Exhaustion...and Exhilaration...Indian Culture at its finest!

Each day in India was filled to the brim. From awaking early, to running from one assignment to the next, trying out new 'safe' restaurants for dinner (only costing about $2) and going to the chapel to pray for adoration at night or having roof parties (the only place where everything cools down) at the hostels of other volunteers, we were constantly moving, constantly serving!

The Busses are extremely crowded, and not in good condition

As for myself, one of my favorite experiences was going to the home of Susima, a teacher at the Missionaries of Charity school where I tutored street children in English. Susima is 26, and she was so generous, and inviting. A teacher who went to college to learn to teach Hindi, she taught me many phrases while the children were taking their naps, and I would teach her English. She lived a difficult life- in India 99% of all marriages  are arranged and hers was no exclusion to this rule. Married at 16, her husband was abusive, and so she divorced him. She has two children, 9 and 8, whom she gave birth to when she was 16 and 17. They are both in boarding school and she struggles to find the money each week to keep them there. Her wage is under $25 a month in US dollars, and 1/2 of that is spent on traveling the bus to and from work (which is about an hour long commute each way). 


I went home with her one evening, and she taught me many Hindi phrases. Her home was in a small village outside of Kolkata- it was very beautiful and quiet there. EVERYONE stared at me, because I was a non-Indian in a place where there were no foreigners at all. Susima told me to walk on the side of the road, as if to protect me, as she was on the outside, closer to the street. She bought me some pastries at an Indian Goodies Shop (I later realized that this was a huge deal for her, and she never bought these usually). At her home, a 3 room building with a bathroom (aka hole in the ground) outside, we went into her room, layed down a mat on the ground, and began to go over Hindi and English phrases. Soon her neigbor, a 9 year old girl, came over for tutoring which she did every day. This girl was hilarious! She had so much spunk, and corrected my sayings constantly. Soon, we were all laughing, and turned on the radio (yes, even despite the poverty they have that radio, and cell phones...) and the girls began to dance. It was beautiful! Their motions looked almost like hula dancing, and they would draw parts of the song with their hands, almost as if it was sign language! I showed them my Irish Dancing, but they were not too impressed.

 (my camera was dying and the little girl next door was taking video but she did not press the button down- therefore the short duration!)

Susima gave me chai tea (a normal thing- everyone has it 3 times a day with biscuits), and made me a dinner of omelete with Chili peppers in it, along with fried bread. It was delicious, and she wanted me to eat it all before she ate. The bread is used to hold the egg- no one uses forks or knives here. Actually, Susima taught me how to eat properly with your hands. Indians eat only with their right hand and clean themselves with their left hand, and I learned how to eat rice (alebit a bit clumsily!) with my right hand. She then walked me back to where the taxis were and made sure that I would get a ride with someone who would not rip me off. I was a bit nervous, because I knew that it took me an hour to get there on the bus, but the return trip was merely 20 minutes, though the taxi driver did not know where he was going and would roll down his window at lights to ask others where he should be going. He did not understand English, so that was interesting.

Map of Kolkata...

Her Baby was so tiny and malnourished.

Poverty even more striking than Susima's

In the end, what was perhaps the most daring thing I did while I was in India, that is, going to the home of someone whom I barely knew, without a cell phone or an idea of where I was going, turned out to be one of the greatest experiences I had abroad. Susima taught me the value of faith. At her home, she sang her favorite songs about Jesus in English and in Hindi, adn told me how Jesus keeps her going. She did not complain about her life, but collected clothing from people that needed mending so that she could fix them and then give the clothes out to the poor. She loved the children under her care, and did not let bitterness take ahold of her. She taught me the meaning of love in a truly profound way.