What India Gave Me

1. Yoga

When people ask me whether India changed my life, yoga is the first thing I think of. Although I've dabbled in yoga many times before I moved to India (beginning with my first yoga class my freshmen year at Fairfield University in Connecticut), I never stayed with it long enough to see an impact.

But in India, it finally stuck. Perhaps that's because India is, after all, the birthplace of yoga. Or perhaps it was the combination of convenience and cost -- a wonderful yoga studio within walking distance of my apartment in Chennai, with daily yoga classes that, at less than a dollar per class, were virtually free. It got me in the habit of going daily, and I am proud that almost a year after my return, I still do my yoga, on my own, almost daily. The only thing that occasionally disrupts it is travel.

And feeling so much better for it. Seems like a small thing, but for my health, and especially my back, the impact has been immense. I no longer even think about back surgery for the slipped disk that I had several years ago.

2. Cherished friends
When I left Rochester for India in 2003, I don't think I ever expected to feel so accepted, so comfortable, across such vastly different cultures. Working together, side by side, with my Indian colleagues for four years allowed us to get to know each other in ways that would have never been possible as a tourist. It's a testament to Indian hospitality that I felt at once like an honored guest, and family.

View from my window - Chennai, India

3. Room with a view
My apartment in Thiruvanmiyur overlooked the beautiful Bay of Bengal (left). Short of winning the lottery, I doubt that I'll ever be able to afford a house with that kind of view in America. So I will always be grateful for those years of being lulled to sleep by the ocean, and waking up each morning to that breathtaking view.

4. Adventure, just the way I like it
While in India, all my non-working hours were spent on travel. Hopping that overnight train, I could be in a different world every weekend.  Riding a camel. Cruising the backwaters. Sleeping in a treehouse. Sometimes exquisite, sometimes raw, occasionally risky. But always unforgettable.

5. Twenty-eight thousand Kodak moments
That's how many pictures I took during the time I lived in India. (That includes photos from other countries that I traveled to while in India). I was a photographer in paradise. Between the colors, the weddings, the tigers, and the smiles, burning through 28,000 photographs in four years was easy!