On our first full day in India (Is that really possible?), Tuna, Jeepu, and their boys picked us up at our hotel. The drive to Cuttack from our hotel in BBSR (Bhubaneswar) took about 45 minutes. On the way to the orphanage, we would oddly see certain things that we are quite used to seeing, like the Ford dealership. We would also see things that we are completely not used to seeing, like men urinating on the side of the road. Very strange to me. Like, very strange. Still can't see how that could ever seem "normal" but obviously, it does, at least to some degree. There were still other things, like the sketchy scaffolding, that seemed familiar because we had seen it in Ethiopia, too. And there were palm trees all over, reminding us--in case the sweltering heat wasn't enough to tell us--that we were in a tropical land.
And then, as a constant soundtrack floating around in my head, the Caedmon's Call lyrics accompanied our drive each day: "I've seen idols, rickshaws, cycles, cows...on the highway. Honey, all the things that I have seen! [But] the most amazing of them all is the Grace that we believe in...we are known and loved, loved and known."
Even though I only rode to the orphanage four times, the route seems so familiar to me, especially once you cross the riverbed and enter Cuttack. Cuttack is home to over a half of a million people, yet coming from the USA and being accostomed to large cities here, there is no way I would have ever guessed that there were that many people. It seemed like a small town to me, and I might have guessed that 50,000 people live there. In reality, it's over 10 times that much!
Here is a construction project that was being done while we were there...
I snapped this photo quickly out the car window because I wanted a picture of one of the larger temples that we were seeing. As it turns out, these are two rather famous temples in Cuttack, the Uttareswar Temple (barely visible--it is white and is almost out of the picture and hidden behind the car)
and the Jagganath Temple, the tallest temple in all of Cuttack.
*Note: I just learned the importance of these temples tonight, over 10 months after seeing them. Thank you, Google, for the research assistance.
This next photo is really tough...it was hard to know exactly what was going on, but what it looked like to me was that this man was standing there waiting for the woman (far away at left) while she walked through the trash piles looking for something. This was what appeared to be a huge garbage dumping ground, and she was out in her beautiful, traditional Indian dress scrounging...while he waited. I was saddened by it; yet I couldn't take my eyes off of the scene either. There are probably some spiritual analogies here...
The ubiquitous solar-powered flower...
A place to buy pots and pans...
...or tires. Not much longer after the tire "store", and we would be at Basundhara.
2 comments:
They had a Ford dealership? How psyched was Jeff? ;) And wow, what a fitting Caedmon's Call song!
Yes, it felt like home to see the Ford dealership! :) And the song? The lyrics played in my head while we were in Ethiopia, too, but since the song is written about India, it was so much more fitting. Couldn't stop seeing the whole album the whole time we were there...but especially that song!
Post a Comment