The Beauty of India

Ancient Tower in Delhi

Mall attached to our hotel in Delhi

Sports Stadium in Delhi

Customary Leis upon arrival

Saree modelling

Beautiful sarees

Segway Ride

Butterfly &
Blossoms

Monkeys along the road

Killdeer Birds

Beauty among the Blossoms

Beauty in Wisdom

Chips to deliver to a small village store
Or Who's been to SAMS?

Customs are Beautiful

The most beautiful anywhere-a child's smile!

Today was a seven hour long drive down the highways of Northern India. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of this busy country.  We passed ancient ruins and modern skyscrapers, tiny villages and two-year-old communities of wealthy technological buffs, groves of herbal medicine trees and fields of mustard and beets, workshops where they make buses in their own front yards and technology Colleges, hospitals with the best equipment and doctors available and pharmacies lined with every drug you can imagine. The highways are very nice-mostly divided often six lanes.
Driving may seem chaotic to the westerner unfamiliar with India’s driving culture, but there are relatively few wrecks or scrapes. The cars are mostly very smooth and dent-free! We have been amazed how home-made eighteen wheelers, cabs, tricycles, bikes, carts (pulled by child, adult, oxen, horse, camel or burro) can share a road, a highway or a path without causing many more accidents. We have only seen a total of two one-vehicle accidents. Neither had more than scrapes and bruises. The drivers of India say there are three things needed when driving… a good horn, a good set of brakes and good luck! I think you need a very skilled driver as well! Our driver for the week is very courteous, quite skilled and very informative! He rarely uses his horn, but often signals with blinkers or flashes his lights to indicate his plans to other drivers. We feel very blessed to have him escorting us throughout our tri-city tour.
The people of India are beautiful! Their faces radiate with joy, pride and dignity. There are billions of people here, and they walk all walks of life, but each one takes his place in society and labors to be a proud, productive member of his country. The faces…the clothing…the customs are some of the most colorful in the world! Everywhere we have gone, the individuals we have met have been most helpful and kind to us. They greet us with smiles. They ask to have their photos made with us. They wave from street corners, passing cars, fields and windows of their homes. We have been most comfortable in each situation we have encountered.
The customs of India enhance a day! Today we saw hundreds of farmers, their wives, their children and neighbors marching down the highway in their best clothing heading on a pilgrimage to a Hindu shrine celebrating the harvest to come this week. They carried large silk pennants with glittering fringe waving in the breeze. Others joined the march from side streets. There were never more than thirty in a group, often as few as a father and son. Frequently, a pickup truck drove in front of them filled with revelers and music for the pilgrims to sing and dance as they hiked. About every mile, there was a rest station set up for them to spend the night, take a nap, grab a cup of water or an orange, or just get a bit of encouragement along the way. These were colorful and manned with friendly groups of people ready to meet their needs.
The clothing of India is beautiful! We have admired the sarees, the suijers and scarves of all ilk. The men are as interestingly dressed as the women!
The flowers and flowering trees are delightful. The bougainvillea, daisies and marigolds are among the prettiest. The flame trees, cotton silk trees, magnolias, mangos, tulip trees and poinsettia trees are in bloom now. They are artful in using the blossoms to decorate stores, hotel lobbies, roadsides and their homes.
India’s architecture is amazing. Whether you are looking at a home or school made totally of woven bamboo or one of the most modern office buildings in a suburb of Delhi, the people have taken great pride in their handiwork. The patterns of architecture will astound you…even dating back to the 1100’s!
We love our new hotel with all of the modern amenities. We love our tours of ancient India and the modern. But we miss our friends in the Bagdogra and Manikpur areas. WE feel saudade this evening as we think of what they might be doing back home. We would love to have had the opportunity to tuck wach little one into bed one night…to have said prayers with them beside their beds…to have kissed them good morning and sent them off to school…to have taught them more lessons from the Bible to sustain their lives forever. But they are hundreds of miles away now…do you think they might be thinking of us as they snuggle together in their big beds?