Girly and I had this discussion late one night. She's been the veteran in living with communities, adapting to them, adopting them and making them her own. e.g. orissa, bangalore, etc.
Well I felt that as much as she would like to think of herself as part of that community in Bangalore, or as much as I would like to be a farmer in tribal India... we're not!
We might swing in those different directions, every now and again, but it would be an illusion to believe that thats who we are.
At the end of the day when we kick off our shoes, we're most comfortable in an English speaking, upper-middle class home (24RR), with the option of splurging on a movie at PVR or eating out at Rodeos.
It made sense for me to recognise, that even though I may try and build community with my poor, Muslim neighbours, I'm not poor and I'm not Muslim.
So whatever crazy things we may do... we do tend to oscillate back to (or around) the community within which we were raised. Friends like Neema, Punita, Puliyels, etc.
Just some thoughts...
Maybe we can start a discussion on this on this blog... Who are we really? Where are we most comfortable?
2 comments:
Hi Anugrah - you've certainly asked some tough questions and addressed some even tougher issues. I guess, I really just don't have a good enough response even after thinking about it for a day or so. I keep thinking of the story in the Bible about the wealthy ruler, Luke 18:18-30. Verse 30, in particular troubles me. I don't have any revelations to share or an adequate response for you. Other than to say, what an incredible journey this is for you. You and Cheryl are both very brave! Love, j
Reward for leaving home/family, ok acceptable. But what about if we keep oscillating? Because hey... I loved father's chicken stew last night! Plus often we get some great discussions/arguments that we don't always get when we're on the margins...
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