Let Me Introduce You to India

Late last night, after almost a week of travel, I finally made it to Kolkata. So much has happened during my first 5 days in India it would probably take a proper book to relate all the stories, so instead of a narrative I have decided to introduce you to a few of the people I've met.

In Agra

Josh Clodfelter was the first person I met in India. He was waiting just outside of the Delhi aiport with a big smile to welcome me. Josh is my closest friend from Spain, a fellow Kansan, a brother in every positive sense of the word, and will be with me throughout my stay in India.

Josh hanging out the door on a train

Raj is a taxi driver. At least that is what he wanted me to believe. In reality Raj cons tourists by taking them to a closed road and tells them that the city is inaccessible and they will have to stay at an unreasonably priced hotel. We bribed Raj to take us back to the airport so we could start completely over after a 3 hour ordeal.

Trains in India stay full - we have spent 37 hours on trains so far

Veanish is a nice guy born and raised in Delhi who takes a public bus home after his flight attendant shift ends at 3:30 AM. At 31 he is happily married through his parent's arrangement to a Christian woman from Goa and they now have one child. Veanish told us where to go and how to escape the scammers at New Delhi train station.

Inside our sleeper train car

On the way to Agra I made contact with another man, or rather he made contact with me. Unfortunately I never got his name. If I had I would have immediately turned him into the police seeing as how he stole my wallet.

Alam is a tuk tuk driver and tour guide at the Taj Mahal. He keeps a guestbook so that his customers can read his praises in whatever language they happen to speak. He drives his tuk tuk at break neck speed, sometimes down the wrong side of the road. Alam was such a good guide and charged such a fair price (and he let me drive the tuk tuk) we tipped him almost double. He was confounded.

Josh and Alam in front of the Taj Mahal

Priddy is a middle aged woman who owns a textile shop. She invited us in declaring we were guests, not customers, gave us chai, and then sewed up my ripped pants free of charge. She told us to call our mothers.

Kyle is a Canadian backpacker who ran out of money but whose flight was in just a couple days. We met him on a train and invited him to sleep on our hotel floor. He gladly accepted and said if all Christians were as nice as we were he might listen for God.

Our hotel room

Farah is a Malaysian girl traveling with her aunt who had been to see the Taj Mahal. She wants to travel the world but is scared she may not enjoy it and doesn't want to upset her parents. She was my bunk mate on the 30 hour train ride to Kolkata and started a conversation by offering me two samosas. She got ripped off so badly and so often she left India a week earlier than planned. She paid 3000 rupees for her trip to Kolkata at a fake ticket office; I paid 500 ($8) thanks to Veanish.

Me and Farah

Sunil is from Varanasi. His leg is all torn up and he is missing most of his teeth. He is one of the hundreds of beggars we have met on the street. We bought him some powdered milk for his daughter and will hopefully meet his family tomorrow morning at ten. Sunil asked us to pray with him and told us how he met Jesus at a clinic started by Mother Teresa.

Josh with his bunkmates on our 30 hour ride to Kolkata

There are a lot more people I could talk about but I think they will have to wait their turns for another blog. If India is lacking anything it surely makes up for it in people. There are so many stories to hear, so many smiles to match, and so many friends to make I barely have time to see India. (That's a not-seeing-the-forest-for-the-trees joke by the way). Welp, tomorrow is orientation at the Missionaries of Charity so I best be going to bed. Goodnight and God bless.

-Brant