Just a day in India

I am going to describe our day yesterday which we have found to be very typical of our experience in India. I will warn you that this may be a long post. I have to back up one day to say that on Saturday the Internet went down in our apartment. Rich contacted the front desk and was told it would be back by 8:00pm. By 8:30 when it was still not back he contacted them again and was told someone was coming to fix it on Sunday morning. Without Internet we could not look up the time or address of church for Sunday and we were never successful in getting SIM cards for our cell phones in India so we couldn't even make any calls.

Sunday morning the Internet was working again and we found an afternoon service that we could attend. We booked a taxi online to get us to church and then another taxi to get us from church to the bus station. Since we would have to take all our luggages (yes, that is what they called them) with us we booked two cabs for each ride. We planned out how long it would take and then doubled that time and scheduled our pick ups accordingly.

We packed everything up and went outside about 10 minutes before the taxi's scheduled arrival time. We sat on the steps to wait amongst all the other people just standing around. It seems like there are people standing around everywhere in India. We just happen to stand out a little more so we get stared at when we just stand around. After waiting for 25 minutes with no taxi, Rich went back to the office to call. He was told one would be there in 10 minutes. Thirty minutes later, still no taxi so he went back to the office to call again. Finally one taxi came. We loaded all the luggages in the back and asked about the second taxi. The driver spoke limited English, but there was another man waiting outside too who was very helpful and spoke great English. He called the taxi company and we listened to his side of the conversation as he asked about the second taxi. We all started laughing when he said "what's that supposed to mean?" during his conversation. After getting off the phone he said the second taxi was on the way and would be there in 10 minutes. Anyway, Sam, Seth, Joe and I got in the taxi that was there to head to the church. The driver had the address and said he knew where it was.

We left the neighborhood and while turning onto the main road the driver either didn't notice the motorcycle there or just misjudged the space and the motorcycle scraped the side of the car. The motorcycle driver and the taxi driver had some words to say to each other and I am glad that I couldn't understand that conversation. But no one was hurt so we took off on our way. At this point all the extra time we had allowed was gone and church had all ready started.

We got to the neighborhood where the church was located and the driver pointed to a big church on the right and asked us if that was the church. I told him it wasn't the right church. He then pulled up to another church and once again I told him that is not the right one either. I showed him the address again and he looked confused. He pulled over and asked someone for help but the person he asked told us about yet another church. I had a "For Strength of Youth" card in my purse so I pulled it out and showed them the logo to see if they recognized it at all. No Luck. The driver called the cab company and I talked to them and they said they would look up the address and call back within 10 minutes. The driver got out of the car and asked several other people where the church was located.

The Church the taxi driver couldn't find.  

Our driver started to drive again pulling over at various churches and each time we said not this church. Some of them he had already stopped at previously. I guess he thought he would try all the churches again. As we drove around I suddenly saw the sign of our church and yelled to the driver to stop. I am so glad that our church has the same type of signs all over the world. Rich and Jenna were outside the church with a few other men trying to call the cab company to find us. By this time we were one hour late for church. We got out of the cab, unloaded all of our luggages and then Rich told us that church actually started one hour earlier than we thought. So we were 2 hours late. I sure hope we get some sort of blessings for trying to attend church.

At church we found so many friendly people. There was a baptism after church that we had time to stay stayed for before our next scheduled taxi.  Rich was asked to briefly speak. The congregation was very nonmusical. In fact during the singing, our family pretty much carried the tune. And if any of you have heard our family sing, you realize singing is not our strong point! We enjoyed meeting so many of the members while our kids enjoyed the chips and fruitcake after the baptism.

We decided to call and double check that the taxis to take us to the bus station could find the church. Again not an easy thing when we don't have a cell phone (another long story). But we found someone to call the cab company and made sure the taxi got there. Again, one taxi showed up, at least it was the big one. We loaded all the luggages again and waited and waited for the second cab. More calls to the company and we were told 10 more minutes. Let's see, where have we hear that before? By this time we decided we better not keep waiting because we didn't want to miss our bus. Another helpful family stepped in and called the cab company again and just cancelled the second cab for us. We all piled in the one cab to head to the bus station. Safety does not seem to be the most important thing in India. Jenna sat on Rich's lap in the front seat and the other 4 of us squished in the back seat.

The bus stop waiting room

We arrived at the bus station without any incident, and the taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road where he said the private buses left from. We got out and didn't see any signs or indication that buses left from there. A friend of Rich's had told us he would meet us at the station to help us get on the right bus. The train station was just down the road so we decided to head there and look for Rich's friend since we didn't see anything that looked like a bus station. We also needed to buy some food and water for the upcoming 16 hour overnight bus ride. We realized we were kind of standing in the middle of the road so we got out of the road and almost ran into a little stand that had the name of our bus line. We showed the man our tickets and he pointed us in the other direction and told us there was a waiting room. We turned around and made our way to the waiting room while everyone on the street watched us. Right next door we found some food. Rich went looking for his friend but never found him. Later we found out that he had arrived late.

We had booked tickets on a sleeper bus so when a 15 seat van showed up we expressed our concern. The 15 seat van was to take us to the sleeper bus. They put some of our backpacks in the very back and then told us to get in the van with the rest of our packs and sit on the back row and two seats on the next to last row. Well we didn't fit because we still had our backpacks with us. The bus people asked us why we didn't put our packs in the back and we informed them that they were the ones who told us to get on with our packs. They wanted us to hand a pack out the window, but obviously the window was too small. Finally one of them went around the back and opened the door so we could hand a pack over the seat.  The back was full so we all had stuff on our laps and Seth had a full size backpack on his lap. Do they not expect people to being luggage on an overnight bus?

The van ride was an experience. The back seat was not firmly attached so every time the van stopped or started the seat rocked. We felt like we were on an amusement park ride. When the van was stopped (and we were stopped in traffic a lot) the back seat vibrated. After an hour the van stopped and we were all told to get out and wait for the bus that would be there in 10 minutes. Once again there was a nice person who helped us understand what was going on. She was going on the same bus and talked with us as we waited the more than 10 minutes on the side of the road.

Waiting on the side of the road for the sleeper bus

The bus finally came and we got on. This time we actually had enough beds! It seemed like everything was going to be great and then the Indian music started blasting out the speakers. We could adjust the air conditioning, supposedly turn on the lights (except the lights didn't work), but we could do nothing about the volume of the music. That is when an IPOD and headphones came in handy. After a few hours they did turn the music off for the rest of the night. Then the main air conditioning unit came on and there was a vent right above me that I could not control. They believe in high AC levels here so while the AC was on I froze, and when it turned off I was fine. The bus ride was not exactly smooth, but we did manage to get some sleep. In the morning we weren't sure where to get off. The bus conductor would come down the aisle and say something that we couldn't understand. Once again another passenger helped us out. The bus conductor said our stop would be in 10 minutes, but an hour later we arrived. Our 16 hour bus ride had turned into 17 hours. Needless to say, we were all thrilled to be off the bus. I could go on about getting to our hotel and checking in. The adventures never end in India.

So what is the point of this long narrative? First, life is not easy for us in India. We look at things from our paradigm, but that just doesn't apply to India. We haven't figured out how things work here and sometimes feel like we are bashing our heads against a wall trying. Second, we have found friendly people to help us out every time we have had a need. I am so thankful that there are good people all over the world who go out of their way to help strangers.