India trip Day 6

After sleeping again in our original rooms at the Pee Fifty-One House in New Delhi, we ate a continental breakfast (Indian style) with other guests before leaving to walk to the Truth Seekers Office.  I was unclear about the details of the day ahead of us - it was one of the "plans are subject to change" sort of days. Flexibility is ALWAYS important when doing mission work.

The Truth Seekers staff told us that we were going to drive to a village an hour away from Delhi and minister to the people there.  I loaded up all the snacks, toys, and trinkets that I had left with the hopes that I would be able to give them away to children in the village.  We would be working with an Indian woman named Kanta, she has been a friend of Truth Seekers for a long time and have been involved with social work in villages for 20 years.

Traffic was bad in Delhi (very obvious statement) and at one of the red lights we were stopped at on  the way there we were approached by a eunuch.  Eunuchs are castrated men (natural or forcibly) who dress in female saris and wear lots of makeup as they roam around on the streets and in marketplaces asking for money.  They live in their own communities and are looked down upon even though their blessings or curses are considered to have power.

An hour later we arrived at the village Auchandi.  This was a newer village for Kanta's work.  She knew several believing women in the village but also knew that there were many women, men, and children who weren't believers.  Kanta met us at our vehicles, shook our hands, and spoke english.  We followed here to a large house and sat on blankets, cots, and chairs in a large room with a stone floor.  Women from the village also joined us and it got crowded.  Together we sang both Hindi and English praise songs, drank chai tea, and ate snacks.  I was sitting on a cot with four other women and we were unable to really talk with each other, but I tried regardless.

Next thing you know, the older woman whose house we had been in was escorted the American women in our group to go pray for the families in the village.  The first house we went to had a really sick old woman.  She was in a tiny, dark room in the back of the house.  We picked her up from the cot she was on to a sitting position.  She couldn't really hold herself up because she was was weak.  She looked like she was on the verge of death and we couldn't do anything but pray aloud for her for several minutes before we laid her back down and moved on.  I felt the Holy Spirit moving and I got really emotional.  It continued to be very emotional for me as we walked with Kanta and the women from house to house praying for the women and families.  Not every household had an obvious illness - sometimes we prayed against evil in a home, other times we prayed for food and resources for a poor family.

No one was translating our English prayers to Hindi and tons of women and children stood around and watched each time we prayed.  I got the feeling that we were being viewed as some kind of healers and it was not a feeling I enjoyed.  As I prayed for the hurting and sick in Auchandi, I also prayed that they people there would see God and not us as we ministered to them in His name.

The homes we visited were all concrete buildings that were tall and narrow, most shared walls as they were all lined up along the same street.  Alleys and streets looked the same; cows milling around, children running and playing, doorways to homes every 12 feet or so... It was quaint and cozy and quiet.  At one home, we were ushered to sit on cots and were served little fruits from a tree and a warm-yogurt-type-drink that was super salty - called a lassi (NOT my favorite by any means!).

When we headed back to our hostess' home, we had a few minutes before the food was going to be ready for lunch so we headed to the roof of the home and got the bird's eye view of the village.  Dry cowpies were on almost every rooftop and the neighborhood children shyly waved at us from their roofs.  We handed out all the toys and trinkets to the children that we'd brought and not been able to give away yet.  Most of my  gifts were Southwest Airlines treats - thanks boss!  The kids (and even some adults) were all excited to see what we had for them.

Lunch was served by a team of 10 or more Indians, with three women still cramped in a 5x7ft room (the kitchen) who kept the food coming until we were all stuffed. It was one of the best meals I'd had yet in India!

We prayed with a few more families before loading up into our vehicles again and beginning the long journey back to the city.  All the conversations in my vehicle on the way back seemed to stay in the serious category.  Pranjal shared his testimony with us and Winn opened up to me about his life story.  I still feel immensely blessed to have met such incredible, loving servants of God.

Because of traffic, we went straight from driving to the book release event for Kancha Ilaiah's new book.  He had already written a controversial book entitled "Why I'm Not a Hindu" and this second book is titled "Post-Hindu India."  Kancha is a Truthseeker in terms of fighting against the Caste system and many of the Christians involved with Truthseekers think that he might also follow Christ (he's a Buddhist) or at least have a healthy knowledge and curiosity of God.

At the event, light refreshments were served before everyone was seated in a small auditorium.  Many important political and religious figures were there.  A few white people, our group being the majority (and, once again, standing out a mile).  Sunil told us that it was important that we were - that our very presence made everyone else there perk up and wonder that this issue must be important if so many white people were in attendance.

The media snapped a lot of photos of Kancha, speakers, book reviewers, and those of us in the audience during the two hour event.  I learned so much and purchased both of Kancha's books to read in order to understand more of the issue of Hinduism and the Caste system.

End of Day 5

This is quite a vivid memory of the trip - the only time I really felt in danger - and an interesting story that I wanted to include about the end of day 5.

After our sight seeing in Agra, before we ate dinner on the roof of the hotel, I walked back down the road toward the Taj Mahal with John Kim.  He was going to be my negotiator for exchanging the rest of my money.

We walked briskly, it only took about 10 minutes from our hotel to reach the Taj Mahal gate where all the tourist shops and money changers are set up.  The sun was slowly disappearing and the last of the tourist groups for the day we leaving.  Since we were walking toward the Taj unlike everyone else, all the shop owners were eager to get our attention. I believe I had mentioned earlier about how children and men would crowd around us and try to sell us their ware...well in this situation we received more than double the attention!  I'm glad that John let me loop my arm through his--it definitely felt dangerous.

We walked to two shops asking about their exchange rate, but John wasn't happy with what they were offering.  At this point, every time we left one shop for another, there was a crowd of 10-12 children waiting for us outside.  They were all crowding close and talking loudly, asking us to come to their father's shop.  We pressed on through the crowd of kids and as the sun dipped down a little more as we walked to one final shop.  (I knew it was our final shop because I told John I wanted to leave asap!)

So we finally step into the final shop and all the kids wait outside.  For the record, it's disconcerting when you walk into a narrow shop and the owners close the door behind you, but I suppose it was necessary to muffle the noise from the street.  We haggled and negotiated until we got the price we wanted for my money exchange--my hands were shaking with adrenaline when I handed over the cash. Whew, I was glad to have that done and ready to head back to the hotel for dinner.

Now it was completely dark outside.  Great.  The street wasn't lit very well and we still had a crowd of kids following us and pressing in from all sides.  There were no other tourists in sight and shops were closing.  John and I were walking briskly, so briskly that I was getting out of breath - but then again, that could have still been the adrenaline.  Now, in addition to all the kids, we had bicycle cart drivers pedaling alongside us, crowding us and cutting us off.  Finally we just hopped in one and told the man to pedal, just to get us away from the dark street with the crowd following us, and to get us to the hotel faster.

We started getting momentum and leaving the crowd behind us.  One persistent young man, probably 10 or 11 years old, with Taj Mahal memorabilia in his hands, kept jogging alongside the cart next to me.  I was busy ignoring him and praying he'd give up when I felt his hand INSIDE the pocket of my kurta (the long top I was wearing)!  My skin started to crawl as I realized that this kid was pick pocketing me!  I snatched a hold of his hand and stared him in the eyes as he grabbed his hand away and finally left.  He didn't seem guilty that he had gotten caught, merely annoyed that he'd run after us to no avail.  Thankfully I don't keep things in my pockets so he didn't get anything.

I was speechless as I sat there in that bike rickshaw.  And our poor driver, he was so small and pedaling as best he could, but our hotel was up a slight hill and he couldn't get the momentum to pedal up the hill and had to get out and walk next to the bike, pushing us up the hill.  (I tried not to let this affect my self esteem about being chubby.)  I told John that this poor man had taken us far enough so we hopped out, paid him, and walked the small way back to the hotel.

Whew!  All this happened in the span of 45 minutes.  I can't believe I almost forgot to include it!

When we arrived back at the hotel, we ate dinner and then loaded up to go to the Agra train station again.  Gosh I hated the train station.  Not only was it always crowded, and the staring worse than anywhere else, the children who beg there just break your heart and there is nothing you can do to help them.

Picture this.  We get out of the taxis and standy aside the vehicles while the men unload our luggage from the top racks.  As we stand there--a timid huddle of Americans--young barefoot children quickly approach us with their little arms extended asking for food or money.  Because we ignored them and avoided making eye contact, the children got more agressive in trying to get our attention.  They began to pinch our arms, just above the elbow and walk directly in front of our path as we headed to the station entrance with our luggage.  The reason we didn't help this children is because we were told that if we gave one or two children any food or money that it would cause a riot amongst the children.  Someone said, "unless you can permantely remove that child from their situation, you won't be helping them by giving them anything."  Like I said, heartbreaking.

Once inside the train station, there weren't as many children begging but rather cripples.  One man with no legs and a mangled arm was persistantly tapping on our feet and stayed within a few feet of us for more than 30 minutes while we waited for our train back to New Delhi.  It's hard to not do anything.  It's hard to realize that this is someone's livlihood.  It's hard to know that some of these people were deliberately injured in order to bring in money for someone else.  *Sigh*  I didn't like the train stations.

Day 5 side note

For our sight-seeing day, we had hired a tour guide to take us to the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and to a marble making place. I can't remember his name, but he spoke good english and was knowledgeable of all the facts we needed to know about these places. At the end of the day, while the rest of the team was inside the marble making place, I was sitting outside with Deshpande, the tour guide, and our two taxi drivers. Deshpande and the tour guide were having an interesting debate about Christianity vs. Muslim. The tour guide, a muslim, kept flowing back and forth between Hindi and English so I had a hard time keeping up! But at one point he looked at me and said, "If you marry me, I will convert to Christianity." HAHA! I turned him down and continued to listen to the debate. Later I found out that he's already married and has two children! Regardless, I thought it was funny. Now I can say that I received a marriage proposal in India.

Day 5

These are the events of Tuesday November 24:

After sleeping in, I finally felt adjusted to India time! This was our sight-seeing day. In hindsight, I would have been perfectly fine with spending only half a day sight-seeing so that we could have had more time working with the Indian people. But, we did see some pretty incredible things on this day:

Day 4 part 2

Okay so now it's Monday afternoon and we just left one village for another. Since the debacle with the taxis earlier in the day put us behind schedule, we didn't have time to eat lunch. We snacked on a few things in the taxis, but it was only an hour until we reached the second village.

Because the road we needed to take to the location of the footwashing was down a less-than-promising-and-quite-crowded road, we got out of the taxis on the main road and then walked down said street. Fortunately or unfortunately, at this time in the day there were a lot of children and teenagers walking home from school and it was obvious that many of them, and other men and women on the main road, had never seen white people before. The staring in this village was unlike anywhere else we were in India.

As we walked down the side street, we literally had a growing crowd following us down the street and into the field where the ceremony was set up to take place.

We started right away when we sat down and had a small amplifier that emitted a surprisingly loud sound of our singing and talking across the field and thus brought even more people off the street and over to hear what we were saying. The crowd grew and grew. I noticed a deep sadness in a lot of the faces--this place was noticeable different from the previous village. The people seemed oppressed and weighted down. I prayed hard as we sat there before washing feet.

When we began washing feet, the women were shy but there were enough of them in the crowd that we were busy. So many young men were taking our pictures on their cell phones that I tried not to get distracted from my task of praying over the women whose feet I was touching and washing. Sometimes someone came alongside me and translated what I was saying, but not always. I just remembered to let my face show my heart and show God's love (as best I can) to each woman, man, and child.

When we finished we had quite a crowd eager to follow us up the road to a school where we locked ourselves in so that we could use the toilet before the long car drive back to Agra. We managed to leave the crowd safely - I don't exactly think that having an entourage is as glamorous as one might think.

I started feeling carsick on the ride back to Agra - I swear the roads got bumpier on the way back! About 2 hours there in the dark, still sitting in the back seat, we got a flat tire on our taxi and had to stop on the side of the road until the men could change the tire. I opted to take a middle seat for the rest of the journey back to Agra and slept the whole way!

Even though it was relatively early in the evening, I walked up to our room in Agra and slept on my face for 40 minutes before reviving for dinner downstairs. Everyone was exhausted from the travels and emotions of the day so we quickly ate and went back to bed. One of the girls gave me some pills that helped me sleep through the night for the first time - it was awesome!

Day 4 done!

Day 4 part 1

I woke up at 4:30am even though we didn't need to meet in the hotel lobby until 7am. I was thankful to discover that we had hot water in the bathroom and, after a nice shower, found a nice place in the hotel to sit and journal about the day before. I don't typically keep a daily journal, but on this trip it was such a good idea because now I can remember details like this! :-)

When 7am arrived, I was already in the hotel restaurant sipping on a cup of chai tea (have I mentioned that I would drink 3 or 4 a day in India?). We loaded the team into 3 taxis and left for our day. Not even 10 minutes later we had to turn the taxis all around and go back to the hotel. No one really knew why, at least those of us who didn't speak Hindi. There was some debacle with one taxi or driver not being legally allowed to drive foreigners out of the Agra city limits. Anyway, while that was being figured out, I enjoyed sitting at a small cafe across the street eating breakfast with the team and Sunil.

When we finally departed again, an hour later, I truly experienced an Indian Road Trip - around three hours of traffic and potholes to get us to village #1 for the day. I sat in a back fold-down seat of a vehicle comparable to a 4-runner. Deshpande was sitting across from me and 5 other people were in the front two rows of seats in the car. Sitting sideways on a fold-down seat probably didn't help me not feel carsick... Along the way Deshpande was kind enough to give me an agricultural lesson on the mustard plants, sugar cane, and banana trees we were driving past (when we weren't in a larger city area). I still can't get over the fact that we were sharing tiny roads with people on foot, motorcycles, bikes, semi trucks, donkeys, and other rural carts.

The first village, I can't find the name of it, had crackling speakers loudly blasting an announcement as we arrived and got out of the taxis. We walked to the chairs set up for us underneath a colorful tent and surrounded by interesting trees. The voice on the loudspeaker was saying "our visitors have arrived!" and people from the village quickly arrived and joined us so that we could start.

Similar to the day before, we sang and spoke to the people gathered there. I believe this was more of a "believing community" and they all seemed very receptive to what we were saying. I was honored to share for just a minute or two the things that were on my heart.

This is the gist of what I shared: “My name is Katie and I am from the state of Texas in America. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and, in my own way, a TruthSeeker. I came here to tell you about my God because His love is so great that it compels me to share that love with everyone. One thing that I love about God, is that He is an international God—I can serve Him and you can serve Him. He loves all people regardless of their country, age, or gender. When you believe in Jesus and experience His love, your life has a peace and a hope that never fade. In my country, we have heroes of our past who fought for freedom and, from what I’m learning about your country, you also have people in India’s past who have fought for freedom. Jesus also wants justice and freedom for all nations and people. He wants equality for us, the people He loves. I am honored to show you God’s love today, and that we are all created equal, by washing your feet.”

After the singing and speaking was done, and it was time to wash feet, I only washed a the feet three women before standing to the side to let the other women on our team rotate in and have a turn. The Indian women in this community seemed much more eager and willing to get up and let us wash their feet. As I stood to the side, one of the Indian men who was traveling with us came over to me and said "the women are curious about you--you should go be with them." Taking his advice, I walked over to the women sitting in the sun and sat with them. Oh how I wish I spoke Hindi at that moment!

I'll let the pictures speak about the beauty of that moment to me:





This was probably my favorite 20 minutes of the trip. I had to get up because the women wanted to wash the feet of all the ladies on our team. It was literally and spiritually touching to experience this moment and I hated leaving. I must have embraced more than 20 women on our way to the taxis.


They were incredible. This is why you should go to India. To meet people like this that change your life and help you realize how little you understand about life and love and living. I'm so glad that God let me meet the people of this village on that day.

I know...

I'm so far behind on updating about my India trip! And I have so much else new stuff that I want to share! It's coming, I promise...

Day 3 part 2

After lunch at the hotel, we loaded into a couple SUV taxis and cars and headed over to the site of our first footwashing. We'd only been in the car for 10 minutes when the taxis pulled over and parked on the side of the main road next to barber stations and fruit carts. We unloaded and walked down a small road, around a corner, and into the courtyard of what looked like a community center. Men, both young and old, were gather at the back and women were seated on chairs at the front. Children were running around, some gathered at the front and sat down to stare at us. (See picture.)

Once we arrived everything began quickly and without much ceremony. Some pink rose petals were sprinkled on the tables in front of us and there were also bottles of mineral water for us to drink since it we were outside and it was quite warm. This location was unique because the ceremony was opened by a Buddist-monk-in-training who gave a prayer asking for peace and unity. Then Sunil began speaking and singing with Earnest and Pranjal playing the instruments. When Sunil speaks, he will speak and then flow directly into song without skipping a beat of the Message he is delivering. Since music is a big part of Indian culture, TruthSeekers uses songs that they've written, as well as some Bollywood songs, to help communicate Truth with the low-caste Indians.

One of the ladies in our group, Lynelle, a little bit about herself and why she was there. Jody and Win also shared. Then, I hardly noticed when it happened, there were chairs and buckets at the front and we got up and started washing feet. Women could only wash womens feet, and we started with the oldest women. We tried to coax the women to come forward, sometimes they wouldn't come up unless urged to by some of the local men who spoke to them in Hindi. I washed maybe 6 or 7 womens' feet. When I wasn't washing feet, I was helping empty basins and hand out towels.

While we were still washing feet, about 20 minutes later, we sang another song and then we said a prayer. Then Deshpande came and got us to leave. We had to follow him closely and leave without a lot of announcement. You see, we had about 50 kids following us down the street and alley to the waiting cars and it was quite a task to stay together. Once the men escorted us to the cars we stayed in there until they finished gathering their equipement and joined us so we could leave. The kids remained swarmed around the vehicles and just stared at us or tapped on the windows. It was hard to leave without offering them everything their eyes were asking for--hope and love.

We arrived back at the hotel and met together on the roof in order to debrief. Several Indians were there who had been a part of the day's ceremony. One of the women offered to give the ladies on our team Henna tattoos. It was really fascinating to watch and I like tattoos - so it was a win/win for me!

We left for dinner shortly after - we walked up the road to a restaurant. Since the food took a long time to arrive (and it wasn't very good either), I ended up walking back to the hotel to eat in the hotel restaurant. I stayed up talking with a few members of our team before going to bed exhausted.

Day 3 - over.

Day 3 part 1

Early on Sunday morning we were packed again and taking a 2 ½ hour train ride to Agra. I rode in the backseat of a scary taxi with one of the springs in the seat causing me discomfort on the way as our driver coughed incessantly. It was pretty frightening at the station; traffic was loud and made me disoriented as I tried to walk between the cars without losing sight of the group or losing grip on my luggage. This moment was when we really noticed people staring at us. Being a large group of white people, we stood out to say the very least! And when Indians stare, they have an expressionless face and they don't really stop staring--even when you meet their eyes. Some how I got used to this during the next six days.

We hustled and bustled to get everyone on the right train car, in the right seat. Finally, we were departing and on our way to Agra. Out the window of the train car, I saw countless slums as we moved through and out of Delhi. Children and women were walking around through piles of trash and garbage, there were housing areas that were made of flimsy materials, and there was litter all along the side of the train for the length of our journey.

When we arrived in Agra, the leaders of the community we would be visiting later that day greeted us with flower leis. There were people everywhere but we managed to stay as one group and load up into cars as we drove to our hotel. I already liked Agra better than Delhi. It was crowded like all of India is, but it seemed like the roads were more open and the sky more bright. When we arrived at the Hotel Taj Plaza, I looked down the street and saw the top of the Taj Mahal! We explored our less-than-stellar room with three tiny beds (smaller than a twin) and sketchy bathroom. The roof was fun, you could eat meals from the hotel restaurant there, and had a specktacular view of the Taj Mahal.

Since we had two hours to kill before our afternoon footwashing, we got the chance to walk around and see what normal life looks like. Since we'd mostly been in the TruthSeekers office the day before, it was good to get out and feel the sun. Although you can never really take a deep breath of clean air in India due to the pollution, the warmth of the air seemed to help us adapt to the time zone.

We walked down the road in front of the hotel that leads to the Taj Mahal. The closer you get to the Taj, the more venders and sellers start to yell at you and walk alongside you and try to get you to look at their postcards, snow globes, marble works, wooden trinkets, etc. We were taught that the best approach to losing their interest is to simply look straight ahead, not making eye contact, and completely ignore them. Sometimes I'd shake my head from side to side and say "Nay. Nay." But often that just encouraged them more than the ignoring.

As we turned left down another road outside the West entrance to the Taj Mahal, the shops became less tourist-oriented and we saw more of the simple shops and trades that occupy the streets of neighborhoods. We saw monkeys wandering around, pigs digging through trash, naked children, hardworking men and women, donkeys carrying carts, cows wandering around, bicycles and rickshaws, goats, dogs sleeping in the street, and lots of curious glances.

We quickly discovered that the children all know "hello. chocolate?" and "hello. money?" in English. Since we weren't handing out money or chocolate, we entertained them with our cameras by taking pictures of them and then showing them. I remembered my go-to phrase of "What is your name?" in Hindi and got many giggles in return. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

Notes from Day 2

In my journal, I wrote down several things that were shared during orientation on Saturday. I thought they were worth including for you to read as well:

"Reformation can only come to India through the presence of Christians from other countries. "

"We are dreamers, that is why we are living. The day we stop dreaming is the day we stop living." - Sunil Sardar

"I don't know if I'm a traditional Christian. But I wasn't a TruthSeeker before, and I am now. Of this I am certain." - Victor Paul

"Everyone thinks they can change India by getting rid of the caste systems. But this has only caused the castes to grow stronger. We need reformation to see change--a difference of the heart." - Sunil Sardar

Day 2

I woke up at 5am because of the time difference and took a very cold bucket shower. I had waited roughly 3-4 minutes for hot water, but that didn't happen so I just filled the bucket with cold water. Although there was an option for the normal shower, the pressure wasn't impressive and I decided to just use the provided bucket and cup method. (See picture...and to clarify, I took pictures of more than just bathrooms.)

After that experience, I stood at the window by our balcony and watched the street wake up for the day. I saw a husband and wife go through some sort of morning prayer routine on their balcony, I saw men pushing carts begin to call out their wares in Hindi, I also heard newspaper headlines shouted out by cyclists, and watched the birds and parrots sway on the telephone wires.

When everyone was awake, we all walked two blocks to the TruthSeekers office for breakfast and orientation. The office is on the second floor of a building and includes a kitchen, a large gathering room, a dining room, two bathrooms, and three office rooms. People come and go throughout the TruthSeekers office everyday, dinner is served every night, and there are beds on the fourth floor of the building for guests to sleep in while in Delhi (some of the single TruthSeekers live up there). Since Delhi is essentially the Washington DC of India, lots of caste leaders from all parts of India will travel there for meetings. The office is open to everyone as long as they are willing to interact with whoever else might be there. I like that within the walls of their office and home, the TruthSeekers are working to see the caste system destroyed.

I should mention that the four main objectives of TruthSeekers are love, equality, dignity, and freedom. They are as much a social justice organization as they are a Christian ministry. Their ultimate goal is to see reconciliation of the caste system in India. Because there is not even a word in Hindi for reconciliation, the TruthSeekers teach it to low-caste Indians by connecting the pieces of truth that are throughout Indian history, traditions, and culture. So many people in India have been told lies about their worth and TruthSeekers wants to give low-caste Indians their dignity, tell them words of truth, and sing them songs of love in order to point them all to God. This was also our goal with each footwashing ceremony we did during the week.

Anyway, after breakfast we spent time in general introductions of both the American team and the TruthSeekers. To name a few: Steve Smith (from Texas!), Sunil Sardar who started TruthSeekers, Deshpande, Earnest, Pranjal, Bhascar, Vincent, Victor, and Dr. Renke. I noticed that there is a unique culture/community about TruthSeekers. Throughout the week they introduced countless social and spiritual leaders to us as "a friend of TruthSeekers" or "a TruthSeeker." Because everyone who is working for the freedom of low-caste Indians is part of the same fight, they consider all of them friends or partners of their ministry.

Throughout the morning we spent time together going over the schedule for the week, tips about food and sleep, then we would sing (I learned several songs in Hindi), and, finally, we washed each other's feet. All in all, I know that it was a crash course in learning about India and the caste system and that we didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of understanding it completely.

At the end of orientation, the women went to the Smith's house (just a few blocks away) and received a clothing lesson from Steve's wife, Robin, and their daughter Irene. In this photo, we have in the back Irene Smith, Ashley Job (13, California), and me. Then in the front is Lynnel Job (California), Jody, and McKenna.

Then we all loaded up in cars and went shopping at FabIndia for our "salwars." The bottoms I bought were called Patiyala pants, the tops are called Kurtas, and the scarf is a Dubatta.

I think we ate dinner at the TruthSeekers office, but I can't really remember. I know I went to sleep around 8 or 9pm because I was pooped!

Day 1 of my trip to India

After a 15-hour flight from Chicago on November 19, which skipped ahead 11 1/2 hours to November 20, I arrived in Delhi late at night. Five other Americans were on my flight and we picked up by our leader, Noel, outside of baggage claim and customs. It is entertaining to note that I had my first experience with a squatty potty in the airport. (see picture)



When we first stepped outside the airport into the warm air, I realized that the air in India is hazy and smells like campfire and incense. But there was little time to soak in the surroundings as we were quickly divided into a taxi and the TruthSeekers van. Because it’s always rush hour in Delhi, it took us a long time to get to our guest house—or perhaps it just seemed like a long time because of the harrowing ride through a city of 14-million people with confusing roads and no apparent rules for drivers. On the roads in India, not just Delhi, you will have huge trucks and buses alongside smaller cars, motercycles, bicylces, donkeys pulling cards, 3-wheel rickshaw taxis, and wandering livestock. Combine these factors with unmarked roads, confusing construction detours, and everyone honking their horn every 5 seconds...it was total chaos!

We arrived to the "South Extension Part II" of New Delhi, where both our guest house and the TruthSeekers Office are. Our guest house was called the "Pee Fiftyone House" and was much nicer than I had expected. I stayed with Jody (23, Texas) and McKenna (17, Colorado) in a large suite with a normal toilet in the bathroom. (see picture, that's McKenna)

It was after midnight when we arrived, so we went to bed.