Life Changing Words Ministry

President's Journal

1 Dec 2006 – Mulund – 10am

Wednesday afternoon, we all piled together, with our huge stacks of luggage, and headed to the Delhi train station; not only were the three of us leaving, but Sarah was going to Chandigarh by train – fourteen bags among the four of us. Getting our luggage to the train platform was quite the experience: remember the brain teasers about how to get the wolf, the sheep, and the hunter across the river using a boat that only holds 2 creatures? That was easy, by comparison. But we eventually made it; Sarah's train left first, so we all waited at that platform until she was gone. Then we did another "river-crossing" to get our bags up and over a few tracks to our platform. And we did it again when our train arrived, and we had to get it all onboard and under our seats quickly. Speaking of the train:

     --------------------- <-- train's long axis -->
     |S1: :S2|S1: :S2| ...
                           <-- aisle -->
     |S3: :S5|S3: :S5| ...
     |  : :  |  : :  | ...
     |S4: :S6|S4: :S6| ...
     ---------------------

     S# are seat numbers, with : being the leg location.

I don't know if that makes sense. There were sets of two benches facing each other (perpendicular to the train axis) which seated 2 people each, plus two seats across an isle (so groups of 6). When it was time to convert to "sleep" mode, there was another "bench" above each of the two, plus one above the two seats; then, the backs of the two individual seats folded down to make the sixth sleeping bench. This setup was repeated throughout the length of the train car. I sat in an S1; Bill and Georgene were across the "hall" from me; strangers filled out the other three seats. Oh, yeah, there were privacy curtains, pillows and blankets, too.

The train left about 4:15. About 5, we got a snack, and a full dinner at 9. Then lights out. It wasn't the most restful sleep I've ever had, but it was better than no sleep. Every once in a while, I'd peek out the window and see the dark countryside slipping by. At about six on Thursday morning, the train staff got busy, so no more sleep. We arrived at the Mumbai train station about 9:30 am. Apparently, 45 min late, though a bit earlier than the 10am [18 hour trip] that I was expecting. Pastor Paul Joseph met us there, hired porters to get our bags to taxi (much easier than the logistical nightmare on the Delhi end), and got two taxis. I ended up in the taxi with Paul. About halfway to ↗Mulund, outside Mumbai, our taxi brakes died. Bill and Georgene's taxi was ahead of us, and so continued onward. After trying to get it fixed by appropriate hits, jiggles, and stares, Paul flagged down an auto-rickshaw to finish our journey. Quite exciting by itself. We crossed bridge with glass in road, which I thought odd. We found out when we got to Mulund that riots throughout Mumbai because of some event [a statue of some sort was defaced, or something] on the other side of the country. A train in Mumbai was burned; so all taxis, busses, and other public transportation was stopped; we made it out of the train station just in time. Thank you, God! [The glass may or may not have been a result of the rioting; I was never sure.]

I definitely learned flexibility on this trip. Our original plan was to have the Hawkins stay at one home, and me at another—but plans changed, and we all ended up in the same house. (I didn't overly mind; I liked having a familiar face nearby.) I got a shower (after about 24 hours of preparation and travel, that was really nice), and rested most of the afternoon, making up for the less-than-restful train "sleep", with conversation and dinner for the evening.

This morning, while I was writing this, Georgene discovered that a rat had gotten into one of her bags. Ick.

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