The importance of “Do you have a torch?”

Somewhere between the jet lag, intense heat and humidity, a plethora of insects to keep me company at night, power-outages (hence the need for a “torch”--flashlight), and my first walk through a city you wouldn’t believe unless you were here, I realized that this is going to be the best trip of my life. I have a beautiful new wardrobe, a luxurious home, a stomach full from the first feast of Ramadam, and the kindness of my host family. There is so much more exploring to be done and people to meet. But I am not here to be a tourist, a guest, or a critic. I am here to research, but more importantly to gain a new perspective on life.

“Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed against a wall, everything a huge foreground, or details, close-ups… Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be.”
-Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale

My trip to Europe five years ago, so formative in my development, was where I learned the obvious: people are people. It doesn’t matter if they speak a different language. Or if their country’s past is tainted with genocide, or just wine and cheese. Or if they live in the gray-schemed city, or pastoral hillsides in full bloom.

And here, in a place where I expected the circumstances to shape people into something completely unrelatable, I re-learned this lesson while talking with a relative of my family. Her English was excellent and we carried on a conversation for a good hour. We talked about everything from marriage and children to music, travel, tea, standards of beauty, and Hannah Montana. Even our families shared striking resemblances: her daughter, 13, who loves to study and learn guitar, her son, 11, who is a bit of a troublemaker and will find any excuse to skip school, wants learn drums (Matt, sound familiar?), and their collective love of dogs and fish. Her thoughts on staying home with the children versus going to work resonate with any woman worldwide who faces that choice (unfortunately many do not). I shared a moment with this 39-year old Bengali woman that will last forever. On a spiritual level, connections like these confirm that we are more than our DNA dictates.

Also, people here love Obama like I love… Obama. I’ve had both a teenage boy and a typical sari-clad grandmother ask me about him and then express their own approval (the rumor he is Muslim benefits him here). The English-language newspaper here near daily features and article about him. Poor, poor McCain. By the way, McCain’s choice for VP is such an obviously false attempt to win over women voters. Sorry McCain, we’re a bit smarter than that. Empty gestures will only get you so far, and by November 4th you’ll be, like, so whatever.

Really lastly, my heart goes out to the people of New Orleans who have already been through a lifetime of tragedy. Please, if there is anything you can do to help, do it. We are facing devastating floods in parts of Bangladesh and India as well. These are trying times.