Welcome to India!
They use this expression---Welcome to India!--quite frequently here. I've heard it so much that I find myself saying it too. The Indian culture is a community-based one, with much importance given to welcoming people with warmth. We have been
welcomed into the homes of all the people we meet. They generously give of
their time, feed us to excess, and lavish hospitality on us.
I am especially blessed by the wonderful family we've been adopted
into and feel as though I have returned to a second home. Prabhudas and Ruth
specifically don't discriminate with their love... they give it freely to all
and spend themselves to the utmost serving others. They inspire me to be more
like Christ, receiving everyone with true welcome.
But sometimes "Welcome to India" is said more in a witty
spirit of sarcasm. Like when you discover a contrast in culture that boggles
your western mind. For example:
Not having access to clean or running water, but having WiFi. Welcome to India!
Girls not being permitted to show their shoulders... but a bare
stomach is fine. Welcome to India!
People treating cattle like royalty and low-caste people like dirt. Welcome to India!
That happens a lot here in India, this boggling. It seems like
every hour there is something new to perplex, baffle, astonish, astound. Being
relatively new to the culture is a precarious place to live, always on the edge
of your seat (sometimes literally, as you cram hip-to-hip into a tiny tuk-tuk rickshaw and careen through the
busy streets). *Don't worry, mom, I've never done that.
Nor have I ever perched warily on the back seat of a motorcycle while riding
sidesaddle with nothing but a tiny handle to hold onto, feeling as though any
minute I might fly off. Never.
But being jostled culturally can be a very healthy thing. It helps
me think outside my little box. It helps me figure out what's really important
to me and why. It helps me hold a microscope up to my heart and find out why I
react the way I do. It helps get me out of my comfort zone.
I am so incredibly happy and humbled to be here. Spending time
with these people has already encouraged and challenged me immensely.
So far most of our days here have been spent resting, getting used to the extreme heat, and
participating in church events, but tomorrow we begin teaching. I'm a little
nervous but also excited to establish relationships with more of the kids and
assist them with their English, hopefully in a way that furthers their
education and makes a difference. If I can help just one of these precious
children in some tiny way, then I will be blessed, and blessed, and blessed...
and the work goes on.
