Bye Bye Binakshi By: Liam Sackville

 

This weekend gave us a much-needed break. Sunday was the first day of our break and we ventured into the mountains. We drove around 2 hours from our hotel up crazy windy roads. We got a great view of the city below and a taste of what its like to have two-way traffic on a one-way road. At one point a bus was going forwards just inches from our front bumper as we reversed hoping there was a turn off so we could let them pass. Its so funny to see the faces of people up in the mountains as cars packed with white kids drive by them. We reached a trailhead near the top of a mountain. Our hike up was led by Raj and was fairly short, but the summit was breathtaking. On top of this monstrous mountain were grass hills emptied of trees. At the peak there was a temple and some surrounding buildings and tents. We were set free for 45 minutes to eat and do as we wished. My group spent most the time taking flicks. It was wonderful to finally be above the smog and see the landscape we’d been exploring from above. We found a barbed wire fence wrapped in prayer flags and a cow walking scarily close to the edge of what had to be a thousand-foot drop. The hike was a highlight of my trip so far.

Monday was the second day of the break. It started chill but didn’t stay that way. In the morning we headed up to another temple to meet a Yogi. We did about an hour-long session of yoga with a great view of the valley. The Yoga was fallowed by a bracelet ceremony in the temple. The bracelets are supposed to protect you and are not to be taken off until they fall off themselves. It is giving my skin a very odd orange tint after showering this morning though. After lunch at the hotel, we went back into the mountains. It had started raining at this point which was the first interruption in our trips perfect weather. Raj was very confident it would turn into snow. It did not. Maybe Raj doesn’t know everything after all. We reached a path and went on to find an utterly terrifying zipline. This thing must have been 500 feet in the air and was sketchy looking. The whole set up was just this silver line stretching over a ravine and a few dudes telling us to sign a waiver. But nonetheless it went great. I was the only one who made it across the zipline without having to pull themself on the wire to reach the platform. There is no way in hell this zipline would pass an inspection in the US. Dinner was finally something besides Indian food. We went to an Italian restaurant, and I got a Margherita pizza and a vanilla milkshake. It was borderline life changing. Chi was happy as can be to see that his pepperonis were actually red.

Today was our final day at the schools and the last time we are ever going to see the kids, probably. We were giving out supplies and gifts to all the kids in the morning. Our funding went towards getting a pressure cooker, new swing set, fixed their slide, and got new furniture. The kids could not have cared less about any of that. They were mesmerized by their new blankets, hygiene kits, and school kits. I’ve never seen kids so happy to get deodorant and floss. Today one girl separated herself from all the other kids. Her name is Binakshi and she must have been wrapped around me for 90% of the day. The one time I let her down she ran away and pouted behind a pillar. When I came over, she said, “Im sad Liam” and stood their hands in the air waiting to be picked up. I couldn’t resist picking her back up. I fell in love with this little girl, and she even made me cry, twice today. I’ve cried twice over the last 3 days and that is a very rare occurrence. I honestly think it’s been years since I’ve cried multiple times in a day. Later in the day we did our cultural exchange, and the kids had no clue what was going on. After our cultural exchange we said our final goodbyes. I said several goodbyes to Binakshi and held her in my arms as much as possible. There were tears shed on both sides and we watched from the car as the kid’s waved goodbye from balconies and on top of walls. The age of our kids allowed for genuine connections with the kids which the other schools didn’t experience. Im writing this several hours after saying goodbye and its really starting to set in that there is no chance, we ever see those kids again. Its crazy to think we gained such a connection over just a week or so and now it’s all over.