Part of the journey in discovering a new place is discovering who you are there. Change can test you, but it can also be rejuvenating. It can reveal you to yourself. Returning to India, where I have not lived since I was 3 years old, has had me thinking a lot about how I will be tested here and what I will learn about myself as a result.

In our first week, this included understanding how to cross traffic here (audaciously), pull oneself up onto a moving bus, and make dal-chawal for four. Many more lessons will come, I’m sure, as we begin teaching, interacting with students, and working in the schools. There have also been moments ripe for reflection: over an afternoon chai sipped leisurely, seeing the full moon glowing between laundry hung up on our terrace, or when the urban geography suddenly opens up, like it’s taking a deep breath, as we ride Bus 8A beside the Hussain Sagar.

Someone I met here last week described Hyderabad as a city that’s hungry for opportunities to unleash all of its creative energy. I’ve felt that way myself in recent years and that energy is certainly evident in the students that we’ve met so far. I’m excited to nurture that creativity, build something together, stretch our imaginations, and discover new capacities in ourselves at the same time. Perhaps we are well-matched then, this city and I?