So today we headed to the Shoparamum market - Claire, Christen, VISHNU, and I. You may be curious who VISHNU is, so lemme tell ya! He is my driver from the village visit to the Akola district of Maharashtra. And sooo sooo sooo wonderful! I could have died upon laying eyes upon him in the vehicle - it was miraculous! I wanted to see him again so much! I now have his email and also gave him a gift from Iowa. He was estatic!
I came back to ICRISAT w/ him after our adventures were through n Claire and Christen met some of our other friends in city later on, so Vishnu and I got to catch up on the way back. I heard some of his life story - it is incredible - I will share sometime. He is very happy w/ his life and job now. And a new baby in 2 months! His wife is beautiful - I met her after the village visit when he took us to his house! Anyway, he talked of how he won't forget me. He loved how I played with the kids in the village. He asked how I got to come on this scholarship program, so I told him some things I was involved in during high school. He was impressed I taught kids at church and then I talked to him about what I taught them - about Jesus and the Christian, and Catholic faith. It was so neat to share. He saw the passion of the Christ so knew what I spoke of and told me how he cried when he saw it - it was so horrible. The amount of respect people have for different religions here is something I feel is sorely lacking in many places back home. Although the rifts b/w the Hindus/Muslims and other religious factions do continue on. . . in my experiences - I have shared mutual respect and appreciation with others.
The day was successful, great, exhausting, fun, heart-wrenching, and guilt-tripping as usual when touring Hyderabad, but all in all - it was great. Some of the big things that stand out to me from today:
1 - Woke up at usual time - 6:00 sharp - Saturday or no Saturday :)
2 - Headed out after an early and quick lunch to the city
3 - You pay a small fee to get into the Shoparamum place and then there are all of these things there to do and see. There are vendors, a village museum thing, and more.
4 - It is a little overwhelming how many people want you to buy many things and don't comprehend you really don't have a million bucks to go with the foreigner skin! But people are pretty respectful and you learn how to handle yourself.
5 - The neatest thing was that there were a lot of people there selling things whose family actually hand-crafted the items. There are a lot that are just commercially made also, but it was really cool to see the homemade and hand-stitched wonders.
6 - We wonder what the income is of the sellers we met today.
7 - In Indian traffic, people walk around telling umbrellas, balloons, etc. One girl pinpointed me as a target and came over knocking on window. She was just a small girl and it was so horrible. So horrible. She made these hungry faces and grimaced as she put her hand to her mouth motioning for food. Vishnu, our driver just smiled and said she was acting, but I was like, "How do we know if she is acting or not? We cannot feel her stomach."
8 - I resolved to always keep food w/ me now if going out. I don't like to give money out so much but I love to give food out.
9 - Some other boys bombarded us when leaving the market - wanting money. I felt so bad - Christen gave one a couple of coins - but the whole scene just bothers me so much. I don't like the begging - but what can you expect of people living in despicable poverty? The disgrace isn't that they beg but that they need to beg at all. It is such a dehumanizing activity. I don't like the way people beg and how if you give money they just want more and would surround us if we didn't have a great driver ready for us. I just wanted to hear a thank-you or something, but once again, what can you expect? People to be civil and socialized about trying to secure their most basic needs? It is also always hard to know if people are acting or truly poor. And if you misjudge, well, that is too bad. Someone goes hungry. That is why I think giving out food is a good option b/c you are helping them, but I don't mind giving out food at all - I would like that more. The phrase, "Whatsoever you do for the least of my people, that you do unto me" is just haunting me. It is like, I got this pic. with Mother Theresa statue today and then am put in all of these ethical dilemmas - WWMTD when in all of my situations? I sadly don't know. So, much to think about and emotions to sift through and decisions/commitments to be made. I better do some more reading of my mother theresa book.
Alright, a good and big day was had by all. (When I got back to ICRISAT, then I had a couple of hours of figuring out internet problems w/ technical staff here. So if I ever disappear from blog world, you know why!) So, still no shower now - ughh - after our big day too :) Better be off to do that now. Check out some pics from today if you like!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235378&id=632933553&1=8b301e42f8.
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