buses with BEDS!!!

Thursday morning we were picked up EARLY!!!! That’s right, not Scottish time, definitely not Indian time, but early! Rushing to throw our things together (which stressed Laura out for the following few hours) we checked out of the YWCA and headed to the church to meet Raj and family. After some yummy lunch and a chat we were invited to go and watch as Sharon and Raj completed her first album of praise songs, which they will hopefully be bringing to Scotland with them on their upcoming trip. We jumped at the chance, and with it being my first time in a recording studio I warmed up my vocal chords just in case there was an emergency and I needed to step in for my debut! Not really, although Raj did insist on Laura, Sharron and I singing together for everyone before we left. It was great watching them making the final changes to some brilliant music, Sharron has such a beautiful voice, but more than that, it was so nice to see her and her dad laughing so much together. They have a really lovely relationship and seem to just have so much fun together no matter what they’re doing, which is nice to watch as it reminded me of my similar relationship with my daddy so many miles away in Scotland.

After the recording was finished we had a chat with Sharron about being a Christian girl growing up in a predominantly Hindu country. According to the Hindu caste system Christian’s are a whole other group of people with no status or worthy of any respect, so being a Christian in this society Sharron had to discover and stick strongly to her morals and opinions from a very young age. Although this must have been tough, part of me couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bit of a lesson for us in the western world, most of us spend our youth and much of adulthood consumed with material issues and other people’s material issues. I wonder if there is a way to direct our youth toward some deeper understanding of the world and their opinions and beliefs without it being too heavy or depressing.

At night time we met Charles at the bus station who had come all the way from Dindigal (which is a bumpy overnight bus journey) to spend the day alone in Chennai, just to meet us to accompany us back to Dindigal...now that is the way to be welcomed somewhere! He showed us onto the sleeper bus which Laura and I were both very excited about because it had full length beds! They were little thin beds and we were sharing a double but even still they were beds...ON A BUS! We giggled at being flung around as the bus dodged, and fell into the many pot holes and bumps in Chennai roads, before settling back for our journey to the country.

Jenn xx

Photos to follow soon!x