Being Grateful

Yes! Warm water for a 'shower'!


Laundry by hand or no clean clothes!

As much as I've enjoyed my time here in India and especially at Shanti Bhavan, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to a different pace of life back home where things are once again familiar.

With more gratefulness than ever before I'm looking forward to my own comfortable bed, to coffee in the morning while sitting on my patio while reading a newspaper, and to being with the people I love the most in the world!

Perhaps this is a good time to post one of the lists Kathy and I compiled as we continued our adventure.

Things To Be Grateful For:

• Running water in every faucet
• Shower heads
• Toilets that flush w/o pouring water into the bowl or tank
• Toilets that have seats to sit upon!
• Washing machines & dryers
• Lights that go on when you flick the switch
• Electricity!
• Water you can drink
• Fruit you can eat
• Fresh salads
• Eating when you're hungry
• Starbuck's
• Meals without rice
• Cheeseburgers
• Bacon & eggs
• Ball Park franks
• Paved roads
• Traffic lights
• Traffic and safety laws
• Bedrooms without cockroaches, lizards, and water bugs
• Wine!
• Beer!
• Beds with mattresses that are more than one-inch thick
• Beds with sheets that fit
• Pillows without lumps
• Window screens without holes
• Window panes!
• Ceiling fans
• Hangers
• A good night's sleep

Summer said to let her know how long it takes after we get back before we can take a shower or turn on a light without marveling in grateful appreciation!

But also of course it's oh, so beautiful here! And the people are incomparably generous of spirit. Here is a photo of us in our sarees, a last-day tradition. We were wrapped and adorned with bindis by wonderful Auntie Annie and Miss Asha.

Goodbye, Summer!

Living at Shanti Bhavan

The Gates to Shanti Bhavan

Here's an excerpt from my journal written Saturday evening after just one night here:

Gorgeous tropical scenery here. Fantastic people here. Rigorous academics and global values embodied here.

And living is, well . . . basic. Since I've been here I've barely looked in a mirror (its all clouded and very small in a dimly lit bathroom) and haven't yet taken a shower. When I do it will be by pouring water - with any luck warm water - over me with a cup from a bucket while I sit on a stool in an indented area of the bathroom. Neither of us are really looking forward to it! I pulled my hair back and didn't even think about it all day. Rather freeing.

Also, we get hungry between meals and keep forgetting what time to go; they seem so much later than we would ordinarily eat. We missed morning tea today since we didn't know about it, but have made it early to every meal and snack since! First ones there!

As we were walking from the school building to dinner tonight, we heard the children give a shout in the dining hall and realized the lights were all out. Everyone seemed to quickly take it all in stride and the aunties lit candles at each table. After eating we began to walk back to our room with flashlights but no umbrella. Auntie Roj insisted on walking us all the way back to give us shelter. So nice.

We changed into pjs and then realized our toilet was leaking from the tank. We tried to call Aniish from the phone in the courtyard but the phone didn’t work (of course) because we have no electricity! Then we found a solar powered phone but the recorded operator on the phone was speaking Hindi (of course) which made us laugh.

So we put more clothes on to go back out, and when we picked up our umbrellas a lizard and a giant cockroach scrambled out and scurried up the wall and onto the ceiling. Disgusting! But what to do?

Now we have rain, no electricity, no phone, broken plumbing, a lizard AND a cockroach!

My journal continues with the rest of the evening including enlisting the plumbing helper to chase the bugs away for us. We also received the assurance of a new room starting tomorrow night.

After these escapades, as we lay in our respective small beds with flashlights, we started laughing and giggling uncontrollably and talking about the crazy silly unbelievable things that have happened so far on this trip. We decided to make a list. It was all funny enough to pass the time in the dark. Oh my, just what do we have in store here?