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Seven Hours By Taxi

Rajasthan, India 1998

By Barbara Jo Shipka

March 1^st, 2015

It was time to go home. The journey began with a seven hour taxi ride across the arid countryside of Rajasthan to get to the Ahmedabad airport in Gujarat. No air conditioning so we began early in the morning and stopped in the local village to get water and fruit. The village was still quiet and we met these children on their way to school. It was hot already. And it would get hotter as the day went on. We bought lots of water so we could refresh the wet washcloths we placed on our heads.

We stopped in a village along the way to stretch, get more water, do a bit of shopping, and to take photos.

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Later we stopped in a village where I had a special experience…. The driver had told me to stay in the car while he went to get more water. But I wanted to stretch. Within seconds of me getting out of the car I was surrounded by these men and boys. They were friendly and seemed to enjoy smiling for photos they would never see. The taxi driver, who did not speak English, returned in a hurry and yelled at me. I knew he was telling me to get into the taxi. I never found out what his fear for me was about. I’m glad I stepped outside to encounter these stunning inquisitive and smiling faces.

When I think of my times in India, memories of kindness is what first comes to mind. Perhaps I’ve forgotten, but at this moment I cannot think of a time when someone was unkind. There were lots of hurdles to jump. Those situations just made the kindnesses all the more apparent.

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