I was told that volunteering stories are about experiences. People going to new places, meeting new people, helping people. Soon I realised volunteering stories are about people.
My story starts not from when I sat for days on my laptop screen in Delhi trying to look for an escape from the city noise, nor with the delight of hearing back from Lha office about my volunteering plans, not even from when I was exhausted, tired, sleepy from the fifteen hour bus ride and standing right in front of the green building that was about to be a temporal escape in my constant struggle. Pondered upon my whole experience a thousand times in my mind and scanned through every page from my diary that I filled, the question remains, where does my story begin?
From the start Lha felt like home. I was doing the 4pm conversation classes, meeting the most delightful students ever, was tutoring the sweetest person I have ever met and writing for Contact magazine which has now become my obsession. The pale-yellow walls of Ahimsa house were witness to many warm-hearted moments that I shared with the people who like me were humble boarders away from the chaos of main square. Every café is like a hub of countless emotions shared behind cups of Masala Chai and coffee. Everywhere you go, you see familiar faces smiling back at you; of students who told you about the very place where you’re enjoying the food, of kind individuals working at Lha by your side and of the new friends you made just for the sake of the shared taste for momos. You’re not a stranger in a strange land anymore, you learn to make the world your home. After travelling through all the hill stations that Himachal has to offer me, I will go back to Mcleod Ganj just to have another chance to be able to be part of something so soulful.
With every sunset and every sunrise, a part of Lha stays with you, and it didn’t matter if the sky is blue of Mcleod or grey of Delhi. With this I finally know, sitting under the yellow sky of Rajasthan on my next journey, that my story had a beginning whenever I had the chance to meet another soul who with me was part of this extraordinary experience.
Print
Email
