Day 3: A Chance To Change The World

Today is the day that the rest of the GW crew gets into Mumbai! After all the questions that I had yesterday and the reading I've been doing for this class (check out How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs & the Power of New Ideas), I am ready to roll up my sleeves and crack the code(s) to this case study in India!

After way too many options and too heavy of a breakfast, my classmates and I decided to get massages from the spa in our hotel. But first, we needed to get cash from an ATM. This will officially be my first trek in the city. So we all met in the lobby where we got directions to the nearest bank machine and we were off! I wore a blazer so that my arms would be covered as to both avoid the mosquitoes as well as the awkward stares at the American girl who wore spaghetti straps- while in theory a good plan but in practice turned out to be a terrible idea. The weather was way hotter than yesterday and the air was filled with fumes from the heavy traffic. It was crazy how people managed to get around. Imagine New York with no street signs, lights, or identified lanes during rush hour. So we all crossed our fingers that no one would get hit by a car along the way and did our best. It was so funny how no one would move or help clear a path for us to pass. Even the stray dogs that were sprawled out on the pavement, exhausted from the beating heat, had more entitlement to take up space than we did! The beeping from the horns of all the cars and taxis were a little nerve wrecking because it was so loud that you couldn't really tell the directions from which they came until you almost got hit!! At one point, I just knew that this mini van was going to take me out! There were so many different smells from spices like coriander and curry to trash and rotten food. There were mounds of trash in various places so there clearly was no coordinated, waste management system in the area. We stepped in a lot of puddles of water since its Monsoon season and the roads have a lot of cracks in them. There was a ton of people outside having breakfast and riding their bikes. At a round-about, we needed to cross the street to reach the bank. After waiting for a safe time to cross, we finally mustered the courage and ran for it! We get to the ATM and to my surprise, it was incredibly simple and took just a few minutes for all of us to grab cash- we all agreed that we should get 10,000 rupees which translates to about $200. On our way back, I felt a little more confident crossing the busy roads and cared less and less about what I was going to "step in" until we passed a "sleeping man" in a white sheet. Just for my own mental health sake, I'm going to say that he was just in a really deep sleep and oblivious to all the flies that were nesting near his face. After that journey and the denial about what I'm pretty sure I just saw, I needed a mini escape so that massage was a perfect transition. We all selected different packages so I got the deep tissue massage. After realizing what I was suppose to "wear" during the treatment, I knew that this was going to be a pretty interesting experience! Dr. Vyas said it best when describing the full on body treatments, "not even my breast exams are that invasive." It was so relaxing though that I felt like I was floating out of my body! The green tea finish was perfect. It was the most affordable pampering that I will probably ever experience and really helped me get into a place where I could translate all that was overwhelming and over-stimulating that day. My roommate and I kept convincing each other that we would stay awake for the rest of the day so that our sleeping patterns would adjust to India time but that clearly didn't happen! When our alarm clocks went off it was already time for us to meet our professors in the lobby for the orientation, get the logistics and run of the big show!

Drs. Vyas and Parrish took us to this really cool Indo-Chinese restaurant where we all ate until we were stuffed! The food was incredible and was so flavorful and well seasoned. I had the veggie dumpling wanton soup that tasted nothing like I expected but it was solid!! We ordered the rest of the food for the table and the servers there just piled on our plates everything from roasted garlic and ginger lamb to some type of caramelized spinach, veggie chowmein, chicken and veggie dumplings, fried Singapore rice, Szechwan, chop suey and too many other things that I couldn't figure out nor spell! It was just amazing.

Even though our class has meet for almost a month in DC in preparation for this case study of India, I felt like it was the very first time I connected with literally everyone! It was very emotional hearing about everyone's professional/academic and personal goals for this trip. It was just refreshing to experience everyone being so transparent and hopeful about doing some really good work in their respective areas of interest. All of us are developing individual business plans that will take what we learn about social entrepreneurship to the next level and it was just so reassuring to learn that EVERYONE was hoping to turn their plan into something that could be implemented for a community that they plan to serve or with whom they are already working. How amazing was it that from so many backgrounds, with myriad passions and paths, we all had the unique goal of improving how the public experiences health/a quality of life. At that moment, it all finally sunk in and I realized that I would be eternally grateful for this opportunity and that I was with a really unique group of folks committed to doing something bold and beneficial for the world.