A few years ago I was lucky to receive the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India. I spent a tumultuous, unpredictable year working with an NGO in Bangalore, India. The insanity is summed up by the following facts:
I went to India an indy punk, grubby, non-consumerist, teacher and public service worker.
I left India an aspiring actress and model ready to delve into the commercial entertainment world.
Not the stereotypical travel-to-India-life-changing-journey. Before leaving India I wrote:
“CONCLUSION: IT ALL WAS NOT THAT BAD
 Although there were a lot of hard times in India, things ended up working out. I was told that if one at least likes India the country will keep calling you back. The future is uncertain, but I am sure that this is not the last that India has heard from me.“
Funny how life happens—this Wednesday I will be traveling to India as part of the cast of a movie to finish up filming. My life changed so much the first time, who knows what will happen with a repeat voyage? To prepare you, my reader, for this voyage every day until lift-off I am going to post some of the highlights from my previous India travel-blog. The posts ended up being quite popular so trust me, you’ll love them!
To start off:
Top Eight Reasons Why Living in India is Memorable
8) You can bribe your way out of anything.
7) If you are here long enough you will make sounds with your butt that you never thought possible.
6) Mob rule wins every time. The population is so huge that even if you get a small percentage to agree with you that’s a damn lot of people.
5) South Bombay socialites excluded, people are not afraid to eat.
4) In a city like Bangalore with 6 million people there are still cows meandering in the middle of the road.
3) Salman Khan, a famous Bollywood actor, ran over a few homeless people and walked away scot-free, but then shot an endangered animal and went straight to the slammer.
2) Someone who dances like a back-up dancer from a 1985 Michael Jackson video can be a top hip-hop dance teacher in Bombay with over 50 loyal students.
1) The leader of the largest political party in India, who runs and controls a lot of the shit going on around here, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, is I-T-A-L-I-A-N.
Bloggers Bio: Lauren LoGiudice is an actor, model, performance artist, writer, host, producer, improv comedian and amateur chef. A native New Yorker—born in Queens, now living out in Brooklyn—who likes to shake the dust of the outer boroughs off to travel the world, living and working in places that range from India to Mexico to Italy. Part of the slim minority who does not like bacon, potato chips or milk chocolate. Often seen in farmer’s markets trolling for and the latest weird vegetable. Eats her greens. (laurenlogiudice.com)