Day 5

Day 5

May 28, 2011

Expect the unexpected…this was and is my personal motto in preparing for India and today was a time when I was really thankful to have this on my mind. It’s Saturday so we had the day off at the clinic. Another intern needed more Indian cloths for her wardrobe so we intended on spending the day going into downtown Hyderabad into the shopping district and back to the General Bazaar. The bus ride down to Paradise was nothing out of the ordinary…in the Indian world at least… but after getting off the bus to catch the next bus to the shopping district I had my first real encounter with street beggars. How can I possibly describe the emotion I was feeling? You see these widows are so frail and so desperate, but yet by giving in you are supporting an even more detrimental system of pimps who thrive off of the weaknesses of others. I cannot begin to tell you what it feels like to watch a hunched back body that is nothing more than bones grasp onto your arm begging for money and you have to without choice shake her off and turn you cheek in the other direction. Is this how Chr*st would want us to love them. Many, even me, would say no, but I MUST remind myself what society and culture I am in where less than 2% of the population is even Christians. All I want to do is be a light of Christ and be doing the work as His own hands and feet, but here I am pretending to act blind to a desperate and horrific cause. If I thought encountering the widow was hard God had another challenge for me just five minutes away. At yet the next bus stop three tiny boys with the biggest brown eyes you could ever imagine with tangled hair ran up to us white visitors began pulling on our shirts, holding out open hands in plea for Rupees (money). Right behind these three begging boys we saw a naked child laying in the shade of a tree trying to sleep. No protection. No love. No shelter. In another area we saw a very small baby being bathed on a median between two very busy streets. It is experiences like this that make you feel like you are in an awful dream. I have compassion for all the homeless, but if you think the ones back in your local town are starving to death, trust me they look fat compared to the people on the streets here. You can literally see these helpless people wasting away right in front of you.

            I cannot tell you how sick to my stomach and almost violated I felt by the end of our shopping day. Not only by the sights on the homeless beggars and the poverty around me, but the stares you try to ignore are unavoidable. You can almost see the thoughts that run through these men’s mind. This would bring me to the unfaithfulness between husband and wife due to arranged marriages, but that is a whole other subject. In Indian society, looking a man directly in the eyes for an extended period of time eegs them on, so it is only right of me to constantly look down at the ground. This has been a challenge, because I usually try to be as personable as possible, and I feel like sometimes a simple smile and eye contact is all that it takes to make someone feel that they are cared about. However, here a smile and eye contact portrays a whole new meaning. If this is the case how can I show this group of people that I care for them and love them without there being alternate meanings involved?

If there is one thing I miss about home right now it is the fresh Rocky Mountain air. For those of you back at home… don’t take it for granted. On the streets of India my sinuses are full of traffic pollution, fires burning trash, poop and pee on the sidewalks, decaying animals, curry, as well as other random and various smells. Walking back onto base is always a huge relief. Although it is busy with people and events, compared to the bustling streets outside the gate you feel like you are in a sacred holy place.