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making bricks |
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| Modest housing along the railroad tracks |
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| Delhi arriving at night |
We are currently in Delhi, India at an internet cafe. Delhi is a crazy, noisy and dirty city with more excitement than one can take for too long, but nevertheless exciting, and
visually beyond description. So many things happening at once to take it all in.
It is almost overstimulating for the mind and body to handle for long, especially if we are not used to this kind of life. We will be hereonly for the day and on our way to Rome tomorrow.
We have just spent the better part of a month in northern India, which was a completely different experience than here in Delhi. Everyday, we were in a spiritual community surrounded with love and compassion. I could write for pages and still not adequately describe the experiences we had. They say when you come to India that you either come on business, or to search your soul. We did the latter. India is the country of gurus and seekers of God. The Indians here have a look in their deep dark eyes of sincere devotion and love, with the curiosity of a child. A smile from a westerner brings them huge amounts of pleasure and makes you a friend for life. There are wheeler and dealers(usually the ones trying to survive in the big cities), and then there are the Indians who work harder physically than what even the most industrious of us can imagine. Their tasks are arduous and tedious. The women work for hours on the hard ground cooking, sifting, sewing, or doing things we accomplish with machines, or don't do because they are too time consuming. The men work in heat that would kill most of us ,and they do hard physical labor that takes pure muscle. They harvest wheat by hand and haul basket fulls produce, dirt or bricks. When they all work together(which they do very well) they can transform places faster than you can believe.
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| homes with livestock along the railroad tracks |
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| small children happily playing along the tracks |
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| dinner time on the train |
Since being in Delhi four years ago, there have been many changes. Delhi has a real modern international airport and many of the roadways are fully paved with defined lanes. The country recently hosted the World Games and Goodwill Games which spurred the government to clean up and make improvements to handle the hundreds of thousands visiting for these events. This is not the kind of clean we are used to, but it is some improvement. While in the Punjab district in Northern India, we got to experience the excitement of the World Championship Cricket Games. The semi finals were India and Pakistan which was a huge match against their biggest rivals. India won! We witnessed security being increased and the excitement mounting. When India beat Pakistan we heard blasts all over the region, fireworks and young men singing their national anthem. A few days later, India is the world champion after the final match with Sri Lanka. This adds to the pride and power that India is quickly gaining in the world. India is considered a third world country, but this is rapidly changing. They are a country that isn't afraid of hard work and sacrifice. They have a new middle class emerging that they have never had before, and the young people are anxious for change and willing to sacrifice thousands of years of tradition to become a first world nation. The sights, sounds, smells and people of India leave a lasting impression on you. It effects you at a soul level.
While in northern India we saw beautiful morning sunrises along the Beas River (a part of the River Ganges), heard the jackals howling early in the morning, saw landscapes changing before our eyes, heard the beautiful chanting of devotional songs by thousands of Indian women for hours. We experienced the super moon on the roof, where we hang our laundry to dry, and were lucky to have very warm and comfortable weather. Not too hot, mid 80's everyday. We were reminded how lucky we are to have been given a human birth, and that it is only in this form that we can realize who we really are. I was able to go to a Buddhist lecture series that was wonderful and learned lots. We leave India quite tired. It has been a month of digging deeper spiritually, and days full of awakening our souls and trying to empty the mind, as well as lots of physical exercise and seva (service). We leave India, however, with old new friends from all over the world, with whom we shared meals, walks and experiences. We have been filled with love and compassion to share, and hopefully have more forgiveness for our shortcomings, as well as for others. India is truly an experience that lasts-- inscribed in your heart and mind.
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| the rush of cramming on with only a 2 minute train stop |
Our pictures are of what we experienced along the six hour trip north by train as well as in Delhi. We could not take pictures where we were in northern India.( I do suggest if you have access to Netflix movie rentals to rent the beautiful documentary called the The Story of India. It is about 8 hours in length and can be amazing entertainment for a whole week. It is wonderfully narrated and gives you some of the colorful history and a feeling and understanding of what we get to experience when we visit).
The world is really an amazing place even with all the changes. We just all need to hold a sense of balance for ourselves and this will help everything around us to hold some balance as well.
