“Don’t eat the food, don’t put your feet in the river, don’t drink the water, you may get sick, you may get attacked.” And the drumbeat quickened as the time drew near. “It’s not safe, it’s a pit. The traffic is awful. I wouldn’t go if I were you. Why go there?” All of this advice was given before the pandemic struck!

Maybe I was inspired by a book I read in college eons ago, E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, where the author implies that in India, we can experience something greater in the universe other than ourselves.

The pre-pandemic warnings went on and on from well-meaning people as I prepared to spend six weeks teaching English to…