less about the kids…
I promise I’ll stop writing about the kids soon. Only one thing – yesterday at the park, Chapel was protective of me, more playful, closer. I can’t imagine what it’s like to befriend someone who’s older, looks different, doesn’t really speak your language, yet you get along well with. Anyway, that’s that. It’s special.
As a foreigner, as a person who knows people who are coming to this country, one takes on extra responsibility, or, that responsibility is given to that person whether they want it or not. Manoj got a phone call from a friend in a dire situation. His friend’s brother was traveling around India, 19 years old, and was going through a crisis. After 3 months in Nepal, and one month of traveling around India, he became off; off in the sense that he seems to be displaying symptoms of a paranoid schizophrenic. We didn’t really want to be responsible, but the kid and his friend who he was traveling with flew to Pune and we took a watch on them for a few days. It was weird to say the least. His friend was freaking out, crying, not knowing what to do; they’d known each other for 13 years. They informed his family and his sister came here to take him back home. Each time we thought we were not going to speak to them again, they would call. We finally said goodbye to the girl on Sunday and the brother and sister on Monday afternoon. It was intense and scary and would not wish anything like that upon everyone. I do think that it’s kind of important as a foreigner to look out for other foreigners. I’m not sure where this unifying with other foreigners came from, I barely know any other foreigners, but I wouldn’t want to travel and not have anyone help take care of me. We got word they reached home safely. That’s all we know. I’m not sure what to do now except hope for the best for them.
Moving to the race of next weekend, last week my friend gave me a facebook group for a running club in Pune. I embarked on a run with a bunch of strangers, who, upon appearance looked like hard core runners, on Sunday. It was an amazing run. I ran with a bunch of men (there were two women, one of whom konked out in the very beginning, and one who I didn’t meet until the very end) for 10K without stopping. I’m just beyond impressed with myself. I didn’t mean to, I just got a second wind. Along the way I met some cool folks who have been running for a while, who’ve run marathons. I told them about next weekend. They seemed enthused that I would return the following Sunday. I would like to return and run on the weekends with them, but Sunday is great when you get to sleep in too, so we’ll see.
Tomorrow is Holi. It’s exciting to be able to write about these holidays again, to know what’s going to happen, to not feel so new to something so different. We’re planning on playing with the kids in Sagar and Ritesh’s society and then head back to attend a Holi birthday party we were invited to. I’m ready to play. I’m also excited for the day off.
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