Southern India - "Two India's"

Southern India Slide Show

As our plane was leaving the Mumbai airport for Bangkok, I looked out my window at the lights of Mumbai. I was surprised to feel so sad about leaving this incredibly complex country. All three of us felt the tug of India on our hearts. On the surface, there are slums, garbage, impoverished villages, and political and religious strife. Digging deeper, as we were able to do during our 23 day stay in Northern and Southern India, we experienced the warmth, kindness and generosity of the people who are filled with high hopes and dreams for their families and their country.
As you view the pictures on this post and our slide show, you will see many pictures of people that we met in India and very few pictures of sites that we visited. The temples, museums, tombs, and monuments will fade from our memory much quicker than the people we got to know. As visitors, we were treated like royalty. Even though Noah and I look ridiculous in the photo above, the picture tells the story of how we were welcomed at each of the places that we visited.
As we tried to gain a better understanding of the "True India", we asked our Indian friends, Jon and Swati a lot of questions. Many times their reply was "that is the other India." We soon came to realize that there are "Two India's". On one side, you have the India that has been in the news over the last two decades. This India is the second fastest growing country behind China. It's poverty rate has been cut in half over the last 20 years. Foreign investment continues to rise. Call center and information technology jobs for United States and Western European companies have helped revitalize cities like Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi.
The other India is a country that has over 300 million people living on less than a dollar a day. It is home to 40% of the world's poor and has surpassed South Africa as the country with the most HIV-positive people. Corruption and bribes permeate the political structure, the caste system makes it very difficult to rise above your social status given at birth, and Hindu's, Muslim's and Christians often clash. Last fall, we all saw the attacks on Mumbai on TV. Lesser publicized were the attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists. The movie, "Slumdog Millionaire", which we saw on our last day in India shows this side of India.
Without the help of Jon, Swati, and their extended family and friends, we would not have had the wide range of experiences that they exposed us to. We originally met Jon and Swati at our church, Hosanna! in Lakeville, MN. Jon, Swati, and their son Neil moved back to India in the last year after 16 years in the United States. Along with their parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and other family members and friends, Jon and Swati have developed quite a ministry in India. Their outreach includes orphanages, churches, a Bible school, and development programs in the slums and villages around Pune. They have given up an "easier" life in the United States to return to their homeland to help people and spread their faith. India is less than 5% Christian and as mentioned above, Christians are often persecuted for their faith by extremist Hindu groups. In spite of this, they go forward helping the people of India.
While Swati helped Neil with his testing at school, Jon took us on a whirl-wind tour of his outreach programs. To get a starting base for India culture, we visited the Gandhi National Memorial in Pune. It is too bad that the peace that Gandhi preached does not always continue today. We also had a chance to visit the Ellora Caves, which are hand carved caves/temples in the stone mountains. Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves make up the 34 caves that were built between 600 AD to 1,000 AD. It was fun to interact with the many school groups that were on field trips. They all wanted to shake our hands enthusiastically and take pictures with us. Leaving the caves was interesting as we saw a Jain priest wearing sandals . . . only sandals.
The women of India, especially in the lower castes have not been able to reach their potential due to social and economic inequities. Women's ministry is a main focal point for Jon and Swati. They teach the women to be financially responsible by saving money, helping them start businesses, working together and sharing their faith. Essentially it is a micro-finance program with a holistic approach. There are currently over 900 women in these programs.
Jennifer spoke to 5 different groups of women in the slums and villages about their talents and strengths. The message that Jennifer delivered was great, but the true value came in the exchange of cultures via question and answer sessions between Jennifer and the Indian women. They found it hilarious that I did most of the cooking at home. It was quite humbling for Jennifer to answer their questions of what our house and life was like in America while sitting in their one room home.
Jon kept stretching our missionary talents by having me deliver the Sunday message at a church, Jennifer addressing multiple groups of women, visiting orphanages, both of us leading chapel at a Bible college, Noah and I conducting a basketball clinic for men and women at a college, and blessing and praying for people. It was truly inspiring to see the smiles on the faces of the men, women and children in the slums and orphanages that have been given hope. Jon made time for Noah and I to get involved in a couple of Cricket games, one with an orphanage and one with the Bible College students.
After writing this post and reviewing the pictures, I am reminded of why we were sad to leave India - the people. To view our slide show of Southern India, please click on the following ==>Southern India Slide Show

Northern India - What Did We Just See?

Northern India Slide Show

Was that a cow we just saw on the freeway? What smells so good? Was that a camel pulling the cart? What smells so bad? What is that man wearing? What is that interesting smell? How many people are in that autorickshaw? Have you ever smelled anything like that? Should we help that guy? This was a typical series of questions that we would ask each other as we walked and drove around the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in Northern India. Nothing can adequately prepare you for the sensory overload of the sights, sounds, and smells of India. As Noah keeps singing from a commercial that we saw, "Incredible India!"
The cab ride from the Delhi airport to our hotel gave us a great introduction to India. The roads in a city of 15 million people are filled (and I mean filled) with cars, dogs, rickshaws (bicycle taxis), people, scooters, autorickshaw's (motorized bicycle taxis), cows, bicycles, and camels. Our taxi driver skillfully wove his way through all this chaos without following one traffic rule or ever coming to a complete stop. Renting a car and driving in this country is not an option.
Our introduction continued rather quickly as Noah and I walked around at night to get the lay of the land. The third cash machine we visited dispensed rupees (India cash) so we were on our way. After walking a block, a cow frightened Noah by sticking his head out around a tree in the middle of a roundabout. Noah then promptly stepped in a present the cow recently deposited on the sidewalk. A half block later, a small boy dressed in dirt head to toe with some strange red stuff on his lips came up to Noah and kissed his shirt. Needless to say, Noah was ready to go back to the hotel. Welcome to India!
Once you get used to India, you can actually fall in love with it's quirkiness. It is a culture shock that makes you smile at just about the time that you want to run back home crying. After taking in a few sights in Delhi, we headed to Agra. We visited a couple temples and the Agra Fort, but the highlight in Agra is the Taj Mahal. It is deservedly on one of the many 7 Wonders of the World lists in circulation. The Taj Mahal was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. It took 20,000 workers 22 years to complete. The Taj Mahal is constructed of marble. The colorful designs are not from paint, but from inlaid precious stones from around the world.
Next stop on our driving tour was Ranthambore National Park. We got up early to go on a tiger safari in the park. We saw tiger footprints, birds, monkeys, deer, jackal and crocodiles, but no tigers. Maybe they should not have billed it as a tiger safari. It was nice to get out of big, dirty cities and see the countryside. We continued going from city to city with stays in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Pushkar before returning to Delhi. We saw many temples, tombs, forts, a pink city (Jaipur), a blue city (Jodhpur), and a city that does not allow meat, eggs, hugging, alcohol, or smooching (Pushkar). I charmed a cobra, rode a camel and danced in the desert. Jennifer had her palm read, got a massage and rode an elephant and a camel. Noah danced in the desert and rode an elephant and a camel.
Unlike the tiger safari where there were no tigers, there were camels for our camel safari in Pushkar. The safari took us through the streets of Pushkar into the desert. As it got dark, we ate by campfire and were entertained by local musicians and dancers. If we didn't get "Delhi Belly" from dinner that night, we may never get it.
The sights that we saw in our trip around Northern India were interesting, but the most fascinating aspect of India is walking the streets and interacting with the locals. Once you get used to pushy vendors on the street and overzealous hotel bellboys, you realize that the people of India are very service oriented and friendly. The women dress in every color of the rainbow. The food is quite good, albeit a bit too spicy for Jennifer. The children smile at you and want to shake your hand regardless of their living conditions.
We returned to Delhi safely thanks to Raj, the driver that we hired for this portion of the trip. He was a great driver while being very courteous and helpful. We also had the privilege of spending an evening with Tandon family in Delhi that we met through a friend of ours, Vijay Mehrotra who was born in Delhi, but now resides in Oakland, California.
To view our slide show of Northern Delhi, click on the following link ==> Northern India Slide Show