GABBY - Today we were breaking our daily routine of attending school to go to an Indian water park. We still woke up at the same time for chapel at 6:45. Today’s message was given by an American guy named Glen. Glen and Julia are a newlywed couple who have been working at Carmel for the past 2 weeks. Glen had been at Carmel the year before for about 6 months and came back to experience it with Julia. They are both 24 and are really energetic and bubbly with the kids. His message was really nice and spoke to the kids in a way that they could identify with. After chapel we headed next door for breakfast, which was good as always. We had some time to get ready before the bus arrived, so we strategically packed our bags with an extra change of clothes, water, cameras, etc. We crammed into the bus and were off! Only a select group of kids were able to go to the water park. Vika and I, a young, American college student who goes to TCNJ, tried to calculate the thought process behind which kids were selected. We eventually found out that many of them were sponsor kids and the other factors included grades, number of times they had been to the park, and age. I am really enjoying getting to know Vika who has been coming to Carmel for 5 years. She is very genuine, energetic, and passionate with the kids and seemingly everyone she meets. We passed through Dharmapuri, the closest thing to a city near Carmel and got on the main drag. We were on the highway for another 2 hours or so until we reached a dirt road leading to the Paravasa Ulagam Water Park. We looked around and saw that the park was nestled in between the trees, dirt, and mountains that surrounded it. The park was completely deserted except for our bus full of Americans and Indian children. We stopped at a picnic area and enjoyed a smorgasbord of packed authentic Indian food lunches premade by Sam! We made sure to rave about it so that he would keep the Indian food coming.
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| Rain Dance |
After lunch it was off to the first attraction. How the whole day worked was the park staff
would open one ride at a time. It would stay
open for 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on how much fun everyone was having and
then it would close down as another one would open. The first ride was a water slide that emptied
into a big pool. All of the women and
girls stayed in their Punjabis and Pashminas while they went in the water. All of the Americans wore shorts and T-shirts
to respect the strict no-skin-showing policy.
The slides were really enjoyable and fun to zoom down. Everyone was getting more and more comfortable
with each other. Ben and I were
delighted to discover that Abishek, our sponsor child, had been selected to come
to the water park! We really wanted to
spend some time with him and get to know him a little bit better. We attempted to play with him in the water,
which was fun even though his main concern was running away from us. After the water slides we walked to another
set of water slides that was paired with a lazy river. These slides were my favorite because you got
some serious air coming down them. I
spent a lot of time with Sarah on this ride.
Sarah is 12 and the youngest American on the trip. She is Bob’s granddaughter and one of the many
Davis’s on the trip. She was probably
the most popular person at Carmel seeing as every single one of the kids wanted
to be her best friend. I really
respected her for coming to India (or traveling anywhere for that matter) at
such a young age. Both Ben and I tried
to imagine how we would have reacted to Carmel if we came on this mission trip at
her age.
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| Waiting patiently and happily for their Pongal treat |
Anyway, Sarah and I had a blast
riding those slides over and over again.
Ben played in the lazy river with a bunch of the kids and ended up
becoming something of a Loch Ness monster.
He would sneak up on some of the kids, scare them, and throw them in the
water. After that portion of the park,
we headed to a waterfall and then to a wave pool and onto some more
slides. The very last attraction was a
rain dance that we had heard a lot about.
The park blasts music and turns on sprinklers from above that give the
impression of rain. I danced with the girls
and learned some Indian dance moves, while Ben was taught by the boys. We discovered that Indian children have a
much better sense of rhythm than American kids.
By the time the final song ended the older people in the park were
exhausted (including Ben and me). We
headed into the locker rooms, showered and changed into our dry clothes. After that we saw that they had set up a little
Pongal treat for us. There were colorful
chalk drawings of floral designs on the sand and there was the sweet tapioca dish
that is typical at Pongal festivities.
The kids all got a small portion to eat and ate it with their hands from
a banana leaf. Ben and I were the only
ones that decided to try it, as everyone else was afraid of getting sick. I really enjoyed it even though the
temperature of the dish was scalding hot.
Each kid also received a stick of sugar cane, which was
interesting. You’re supposed to rip a piece
of it off with your teeth and then chew and suck the sweetness out of the stalk. I didn’t quite get the appeal of the taste,
but I gave it a try. After the mini
Pongal celebration, we got back in the bus for another uncomfortable tight ride
back to the hostel. Some kids passed out
almost instantaneously, while others got car sick and were puking in the
aisles. Not the most pleasant bus ride I
have ever taken. When we reached Carmel,
I carried Abishek (who is super heavy) out of the bus since he was completely
dead to the world. He grabbed on to me
and nuzzled into my neck as I hopped off the bus. The kids said sleepy goodnights and were off to
bed. We made sure to eat the dinner that
Samuel prepared for us, even though it was getting close to 10:00 PM. Ben and I fell asleep to a deep and mind
boggling discussion about religion and what it means to each of us.
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