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.