Merry Christmas, in India

We have spent almost the whole of Christmas day at a religious center, but it is not a church and we are not surrounded by Christians. Some who see our gleaming white skin that can’t help but stand out in a crowd have wished us a Merry Christmas, but by and large it could just be any other day here. We are instead at the Golden Temple, the holy shrine of Sikhs. We have learned much about their fascinating and peaceful religion, and been amazed at their kindness. At this temple complex you can sleep and eat for free, they serve food all day long and must feed thousands daily. The food is quite tasty, we can attest! Besides being recipients of such amazing generosity here

of the Sikhs, we also got to do our part and help- peeling onions for about an hour, there must have been 30 of us sitting on the floor peeling with a mountain ridge-line of tons of onions between us.

Another part of our day was at Mata Temple, a Hindu cave temple, and last week we paraded down the streets of Jaipur with the Muslims in one of their biggest festivals of the year. We have learned much about other religions and cultures while here in India and are all the better for it. More so than learning about the people and their religions, we have experienced their amazing kindness and generosity, traits common to Christians as well and we are reminded of the threads of humanity that link us all.

Our hearts do ache for our own familiar traditions, being with our families singing Christmas carols and sipping on hot spiced cider while looking at a snowscape outside, all tucked in by a fire. But our lives are full of too many adventures for that right now, we’ll just enjoy future Christmases as home that much more in the future.

To everyone out there that we love, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy and Blessed New Year when it comes.

And they’re off!

We’re not sure what day it is, or the time, we were up last night from midnight until 3 when we forced ourselves to go to bed at what felt like 1 in the afternoon, but we are here, in India.

Conclusions thus far:

It is hot. The food is delicious. People are friendly and trains are crowded. And it’s true that anything you can say of India, so true is its opposite. The differences are startling, the smells (both good and bad) are overwhelming and there is a feast for all the senses.

More will surely be to come in following blogs now that we’re back to typing. Time to put this jet lag behind us and do some exploring so we have something to write about.