Anecdotes from India #1

This is a collection of short anecdotes from our time in India. I hope you enjoy them!

When we go places we are in a 12-13 person van with a driver. We get noticed by other people because we kinda stand out. Whenever I catch someone looking I have made it a habit to smile and wave. Some immediately smile and wave back. Others act like they think I'm waving and smiling at someone else. When I persist their faces break into big grins and they smile and wave back. It doesn't matter if the person is old or young, male or female. It's kind of fun.

At one of the leprosy colonies I observed one of the other volunteers introducing herself to a patient. I mean really introducing herself. She stopped everything else she was doing and looked into the eyes of the person and said, "I am Emily. What is your name?" And then after hearing the name she would repeat back the name and ask, "Am I saying it right?" It was such a small and personal thing. I felt from the time, attention, and tone that Emily really loved those people and wanted to serve them. They could feel it too.

One of the Indian boys was doing push ups and he wasn't doing them right so I got down on the ground with him and showed him how. He asked, "Why is your face all red?" Then he joked, "Mine turns white when I do that."

The other day when we were out I remembered to wear my hat but I forgot to put on sunscreen. Consequently I got a sunburn and a nice pink-white tan line on the back of my head and neck. The children had never seen that before and were fascinated by my painful condition. They didn't have an answer when I asked if they ever got sunburned.

One of the children was fiddling with my shirt. There seems to be a lot of that going on. Any time I am around the children they want to push the buttons on my watch, rub the hair on my arms and legs, touch my bald head, etc. This time it was fiddling with my shirt. The boy noticed the hair on my chest and was fascinated by that and kept wanting to look down my shirt. Then he called his friend over to look. I put an end to that.

I was standing in the Dining Hall at meal time and one of the boys came over, put his hands square on my chest, on one each side, and said, "Make them dance." It took me a minute to figure out what he wanted but here is the story. One of the other volunteers (Shaun Parry, great guy) has well-developed chest muscles that he has learned to control. He can make his chest dance. I'm sure I was a disappointment to the boy because my chest muscles aren't really that well developed nor can I make them dance.

The dining hall after dinner is generally a mad house. Some kids are cleaning and the rest are playing. One evening a boy sought me out with a purpose. I sensed when he approached me that he was on a mission and didn't want to play. He grabbed me and took me to one of the house mothers. I noted that it was one of the older, more stern women. For a moment I was afraid. When we got to her it didn't look like she needed me for anything. Then I saw her quietly patting the bench beside her. I sat down. Quietly, without looking at me and while keeping an eye on the mayhem she said, "We are thankful for your family. Your family is a good example to the children."