I had heard alot of stories  which programmed me to think that India would be the last place I could ever dream of travelling to because all that came from the media protrayed that beautiful country  as the ugliest place on earth. My thoughts were all negative and I actually thought that the only good thing that came from India were bollywood movies which I enjoyed watching despite the fact that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. To my surprise on landing in India I immediately fell in love with hype, noise and energy I saw at Indra Gandi International Airport as many taxi guys ran to me and the most fascinating thing was that they all called me  “bhaee” or brother, so everyone was like, my brother , my brother , where you go? in that deep Indian accent and bam! I grabbed my second Hindi word after “Namaste”. The weather was so strange to me coming from a cooler and chiller place to a hot North Indian summer which made me think I was going to burn but I liked the experience. Then it came to the Indian people and I must admit I met the wrong people at first and they were so harsh to me and I could not imagine why people could be that ill, calling me all sorts of names and “I tried to be angry for a while but that never solved the issue so I decided to love them” and on loving them I came across alot of beautiful people who were just ignorant which I had to understand. I used to get questions like; “Did you just ride a bike from Africa to India?” that could blow your mind until you get to know that a bike is one of the most important necessities in an average Indian home , so some Indians thought that foreigners travel on bikes to India. I got a chance to interact with all classes of people there and I noticed that the different classes treated me differently right from the high class to the lowest. Well Informed, travelled and exposed Indians are so nice because they see things from a different lens and they make best friends for life. With that long introduction, these are some of the lessons I learnt in India .

• Not every action needs a reaction.
  Joking seemed to be an Indian thing and to me I was always found it offensive until I  learned that not every silly word I received from a stranger needed a reaction and that changed the way I looked at the whole situation.

• Uncontrolled anger is a weak emotion.
  I faced alot of racism in India like no other place before and after but still I received alot and mean alot of love from Indians, they are such a loving, kind race. I had a bad anger problem but in north India Agra where I stayed for sometime the people seemed to irritate me sometime and move me to act, some times walking on the street  someone could call me “monkey ” to get a reaction from me and I always gave it back which made my life so miserable but until I learnt to cool my anger and accept that some folks will be ignorant for life that will never change. Indians believe that “you cannot change India but India will change you” which is partly true and it happened to me.

• However highly educated you will be, stay humble.
  I came across one professor in my college who later on bacame a mother and a gurdian to me and she had over 20 phds and I was so shocked but as I kept on watching her life she kept on learning even when I spoke she always paid much and great attention which taught that no matter how learned I  become, I should always stay humble and keep a teachable spirit.

• I discovered my a new jounery to spirituality.
  I guess this was the most important part I learned about while in india. Indians are very spiritual people than we could ever imagine, I noticed that they are so prayful and spiritual. By the grace of God I found many amazing,beautiful, humble, loving,kind ,words may never explain christians who received the international students community and took good care of us to a place where “if I were given a choice to get a second home it would be India”. My heart has never forgotten the love I received and words may never ever trully express this but I will always be grateful for those families in Agra, Faridabad and Newdehli. I learned to walk peace, love, kindness, greatness, excellence , supernatually and much more from main the women and men I looked upto.

• Never start a fight in a foreign land
  Living as a student in a foreign land is something that takes courage and readiness to face obstales. Life would sometimes get harder than I expected and unless a miracle happened it would get worse and India trained me to count my blessings because I was always involved in deadly accidents, some attacks ,discrimination and much more better not to be said but there was always a way out of it that unless God intervined I would be dead by today. I remember one day at my apartment my drunk neighbour started a bad fight and attacked me and friend and somehow we fought back, which made the situation heated. Little did we know that is guy was a manager of a certain famous company. After us winning our small battle, he made only one call and we saw over fifty men on bikes with cricket bats wanting to beat us to death but a miracle happened that our papa ” landlord” stood his ground and refused them to get in the gate. Sometimes I could walk in fear wishing I was in my own country but thank God our lives were kept.
  

  On a road trip to hariyana.

  

  Indra Gandhi International airport

  

  Agra, India

  

  Music shop in New dehli

  

  International students.

  

  Road trip.

  

  With one of my teachers in New dehli.

  

  One of my indian families.