Time Moves Fast, Things Rearrange, The Only Constant is Constant Change

My service in Indonesia is quickly coming to an end. I have four months left and so my host family frequently asks me, "Will you return to Indonesia?" I always respond with a friendly, "Inshallah (If it is God's will)," but in my heart I know I'll return here someday.

In the two years that I've been here, I've seen my village transform before my eyes. The beaches are cleaner, the roads are newly paved, many of my students have smartphones, minimarts are popping up left and right...I feel like I'm watching a baby grow into a toddler and wondering where the time has gone. When I think about returning years and years from now I ask myself questions like, How much will change? What will this place look like? Will my school be the same?  What new shops will open in the town center? Will the market still be a labyrinth of locally grown fruits and veggies or will it be replaced by a Hypermart (a local chain similar to Walmart)?

I think I found the answer to these questions when I went to India over the December break. I hadn't been there in over 9 years, so naturally I was curious about how much had changed. When I boarded the plane, I secretly hoped that going to India would be like reuniting with an old friend and feeling like nothing had changed. I wanted to come back to the noisy, chaotic, and overwhelming (yet fun) India that I fell in love with during my last visit in 2007.

Bharat Mata, the national personification of India as a mother goddess

Alas, my hopes were quickly crushed as I walked through the Mumbai airport. I couldn't even recognize it because the place was recently remodeled. Everything was so much more glamorous and...orderly.


Well, maybe the roads will still be broken and bumpy like I remember it, I thought. Nope. The highway from Mumbai to my Surat (the city in which my parents live) is perfectly paved. Absolutely no bumps along the way. The roads weren't the only thing I noticed on the way to Surat. Almost all of the infrastructure I saw was either new or well on its way to being reconstructed. The bridges were equipped with streetlights, the toll booths were orderly, 4-story shopping malls were blossoming everywhere, and yes....I even  saw a Starbucks.

Holy cows! #Indiajokes

About halfway through the car ride, I noticed a large animal moving on the side of the road. The voice in my head screamed,  Yes! A stray cow walking freely on the road. Some things NEVER change! This was the first glimpse of the old India that I remembered. I looked around and realized that the India I knew was still there. I just had to look a little harder. Yes, the roads are newly paved, but on those paved roads are brand new Hondas and Suzukis that weave in and out between the rickshaws and the motorcycles and the bicycles and the large wedding parties in the middle of the streets and cows (especially cows!). It's still just as hectic as it was 9 years ago.

Me pretending to drive a rickshaw. Beep beep!

During the rest of my vacation, my parents took me around the city to their old homes and neighborhoods. The house my mom grew up in in being remodeled as I write this, but that doesn't mean the entire neighborhood is changing. Walking down my mother's street was like walking through an ongoing battle between modernity and tradition. New houses and apartment complexes are sprouting in every direction, but I didn't have to search hard to feel a sense of familiarity and comfort.

My mom's bathroom in her childhood home built in the 1960's

Building a new bathroom in my mom's home on the second floor with a tub!

A home similar to what my mom's home looked like before renovations

This is all just on the surface of India that is changing, though. It's the culture that is nearly untouched.  For instance, it is still okay to show up unannounced at a relative's home. Shops don't open until 11am or later. When walking through the market, shop owners scream, "BOL" (Speak!) when they think you're ready to buy something. After they've greeted you in this aggressive manner, you are expected to start bargaining immediately. And lastly, locals will bend over backwards to make sure you have eaten a warm home-cooked meal whenever you visit. Each time I visited my mom's friends and family, I was welcomed with fresh Indian bread, vegetables covered in delicious spices that made my lips tingle, sweets that could give me diabetes just by looking at it, and of course homemade spiced chai (the original, not the Starbucks knock-off).




After I returned from my holiday break in India, I stopped wondering what Indonesia will look like in ten years. Change is inevitable, but it happens slower than we think. I know if I visit in the future, my host family will try to serve me warm, sugary tea and wafers. My neighbors will ask the usual questions like, "Mau ke mana?" and, "Dari mana?" ("Where are you going?" and, "Where are you coming from?). I know my counterpart will first shake my hand before wrapping her arms around me in a Western-style hug.

 When I visit my village in 2026 or 2036, things will, without a doubt, be different. But I know I won't have to look too hard for the things I'm leaving behind in 2016.

More Photos From India

My mom talking with a dear family friend of ours. She made me pav bhaji (a Indian dish of spicy vegetables and buttered bread) and she sent her husband out to the market specifically to get me ice cream

 This is a photo from my cousin's clinic. The power went out, so his receptionists sorted prescriptions by candle light

Supermarkets are popping up everywhere in India, but that doesn't mean you can't buy your veggies from street vendors like these ladies!

The market in Surat. You can buy clothes, jewelry, sweets, pots/pans, and a whole bunch of other things here. Be sure to answer the shop owners when they yell, "BOL!" at you!

My mom buys her milk at the grocery store, but my aunt has her milk delivered every day in a silver tin (the little container hanging on the doorknob). India, old and new!