Slightly more than seven months ago, I awoke before dawn and could not fall back to sleep for the excitement I felt exploding inside me as Jenna and I prepared to embark on our trip to India.
Likewise, Monday morning in Delhi, I awoke in the pre-dawn darkness and could not fall back to sleep. For on this day, Jenna and I were set to leave India--first traveling through Paris and then back to the US.
Instead of attempting to fall back asleep, I made my way to the rooftop terrace of our hotel and watched the sun rise over Delhi, this smoldering cauldron of humanity. (The paper today said ground-level ozone readings would be at dangerously high levels.) A haze certainly hung over the skyline, but the sun peaked out of the gray patina and lit up the muted darkness. Along the street below me, rickshaws buzzed by and a cow mooed. Smartly dressed students--looking so similar to the ones Jenna and I had taught in Kerala--stepped around the piles of cow shit on their way to school. A chaiwallah barked out pleas for passers-by to stop at his stall.
I could barely fathom the life I had led for the past seven months. And I could hardly look forward and contemplate the life Jenna and I would have in the coming days and weeks. But on this rooftop in Delhi, watching the sunrise, I knew our decision to come to India had been a good one. And I could, then, fall back to sleep.
What, no pics?
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