Home!

So Good to be home, where my Lover makes me feel beloved, and where the toilets make sense!

Last night was such an unbelievably happy reunion! This was so hard and good for us both and each of us, individually. Seeing her waiting for me when I got out of the van made me so happy inside. All that snow, and there she was!

Readjusting is going to be slow, I can already tell. Food has been an interesting experience. Mental note: German sausage, fish sticks, and Old Bay-seasoned chips should NOT be among one's first food choices after two weeks of rice, veggies, and curry. Sleep, however, is optional. I did both - the bad, bad food choices and the not-much-sleep. Let me just say that I loved the way life worked out with no sleep. The food thing? Not so much. Just sayin'

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Memorable Moments

It is time.

The opulence of the Buddhist temple -- as well as all the other temples, castles, and churches -- stood in direct contrast to the poverty right outside the gates of worship and adoration.

The view from the restaurant last night: Of course, it's the traffic that fascinates us.

The people at the Kola Gold Fields -- a Dalit village -- celebrate Christmas and New Year's, even though they are the poorest in India, living in a place where neutralized cyanide infiltrates the soil they live on.

The second-deepest mine in the world, at the Kolar Gold Fields, where the Dalit were left with land contaminated and water, non-existent.

A swath of the neutralized cyanide

A peek into the lives and houses of the Dalit at KGF

Dalit children for whom this is probably the first time they ever saw their pictures taken with a camera

Just in case you thought that hole-in-the-ground toilets were a myth. Facing the back wall gives you the best chance for a direct aim. Proven fact. I told my female travel mates. They all agreed.

A dancer at our Amma's school. These girls were delightful, funny, and shy as all get-out! Sweethearts, them all.

I dunno what the hell this movie is going to be about, but I wanna see it!

Mrs. Hasnath: This Muslim woman, who speaks on how to read the Koran the RIGHT way, is a powerhouse! She will kick your ass with just a look!

News in Taligu

Nuff Said

Early Mornings and Long Train Rides

Yesterday was perhaps the longest day, mainly because we were on the road from about 5:30AM until after 10:00PM. Riding into Vellore, I don't remember much of the train ride in -- or even the morning itself, really. I vaguely remember getting up at about 5:00AM, but I don't know whether I remember the actual waking, or it's just a knowing that since I made it to the station, I must've somehow made it through the alarm clock without anybody dying in the process. Well, everyone is still alive, so that's progress.

Visiting the Christian Medical Center was pretty interesting. Seems there were actually Christians who visited India without the convert-and-conquer ulterior motive. This single woman started this hospital, specifically to train Natives to be doctors and nurses, so that they could treat their own. Nice!

 

Ida Scudder is her name, and I give her props for respecting the people and the land.

It's difficult to write of all that I've experienced and absorbed over the last week or so. Overwhelming is a good word to describe it all. We've seen everything from a small Gypsy village, wherein the people have no electricity -- save the church, of course -- to the opulent Golden Palace, where the main worship space is constructed of 24-carat gold. One scrape off this place could feed the Gypsies for ten years or more. Saddest of all is that the village is less than a half-hour's drive from the palace. In my own moment of protest, I took no pictures of this piece of glorified shit. The pics I took of and with some of the villagers are, of course, on the camera that I didn't bring the USB cord for.

 The pics above were from a Tribal Catholic service we attended two nights ago. This was, bar none, the most beautiful Catholic service I've ever participated in! It was cool to sing the Indian chants in the local language -- which isn't Hindi as we know it, by the way. It's Tamil, a local dialect. I felt intimately connected to the people. At the end, the priest gave each of us one of the flowers you see on the altar. I planted mine on the grounds of the seminary. At least there, it has a chance to live a little longer than it would have, stuck up in my room.

Roomie and I are AWESOME together, by the way. We are pretty much in sync with what we need and when we need it. Stuff like alone-time and in-depth conversations work themselves out in this unknown hang-out, get-the-fuck-out rhythm. She goes shopping, I relax; I hit the computer lab, she's in the room journaling. The fun of it all is that even though I know we crash nerves every once in awhile, I'm glad we pre-decided to be roommates. I don't think we'd be getting along as well if we were rooming with anyone else.

We're down to five days and counting! Yeefrigginhah! Tomorrow is another long one, though. Going to visit the Dalit gold mines and a Dalit village. Tis the one where our host works when she's not lecturing or interviewing Master's candidates. Hoping the phone camera holds up because I think that if I get a chance to hit the blog again, I'll want to post those.

I'm headachy, tired, and about done . . . for the day and for this trip. Ready to be stateside again. Ready to be back home with Honey. Hope she is all better by the time I get back.

  

Just pictures tonight

See? It wasn't always bad!

Sign in a facility that treats people with brain chemical imbalances. And treats people like us . . . like human beings

Looking up through a coconut tree

The moon tonight

Lights, sounds, and water at the Indira Gandhi Garden, Bangalore

Garden at Mysore Palace

Chronicles

Holy Bible in Sanskrit, written on bamboo (UTC Archives, Bangalore, India)

Golden Buddha and Peaceful Monk, Buddhist Temple, Bangalore

Who's that at the right hand of Christ?

If they asked you to take their picture, how could you say no?

Big window. Tiny spaces.

Shiva Statue. I think this thing is about 100 feet tall.  At least. Yep, really.

TwoCrows

They seem to be everywhere, as if they followed me across the water. They call and respond, regardless of where I am -- in the city or out. But that's okay. I like hearing them. Reminds me of who I am.

We are now about six days into our journey and it feels like so much longer. I don't do well in forced claustrophobia. Not spaces, but people. So many . . . I am getting the hang of it, though. 

YES, I DID!

I got to people-watch at the Palace at Mysore yesterday. A three-hour ride to see such opulence, whilst outside, the poor beg and the palace vendors chase anything that looks like it may have money to buy a trinket or two. Doesn't make me sad, so much as having a righteous indignation for the choices they make that affect their children. It was an interesting ride, however.

Mysore Palace Entrance Crush

Mysore Palace, at the East Gate

The large window into small spaces I saw the other day gave me new insight into what it means to live in a totally 'we' way, rather than that surface 'we'. On the surface, it is easy to say 'we' this or 'we' that. But until you have shared your space with 300,000 other individual bodies, each vying for a tiny opening to join family from whom one has become separated by fifty other people, 'we' is only a convenient word to use in order to not seem selfish or self-centered. The crush of bodies, pushing and shoving -- but none angry or offended at the absence of personal space. Yet, how can one miss what one has never known? I miss my personal space, privacy of  thought and word, because it is all I have ever known myself to want, all I have created for myself in my 'real world' of home and family.

India Sacred Text, United Theological College Library Archive

Two nights ago, I began listing the things for which I am thankful. Personal space. My lover. No roommate (although my roommate is the craziest and most delightful person in the world!). Cold water. Soft bed. These are all things which I know that I sometimes take for granted -- more often, in fact, than I'd like to admit. Still, India has much to teach me, and I'm glad for the learning. 

Buddhist Temple, Bangalore

I think that as long as I know that I have love waiting for me at home and my Crows calling and cawing all around me while I am here, I'll be okay.
 

Big Window into Small Spaces

There's nothing like riding in the front seat of a seminary bus in downtown Bangalore. You see EVERYTHING, including the bike, bicycle, and scooter riders that zip in and out of traffic like monkeys on jungle gyms. Good thing you can't drive til you're 21 here!

I'm hoping to get some pics up soon, but may have to wait til I'm stateside again. Some of the stuff is amazing!

We went today to see one of the statues of Shiva. It is HUGE! The Sikh Temple . . . we got to see the holybook being opened . . .

Riding shotgun on the driver's side, because the driver drives from the passenger side, provides a unique view of the small spaces between the many cars on the street. You get up close and personal with the drivers next to you when a street marked for two lanes -- if it's marked at all -- suddenly becomes congested with four lanes of traffic. Literally. 

Four lanes of traffic where it's only marked for two lanes

The totem outside UTC

Seal of the School: Not to be served, but to serve.

 

Finally!

Not The REAL finally, but the at-JFK-and--checked-in finally! Five road hours, then one waiting to get tickets, then another hour through security. It was fun walking through the airport in my socks, though.

I am crazy tired. We board in a half hour-ish.

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tix

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Bellies full . . .

We Are on the way to JFK. Driver dude teased our bellies and bladders about a half hour before we actually stopped by stopping at the wrong exit. A couple of us said that if he did it again, we were gonna climb up front ad beat some driver ass.

Almost at JFK - see pic below.

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Passing past Long Island

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Where we stopped for lunch in Jersey

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Oatmeal and Pizza

Tonight's Dinner/post-midnight snack. Not together. Well, yeah, together. Honey had pizza. Me, oatmeal. Sweet.

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Two days . . .

I'll Be boarding a plane, first bound for Germany, and then on to India. Would love to say "no fear," but anyone who knows me would call "bullshit."

Speaking of bulls and shit: Maaaaaan, have I been ridin' the bullet here lately! First, the curry, and then, I learned that one should never consume high amounts of Vitamin C and zinc, with even a miniscule amount of mouthwash, on an empty and petrified stomach. Never!

And then, there's the visit to the Bull Temple. THAT should be interesting. But i do think it's bullshit that while other cross-cultural groups had pinnacle, Judeo-Christian experiences -- climbing Mt. Sinai, for instance -- our trip seems to be void of that. Well, at least one other person and I are planning to get permanent henna tats, picking up sterile needles to take in with us, of course. Good thing for free time, eh?

On the home front, we are both keeping our heads busy, with our hearts so full. I worry about her shoulder, being gone on her birthday on the 13th, making sure she eats regularly . . . All the detail of our lives that will be shaken and stirred, over the next few weeks. We have some debriefing stuff talked through, knowing that we won't know 'til we get there.

My brother is going to keep in touch with Honey, as will my mom. Ok, that's freaky to write, especially about my mom. They all have each others' numbers, but my brother wants no communication with our mom. This should be interesting. India is looking good right about now. ;) Love you, Baby!

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The Schedule

Programme for the Lancaster Theological Seminary

Tentative Programme, January 13th – 226th, 2011, Held at UTC, Bangalore.

Theme: Encountering, Paradox & Pluralism

13th January 2011, Thursday - Arrival – Rest

3.30 – 4.00 - Coffee in the Dining Hall
4.00 - 4.45 - Welcome & Introduction to U.T.C.
5.00 – 5.45 - Tour of UTC Campus
6.00 – 7.30 - Sharing of Expectations and Goals.
 
14th Jan 2011, Friday

8.30 – 9.00 – Worship
9.10 – 10.15 – Lecture: Christianity in India – A General Introduction – Dr. O.V. Jathanna,
10.15 – 11.15 – Lecture: Religious Fundamentalism–
Focusing on Hinduism. Dr. Abraham Stephen,
11.15 – 11.30 – Coffee Break
11.40 – 1.00 – Lecture: Challenges of Religious Pluralism – Dr. K. C. Abraham,
1.00 – 2.00 – Rest
2.00 – 7.20 – Gurudwara and Shiva Statue
Dinner & Free Time. 

15th Jan 2011, Saturday
 
7.00 – 8.00 – Yoga
8.00 – 9.00 – Breakfast
9.00 – 10.10 – Lecture: Church in India – A General
Introduction – Dr. Marina Behera
11.15 – 11.20 – Lecture: Understanding of Mission in
India & the Present Challenges – Dr. P.T. George.
11.20 – 11.30 – Coffee Break
11.40 – 1.00 – Lecture: Theological Education in India &
the Present Challenges – Dr. Siga Arles
1.00 – 1.45 – Lunch
2.00 – 3.00 – Visit to Library
3.00 – 5.00 – Buddhist Temple- Vinayrakkhitta.
5.00 – 7.30 – Bull Temple

16th Sunday 2011 

Sunday Worship Service at 8.30 a.m. – Leaving around 8.00 a.m.
● St. Marks Cathedral
● St. John’s Church
2.00- 6.00 – Shopping
6.30 – 7.30 – UTC service. Tagore Hall upstairs next door to ERC- guest house where you will be staying.
7.30 - Dinner.

17th Jan 2011, Monday
 
8.30 – 9.00 – Worship
9.10 – 10.20 – Muslim Women – Struggles & Achievements. Legal Rights of women – Mrs. Hasnath (retired principal of Girls School, Activist)
10.20 – 10.30 – Coffee Break
10.30 – 11.40 – The Growth of Women’s Movement – Stella
11.45 – 1.00 – Domestic and Migrant workers -Mrs. Cynthia Stephen
1.00 – 2.00 – Lunch
3.00 – 5.00 – Visit to Vimochana.
 

18th Jan 2011, Tuesday
 
8.30 – 9.00 – Worship
9.00 – 10.10 – Feminist Theology: aftermath and challenges. Dr. Evangeline and Anderson Rajkumar and Dr. Rini Ralte
10.00 – 11.15 – Tribal Theology – Atula and Group.
11.15 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.40 - 1.00 - Trafficking among women and sexual
Abuse. Miss Anitha
1.00 – 2.00 - Lunch
2.00 – 3.00 - Women in the Church – Struggles &
Achievements
3.10 - 4.30 - Dialogue with Women Pastor’s=
4...30 - Coffee Break
5.00 – 7.30 - Sharing

19th Jan 2011, Wednesday
 
8.30 – 9.00 - Chapel – UTC
9.00 – 10.10 - Lecture – Understanding Caste System –
Dr. Nalini Arles,
10.10 – 10.30 - Coffee Break
10.15 – 11.30 -Lecture – Re-reading of the Bible from a
Dalit Perspective – Dr. Jesurathnam,
11.40- 1.00 - Reading Bible from of Post Colonial
Perspectives. Dr. David Joy
1.00 – 2.00 - Lunch
2.00- 3.40.00 - Work among sexual minorities - Akkai
5.30.7.00 -Visit to NBLC---indigenous worship
8.00 - Dinner
 
20th Jan 2011, Thursday
 
8.30 – 9. 00 - Worship
9.00 - 10.30 - Globalisation: Challenges to Indian Context
10.30 - 10.45 - coffee Break
11.00 - 12, 30 - Visit to Vathsalya - adoption centre
1.00 - 2.00 - lunch
3.00 - 4.00 - Visit to Medico Pastoral Association-Half way Home.
4.00 - free time
7.30 - Dinner
 
21st Jan 2011 

Visit to Vellore CMC ----- About 230 Miles away from Bangalore. Leaving Bangalore by train at 6 a.m returning in
the evening
 
22nd Jan 2011 Saturday
 
Trip to Kolar Gold Fields to visit Dalit village.
Leave by 8.00 am - Visit to Sai Baba (Guru/Hindu Saint), Pass through Electronic City, KGF – To visit Dalit villages
Return around 9.00 p.m
 
23rd Jan Sunday 2011 

Trip to Mysore- leaving at 7 a.m. Seeing the palace
and other historical places. Return in the evening.
 
24th Jan Monday 2011

8.30 – 9.00 - UTC Chapel
9.00 - 10.45. - Church involvement in Dalit Struggles 
10.45 – 11.00 - Coffee Break
11.00 - 1.10 - Work among transgenders- Both Church and NGO
Sharing of experiences Rev. Christopher,
Bharathi ( Theological student) and Anu--- NGO
2.30 – 3.45 - A Glance at BPO ---Nalini Arles.
Dinner at a restaurant
 
25th Jan 2011
 
8.30 – 9.00 - UTC Chapel
9.00 -11.00 - Sharing of Experiences---- Feed back session.
11.30- 12.30 - Closing session.
Evening dinner with the Faculty.
 

Clarification Note

Was just emailing with my cousin Tab and realized that it might help to clarify what we'll be doing in India. So, I'm being lazy: Here's part of the email I sent her. :D

It's not so much a mission trip as it is an educational one. We'll be learning about how it is to be a Western Christian in a society where Christianity is not the religiously or politically dominant faith structure -- what it's like to be Paul in Rome, in a sense. We'll also be attending lectures on Indian Christianity, womanism/feminism in India, and how religious pluralism works in the East. 

Just in case y'all thought we were just gonna shop the whole time. LOL j/k

On the flipside . . .   

Wedding Set

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Seven days to go

In some ways, I think this trip is bringing us closer together, unexpectedly. I didn't know closer was even possible, especially given all that the last four months of 2010 brought us to.

We went shopping . . . Or, I should say, actually MyBaby took me shopping, for the last stuff I needed for India, today. She has taken me really everywhere I've needed to go for so long, driving has been more of a first-time experience each time I've been behind the wheel than something I do regularly. It is just sad, sad that I have to get used to the car again everytime I sit behind the wheel. :)

BUT, for three hours today, she walked from one end of the mall to the other, helping me find sales. $3 sandals? Got'em! $1 anti-bacterial hand sanitizer -- from B&BW? Yup! Stuff for the kids at the India host's school? All $1? Done!

A few days ago, I was really struggling with buying new clothes for a journey to a place where so many live in poverty. Honey totally understood. She took me to Goodwill. We got the long skirts I needed, four of them, for about $20. I wasn't sure that even I understood how I felt. She understood for both of us.

Getting home tonight, we had a battle for who would cook for whom. We made dinner together. She's falling asleep now, and I already miss curling up close just before I start snoozing, too. I love her. I can't wait to be back home.

This will be an adventure for both of us. It is already, and will be, hard for us both. We don't do forced separation very well. Hell, we don't separate unless we have to. Sleeping apart just doesn't do it for us. But, as she says, it will be good for us, too. We will remember some things, and we will let some other things be forgotten. What is beautiful, important, and good for us will be strengthened and give us strength. Everything else, as Honey says, is bullsht. I like that.

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In the spirit of the season . . .

Thought this was right on time!

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Just discovered . . .

Blogspot has a Droid app! Will be able to post pics and vids, as well as regular posts! Sweet!

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