think of everything I’ve written up till now as practice. This moment is here in Bhorugram. This poor little village is in a rural desert area of the Indian state of Rajasthan. What am I doing here exactly? On a very formal and general level, I am an intern for Bhoruka Charitable Trust, teaching English at its public school, BRJD, and doing fieldwork on its development projects. All this work will be here in Bhorugram. Although that’s pretty much my job description, I hope to accomplish much more. There are students from kindergarten to 12th grade, and I already know that so many of them are eager to learn, and more so to talk with me. “Hello sir, good morning sir, how are you sir?” It hasn’t even been a full day yet and I’ve experienced being called sir over and over again. The point is how ever that their curiosity does not make them shy; they will learn from me and I from them. The village surrounding the school has yet to be explored but tomorrow will bring that opportunity. I want to learn Hindi and from the few words I already know I can communicate with some of the younger students and the teachers who speak less English.
Up until this though, I’ve had a very relaxed week. Last weekend I was still in Mumbai with my friend Sid, but we said our farewells on Monday as he took me to the airport. Fortunately he is moving to San Francisco soon and we will be out having fun again in December when I return. Upon reaching Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, via plane a driver with “Mr. Bo-Peter” on his sign was waiting for me. Off we went to meet my friend Ayan, who was just getting off of work, and to his house for lunch. After lunch we visited his father, who is on the Board of Trustees for Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT), at his new office. Once we had the tour and a cup of tea, I went off to go see some of Jaipur’s royal sights before the rain would start pouring down with anger! The next day I was brought to BCT’s head office and my internship would begin from there on out. I stayed at their guesthouse in Jaipur while over the next few days I relaxed while creating the BCT’s Wikipedia page. After a little bit of plans being rearranged twice, it was decided I’d leave for Bhorugram Saturday morning, and that is where I am today of course.
Bhorugram is hot and humid but the AC is my room is working miracles! And when I told people when I was going to India they said I’d come back light as a feather. While I believe the food I am eating is probably healthier than the college cuisine I’ve just come off of, the supply of food in front of me keeps on coming! The mess hall of the school serves delicious food, in fact some of the best I’ve had in India. This means of course I’ll just have to stay in shape, and keep on exercising; it won’t be a problem! This upcoming week will be important, as it will establish the foundations of my next four months. To find out how it goes, come back next Sunday to read more!
