New to New York, not any more!

View of downtown from Staten Island

Arrived at JFK at 12:50 noon, I was quite surprised the airport is not as impressive as IG Airport (size wise and grandeur of the exit. I could almost touch the ceiling). But later I realized function wise it’s a lot more convenient. I didn’t have to walk endless walkways to get my stuff and the Immigration officer was extremely nice. I was even more excited to see Upendra with his ear to ear smile as soon as I exit the door. It’s been probably two years since I met him in Delhi. Everything was sweet and working in my favor. Two hours later, I realized my body is revolting like a baby inside. It was afternoon, totally exhausted, I was dozing in between every conversation. Now I know how it feels like to jet lag. But I was not fool enough to give in to the baby revolt. There’s so much to see and feel in New York. I had lunch with his family, played with Caleb (Upendra’s 5 months old baby) and made him cry a bit and then head out to Columbus Circle where he works.

View of Columbus circle from the Subway exit

First time in the Subway, I was not impressed again with the lobby, platform (pretty dark inside, stained floors and not air-conditioned), ticketing system (you have to pay 2.5$ for every ride; yes 2.5 $) especially comparing with Delhi Metro (which is new). But then this place is the Father of Metros, first of all Metro creation, there’s history and best of all less passengers.

One thing I was anticipating in US was the feeling of smallness. You know what I mean. I’m 5’4”. However the people don’t make me feel small, except the high-rise buildings. The international population especially Asian is quite noticeable. In fact, I was taller than many. J.

Buildings are tall and enormous especially in the downtown area. Though I’m not a skyscraper fan, the architecture is something. My friend told me, as much as you can see over ground, there’s underground. It’s not hard to believe looking at all the subway routes and the sewages and what not.

Lot of things I find here doesn’t make sense. I ordered ‘Buffalo Wings’ and they brought me deep fried chicken; hamburgers don’t have any ham, etc. As an Indian, the sheer size of one serving of any food in restaurants amazes me. It’s Huge! The interesting thing is I can finish it, and I was hungry again early in the morning.

The next day, I met with Jason and his family who drove all the way from Canada. Spending time with them made my experience in New York even more special. What a wonderful people. Driving looks scary here. I guess I’m more comfortable sitting in the car in India than here in New York. They drive too fast. I’m not use to it. Also I wonder what people would do if they don’t have GPS in their cars. How much we depend on technology, but then they serve the purpose.

We visited World Trade Centre site, went to Times Square at night (Amazing lighting!), looked for Rockefeller Centre without success, took the free ferry (Indian will always be an Indian wherever he goes) to Staten Island just to get the glimpse of Statue of Liberty, saw MoMA (saw the original Picasso and Matisse Painting; how cool is that), went in but didn’t pray at St. Patrick Church and after total exhaustion, we settled for really nice, authentic Chinese food.
We ate like 11pm at night and I found so many American eating at the restaurant. I guess this invalidated my ‘American eat @6’ notion.
The next morning is quite eventful. Upendra drove me to JFK airport at 8:15am and my flight was scheduled to depart at 9:15. I hugged him and said goodbye and went in to the airport just find out that my flight departs from the La Guardia Airport which is on the other side of the city. The lady at the counter was helpful enough to give me the boarding pass and tell me to get the fastest taxi and get to La Guardia as fast as we can. Well I’m just two days old in NY and I thought I can do it. So I went down, took the first fastest taxi I could find. When I told the driver that I need to reach La Guardia in 30 minutes, he processed it a li’l bit and said he’s doubtful but said he will try his best. He passed most of the car on the road and thankfully all the lights were green and bang!!! We were at the airport just in time. I said God bless you and paid him 27$. That’s how I flew to Chicago and then to Denver. The adventure continues…

New York rickshaw driver

Times Square at night

Statue of Liberty at sunset!

Order in the midst of seemingly Disorder events

KB Basel and his grand-daughter

Worshipers

Us...

Wait Listed 8, 9, 10, 11; three more hours for departure and I’ve tried everything I could think of; begged the TTs, stood in line for tourist quota, scratched my head, etc. I booked this ticket 46 days prior to the date of journey and it was only 22 Waiting List then. I even booked another Tatkal ticket in another train which didn’t get confirm either. The only consolation I have is the train ride is only 12 hours and I’ve done it several times. However it’s a night journey and what about my intern friends who doesn’t have any train ride experience let alone travel without confirmed ticket?  Time to face the reality as it comes that might entail sleeping outside the compartment next to toilet, which we did. I’ve never seen so many faults in the design of our glorified train, one of them being the passage way and entrance way too small to accommodate Wait Listed travelers. At 1:15 a.m we had the steep sympathy of the train attendant who lent us some bed sheets for the cost of the bed sheet. We shared and slept wherever we could fit in; passageway, entrance way, cabinet to store blankets etc. I’m so tempted to exaggerate this eventful ride but I shouldn’t bloat beyond the elasticity limit of my pride. 

We arrived at Lucknow in the morning. Lucknow to Nepalgunj is another 6 hours taxi ride and we needed some rest/sleep. We hired an AC car. However the car needed two hours of serious welding and unwelding for the AC to work. It was almost a miracle it worked and we thanked God for it. I was not convinced we’re in some kind of ordeal till we arrived at Rupaidiha (Indian side of Nepal-India border) where the Immigration Officer flatly refused to give our ‘Amrikan’ interns a reentry if we return the same way (Visa exemption was valid in our case which the office refused to acknowledge). All this time I was thinking he’s a fake officer and there must be some way getting around him. But he was real. After talking and thinking out loud, we decided to get in to Nepal, almost looking like we’re giving God to take control for the first time.

The Team with Ministry Leaders

We arrived at Nepalgunj in the evening. At dinner we learnt another simultaneous fascinating story taking place with our volunteers who were coming via Kathmandu. The plane they were flying in decided to head back to Kathmandu halfway for some inexplicable reason.

Nepalgunj is hot and humid. All 6 of us slept in a room with an AC. The worst part of the day and also night is when electricity is out. Oh what is an AC without power? If only we would generate power by the cumulative power of our sweat. But no complain. At least we had a bed to sleep on and a gift to sleep in the heat. How hackneyed stories would be if everything happens just the way you expect/want them to be.

The next day we were told by the host that we are in the year 2068 AD and we had a church service on Saturday. Things are different. Saturday church service was rejuvenating. About 600 worshipers sat cross-legged on the floor, sang and danced and prayed hard and loud when the temperature is 40 degree Celsius outside, without any fan inside except the exhausts. Everybody was wet of sweat but nobody cared. I was ashamed of being too captious. How much we take comfort so seriously.

Engineers surveying the site with superman at the background.

Mr. KB Basel, the founder of Gospel Assembly Nepal (GAN) is truly an adversary of the devil. Stories of God’s faithfulness in his life and ministry sound like God stops the clock to attend to His prayer. God has watered his 15 years of labor with more than 130 churches, couple of orphanages and schools in many pockets of western Nepal. Somebody who struggled to speak English for most part of his life, started with an English school when God directed him to. After all it’s not about us.

Engineers and architects at work.

GAN has been working in collaboration with CompassionAsia which was founded by Rick and Beverly Zachary in the ministry of compassion. Mrs. Zachary flew from US with her son Shane to be with us during our time at Nepalgunj.  I was personally touched by their stories of compassion, their heart for the poor and the homeless and parentless and godless. God is not a respecter of person. He will use anybody who surrenders to His will and who’s ready to obey. Anybody! There’s one thing among many others which overwhelms me. I can be His favorite along with all of His other children. If I’m the apple of His eye, He must be having many apples. Humor apart, the same God who loves me so much loves all His children in the same capacity. Understanding and responding to His love and with extra measure of His grace only could cause us to take a step of faith.

Well I am yet to tell you why we came here. We are architects and engineers and we do architecture and engineering works. Our scope of work is to survey and evaluate the site which will facilitate design a children’s village for CompassionAsia/GAN. They envision giving not just a sense of family but a real family to children who are abandoned, orphaned or abused. The Village will have 12 cottages, 1 guest house and a school. We started our survey work on Sunday. While the engineers sweat in the sun, architects sat under the fan discussing the needs and drawing out the design brief. First two days we prayed hard for the overcast weather so engineers can survey the site comfortably. But it was sunny and extremely hot. It started raining only on the third day after they finish the work. I wonder if it was a rather late answer. They didn’t complain. In fact they enjoyed each other’s company and the company of ‘superman’. I think hardship in serving makes the process of serving even more meaningful and glorious.

GAN in collaboration with CompassionAsia already have an orphanage in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and a school in Nepalgunj with around 300 students. According to their report, the school is flourishing and according to our observation, the school is flourishing. On this premise, we believe that this future Children’s Village campus will also flourish, not because of their effort but because He is in the centre of it.

Some of the drawings we produced during the trip.

Through the week, we worked like Christians and prayed like professionals. We shared testimonies and exchanged light banters. Some team members managed to play some card games but I was looking forward to a soccer and cricket game when we finishes the work at the end of the week. Our feeble effort to serve with our skills was much appreciated by the client. Sometimes what we do or try may seem small and insignificant in face of an enormous need, but in the hands of the One who fed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, nothing is too small. I like Waifs song ‘from little things big things grow’. 

The week ended, so did our work. However my apprehension hasn’t left me yet. We needed to come back to India. ‘What if the interns can’t get the exemption or reentry visa?’ ‘What if applying for reentry visa takes forever?’ ‘What if… just in case.’ So we left for Kathmandu on Sunday. We took an overnight bus which shrunk and my Caucasian interns turned giants overnight. Sometime I wonder if God made us Asian smaller to fit more in less area so that we could fulfill the original plan to multiply and fill the earth. I guess we just overdid it. We reach Kathmandu the next day as expected but since we arrived late, we couldn’t apply for the visa that day. But at least we found where the Indian embassy is. Next day early in the morning we submitted the application and they handed the visa in the evening. I felt relieved, as well as everybody else in the team. 

Three weeks after the trip, the interns left and the report is almost done. Alone in the office, I’m still trying to grasp how God uses circumstances to push us to the edge to make us more thankful for small things along with big things.