Posting by Natasha Nesbeda
Waking up at the crack of dawn to watch the solar eclipse was supposed to be this amazing breath taking experience but to our dismay it was a typical smog filled and hazy Indian morning. We constantly guessed and hoped that we saw the moon slowly pass in front of the rising sun but ultimately we gave up and saw nothing. But when I went to my internship later in the morning the children nonchalantly claimed that they could see it perfectly. Ironically, this morning reminded me a lot of the ongoing theme of our trip. Initially, we were all so excited to come to India to have these amazing life changing experiences and have a profound impact on people's lives here; however, that overall tone changed when we started our internships this week. Some of the sites started the week off with high hopes and optimism, while unfortunately some of us were only met with mixed feelings and doubt. After the second day, it was tough to hear the ongoing discouragement in people's voices, yet today seemed to have an overall different tone. As tiring as it was I realized that I needed to stop looking for a way to make a profound impact and instead enjoy the moments of joy and hopefulness that I was handed. Like the eclipse, today was one of those days where I thought I was seeing nothing, yet when I wasn't looking for anything I tasted the type of experience we all crave.