It came quickly. Tonight, I leave for India via London. 14+ hours on two flights with a four hour layover in London, though honestly, I’ve been in the air that long between Italy and San Francisco. It’s just that it still seems longer or farther–it’s India after all.
At 5 a.m. the morning of the 5th, I’ll arrive there. Something about this week is funny with me and movement: I left for Munich July 5, 2000, and moved back to San Francisco from Chicago on July 6, 2002.
It’s a long time to be on a short trip, and yet it’s not. Lots of people here have left for the summer and many won’t even know that I’ve gone. I get back on August 24, though that could be sooner if Enrique doesn’t visit.
As you might imagine, it’s hard to leave behind the person I spend most of my time with and who’s been the most substantial part of my last 14 months. But we remind each other that I’ll be back soon enough. I’ll miss him lots nonetheless.
Writing is what I’ll be doing a lot of in Bangalore… writing for field notes, writing to parse my field notes, writing to make sense of things. I will also be writing more here. There’s bound to be more to say. My New Haven life is quiet and small, most of the time. India should be a feast in any case, even if I don’t love everything. Maybe I will. It will surely change the way I see things! What an adventure. I’m nervous. 🙂
You can check out a long piece about what was hard for us in India at http://chittahchattah.blogspot.com/2006/03/further-on-our-asia-trip.html