8th of January 2009 was a memorable day in my life. It marked the arrival date of most of 'my munyas' on campus. I had joined the team four months earlier. Over the holidays, I had backpacked through Kerala and recovered from the continuously high work pressure. Refreshed and completely up for the challenge, I stood at the airport, pumped with adrenaline, awaiting my protégés. I remember every little detail of those first moments. They were not hard to identify. Most of them equipped with white canes, the majority of them with black skin color. They looked tired, tense, and anxious to arrive after their long journeys. We greeted them with flower chains and water. So odd to meet them in person after having studied their pictures and life stories, having exchanged countless emails. They came with high expectations and some doubts about spending one whole year in India. Now they were here! No time to waste, though a whole year lay ahead of us.
11 months later...
Between 15th to 18th December 2009: Dramatic scenes at the same airport. Time to say our good-byes. Tears and tight hugs were exchanged with tender words and heartly wishes. The chaos around luggage and papers was the same as upon their arrival. Some things had not changed. But our hearts and minds had developed. We had built friendships, relationships, life-long connections. We had shared the same space to live and work over months, including every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had seen each other laughing, crying, dancing, and screaming. We had experienced all imaginable heights and lows of some thirty people living in the same space for too long. Nevertheless, our good-byes were of a genuine nature. There was a special bond between us and with a little bit of nurturing it will forever be sustained.
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