Being “Virtually” There
The big event I’m writing about today didn’t happen in India. It happened 12 time zones away, in Southern California. But thanks to modern technology, it partly happened here, too. My daughter Mary graduated from college!
My seat at Mary’s graduation, with laptop, phone, and coffee
At our home here in India, it was Saturday morning; and as soon as we woke up, we turned on our computer and connected to the internet. It was Friday evening in California, and the Commencement ceremony was getting underway, streamed live through multiple cameras. We sat in bed, drinking our morning coffee and eating muffins, watching it on our laptop. We listened to the speakers and eagerly waited for the awarding of the diplomas. As Mary’s name was called, she walked across the stage and received her diploma, her BA in Psychology, from the university president. Cameras followed her and recorded her big smile, and beamed it through space to our computer screen. From the audience, our other daughter was sending us her commentary via skype, and my sister was snapping photos and sending them on What’sApp. After the ceremony, we joined in the congratulations via a “live” video skype call with Mary and the family huddled around my sister’s phone.
My screen shot of the class of 2015
I’m very grateful for technology today, because I don’t feel like I’ve really missed my daughter’s graduation. We are very proud of her, and of our older daughter Anna. How far they have come from our days of homeschooling, on a mat on the floor of an African mud house! They are both smart, warm, thoughtful, and fun people to be around. And most of all, loving. It somehow seems appropriate that their happy smiles and waves should be beamed instantly around the world. They are global citizens, prepared by their education, their experience, and their faith to go out and love this only world.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged graduation by Lisa
Messing About in Boats
One of my husband’s favorite passages in all of literature is this from Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic The Wind in the Willows:
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing about in boats — or with boats. In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not.”
The traditional houseboat, called a “dounga.”
We spent yesterday messing about on the lake. To be specific, we helped our landlord move his houseboat to a new mooring. His boat is a smallish, traditional-style houseboat of the type that many families in past generations called home. The houseboat was his home until two years ago, when he moved with his family to the village house where we now rent the upstairs. My husband is always eager to be on the water, so we went down to help him with the move.
It was a long and complicated process, involving lots of problem-solving, as well as messing about. The electricity and plumbing had to be detached, along with the mooring lines. The wooden gangplank from the shore had to be taken apart and its supporting posts pulled up from the lake bed. A “professional” houseboat-mover named Mahmoud used his large canoe to tow us to the new site. As we approached the mooring, it became frustratingly clear that our houseboat couldn’t quite squeeze through the gap between two larger houseboats. One of the large boats had to be pulled in toward shore before we could pass. It was almost sunset by the time we got tied up at the new spot.
From the front deck, I watched Mahmoud (on the right) at work.
What I will remember most about the whole process was watching Mahmoud the boatman at work. He showed up with his big canoe and knew what to do to prepare the houseboat and get it moving. He must have been at least 65, but stepped back and forth along the edge of his canoe with perfect balance, using a long, heavy pole to move us forward through the water. He seemed to have the strength and agility of someone half his age, although he had to take several breaks to smoke the hookah he kept on his boat! He’s obviously spent his whole life on the water, and has a kind of cheerful and intimate knowledge of the ways of the lake. What’s “messing about” for us is his livelihood, but it doesn’t seem to have lost its charm.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged houseboat by Lisa
Learning How to Pray
“You need to learn how to pray!” This was our language helper’s surprising but welcome comment a few weeks ago as we began our daily lesson. From the beginning, we had started off each meeting with prayer, mainly because we have felt so desperately our need for divine help in learning this challenging language! 
Our prayer times have broadened to include the needs of her family members and ours, and thanksgiving for blessings received. At first it was just my husband and I taking turns, praying in English, but after a while we invited Minou to take a turn from time to time. I started writing down the prayer phrases she used in our vocabulary notebook.
We pray in a way that is similar to what Minou is used to—she and I cover our heads and extend our hands out. But having been raised in a Muslim environment, Minou was used to memorized prayers from the Koran, recited in Arabic, a language she doesn’t speak. Since becoming our language helper, she has become comfortable expressing herself to God in her native language, like we do. But not exactly like we do…Some of the phrases she uses translate into English like this:
“Keep us walking on the straight path.”
“Keep Satan away from us.”
“Turn your gaze toward us.”
For several weeks we wrote down her phrases and talked about them afterwards. Then Minou announced that it was time for us to start using them ourselves. When I asked her if she thought our language was good enough for God to understand, she said, “Of course! God understands what comes from our hearts.” In the context of our language lessons, she has learned something wonderful about God that most Muslims don’t yet know.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged prayer by Lisa
Time for a Picnic!
It’s spring, and our community seems to have gone picnic-crazy. We joined in the craziness last Sunday with an outing to a lovely local park. 
We had been planning this outing with our landlord and his family in honor of their 16-year-old daughter’s completion of a major set of exams. She had studied almost non-stop for several months, and was ready to see the outdoors again. The weather was perfect, and the huge chinar trees had burst out in bright new foliage. Our landlord’s wife had made rice and chicken, we brought fruit and banana bread, and enjoyed mango popsicles for dessert!
We’ve learned that picnics are a serious Indian pastime. Historical texts from many centuries ago describe the picnics that wealthy merchants and nobles would take, getting out of the city and into the woods with a caravan of servants bearing a portable banquet. The Mogul emperors created beautiful gardens wherever they went, taking care to lay out terraces to maximize lake and mountain views for their grand picnics. The British, also fond of dining al fresco, found in India exotic new venues for enjoying their afternoon tea.
Sunday the park was crowded with families, who came toting blankets, tiffins of rice and dahl, and thermoses of chai.
The women were dressed in their brightest spring outfits and snappy sandals. Children chased balls while teenaged girls posed for group selfies next to the roses, with groups of teenaged boys watching from an almost-respectful distance. The Moguls wouldn’t have recognized the mobile phones and selfies, but the pleasure of warm sun and fresh air after a long, cold winter is a constant through the centuries. And doesn’t food always taste better outdoors? If you haven’t had a picnic lately, now’s the time!
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged picnic by Lisa