This past Friday was International AIDS Awareness Day and to celebrate it, Alana and I got Sari-ed up and rickshawed over to one our working area slums to be a part of their rally. (those are two “verbs” I never thought I’d use before I came out here – “sari-ed” and “rickshawed”)
Well, we actually ended up in out youngest working area – which I had yet to visit – and it was incredible. The people, the noise, the crowd…it was a complete sensory overload! I will be posting pictures soon (www.flickr.com/photos/fatalcleopatra), but they certainly do not convey what it felt like. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to in Canada is the first 10 minutes of Dr. Long’s Sociology of Mass Media course, but even that falls short of the complete and utter inundation of sounds and smells and color and people. The size and energy of the crowd is almost frightening because everything gets dangerously swept along. However, there are moments in the field that I feel so connected to and loved by the people living there and that makes me feel incredibly safe and at home in the midst of it all. During some of the skits put on by the People’s Institutions, Alana and I were crouched down with the kids to watch and one little boy beside me watched over me like a hawk. If the pushing of the crowd made the kid behind me have to put his hand out and steady himself on my shoulder, this little boy would whip around and let the other kid know in no uncertain terms that he was not to lean on me, and if the bottom of my sari would fall and brush the dirt, he would gently lift it on to my feet and sandals so it wouldn’t get dirty. He was so genuinely sweet and sincere that I felt as though my heart would break with the love I felt for him. Sometimes in moments like these, this city catches me so off-guard and just sends my mind reeling that I only have a month left here.
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