adrenaline rush

Monday October 26 2009 – NTC – 10 pm

Well, what a disappointment. This afternoon, after the power came back on there was a brief hope the internet might work. No where on campus could I find a wireless hotspot or a computer with a regular connection. Jim got online for a few minutes, long enough to check on his on-line college students back home. The library computer gave me a few minutes for a quick email but there was no usb port for my stick. I wanted to paste into the blog stuff I have been writing.

So at 5 pm I packed up my computer and got set for the drive of a lifetime!

..... more exhilerating than any Disney ride! Dr. George (our host), Dr. Jim (my traveling & ministry mentor) and I jumped in the van with Johnson, our professional driver. George had to go to downtown Deharadun to buy a new cell phone. We went along on this fearful expedition, thinking that it might not matter if the internet never came back on. You have seen Tokyo or Mexico city pictures I am sure – some of you have driven in NYC or on Toronto's Front Street after the Blue Jays game – this was Dehradun, not even Delhi. This is a city in the foothills of the mountains. Yet the traffic (vehicular, pedestrian, motor bike and regular bike) is astonishing. In India you can drive a car without wheels but it must have a horn! The greatest thrill came after we parked the car (a parking lots shared with half a dozen roaming cows) and crossed the street. You have seen the show “fearfactor”? No kind of traffic yields to anything here. You literally put your hand out, not to point or ask traffic to stop, but to push the bikes and vehicles so that you can squeeze your body through a narrow opening.Everyone, everything, has the right of way.

The shanty stores,the wagon restaurants & vegetable stands line the roads into the city. Once in the urban centre, any available space is used as a storefront and they are all busy even after darkness has set in. The more established 'real' stores are about 5 feet wide and 20 feet deep. And these cubicles sell anything you can think of – appliances, clothes, material, shoes, books, electronics. The electric lines running all this capitalistic effort, have been spliced into in such a fashion that it puts my spagetti Christmas electric cord extravaganza to shame. Scattered among the rustic downtown merchants you will see the golden arches, dominoes, Pizza Hut ... While George and Johnson bought the phone, Jim and I stood at the curb and just took it all in. Horns never stop. Vehicles drive with about 2 inches between bumpers, there are no lanes – but you know what? - I never heard any 'road rage'. Really. It is just a way of life. In NA we have bumper to bumper non-moving traffic jams. This is a slow moving traffic jam. Rarely are you stopped for more than a few seconds. No traffic lights make turns difficult, but it does keep the traffic moving.

Nothing spiritual about this post I guess – except that now I really know how to trust in the Lord!