Learning to be Comfortable with being Uncomfortable
Place: Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India
Date: May 5, 2018.
Time: 5 in the morning!!
Scenario: I had just landed at the airport from Canada. Alone. My phone was dead. I didn’t know the language, and I’d nicely managed to forget the name of the hotel I was supposed to stay!
With tremendous apprehension and uncertainty, I jumped in a cab. As the car drove away from the promising lights of the airport area to dimly lit, unpopulated alleys, I sank into my seat asking myself the question over and over again,
“Why am I here?”
Almost all of us who have transitioned from the comfort of our homes in Canada to India for the IGL, have been faced with this question during the first few days here. But little did we know that the next few days, constituting the pre-trips and then moving on to our workplaces will change this question of us to,
“Why wasn’t I here before?”
We spent the subsequent week traveling with people we admired so much in the Ivey classroom. After resting in our hotel for the first day, and caressing out jet lags, we went to see the Red Fort of India. Delhi being the national capital of India, Red Fort is where the emperor of Delhi used to live and it’s the same place where the flag of India is hoisted on every Independence Day. We also got to chance to see the grand India Gate.
The next morning, we left the hotel early in the morning to embark on a four-hour drive to Agra, to see the Taj Mahal. Seeing the sunrise from the pink and purple sky, with the beautiful white marble dome as the backdrop, was a sight worth beholding. We instantly knew why the Taj was called a symbol of love, and why was it amongst the seven wonders of the world. All in all, Delhi was an enriching experience. We meditated with a shopkeeper selling singing bowls, sat in an auto rickshaw stuffed with 8 people raging through traffic, ate Dosas and paneer and drank masala chai.
We split into two groups after that. One of the groups went to Goa, to see some magnificent beaches. The students took a jungle safari in Goa which was like no other. The tipsy jeep and the sultry weather in the jungle was offset by the breathtaking views and roaring animals. Some of us moved on to Udaipur. We did not know anything about the city aside from its name. Our hostel was set in the old city and it had four levels of outdoor rooftops, with the fourth one being the highest point of the city, where we would all come together to watch the sunrise. Udaipur is situated in Rajasthan, the place where all the Indian royalty was based from. Udaipur had a very rustic feel to it, with amazingly grand palaces and ‘havelis’, which took us back in time to the royal life the Kings and Queens residing there would have led.
The next two days into the pre-trip brought memories that we will hold close to our hearts forever. Besides seeing beautiful places across India and learning through exploring the rich culture of the country, we also gained invaluable friendships during that time. We were with people who were strangers to each other just 4 months ago, but now are the ones with whom I am the closest. Our relationships are built on being pushed out of our comfort zones alone, and together and being supportive enough to make every experience make us grow in terms of knowledge and intellectual capital.
We’ve slowly begun to get used to the hectic streets and the sensory overload here, and also with an entirely different working environment, which has brought a whole new set of challenges and learning experiences. From our first auto rickshaw ride in India to 2 weeks into our respective workplaces, we have come to realize that we are learning lessons that no other program can teach us about being comfortable with being uncomfortable.