Celebrating Independence Day at HBI, a church picnic in the country and the scariest moment of the trip
There were dancers performing to music and all of the school kids from the boys and girls home were gathered all dressed in their dress whites.
Picnic with the Calvary chapel somewhere north of Chennai
I was not completely sure where I was going except that my driver was ready to take me there. With some coaxing, I got him to pose by his car, which I thought was pretty cool. This car was probably about 40 years old but in great shape.
I knew I was going to an Independence Day church retreat. The topic for the retreat was family matters. After almost 2 hours, we were the first to arrive, but once everyone arrived we gathered in an upstairs room, for praise and worship. Very lively time -- I was a little taken back by starting out with songs requiring motions. I gave it my best, but not sure I was even close. We then had a couple of talks by Thomas, and also Bobby Gupta, and then gathered for lunch.
Arriving Mumbai . . . a kidnapping?
In the end, I wished I could have spent more time in Chennai. I felt like my time with IJM and HBI were both too short, but I think I made the most of the time I had
Independence Day speech at HBI
Wednesday morning I was walking out of my room, I saw this large crowd gathered on the lawn at HBI. At first I was wondering what kind of program was going on.
There were dancers performing to music and all of the school kids from the boys and girls home were gathered all dressed in their dress whites. 
Soon, Bobby Gupta took that stage and began a message exhorting the attendees regarding the opportunity to take country to new levels. The key was believers in Jesus to live in a way that 
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| Kids are kids all over . . . hamming it up at HBI |
Picnic with the Calvary chapel somewhere north of ChennaiI was not completely sure where I was going except that my driver was ready to take me there. With some coaxing, I got him to pose by his car, which I thought was pretty cool. This car was probably about 40 years old but in great shape.
I knew I was going to an Independence Day church retreat. The topic for the retreat was family matters. After almost 2 hours, we were the first to arrive, but once everyone arrived we gathered in an upstairs room, for praise and worship. Very lively time -- I was a little taken back by starting out with songs requiring motions. I gave it my best, but not sure I was even close. We then had a couple of talks by Thomas, and also Bobby Gupta, and then gathered for lunch.
Bless her heart, Malini was thinking about the lone American in the server line. Indian do not use silverware in the casual eating, but she found a spoon for me and cleaned it up. She also walked though the serving line and pointed to things that would probably be too hot for me. What she did not know is that I have a cast iron stomach and had eaten several times in casual situations. I really appreciated her thoughtfulness and did not take the hotter stuff . . . at first. But after the first round, I went back for some delicious and spicy Indian food. However, apparently my eating technique was lacking slightly. I had been imitating the stirring of the food with my fingers, the picking up the stew with the "Roti" or bread, the scoop of the bread and stew into the hand, but it wasn't quite right. Fortunately, someone graciously told me about my thumb being the "spoon" which greatly sped up the process of eating. One of the best meals . . . home made Indian food . . . of my time in India.
Rescued slaves?
As I mentioned, yesterday I had been with the IJM Chennai team, but several folks were gone on simultaneous rescues. The church I was with that day had several members who worked for IJM, including rescue operations. In an interesting twist, I was introduced to one of them who told me that they had been a part of the rescue the day before and in fact, the freed slaves were actually in the building we were in. Later, I saw them, they seemed scared and we weren't able to communicate, but I hope I communicated some level of caring and my heart was burning.
Rescued slaves?
As I mentioned, yesterday I had been with the IJM Chennai team, but several folks were gone on simultaneous rescues. The church I was with that day had several members who worked for IJM, including rescue operations. In an interesting twist, I was introduced to one of them who told me that they had been a part of the rescue the day before and in fact, the freed slaves were actually in the building we were in. Later, I saw them, they seemed scared and we weren't able to communicate, but I hope I communicated some level of caring and my heart was burning.
Arriving Mumbai . . . a kidnapping?
In every case so far in my trip I had been driven my a professional driver . . .from airport to hotel, from hotel to work, etc. Mumbai was the only time I made my own arrangements. But I had read ahead and knew that to avoid being ripped off, I should go to the "prepaid taxi" stand and purchase my ride. So I went to the counter, spent 200 rupees for the fare and followed the directions toward my cab. After getting to described place I was momentarily confused by two different lines. When I stopped to assess, a helpful young man in a uniform asked me if I had a prepaid fare and when I said yes, he said to follow him. We walked across the street and then into a parking lot where a beat-up cab was pointed to. After I got in, I got my first uneasy feeling . . . two men got into my taxi . . . the first time this had happened and both looked a little rough. I chalked it up to the big city and I was happy that they seemed to speak some English and seemed to understand where the hotel was. We took off for the hotel . . . or so I thought. After a while we pulled over to the side of the road on a dark street far from the airport . . and the cabbie demanded 1600 rupees for fare. I explained that I had prepaid the fare . . but they quickly said it was only the parking fee. They offered to take a $100 US, but I did not have it and that would have been 5000 rupees. Feeling like I had no other choice, I scraped together the money and handed it over.
Then came the kicker . . . they then told me to get out of the taxi! They reassured me that the car behind me would take me to the hotel. So now I potentially was going to be abandoned on some dark street in Mumbai. I told him that I would not leave the cab, that I had paid the fare and expected to be taken to the hotel. They quickly came back with a "this is a service cab, your real cab is parked behind us" They had all the answers. We argued. Suddenly one of the men grabbed my bag and took it out of the taxi, so now I had to choose between my stuff and me. I got out of the cab and the other cabbie helped me load the bags into the other car and we were off. I sure had my doubts we were heading to the hotel. Five minutes went by, then 10 minutes, my heart was pounding . . . . the hotel and the airport I knew to be 5 - 10 minutes apart, but 10 minutes had passed and we were not yet there. In my mind, I began to think I was going to be kidnapped . . . or worse. But soon I saw signs again for the airport and I began to think at least I could try again to get to the hotel. But we drove on past the airport and began driving down a road of hotels. Maybe I was going to make it? Well we soon arrived at the hotel. The driver turned and asked for a tip, but certainly did not get one!
I got out of the cab as soon as possible . . . headed to the counter . . . and began the check-in process. That process went smoothly but I learned during that process that the hotel actually has an airport shuttle . . . aaaaaaaahhhhh!
Such was my introduction to Mumbai
Then came the kicker . . . they then told me to get out of the taxi! They reassured me that the car behind me would take me to the hotel. So now I potentially was going to be abandoned on some dark street in Mumbai. I told him that I would not leave the cab, that I had paid the fare and expected to be taken to the hotel. They quickly came back with a "this is a service cab, your real cab is parked behind us" They had all the answers. We argued. Suddenly one of the men grabbed my bag and took it out of the taxi, so now I had to choose between my stuff and me. I got out of the cab and the other cabbie helped me load the bags into the other car and we were off. I sure had my doubts we were heading to the hotel. Five minutes went by, then 10 minutes, my heart was pounding . . . . the hotel and the airport I knew to be 5 - 10 minutes apart, but 10 minutes had passed and we were not yet there. In my mind, I began to think I was going to be kidnapped . . . or worse. But soon I saw signs again for the airport and I began to think at least I could try again to get to the hotel. But we drove on past the airport and began driving down a road of hotels. Maybe I was going to make it? Well we soon arrived at the hotel. The driver turned and asked for a tip, but certainly did not get one!
I got out of the cab as soon as possible . . . headed to the counter . . . and began the check-in process. That process went smoothly but I learned during that process that the hotel actually has an airport shuttle . . . aaaaaaaahhhhh!
Such was my introduction to Mumbai
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