21

Even When

India is drenched with poverty and pollution, there are still bigger fish that need to be fried.

This experience showed me more than another geographical location.
I actually saw with my own eyes.
I touched with my own hands.
I felt with my own heart.
These people are worth so much more than they could even begin to imagine.
More than I can imagine.

My journal of the trip:

5:40 a.m. Friday November 21, 2008
We [Jason, Roger and I] just arrived at the YMCA Hostel in Delhi. Our flight was long and I was often restless sitting in the middle if the two boys for nearly 20 hours. We stopped in Dubai for the last leg of our flight. This is the richest country in the world so it wasn't that surprising that they had gold plated phones and large square donuts. [Square donuts in no way correlate with wealth. I just thought it was an interesting sight.] India itself is really foggy tonight. We had to circle the airport for two hours waiting for the fog to clear up enough for us to land. The pilot was a bit sketchy. He kept telling us not to worry, that we had enough fuel to last us an hour and then we would 'attempt' to land. It wasn't so much reassuring as it was comical. We got off the plane and met up with our drivers. Taking into consideration that this is around 4:30-5:00 a.m. didn't exactly help, because the way we were driving was completely insane. California drivers are a breeze in comparison. People disregard line seperators and there are absolutely no stop signs. Also, honking and flashing your brights are not frowned upon but instead encouraged. The YMCA is not what I expected, but it is nicer than what I saw many people sleeping on on the way over. Now we rest up for the remainder of the day. Today we get to be tourist. Excitement.

8:30 p.m. Friday November 21, 2008
We woke up at 8:30 this morning in order to get breakfast. Since we're the first of the group up here, today we got to explore a small portion of Delhi.We stayed mostly in a 6-9 block radius of the YMCA Hostel. As we began our walk, merchants and ricshaw drivers started crowding us. They became overwhelming but never backed down, even after the word 'no' was said. What broke my heart today was a little girl. She was standing alone on a sidewalk, looking around and asking people for money and food. When I walked near her she motioned her hand to her mouth indicating she was hungry. I couldn't do anything about it. First because I had no food, second because we are supposed to ignore beggars and third because I was in such disbelief that she has to grow up doing this for her entire life. After the encounter with the girl we proceeded to take a mini tour of a nearby mosque. People would walk up to a pool of holy waterand fall on their knees praying as if they were gradually trying to get to the top of the stairs. Apparently they are waiting for their eleventh prophet to arrive. We walked for hours upon hours. I only took about fifty pictures today, but more are coming. After dragging ourselves around for an hour or so, we decided to head back to the YMCA when a little boy wanted me to buy some necklaces. The price was pretty good and I would be needing gifts for when I got back, so I accepted his offer. 16 for 100 rupees. That's about two dollars. I'm pretty sure he's a hustler though. We went back to the boy's room and played card and dice games. Then we ate dinner with Noelle and Kyle [his wife]. They see so much potential in Indian people, it was great to have a chance to talk to them. It has been an exhasting day, but now I get to meet my roommate. Also, being mean is not a lot of fun and very tiring as well. I hate having to turn them down, but I've been told that they use pity to get money from foreigners.

9:04 a.m. Saturday November 22, 2008
My roommate came in late last night. I almost didn't wake up to the knocking. We both got up around 7:30 this morning. Her name is Kristen Davis. She's been living in India for the past three months. I found out that she goes to a school that I wanted to go to. I believe that we're going to get along really well. I was expecting an elderly woman, but it's what I imagine a college roommate would be like. I'm looking forward to our upcoming day and week.