Reflections

           Well, I’m home in Kenya. I thought I would do one more blog post on my reflections on India. We debriefed a little bit while we were still in India, but I knew it would take me leaving the country to realize how it had changed and affected me.

At our Candlelight goodbye ceremony

       Immediately, when I got home I found myself greeting people with a slight bow and folded hands! I kept catching myself doing a head bobble as I was listening to someone! I wished for butter naan and butter chicken msala. I’m finding ordinary life somewhat dull without the crossing of streets or bartering for a better price. I am constantly amazed to find the power on and to not be sweating!  I am constantly struck at how clean everything is, and remember, I'm still in a third-world nation.

My favorite Backy

           India was a great experience for me and I learned so much about myself, God, and the world. The program I went with was called ‘Best Semester’ and I truly believe it was the best semester of my life. While India will always have a special place in my heart, it was the people in my group that made it such a rich and fulfilling experience. They challenged me, laughed with me, encouraged me, and loved me. We experienced the culture shock together and dealt with the hard stuff like seeing the poverty and the strong hold of Hinduism together.

Valentines party where we dressed up as things that go together. I was 'Power Off' and Julianna was 'Power On'!

         While I am very sad that it is over and I do miss India and my life there, I enjoy going back over my photos, videos, and journal entries to remember the most fantastic experiences such as riding an elephant, playing Holi on the roof, going white water rafting on the Ganges, exploring Varanasi, riding bicycle rickshaws, squeezing 9 people into an auto, cooking class, being a model, watching exercisers on the street, times at the girls hostel, apartment talks, visiting temples, seeing the Taj Mahal, making up new dance moves like ‘tie the dhoti’, ‘pass the tracts’, and ‘kill the mosquito’, Valentines day party, swimming in the Arabian Sea in a full salwar kameez, group stretching after a 21 hour train ride, greeting our guards every day, and sing-along times with Kirk Ji.

Our wonderful guards who always greeted us with a hearty and cheerful  "Vanakkam!"

Playing in Hyderabad

Cooking class

Our farewell gift for Kirk Ji: a map of India that we signed and wrote funny Kirkism quotes on

So, danyavad and nanri for your prayers for me and interest in keeping up with my adventures in India.

           

Snapshots of India

Our 2 ½ week travel component has come to a close. We visited several cities and have seen and experienced many things that will take weeks to process and unpack. I just wanted to give you a small taste of what I have been up to.

            We left Coimbatore traveled by train to Cuddapah which is in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Here we learned about a program that is working with farmers to help them learn their rights and to teach healthy farming methods to small village farmers who are facing suicide as an alternative to the deep debts and struggles.

            From Cuddapah we went to Hyderbad which is a predominately Muslim area. We were able to visit Charminar which is a large arch that offers a terrific view of the crazy busy city. We shopped a bit along the roadside, visited a large mosque and went to a Muslim women’s house for delicious byiriyani and a good time of discussion. That afternoon we kicked back and were able to relax and have fun doing flips, headstands, and climbing random buildings.

                                                                     The Charminar

                                                            View from the Charminar

                                                            Group pic in the Charminar

                                                               Group pic at the mosque

                                                         Posing on the roof top of a chapel

            From Hyderbad we traveled the 28 hour train ride up to Varanasi which is along the Ganges and the center of Hindu religion. Our hotel offered a great view of the Ganges river from where we were able to watch people perform different rituals as well as watch the trash and putrid waste and a dead buffalo float down the river. The first night we went on a boat ride down the Ganges and we watched a celebration be performed along the banks.

 The next day we went up and down the crowded ally-ways, trying to avoid cows, cow poop, bicycles, carts, sewage, and the thousands upon thousands of people to get in some good shopping. In the afternoon we went on a tour around the city to see the different ruins of palaces along the Ganges, the holy cremations, and several famous holy sites. The man that toured us was an American Christian who has been living in India for 15 years, spoke Hindi like a boss, and had some deep insights into how one can be a Christian Hindu- a Jesus follower. That evening a friend and I decided to ride a bicycle rickshaw for the experience…with which the language barrier, it was indeed an experience.

                                                 Group pic after our city tour with Jeremy

            From Varanasi we traveled to the quiet village of Dehradun at the foothills of the Himalyas to visit a drug rehabilitation home for Tibetan boys that our director Kirk had lived and worked at. We also heard from a Buddhist monk and visited the monastery.

                                                  Group pic at the Buddhist monestary

                        Me infront of the foothills of the Himalyas and the town that my Dad lived in

On Saturday we went white water rafting down the Ganges which was incredible! I’m hooked!

                                                                      Before rafting

                                                                       During rafting

                                             After rafting with our whole group plus guides

            From the quiet and restful Dehradun, we traveled to Delhi and Agra for the classic tourist trip of seeing the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. It was stunningly beautiful!

            We took our last train ride to Mumbai where we did a little sight-seeing, ate our last Indian food, debriefed, and made some more memories together before boarding planes to leave.

Ode to Trains

For 2 ½ weeks we are doing a travel component in India- traveling through and visiting the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi, and Mumbai. Trains were our main form of transportation which gave us a whole new way to experience India. 

Imagine waking up at 6 listening to a large group of women chanting prayers until about 8 and then resuming in the evening from 6-9.

Imagine a constant stream of beggars coming in at every stop. They are blind, missing fingers or   arms or legs. Their very brokenness breaks you, their persistence and continuance grates on your nerves, and the whole thing makes you very burdened. You don’t know if  someone disfigured them in order to make them a more pitiful site to gain larger donations and you don’t know who will actually pocket the money at the end of the day. All you can do is pass out cookies or fruit to the outstretched hand or limb and hope that this small gift will give them joy.

Imagine the repetitive call of “chai, chai”, “coffee, coffee, coffee”, “cold drinks, Slice!”,   “byiriyani, byiriyani, chapatti, chapatti, chapatti!” all day and part of the night

Imagine the putrid smell at the train stops from the human waste that has gathered there

Imagine rocking back and forth over a squat pot and watching the track whiz by through the hole

Imagine very tight and cramped spaces, total strangers coming into your bearth and sitting on      
  your seat.

Imagine sitting on a train for 28 hours! You can only imagine how glad we were to step of at        different stops and run through the crowds just to get some exercise and have a chance to run. Since people were already staring, we gave them a show as we skipped, ran, and leaped down the stations- constantly dodging the hundreds of people in mid-air.

Imagine listening to men snore all night long, or the blinding light when people in your bearth get off at a stop during the night, or setting your alarm for 4:45am to be ready to get off at 5am.

Imagine running through the train stations pulling all your luggage behind you to jump onboard the train.

Imagine watching cockroaches climb around the bunk while you are trying to sleep. You bury      yourself deeper in your sleep sheet to try to avoid them, and end up watching them crawl over your sheet the rest of the time.

Imagine all of this, and you will have a small taste of what we went through. Still, I am glad for the memories that I have made