Life Changing Words Ministry
President's Journal
25 Nov 2006 – Chandigarh – 1:45pm
Rock Garden
Ceramic Decoration
Camel Ride
Busy morning. [But it translated into a pretty short entry. Odd.] At 9am (well, 10am... 9 was the IST—"India Stretch(able) Time"—schedule), got a car, drove past the civic offices for the state of ↗Haryana, then onto "Rock Garden": a conglomeration of rock art decorated with ceramic shards as a "recycling project". It's a nice 1-2 hour walk: it was a path with rock walls on both sides (and rock path, too), which twists and turns into the central area, then winds its way via a different route back to the parking lot. In the central area, Bill and I rode a camel for Rs. 25 each (about 50c apiece). Only got one pic with me on the camel on my camera, and one as I was disembarking – Georgene says she got a lot on hers. Now that I've ridden a camel once, I never have to again. (I'm not much for riding large animals of any kind. But if I never had another opportunity to ride a camel, I may have regretted it. Not overly comfortable, but what do I expect for 50c!)
Then we went to a nearby lake, with lots of paddle-boats, and other such rentable pleasure craft, on it. Saw a group of young women in Army uniforms: by age, I would have guessed they were right out of, or still in, high school—but it seemed they were in the official army—and behaving like tourists, which added to my confusion. I still don't understand that one (but I don't know how stints in the Indian Army work). We had It might have had to do with the funtil two o'clock before lunch, but actually got back around 12:30 – so I took a walk in the rose garden about a block from the Salins' house. While there, even more than at the Rock Garden, I felt like the "ooh, look, white guy", and very much out of place. The increase in perceived attention may have had to do with the fact that I was by myself, so a little more paranoid about such things.
[Editor's Note: that entry ended at lunch on the 25th... and my next entry, made on the 27th, began with events on Sunday the 26th... so apparently, nothing happened after lunch. Or, not that I can prove now, anyway.]
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