2. What does it mean to positively transform society? And why
do some people feel a need to do so? Is it worth spending your
entire life building a bridge that you may never cross
yourself?Answer me this--during your trip through India, did you
ever take shade under a tree you planted? 2
3. One evening in Chennai. Alex: What would you do with your
life if you were told you were going to die?Kumar: Yeah, Im not
sure what I would do if I was told I was going to die.Colin: Well
guess what? You are going to die. What are you going to do about
it? 3
4. A Start. Namaste! Wow. Where to begin? I arrived back from
India two nights ago, and I start school again in 5 days. I have
about a million thoughts running through my head at this moment. It
will take time to fully comprehend the experience of the past two
months. This document contains my personal take on the journey. A
very brief account in terms of everything we experienced. Rest
assured, we have the whole thing on tape! We certainly jumped
headfirst into India. Bargained with the paan-spitting rickshaw
drivers of Delhionly found ourselves in one rickshaw accident.
Purchased plastic Buddhas from children tapping on our windows. Ate
dosas and chuttney from the street side vendors, and asked for
seconds. Folded our hands and said Namaste. Slept in a filthy train
station in Dhanbad, the Coal Capital of India. Treated to dinner at
the Taj Hotel by an oil man. Never nodded yes or no when asked if
we would like bottled water, but instead bobbled our heads. Bathed
in the Ganges River despite knowing it is perhaps the dirtiest
waters in the world. Visited an IT call center. Heard our fortunes
told by a Hindu spirit speaking through a man in a temple in a
village in Rajasthan (the spirit says I should get a brown dog).
Realized that giant holes in the sidewalks are to be expected at
night. The details written in this document are simply the major
parts that pop into my head at the moment (and what I have been
able to crank out in the past two days!). However, the small parts
are just as important. Spending time with the rickshaw pullers of
Kolkata. Flying kites on a Sunday afternoon with slum kids over
railroad tracks. Sitting along a cliff watching an impending storm
approach from the ocean. Attending an Indian wedding and
celebrating life in Delhi. Speaking to an old woman about what it
was like to meet Ghandi. We nearly completed a full circle around
India: Delhi. Varanasi. Bihar. Jarkhand. West Bengal. Kolkata.
Chennai. Bangalore. Coonoor. Goa. Ahmedabad. Rajhastan. Mumbai. But
after 2 months, I feel I am in no place to tell you about my
understandings of India. It is a culture rooted in thousands of
years of history, and I merely played the part skimmed the surface.
However, I think I learned a little about human nature in which I
can share with you. I met people along the way that certainly
challenged my view of life and the world, and I think could
challenge yours. I learned if you go searching life for the
negative things, you will find it. If you go searching life for the
positive things, you will find it. I think one will leave you much
more satisfied. And along the journey, have peace of mind! In
Delhi, at the beginning of our trip, a man asked us, what will you
do with your film?. I told him my thoughts of giving back to the
people we meet along our journey in India. He answered, but how
does a river flow down a mountain? Does it give water back
upstream?. The journey has taught me a valuable lesson: pay it
forward. 4
5. I do not think we need to travel the world to make great
discoveries. However, there comes a time when we need to challenge
the context of the world we perceive around us. For me, going to
India changed the context of my world. Made me uncomfortable. I was
able to recognize things in people that I have let go unnoticed in
much of my life. I had the immense pleasure to grow close with two
friends, Colin and Kumar. We learned much about ourselves through
our interactions with one another. At the end of the trip, I asked
Kumar, Are you proud of what we were able to accomplish?. He
replied, I do not think proud is the right word. More
appropriately, I feel overwhelmed with a gratefulness to have had
this opportunity. I could not have said it any better. -Alex
September 3rd, 2010 5
6. This first story is about stars, and how dreams are
realized. Change the context of your world, Change your content
with the world. Then you can change the world. -Professor Anil
Gupta, August 25th, 2:00 PM, Ahmadabad, Gujarat. At the beginning
of our trip, we spent time with a young man in Delhi named Rikin
Gandhi. He is a brilliant computer scientist that has turned his
focus away from the computer screen and onto the fields of India.
He started an organization called Digital Green. They provide the
tools to farmers to generate media. It allows them to create a
forum to share ideas and accelerate innovation in their
communities. Put simply, it is American Idol for Indian farmers.
Nearly 40% of India is media dark, and 60% of the population is
dependent on agriculture. This fills quite a gap.In the middle of
our conversation, Rikin told us that he used to want to be an
astronaut. I loved reading the first hand accounts of people that
have been to space. You wont find a single person that wasnt
profoundly affected by the experience. They see earth, floating
6
7. there. No strings attached. Just floating! The beauty of our
home. The fragility of our existence. They see humanity. And when
they return, they find a way to connect to the very roots of it.
Some become teachers. Farmers. Although Im no longer working to be
an astronaut, that idea still drives me everyday in my work
here.The words Rikin said stuck in my head. Two weeks after Delhi,
we ended up at a home for polio kids in Bihar. There were nearly
300 children sitting on the floor the evening we arrived, waiting
patiently. My own personal hero is Joseph Kittinger. I decided to
tell Josephs life story (translated by a friend, with my own
twist!). I told them a story about a boy who grew up on a farm. He
dreamed of going to outerspace. Man started war. The boy joined the
air force. His plane was shot down. He was hurt, but it didnt stop
his dream. He had his first taste of flying! He took up a hot air
balloon, and went around the earth. Near the end, his balloon
crashed in the desert. He was hurt, but it didnt stop him. He had
just seen the world around from up there. But still, he was
unsatisfied. He had always dreamed of space. And one day, he
climbed into his balloon, and went straight up. Up, and up, and up!
When he reached space, it was the most beautiful site he had ever
beheld. He jumped. He floated down for 13 minutes and 45 seconds.
And when he came back down to earth, he had finally seen it for its
true beauty. He returned back to his fathers
farm.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBZeWjGjl8 7
8. Hey guys, we should meet the first Indian that went to
outerspace. Has an Indian ever been space? No clue. Google it.
Indeed, India has had one astronaut go to space. His name is Rakesh
Sharma. He lives in a remote town in Tamil Nadu called Coonoor. He
stepped out of the public light long ago. We reached out to a
friend in Chennai in the morning, asking him to connect us with
Rakesh. By evening, we had his number. He said he was apprehensive
to do interviews, but would make an exception because his son is a
filmmaker. A couple of days later, we were driving seven hours
south of Bangalore into the most beautiful place I have ever seen
on planet earth. The rolling mountains of Tamil Nadu. Tea country.
Green steps climbing up into a beautiful, sunny, blue sky. Windows
rolled down. We reached his home by late afternoon. He lives on top
of a mountain with his wife and mother (seemingly the only place
suitable for someone who has been to space). It is a place where
you feel the world stop. He is soft spoken and kind, and an
incredibly thoughtful man. His home was built from the mud in those
very hills, runs on solar power, and harvests rainwater. We sat for
the next three hours in his office and listened to him tell his
journey, what it was like in those moments in space, what it felt
like to look down at earth for the first time, and how it had
changed him. Near the end of our trip, we met a young man named
Taaget. He lives in Ahmadabad and is 26-years-old. He failed 12th
standard when he was 18-years-old, and dropped out there after. He
has dedicated his life to teaching children about astronomy. His
home is filled with books about astronomy and odd space
collectables. He built a telescope and brings it to poor and
impoverished areas around the city. He often works in the slums,
and recently traveled to the war-torn parts of Kashmir to speak in
front of the children (they stopped him at the border because his
telescope looked like a rocket launcher). He said, when we look up
at the stars, we all see the same thing. We are all apart of the
same home. It 8
9. doesnt matter our country origin, our religion, nor our
caste. It holds the same beauty for all of us. We visited the home
of the great Mahatma Ghandi. Albert Einstein once said of this man:
Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such
a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.
We felt an amazing peacefulness and energy in that place. On one
side of the ashram was a small home, essentially a gated courtyard.
Today, 150 children live there. They all come from the
Untouchables, the lowest caste in Indian society. Their parents are
sweepers, sanitation workers. On Kumars last night in India, we
arranged to have Taaget bring his telescope to the home that
evening for the kids to view. We found a classical music school
called Saptak and asked them if they would be interested in
performing at the Ghandi Ashram that evening for 150 children. They
obliged. It turned out to be one of the most magical nights of my
entire life. I have provided an MP3 of the song that was performed
(located in the original Kickstarter message). The song was written
by the founder of Saptak. I looked across at the children. All
their attention focused on the performers. I saw children
pretending to play sitar. I felt so full of life at that moment!
The man that has run the Ghandi home for more than 15 years came up
to me during the performance....tears in his eyes, but a big smile
on his face. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go. My grandmother has
just passed on. Thank you for tonight."After the performance, the
children lined up to look through the telescope. They had never
seen one in their life. The sky was cloudy (it is to be expected
during monsoon season), but the moon made an appearance every so
often. The children were told that if they prayed, the moon would
come out--but if one of them opened their eyes, then it would
vanish behind the clouds. It was quite beautiful. It didnt matter
to these kids if this was fact or not. It was true to them because
they chose to believe it. The headmistress began yelling at the
children to go to sleep, but they demanded they stay up until every
child had seen the moon through the telescope.I later asked a
professor named Anil Gupta, what changed about the world when man
went into outerspace? He answered, it changed everything. It
changes the context of our world. The possibilities of what we can
accomplish turn to infinity. No longer are we held down by the
possibilities of this place. He paused for a moment. I think about
the boy with the telescope. He cannot take the children to the
stars, so instead he brings the stars to them. How lovely! 9
10. 10
11. 11
12. 12
13. Babar Ali. (his school) Babar Ali is 17-years-old. He is
the worlds youngest headmaster. He started his school when he was
9-years-old, and it has now grown to 955 students. He recently
turned down an offer from Oxford University. Instead, he attends
Behrampur University, 15 minutes from his home, so he can continue
to grow his vision. He has the characteristics of an aloof genius.
He paints pictures with his hands in conversation. A drawing in the
air of the reach his school will have someday. I will see every
child in India receive an education! He raises his voice when he
speaks aspirationally. He speaks often of his biggest inspiration,
the greatest of Indian educators, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
He recited some of his poems in Bengali. Tagore himself started a
great University. Babar paces around and often avoids eye contact.
A wirey young boy. His father says he does not swim anymore,
although Babar claims he still does. He has a habit of twisting the
skin in the middle of his right cheek. I climbed up in a tree with
him and picked Goa fruit from his courtyard, and his sisters washed
them for us. His students learn under the sky in the same space.
His great uncle came over and climbed 60 feet into a coconut tree.
We broke them open and sat around sharing the fruit. 13
14. Babar introduced us to the The Honorable D.K. Ghosh, a man
that he calls his supreme counsel. D.K. Ghosh is a fat man that
broke his leg dancing recently. And now, the Honorable D.K. Ghosh
will sing a song for you. Babar said this with a smile on his
face--he always tries to hold back his smiles, which curl up the
corners of his mouth. I looked over at him, and I saw he was
covering his mouth in an attempt to hold back a laugh. His eyes
darted at me, as if to give a hint at the joke. The Honorable D.K.
Ghosh was a terrible, terrible singer. We decided to give Babar
forty notebooks to use in his school in whatever manner he chose.
When we gave them to him, he took the notebooks out of the bag and
began inspecting them. I left the courtyard for a moment, and when
I came back, I saw that he was still looking over them, flipping
through the pages, feeling the texture of the covers. When Babar
speaks about those educated, and those that are not, he speaks in
terms of the light and the darkness. Babar happens to have the only
light in his entire village, two solar powered flashlights donated
to his family. There was a night driving back from Babars school.
Babars father was smoking cigarettes profusely, exaggerating the
sounds of his inhale and exhales. He speaks in broken English. He
leaned towards me, the lights from passing cement trucks hitting
his face. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
where words come out from the depths of truth. A quote from Tagore.
No matter how gifted a child is, the genius will never be realized
if the environment is not there to nuture it. His father was the
first person to encourage Babar with his school. A woman named Tulu
in the village believed that girls need education, and has played a
vital role in convincing families to allow their daughters to
attend. One of Babars former female students is now his most
valuable teacher. Everyday, she works from sunrise into the
afternoon as a house servant, and then walks to Babars school to
teach. An amazing moment happened where this girl drew bindis on
the childrens faces with chalk. A new symbol of pride. Below is a
collection of Polaroids, entitled Family. 14
15. 15
16. 16
17. The Rotas Hills. Bihar happens to be the stronghold of the
Maoist rebels, the Naxalites. We had our first interaction with
them before we even crossed the border. They shut down the border
as we were attempting to cross into the state. We waited for two
hours and played chess. Then out of nowhere.quick! The border is
open! For a week we stayed in a residence that was 10 kilometers
from a place called the Rotas Hill. This is the Naxal stronghold in
Bihar, and consists of about 400 villages. It is literally on a
hill, and there are only two entry points (each one heavily guarded
and monitored by the Naxals). Not the paradigm place we would want
to go when capturing stories about positivity. But what makes a
story all the more inspiring is when it is done against great odds.
We heard an incredibly inspiring story from a young girl in Rotas
Hill who was the first woman in recent history to successfully
standup against her arranged child marriage (a tradition still
practiced and accepted in the region). An untold civil rights
leader. There were many of these stories of immense courage that we
found there. There are only two organizations that work in Rotas
Hill: the Naxals, and another organization called GEMS. This
organization worked to build a Hindi-medium school in the area.
Over the past three years, they have built trust with the local
people and volunteers travel daily to the school. Despite these
efforts, it was only several months ago that the Naxals blew up the
school at night. However, relations have improved since then. GEMS
supported us to go there and offered to guide usunder one
condition: that only Kumar go. Because of the anti-Western
sentiment in the area, they said taking any recognizable
non-Indians could put lives at risk, and set back the progress back
they say their organization has made. Kumar ended up making the
journey. The day he went, hostages were being released. A story I
will leave for him to tell. During this time, we met with girls
that had escaped from child prostitution. This was the most
emotional part of our entire journey, and the only part of the trip
I regret. Some of these girls had escaped their situation only
weeks earlier. We interviewed them to get them to speak about their
past. However, this sometimes does more damage than good. A child
is not always ready to speak about a traumatizing experience. A
time I will certainly never forget. 17
18. the girl boxers of Chalkari. We were the first Westerners
in recent memory to enter this remote village in the mountains of
Jarkhand. We were told that a boxing ring had been set up in this
village about a year ago. We expected to find built young men with
boxing gloves. What we found instead were young girls. Women
empowerment is not the intent of the organization. The intent is to
train the girls to become boxers in the hope that they can compete
in local competitions. However, something else happens along the
way. It gives the girls something that can be rare to find in this
society: individuality. Education, healthcare, power, and womens
empowerment are all central pillars to rural development. However,
hope is a good place to start. Boxing plants the idea that perhaps
they can do more with their life than simply marry and have
children. 18
19. the reporters of Patna. Choti Choti Bate is a human rights
journalism group in Patna run completely by children. They have a
newspaper and a radio program that has nearly half a million
listeners. The children are the reporters, which allows stories to
be reported on that otherwise would never have been told. A
13-year-old girl told a story she reported on about a hotel that
depended on child labor to run their operations. They treated the
children unfairly and payed them menial wages. The children
organized and went on strike against the hotel. They ultimately had
their conditions and wages improved. A 10-year-old girl told a
story about how her principal at the government school she attends
was charging 30 rupees per student for tuition. The law states that
in her district, the schools can charge no more than 20 rupees. She
filed a complaint with a local government official, and the
principal ultimately dropped the fee down to 20 rupees. We asked
them, Are you ever in fear? They all chimed in unison, Nahi!19
20. 20
21. What is society? Gyanesh started Husk Power Systems, a
company that recycles discarded rice husks to generate power. They
have provided power to over 60,000 rural villagers. He grew up in
Bihar, one of the most backward states of India. He left for
America as soon as he had the chance. Gyanesh said he spent much of
his life running away from his past, but ultimatey knew he had to
return to his roots. Sitting and speaking with him, I knew I was in
the presence of a true visionary. I asked him, what does it mean to
transform society? He said in reply, what is society? Is society
your family? Is it your community? Is it the world? Society is what
you make it out to be. I have chosen society to be the world, and I
have dedicated my life to changing it. But although my view may be
different than yours, it does not make your view of society
incorrect. 21
22. the school run by children. We spent time at an
organization called Manzil. It means destination in Hindi. A school
in which the children are the teachers. They shape their own
education. The kids make their own classes, and the other children
sign up for them. There are computer classes, dance classes,
English classes, music classes to name a few. It costs nothing for
the students to attend. However, if a student arrives late for
class, they have to pay a fee. Ravi Gulati runs Manzil out of his
home. There is no part of his home in which children cant come off
the streets and change to their liking. We spent a week with them.
There was a girl who spent three years in a bed after having
typhoid fever. She lost hearing in one of her ears. Dancing makes
her feel more alive than anything else in the world. She will be a
great dancer. A boy told us a story about how he became lost
climbing in the Himalayas at night with two friends. The only thing
that saved them was their ability to follow the lights of a small
town back to safety.We have the power to choose the way we want to
live our lives. We met a 17-year-old boy in Delhi, living in a
shelter home for former slum kids. His name is Pradeep. An amazing
human being. We sat on a roof top and listened to his story. He
grew up in a two story home in Delhi. His father was a successful
businessman. However, he made some poor choices and lost his
business, and ultimately his home. Pradeep and his family ended up
in the street. His father couldnt care for them properly, and sent
Pradeep and his brother to Bihar to live with their grandparents.
Pradeeps brother worked in the fields, but Pradeep was young and
did not have the stamina to labor. His grandparents beat him.
Pradeep and his brother ran away back to Delhi. When they arrived,
the found their father had died. They lived in the streets for over
a year. It was at this time Pradeep and his brother choose two
different paths. Pradeep choose to join the shelter home, and his
brother joined a gang. Several months ago, his brother was
murdered. It was at this time that Pradeep began preparing for his
entrance exam for Hotel Management. He says he thinks about his
brother everyday. His dream is to start his own hotel, and buy back
the home he grew up in. 22
23. Sometimes we go searching for cathedrals, but do not find
what we are looking for. Instead, we find something much closer to
ourselves. A home. This is taken word for word from my notebook.
Kolkata. Roof top. Sometime in late July. Sitting on the rooftop of
the Sunflower Guest House. Nighttime. Colin and Kumar are sleeping.
From here, I can see across the entire city. The glowing hubs of
activity. The darks spots of the slums. Up there on the roof, I am
the master of the city. I am the humble servant of the city. I look
up. The stars scattered across like broken glass in the night sky.
I notice a cable above me for the first time. The outlines of
shirts on a clothesline. Down in the street below, tired workers
sleeping on truck beds. Hauling stones all day. A man on a
cellphone walking by. A rickshaw whizzing, zipping through the
narrow passage. A guard outside sleeping in his chair. And I look
across, and there is an infinite expanse of buildings. From here,
it might as well go on forever. I pick a spot out there. I step up
to the edge of the building, and leap. And then the world really
starts moving! The sleeping outlines of apartments become my
playground. I land on a roof below and tumble into a roll. I keep
the momentum moving. Next roof. Im so quiet. I am no superhero, but
at that momentI could do anything. And so, I picked a spot out
there. A cathedral steeple in the far distance. 1 A.M. Kolkata.
Sunflower Guest House Rooftop. I walked down into the street below.
Nothing is there. Well, everything is there that was in the day,
but sleeping. An occasional rickshaw. Besides that, only the dogs.
They are nocturnal in this city. In the cool night, no one bothers
them. They were in and out from under the resting trucks. And I am
here sitting in the street with the dogs. A cathedral on my mind. I
walk up to a rickshaw puller. He is sleeping under his rickshaw. A
gaunt man with white hair. Looks 65, probably 40. There is no one
else around. I stand over him for a moment, and then decide to wake
him up. I ask for directions. He looks at me confused and
perturbed, unable to understand my English. I walk away. 20 meters
back, the rickshaw puller is still standing there. A gaze fixed on
me below a street lamp, the blinking red lights flashing across his
taut skin. I walk back and offer him 20 rupees for disturbing his
sleep. I hail a taxi. The cathedral sir. CA. THEE. DROLL. I sketch
an outline of a steeple. He stares blankly back at me. 100 rupees.
I get in. 23
24. 1:22 AM. Streets of Kolkata. We drive through unlit
streets. Left turn. Right turn. Left turn. Left turn. Im sitting in
the backseat. On the left side. With the window down. I show off my
extensive catalogue of Hindi vocabulary. Mera nam Alex hai. Me
America se hu. I am bis years old. this is about it- We drive for
another 10 minutes. He asks me for directions intermittently. I
fail to be of any help. It my first night in the city of Kolkata
(give me a few days to figure out these streets!). He is lost and I
am lost. We arrive to an open street. 2 lanes in one direction.
Non-descript buildings. Looks like every other street I had seen in
India. He slows down the car and points to a building. Mother
Theresas home. I tell him to stop the car. I exit. The building is
a big grey box. Nothing to it. No fan-faire. No large, epic
portrait of Mother Theresa. Bars over the tiny windows. On the side
a tiny, worn plaqueMother Theresas Home. I stay for a time and sit
and reflect in front of it. Sometimes miraculous things happen in
the most ordinary of places. 1:40 AM. Kolkata Streets. We continue
driving. After stopping and consulting with a police officer for
directions, the driver now understands I am trying to get to the
cathedral. We drive in silence across the city. We arrive in front
of the cathedral. There is a long driveway leading to its doors.
But trees blocked my view, and I was unable to behold its grandeur.
A guard approaches the iron clad gate. I ask him if I can enter. He
me a flat no. We open at 9 AM. He walks away back to his stoop. The
driver is leaning against the hood of his car. I join him. I
imagine his curiosity of what the hell I am doing. I tell him to
keep driving. Take me somewhere. 2 AM. Kolkata streets leading back
home. It was getting early. The driver turned back to the guest
house. An additional 250 rupees. Sometimes we go searching for
cathedrals, but do not find what we are looking for. Instead, we
find something much closer to ourselves. A home. 24
25. Jugaadoo: A working title for our film. Jugaad- A Hindi
word introduced to us by a young girl in Delhi named Shalu. There
is no direct Hindi to English translation. It essentially means to
take advantage of ones immediate environment in order to find a
solution--innovation that comes out of a scarcity of resources. The
villager was tired of sitting on dirt. She reached up and took a
large leaf off a tree, and smiled a big wide smile as she sat on
her new mat. Why did washing machines sell so well when they were
first came to market in Punjab? They were used to make lassi
(essentially Indian milkshakes). We saw Jugaad implemented by
nearly everyone we met. They found shortcuts around their
circumstances to find a solution to their problem that may not have
been obvious. What the film will look like:"Oftentimes, really
powerful ideas are presented in very clinical language. But people
connect with emotional storytelling, and these ideas need to be
humanized so they can reach the most people possible."- Jesse
Dylan, filmmaker. Upon completion, the film will be placed online
for free viewing. We have about 90 hours of footage. To organize
this into a 1.5 hour film will take us a little bit of time. We are
aiming for a release date of April 2011. This will be around the
same time the soundtrack will be complete. We appreciate your
patience in this process. Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of One
Laptop Per Child, once said in regards to his mission: this is not
a laptop project. This is an education project. I take inspiration
from this line. I believe that this is not a film project. This is
an education project. Education should start a conversation in
which everyone is a participant. I believe this is where the most
valuable learning is rooted. We hope to be able to build a
conversation around the film in which everyone has an opportunity
to contribute. The vision of the final product is a
multi-dimensional, interactive piece. Imagine the film as a river
network. You have the main river flow (the film). However, there
are branches that go off. Perhaps there are 6 minutes in the film
on Manzil, the alternative education school in Delhi. If I am
particularly interested in this part of the film, I can go off the
main stream and into this branch. I can learn more about Manzil.
Watch additional footage. See photographs. I can stay in this pond
for a while and fish for ideas.25
26. I may take fish from this pond, and I may leave my own.
Perhaps contribute content about other schools around the world
that take a similar approach to Manzil. Or begin a discussion
thread about why I may disagree with their approach. How far the
river flows depends on how far people are willing to travel. I have
yet to see a documentary that does anything like this, and we are
very excited to explore this option. The Journey Makes Life Worth
Living (our last moments in Indiafor now!) It poured down rain on
our last day in India. We went down to the water in Mumbai, in
front of the gateway of India. Colin took a piece of cardboard and
wrote THE JOURNEY MAKES LIFE WORTH LIVING (our last moments in
India.for now!). We were nearly the only people without umbrellas,
soaking up the rain. We took a photograph with the sign. I left it
on the ground, with my shoes next to it. I had worn them the entire
trip through India, and they were nearly falling apart. Later that
night, just before the taxi was coming to take us to the airport,
Colin and I went down to the water again to see if anyone had
messed with our sign. When we arrived, it was still resting there.
Except my shoes were gone. Someone had taken them, but left their
own. 26
27. One last thought.for now! To live a life for our world is
to live a life in which you give your existence to see that the
world you leave is better than the world you came into. This why we
are here. This is why we exist. I wrote this sitting with Colin and
Kumar on a rooftop in Bangalore. I believed it then, and I believe
it now. There are moments of doubt along any journey. But there are
profound moments that reassures us of our own potential, of our
traveling companions, of our mission, and of greater
humanity.Moments where I find myself sitting underneath the stars,
caught between the leaves of coconut trees. "Was that a shooting a
star?" West Bengal. Babar Ali sitting next to me. The worlds
youngest headmaster. His brother holding the only flashlight in the
entire village on him. Babar explaining to me why he turned down an
offer to attend Oxford University. Telling me a story of the poet
that inspires him. What his favorite fruit is. And I keep asking
myself, how in the hell did we get here? Am I dreaming? And then I
remember. Ah yes, thats right. You are why. We cant thank you
enough.-Alex 27