Undergraduate / Common app. I was given all of these blessings so that I could take advantage of them; trip to india [2]

Is this essay cliche? What could I do to make it better?

my trip to india

A distraught, four-year-old child, tugs on my arm and begs me for spare change, as I walk around the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. Shocking scenes similar to this one are common in India and have played an immense role in shaping me into who I am today. The several trips I have made to the country of India, have left striking images in my mind. While preparing for my initial visit, in 2011, I pictured country similar to the United States, not what I saw before me. As I walked through the city, I saw images that stayed with me for the rest of my life. Families lived in tiny, self-made cinder block houses without running water or even electricity. Never before had I seen so many children without shoes or even clothes. I witnessed women and children no older than myself plowing fields and living on the side of the street in shacks made out of plywood. I watched as sick men, women, and children begged, on their knees, outside a hospital for flu shots and antibiotics, so that they would not die. My heart sank as I saw people in these horrendous situations, knowing that there was nothing I could do to help them. As I walked back to my grandparent's house, I thought to myself. "How I was put in such an advantageous situation, while others had literally next to nothing and were struggling to survive?" Then, I slowly realized that I was given all of these blessings so that I could take advantage of them, and later come back in order to help those less fortunate than me. Ever since this trip, I began to try, to the fullest extent, to take advantage of all opportunities I was given, especially the ones in the academic realm. I started to transform from a mediocre student to one with a dream of one day becoming a doctor and going back to India to help those who inspired me in the first place. I owe my trips to India for not only altering my life in a way I never thought possible but helping to become the person I am today.