Penn Global Seminars On Gratitude and Hope in Troubling Times

PGS - The City of Delhi: New, Old, and Unmapped 
Travel to India

I am writing this sitting in the shade of the terrace gazebo at my house, back in my home country. It’s another warm summer day here, but time seems to have stopped. People are not swarming the streets, the horns are not blaring, and the cacophony of human life is not ringing the ears; the air also seems lighter. The world seems to be entirely at a standstill. I am filled with a peaceful feeling – one of gratitude and hope, which feels kind of strange, given the troubling times we are living in. I look back to the last time I felt this way, when I was on a trip to India last spring with my writing seminar class. There is a precise moment from back then which translates onto this moment now, when no gears appeared to be turning around me, except those of nature and even then, I felt strangely at peace.

I was in a small backyard garden under the shade of a marquee, at a remote restaurant in the middle of the Indian countryside. It was summer, and the air felt warm. We were on our way to visit Fatehpur Sikri and stopped for lunch. We were going to see the Taj Mahal the next day at dawn and I was insanely excited to see it for the first time. I felt grateful and hopeful, struck by the opportunities which brought me to that moment and thinking about all the possibilities which lay ahead: all products of either personal effort, the goodwill of others, some degree of luck, or a combination of those three. I feel the same way right now, albeit for different reasons. I am grateful to be alive and safe with my family with a roof over my head. In these unsettling times, this reality is beginning to feel like a rarity, and it feels more and more difficult to hold on to hope for all of this to be over. Still, I find hope in the goodwill of others who are helping out in their own ways, even if it is as simple as staying at home, or as extraordinarily brave as risking their lives to help those in need.

This moment right now feels like a strange one to be grateful and hopeful in, yes, but I believe it remains one where these emotions are necessary to sustain us and help us overcome this crisis. I reminisce the Indian summer – when I was looking back at the wonderful things I have been lucky to experience over my life and looking forward to a bright and wonderful next morning – to remind myself that there is a way out of this for all of us, through mindful collective and personal decisions. The next dawn was one of the best ones in my life and while it might be a while until this crisis is over, I think there’s a better morning waiting ahead for us all.

Read more about Bilaal's experience and research in India on his Penn Abroad Ambassador profile.