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Monday

Apr232012

Return to India, Part 13: train ride, part 5: we click and clatter into Pune, take a perilous walk and step into a world beyond imagination

Monday, April 23, 2012 at 1:17PM

In time, the darkness slips away and the sun rises. The members of Sujitha's wedding party begin to stir again.

The coffee is not the best... heated milk poured into cups partially filled with instant powder, kind of like Folger's.

Still, I have some more and it is okay - but I long to have a cup brewed by Vasanthi or Bhanu. Sandy had made coffee for me a few times before. She had the South Indian coffee technique down sound.

The sun lights up the henna of the bride.

Before leaving her home in Bangalore, Vasanthi had cooked not only last night's dinner but this morning's breakfast. Even a day later, it remains delicious. I just wish I didn't have this damned acid reflux condition - but Suji bought some Omezaprole for me and it works pretty good. I eat my breakfast and am glad to discover Vasanthi brought enough for seconds.

Natarajan observes this slice of India from the bunk where I had sporadically slept through the night. My other camera lies there with him.

Through the window we see young students in uniform, biking their way to school.

We stop at a couple of stations where some passengers get off the train and others get on.

Suji gives her mom some playful affection...

...and then her dad, who maybe ate just a little bit too much... no, no, he didn't. How could one possibly eat too much of Vasanthi's cooking?

I continue to fantasize: Vasanthi's South Indian Home Cooking restaurant in Anchorage.

What used to be here? What is here now? Where are we? What is this place called?

Ganesh and Rangarajan - his father's best friend. We move along with others whom we do not know and never will know.

As the bride talks to the groom over the wireless, Bhanu gives her son an affectionate, soul-felt, hug...

...and then a more firm embrace...

Then a strong, strong, embrace, fully returned, follows. This is a gift we humans have been given - it surely does help us to enjoy the sweetness of life and to endure life's most bitter sorrows, both of which can be felt in the same moment.

A boy comes through selling Spiderman toys - when thrown against the wall, the hands and feet stick lightly to it, then the Spiderman crawls down the wall.

Suji buys Spidermen for Jobe and Kalib.

We reach the outskirts of Pune.

Suddenly, overcome with emotion, Bhanu grips her daughter's hand. She tells me she is about to lose her daughter, that after the wedding Suji will belong to another family and she will rarely see her again.

Sujitha wraps her arms around her mother. "No, Mum," she soothes. "It used to be like that, but not now. Manu's family is not like that." They are modern people and will not seek to isolate and separate Suji from her birth family, she tells her mother.

Suji assures Bhanu that she will always be her mother and she her daughter, by cultural norms, she will now be considered to be in Manu's family, but in spirit and love, Suji promises she will always remain her daughter and, in spirit and love, Manu will also be part of their family.

Distance and cultural traditions notwithstanding, Suji will keep this relationship strong and active, too. No matter what, she will be there for both her mom and dad. I know it. I won't tell you how I know, just yet, but I do. By the end of this series, which, despite all my long delays, is coming soon, readers will know how I know.

Soon, we reach Pune, where we are greeted at the station by porters who will carry our bags to the road - atop their heads. Suji is very concerned about the white bag. It is filled with sweets called Ladoos, made from graham flour flakes and sugar syrup, rounded into small balls. After the wedding, the Ladoos will be distributed to the families of both the bride and groom.

The sweets are delicate, and could easily be crushed if another bag were to be placed on top of them, or could be shattered were the bag to fall.

The Ladoos won't be crushed now, but the perch of the unsecured bag atop the porter's head leaves Suji feeling most nervous. Her bag of delicate Ladoos is totally unsecured. What is to stop it from falling?

The walk will prove to be quite long...

SURPRIZINGLY LONG... we walk and walk and walk... for Suji, every step is a nervous one.

It reminds me of changing planes in Minneapolis and then walking from a gate at one end of the sprawling terminal to the other. Suji matches the porter, step for step. He seems very confident... but... still... the perch looks precarious... there is nothing to hold the bag in place... the slightest stumble, a sudden turn of the porter's head...

Finally, the road is reached, we step into the hot sun, the bag is lowered safely to the ground, Ladoos whole and ready to be shared.

And then I turn and see a sight that my Alaskan eyes can hardly believe... A World Beyond Imagination... Indeed! Suji pulls out her phone to call Manu and tell him we are here.

Speaking of which, up in Barrow, the Leavitt crew landed the first Arctic Slope bowhead whale of spring Sunday. In Wainwright, the Hopson crew did the same.

Speaking doubly of which, Melanie just arrived home in Anchorage after having spent the past month up on the Arctic Slope doing a job in the oil fields for her company. I have not seen her for almost two months before I left Arizona for India.

Speaking of Arizona, Margie and Lavina should be arriving back in Anchorage from Phoenix about 6:30 PM tonight, but Margie won't be able to come home because she must stay in Anchorage for the rest of the week to babysit.

So I am going to drive into town tonight to see my wife, daughter, and other family members. So I might not post anything and if I do it will likely just be an intermission post.

Then I will take this blog straight into preliminary wedding functions, and then to the wedding itself.

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