What is service? Service and exchange are two terms that we use to describe the practical side of our travel this year. But, how one becomes of service is a journey, far different from travel alone. I use a lose definition of service and combine it with the ideas of exchange, (idea exchange, economic exchange, cultural and political exchange, service exchange). The best way to be in service while a traveler is to indulge in regular interactions. These actions can be as light-footed as our presence in an unexpected place, or, as meaningfully complex as intellectual exchange about current affairs.
What comes naturally to us is the exchange of ideas. The construction, repetition, and/or building on philosophies, values, civic mindedness, even science and of life and our current world affairs.
Travel necessitates a willingness to indulge in new ideas, to try new things, to meet new peoples. Realizing how exchange becomes service is a different act. To be in service is to be at once open to influence of others and consciously encouraging critical and new ideas to emerge in the communities we engage with. While it is easier, and normally to be more productive, to exchange with folks who have similar educational or intellectual backgrounds, we cannot limit ourselves to what is easiest in India.
We are constantly approached for two-minute street interviews. Whether testing simple English, or from a desire to know how in the world a pair of funny looking foreigners made it to Jabalpur, Nagpur, Hindmost (or even more commonly visited places like Delhi, Kolkata, or Mussoorie) our smiles, friendly gestures, or backgrounds introduction beaks down common assumptions and makes the world smaller for all of us. Yet, sometimes, a larger gift is exchanged. People are interested in international relations.
Headlines in India recently focused on poor treatments of recent Indian immigrant communities in places as far away as Australia and France. We are able to use these examples to broaden perspective on modern Indian social dilemmas such as domestic terrorism, tensions with Pakistan, or interfaith biases that are common in daily news and conversation.
Yesterday, at an ice-cream stand in the market here in Jabalpur, a young man approached us. He explained that he was interested in using a system which a movie star here promoted about engaging visitors to India and being a good ambassador for his country. However, when the conversation turned from India families being prejudiced against abroad to the conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in within India, we were able to draw his attention to how economic disparity, globalized markets, international migrations, and race and religious discrimination are work which we must take seriously at home and abroad. Small lights of understanding seemed to go off that in order to protect our human dignity and rights we must treat people fairly and equitably, and how our respect earns respect. The better we practice engaging in service in our daily lives the more we become natural teachers and propagators of conscious change taking place
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