JP and I have been blessed this summer by the opportunity to share India with groups of people.  It is one of the things we love most, actually.   It came as a pleasant surprise, then, or maybe a reminder these last two days that India is nice, and slow, and sweet just on our own too. 

Some high lites, for those who are curious:
1.  On Sunday afternoon, I read a novel on the stone bench in the courtyard (for several hours!) and the dogs came and sat on either side of me.  I'm really on the band wagon to get own our dog again.
 2.  (re-)Learning how to make fresh coconut chutney from JP's mom, and then learning how to make JP's favorite childhood snack from JP's dad.  Ah, how I love to spend time in the kitchen!  (On Saturday afternoon I also made banana bread from some really cute, little, overripe bananas.)
3.  Spending time in the studio with Williams this morning, making a scripture recording.  While I wasn't able to participate in a  recording that will go out into the field, and bless tribal India, I did get to record myself reading the sermon on the mount, which will hopefully assist me with a memorization project.  I learned a lot about the scripture recording process during those few hours. 
4.   At long last, going to a jewelery store, where JP and his parents helped me pick out a gold chain, which is the truest symbol of a married Indian woman.  Now, I shall no longer have to defend my naked neck when traversing India.  I've always felt married, don't get me wrong, but in India, this  chain will  make me  really married.  sweet.

It is hard to believe how quickly our India time has passed.  We're not quite ready to leave, though really, I doubt we're ever ready to go.  I am looking forward to my bed.  More than that, I'm looking forward to all of you, near ones and dear ones, that I've missed so much this summer.  But, for those of you who know me well, you know I hate goodbyes, and so I'm going to spend my next two days soaking up India like I don't have to leave.
 

Our second group left early this morning.  We had to do two trips to the airport.  Our airport runs are not typical.  My parents, my brother and anybody else at home will always insist that they come to the airport to bid goodbye to people.  This is so very special for my family but also to the people who are leaving.  So, needless to say, our two trips to the airport (one at 1 AM and one at 4 AM) cut our night into little segments.  So we took naps all night but it was definitely worth it, plus being a Saturday today, we were able to sleep in (a luxury that we don't always have in India during our trips).  
    The second group that was here had a completely different sort of an experience tailored for them.  We organized the entire trip around a road trip down to the southern most tip of India.   Our trip involved day trains, night trains, buses, autos and cabs of various sizes.  While the biggest miracle was that nobody got sick, we did have our share of adventures.   I wont elaborate too much on them but I can list a choice few.  It was quite the trip!:)

*  Day trip to Chennai where Paul got to do some construction work in a railway station somewhere on the outskirts of the city (while the train waited for the signal to change)
*  Visit to the burial site of St. Thomas
*  Spending a day in the French city of Pondicherry
*  A walking tour of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai
*  Visiting my village in south Tamil Nadu
*  A tour of a fireworks factory that is owned by a friend (we got a personal tour of a place that is highly "secretive" in nature)
*  A fireworks display
*  Lunch at various little places
*  Having our bus tire literally explode on us (our driver did really well to save the bus from flipping)
*  A short trip up to see a sea of people at the waterfalls in Courtallam
*  The gorgeous drive down to the tip of India

So many more things to say... but I'll stop here.  We will be adding more pictures soon.   I cannot believe that in a few days, we will be heading back to the US.   Lots of good things to look forward to there as well  but for now, I am still enjoying breathing in this air and soaking in the Indian monsoon. 

It has been quite pleasant in Bangalore.  There is always a cool breeze in the air, rain falls intermittently throughout the day, and the sun makes a cameo to just let you know that you are in India.  I knew, organizing these two trips, that we would be flirting with the rains but even I have been quite thrilled with the way the weather has cooperated.  
    James and I spent almost all of Sunday night waiting for our two teams to arrive.  It was a long wait and I felt like I shared in the jet lag yesterday afternoon.  Thankfully, after a good night's rest we are back on track.  We have had a good couple of days here in Bangalore.  We will do a couple of road trips this week before we head out on a seriously long jaunt down to the tip of India where the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet.   Everybody is in good spirits and I am excited for them! 
    There have been plenty of highlights already but one of the lowlights happened to me yesterday at the park where some abominable bird pooped on my head.  Fortunately, it wasn't an ostrich.  We are taking more pictures.  Katy has gotten her SLR camera out and we got a great deal at a local photography place where they develop your pictures, provide you a photo album, a new roll of film, batteries, a CD with your pictures on it, AND they will put your favorite photograph from that roll on a coffee mug... all of $10!  :)  Talk about a bargain! 
    All is well in Bangalore otherwise.  
   

Last night our friends Shashi and Maria got married.  They had planned their wedding so JP and I would be able to attend, and so we were especially looking forward to the celebration.  The wedding itself was just lovely, the reception to follow was sweet, and the food was fantastic.  The bride and groom were beautiful and charming, respectfully, and I appreciated their smiling faces throughout the evening.  In addition, it was a memory filled night because the reception was held in the same hall that  JP's family used for our reception two and a half years ago. 

Now, having mentioned in all sincerity the beauty of the evening, I must tell you -with a few giggles and guffaws- the manner in which we traveled to and from the wedding.  You see, no matter the amount of planning and preparation, getting around town in India is simply put... an adventure.

The groom and his parents, along with the pastor, came over to JP's home before the wedding.  I think this was for the purpose of pictures, prayer.  Time passed quickly and soon the pastor, groom, and parents were half an hour behind schedule and late getting to the church.  Transportation scheming suddenly went into hyper-drive.  Due to the large group needing to be transported, we were all to go over to the church in two shifts, with the wedding party naturally heading over first.  I was assigned a seat in the Gypsy (vehicle which seats 5 including the driver, and 6 if someone sits in the back-end/trunk area).  When JP's friend Raja returned with the Gypsy, I climbed nicely into the back seat with JP's mom and aunt, and JP's cousin climbed in the trunk.  Before JP's dad had the chance to get into the other front seat, Raja mentioned that the Gyspy was sounding funny.  We all raised an ear in alarm because it had already died on us the night before we were supposed to take the Hope group to the airport.  After several attempts at starting the Gyspy with no luck, it was time to push.  While JP's mom, aunt, and I sat primly wearing our saris in the backseat, the guys began to push the car in an attempt to pop the clutch.  If only you could have seen JP, Raja, Thomas, and Chandran huffing and puffing, pushing the Gypsy in their wedding suits down the street toward the intersection... and then pushing it back toward the house from the intersection, and then back toward the intersection, and then finally, when it was obvious that the Gypsy was not going to start, back to the house and through the gate.   At this point transportation scheming began again in earnest. 

We all ended up going by bike.  Hahaha...  This means your must now picture all of us in our wedding gear, riding in caravan to the church, via motorcycles.  This is not uncommon in India by any means, but even we had the giggles thinking about the order of events.  (And, for you Americans, you must now admire me because it means I rode side-saddle behind JP, wearing a sari and smiling all the while.)

As I mentioned, the ceremony went on just fine.  However, because it poured rain during the service, we had to re-organize our transportation once again.  I was assigned to ride with a family from JP's church, as were most of the ladies who had arrive on the back of a bike earlier.  It was good that I went in the car, however, because it opened up a spot for the groom to ride behind JP!!!  Hilarious!

Everyone made it to the reception in timely fashion, and enjoyed themselves greatly.  And then, you know what it coming by now, it was time to figure out how to get home.  Besides JP and I, everyone rode different bikes with different partners than they had the first time.  Why?  Well just because it was easier that way.  Duh. 

A safe and lovely transport was had by all, and the Big Indian Wedding was simply the best.

Pictures Below:
1.  JP with Shashi, the groom
2.  our Indian family
3.  Bride and groom seated on the throne during reception
4.  Enjoying the dinner
5.  man making dosas for the wedding guests to eat
      

Our group has now moved on from Vellore to the coastal city of Chennai.   It still feels weird for me to call it Chennai... part of me will always call it Madras.   We have had more adventures since our last stop.   I got to take the group to meet my dear friend Krishna in his village for the 4th of July.  Krishna has a rice mill that he runs with his family.   We got to spend some time with them and the students had the opportunity to talk to him about his faith (Hinduism) and interact with other kids in the village.  Plus, it was the 4th of July, so we bought fireworks that we set off in the rice mill (not "inside" of course!).  
    One of my stories for this week was the story of Ravi.  When our group was at Vellore, we have the opportunity to spend some time on a college campus.  We got to interact with students, professors, etc.   The last day we were there, we met Ravi.  He was a little kid, 13 years of age who sold Samosas (a crispy Indian snack).   He brought it to the campus and sold them for 1 rupee each.   He seemed to like our group and we did enjoy his samosas so we started to talk.   Our immediate question was..."why aren't you in school?"   and his response was quite sad.  He said he was in 8th grade but he had to sell the samosas for a couple of days because his mother was sick and he wanted to make some money so he can take her to the hospital.   I knew there was something special with this kid when I bought 2 samosas and gave him 5 rupees.  I told him I did not need the change.  He wouldn't go for that.  "My mother would not be happy if I didn't give change anna (elder brother in tamil)," he said.  So he gave me change and after flashing us his biggest smile, he went off to sell more samosas on campus.  He really broke our heart...so after lunch we kept our eyes open for him and sure enough he wandered back with his bucket of samosas.  Nobody really bought anything.   The day prior to meeting us, somebody had beaten him up and broken his clay pot of samosas.  He said he had lost over 50 rupees  ($1) worth of food.   May not seem like a big amount to us but it was for him.   So our group bought ALL his samosas this time around (it was only around $2 total) but instead of eating it we decided on a healthier option.  We told him to go ahead and give samosas out to people on campus.  He did a little double take and that then that beautiful smile came back on.  He ran through the campus and within 20 minutes had an empty bucket!  He came back to say thanks.  We told him that we'd pray for his mother and then Ravi was off.
     I really hope he is back in school today.