Mon-Tues Oct. 27,28
Monday was our day for sorting out the things we would leave behind at the hostel. There were still things we wanted to bring along with us to our next stop. Our laundry was pretty well dry and ready for the suitcase.
Pastor Dillip wanted to take me to visit a Bhuddist family near the hostel. Actually, the mother has worked as a cook at the hostel for over 20 years. She has watched it grow from 70 boys to 510 boys now. Dillip told me the family had an 8 month old baby, so I took along a quilt as a gift. He never told me they had a 4 year old girl. We took our sandals off at the porch and went inside the living room where we were invited to sit. The young mother went into the kitchen behind curtains and brought stainless steel cups of water for each of us. Then she disappeared again and brought out two plates of sweets and nuts. I then asks about the baby and she went outside somewhere to fetch it as if going toget a pet. Another family member was babysitting. I gave her the quilt and tried to wrap it around the baby she was holding. Well! You would think I was trying to kill her with the screams that erupted. Mommy took her into the kitchen with the quilt and emerged with the child to go out the door and give the baby to someone unseen. She was very happy with the quilt and I explained through Dillip that my mother had made the quilt to be given away. Eventually, the man of the house came in from the vegetable stand he operates in the morning to get ready for work on another job. I think he is a carpenter. He went to shower after greetings and change into other clothes. We were asked if we wanted tea and so we waited again thinking this would be the occasion for a visit. Tea came and the man came out and sat on the couch and said not a word. With him sitting, now the women could sit. The most conversational one was the 4 year old. Well, tea done, we were done. It was all simply a way of honouring foreign guests into their home. No conversation was necessary apparently. And we left with many thanks for the hospitality. Well, that was disappointing, but Dillip explained they were shy and the man grew up in the hostel and had always been very withdrawn.
The rest of the day was spent visiting with our hosts, trying to get Frank's computer to communicate with the new photocopier. They had brought the wrong drivers to install. We shared videos and pictures taken during the week and wound things up. Then it was tandoori chicken for the last supper and gather the bags for the trip to the bus. The bus was a luxury semi-sleeper with reclining seats and flip up leg rests. It was quite comfortable, especially since they provided nice, warm blankets to fend off the cold air from the air conditioning. The bus left at 10 p.m. enroute to Hyderabad, which was supposed to be a 9 hour ride. This was a Mercedes-Benz bus with smooth suspension and very quiet after they turned off the Indian music video.
About two hours out of Nagpur, the road turned for the worse. The size of the potholes was astounding! At times I thought the bus would end up on its side! Violent enough that luggage began to fall out of the overhead storage. At one point the bus was crossways on the road trying to avoid the deep pits. If the tires had gone into some of those holes, it would have high centred on the front bumper, seriously. At times the bus was crawling at 2 km per hour. It was pathetic and I began to wonder if taking the bus was wise. The train was full or on standby basis for another three days, so there wasn't much choice. In about an hour we finally finished driving through the minefield, because that's what it seemed like. The road split into a divided highway, a few more bumps and near misses with transport trucks trying to negotiate the potholes, and the highway became smoother, the pavement more consistent and the speed ramped up to 80+ kph. We arrived in Hyderabad at 7 a.m., waited through a few stops to discharge passengers, and finally Carsen and I were the last on the bus. Next stop we were motioned to get off. We got our luggage and stood at the sidewalk with half a dozen rickshaw drivers offering us rides, or take our luggage int the hotel. I texted Joseph and told we were outside the Hotel Pearl City, Raj Towers. He punched that into his GPS and showed up within 10 minutes! What a relief. We I,mediately made our way out of the city to avoid the worst of the morning rush hour. About 2 hours later we pulled off the highway into a food court area and had lunch at a Subway. Could not believe it! And then at Coffee Day, (Indian Starbucks) we got hot chocolate and a latte before heading for our destination 2 more hours down the road.
Our arrival at the Team Leadership Centre was astounding! 60 young men and women from 17 states in India, lined the approach to the Centre, smiled as though the President had arrived (or rock star Carsen), and placed wreaths of flowers over our heads. We then walked down the line and greeted each one personally, had photos taken, were ushered into our private room where we were served curried chicken, rice, chapatis and fruit. And told to relax. Wow! It blew us away. Moments later I entered the classroom, just for a look, and all the students stood up to welcome me in. Wow! And again I say, wow!
We have something to learn in Canada about welcoming the stranger into our circles. What honour they give to strangers!
Monday was our day for sorting out the things we would leave behind at the hostel. There were still things we wanted to bring along with us to our next stop. Our laundry was pretty well dry and ready for the suitcase.
Pastor Dillip wanted to take me to visit a Bhuddist family near the hostel. Actually, the mother has worked as a cook at the hostel for over 20 years. She has watched it grow from 70 boys to 510 boys now. Dillip told me the family had an 8 month old baby, so I took along a quilt as a gift. He never told me they had a 4 year old girl. We took our sandals off at the porch and went inside the living room where we were invited to sit. The young mother went into the kitchen behind curtains and brought stainless steel cups of water for each of us. Then she disappeared again and brought out two plates of sweets and nuts. I then asks about the baby and she went outside somewhere to fetch it as if going toget a pet. Another family member was babysitting. I gave her the quilt and tried to wrap it around the baby she was holding. Well! You would think I was trying to kill her with the screams that erupted. Mommy took her into the kitchen with the quilt and emerged with the child to go out the door and give the baby to someone unseen. She was very happy with the quilt and I explained through Dillip that my mother had made the quilt to be given away. Eventually, the man of the house came in from the vegetable stand he operates in the morning to get ready for work on another job. I think he is a carpenter. He went to shower after greetings and change into other clothes. We were asked if we wanted tea and so we waited again thinking this would be the occasion for a visit. Tea came and the man came out and sat on the couch and said not a word. With him sitting, now the women could sit. The most conversational one was the 4 year old. Well, tea done, we were done. It was all simply a way of honouring foreign guests into their home. No conversation was necessary apparently. And we left with many thanks for the hospitality. Well, that was disappointing, but Dillip explained they were shy and the man grew up in the hostel and had always been very withdrawn.
The rest of the day was spent visiting with our hosts, trying to get Frank's computer to communicate with the new photocopier. They had brought the wrong drivers to install. We shared videos and pictures taken during the week and wound things up. Then it was tandoori chicken for the last supper and gather the bags for the trip to the bus. The bus was a luxury semi-sleeper with reclining seats and flip up leg rests. It was quite comfortable, especially since they provided nice, warm blankets to fend off the cold air from the air conditioning. The bus left at 10 p.m. enroute to Hyderabad, which was supposed to be a 9 hour ride. This was a Mercedes-Benz bus with smooth suspension and very quiet after they turned off the Indian music video.
About two hours out of Nagpur, the road turned for the worse. The size of the potholes was astounding! At times I thought the bus would end up on its side! Violent enough that luggage began to fall out of the overhead storage. At one point the bus was crossways on the road trying to avoid the deep pits. If the tires had gone into some of those holes, it would have high centred on the front bumper, seriously. At times the bus was crawling at 2 km per hour. It was pathetic and I began to wonder if taking the bus was wise. The train was full or on standby basis for another three days, so there wasn't much choice. In about an hour we finally finished driving through the minefield, because that's what it seemed like. The road split into a divided highway, a few more bumps and near misses with transport trucks trying to negotiate the potholes, and the highway became smoother, the pavement more consistent and the speed ramped up to 80+ kph. We arrived in Hyderabad at 7 a.m., waited through a few stops to discharge passengers, and finally Carsen and I were the last on the bus. Next stop we were motioned to get off. We got our luggage and stood at the sidewalk with half a dozen rickshaw drivers offering us rides, or take our luggage int the hotel. I texted Joseph and told we were outside the Hotel Pearl City, Raj Towers. He punched that into his GPS and showed up within 10 minutes! What a relief. We I,mediately made our way out of the city to avoid the worst of the morning rush hour. About 2 hours later we pulled off the highway into a food court area and had lunch at a Subway. Could not believe it! And then at Coffee Day, (Indian Starbucks) we got hot chocolate and a latte before heading for our destination 2 more hours down the road.
Our arrival at the Team Leadership Centre was astounding! 60 young men and women from 17 states in India, lined the approach to the Centre, smiled as though the President had arrived (or rock star Carsen), and placed wreaths of flowers over our heads. We then walked down the line and greeted each one personally, had photos taken, were ushered into our private room where we were served curried chicken, rice, chapatis and fruit. And told to relax. Wow! It blew us away. Moments later I entered the classroom, just for a look, and all the students stood up to welcome me in. Wow! And again I say, wow!
We have something to learn in Canada about welcoming the stranger into our circles. What honour they give to strangers!
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