India

Where to begin. I guess to start I'll explain our first day.  We arrived in Kalcotta mid-morning and there was a man waiting for us to bring us to our hotel.  It was a long drive, about an hour.  What sticks out to me the most is the mass amount of half finished buildings and projects.  Everything just seemed a little bit deserted.  But the closer you get to the city, it is anything but deserted; cows roam around anywhere they like, horns honk an unbearable amount, and people fill any gap left over.  We arrived at our hotel, which was more like a homestay, only three rooms at the house, and a man with a giant grin greeted us.  He lifted his hands and shook his head saying, "Welcome, welcome".  He lead us to the room and for 10 minutes described everything that was offered, we didn't understand a single word.  We tried to gesture that we did not understand but he just smiled and then continued on.  Once he finally realized the communcation barrier he just lifted his hands smiled and said "okay, okay thank you".  He left the room and Tad and I just looked at each other in awe and burst out laughing.  We loved it.

Those first few days were a whilwind.  We are in a completely new culture and environment in India, it is fun to be put out of our comfort once again and step out into the unknown of language, food, and culture.   We have failed to update over this last month, it has been hard to put the experiences into words. But I will try to do it through sharing moments and pictures of the places we have been and while it may be scattered, hopefully it can paint a picture for you of our time in India.

Kolkata

Taking a taxi around town and literally bumping into another taxi.  The drivers start yelling at each other and I just close my eyes, as he continues to drive I tell myself, just close your eyes.  This has been a motto of mine in any and all transportation experiences.

Crying over my life purpose and direction after visiting the Mother Theresea museum. I'm sure you've seen pictures and heard stories of the intense poverty in India, and I think ever since I visited 11 years ago, a seed was planted in me to work for these people.  The people that feel that have no choice but to beg for the their life.  No human life deserves that and from the moment I first saw that desperation I felt pulled towards a life of service for those in poverty. Visiting the museum was profound and completely humbling to see the life and journey of Mother Theresea.  But all I could do after we left was weep.  Tad encouraged me to realize my desire to work for the poor is good and something that I must pursue, but to do so by dropping everything and living in Kolkata may not be the purpose in mind for my life.  It is a quick fix to my problem of direction and purpose.  So I will continue to take small steps towards finding my place and in the meantime have compassion yet not be torn apart every time I step out onto the streets of India.

Some photos from Kolkata:

Puri

Waking up at the sunrise to see the fishermen head out into the ocean.  The sun rose just above the horizon and creating a beautiful glow over all the people and water. As we watched the hustle and bustle of men carring their boats to the water we also saw many sitting on the beach just watching.  Yet one by one, we saw those men pulling up their pants as they stand. So, from then on, we watched our step.

Seeing pilgrams from all over India arrive to the temple in excitment and praise.  I remember seeing a man in a suit just lift his arms and pray, and standing right next to a man in nothing but a simple cloth sarong.  One of our favoirte things about India is the complete devoltion of almost every person, it is intertwined into their daily lives in such a visual and tangable way.

Bhubeneshwar

An Indian wedding reception! What an amazing and special experience. Throughout India we have been connecting with the organization Landesa: RDI (Rural Development Institue). It is an incredible company that my mom is working for that help to protect the land rights of the rural poor.  In Kolkata the staff helped us with our hotel, train ticket, and just getting to know India.  They have been incredibly generous and kind, we can't thank them enough.

We meet with the office of Orrissa in Bhubeneshwar and one of the employees invited us to his wedding reception at his parents home. We had no idea what to expect but showed up to the office and all jumped in a car and headed east about 2 hours.   The home was amazing, completely decked out with lights, fabric covering the walls and awesome blaring music.  We arrived in a room where soon after the bride joined us.  She was incredible, she worked at a non-profit in the nearby city and came from a more liberal family, and so the traditions of small town life were very new to her.  She explained so much to me, but that is another story :).

The big and most important part of a wedding reception is the food. And we will attest- it was unbelievable.  They started us in a small private room where we had prawns, lamb and beer, then went into the huge common area where they layed banana-leaf plates in front of us as an assembaly line of people walked infront of you plopping down what dishes you wanted. I was beyond full by the end.

Transportation

A side note because this experience interwines every town you visit.  Trains. Sleeping on the tiered beds you wake up to a man walking down the aisle yelling "Chai, chai, chai" for 5 rupees, kids laughing, people playing cards, the sound of Indian music off in the distanc and all too often the thunderous sound as another train passes.  We have finally gotten to a place where we can get a decent night sleep.

Where we cannot sleep at all are buses!  They are bumpy, loud, crowded, and did I say bumpy? Just last night we took a bus and as I drifted off for a moment I was quickly awakend by my head slaming against the window- you just can't sleep on a bus. Alright, back to the places

Hampi

Hampi is famous for its amazing boulders, and we couldn't be in this majical place without climbing.  So we rented a crash pad and shoes (although the shoes lacked toes) and headed out into the maze of rocks.  One after another we were completely humbled by how hard the climbing was: our hands so delicate compared to the rough rock and our muscles not up to par of what was required.  Fortunately, there was no way to get us down in such a beautiful place.  We set down our shoes and went swimming in the lake, walked around seeing all the incredibly carved temples with another couple from Scotland, and ate one our favorite meals in India: stuffed capsicum (pepper) and a curry at a restaurant looking out over the river as the sun went down.

Gokarna

Spending endless hours on the beautiful Om beach.  One night walking down the beach, stick in hand, warding off angry dogs as we risked out lives to save a small black puppy.  Note to remember: do not offer to bring a puppy back to its rightful hotel.

Walking through the insane crowd of people at our first Indian festival.  Shivaratri which is celebrated in honor of the day Lord Shiva married Parvati. People all gather to pull a giant chariot through the main street.  But before the pull, they bless it by throwing bananas and coconuts!  After being within the madness for most the day we were invited to the balacony of a house a few Indians were renting.  Every year for 30 years they have rented that room for the festival.  It was amazing to see the crowd and excitment from above, and they invited us for lunch afterwards.  Although we were a little worried that it may have caused our next memory...

Tad running for cover on the beach with a mouthful of vomit. Cipro has become our new best friend in India.

Bombay

I crapped my pants.  That is all.

Jodhpur- the blue city

What an amazing town!  Camels casually walking down the streets, men wearing turbans with curled captain hook mustaches, and unbelievable architexture.  One of our favorite memories was walking through the streets to find an authentic spice shop- no more of those 3x the price shops.  We came across a hole in the wall place where a young man sat us down.  We bought a few spices then he offered us tea, gave us wonderful life advice and blessed our unborn children.

And now we have just finished 36 hours of travel and arrived in Solang Nullah of Himichal Pradesh and you will not believe what we are surrounded by: SNOW!  It is stunning.  Although we admit we were not quiet prepared for the weather as we arrived at 5:30 this morning and had to wait 2 hours for our last bus. It is freezing, but we've found an amazing place to stay amidst the mountains and will be going skiing tomorrow.

I have felt like a child.  My eyes are wide soaking up every image I can. It has been exciting to be amidst the chaos of India and while it has taken some time to feel relaxed, we are starting to get there. Another thing to note are the women.  They are absolutely stunning. They light up the streets with their colorful saris and jewelry.  But there are much fewer women than men.  I often find myself in a crowd of all men and it has taken me a while to get past the stares and power that they allow for themselves. I would say it has been my biggest barrier to really loving and remembering how amazing this culture is, but thankfully we have meet so many kind and respectful men and women, that we can't help but love it here.

Alright.  There it is.