India Day 4 The Work Begins

India Blog 4 of 14. These are being posted after the fact because I had almost no internet access in India. If you read them order things will make a lot more sense.

If your ever in Delhi, India you must ride the metro bus. It is an experience that you will not soon forget. Imagine with me if you will, a rock concert. Ok, now at the front of that concert are all of the people who want to rock out hard core style and maush, all tightly compressed into one small area. Ok, now take that scene, take a way the music, and put it in a Metro bus. I promise you that I am in no way exaggerating this scene. I was shocked that the doors were able to shut after I got in. Rajiv, my host, took the first ride with me to the center to show me the ropes but he couldn’t stay. Oh, and watch out for pick pockets. Let’s just say that I no longer have my monogrammed money clip and am down 140 ruppies ($3.25). Oh snap, I could have road the bus 14 times with that kind of money.

The center is located near the main bus stop. This is where a lot of runaways end up and the center has people there that attempt to convince the kids to come to the center for food, and whatever help they may need. The center is located in one of the poorest sectors of Delhi. Imagine tiny, unmappable, winding, twisting, ally ways lined with very crude housing. It’s similar to what you’ve seen on the “send us money” commercials but being there is so much different, so much more real. The center, as it’s called, is on the second story in one of the better of these buildings and is about the size of an apartment.

The kids at the center were very friendly. We watched a movie, of which I understood almost nothing. I did see that the title was Naughty Fairy Tale of the 7 Horny Dwarfs. I kid you not, that was the title. I played a lot of chess and even lost one game. I blame it on fatigue. This particular kid doesn’t speak any English so only you and I will ever know the true reason for my defeat. Tomorrow I’m going to beat that kid so he had better watch out. One of the boys at the center was especially impressive to me. He was 14 years old, had already traveled 50% of India, was very fluent in English along with his native tongue Hindi. He also knew he a great deal about world politics along with everything else there is to know. He also enjoys WWF. The Undertaker seemed to be the crowd favorite.

The trip back was also fun. This time I didn’t have any money in my pockets to be picked. The people were especially friendly about letting me know where my stop was. This is a 45 minute ride and getting on and off of these busses is no joke. There’s a lot of running and jumping involved. One kind gentleman even walked me home. He may have been worried about me. I can’t imagine why. Oh, and you know how I stand out in Cincinnati, yea, I stand out here too. So far I am the only long haired blond guy that I’ve seen. One little school girl on the bus was looking at me like, “um, what are you doing on this bus?” One of the boys at the center told me that I look like Jesus. That led go a good conversation. By the way I’m still wearing these same clothes. 4 days so far.

I think that for me there has only been one very difficult thing about this trip thus far and that is being away from home. It’s only been 4 days since I last saw my family and already I’m dying inside. I want so badly to be back home with you but I also have a desire to stay here in India for a while more. This is perhaps stretching me more than I had anticipated. 11 more days.