India

India was everything you have ever heard about it, only more intense.The Taj Mahal was more impressive than I could have imagined--majestic, powerful, enormous, stunning, perfectly proportioned, solid white marble that does turn golden at sunset, a place can't be described, that can only be felt.
Our three night, four day venture to Deli and Agra from Chennai(Madras) where the ship was docked was fascinating, exciting,wonderful, and sometimes devastating. The best part was working in one of Mother Theresa's orphanages; the worst part was walking through the train station. We got to help with children in Mother Theresa's orphanage in Agra. We, 29 of us, college students and 5 adults, spent an afternoon giving lots of attention to children who really need it. No one told us what to do, almost no one spoke any English. The college kids were terrific with the children; many of them have volunteered at schools and orphanages all along the way. NowI will look for more opportunities to work with children as we continue. Some of our students were stunned by the sight of so many crippled children and I saw tears in a lot of eyes as we worked. Even our guide cried and he has been there many times. Rob spent a lot of time with a little boy (about 5 years old). The boy sat in his bed rocking back and forth. Rob sat by him and talked with him and he stopped rocking. Rob tried to touch him and he flinched (he had done the same with me earlier). Rob tried to get him to go outside and he would not budge. Finally Rob got up and left the room and had gone three rooms away when he felt a little hand take his. It was the little boy who rocked. Rob took his hand and cried.
Not all of the children were crippled, some were even developmentally right on schedule, or close, and beautiful. I am guessing they will be adopted. We had one lovely young woman (15 years old) who had grown up in the orphanage who spoke a little English who had been waiting for us so she could welcome us. The other workers in the orphanage and the nun did not speak English so we actually had almost no talking communication. The children did not speak English, in fact most of them did not speak at all. I loved having theopportunity to do something I know how to do. I spent years at UVA hosp. working with children such as these, with college students such as these. That afternoon is the highlight of my trip so far. I am not glad they were orphans or glad they had problems. I was very glad I could make a little tiny difference in a hot, dusty, over-crowded, country with so much poverty.
To be fair, India also has a large middle class which is slowly growing. We all know they have a very wealthy and well-educated upper class. People on the ship who have been to India before say this visit they saw fewer beggars. The economy of India, considered a developingnation (as opposed to the US--developed and Ghana--undeveloped) has been growing at a remarkable 8% per year. So they are moving forward rapidly, with a long way to go to get their 50% or so illiterate poor educated and out of poverty. The streets of Chennai and Agra were littered with trash, had cows,dogs, goats, and chickens wandering all over the place. Traffic stopped for cows. Every public place we had to walk into from our tour bus, plus both times we entered or exited the train station or airport, we had to run the gauntlet through a pack aggressive streethawkers (vendors) and beggars. We learned to keep walking and not look at anyone. If we wanted to buy something they were selling, we kept walking and they ran beside us and we bought the post cards or whatever without ever stopping moving. The hotels had security as tight as the airport. The bus drove though huge metal gates that were locked behind us. Before we entered the hotel we had all of our luggage checked and we walked through metal detectors and then were frisked before we could go into the maindoors of the hotel. The hotels themselves (we stayed in 2 different ones) were just fine, food was good. Another group from the ship got to stay in a luxury hotel. We were instructed by the ships doctor not to brush our teeth in the tap water and to keep our mouths and eyes closed in the shower, no matter how many stars the hotel had.Needless to say, we drank only bottled water. Actually I drank several canned cokes when I got worn out. Caffeine and sugar helped a lot with all the walking, which always seemed to be uphill or up steps, in the heat. The sun burned down on us with a passion. The shade was better, but still hot. I gave out at the Red Fort which was huge and impressive and made of dark red sandstone. I saw how enormous it was and knew I couldn't keep walking, so I sat on a sandstone wall by the entrance. Shade would have helped, but was not to be. It took over an hour for our group to get back to me. I spent the time looking at the parade of beautiful, colorful, silk saris worn by almost every woman who walked by. When the group got back to me, a tall, strong college student came over to me and asked if I was okay. He told me not to worry, he could get me back to the bus, he could carry me. I didn't need the help, but if the girls hadn't already been married, I'd have taken him home for one ofthem. The college kids with us were protective of both Rob and me. They offered to help Rob carry our bags, but did so very carefully in order to not hurt his feelings. Rob declined assistance. One of the times we walked through the train station there was a huge number of crippled children begging and grabbing me. I ran up and got between two of our college students and kept looking up to avoid seeing the children. I felt someone put an arm around me and jumped and hollered. This sweet voice said, "it's okay Mrs. Vaughan. it's just me, Samantha." Then the students decided to circle me to keep the beggars away from me.Five of them stood in a circle around me for thirty minutes, while we waited for our train. Trains are late in India.
The students are having a Halloween Party tonight in the Union, right next to the computer center where I am working. I keep stopping to complement clever costumes as students walk by. The best so far was a barbie doll in a box with clear cellophane on the front and sides so we could see her. The band is super loud. At least I am not trying to hear anyone talking. We had a very nice special dinner tonight with a great group of grown-ups. The shrimp scampi and the dessert were particularly delicious. We get to pay $25 each to have an exceptional dinner much like the captains dinner in a particularly elegant setting with our friends. The conversation was as good as the dessert. This is our third and favorite special dinner, not counting our captains dinner--that was free. We can always eat free in the regular dinning room.