Organized chaos

"Organized chaos" is how the first American I have met here thus far descibes the scene on the streets of India. Between the incessant blaring of taxi horns, shouts of hawkers peddeling vessals for rags, clanging of bells at temples, and loud rickshaws zooming past pedestrians, its not hard to see where this term came from.

My escape from the noise pollution is found in my apartment, but even there sounds rush in. My elevator sings " Jingle Bells " ( I'm not kidding!) every time its doors open, nightly worship services take place on the roof, plus of course there is the regular chatter of neighboring kids playing hide-n-seek ( which is how I am slowly learning to count in Marahti, ek do teen, so I really can't complain) all echo through the stairwells. I've definatley learned to deal with it, and treasure rarer moments of silence.

Luckily, small oases of calm do exist within the city. As I wandered around semi-lost last friday afternoon I discovered a park located a few blocks from my house, complete with amature cricketeers and their wickets playing alongside barefoot uniformed schoolgirls running races. I also wandered a bit further west and found a small bay, where the crash of the waves and the wind canceled out the constant racket of the city. A Buddhist temple was tucked in along this coastline, hidden in a beautiful garden and complete with a monk inside, apparently standing gaurd. Taking off my shoes and entering this space I felt like I was in an entirely different world.

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Mumbai has changed somehow over these last weeks, finally drying out a bit and calming itself after the literal storms. I feel as if we have been wrung out, in a matter of speaking, and still are recovering from the shock of what has happened. Yesterday and today at the office we have had meetings cncerning the welfare of the communities here, especially those who already recieve some assistance, and those who have lost everything. My heart goes out to the many people who were stuck in theirhomes, with waters rising up to almost their necks. How does one respond when one hears these things? I am glad that in the next few days I will be going with our social workers to deliver food and clothing to these families, the least we can do right now.