Other Side of India

Originally posted on October 17, 2011.

A little while ago, I was given the opportunity to see another side of India. Rising Star Outreach has large support from the Marriott Courtyard of India, and in our honor, they held a fundraiser. Each ticket was $100 a person and a large amount of the proceeds went to the school. Lyndsey and I were sent to be there as representatives along with Padma Venkataraman, a member of the RSO board, a wildly known humanitarian, and daughter of the 8th president of India (a beloved man of the country and right hand man to Ghandi. Click here to find out more!

There were men in white serving incredible appetizers (sushi on crackers, mini margarita pizzas, etc.), a band playing old American rock cover songs, and a huge dinner where you picked the ingredients and they fried it up for you. I was stoked on all the bread! Gourmet dessert, anyone? I think I had at least three mini cherry cheesecakes.

And here is Padma, being all famous. These guys put us on the front page of the Hindi, a Chennai newspaper.

We were woman on a night out in the city of Chennai, India! A needed break. Then, 2 days later we were sent to the 2011 Battle of the Buffet to represent ourselves as an NGO with Dr. Susan.It was a huge buffet and auction with a bunch of Tamil celebrities, so Vel, our driver, was super stoked to be there.

And I got to make some new friends from the city. This is Niranjini, she works for a Women’s organization helping girls find good jobs and helping them learn necessary things in order to give them lives of their own. She invited me to come stay with her family if I was ever in Chennai and needed a place to stay.And this is Lena. She is also 18 years old and from Germany. She has been traveling through India since July and has been moving from project to project. Right now, she is working in a home for people who are mentally ill and basically just letting them know they are loved. Next, she is going to stay in an Ashram for 10 days where she will not speak at all. We exchanged numbers and are going to keep in touch.It was a pretty fun night, manning the booth and eating good food.

It was pretty neat to get the chance to see this other side of India. It breaks your heart being surrounded by so much poverty that when you see the other side, you notice how completely shallow and frivolous it all can be. Not to give a moral message at the end, but always remember that we are so blessed. We are given so much, we need to give back.