A Long Way to Go

That's not to say that I feel like we have a lot left in this trip ... in fact I can feel the end breathing down my neck. I can't believe we have less than two weeks left. In fact, I will repeat that we have a lot to learn, and as I told the reporter when I was interviewed for the news in Bhubaneswar, we would need more like 6 months or 6 years to see even part of what we can learn from here in India.

But there have been exciting moments over the last few days. Instead of re-capping them one-by-one, I think I'll tell you a little bit about what I've been noticing, thinking, and talking about since we arrived here in Chennai (formerly called "Madras").

As I rode home in an Auto-Rickshaw this evening, I realized that there are essentially two different economies co-existing here. One is the economy of a developing nation, where we paid the equivalent of $1.25 to get a ride over 15 minutes long. The second is that of a developed nation, where we are staying at a hotel that charges over $200 a night (I'm not sure of the exact price, it's not the kind of place where they put the nightly rate on the marquis out in front). There are two different worlds that exist even here ... and of course the rickshaw driver didn't know which of the two Taj chain hotels to bring us to, therefor taking us to the wrong one so we could enjoy a slight detour of the city. But they make it work, somehow, and we bargain over Rs. 100 as if it means something to take $2.50 off the price of a $10 shirt that in the U.S. we would pay $40 to own. And you wonder when the lagging economy will catch up with the other, and is that how a nation is labeled fully developed? It's all quite dizzying, really.

Earlier today we visited a Non-Government Organization that is doing some neat work with sustainable development, empowering women, and educating underprivileged children. It got me thinking about the ways people need help. In the US we are often very quick to offer money to those we see are in need. We write a check to the correct charity, send it in an envelope with a stamp showing the whole world (or at least the staff at the post office) that we care about making a difference, and then go back to our own lives. But I was reminded today that most people don't want to have help served to them ... they want to know how to help themselves. So these students have come to this place where they can learn to use computers even though their own school can't afford them. And these women are taking their own goods to market instead of waiting for the men to do it, and using the local (rural) technology center to find out if the weather will be good enough for fishing the next day. Service is a meaningful thing to be sure, but one must be an active donor in order to give the kind of help most often needed, I think.

Yesterday we visited the first Anglican Church in India, called St. Mary's, and this morning we saw the original tomb of on the Jesus' apostles. Both were beautiful to see, and yet they each felt surreal. I felt as if I was back in Italy, staring at the beautiful marble and gazing at gravestones from over one thousand years ago. It was a visible reminder of the way this country has grown largely because of (or maybe in spite of) an outside culture. That church was built by the British, and so were the streets with cars travelling on the left, and so were the restaurants that serve tea every couple of hours, and so were the schools that teach classes in English. So much of the culture of the place now called India was influenced by the British. But there are still tribal villages hidden in the hills and the central part of the country ... the ones known as "backward" according to many speakers I've heard while here. One can't walk around the corner in the cities we've seen and ignore the still constant presence of that European influence. I try to close my eyes and imagine it all if that one Indian king hadn't let the British lease that spot of land here in Chennai ... what would India have been like then ... would they still drink so much tea? ... would they have Christian churches? ... would they drive on the "right" side of the road?