We arrived safely in Delhi (and other thoughts)

So we made it to Delhi yesterday and are starting to get our bearings here. Until now we had no real phone access or Internet access or other-English-speaking-people access which has made our world basically the three of us. Our room at Ram Niwas Tourist Lodge is pretty nice and the a/c is freezing--on the lowest setting. Now one thing you don't really get in India is blankets. A top sheet will usually suffice, even with a/c. But not at Ram Niwas. Oh no. I found an extra blanket to go on top of mine, but Brad was on the floor and when I tried to put it over Joe he threw it off in his sleep. So I was warm, but I think they froze. (Incidentally, Joe kept trying to get all three of us to sleep in the same bed. Now it is about king sized, but it is made up of two twin mattresses, so aside from the fact that neither Brad nor I want to sleep between two men (Joe wasn't offering), we also did not want to sleep on the crack between two mattresses. So we got an extra mattress and put it on the floor.)

My travel sickness seems to be mostly over after two days completely in bed. Tuesday night, before we went to Delhi on Wednesday, I go to go to the doctor in India. My favorite part was when he had me lay on his table and then pushed and thumped all over my belly. Then he put me on a strict diet of bland food for a day or so and gave me four medicines. Now the doctor visit and all the medicine cost me about 150 bucks. Indian bucks. Which means about $3.50. So I figured I could live with that :-). I don't know what I would have done without Ram and Vikram taking care of me. They have truly been a family away from home.

Also last night I had the pleasure of fishing a dead fly out of Brad's eye. It apparently flew in, Brad blinked, and it died in some hidden back corner of his eye. Joe first tried to fish it out with his sausage fingers (jk), but when that didn't work (though I'm sure it gave Brad a nasty eye infection after all we've touched here) I saved the day by getting it out with the strap on my digital camera (I'm sure it was 100% clean (right, Neil?)).

By the way, if any of you have ever laughed at "Don't Mess with Texas", shame on you. India has been messed with and it is not pretty. Piles of trash all over and dogs and goats and cows (and people) roaming the streets eating out of it. It also contributes to a special aroma. Nothing in the states compares. So please, don't litter. Ever. :-)

We went to the leprosy village today and it looks like we will have quite a bit of work to do there. We start tomorrow. We'll be painting, planting trees, doing arts and crafts with kids, teaching in their computer training center, helping in their bandaging room, etc. So we're excited to be doing something useful over here.

Kids love to say hi to us, though some seem afraid to touch us. I think for some we may be the first non-Indian people they've seen. A big difference between here and home is the lack of diversity here. Everyone is Indian. EVERYONE. I mean, we've seen maybe 20 other white people (and no people of any other color) in the time we've been here. That's counting the airport and tourist sites. So we really are strange to look at and people stare at us wherever we go. (At least, Brad says people stare at us. Joe and I are obliviously unobservant. I see people looking at me but when I make eye contact, I look away and assume they do the same, like normal human beings. Brad on the other hand stares them down. Which to me means that they are probably at home telling their family and friends how white people just stare at Indian people when they come here ;-).) Back home, we see so many people of so many backgrounds and it seems to natural. I guess it never registered just how diverse the US, and especially our universities, are. But overall Delhi has seemed much more Western than Chennai. In Chennai we hardly ever saw a woman not in traditional clothing. In Delhi, most seem to wear shirt and pants like western women. Even the traffic isn't quite as crazy, though that might just be where we are or because the roads are wider.

I was pondering today the overwhelming needs in the world and their diverse nature. Trying to help at all is less than a drop in the bucket. Where do we even start? (I am always encouraged by the story of the boy throwing the starfish back into the sea: When asked why he did it when there were so many starfish beached that he could possibly make a difference, he replied, "I made a difference to that one.") Some have tried to meet purely physical needs, saying "how can we expect them to listen to stories of bread from heaven when they have no bread in their stomachs?" And I agree. But I often wonder where that ends. As I noted the other day after visiting the AIDS home, we are so wrapped up in our comforts and conveniences that we fail to realize that people who have only enough to live can be so much happier than we are (though that doesn't mean they necessarily are). The Bible calls wealth a trap, a snare. But it seems that we often want to keep improving the quality of people's lives until it is like our own. But these kids aren't bringing guns to school, and terrorists aren't out to destroy their opulent way of life.

Others have tried to meet purely spiritual needs, but neglected the immediate ones, the needs of this world. They remember Peter's words to a lame beggar in Acts 3: "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." But he didn't just tell the man about Jesus, he healed him, gave him the means to start working for a living and stop begging. I remember Jesus saying on one hand "The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me," justifying the woman using the expensive perfume to anoint Him rather than selling it to give the money to the poor. But I also remember his words in Matthew 25:

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

And I think about Paul giving instructions to the Corinthian Christians about not worrying about their status in this life (1 Corinthians 7):

Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.

and

What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

We don't think much on those passages in the US, where the American dream is getting more for me and mine--advancement in this world at all costs. As we've probably all read in a chain email somewhere, we give up our health trying to make lots of money, and then give up our money trying to get our health back. I don't really understand what Paul meant. Maybe his comments were meant for a specific situation in that city. But I think there must be a principle beneath that applies to us.

My good friend Deepa (Neil's wife) responded to my comments about the happy kids at the orphanage in this way: "the kids take me back to old memories. I always remember kids in India, in whatever area or status, being much more appreciative and simply happy than kids here, even when I was a kid." So what exactly are we really trying to give people.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on how we can best bless others in this world, doing what's most important, or most immediate, or most impacting, or most [insert yours here]. These questions aren't just for India. I think they can tell us something about how we treat one another day to day, because it's so easy to get engrossed in the things of this world when, "this world in its present form is passing away." Each day we have opportunities, and no matter how many good ones we take, we have also passed by other good ones. So how should we choose?