Bringing God on Vacation--India

The rumors are true: India is crowded

Like I said before, the life of being an international teacher has many perks, one of them being able to travel quite a bit during breaks and holidays. One of the places that I have always wanted to go was India, because it has so much to offer, and it's relatively close to Kuwait. I got this opportunity during National Day of Kuwait, which allowed me and three of my friends to go for about five days.

As was to be expected, there was a lot of poverty, especially in the city of Delhi, which is bursting at the seems with people. It definitely felt like stimulation overload, in that nearly every square inch was packed with people, cars, pollution, noise, etc. It's actually quite destabilizing and unsettling, because my brain couldn't function normally and was getting exhausted very quickly from everything.

Also, there were more beggars than I have ever seen while traveling. There would often be little kids asking for food, or homeless people lying on the ground begging for money.

It was a difficult situation, because there were far more beggars than me, and if I gave everyone of them even a small amount of money, I would be broke myself after the first day.

Add struggling infrastructure

Additionally, I am not sure if it is right to give money, because I don't want to enable them in their lifestyle of begging as their means to survive. Ideally, they would use their poverty as an opportunity to find honest work. However, we are living in reality, and nearly all of the people who are beggars are actually poor and probably starving, and they probably won't be able to find a job to support themselves because India is such an overpopulated and poor country.

So, what did I do? I knew this would come up on vacation, and I want to be a Christian at all times, not just at church or when it's convenient for me. What I basically did is that whenever I ordered food, I got some extra. When a kid or someone approached me for money, I gave them some of the candy. I certainly didn't need any extra sweets or food in my life. Nearly all of the time, the kids and other beggars were satisfied with that.

On our last night, I ordered some food at a restaurant on my own because I wanted to try something different, and I enjoy going to places that don't have clear menus and I have to try to figure out what things are being ordered. One of the popular things on the menu was lassi, which is like a sweetened icy milk, similar to a milkshake and maybe a little more tangy.

However, it's full of beauty

I really enjoyed the drink, and it was not very expensive at all. I was about to order another one when a kid asked me for one using sign language. It's more like a dessert, and probably not the healthiest choice. However, I did want to bless him in some way and it would be nice to give him something that he wants. So, I bought it for him. Then another kid came up and wanted one. I didn't like where this was going. What I did was made the first street child share with the second one and made him pour half of his into the other child's cup. I thought that was a fair and equitable solution.

I think that one of the best things we can be on vacation is generous, because we want the world to see that we don't just think about ourselves. Jesus was the most generous man alive, giving his own life for his enemies. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I was able to be generous in a few small ways and become a tiny bit more like Jesus by giving up some of my selfishness and stinginess.