Arrival in Guntur

We have arrived in Guntur, India!

When you are travelling eastward around the world, it's difficult to say where one day ends and the next begins, but today "began" at about 8 am this morning in Hydrabad, India. Mike and I awoke after about 2.5 hours sleep and joined the rest of the group in the lobby for an Indian breakfast -- lots of spicy things that I cannot name. The "rest of the group" was Pastor Richard Stadler and his wife Sheryl, from St. James Lutheran church in West St. Paul. We will be working with them here in India.

Our train for Guntur did not depart until 2 pm, so we hit the streets looking for a little adventure. After getting some money changed at a local bank, Mike and I went for a walk without an interpreter. The crazy mish-mash of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars on the streets took some re-adjustment for me, and probably moreso for Mike, but we navigated our way to a small park with a clock tower and down a busy set of streets. When we hit a construction area with sign mentioning something about a "checkpoint", we decided to head back.

Due to the speed of restaurant service, a "quick" group lunch turned into something longer, so we of course ended up racing for the train as we always do. Pastor Stadler tripped twice on the platform bridges, and our carriage was the second to last one on the train, but we made it.

The next 5 hours on the train was a real-life motion picture as the sprawling cityscape of Hydrabad gave way to the rocky countryside of east India. The horrific train crash last October [BBC news article] that killed over 100 people occured on this very line (!), and so naturally Mike and I asked a rail employee to point out the spot. We opened the side door of our car (they let you do that in India) and the man waited, then pointed "here!" It was an appaling series of gouges in the dirt, following by piles of twisted carriage parts and finally the charred diesel engine itself.

The big news on the train was that the Dali Lama was in Guntur for a Buddhist festival, so natually the train was filled with Buddhist monks. As if Guntur's Hindu and Muslim populations were not diverse enough!

We pulled into Guntur station to the sound of an Indian marching band, which we presumed to be for the Buddhist festival. To our surprise, it was arranged by a few pastors for our arrival. Wow! And not just a band, but every pastor from the seminary turned out to welcome us at the train station.

And clearly they were a "marching" band, as they followed us right down the platform, over the tracks, into an access tunnel, and into the parking lots, where they continued to play while we waited for our transportation to the Moriah home.

While Mike rode in an SUV, I took a spot with Paul (the Director of the BFLC and a close friend of mine) on one of the Moriah Public School buses. It turns out that the band was not done yet; they boarded right along with us.

Guntur sure has changed in four short years. The commecial district is now filled with neon lights, fine watch shops, and upscale clothing stores, hinting at the growing middle class that the IT industry in bringing to this part of the the world. There are still open sewers and homeless people, they are just next to much nicer things.

We arrived at the Moriah School's newest building, an annex they rented to accomodate the newer students. From there, the band started up again, and we were off on foot to the Moriah home where we were to stay. Noise ordinances do not seem to apply here.

At the Moriah home, we were greeted by all the children with a song of welcome. I've been here before and had a pretty good idea they were going to do this, but I tried to tell Mike as little as possible and let it all play out for him. It's an amazing experience.

It is now very late, and we have a full schedule of visits tomorrow. I'm very tired, but also very excited to be here. It is, in a very strange way, a homecoming for me.