Okay, I'm never eating again. It's hard to say that after the day we've had, but our dinner tonight was unbelievable. We started out the day taking a tour of the American Embassy School, where Lois used to teach in 1986. It's really beautiful – spacious and well-cared for. I was impressed by the amount of art that's all over the school – sculptures outside, paintings and other artwork indoors. We were shown around by Denise, a friend of Lois's friend Jody, but as in all things India, now a friend of ours.
She volunteers at Mother Teresa's orphanage, so she had arranged for us to go there to visit. The first thing I noticed was how clean the place is. It's really immaculate, even on the outside. The inside is very clean and the children are clean as well. We first met some of the new children, who seemed to be about 4-6. Then we visited with toddlers. One little girl was crying and she held up her arms for me to pick her up. She was sobbing uncontrollably and when I picked her up, I realized why – she was soaking wet. I held her for about 5 minutes, though, as she sobbed into my dupatta, and then I handed her over to one of the workers. Next we went to visit some of the babies – maybe around 1 year old. Some of them were walking and some of them were crawling. It was lunchtime, so I helped to feed one of the babies, who seemed bewildered to have all these strange people in the room. We looked into another room where there were infants, but it was dark and all I saw were a couple of little arms flailing around. Then we went outside where some of the children we met before were playing. We blew bubbles for them. One of the little girls said to me, “Kya hai, didi?” (What's that, sister?) pointed at a stuffed elephant. I told her it was an elephant and repeated it a few times until she said it close enough (she was about 3) but I was glad that I knew enough Hindi to be able to communicate with her a little bit. I was also interested that she called me “didi” instead of “aunty.” I would have thought that she would call me “aunty.”
Next we went back to the Bhawan to meet with Alwan and his staff. It turns out that we just met with him and his communications director, Sushma Ramyswami, whom Jimmy and Grace had met in 2004 when they came. She is a lovely person and immediately complimented me on my salwar kameez. She said the fact that I was wearing it made her think that I was one of them. I told her that was the idea. It also turns out that she was a film journalist for 20 years and knows all the movie stars. She said the next time I come, we'll go to Bombay and meet Shah Rukh Khan! We talked about more than movies, though, and she and Alwan reiterated that the best thing is for us to work through the CNI and be open to more projects than just the ones that we have visited on this trip. The problem with working directly through a project is that if something goes wrong, the General Secretary of the CNI is accountable, and if he has been out of the loop while the project is ongoing, then that's not good. Reading between the lines, it seems like there have been some problems in the past with lack of accountability and also with lack of centralization.
After the meeting, Lois, Grace and I went to Connaught Place to get a pair of earrings for someone in Grace's congregation. Then we felt so tired and hungry and dirty that we decided to treat ourselves to a good dinner. We went to the Ashok Hotel, a very posh hotel on the way to the airport. We had a lovely dinner and my bill came to less than $20. The restaurant that we were eating in was Lucknowi and I had their version of kofta, which is supposed to be made with fruits and nuts, although I've never really found traces of them when I've had it before. This kofta had actual raisins and cashews stuffed inside the cheese balls and the sauce was made with saffron. It was delicious and very filling.
Another great day in India.
Reflection: Everybody's Family
One of the things I love about India is that to hear people talk, everybody's family. A woman about your age is “didi” (sister). A man your age is “bhai” (brother) or “bhaiyya” (big brother). Older folks are “aunty” or “uncle.” This way, we keep everything in the family. It’s a good way to create camaraderie and even a little intimacy among strangers.
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