GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - March 2016

I traveled to India with friends in March of last
year for the Holi Festival of Colors. During that
week, we traveled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal
in all its majestic glory, and rode camels through
the Pushkar Desert. We even celebrated Holi
with a local family and danced and drank under
sporadic clouds of pigmented chalk. But it was in
exploring the streets of Jaipur when I experienced
the true magic of India.
Roaming about, allowing myself to become
enveloped in all the sights, sounds, and smells that
Jaipur offered, I began to see the world through
a new pair of eyes. In a country that is overrun
by poverty and still seen as “developing,” I was
only able to see its beauty in the bright smiles of
those who call India home. It was while walking
the streets that I discovered that I needed to see
more and do more with this life that I had been
given.
I know there are people who say that visiting a
certain place or having a particular experience
while traveling “changed their life.” It’s pretty cliché,
I know, but traveling to India definitely was that for
me. It was there that I rediscovered myself and
made the decision to move abroad with my son.
Perhaps it was the spirit of Holi in the air. The
festival signifies the victory of good over evil, a time
to reflect, forgive and forget, and to repair broken
relationships. And I did. I thought about my life and
the things I wanted to change within myself and
with those around me.
India still speaks to me and she continues to
reintroduce me to myself.