"Did it change your life?"

I just recently returned from India and the most frequently asked question I got upon my return, apart from "How was India?" was "Did it change your life?" I thought it was such a weird question because of course India changed my life, how could it not? But so many things have changed my life and no one's ever asked. I started to wonder if this was some Eat. Pray. Love. reference that I just wasn't getting. After all doesn't your life change whenever you embrace life? When you let yourself be changed? When you take risks? When you break rules? When you fall in love? When you fearlessly embrace your fate?  

So in saying that, my answer when people ask about India is yes; upon return I have comeback more enlightened, more aware, and more compassionate. Whenever I travel I change, I leave myself exposed to the airs of a foreign city because that's the best evolution there is.But cities don't become your favourite based on the monuments necessarily and they don't have the ability to change you, but the people you meet in those places and the experiences you share with them do. 

The children chasing tyres in the rural streets of Pushkar changed my view of happiness.

The family that invited us into their home and shared what little they had changed my view of generosity. 

The sprawling city of Dehli and all the millions of people in it changed the size of my problems.

The women I shared the trip with changed the way I viewed age, I no longer see it. 

I knew from the moment I left that this would be a significant trip; I felt it as I sat in departure gate 14 in a circle of women, unknown to each other and about to embark on an adventure together. It was this group of people that inspired the most change in me, it is the moments I shared with them throughout India, moments of tears, accomplishment, wander, awe and laughter, mostly laughter, that had a huge effect on my life. 

When I think of India, I'll think of them. 

-Alessandra