Broken hearted

How can I erase some if the things I have witnessed and should I? My heart hurts so badly and I can literally cry from just thinking about some of the things I see every day!!

The cobble stone work on the streets is done by some of the poorest and the whole family, including tiny babies and toddlers who can barely walk, all help out. A little boy, 5-7 years old had fallen and hurt himself. He was covered in cement and cried. Instead of loving care, his mother beat him. Repeatedly. Other, younger, children carried rocks that looked heavier than their tiny body weights. All they had was a tiny t-shirt, not even underwear.

I get sick to my stomach when I then hear and see "humble" people with noble life philosophies and principles they claim to live by and yet they cannot once set aside their need to be seen and heard, the need to be in focus, the need for attention, let alone help some of these “unwanted” without receiving glory for it. I am so tired of seeing and hearing the glory-hoggers, the fake, the imposters who only take but cannot give, unless they get some credit for it. You are like the cream on fresh milk; everybody wants it in the beginning, but quickly you get nauseating. All you are is fat, unhealthy to the body, clogging the arteries that supply the real good.

I left Delhi today with a heavy heart. This trip was fairly unproductive work wise, terribly expensive, and my heart is finally shredded. Who will help these little ones, tonight, tomorrow in the scorching heat?? I pray to my God for special angels over them and feel so helpless. What can I do?

The Red Fort

Well, we were in Delhi, couldn’t go to the Taj Mahal and it was 115F. This leg of our trip proved to be really challenging, but we decided to still go see some things and today we headed out to the Red Fort. What a rewarding experience!!

This 17th century fort is an amazing piece of architecture and history. It was originally built by the Mughals and functioned as the Mughal capital until 1857 when the British exiled the Mughal emperor and used the fort as a military camp.

Apart from the intense heat, we really enjoyed seeing the emperor’s quarters with the amazing detailed work and I can just imagine how beautiful the waterways must have been, connecting the various buildings.

After the fort, we wanted to see some of India famous open markets, but this turned out harder than expected. All we could find was an underground bazaar, which was really interesting, and shopping streets, but no open markets with spices and fabrics. Where did India of my imagination go?

The heat was really intense and after several pointless stops at various shopping areas, we headed back to the hotel. From there, we ventured out to the shopping area right around the hotel. In India, and Delhi, you can never be too careful, but I felt so comfortable there that I later ventured out on my own to look for something special.

It might not have been the trip we had envisioned, but at the end of the day we felt we were finally getting back on track again. Unfortunately, my sore throat was now a full fleshed cold and I felt miserably.

Delhi

Feeling a little defeated, we left Indore and caught our morning flight to Delhi. We hoped that our trip maybe would start turning around and decided to make the best of it.

Delhi had apparently not yet enjoyed the benefits of the monsoon and we landed in 115F heat! The best we could think of was renting an air-conditioned cab and see some things in Delhi before heading to the hotel.

This was a good idea, if the air-conditioning had worked. As Hanna put it, A/C stands in India for Almost Chilly. Nevertheless, we did get to go to a place we both really wanted to see: The Lotus Temple. This place reminds me so much of the Sydney Opera House by the Danish architect J Jørn Utzon. The temple is located on beautiful grounds and is really spectacular.

Afterwards, we drove around and saw the India Gate, The Monkey God and the beautiful presidential palace and we then headed to the tourist office to book our train tickets to Agra for the next day. We wanted to go and see the Taj Mahal. Consistent with the trip so far, we were out of luck and there were no more seats available on the train, but we could hire an expensive cab for $120!

By the late afternoon, the heat and the two previous days had taken their toll and we needed to head to the hotel. If you are even in Delhi, go stay at the Grand President Hotel in Karol Bagh. Don’t let the location deter you. Initially, you will wonder how quickly you can leave the area, but it all turned out fantastic. It is a great hotel at a reasonable price and the staff it so friendly. More importantly, it is clean!! We had for the first time in weeks a warm shower and it wasn’t long before we fell asleep.

A good night's sleep....right?

My mother always told me (yes, I actually listened) that things will look different after a good night’s sleep and she has so far been right. So, I woke up determined that it would be a good day. It would take much more than determination to make it through this day.

After a cold shower, because there is also no hot water, my throat felt like sandpaper but we decided to try some breakfast before heading out. After all the commotion last night, I figured they would be careful. No hair.

There was indeed no hair in our white, wonderbread-like substance that was smothered with a paste they called jam. To this delicacy, we enjoyed a glass of tap water neither of us dared to touch. But, it was eatable so we ate our breakfast, while 5 people stood around watching our every bite. We really were the only ones in the hotel.

The good news was that we noticed that the eating area had napkins and since our “deluxe” hotel room apparently did not come with toilet paper, well….

We headed out to the producer and maybe I haven’t been in India long enough, but the conditions under which some of the kids exist are so hard for me. The producer lives is a comparably well-to-do area and yet I saw a little boy, 10-12 years old, working on the street, welding with no protection.

We really enjoyed visiting with this producer too. Even though they didn't know for sure what to do with us, they were so kind and friendly. At the end of the day, they offered us to pick out blocks and design our own scarves and they printed and dyed them just for us. But, the cultural and language barrier was much greater here and we quickly figured that getting to our actual assignment would be very difficult. We tried carefully to open the conversation about inconsistency, but the door was very quickly closed. After a long day, we headed back to the hotel to a very confusing evening.
Very, very long story short, Hanna had by 11:30pm spent hours on the phone trying to figure everything out, but when we talked to the airline on the phone, they said we were flying out Wednesday morning but our email confirmation stated Thursday. Then suddenly, the hotel was apparently full and had no more room for us. What was going on???!!

The conclusion of all this confusion was that we were leaving Wednesday morning, missing out on visiting the producer, being in Delhi much earlier, and costing each of us nearly $100 in fees (after all the fees Hanna got reversed!). We were so tired, confused, and frustrated after two very difficult days. And then the power went out. Again.

Indore

What a day!

This morning, we left for Indore on a 6:30am flight, and after last night’s adventure with loud girls, I was looking forward to a night’s sleep, even if it was just a short one. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. After tossing and turning for nearly 2 hours, I started dozing of just to be awakened by the doorbell. I laid there wondering how wise it would be to open the front door, after midnight, in Mumbai.

Nevertheless, I decided to go look through the peep hole but didn’t see anybody. Then the phone rang. It was our landlord who kindly enough had printed out our etickets for us and wanted to make sure we had them. I found them on the outside of the door. After that, there was no going to sleep and I got up a 2:00am.

We had been advised to call a (Meru) cab to get to the airport and were told that we just needed to call about 15 minutes before we wanted to leave. When do I learn?? We called, and after the third attempt (and we were now 20 minutes later), we found out that the cab would at the soonest be there in half an hour, but the cab driver will call us to confirm when he arrived. He did call….. to get directions….in Hindi!! I neither know how to give directions to our apartment nor do I speak Hindi. So, we went downstairs to find our security guard sleeping and woke him up. We called the cab back and gave the phone to the security guard. This was a good idea, but then we ran out of minutes on the phone.

At least we made it to the airport just before 6:00am, just barely in time to check in. Everything went fine until we went through security and they found so many things wrong with our carry-on. After wanting to throw nearly everything out and the clock was nearly 6:30, someone told us we could still check in the bags. Great, we ran all the way back to the check in counter, checked in the bags and hoped and prayed they would make it. In good shape. Then we ran back to security and had to go through the whole security process again. Finally done, we ran clear across the airport to gate 11, the gate we had been told us to go to, just to find it to be the flight for Hyderabad. She told us to go back to the exact area we just came from.

After this morning workout, we made it just in time through the boarding gate, got on the bus and drove less than 100 meters to the airplane!! Never encountered anything more pointless.
Once on the plane, someone had taken my seat so I told them that it was my seat. They just looked at me and pointed to the seat in front and said I could sit there. That was it!! I told them “No! That is my seat and I want to sit there!” Perturbed they moved and I found myself nearly two hours next to a man who had no qualms about passing really stinky gas! Ugh.

After a brief stop in Bophal, we arrived in Indore and were so relieved to see our bags, even in somewhat good shape and with all our belongings in them. Then we headed outside to look for Mustakim, the son of the fabric producer we were to visit, but found no Mustakim. So we waited, and waited, while we still had no more minutes on our phone. After founding out that there were no pay phones at the airport, we borrowed a phone from a gentleman and got hold of our supervisor who told us that she was sorry but she had forgotten to call him!! She had us write down directions to his place and we were supposed to take a cab. Frustration was setting in, but nothing to do about it than to try to head out.

So, we took the cab and Indore is very different. Apart from the numerous cows and goats, we also saw wild boars, camels, and even an elephant down the street. We reached the fabric producer and he was really nice, but seemed to have no idea what we had come to do. We also quickly found out that there was going to be a significant language barrier.

He took us to a hotel so we could get rid of our bags and I have no way to describe the experience. Even though the hotel was amazingly quiet, the only rooms available were the expensive Deluxe rooms (yeah right!) and it was so incredibly dirty. The sheets had shoe prints and hair all over them, there was long, dark hair and dirt all over the floor and the toilet; oh my goodness! And surprise, surprise, the internet is not working in the room. In fact, it wasn’t working at all.

I called the front desk and told them we needed fresh sheets and some more towels. A few minutes later, 2 guys show up with two sheets and started working on Hanna’s bed. We sat on my bed watching the nearly humerous show of two guys taking 15 minutes to put one sheet on and yet leaving the dirtiest one on!! Half an hour and more explaining later, our beds were finally done. We then set out to try to clean the room with some of the sheets they had left and then headed back to the producer.

After a long day, we returned to the hotel and decided to order some coffee through room service. I ordered plain hot coffee and Hanna had a cold coffee with ice cream. What could possibly go wrong? The moment I took the lid of my coffee a stench of sour milk singed my nostrils and Hanna at this point found a hair in her coffee!! I called the front desk to make sure it was not going to be on my bill and for the next half hour, I found myself somewhere between a soap opera and insanity institution!! They had no idea what I wanted, and had no idea what “hair” meant. Really??!!! In a country with such obsession with hair, you don’t know what the word means? After several nearly funny minutes, we finally settled that I should just talk to the manager.

If that had only been it. After a few minutes, the phone rang, someone from the front desk wondering why I had not signed the bill for the coffee. This process repeated itself until I had spoken to 6 different people, none of which spoke English! Nobody seemed to understand what hair was! “Do you want to check out?” NO!!!! I just don’t want to pay for a coffee with hair in it, you know, the stuff on your head, the stuff you use shampoo for!! Sigh…….. And in the meanwhile, my throat is so sore again. The final punch came when the last guy called and was wondering if I was asking for hair removal product!

The phone finally quit ringing and we desperately needed some rest, at least, so we thought. At 11:00pm, the doorbell (yes, they had door bells on the hotel rooms) rang. It was the other manager with someone else, wondering if everything was ok. There I stood in my Betty Boop pj’s and not particularly very amused anymore, but I managed to say yes, I think I smiled and finally, they left. Then the power went out. Again.

Just another weekend

Tomorrow morning we are flying out at 6:30am to Indore to visit another fabric producer for nearly a week. We have started getting a picture of the various aspects to the problem and I look forward to hearing what his perspective is.

The weekend was fairly uneventful here, except when we frightened two very loud girls last night. Around midnight, we hear yelling, squeeling, talking, laughing and lots of noise going on. After a while, we had had it and went out into the hallway to see where it was coming from. It turned that a couple of girls (10-12 years old) were riding their bike indoors two floors down and had apparently had no idea that some people actually try to sleep around that time. So, we went down stairs in our (Betty Boop) pj's and told them in no uncertain terms to be quiet. I guess we must have looked very scary because when I told them in the motherly I-have-had-it tone to "No really, hush!" they looked terrified and when Hanna finished it with a "Hush, go to bed!" they screamed. Maybe it is time for new pj's.

The rest of the weekend went with writing reports and preparing for the upcoming trip. It is so hard to pack when you don't know anything about where you will be going or staying, but I guess that is part of the adventure. Hopefully this time we have internet.

Great way to end the week

Well, it might have rained a bunch, but not bad enough to prevent us from going to Utan today. After the usual insane train ride, we caught the bus to Utan and found ourselves in the middle of several of the “fish women” we had so dearly been warned about. A little apprehensive about making any wrong face at the tub of fish with a wet fish rag dripping on my jeans leg, I took my place standing right by a group of 8. As the bus darted through the narrow streets filled with people and other obstacles, I hung on, not for dear life, but for fear of landing in the bowl of fish! I would surely be dead, or would I?

I carefully looked at the women’s faces. On my right were two older women, clearly affected by the rough life they had lived. To my left were two younger women, just getting started in the business. As they sat there chatting and laughing as young school girls I couldn’t help but to wonder what they would have wanted out of life. Surely not the end result I observed earlier to my right. They caught me looking at them and smiled the most beautiful smiles at me.

As one woman got off the bus, I was quickly offered a seat. “Offered” might not be the right word, more “told” to sit! Just like on the sleeper train, my legs do not fit in standard Indian busses and I had to sit sideways with my legs into the aisles. This raised enough interest and I was told to sit straight. I explained I did not fit and that caused enough new interest in this stranger, but only in the friendliest manner. These must have been different fish women than we were warned about. By the way, all this “chit chat” went on with none of us speaking one single word of the other’s language.

We reached the fabric producer and had the most wonderful afternoon. We talked much about the problems with the fabrics, were treated to another phenomenal Shameema dinner. She had again made chicken, but this time curry chicken and puri (poori), a deep fried chapatti.

After some more talks, we went to see the Global Pagoda, a monumental Buddhist meditation center. It is still under construction but enough of the construction is completed to get an idea about this project.
The entire area is built with no concrete, but carved out rocks that interlock. In the middle is an enormous area intended for thousands to gather and meditate. In the ceiling is a golden Dharma under (above) which are buried the physical remains of Buddha. It was a very beautiful sight.

We normally would take the bus and train back, a nearly 2 hour trip if all goes well. Shameema had once before mentioned a boat that supposedly was only 5 minutes from Malad West, were we live. The Global Pagoda was right by the docks and the weather was fair, so we decided to give it a try.

All the times we have gone to Utan, why in the world have we never gone by boat??!! It was indeed a 5 minute boat ride and from the time we left until we were in the apartment only took half an hour. We are hoping to visit with them one more time before we leave and, weather permitting; we are so taking the boat!

It was a wonderful day. We learned so much, got so much information verified and enjoyed the wonderful company of a really great family.