Computer Rises From the Dead - And Some More About India

So I am writing this blog on the “Lucky Day” or whatever 7/7/7 means. I read tons of people are getting married, hitting the casinos, and embarking on other endeavors where some good luck could come in handy. As for me, I spent most of the day sitting around my hotel reading and relaxing. More on that later. After reading my previous blog entry I am amazed at how poor of a typer I am, even while using Microsoft Word. I will try to actually read through my entries before posting them to the internet.
Monday night I landed at Chennai airport and walked outside not sure what was going to happen. Emily hadn’t known if the group of volunteers would be at the land, if some would still be in Chennai, or what exactly the plan was when I arrived so I walked outside hoping to find a person who did. Instead I ran into a sign that said, “Yale, RSO” and a cabbie that didn’t speak much English at all. We made our way to his taxi and he said, “Apartment?” to which I replied, “Land?” Our mutual confusion prompted a phone call to his boss who called Emily and established that I was going to the apartment for the night. 40 minutes later I walked into a house with no furniture but full of volunteers and donated supplies they had brought from America. Soon I was asleep for the first time on the trip without A/C since Manila. While it was warm, I didn’t mind it much as I was very tired.
Tuesday we spent the first ½ of the day finishing packing the house, buying groceries, running errands, and then moving out to “The Land.” My two errands were buying cots and exchanging money. Buying cots was way more difficult than expected as Chip and I had very little instruction as to what we were supposed to buy and every store our taxi driver took us to sold furniture/beds, rather than cots. Finally, at our forth store we found what we were looking for and purchased five of them for about $60US. The other errand was a kind of fun as well. I was given $10,000US and asked to find a money exchange place and convert it to Indian rupees. Since we thought the limit was 5K per person one of the volunteers went with me. I’ve never seen 10K be so small. With crisp new $100 bills it barely made a dent in an envelope. However, after we changed it to rupees (old creased bills in much smaller denominations) it felt like I was carrying a bag full of money like robbers in the movies. We took a trike back to the apartment and the whole time I was leery about anyone looking at me funny and/or dreaming up schemes in my head of people stealing the cash. 10K is probably something like 15 years income for a peasant worker here. Due to the Indian government’s bureaucracy, Rising Star has spent years trying to get government approval and still can’t electronically transfer money into the country so they have to resort to having trusted workers/volunteers carry the 5K max in when they fly over from the states. Finally around 4:30pm we left Chennai in a minibus and headed for the school. The drive took a little over 2 hours but was quite scenic and mostly done on a 4-lane toll road which had no animals, pedestrians or other obstructions. It felt so normal compared to other roads/journeys on the trip I read my book without worry and took in the pleasant countryside. Our arrival at the school was quite remarkable as 50 kids spontaneously showed on the stairs and greeted us. Emilie is this camp’s Mother Theresa as all the kids cried out joyously “Auntie Emmie” and ran to climb all over her. All of the other volunteers soon had a handful of new friends and were happy about coming to India. As I was the only guy besides Chip I took the assignment of unpacking our moving truck and getting the assembly line organized. When dinner was served an hour later we were all exhausted from our long day of moving and traveling. Dinner was a wonderful rice/curry broth with a few vegetables mixed in. Our dinners were provided by local cooks each night and were always rice, curry, and some kind of vegetable, with one night the addition of chapattis. Honestly, these were some of the simplest meals I’ve had on the entire trip but also some of the best. Every night I ate about three times as much as anyone and loved every bite. The first night they gave us spoons but the next two we were eating like the locals with our fingers. Most of the volunteers are 18 year old girls from Utah and it was funny to watch them struggle with the curry. This was weak curry compared to the stuff I had in Thailand and Sri Lanka and way easier than my mission favorite “The Curry House” in Hong Kong, but the girls thought it was some of the most powerful stuff they had ever had. If Asian food was always this simple and tasty, I would love it as much as Mexican.
Wednesday was spent entirely at the school helping out with kids. I was asked to help a boy and girl who are behind their age groups in English and we spent most of the day going over basic words and sounds to help them learn how to read. They were really nice and we had a good time together. When school got out I went and took a nap as the 2nd night of sleeping without A/C hadn’t been as kind to me and I was dead tired again. In the evening we had a delicious dinner again and hung out with the other volunteers. I guess another highlight worth mentioning were the bucket showers. To be honest, they were quite possibly the best part of the day because they were the only time you got to cool down. The weather was like Hong Kong in summer where you sweat just sitting there doing nothing. The accommodations at the school are quite sparse as the building was just finished and they haven’t had time to install A/C units or other things that they plan on doing over time. To avoid scorpions at night we were under orders (from the boss based in the US) to keep the windows closed (even though we were on the 2nd floor and the locals thought we were nuts).
Thursday I went with a group to a Government home where people who have become debilitated by leprosy live. Our job is to build a good relationship with them so we can come in later and try to do projects to improve their living accommodations and other things of significance. For me it was hard for a variety of reasons. There was a huge language barrier as the patients were largely older and didn’t speak any English and I don’t speak a word of Tamil. Additionally, I am not the type of person who can just use emotions/sympathy/gestures to communicate with people. I really felt like a fish out of water. The female volunteers did a much better job as they have a natural capacity mysterious to me and the female patients were much more welcoming to them than me. It was very sad to see hundreds of people with fingers and toes missing and trying to struggle on with their lives in a society where they are no outcasts because of their condition. From my limited communications it even seemed some have been basically cut off by their children and left alone. The general suffering of the 350 people there left me thinking of the Savior’s Atonement and His marvelous work to care for all of God’s children. Just the pain and anguish he suffered for the souls there is incalculable, and then I thought of the billion people in all of India and the challenges they’ve faced. Needless to say it was a sobering thought and helped me to better appreciate the depth of Christ’s sacrifice and His capacity to love. Thursday evening we hung out with the kids again and enjoyed the craziness that is a school/dormitory all rolled into one for 85 kids in a building built for maybe 60 (another 2 buildings are in the midst of construction). Around 6am you would hear the kids start to rustle and it was pointless to try to sleep after that. While it was all crazy and the like, it was also wonderful as the kids are always happy, smiling, and vibrant. Without Rising Star these kids would be consigned to a life of no education, perpetual poverty, and all the struggles that entails.
Friday morning I packed up and prepared to leave. It took longer than expected as I ended up riding with the Government leprosy home volunteers to the closest town (not village) called Chengalputt. I got to Chengalputt around noon and had 4 hours to make the last 60kms on slow trains, busses, foot, taxi, and whatever else might be needed. I didn’t really have much of a plan/clue. The van dropped me at the local railway station which looked like it could have been cut out of the Old West 100+ years ago and I started to worry a bit for my safety. Thankfully, I’d packed 3 peanut and butter sandwiches, a box of Pringles, a bottle of Gatorade, and a bottle of water because I wouldn’t trust eating anything at the station and the surrounding stalls. I walked up to the ticket booth and said “Manubakkem” like I’d been told and happily paid my 11 rupee fare (28 cents). I missed the first train as it left a couple minutes after I walked out to the 6 platforms and had never really figured out what was going on (no signs). After that I asked a couple guys where to go to catch my train (actually didn’t really talk, just showed them my ticket) and they said “4 or 5.” I made my way over to those platforms and hoped for the best.
The next train came in about 15 minutes and I waddled my way on with my 4 bags. I was worried as the train rolled into the station going a different direction than I thought it would, but I felt great relief when the train rolled back out of the station the same direction it had come in. I picked a seat in the back corner away from everyone hoping to pass my trip in quiet solitude reading the Book of Mormon. Let’s just say I didn’t get my wish. Indian people have a great fascination with white people I guess. I don’t know if it is a legacy of their days as a British colony or what, but they stare at white people a lot! Within 5 minutes of being on the train I had a group of young men (all 20ish) slowly crowding around me like a pack of wolves. After about 10 minutes of no conversation and them staring at me while talking to each other in Tamil and flashing signs back and forth, I thought I was going to get jumped. I looked around hoping to find some old lady or man but the train was instead full of about 40 young men. To prepare I button up my cargo pockets that had my passport, cash, and credit/debit cards I debated what items I’d just let go and what I’d protest at. Finally after about 15 minutes of silence the guy sitting right next to me (with another 10 within 5 feet listening intently) asked where I was from. I said the United States and the group all got excited and smiles crossed most of their faces, making me feel much safer. For the next 40 minutes they took turns practicing their English on me, asking all kinds of random questions, and generally making friends. I exchanged emails with a couple of them, told them about my Book of Mormon, and eventually took some great group photos. I guess they are all students at a university together and ride the train to class together everyday. Their stop was the one I bought my ticket for so I was happy to have some friends who would know where to get off. After our fun ride together they told me next stop and I got all ready. They showed me to the platform and waved goodbye. I looked up to see the station name “Transulvar” or something like that as the train pulled away and felt a little knot in my stomach as I worried that I might have just been dumped at the wrong station by a bunch of practical jokers. I walked to the station office and said “Airport” to which they pointed across the street and said, “Go.” Altogether it was about a 400 meter walk from the station to the international terminal and I was happy to be back in A/C for the first time in four days.
I landed in Sri Lanka around 6pm and walked outside to find no car/friend as I’d hoped. At the post office, I called David who said his car, driver, and office assistant were on the way. That was all I need to hear so I sat down on my baggage cart and continued reading the local English paper. Within 10 minutes I was sitting on the backseat cruising back to Colombo and David’s office. The evening was spent cruising the internet and getting caught up on emails and news, while trying to coax my computer into working. It decided to take the evening off (came back to life today though) so I ended up using the one in David’s office. We met up with the Elders around 8:30pm and went to a Chinese restaurant. I had the sweet and sour pork which was quite tasty. By the time I finally got back to my hotel at 11pm I was already half asleep and went straight to bed.
Saturday has been pretty boring to be honest. David had to go to the North Central Province for a meeting this morning and I decided to stay in Colombo as 8 hours in a car for a 3-hour meeting didn’t sound like a fun day. I slept in until almost 10am, watched some TV, worked with my laptop, and showered. After packing I went downstairs to check out as we had planned on going to Ampara this evening with David’s family for a meeting he has there Sunday. It turns out David didn’t get back from the meeting in North Central Province until about 4 hours later than expected and his family didn’t want to spend 12 hours in the car for 12 hours out. I spent my day by visiting McDonalds, picking up my suit across town, updating the blog and cruising the internet, and reading every magazine and newspaper the hotel has. It seems the new plan is for David to go to Ampara with just his political people while I go to Kandy, catch Church there, see the sights, and then he will meet me there and we will come back to Colombo for the evening with his family on Sunday. Who knows how it will really work out? With David’s job nothing seems to be definite except for chaos, crazy hours, and ever-changing schedules.
Everything is good here though. I’m feeling well and getting excited about coming home. Today I looked into ASU student football tickets and tried to find out more about my law school schedule (guess its not posted yet). The normalcy of life in the United States is very appealing after two months in the 3rd world. My computer is back alive and I hope it makes it through the rest of the trip. Keep in touch!

Computer Dies

It looks like my laptop has joined my iPod in the technology cemetery. As a result, I can't get pictures off my camera and onto my blog. India was great, Sri Lanka is going fine, and I look forward greatly to Hong Kong and seeing old sights and friends. Wednesday at 5pm I land back in Phoenix and am very excited. If my computer continues to not respond to my attempts to revive it, this might very well be my last blog entry. We'll see...

India

Today (Monday, July 2^nd) marks two months on my trip, and only ten days remaining. The trip has passed amazingly fast and been a wonderful experience.

Last Wednesday, June 27^th, I flew into Chennai, India. We left the hotel in Colombo at 5:20am as my plane was supposed to depart at 7:45. However, we finally got in the air around 10:40 as the plane had been delayed in the Middle East for a few hours and arrived late. In Chennai I walked out of the terminal to see a mass of humanity with their arms extended in a combination of begging, waving to family members, and taxi drivers attracting customers. Thankfully, amid the throng I saw my friend Emilie Predmore and she motioned me to the end of the walkway where we met with a friendly hug and relief on my part that I wouldn’t be stranded in India. Emilie is a friend from my BYU ward who I had home taught the during Winter 2007 semester. She is 4 months here in India as the country & volunteer coordinator for a group called Rising Star Outreach. Basically, she is spending her summer in service helping Americans visit and serve leper colonies and the children from those colonies who would normally be denied an education and any chance at a normal life in the world. I’m sure her group has a website if you are interested just Google the name.
After taking a taxi to her group’s apartment I dropped my bags, at a bowl of cereal, and we headed for the beach. When we got there we saw a disconcerting sight as there were thousands of dead fish up and down the beach as far as the eye could see. I think they were the little grunion fish but who knows. Even though she had swum here probably a dozen times before, Emilie was hesitant since she didn’t see any natives in the water and the fish gave us worries. Eventually, we both got in and I even tried out the boogie-board they had at the apartment. Needless to say, I don’t quite have the skills anymore that I had a in my youth.
We walked back to the apartment and got cleaned up for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Emilie had to run a couple errands for work and we decided to visit a bookstore and eat while we were out. I bought a new pair of sunglasses to replace my river-lost ones and while I can’t guarantee the UV protection Mom, I think they will keep my eyes healthy till I get home. The bookstore was really nice as it has a good collection and English music playing all the time. Sure the music was remakes of popular pop songs from the 1990s and even earlier, but it just fit the setting of being in India at a spoof Barnes&Noble just right. As I sat there and flipped through all the books I wanted to read I remembered how I loved to read novels, histories, biographies, and other books so much before I became a news-addict. As I’ve curtailed my news reading some on this trip (having to pay for internet by the hour does that) time has opened up and I have started reading books again. I hope this is a trend I can continue in the states. The one book I ended up by is called “Freedom at Midnight.” It tells the story of India’s history, with a focus on the six months before and after Independence in 1947 and is written by a tag-team of French and British historians Dominique Lapieree and Larry Collins. The book has been very good and brought moments of laughter, sorrow, and enlightenment. With the independence of India came the partition of land into present-day India, and the new country of Pakistan (then with East Pakistan, now Bangladesh). What is little known (in America at least) is the suffering, travail, brutality, migrations, and other disturbing aspects of the first few years and especially months after independence as the Sihk, Hindu, and Moslem communities which had lived peacefully for 300+ years together under British rule went at each other’s throats. It makes anything like Darfur, the Balkans, or Africa’s other recent struggles pale in comparison. OK, sorry about my babbling, it has just been really interesting reading.
Dinner that night was potato curry at a vegetarian restaurant. I love potatoes in any form and this didn’t disappoint. We caught a trike for a few minutes to the local JambaJuice type place, which is actually better than the American one. I ordered a strawberry-banana and Emilie got the Jughead, both of which were delicious. On a funny note, as we walked in the door they turned off the local Indian music and turned on American country, with Toby Keith at the time. I guess they always do it for Americans, but it was an interesting example of the world catering to us. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing on the porch and preparing for our early start the next day.
Thursday morning we left the apartment around 6:30am for our 9:20 flight. Our traveling party consisted of Emilie, Chip (another volunteer), Esther (Chip’s adopted sister), and myself. The airport offered my first encounter with India’s notorious bureaucracy. After getting our boarding passes we headed for security with just our carry-on luggage but were turned away as we didn’t have SpiceJet (our airline) tags on every bag. Even though these were carry on and were never going to leave our grasp/sight we had to have a tag on each bag. Other examples of bureaucracy have included needed to see my passport to use an internet café and check in at the hotel. We got to the hotel around 3pm and separated into two groups as Chip had lost his passport in transit and needed to go to a police station to report it and get a form that would let him check-in to the hotel. Emilie and I went and visited sights like India Gate (kind of like a Arch de Triumph) that was built after WWI to commemorate India’s large contribution and sacrifice in the war. We also visited Connaught Place, the commercial capitol of Delhi. There is a Connaught Road in Hong Kong that is really prominent and I want to find out how they are connected. We grabbed an early dinner at TGIFs and all reveled in the good American food. One limitation on the menus over here is a lack of beef products. Since cows are holy and such, meat is rarely if ever served. Instead everything offered is chicken. We dropped by McDonalds to see what they had and discovered no Big Macs or cheeseburgers, a sad sight. On our way home in the evening Emilie and I found the local grocery store and bought essentials like bread, cereal, and juice that would let us eat most of our meals in the hotel rather than out. It is sad to say, but I just don’t have much appetite left for foreign foods.

Friday morning we slept in, visited the internet café, and read our books. Chip and Esther went to the embassy to order a new passport. We met up in the afternoon and visited sights including Humayan’s Tomb, a Mother Theresa orphanage, and the Lotus Temple. The tomb was the precursor to the Taj Mahal and quite impressive in its red sandstone. I took a picture illustrating the price discrimination foreigners encounter over here. It cost me 25 times as much as Esther to get into the Tomb complex and the y divergence was over 37/1 at the Taj Mahal. I have always been an admirer of Mother Theresa and now have a greater appreciation for her work. The orphanage we visited had 81 children, most with physical and/or mental disabilities. If they weren’t taken in by the orphanage they would probably be left for dead. We played with the kids for a little while and learned about the groups operations. The Lotus Temple I think is the world-wide headquarters of the Baha’i faith. It was pretty and a nice sight at sunset, although the security guard wouldn’t let us go on the west side of the building for he best picture in the lighting. Earlier in the day we also visited a government travel office and booked out trip to the Taj Mahal.

The trip to the Taj Mahal was long, but great. The drive each way was over 4 hours and our poor driver could barely stay awake on the way home. He stopped at least once an hour to buy water, use the restroom splash water on his face, change shirts, and do whatever else he could to stay awake. While we did have divided 4-lane highway most of the way we still averaged less than 50km/hr as the road was clogged with every mode of transport under the sun. I almost think building highways over here is useless if they won’t restrict what can go on them. Cows, pedestrians, bicycles, ox carts, and any other form of transport that can’t go above 10km/hr have no place on a highway.
When we arrived at the Taj we took the .5 mile walk to its entrance, bought our tickets (nearly $20 for foreigners verses 50 cents for Indians), and walked into the beautiful manicured grounds. After walking through the gate my gaze fell upon one of the Seven Wonders of the World. While it was beautiful, it didn’t seem that big from across the courtyard. Once we walked closer to it and saw the intricate jewelry work and carvings, as well as its massive size, I came to understand the amazing work that went into it. It was built by a Mogul emporer as a mausoleum for his wife in the 1620s. We walked all around it, visiting the mosque on one side and royal guesthouse on the other. The interior is very beautiful as well and showed how everything was perfectly symmetrical. The marble that the structure is made from is actually translucent. It is amazing seeing light pass through marble and now I can understand how the building glows a different color depending on the time of the day and night. Seeing the Taj was about the only thing I had left on the trip that I really cared about as a tourist. It didn’t disappoint and now I’m happy to say goodbye to friends and head home.
Sunday was spent going to Church in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Emilie, Chip, and Esther took the 4:25pm flight that I will be taking today (Monday). It was nice to take a nap, relax, and ponder on my time in India. While the country has many things going for it and is gaining in prominence in international political and business circles, India still has an amazing assortment of problems. The idea that there are over a billion people here and most of them live in crushing poverty even beyond the deprived state I have seen most in. Everywhere you go there are beggars and children hawking goods. It is a true, but sad commentary on India that at their national monuments and largest tourist attractions they have children as young as five begging and selling goods. I couldn’t imagine having children doing such things at the Washington Monument or Lincoln Memorial. Besides the total poverty, there is amazing crowdedness in big cities, poor hygiene/sanitary conditions, and a general lack of infrastructure. Like many other former British colonies I think the country hasn’t grown its economy, roads, railroads, or other vital infrastructure much in the last 60 years. Many people in the United States are scared of the rise of China and India as economic powers that will throw millions into unemployment and other concerns. While there are valid worries for sectors like manufacturing and things that can easily be done overseas, on the whole this trip has convinced me that these countries have so many massive problems to deal with that we don’t have much to be worried about. Honestly, America’s difficulties/problems (including the “War on Terror”) seem so small after seeing all of the struggles of the Third World on this trip. If we just had a bit of competent, courageous leadership America would have even less to worry about.

Well, I think that brings the blog up-to-date. Today I’m going to go see the craziness that is New Delhi Railway station, get my haircut, post this blog, and then head for the airport. Tonight I’m supposed to move out to “The Land” where Rising Star has built their school. It is totally rural with no internet and pretty much no services. As a result, I probably won’t be heard from again until my arrival in Sri Lanka on Friday so I sign off for now saying go Diamondbacks, love to all friends and family, and thank God I am an American and blessed with way more than I deserve.