Will writes from Orissa, India.
How can a place capture you completely?
Music so loud, enough to burst your eardrums, outrageous dancing in the streets.
Colours blinding with vibrancy, brightness and glimmer racing towards you.
Roads that could swallow you up and spit you out, make you disappear unnoticed.
Poverty that is ruthless, harsh, which makes your skin shiver, people walking by like it’s the norm.
Even your screams would be deafened by motorbike sounds in the city.
The busy beeping towns, never calm; but peace arrives on departure.
How can a place capture you completely?
The local villages alive with local trade, red chillies drying on the road, curious eyes follow you by.
The water well the centre of it all, the buckets lowered deep, hoping to bring up life!
Smiles of those with next to nothing, piercing eyes wide and alive. People know what life is here, as they often come close to losing it.
Greeted each time with sweet and hot chai; enough to take the a layer from your mouth.
The hard, cool floor comforts you somehow, taking shade from the scolding heat.
Palm trees, dust, and cooking pots and tonight’s dinner roaming free.
How can a place capture you completely?
School gates opening freedom, no labour today thankfully. Biscuits sloshing cold milk around, they hardly last a minute
Finally an opportunity to just be a kid, just being looked after like a kid, play as a kid, learn as kids.
Getting care, a health check, and those outrageously beautiful basic rights.
Not working, begging, serving, washing, being forced into things no kids should bare.
Fast football, skipping, singing and games. Food, laughter, and protection.
Why is this so radical in India 2022?
How can a place capture you completely?
This enormous place! Nowhere on earth puts you back in your insignificance quite like it.
The pace will leave you shellshocked, the sounds, colours, heat, language, bells, animals racing towards you until you can bolt that door.
How can a place capture you completely?
The morning rooftop, the slow run rise; the music playing that amplifies your surroundings.
The tropical beauty passes by as the cool air fills your helmet; the rural roads slowing things down.
The sandy beach, crushing waves, and glistening sun on the surface.
How can a place capture you completely?
Well this is how; the joys are joyful, but the tears could fill buckets, the laughter is contagious but the crying inevitable, the loudness and craziness gives silence a new meaning of utter peace.
The smiles are so genuine, the friendships thoughtful, the spirit of people is faithful and kind. Despite the contrasts, the hardships, and the pain.
This place is raw but broken beauty.
Orissa; the backward state they say somehow carries a unique contrast of light and darkness that radiates life in a way you need to see.
Will and Lucy moved with their 3 children to Orissa, India for a 3 month placement to explore their call. Will and Lucy are both on the internship programme this year, Lucy has just begun her second year.
