Farewell Carmel - 01/12/2013

Abishek is to the left, both are in school uniforms

GABBY - We woke up this morning and had a couple hours left with the kids before we needed to leave for the Bengalore airport.  We began early as usual at chapel and enjoyed a well-delivered message by Dawn.  I specifically enjoyed the way she went about explaining her point.  She used a visual image of a caroms board to demonstrate how people may need a little push to get on the right track.  I felt that she really thought hard about how the kids could relate to the message.  She was captivating and did such a great job on it.  After her message, she called Ben and me up to the front.  She had approached us yesterday and asked if we could sing a song together following her lesson.  We decided on “Down in the River to Pray”, which we sang in harmony.  The song was received well by all, which is always nice to know.  After our song, we were called up to the front of the chapel and were asked to sit in the blue chairs.  Baki gave a small blessing and send off to us that was heartfelt and inspiring.  He told us about how a Carmel boy, who walked up to the front of the chapel, was off to Medical School.  He told us that we were truly helping to make a difference in these kids’ lives by sponsoring them.  After Baki’s heart-wrenching delivery, he told us that we should each stand up and say a little something.  I was doing completely fine up until that point.  Ben stood before me, which made me really lose it.  His sentiments summed up with something like, “You do more for us than we do for you.”  I went next and choked out, “You are all lights in this world and all of you have lit up my life.”  It was all downhill from there as each member of the team became extremely vulnerable and poured out their hearts to a chapel full of watery eyes.  After each member of the team had said their goodbyes, each kid walked down the line, most bawling their eyes out and gave hugs, kisses, and handshakes to each of us.  One moment that I have reflected on involved one of the smallest girls who had taken a liking to both Ben and me.  She came up to me with tears streaming down her face and hugged me for close to a minute.  Neither of us really wanted to let go, so we just didn’t for a long time.  I didn’t expect to get as emotional as I did, but it felt good to know that it is possible to care so deeply about people that you have met only a week ago.  We left the chapel, ate a quick breakfast and boarded the bus.  All of the kids stood outside looking at us, crying, waving and shouting as we slowly pulled away from Carmel.  I couldn’t be more thankful that we had the opportunity to meet and work with those kids.  Both Ben and I have talked about taking Bill Souser out for a nice dinner to reminisce and thank him for introducing us to this life changing experience.

Waving goodbye to the bus and us

It was a melancholy rest of the day as we were all emotionally drained and upset to have left.  We rode the bus to the Bengalore airport and said goodbyes to a couple of the members of the team who weren’t traveling with us to Delhi and Agra.  Ben and I enjoyed Indian airport food that wasn’t half bad before boarding the plane with the other Americans.  It was an uneventful, quick flight to Delhi.  After claiming our baggage we walked outside in our American pack to the tour bus.  The bus took us to Le Meridien, which is the hotel the members of the team were staying in.  Ben and I had looked into staying there with them, but were floored when we saw that it was 200 USD to stay for one night.  The team was staying for 2.  Since we are on a pretty tight budget, we decided to stay in the Singh Empire, which was only a couple kilometers away.  We pulled up to Le Meridien and were shocked by the cleanliness, service, and glitz that exuded from every inch of the hotel.  It was shocking not only in its appearance, but also the price.  It’s $200 to stay one night at the hotel, which is the same amount paid per year to sponsor a Carmel child.  I thought that was a bit off-putting.  Ben and I figured out what time we were supposed to meet up with the rest of the group tomorrow and headed down to the road to catch a cab to our place.  We drove away from the high class area of Connaught Place and deeper into the heart of Delhi.  Our hotel was one of a bunch of other hotels marked with neon lights and tacky signs.  It was a fine room for what we needed, but we certainly weren’t experiencing luxury.  It was close to the 10:00 hour, so Ben and I decided to munch on chips and protein bars made available to us by the Americans.  Not the most satisfying dinner, but it would tide us over until morning.