Layover

So I get on this plane... The flight I am taking is too far for a straight shot so I have to stop about three fourths of the way there. My layover is not just a couple of hours it is just over eight hours. So I get a hotel room, a nice bed, a TV where most of the channels are in Arabic and of course a bathroom with two toilets. That is the first time I have seen two toilets in one bathroom. But one of them looked kind of weird, like flushing would have been really odd. I figured I would use the one that looked most familiar when the time came.

So with a long layover there also comes some time to relax for a bit. I decided I should try something Middle Eastern since I was in the Middle East. I found the perfect local thing to try - Turkish coffee. The perfect blend of coffee, some sugar and a touch of Cardamom. It was a wonderful way to reacquaint my pallet to the wonders of middle eastern and eastern flavors and spices. That is until I got to the very last couple of sips when I realized that what was in my cup was not coffee, it was sludge. I actually had to ask the server if drinking that stuff was part of the Turkish coffee experience. He assured me that people don't drink the last few sips. I felt a whole lot better. 

The chocolate croissant was a lot like one I can get at Starbucks - which either says a lot about Starbucks or very little about the airport cafe where I had the coffee. 

Either way my first Turkish coffee was a success, and I look forward to my next one. I am learning so much already. Always look carefully at the apparatus in your bathroom, you don't have to drink the stuff at the bottom of your Turkish coffee.

Just a Meandering Thought...

LAST

So this will be my last official post on India even though the memories and the impact continue to rattle my soul. Here are a few closing thoughts on my time in India:

There were some things that I knew about before going to this diverse and complex country. These things included:

• Huge population and population density
• Major issues with poverty
• Very religious people who take pride in their religion
•  The Ganges river is very important to their religious practices and beliefs.

There were somethings I thought I knew and understood about the Indian people and their culture that turned out to only be partially true. 

• They like Americans but hate American culture
• Cricket is the big game in India not soccer (football)
• People who are "outcastes"were not considered Hindu's until recently 
• Christianity is a minority religion of about 2.8% of the population. It recently surpassed Islam which is about 2.4%

There were somethings that I was totally wrong about and really had no clue about:

• Despite being being mostly polytheists and very open and accepting of gods, they really do not like Christianity and Islam. They do like Jesus and Muhammad.
• Many people think of the Indian people as being warm and welcoming to everybody, but they do not want westerners influencing or changing their culture and traditions. Some will fight over it.
• There is garbage everywhere because Hindu's believe that everything (including garbage) is Brahman (supreme spiritual entity). So it means nothing to throw Brahman out the window on to Brahman.
• The beliefs of the Hindus are strongly influenced by their mythology. If you know their mythology you will better understand their customes and beliefs.



Here I am standing on the grounds of Indira Ghandi's grave. This was in a park dedicated to the Ghandi family. Mahatmah Ghandi's grave is located off to my right. This was the last place I stopped before heading to the airport to fly home.



THREE

So I have about three weeks left before leaving for India. There is one piece left that still need to nail down before I can leave. I will be on a non stop flight from Newark to Deli, but I need to get to Newark. So either today or tomorrow I need to book that flight. Going from the Boston area to Newark is not going to be too bad, but being on a plane for almost fifteen hours is going to be brutal. The upside is that there is a much less chance of losing my bags.

I am not worried about culture shock when I arrive or even after being there for a couple of weeks. If you know me you know I am pretty adaptable. Culture shock will really hit me when I get home in mid August. I will be returning to a place of privilege and cleanliness where I eat with utensils, where there are flush toilets, where I simply go to a grocery store when I want food, clean water form the faucet. These are all things that we take for granted that at some point I will not have access to.

After building relationships with people who have so little and somehow seem happy I will question what I consider to be true happiness. I will question what I really need in order to live a fulfilling life. I may even get frustrated at God for being born in America where if I work hard enough I can have just about anything, compared to those who work like slaves and still barely have enough to survive.

I know this is coming and yet I go because to not go is to keep myself ignorant. It is to pretend that I know anything about sacrifice, or poverty. Even after I come back I will still only be an observer of it and not a participant in it.

Just a Meandering Thought...