Myna's Fourth Anniversary!

I could live off of this high forEVER. Perhaps because it was my friend's birthday, and it was great seeing her happy. Maybe it was the fact that we choreographed a dance in the car on our mumbai-never-ending-traffic commute that morning, and it was a total hit. It could have also just been the fact that everyone was dressed to the nines, with their brightest smiles to top off the look.

It wasn't until a few days later that I finally realized, when the three of us were reminiscing before our trio became a duo for the summer. Being at Myna, celebrating four years of good work, made me so incredibly happy because of all the love that surrounded me. The smallest act of graciousness, care, consideration, or simple affection would instantly make my day.

Before my trip to India, I hadn't been the best about taking care of myself. The grades were slipping, the anxieties were building, and my relationships were crumbling. There was no particular reason, no life-changing event, but everything seemed to be falling apart and I'd spend a lot of time blaming myself. Suddenly, in India, all of that, didn't vanish, but was under control.

I was able to reflect on what made me feel so helpless. I always thought living away from my family would be a piece of cake. But what I didn't realize, was that they wouldn't be there in person to constantly remind me of their affection. Mum wasn't around to make me coffee in the ungodly hours of the night. Abu wasn't around to drive me to school every morning. The little monsters weren't there to write loving notes on my chalkboard while I was away. While I lived at home, the daily reminders kept me afloat, but in college that was so much harder to come by. I felt as though I spent so much worrying about others, and not caring for myself. It started to become more important that I fit the mold of what everyone else expected me to be, that I began to lose who I wanted to be. The effort I was expending led to so many expectations, that disappointment was inevitable.

At Myna, the love I gave everyone was undeniably reciprocated. This kept me going through the traffic, the puddles of rain, the exhaustion, and being away from home.

One day, the three of us were just talking to the staff about the kind of doctors we wanted to become. I joked, saying some days I'd like to be a cancer doctor, and other days I'd like to be a doctor specifically for women, and better yet most days I think I don't want to be a doctor at all. One of the women, shoutout to you Archana Aunty, responds to say "No, no, please make sure you become a doctor. Just seeing your smile, all your patients illnesses will vanish." In that moment, I felt so good about myself, for no reason other than someone believed in me and believed in my mission more than I did. I'm sure back home in Chicago, there have been people that similarly believe in me, but this time I made sure to take note. I had no desire to let the empowering, happy moments slip away from me. My trip to India was to work for a women's empowerment non-profit, and day by day, I felt myself becoming more empowered as well.

The entire trip had been a crazy journey of getting to know these absolute strangers, overcoming differences to try and speak the same love language, and eventually just continuing a cycle of lifting each other up. We had neighbors that would ring our doorbell every morning and night to make sure we were safe at home. We went to work every day with women that were always curious to know what our lives were like, and that were always eager to show us what theirs were like. We made friends that would brave the rain to spend some time with us. Perhaps, I knew I was only there for a finite amount of time, so inherently I paid more attention to the small acts that showed people cared. Regardless, learning to appreciate these positives, is something I won't ever forget to do from here on out.

Thank you to my Mumbai family for showing me what it feels like to love and be loved, and to appreciate every bit of it!

Here's a look at how that dance turned out:

Some Other Highlights of the Day:

The goal was to be Tik Tok famous by the time we left...

And a super extra special happy 20th to Deepshi :)