Last Day in Indore

Hello,

Well, just like that it is the last day here. I can't believe how many experiences have been crammed into a two week period. The last couple of days have been spent visiting some of the low income schools in the surrounding areas of Indore. They are known as the "backwards" areas, which seems like a backwards way of thinking, but that is what it is. We actually have had a wonderful time at these schools. Yesterday we visited a school that was not in session, but all the students and teachers heard we were coming, so they came and had school just for us. It was a lot of fun. We sat in the courtyard of the schoolbuilding and sang songs. I got to accompany them on a little casio keyboard as we taught the students 'Old MacDonald', 'The Wheels on the Bus', 'London Bridges', and 'The Hokey Pokey'. The teachers were very excited. They wrote down all the lyrics and moves that we did so they could teach them later. It would be interesting to go back in a few months to see how the songs sound. I am sure that they would have a Hindi twist to them. The students also put on a few performances for us as well. Some of the girls sang a song about their new saree. They had dance moves for it and everything. We all felt so fortunate to be sharing in this manner. It was just about impossible to have conversation because of the language barrier, but when we started taking pictures and showing them back to them on our digital cameras, everyone started laughing and having a great time. It was interesting to see how happy they all were. After about a half hour there were at least 75 curious people from the village gathered around. They were as interested in us as we were of them. I think that we take for granted the pure joy of just living and having genuine experience when we are so consumed by all the material things required for the average American lifesyle. These people do not know what they do not have, so it does not bother them. It was great to see. When we went for a walk through their village, everyone came out to greet us. They kept asking us to spend the night so we could sing songs and dance. It was actually very hard to say no. I can feel my whole perspective on life has shifted, but I feel like it is too soon for me to put it into words. Early tomorrow morning we will be flying to Mumbai, spending the entire day their, and then flying home. I am looking forward to coming home, but I also feel like my time here has been cut too short. I have just started to get used to the crazy traffic....(At any one moment, on any given road, you will find pedestrians, rickshaws, bicycles, cars, trucks, busses, tractors, push carts, dogs, cows, wild boars, camels, elephants, monkeys, motercycles, and scooters. It doesn't matter if you are on a village road or an interstate highway, all these things will be there.) I am also just getting the hang of the price of things, and how to get a rickshaw driver to use their meter, (instead of spiking the fair). Oh well...I am sure I will use this information on future trips to India. So I guess this is it from India. The next keyboard I type on will be the one in my home office. Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend.

John