Rua 31 de Janeiro

The hermit crab retreated into its borrowed shell as I bent to place it back into the pooling water at high tide. I labored through the heavy sand towards our bungalow; my ocean-soaked clothes clinging tightly and my salty blonde strands being blown across my face. Walking past a stray dog nestled in the sand, I hoisted myself up the rickety wooden ladder that led to our room overlooking the bay. Half packed bags waited on the single bed behind us as Seorin and I sat and watched our last moments in South Goa recede with the setting sun.

I was gone from my home in Siliguri for over a week - I had traveled almost 3000 kilometers and visited three Indian cities across three different states before finally making it to Palolem in the state of Goa. Two WBVHA colleagues and I traveled first to Kolkata and then to Bhubaneswar by a series of overnight trains for a two-day workshop on Restorative Justice that was hosted by MCC India. Alongside various Indian NGO workers, we discussed justice issues in India, learned about the failures of the retributive justice system, and brainstormed ways to advocate for a system of justice that emphasizes reconciliation over punishment.

The Restorative Justice workshop was hosted at the Society for Nature, Education and Health (SNEH). SNEH is an organization that conducts peace programs in the marginalized slums of Bhubaneswar and in the neighboring Kandhamal district – the district where one of India’s worst anti-Christian persecution campaigns occurred in 2008. Seorin, the YAMENer from South Korea, is volunteering with SNEH this year and she lives with a Christian family that fled Kandhamal district following the destruction of their home and outbreak of religious violence.

Following the workshop, Seorin and I rushed off for some vacation days in the Western state of Goa. We spent our first day wandering through the narrow, cobbled streets of the old Latin quarter of Panjim. We walked alongside colorful Portuguese homes belonging to the last surviving Portuguese family members of Goa and explored several Roman Catholic basilicas in Old Goa. Our hostel was on a street named Rua 31 de Janeiro referring to the day that Portugal got their independence from Spain in 1640, and a nearby neighborhood was called Vasco de Gama in reference to the famous Portuguese explorer that arrived in 1498. This city was once called the "Lisbon of the East" but no matter how much it resembled the Portugal that once colonized Goa, the city still retained the distinct Indian identity that won independence in 1961.

After getting our fill of the city, Seorin and I headed south to the quieter beaches of Palolem. In what we later decided was reckless but brave, we did not book anywhere to stay for that night, so we wandered the beach practicing our bartering skills. We finally settled on a wooden bungalow above a beach handicraft shop for a pre-peak season price.

Seorin and I spent two peaceful days swimming in the warm ocean waves, following cows along the beach, chasing dolphins by boat, and having our dinner under the stars. We were always either in complete silence or in deep conversation about our new lives as daughters in Indian families. While the first day in Panjim was challenging because I was battling fever symptoms, a severe cough, and I was exhausted due a series of nights on trains or planes, the two days in Palolem provided space to heal, rest and gain clarity about the coming months.

By the time the taxi driver arrived to take us to the train station that night, I felt like I had been gone from my family in Siliguri for far too long.