India (keeps) Calling (and I keep answering)

India (keeps) Calling (and I keep answering)
February 3, 2013        Sunday        5:30am        YWCA Guest Hotel

It’s not jet lag that wakes me up in the middle of the night and prevents me from falling back to sleep.  It’s the constant thoughts swirling around in my mind of the complexities of life…my own, my friends’, and the lives of the unknown people whom I watched through the windows of the Ambassador yesterday. It’s the noise drifting up into our room from the street below—the cacophony of tires screeching, Bollywood music playing, and voices speaking—somehow loud enough to be heard over the hum of the air conditioner and the two overhead fans.  Careful not to awaken my friends, I turn my computer on under the cover of a blanket and try to silently type on this keyboard, hoping to put into words what my mind has been considering since about 3:30am. (scroll down!)

My traveling pals (college friends), Cindy, Sue and Stan--who is pretending to drive this rickshaw.  

What is it that keeps drawing me, pulling me, tempting me back to India for the past 26 years? Surely it’s not the craziness and inefficiency, as compared to my life of relative ease at home, which one experiences on a daily basis here.  Nor is it the dust and dirt, settled into my pores and under my fingernails.  It’s not the heat and humidity—exemplified by my hair which in itself could serve as a tourist attraction--and it’s not the crumbling roads, lack of sidewalks, and the pounding of horns over and over and over.  When I’m at home, I can’t wait to get back here.  And after arriving, and off and on throughout my travels, I start asking myself that very question…why?  Yet I feel completely recharged as soon as my feet touch the walkway from the plane and the blast of humidity hits me.  Each day presents new experiences and introduces me to different ways of reflecting on my own life.  Life is so difficult for so many in this world---what right do I have to think my life is challenging?  (scroll down:-)

First full day in Chennai, with Nathan, my driver for many, many years, and Sarah, my wonderful friend who showed me back in about 1998 or 1999 how to ride the trains in India

Taking a walk in Alwar Fort; met some of the nicest people who welcomed us into their homes

Grandpa to many, though he couldn't have been very old

Sue and I checking out the reading material found in our room at Alwar Fort...I love this place--every time I visit this area not far from the Taj Mahal, I want to stay here

This is my sponsored son, Chanti, and his dad, Ravi.  They traveled for at least four hours changing buses many times just to meet me--we went shopping together, purchasing new clothes for the whole family, and then enjoyed lunch together with my traveling friends and my friend, Ali, from Corvallis (and owner of Evergreen, the Indian restaurant),  who was visiting his extended family in a nearby village.  

Sitting up in my bed, I’m thinking of tip-toeing over to my pack and digging out a bag of chocolate meant for some kids at a children’s home I’ll be visiting.  The thought of a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup or a Hershey’s Chocolate Bar (with almonds) right now would satisfy my hunger till it’s time to go with Nathan (my driver) and his family for dosa and masala chai.  And so I do…just two little pieces of chocolate…that should tide me over.  A glimpse out the window, a glance at the clock, and I realize that this new day is beginning to unfold.  I've just smiled as I think about spending time with Nathan, Nirmala, Sudarshan and Gautham and how much this family means to me.  Now I wish that our time together will not be so short, that I will not have to leave tonight, that I could travel to meet Nirmala’s and Nathan’s parents in their villages several hours south of Chennai. Maybe the boys will be wearing the Oregon State University t-shirts I brought for them and which Nathan gave to them yesterday…and I contemplate what it would take to offer them the opportunity to study in America, perhaps at Oregon State, when they are older (which will happen before we know it). 

It’s approaching 6:45am and Sue, my long-time traveling partner and close gal-pal since freshman year of college, is now up and ready to join me in approaching the day.  Collecting the scraps of foil from my chocolate snack, I now have to decide what to wear—Indian or Western—and be grateful that that’s the extent of my own life’s complexity for today.

P.S.  Sue just retorted, when I stated that my challenge of the day will be what to wear, that the biggest challenge of the day will be deciding who to sleep with on our train to Vijayawada tonight….hopefully we’ll have a sleeping berth for the four of us but one never knows..