Nearing Conclusion by Jay

It is hard to believe 4 weeks have come and went so quickly. We have travelled to many places. Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Nagda, Ratlam, Sagar, Khajuraho, and we are now back in Bhopal, ready to depart to Agra to see the Agra Fort and Taj Mahal tomorrow morning. I can speak for all of us when I say “It is Great to be Home.” I am speaking of our home away from home, Bhopal. It was great arriving here 4 weeks ago, and we now feel like we are seeing our old friends that we have been missing for weeks. This is one of the Highlights of the trip. Building relationships and maintaining them.

Last night, after a rather smooth ride from Sagar to Bhopal, we were greeted by our Uncle, Uncle Kapil. Kapil Jain has been with us since day 1, and took on the duty of standing in for Selva for the first few days, when Selva could not be here. Thanks DD for choosing such a caring, compassionate, and Awesome man for the job. Kapil is much more than a quick friend. He was watching over us the whole trip, along with many other Bhopalians by reading and commenting on our blog. And of course, there were always the random phone calls to make sure we arrived and departed safely from our succeeding cities.

Today we went shopping with Johnny and his wife Mini. You could call it marathon shopping, we went for 6 hours. But with these two it seemed almost effortless. They are both expert negotiators and live up to the Indian standard of treating their guests as Gods. They had 5 Americans to tend to; each of whom had many other Americans to shop for. Tim and I hate shopping the most, but for some apparent reason always end up spending more than the girls.

I reflect on the hospitality we received in all of the cities, beginning and ending with Bhopal, and only hope that I can live up to the standard set by the selfless Indians that we have encountered. Looking back at one of our first blogs, “Indians treating their Guests as Gods”, it looks like we were right on point from the get go. I cannot say the same for every blog entry. This has been a learning experience, and with any learning experience, you must get it wrong before you get it right.

There have been a couple of blogs I have written, that I look back on and quote the popular phrase of hindsight being 20/20. Education and Health Care are such major topics that one has to experience a number of Government and Private sector facilities in many Urban and Suburban Cities to form a valid opinion. There is so much to learn and so little time. It makes me think of how narrow-minded we can be to form opinions of what we see and read from half a world away.

One thing I can say confidently is that India is a developing country that has a long way to go. There are many wins underneath her belt, but she will need to be strong in the coming years. Great News India, you are still young. Make great choices, and learn from your Western cousins.