Sunday

This past Sunday was one of the most relaxing Sabbaths I've had in a good while.  Another IJM intern and I attended morning worship at Carey Baptist Church (where I spoke last month) and enjoyed the service immensely.  Afterward we took a walk and found ourselves on a cable car traveling through beautiful and unfamiliar parts of the city.  John, my comrade, got the lowdown from a transit official as you can see.  We felt like we were in Disney World...until the car stopped abruptly and everyone but us got off.

Just last week I was crossing a street with another IJM staffer when we heard a perilously loud pop and watched as the cables suspended above a passing cable car snapped, falling onto the road a few yards away.  The locomotive ran off the track and passengers fled the cars.  Needless to say, I've been sensitive about cable cars since then.  John and I jumped off after everyone else, only to learn that the conductor had decided to stop for chai.

So much for that.  We resumed our journey on foot, passing typical Sunday morning sights.

The outside temperature hung in the mid-nineties, and we grew parched.  We passed the nicest hotel in town and figured it was as good a place as any to scrounge up clean water.  The facilities were gorgeous.

I could've sworn the pool was a mirage.  Not running to jump in fully clothed took great restraint.

John talked me down, and we kept on our way.  We discovered this old house tucked behind a stone gate. The city where we live is filled with homes that were obviously plush in their day and have fallen into disrepair.

Locals, luckily, waste no time or space putting the grounds to good use.

(Eat your heart out, Winds & Springtime Febreze.)

 

Even the trees move in unabashedly.
 

John made another friend who pointed the way to our ultimate destination, a centuries-old British cemetery.  Here's the main path inside.

John found a tombstone for a group of British sailors who were lost at sea.

We agreed that this was perhaps the most peaceful place we've found in the city.

Some of these grave markers were gigantic!

I felt as though we were in the middle of a Kipling novel.

 

Quickly jumping a couple centuries, we gawked to see this Google Street View Vehicle pass our taxi heading home.  We were so excited!

One last thing caught my eye in traffic on Sunday:

Flags.

Everywhere.

These flags conveyed a mammoth message.  Representing the winning party, they proclaimed the end to the Communist Party of India's 34-year reign in this state, which came late last week as election results were announced.  While I don't have a proper dog in the fight, I can report that most people around here seem to be thrilled.

These are days of great hope.