Sharing chai tea and sharing friendship

Date: June 18, 2009
Time: 6:57 p.m. India time
Location: In a veg restaurant ordering chai tea
Accomplishments at a glance: Sight-seeing summer palace, Chamundi Hill, Mysore Palace, with John Veith and his driver Manju

I am already half way finished with a tall glass of hot chai tea and my canvas of a story is still empty. I want so badly to show you and to take you with me on my cycling adventure in India rather than just tell you about the events in a boring blog.
I could start off be describing the events of waking up, eating breakfast, but these are all everyday tasks. People really are people all over the world. One thing that I sometimes forget is that the Indians are just as curious about me as I am of them. Sometimes I have Steve pose and I don't actually take a picture of him. I take a picture just to the right of him of a few ladies walking in their beautiful sarees (local bright colored dresses). I want to capture them in my photograph to share with others.

I am walking on Gandhi Square just a block from our hotel with Steve and John who arrived from Bangalore with his driver Manju to spend the day with us. A man dressed in white and a red Hindi dot on his forehead approaches me. "Excuse me, please," he says, touching my arm lightly. At first, I am confused and a bit alarmed.
"No rickshaw. I have driver coming," John exclaims, assuming that the man must want to offer taxi or rickshaw.
"Just a moment," the man continues and he flashes his cell phone on photograph mode. It clicks in my mind simultaneously as his cell phone clicks.
"Yes," I say, "No problem. You may have photograph." Then suddenly, the men seem to multiply into about ten. They gather around me taking turns taking photographs with me. I feel like a famous celebrity with Steve and John as my body guards.

In the summer palace about 15 km outside of Mysore, Steve and John marvel at the paintings of the Indian Sultans and war artifacts. I am absorbed in the flowing sarees and the woman's bright apparel. To my surprise, one of the women tugs at my arm and shows me her camera. I respond by showing her my camera. We both smile. About ten Indian women surround me and our husbands take our photographs. We giggle like middle school girls. A true culture exchange of photographs, smiles, laughter, and a moment of crossing each other's paths.

Crossing paths, walking the same journey together--sharing is beauty in life. Sometimes I ask myself, "What is life? What is the purpose of life?" I ask those big questions sometimes while I cycle for hours on the winding road. The answer for me is LOVE. Loving strangers, loving strangers that become acquaintances, loving acquaintances that become friends, loving friends that travel the journey with you.