India Part II

3/10/09
12:49

India Day 4

Lia and I wanted to do a SAS service trip once we were back in Chennai, so on the fourth day we woke up early to try and get a place on the Samarpana Handicapped Home and Orphanage trip.  Some of our other friends had tickets for this trip like boy Taylor from Art of Living, and also girl Taylor.  There were several Art of Living’ers on this trip, in fact.  The bus had room for us, as well as two others who were trying to get put on the trip: Nate and Whitney. 

I slept on the 45-minute ride there, and then the bus stopped on a street on the outskirts of Chennai and we all got off.  We had to walk through back roads, past some unfinished homes with scaffolding made out of tree branches and to the orphanage.   There was garbage everywhere.  Piles and piles of wrappers, plastic bottles, food scraps.  Filth.  There are emaciated dogs and cows stumbling by.

We passed a sign reading: Samarpana, Home for Mentally Challenged and Spastics and shortly after we reached Samarpana.  All the residents were lined up at the doors and windows waving hello to us.  We took off our shoes, which is customary to enter most places in India, and walked into the home.  The program was started in 1995, and is now facilitated by five caretakers. Five people to feed, clothe, educate, and entertain 45 disabled children and grownups ranging from age 3 to 65, as well as some children without any disabilities but who can’t be cared for by their parents.  Most cases are considered hopeless; some of the residents will never walk or be able to communicate.  And yet they were so engaging.

All of the children and grownups were very excited to see us, and they would walk right up and touch us or say, “Hi.”  We were brought into the main playroom and the SASers began to play with the little kids, despite the language barrier.  We were given toys and such to assist our interactions.  At first, I was a bit uncomfortable, but I went over and sat by three children, two boys and girl, sitting in chairs because they couldn’t move on their own (they were called ‘flappy’ children by the founders).  The girl looked like an infant, but she was 7 years old.  Her limbs were twisted and thin, but her smile was illuminating.  I played with one of the boys, who was 9 but looked like a 3 year-old and probably weighed about the same as Liv.  His name was Suresh.  I would hand him a little tennis ball and he would hold it for a bit and hand it back to me.  That was pretty much the extent of his physical control over his body.  But he smiled and made eye contact.

After playing with everyone for about a half hour, all the residents lined up for their breakfast.  Then the SASers split up into groups to help out with chores around the home. My group was supposed to help clean up the kitchen, but the cooks were making lunch so they told us to wait in the playroom for a bit.  All of the residents had gone outside to play cricket and other games except, the three children that were sitting in the chairs earlier, including Suresh.  My group went to play with them.  I picked up Suresh and we walked around the room for a bit.  He noticed some of the SASers dusting the rafters in the ceiling and he seemed intrigued by it.  I brought him underneath the rafters so he could look up at them and everyone waved to him.  He smiled.  Then we played a game where I pretended we were getting showered with dust and had to spin out of the way.  We probably were covered with dust, but he smiled every time I spun him around.

I held Suresh for about 2 hours.  I tried to make him comfortable, but I have no idea if he was.  His body was so crippled, so twisted; I had to support his head.   I held his hands and he squeezed mine. He noticed my henna, so I pretended to draw henna on his hands.  He smiled. 

The SASers began to finish their designated chores and the kids began to filter back into the playroom.  At about 11:45 we had to leave, but we all gathered to take a group photo.  I held Suresh in the picture.  It was hard to say goodbye and I definitely felt like crying.  I’m tearing up right now. 

That orphanage was a hard thing to see, but I’m so grateful that I did it.  I want to try and work with kids in every country from now on.

When we got back to the ship, I ate lunch and changed clothes.  Lia, Taylor Boy, Taylor Girl, Nate, Jessica and I planned to go out and do some sightseeing and shopping in Chennai.  We split up into groups of three and each took a rickshaw to an outdoor bizarre.  There were street vendors selling saris, bangles, shoes, drums, fruit, books, and all kinds of plastic toys and trinkets.  People are hassling you constantly.  “Madame, you want a drum?  I’ll give you a good price.”  Beggars grabbing at your sleeve, throwing their babies in your face asking for food, for money, motioning to their mouths.  More filth everywhere.  And the smells.  India literally smells like TD in some places.  It’s pretty gross.

Jessica and Taylor Girl wanted to get henna so we stopped at this street henna artist.  These artists drew much more intricate designs than the ones Lia and I got in Dakshina Chitra and so we both decided to get the top of our hands and forearms decorated as well.  It cost 150 Rupees.  They do it so quickly and so perfectly.  I was impressed.

After our henna tats, our rickshaw drivers took us to some shops that give them commission for bringing customers.  You have to be very forceful if you don’t want to go to the shops and have a planned destination.  We allowed the drivers to take us to 2 shops.  One was a really pricey place, but we looked around nonetheless.

I was looking at chess set in the basement of the shop.  I thought it would be cool to get a beautifully carved Indian chess set for Dad.  I asked how much and the owner said, “$180 US.”  I was like, “Pssh I don’t have that much money on me.”  And he informed me that they take credit card and I was like didn’t bring that either.  Then his friend came over and flashed this intricately designed dagger and asked me if I knew what they did to people who didn’t buy anything.  He told me you either take out your wallet or lose a hand.  I told him I couldn’t afford the chess set, so he would have to take a hand but I couldn’t choose which hand.  My left had beautiful henna on it that was still drying and my right…well I’m right handed.  Then he clapped me on the back and told me he was kidding.  So was I, sir.

Lia and I kept up a witty banter with the storekeepers.  They told us they would give us great deals, so we would be like, “Buy one, get one free? Everything free?”  And then one guy was like, “Buy one, get me free.”  Good one.  Lia and I bought little trinkets that weren’t too expensive and then we took pictures with the storekeepers.  Then they let us use their sink to wash off our dried henna.

We had planned to go to this hookah bar called Mocha after this stop because our drivers told us it didn’t open until 5:30.  It was about 6, so we asked them to take us to Mocha now.  Our drivers told us that Mocha didn’t open until 6:30.  This sent up a red flag for Taylor Girl and Nate and they demanded to be driven to Mocha immediately.  Our drivers kept insisting on one more shop, but Nate was pretty steadfast and eventually they dropped us off.  We had to haggle with them over the price for driving us around for the day.  Nate was pretty upset, because they changed the price, they lied about Mocha being closed (it opened at 11am) and they also lied about the mall called Spencer’s being closed because it was a holiday.  Things got a little heated and we ended up giving them 150 Rupees per person. 

It was definitely an uncomfortable situation, but I wasn’t really upset.  You can’t let those things bring you down.  So we got a table at Mocha and Lia, Nate, and Jessica got hookah.  We ordered our food; I got a gratified (melted cheese, can’t say no to that) chicken sandwich with fries.  Lia and Taylor Girl got the same.  Everyone’s food came out except for Lia’s. We asked for it about 6 times and it still didn’t come.  The waiter came back again and I ordered a brownie dessert, and we asked for Lia’s food again and it still didn’t come.  I got my dessert and it still didn’t come.  Nate was pretty upset by this situation, but Lia handled it very well.  She was calm and patient.  She is a great traveler.  I’m so glad I spent so much time with Lia in India. 

Finally she got her food and then we got the check.  Lia stayed at the restaurant with some other SASers and the rest of us took one rickshaw home.  Two of us had to sit on laps.  Rickshaws are crazy.  They don’t stop for pedestrians, they just honk, they pass other cars and bikes with inches between.  It is exhilarating to ride in one. 

We got back to the ship and I took a shower because I was filthy.  I had worn my flats from REI with socks.  The socks were black on top and had a white line where the shoe straps were.  Then I took off my socks and the tops of my feet were black.  India is dirty.

Day 5

For my last day in India I planned to do more sightseeing and shopping in Chennai.  Lia, Hussein, Steve, Disha, Keith, Dave, Britain, Kendra and I took 2 rickshaws to the Shiva Temple.  Shoes aren’t allowed in the temple so we walked around this beautifully painted and sculpted temple with bare feet.  Clean.  There was a wedding going on.  The colorful saris are so beautiful.  We talked to some of the little kids in the wedding.  They kept looking at us and they finally came over to talk, but they were extremely shy.

Then we went back to Mocha for brunch and to take advantage of the free WiFi there.  After I finished eating Belgian waffles and an open-faced Spanish omelet that Kendra and I split and uploading pics, we all went to Spencer’s, which was open. 

I got gifts for friends and family and a T-shirt and toe ring for myself.  Then we took our final rickshaw back to the ship.  And on the ship, I remained.

There is no class today, so it’s homework catch-up and sleep day.  I slept in until 10:30, wrote e-mails, and now I’m finishing my India blob. Perhaps I’ll do some econ after this.