From a Car Window

A descriptive blog written by SARAH SWARTZ!

 

So we are almost at the one month point. God has already done some really cool things, but I feel like this period has mostly been an introduction. As a team we are getting to know each other better and better. We and are learning how each other work and how to work with each other. We have all fallen into somewhat of a rhythm (as much of a rhythm as unpredictable India can afford).  The thing to me that seems to have the most consistency yet still the most appeal and intrigue are the car rides. 

Every day that we do ministry (about 5 days a week) we have a 45 minute to a 1 1/2 hour ride to our ministry location. We have two different cars to fit all 11 of us, plus translators when we need them. There are drivers for each of them, because driving in India really is a full time job. Their names are Yoghi and Sahb Singh. I can’t imagine having to driving here. It is not simply that no one pays much attention to the lines on the road (if there are any), that it is a strange thing to stop at a red light, and that it is a polite to use your horn (you use it if you want to pass someone, or if something is in your way, or just if it gives you a thrill), but also that there is so much traffic. In the capital of the second most populated country what can you expect.

As everything in India it is not your typical American sort of traffic. Traffic here includes water trucks and dump trucks that have been painted with peacocks, images of god and patterns in all sorts of beautiful colors. On the back they also paint the words “HORN PLEASE” “WAIT FOR SIDE” and “USE DIPPER AT NIGHT” (your dipper is your high beams). This all basically means don’t be stupid and let me know where you are on the road. There are also lots of school buses, city buses, motorcycles, bicycles,  tons of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, as well as the notorious cattle. These cattle do not just include your traditional picture book cows, but also bulls, water buffalo, and what are known as brahmin cows. Brahmin cows are a light beige color, they have a hump on their backs and have huge horns. On day driving to Asha House we met an enormous herd of these cows. I guess this is how your relocate your cattle herds in India. You just walk them through the street. No one will hit them because you would probably be sent off to prison and your karma would be screwed if you did. So this herd of cows went on as far as you could see and then we turned the corner and it kept going. It was quite a sight to see. At least they were on the right side of the road. 🙂

Driving through Delhi has been an awesome way to get to see the city. We have seen huge veg and fruit markets, rickshaws decked out with plastic flower garlands and blank CDs for decoration, motorcycles with 3, 4, and even 5 people, colorfully painted Hindi shrines, statues of gods crammed in the back of a truck, pigs playing in open sewage (no wonder no one wants to eat them), fields filled with cattle and others left fallow waiting to be sown, a bridge that is made for one lane of traffic but always seems to hold two lanes, kids “popping a squat” on the side of the road, women sweeping the street, a seemingly ironic sign that says “Green Delhi, Clean Delhi,” rickshaws and carts piled high with boxes of electronics, incense or hay, cow patties pressed into shape by hand and left to dry in tidy rows, women carrying huge bundles, shallow silver bowls, or clay pots on their heads, boys stripped down to their underwear jumping and splashing in a dirty creek trying to escape the heat, and men sitting in a circle playing cards or discussing politics and religion. This list could keep going almost forever. There is so much you can see from a car widow in India.  I hope this gives you a picture of what life is like here and what sorts of things to pray about.