Good Evening, I say that as if it is not already the wee hours of the night here in India… It is quite late, though today has been quite wonderful… I have been here two and half weeks… During my journey, as well as upon my arrival I was quite sick… I spent the first thirty six hours in my room mostly in bed not sleeping… By the time I called the front desk for assistance, I had not slept in 72 hours other than brief minutes on the planes… I could barely keep my eyes open and as I would begin to doze off, I would then start coughing and be wide awake again… They actually called the doctor at 2:30am, he called in a cough medicine, that was picked up by someone at the front desk… The doctor then came to my room at the hotel the next morning, to check in on me… I had no idea they did that… This has been quite the experience in receiving… The night manager was also checking up on me… Very nice man… I started to feel a little better only to begin to notice I felt as though I was suffocating… At first I thought it was just the humidity, and then I realized I was having severe issues breathing… Again I had to ask for help, this time from the managers at work… After about 3 hours in a hospital, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and it was confirmed it was not pneumonia, and 5 more medications besides the 4 the original doctor gave me, I was released and able to finally get some work done and to get a full night’s sleep… This is how my journey to India began… the next two weeks to follow would be 10.5 – 17 hour days working… The only sights I had seen were by cab through a very poor area of Chennai to and from the office each day…
I realize all this sounds somewhat gloomy… Please note that, originally I was not the one to be coming to India… It was to be two guys who were going to make this journey, however things got a bit muddled between passports, and just by luck I was asked because my passport was current… What was supposed to happen was that they would have their passports in a couple weeks, three at the most and they would journey to India to train the new agents and assist with questions during migration… For me it was clear that when weeks later they had just began my invitation letter and visa process, that someone somewhere had a plan… The main trainer’s expedited passport had still not arrived four and a half weeks after his renewal application… Obviously there must be a plan for me… They were moving heaven and earth for me to go to India, and here I am…
I had a rough beginning, and it has been a challenge to feel grateful… I was really ready to go home, about a week after arriving…
Here is the thing we forget… It is one thing to know that you have been called, it is another to see clearly why… Honestly, it is difficult each time something amazing happens for me, that I not want it to be this big amazing, angels singing, choirs ringing out Hallelujah, the heavens to open; well you get my point… though each time I have been taken somewhere with a purpose, that purpose is simply to be… To what??? To be… That’s it, to just simply be, nothing fancy, nothing earthshattering, no hallelujah moment saying you figured it out, just being is all that it is… Someone asked me once what does a light worker do??? I laughed and said we be… Not that I can hold this information in the middle of 72 hours no sleep, falling into a mess in front of a total stranger, in a foreign country… Heck most of the time I have trouble retaining it when I feel good…
So today was my first and only day off since arriving here… Two very lovely co-workers took me out for the day to see the sights and do some shopping… We headed out about 9am and returned to my hotel just before 10pm… We went first to a cultural museum slash artist village… I got to watch musicians and dancers perform… I also got to bargain with artists for lots of amazing things I am bringing home, I was taken to a lady who drew on me with henna; covering the back of my arms and hands from the elbow down, for what would be about five dollars *Wow*… We went to lunch at a resort with tropical plants all around; and crazy as it is they began to play Elvis songs from the Hawaiian movie… From there we headed to Mahabalipuram; where there are five monuments carved from the same rock… I was taking pictures, and getting my picture taken, when a lady came up to me and asked if she could have her picture taken with me…
A bit of back story: A very nice gentleman from Chennai working in my office back home, was telling me not to be surprised if while I was visiting people asked to have their picture taken with me… That it was unusual to have someone from the US *white* visit Chennai, so for them it is special… I laughed and he said you think it is silly but they really like it… I told him that I laugh because it is so cute… I mean really how cute is that???
This was not the only occasion while out seeing the sights that people came up to me… Before leaving the first monument I would have many people come up and just want to take my hand and say hello… It was quite wonderful… This continued for the few hours as we went through several areas… One family from the first sight came up and wanted to touch me again while at the temple, and a couple of ladies and a small boy came up and took my hand saying welcome to India… The temple we visited was right beside the Ocean… So I also visited the beach today… We went to coffee for a bit on our way to an amazing huge mall… Seriously this was easily two times and maybe even three time the size of our malls in Portland… We went on to shop for a couple hours, before calling it a day… It was an amazing day… One I will not soon forget… Totally feeling the gratitude this evening, and now with a yawn I am off to bed… Good Night, Sweet Dreams…