Katie Ha:
Although there’s so much to say on Agra, including the Taj Mahal and the red fort, I’m still processing my time in Kolkata. From a mixture of spending the mornings volunteering and exploring the city in the afternoons, I have been able to see a world outside anything I have ever known; and if I’ve been told correctly, a world unique to even India itself. From the constant jumble of noise of rickshaws and crows, to the chaos on the streets of vendors and those leisurely on the sidewalk, I was completely overwhelmed, excited, nervous, and in love with all of this.
In all of this chaos (from the close proximity to death in a rickshaw to the piles of dirt and trash lining every walkway), I was left in awe when at our fourth visit at rajs Spanish cafe the owner stated that, in all of this craziness, it is it important to find internal happiness. If we continue to look externally for happiness- whether through big houses, big cars, big friends, we will never truly find peace and contentment. Instead, the owner (raj) asked us to look inside ourselves… If we close our eyes and think, what has made me happy in the last month? In the last year? In the last five years? In a city as CRAZY as Kolkata, it is especially vital to find this inner peace.
Through what has happened so far on this immersion to the time we have left, I am so happy and thankful for the time I was able to spend serving with mother teresas ministries and viewing this new world with a great group of people. Raj left me with a great goodbye of Kolkata to really internalize and create real thought and meaning for the rest of my time in India and beyond in my life.