Life In India

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So I've been in India for 2 weeks. I'm moved into my apartment with my 4 roommates, Gabe, Anna, Hans and Stacy. They are all bad ass and I like them a lot. I've also started class in gold old Christ College which makes me an official Christite (Whooo! LoL) I laugh at the thought but Christ College is actually one of the 10 best colleges in India. My classes are Developmental Econ, Modern Asian History and Indian Gvt. and Politics. They all seem good so far. In my spare time I've been trying to familiarize myself with the city. Visiting temples and parks has become almost a daily occurence. This past weekend I visited one temple that was built in a cave under a huge rock. It was at least a thousand years old, very cool. I also went south east of the city to visit a convent were many of my classmates live. You see Christ college is an Autonomous college that has a seminary attached to it. What this means in practicallity is that its Autonomy means it does not have to follow strict state determined course outlines (a very good thing) and can act as an independant institution. This, in turn, means that the college has a very unique blend of the rich upper class native Bangalore students (Live with parents, never have worked, etc.), international students (Nepal, Afghanistan, China, Cambodia, etc.) and students somehow religiously affiliated (Nuns, Priests and children affiliated with a variety of christian social works organizations.) Many of these students live in a convent to the south of the city and they were the ones who I went to visit. The convent is a Catholic social outreach community that takes in street orphans, aids victims, leapers and generally those in need of serious help in Indian society. To give you an idea, they have a center for taking care of mentally and physically disabeled children. One of the children their was left, abandoned, outside of a hospital, wrapped in newspaper and when she was found a wild dog was chewing on her. Blind, crippled, beaten these kids would have no hope in Indian society without the help of the Sisters and Brothers who work there. Seeing such inequality on a daily basis is truly sad. On a daily walk to school I get swarmed by beggars who just want to eat. I'm becoming accustomed to literally dragging beggars down the street with me as they tug my arm begging for food. Life here is truly raw.

Part of our "holistic growth" at the college is social action and involvement so there is a huge emphasis on helping the mass of underprivliged in Indian society. In this spirit the college started a program called CSA (center for social action) which goes to rural villages and urban slums in order to teach job skills and english, hand out food and generally help the people there. I fully plan on throwing myself into that program with all my effort. India is very sobering in that respect and I can only hope that when I leave this country I can say that I didn't just ignore the plight of millions.

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