Unconditional Friendship.

Our plane touched down at Mumbai International Airport in Bombay, India, and I wondered how I would pass the next two excruciatingly boring months in a land without high-tech computer games, Eminem, or Dr. Dre. When I stepped out of the airport and onto the streets of Bombay, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of dismay. Although I was in my homeland, the very place my ancestors were from, I felt as if I was a complete stranger. As I glanced to my left, a young child was glaring into my eyes with his outstretched hand begging for alms. A bit taken aback, I turned the other way only to come upon an even more distressing sight. I witnessed an event that forever changed my outlook on life.

A cowering young boy scampered up the road trying to escape the fierce blows of a man striking him with a whip. The child managed to stumble a few more feet and then the whip went whirling through the air and thundering down upon his naked back. He let out a shriek of pain. Blow after blow, the man administering the whip continued his attack until the boy began to plead for mercy. I stood there bewildered by the event that had just taken place before my eyes. Even after the crowd had left, I could hear the boy's screams echoing in my ears. I couldn't understand how someone could beat a child with a whip to the point of near death.

Witnessing the boy's beating was an event that emotionally disturbed me. My feelings were out of control and I felt like I wanted to save the world. But I knew that to make a difference I first needed to take action within my own community.

For two years I have been involved with a local children's fair for abused and mentally handicapped children. It has been a fulfilling experience, not only because I have been able to do something for these children but because I have learned to empathize with their tragic experiences. I am proud of the work I did within my local community but my heart told me that I had to donate my time to help children abroad as well I help people in India who suffer from polio. Polio is a disease for which modern medicine has found a vaccine, yet the disease continues to spread in India due to inadequate medical treatment. I find this irony unacceptable. Therefore, I have been writing letters to celebrities and business officials in hopes of gaining their financial support to help eradicate polio in India.

The trip to India opened my eyes to a society I had never before witnessed. Unity, love, morality, fraternity are the only words that can describe the Indian society I now hold so near to my heart. When I stepped off the plane I was an outsider. But the longer I stayed and the more people I met, the clearer it became that I could become part of their society.

In the United States, my experience has shown, people are wary of foreigners, whereas in India people accept outsiders as their own with little hesitation. For example, one day my cousin Paras convinced me to go to his high school with him. As I entered the classroom, every last bit of confidence and safety that I had disappeared; dozens of eyes were scrutinizing my every move. In Hindi, Paras explained to the class that I was visiting from the United States. Before I knew it, the students had surrounded me and were showering me with acceptance.

I was enthusiastic but at the same time confused because never before had I ever received such unconditional friendship from complete strangers. I contrasted my warm welcome in this Indian high school to one a foreigner entering a U.S. high school would likely encounter. The newcomer would likely have been ridiculed for his or her accent, mocked for his or her mode of clothing, and befriended by few. I decided I wanted to share this feeling of unconditional friendship with as many people as I could.

I have been able to do this within my Indian community through my experiences at the Jain Center of Southern California. There I lead discussion sessions among teenagers to explore the questions they have regarding our heritage. The Indian community is family oriented, but when unusual situations arise I have found that the kids feel uncomfortable expressing their emotions. Unconditional friendship has been crucial in enabling these kids to express themselves.

The most fulfilling aspect of my participation at the Jain Center has been the numerous discussions on how young Jain teens can and should deal with the U.S. culture around them. To my peers, my advice has been to embrace certain aspects of U.S. culture while not losing sight of the morality and integrity that our religion and Indian culture has instilled in us. I have found that being able to assimilate in U.S. society and still retain my Indian heritage has been influential on my outlook on life. Some people find that being a member of two societies, two cultures, two social families is an obstacle; I believe that my bicultural experiences have only served to increase my uniqueness. It's a blessing to be able to believe in Jainism and still learn about other religions such as Christianity and Islam.

Comparing religions and cultures while discovering the similarities and differences among them stimulates my mind. My high school public service experiences haven't been unique to the Indian community; in my sophomore year I began to volunteer at the Mission Viego Regional Medical Center. I must admit that when I began working at the hospital my only motive was to gain community service hours for my college applications. But after my experiences in India, everything changed. My motivation for volunteering is now to make people feel the degree of comfort I felt upon being welcomed into that classroom in India. My responsibilities at the hospital ranged from the simple task of delivering flowers to the mother of a newborn to consoling people overcome by grief at the death of a loved one. The amount or variety of tasks I carried out is not important. What is important is that the time I spent at Mission Hospital provided me with the feeling of fulfillment that my heart had been aching for.

Tejas Maniar is now an eighteen-year-old. This essay won second prize in the "thirteen to seventeen" age category of the 2000 Humanist Essay Contest.