Day 25

Day 25
June 18, 2011
It’s the weekend!! The weekends are always so enjoyable here because it gives us a chance to get off of base, away from the slums, out o f the clinic, and out into the town where we can explore and see something new. Today was no different. The five of us girls piled into a rickshaw and went down to see this Hindu temple. The Sree Venkateshwara was beautiful. It was really awkward though seeing all these Hindu’s paying tithes and praying to the fake golden statues. The only reason we went her was for the architecture and craftsman ship. It was to the extent where you were not even allowed to bring in phones, cameras, purses…nothing but yourself. This temple was pure white, made of solid marble. Of course it was not as impressive as the Taj Mahal, but still, you would not believe how detailed this marble work was. It was so pretty and it sat on top of this amazing hill where you had 360 views of the entire city. Until you see a scene like that you don’t realize how crammed of a space you are in. There were just houses, streets, and cars everywhere! Breathtaking though to say the least. There is also this lake nearby with the Budda statue in the center of it. This area seemed so peaceful—minus the fact we knew that the water in this lake is all sewage.
After the temple we walked quite a ways down to this part where you could just sit and relax of take a boat ride out to the Budda statue. After waiting for two of the other girls we finally all met up and took our little adventure to the Budda. Sure the statue was cool and all, but I think I would have been just as content with just the boat ride. After this we just walked along the path that followed the lake. It was actually surprisingly nice and didn’t smell of sewage like we expected. On our way we stopped by this really cool memorial and this water park type place. I would have never expected anything like that exactly here in India, but like I have mentioned before you have your parts that are well off, and you have you others that are dirt poor. I think it is really important to see both sides so you don’t just get a one dimensional view of India. After chilling and having a coffee on a lake side balcony we had an amazing dinner at this restaurant called water front. It was super fancy and probably the nicest restaurant in Hyderabad. However the most we all paid in American currency was maybe $8.00… seriously I wish the prices were like this in America. It’s funny though because all though everything really is so cheap you start to think in Rupee terms and are careful with the money you do spend.
We got in a fight with our rickshaw driver last night… we were coming home from dinner and trying to get back to base… we told him where it was and he offered 100Rs. That seemed like a very fair price so we agreed… half way back though he tried to bump up our price to 250Rs!!! The rule in India is once someone states a price and both parties agree it’s a done deal and you don’t change it… well he definitely tried to change it. We did our best to bargain with him and even offered him 200Rs at one point but he wouldn’t budge. So we then asked him to pull over and let us out! He wouldn’t…. I think this was part of the language barrier, but still… we eventually got him to pull over we gave him 50Rs and then had to find another rickshaw. We ended up getting a better deal out of it all anyways, but I seriously thought that this guy was going to chase after us! We were being very fair though… they always up the price for white people anyways so he would have gained money either way.
After the whole incident I was just day dreaming and got to thinking “where is God in this place..?” In a weird way I have had a difficult time trying to see God myself and I just looked at all the people we were passing by and couldn’t help but think how lost they are. After seeing the temple and people praying so heavily to them I just want God to become so evident in their lives. I know it is just cultural roots that are hard to distinguish, but if our God is the God of impossible things then why doesn’t he come and rescue His lost children? I myself have really been trying to search for God here and although he is constantly on my mind, I have yet to truly feel his presence fully here. I need him to be there as my strength and encouragement. I need him to answer questions and give me peace, but where is he? Why does He seem so far away? I hope that I feel him working in my life and that he gives me a proper direction and peace in my life. I hate to feel like I am following my own desires and not the ones He has clearly set for me.