Why I like India

Living in India is really living. There is so much more to experience. So much more to feel. I find I don't take things for granted. Even small things like a Coke. In the States I would walk to 7-11 daily to get a Big Gulp. It was easy. I enjoyed the walk. But here it isn't as easy. So I don't do it daily. It doesn't seem like a big deal to go to the market, but it just seems to take more effort. So when Steve brings me a Coke home from an outing he has been on, I appreciate it so much more.

India is full of colors and sounds and smells. Beautiful birds are singing outside the window, which is open, and the smell of garbage is wafting in. We woke up this morning to the honk of a peacock outside. I've given up running to the window to try to find it because they seem to know and they stop honking. One day I looked out the window and saw a shepherd with his herd of goats, walking through the garbage area looking for grass. You see kids playing with sticks and rocks and having a great time making up games. Ladies sit around in groups talking while men sit in other groups playing card games. Life is slow. There is time to have chai with a neighbor and talk about life.

But life is hard. I asked my house help lady, Bimla, if her house is cold. She said she just sits in bed with the kids all under a blanket. I thought she had a fire to keep warm by because she smells smokey sometimes, but she doesn't. She has a dirt floor. No heat. She is cold. When someone gets sick it is more serious. She tells me of the people around her who have died. And she has seen horrific accidents. A lady getting ran over by a bus and getting her head squished. Right in front of Bimla. Two boys in her son's class got in a fight and one killed the other. Now the other boy has to hide away or else he will be killed by the other boy's family. The house across the way from Bimla was flooded this Fall and Bimla was afraid her house would also be destroyed. Or the neighbor girl who went missing and nothing has been done about it. It is one thing after another. Death, sickness, tragedy, struggle.

I am thankful that I get to experience life to the fullest. Sure, there are a lot of hard things, but that is also part of living. Feeling the pain that others are going through. Desiring to help, but feeling so lacking and overwhelmed. I know I am removed from a lot of pain myself, but I wouldn't want to be any further removed. I want to see life, to feel the pain and joy, to smell the stink, to taste the spice, to walk the hard roads, to help those I can, to go through life together. It gives me a deeper yearning for heaven. This world is not mine, I am just passing through in order that I can lead some other travelers to true life.