SatShriNagal

SatShriNagal! (that's the Punjabi version of Namaste)

I need to keep this short (really!), but I'm feeling the need to make some kind of contact -- it's maybe only been a week since we left Varanasi, but oh my goodness, how much ground we have covered since then.

Sarnath was a terrific chapter in this increasingly epic story. Respite in many ways from the intensity of Varanasi and life on the ghats -- but also source of one of the students' larger challenges, tied to their service agenda with Dr. Jain's children. They all rose to the challenge magnificently, as they did in Noh Bo -- I'm pretty sure they would all say the most difficult experience for each of them came when left in a preschool in one or another of the neighboring "hamlets" or (second round) in one of those overseen by Dr. Jain in Sarnath itself -- all by themselves, with only a local teacher there (and of course plenty of attention from the nearby villagers). Imagine holding forth (teaching, playing - Duck Duck Goose and London Bridges Falling Down were popular) in front/with 60-90 (!) preschoolers, for at least an hour. One of those times when one checks one's watch, sees that only 10 minutes have gone by, and wonders what the heck to do for the remaining time with them. The day they worked in the villages, Ted and I and Dr. Jain traveled around from one to another location, stopping long enough to play a game or have a chai, and it was sooo great to see the students running their individual shows!

And  I am already taking longer than I have right now -- suffice to say that after another overnight train ride from Sarnath, we arrived in Agra, visited the Taj, ate at Pizza Hut, had more bucket showers (boys) or the first hot shower in a while (girls), albeit with "Agra water" that just doesn't seem to entirely rinse off -- then loaded into jeeps for the 5+ hour ride to Delhi and the train station and another overnight train ride and now here we are in Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple, holiest of places for Sikhs, and once again, completely different from any other place we've been so far. The students are on another scavenger hunt today, this time to learn about Sikhism. Tomorrow most of us will be up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise ceremony of "waking up the Guru Granth Sahib" and later we'll all go to the Wagh border between India and Pakistan and watch the border closing ceremonies, visit a couple of other temples, and get to bed early so we can be ready for an early departure Monday morning for Dharamsala.

Whew. Got to go, will write again from Dharamsala if not before.

Thank you all for your support. Hope snow provides more pluses than minuses - soon we'll likely experience some ourselves (the college group already in Dharamsala says it's pretty cold there...).