Dimensions of Love

Post 2 out of 3 for my final posts about India!  I have been wanting to write this one for a long time.  Being in India has really made me think about what exactly the word love means.  I mean, I thought I knew.  But being in India made me realize that love really has many different meanings to different people and has so many different dimensions. 

The concept of how love works in India is a little bit different than anywhere else I have seen.  With the emerging western culture, being ‘in love’ is becoming more common, but also less meaningful.  There is the ever popular topic of arranged marriages vs. love marriages.  An arranged marriage in India is when the parents choose a suitable spouse for the children at an appropriate age and they marry upon the childrens’ consent, usually only meeting once or twice before the marriage.  It is a joining of two families, and the couple is constantly attached to the family, having their support always.  A love marriage is when the kids meet on their own and decide to get married on their own because they are in love.  In this situation, the families are not joined and the couple is basically on their own with no family support.  It’s interesting because most youth now days want to have a love marriage, but they also mention that arranged marriages are better because love marriages always end in divorce after a couple of years and arranged marriages do not, because of the strong support that is given by the families and the familial and cultural pressure to stay committed to each other forever.

So this has made me think, which is better?  It seems like it would be obvious that love marriages are better because it involves the complete choice and agency of the kids.  But that was the earlier me coming from a very biased American ‘we do it best’ viewpoint, hah.  Looking at the results, arranged marriages are stronger.  Of course I think the familial support is part of the reason.  Why the families never support love marriages like they do arranged marriages is beyond me, but they just don’t.  But a lot of people have also mentioned that love marriages fail because the couple thinks that they are in love and then after a few years it fades and goes away and they don’t take it seriously anymore.

An interesting contradiction I have seen is that Indians are soooo very quick to ‘fall in love’.  It is so easy for them, they drop like flies.  They see someone and already decide that they are in love with that person!  But although they are easy to fall in love, they are not easy to fall out of love.  It is a loyal love.  They don’t fall in love with every person they meet.  They fall in love with just one, and they continue to love that one person.  My friend told me that he fell in love with a girl in high school and that even though they went separate ways and she is now married, he continues to be in love with her, 5 years later.  They didn’t ever have a relationship or anything.   Hardly even a friendship!  She was just in his class, and he always noticed her and paid attention to her, but didn’t really talk to her much.  Commitment is really important to Indians and they are extremely chaste and morally clean.  They are not loose.  So if they are so committed when they fall in love, why do love marriages in India fail?

Maybe it’s because a marriage takes more than just being ‘in love’.  It also takes loving.  I have realized that for me, these two have different meanings.  Feeling love for someone is something that can happen instantly with anyone—and I really do believe that it can and should happen with everyone.  I guess this would be considered having charity for someone.  Seeing them as Christ sees them and just truly caring about them.  We show our care and concern for them through love in the form of a verb—our actions.  So I guess you could say we love them (verb) because we feel love for them (noun).  But being in love, to me that is something different. 

I have thought about what it is that makes being in love different than just loving someone.  Because I could look at all of the people in my life that I love, but I don’t have the same relationship with all of them as I did with those who I have dated seriously and felt like I was in love with.  I guess for me, being in love means having the intentions of becoming a unified pair with someone.  Becoming one with someone, and having that very special, tight, strong, unified relationship that you don’t and won’t have with anyone else.  I was reading some gospel talks about this, and there was a quote that I really liked.  It says “Love does not consist of gazing into one another’s eyes, but of looking outward in the same direction. When a man and a woman have learned to do this, though they are two separate persons, a state of inter-person fusion exists between them so that in a real sense they have become one. Each feels toward the other, “I am all for you and you are all for me.”  Being in love to me is having the desire to have that exact relationship with someone.  Having similar interests and hobbies and personalities enough to where I can feel totally unified and working towards the same goals as him.  That doesn’t mean we have to be the same person.. of course we should be different.  But we have to have a strong enough bond or connection that we will be able to have that unity.  It’s not only wanting to be with him, but wanting him to be with me, and wanting us to be together as one and seen as one, working together as a joined pair (I guess that’s why they call your spouse your ‘partner’…. Kind of like, partner in crime eh? Haha).

Physical attraction could be one other aspect added into the equation, but I don’t think it holds a lot of weight.  We usually give it way more credit than it deserves.  I could be way physically attracted to one of my guy friends and trick myself into thinking that I am in love with him just because I am charmed by his charisma, but would I really be able to give myself to him and love him fully?  Do I really want to be a unified pair and become one with him?  Or do I just want to be around him because he satisfies a physical need and gives me the butterflies?  I am realizing more and more how little importance physical appearance has to me.  I guess for me it is just icing on the cake.  If it’s there then that’s great… I think we all want that because it makes us feel like we can have an even stronger bond and unity with that person.  But I think having that close of a bond inwardly is much more important.  At least if we have that physical attraction we will have something that keeps us holding on when things get ugly and because we are imperfect, we sometimes need some shallow outward reason to stay.  But it definitely is not a strong enough aspect to build a real relationship after… that is just called lust, haha.

I was talking with Becca about this awhile ago and she mentioned this thought: “choose the one you love and then love the one you choose”.  Brilliant.  I agree.  I think we need a balance between the strength of arranged marriages and the strength of love marriages.  We should choose someone who we are in love with, and then we must continue to love them no matter what afterwards.  A marriage I think needs both—the desire of that strong unity between both people and also the capability of even having it, and then hard work to keep feeling love for each other forever by showing love to each other and serving each other.  Also, I think that all of these aspects of love need to be equal on both sides.  Like, an equal amount of love.  I think the main reason why I haven’t married any of the guys that I have seriously dated is because in any of the situations one of us were not as into it as the other.  I think that happens when the priorities or desires of what that person wants is a little different than the other.  Or I guess you could say there were areas that were more important for me to be unified in and for him there were other areas, and because we both didn’t have exactly what we wanted it didn’t work out.  Maybe for me it’s important that we are unified and connected spiritually with the same goals, and for him maybe it’s more important that we are unified in hobbies and interests, or something else.  Whatever it is (and whether we recognize that or not) I think that that equality in love is so important in order to avoid feelings of guilt and dissatisfaction in the relationship.

ANYWAY…. Now that I’ve tried to sound like a dating and marriage expert after obviously having absolutely no marriage experience whatsoever, haha, I am going to move on to what else I have learned from Indians about love.  The things I have written so far though have been important discoveries for me as I look for someone to spend forever with.  Realizing that the most important thing to me is being able to be completely unified has made me see things a lot more clearly and I believe it will help me waste less time (both of my own and of other peoples’) and be more honest with myself when it comes to dating and finding someone to marry.

So I talked about different dimensions of love… such as loving someone vs. being in love.  When I said that Indians are quick to fall in love, I should have also said that they are also quick to love.  They are such an incredibly kind and loving people.  They meet you and literally after 10 seconds you are like family to them and they are inviting you for lunch next week and want to gift you a new saree and want you to stay with them next time you’re in India, haha.  This may be a little bit biased being a foreigner in India… they seriously worship foreigners!  They find us so interesting and they just love us.  But in Indian culture the way that they treat guests—any guest--is phenomenal.  When they have a guest in their home (or in their country or city or whatever) they put that persons’ needs ahead of their own and do every single thing in their power to make them comfortable and happy.  They go way out of their way to do it.  It is such an example of service and respect. 

It is so easy to form connections with people in India.  All you have to do is talk for a few seconds or just even exchange a glance or a smile and you are already best friends.  In fact, the word ‘namaste’ which is what you say to greet people actually traces back to meaning the forming of a connection between two minds.  To greet each other, the hands are brought together in front of the chest and the head is bowed a little bit, sometimes the eyes closed.  It is such a sign of respect and connection between two people, and it occurs because each person is submitting themselves to the other person and basically saying ‘you are above me and I will treat you with such respect’.  When both people mutually feel this way towards each other, an equal respected relationship occurs and a connection is formed that is based off of humility and selflessness.  It is so honest, sincere, and real.

I started realizing all of this when I went to a YSA conference in October.  It was so much fun, we met young single adults from all over Vizag and Rajahmundry.  There were SO many amazing people there and we made friends with all of them. 

So one short story, we were split up into groups.  Me, Becca, and Emily were all separated which was good for us to have to put ourselves out there and get to know other Indians on more of a personal level.  We were going out to do some site-seeing and I went to sit by my group.  I had a lot of friends in my group already, but for some reason none of them had showed up yet so I sat down next to this girl.  I started talking to her only to realize that she hardly speaks English.  We continued to talk though and she continued to laugh her head off any time I said any word in Telugu, haha, and a connection was formed.  We spent the whole activity together, communicating through the few words we could understand from each other and through actions (and sometimes having people translate for us, haha).  I have talked a little bit before about physical touch here… it is not common for boys and girls to show affection towards each other physically.  Actually, if they do, usually they are just friends and it happens rarely.  But you will see boys and boys holding hands everywhere, and girls with girls.  We went to hike up this mountain, and this girl (her name is Bhargavi aka Bhaggi) grabbed my hand and held it the whole way.  I grew such a love for this wild little girl that day.  She is one of my closest friends in India now.  I don’t even know that much about her, but I care about her SO much, and she looks out for me, and we have this special relationship that was formed in such a short amount of time on that hike. 

This is what I have learned from Indians.   Love doesn’t take time like so many people say it does.  Yes, with time it grows and grows so much deeper and becomes more and more real with every moment.  But it is possible, and easier than we think, to truly love and care about someone in an instant.  I don’t know why, but I just love this girl so dang much.  If she were ever sad I would be heartbroken.  I love being around her and seeing her laugh and be crazy and wild and all over the place.  I am always excited when I see her.  Now, I am not in love with her.  I’m not saying I want that special unity that I can’t have with anyone else.  But I do have a special friendship with her that will always be important to me.  I really do truly love her!  And I feel that way about all of the amazing people I met in India.  It hurts to leave them and it hurts to know that I won’t see them for a long time.  Some of them I won’t ever see again.  In a way, I guess you could say that I have even fallen in love with them as a group to an extent, in the way that I always want to be their sister and their friend, and I don’t want that relationship to ever diminish or end.  It’s just not to an extent to where I want to marry any of them, that’s all :).  Different levels of love.

Anyway, this post has become really really long.  I just needed to write down all of the things I have been learning about this and get my thoughts out there.  I actually really wanted to write this post mostly for one purpose.  I want to dedicate it to all of those incredible people I met in India who will forever be my brothers and sisters and best friends.  I love each and every one of them unconditionally.  It is a similar love to the love I have for those I met in Argentina.  Something that makes your heart hurt when you have to leave.  And although I love traveling and love seeing places all over the world, this is the reason why I will probably sacrifice more to return to Argentina and India multiple times rather than spending all of my time and money seeing hundreds of places for a short amount of time.  Because I have realized something about myself: there are many great things in life, but to me, nothing is more incredible or special or important than people and indescribable connections that can be formed between them.

So this is for all of those people in India, whom I truly love so dearly and always will.

Please become acquainted with some of them… :) 

[I'm sad I didn't get to photograph everyone that I wanted to remember.. but here is a good chunk of them, from those I only met once to those I saw almost every day.  This is in no particular order]

This adorable little boy at the handicapped school was obsessed with taking photos with me, with our tongues out.. haha.  I won't forget him

On the far left, Ravi Raj who so sweetly brought us chocolate all the time... we had so many great moments with him, haha!  

This girl at the handicapped school has an unforgettable face.  I saw her every time I went and she was always SO happy 

We drove up and stopped on the side of the road to watch these ladies work in the rice paddies.  The most enchanting thing happened... while we quietly watched from the side, we could hear them singing as they worked. 

On the left is my vocals and telugu teacher Sharma... an amazing vocalist, great teacher, and very wise man!  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of our dance teacher Soudamini, so shout out to her as well who was a great teacher and hilarious lady 

The guys in Bheemli that were tying the fishing nets... they were so interesting to watch and loved having us photograph them 

These were the nicest kids!! They watched out for us on the beach so the fishermen didn't tease us and they also randomly ran into us two other times while we were exploring around Bheemli

The jelly coconut guy :) he was awesome

On the left, Madam Lakshmi our other telugu teacher.  She was so funny, I will never forget her!

At a special puja we ran into this woman with her grandson... they were absolutely adorable and she was thrilled to have his photograph taken.  They were so nice

At the same festival as above I was wandering around the back of the temple taking photos and this little girl came up and talked to me for about 20 minutes!  She was extremely intelligent and friendly.  She was just visiting with her grandparents, she lived in another country. I gave her my card and told her to not forget me, and to look me up when she comes to America to visit her uncle.  I didn't even realize until after I shot this photo that the colors in her outfit match her surroundings perfectly

The musicians at the Sikh Gurudwara... so friendly and funny!

The jain nun I interviewed multiple times.  An incredibly wise and disciplined woman.

The snake charmer than changed my life in Rajahsthan!! :) [he let me charm his snake with him]

I will never forget these little girls!  They walked up one morning as we were photographing on the beach and just hung around us for a little while, playing along with each other as little girls do.  They have such expressive faces

The grandfather of my good friend Santosh... he is a yoga master and we were so lucky to spend a few hours with him 

I will never in my life forget this Sikh priest.  He has a very special presence about him.  You can tell just by watching him that he is humble, kind, joyful, and extremely wise.  I felt so blessed to be able to interview him and meet him on multiple different occasions 

This little family lives in the huts you see in the background... the lady is the one we found while walking through the jungle trying to find out if the giant spiders were poisonous.  She didn't speak a word of english but she took us back to her village and we met her family.  They were so sweet.  They escorted us out of the jungle, and we actually went back to visit them another time to give them some of the photos I took.  We met her husband and son again when we came back.  They were so kind... what a lesson we learned about how easy it is to care about someone even without being able to communicate with them through spoken language.  Such sweet and special people. 

Our guide on the River Ganges in Varanasi... he was such a stud!! 

Hahaha!  This guy.  At Bodh Gaya he was LOVING having his photo taken.  He was such an interesting and intriguing person

I gained so much respect for this monk, without ever communicating with him.  He sat in silence right in front of the Bodhi tree where so many people were coming and going as he meditated for who knows how long.  I have so much respect for those who devote their lives like this.

oh gosh, where do I even start.  

words could not EVER express how much I love and adore these 2 with all my heart

Deepthi!  She is SO adorable and we had such a fun time meeting her and hanging out with her at the YSA conference!

Satish, one of my best friends forever.  We spent so much time together and I will never forget his selfless service and sacrifice for me.  No one has ever been more willing to do ANYTHING for me than Satish... he helped me with SO much while I was in India and I owe him so much!  He is the biggest sweetheart and such a special person

Sura and his mom... they invited us to lunch once and we almost couldn't walk after all of the food they gave us, hah!  But it was SO delicious.  They were always to kind to offer us help with anything! 

Manuel is a great musician and a recently called Branch President in one of the new branches in Vizag.  He has an amazing life story and is an incredible kind, loving, charitable, and strong man

Sister Padma... one of the first ladies we met at church!  She is absolutely HILARIOUS, and such a strong devotee of God

Ganesh is an AMAZING pianist!! 

We had the opportunity to interview Sahi for our project and we came to know that she is such a grounded and strong girl in the gospel.  She is absolutely adorable, witty, and hilarious! 

Prasad is extremely intelligent.  He is a teacher and I really appreciated how honest he always was with us

Prem!  I met Prem just a few days before coming home.  He was so nice to invite us to his home.  He's actually not even a member, he's just been familiar with the church for a long time.  After a misunderstanding in an auto he walked us almost all the way home.  He was really sincere and sweet

Ohh Venkata, what a character!  I don't think he will ever call me anything but 'bachata' haha... he is very smart and always had good comments and sincere prayers and lessons at church 

Mounika is seriously the smiliest cutest little indian girl I have ever seen!  She is so happy and friendly all the time.  When we met we became instant friends!  She invited me to stay at her house next time I come to India.  I don't think anyone could know her and not love her! 

Santosh, my very first friend in Vizag!  His name means 'happy' and it is extremely fitting.  He is such a goofball, always making jokes and even using sarcasm with us, hah!  He is the one who helped me feel comfortable in the branch and really in India in general... I spent a lot of time with him and we will forever be best friends! 

Sister Premlata on the right and her younger sister (left) and mother (below).  She served a mission in the Philippines and was serving as the Relief Society President.  She is very strong-willed, smart, and hilarious! 

Neelima is one of the most incredible people I have ever met!  She served a mission in the Philippines and returned home when I got home from my mission.  We chatted a lot.. she really is such a sweetheart and she is so smart.  We understood each other really well.  She is so beautiful and was such an example of dedication and Christ-like love

This adorable girl and her friend (below) hung out with us at a festival in Vizianagram... she taught us a dance and it was so fun! They were such friendly people 

Vjiay Vijay!  Another really close friend.  He added me on facebook when I first moved to India and I had no clue who he was but I accepted because I thought I had already met him.  Turns out I didn't.. and finally weeks later we actually met in person at church.  He is such a goofball!  He is ALWAYS making jokes, and he also loves getting his picture taken, hahah.  Doesn't he have a great smile??

Rini is one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen!!  She is so sweet and smiley all the time.  A very smart and responsible girl

Oh Madhu, one of our translators!  He was such a big brother to us... always worrying, hahaha.  This is his famous hand pose as he says 'shanti shanti!', telling us to calm down and not get so excited about things, hahaha

I love this photo of Rajyalakshmi!  Our other translator... she is a Brahmin so she lives a very disciplined life.  She is the best bargainer I know and she is so hilarious! 

Sailu!  I miss her!!  She was our 18-year-old staff member.  She was always smiling and she is so funny.  She is strong-willed and smart, but so very humble. 

Raju, Durga's husband.  He was so funny... always creeping up behind us and scaring us!  He sure works hard and is such a silly guy

Ohh Krishnayya :) our little indian grandfather!  Haha.  He was our program director.  He is super intelligent and just LOVES to learn.  He has a whole life history behind him, but he doesn't mention it much.  He is just laid back (usually) and seriously so funny.  Totally more than meets the eye with him. 

Dr. Salami!  Jk, his name is Dr. Ramalingaswami.  It was seriously a privilege to know him... he is the astrologer for the king and has the ability to tell everyone about their past lives!  He is super wise and intelligent

Aww Sagar, my photo twin!  Also a photographer (here he is with my camera) and seriously such a sweetheart.  A very smart, successful, and responsible guy

Little Sunita, another one of our staff members.  Isn't she beautiful? 

On the left is Manish.  He posts the most uplifting facebook statuses out of anything I know! 

Janardhan is one of the most intriguing people I have ever met!  We were able to get to know each other well and become close friends.  He is EXTREMELY intelligent, always learning more and more every day and surprising me with random facts every time he sees me, hah! 

Srinivas :) one of my favorite people in the world, I miss him so much!  He is the biggest sweetheart I have ever met and I am so impressed with him.  He was born with a condition that doesn't allow him to walk, but he gets around all on his own.  He is totally successful, humble, and sooo sincerely kind. 

The security guard at the church, he is just the most adorable thing!  Doesn't speak a word of english.  Always smiling.  I have no idea how many nights he stayed late for us at the church

This photo perfectly describes Ajay, hah!  He is such a goofball and just seriously ADORABLE!  Always smiling and laughing, so silly, and so nice to everyone!  One of the first people we met in Vizag.  He's so endearing!

Pushpa is super intelligent and down to earth.  I met him one day when I went to the church alone... he was sitting with Korrayya and Srinivas and Santosh and I just started interviewing them.  He had great deep answers to all of my questions, and that's where our friendship started! :) 

My two tall friends!  On the right is Devan, he is probably the tallest Indian I have ever seen (he's slouching here).  He came to Araku valley with us.. he is such a sweetheart and such a ladies man!  My favorite part was when I was telling him all kinds of great things to say to Kristina in Spanish... some of which included 'te casaras conmigo?' and 'quiero tener tus bebes' bahahaha.  He didn't know what any of it meant :) but he was sure enjoying it hah!  He is a cool kid, with great taste in music!

Oh Pentaya!  One of Professor Nuckolls' and Krishnayya's oldest friends from the Jalree village.  He spoke no english but he was always hanging out at the house!  What a goofy guy! 

This couple just sat ever so patiently while I spent forever photographing them outside of their little hut.  They were so interesting 

Durga!!!  The mama of the house.  She is so funny, so cute, strong-willed, stubborn, kind, and charming.  She did SO much for us and I love her so much!  I never got a picture of her brand new baby Mumuksha, but he is so adorable 

Oh my gosh, Siddhu.  My chinna coty forever!! (chinna coty=little monkey) he lived with us and I was sooo ready to take him with me in my suitcase.  He loved to steal my cookies and juices, dance to my music, and of course climb into my bed or try and hide in the corner of my room haha.  I will never forget this little bundle of craziness, with his tantrums and all.  I love him so much!!! 

Another Jalree family and good friend of Krishnayya and Professor Nuckolls.  We visited her home (this is her with her husband) and she is so adorable!  You can just tell she is a happy, smart, and independent woman.  Plus she does her hair really cool! (too bad you can't see it in this photo) 

This couple is amazing!  They did a class at the YSA conference about dating and marriage.  They have a great story of how they met and dated until they were married.  It is very unusual for India and they have set a great example to all church members on how dating and marriage should be done in India 

This is Baggi :) she's the one I wrote about earlier in this post from the YSA conference hike.  I love her so much.. words cannot express.  Miss this crazy one so much!!! 

Vandana (in light blue) is my Jain friend... she is so cute and smiley all the time!  This is her friend Richa in the middle right with her and below is pictured a group of Jain leaders that I was able to interview.  She was such a big help and so fun to hang out with! 

These guys are awesome!  They are some of the RM's in India... they are all great examples and I learned a lot from each one of them!

Sandy and Sumathi... we never got a photo with them so I had to steal one off of facebook haha.  They are siblings and I love them so much!  Sandy is an amazing dancer (and so it Sumathi, so I've heard!) and they are so down to earth and such well-behaved kids.  They invited us over to their home twice and we met both of their parents and they made us dinner.  They are such sweet and polite people and they are both so smart.  In 5 years they have plans to move to America so hopefully I will get to see them again in SLC! 

Rajkumar! Please. He is easily one of the coolest people I have ever met.  He is so unique and so hilarious!

On the right... Akhil..... bahahaha. Ohhhhhh Akhil.  We had great memories with him at the YSA dance...... yep, definitely never going to forget him... hahaha

With all of the guys from Dawaleshwaram branch.. they are so awesome!

Prudhvi.. what a sweetheart! 

The Suriya twins are the biggest goofballs! I loved them!! Plus the one on the right dances like Michael Jackson :)

Pramukh is one of the sweetest and most sincere guys.. plus he's coming to the states soon so we will get to meet up again!  Love this kid, what a spiritual powerhouse!

Bobby! Isn't he just adorable?!? He was so sweet to warn me about Akhil.. haha.  He is such a little brother! 

Akshay is totally like a brother to me!  He was really good at learning spanish and actually did his homework when we had class :) haha he is adorable

Lakshman.. oh man, I always saw him before the YSA conference but I never knew him until I started talking to him there.  He is obsessed with Lil' Wayne and you can just call him that and he'll be happy :) he is actually a really deep and sincere person and he is so sweet! 

Raju Vijay and Lakshman... Raju was the institute teacher and we always teased him because he is so serious, but then sometimes his not-so-serious side would come out and it was so funny, haha!  He is so great

James Lakshman and Chinna.... both James and Chinna were members of the other branch so we saw them often.  James was more quiet and super nice to us, and Chinna is a great leader in the church--his girlfriend is on a mission and they will get married when she comes home.  Great guys!! 

President Ratnam and his wife.  It's too bad we couldn't spend more time at their house!  They are great examples to everyone.  President Ratnam hadn't even been a member for an entire year when he was called to be branch president years ago, and then he remained president for many years until what was one small branch has now turned into two different districts, and he is the district president!  Amazing man with an amazing family

Awwww all the workers at Barista!  When I didn't have internet I came into this wifi cafe pretty much every day, so they all got to know me pretty well. haha.  I loved how they always called me madam, hah.  They are great people

Narayana one of the workers at Barista that I got to know pretty well.  He give me lots of little gifts and was really sweet to me.. haha 

This is the family of one of Satish's friends who is a reporter.  He is writing a story on me for the newspaper, haha.  They invited me into their home and I got to sit and chat with them for a bit.. I wish we had more time!  But I promised I would visit next time I was in India. They are so kind!! 

Sister Preethi!  She is SUCH an amazing woman.  She has been through so much!!  Her life is SO dedicated to God, she is such an incredible example! 

One the left is Elder Thomas!  He is so great!  I got to accompany him and Elder Kashyap a couple of times and spend a P-day with them.. they were such great and respectable missionaries and I loved working with them!

This was at Korrayya's wedding.  He invited us to come and sing, it was so fun!  He did an arranged marriage.  The first time I met him at the church he was holding a bottle of nail polish.. he told me 'I'm going to go give this to my fiance. Do you think she'll like it?  This is her favorite color' It was so sweet.  He's such a great guy 

This photo is in honor of Apaji, my yoga instructor who I unfortunately never got a photo of and also couldn't get to know better :( I wish I could have gone more.  This particular day was a cleansing day where he had to wash out our nostrils with those little white lamp looking things and hot water, and then we had to take the orange rubber string and put it from our nostrils through and out our mouths. Not. Kidding. Hah!  He was so patient with us though and so helpful.. pushing us to keep trying.  He is a very wise, humble, and kind man who sincerely wanted to help and was a really really great yoga master. 

With some friends of Satish in Bheemli.. she is a teacher and I was able to interview her.  They were so kind to us and it was really fun spending some time in their home! 

This is in honor of all the Dangwal family.. I only have this one photo of Pamila but their family let us stay in their home while we were in Delhi and they were sooo kind to us.  She took us shopping and it was so much fun!  They are a great family and we really enjoyed getting to know them. (also, her paratha is the best I have ever tasted! omgYUM)

These 2 little kids (in this photo and below) were trying to sell us things on the beach, they were so cute.  We had a good conversation with the one below... he is from the Jalree village and is following his father's footsteps--he was out fishing all day!  They were so cute

I know I already put a photo of both of them but seriously, look at them!  Aren't they just the cutest of friends?? My two first friends and best friends in India.  This was the first time we hung out.  I love them both so much!! 

Prasanth is on the far right.. he is so awesome!!  He sacrificed SO much to take us all around the north and also let us stay at his house.  He is super down to earth and is part of an amazing acapella group.  It was so fun hanging out with him, what a great guy! 

Bharat aka Bhar, a very very close friend who I learned so much from.  It was due to him that our trip up north was possible.  He is such an example of Christ-like love and sacrifice, he is so humble and so faithful and just so funny haha.  I will never forget him! 

the 3 of us at the Taj Mahal... this photo is basically a description of our 4 months in India together.  I learned SO SO SO much from both of these girls, they have completely changed my life and I love them so much.  We will remain close friends forever! 

Best friends :) miss and LOVE all of them so much

These people will be in my heart forever.