While the trip does not begin for 6 days, the experience has begun already. Around the house are books that are being read with a new level of interest. By my bed is a book by my great uncle, J.A. Ressler, the first Mennonite Church missionary, entitled Stories From India published in 1916. On the end table is an unpublished book by Paul Wiebe that tell the history of the church in India. Ready to be taken along with me is Planet India a thoughtful gift from a friend. The cover of Planet India begins to stretch my mind. I begin to see facts that show how ignorant I am: the fastest growing democracy, the youngest population on the planet, a middle class as big as the population of the entire US, an innovator of the technology that is driving the next phase of the global economy. Is my mind ready?
Last evening, Esther Wiebe, who was born and lived in India for many years, invited us to her house for a meal. Her sister, Ruth Friesen, who also was born and lived there, joined us for a wonderful time of stories and cultural sensitivity lessons. They served foods that we can expect to eat. Is my stomach ready? I was familiar with the rice, peanuts, raisins, and bananas. Chutney and dahl I have had on occasion in restaurants. The curry made the food hotter than we normally have and we were warned that what we were served is mild compared to what we can expect. Don't touch your lips to keep the spices from being so hot we were told.
By the plate was a fork and spoon that we were encouraged not to use. In the villages, we can expect to eat with our fingers. And so we did, rice, dahl, chutney. Eating pizza and chicken with your fingers is one thing. There is an art form to eating with fingers that I clearly have not mastered. It was difficult to get the thumb to move the food from the fingers to the mouth with the skill that Esther and Ruth demonstrated. Keep the food within the two joints of the fingers we were told. It is clear that it will be fun for the nationals to watch us eat. the good news is that at the end of the meal, we were full, actually stuffed.
As we began to leave, we went through the difficult process of trying to learn to say a few words in Telagu; poyee vastham, manchadi, bagundi. I am not sure we ever to the sounds right. Just because you can hear a sound does not mean you can repeat it. We wrote down what the words mean since our middle aged brains will have to work overtime to use them in the right places: we'll go and come, good, it's good; poyee vastham, manchadi, bagundi; we'll go and come, good, it's good.
For me, this is not the first time in India. Several years ago, I went farther south for a week to Nagercoil. This time we will be in new places with new customs. I am ready to begin the trip. Poyee vastham, manchadi, bagundi; we'll go and come, good, it's good...or am I ready?
Lawrence
