Tonight I was riding home in a taxi through the chaos of rush hour in Chandigarh. Chandigarh rush hour = bicycles, pedestrians, scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, auto-rickshaws, bike-rickshaws, horses, cows, dogs and a constant stream of honking, yelling and flashing lights. The streets are lined with vendors in makeshift tents and stands selling everything from furniture to hot food and chai; intermixed are groups of people huddled around fires in the dirt cooking and eating there dinners. These people live outside in the dirt, in the noise, in the odors and it never stops. The drivers window is slightly down and it fills the cab with a dusty smoky air. I notice that Sonia and Su are unfazed by the scene. Su, an American that has been in India for 3 years, is more concentrated on the driving as it is very unnerving especially at night when you can't see the bicyclist. Sonia is a local and it's everyday for her. 

Back at the apartment our three other Indian friends, Kushi, Peter and Sunil are at the door to welcome us home. The five of us sat around the coffee table enjoying a meal of leftovers...all authentic Indian dishes minus Su's spaghetti that tasted more Indian than Italian (the three main spices they use are hot red pepper, cumin and turmeric, everything tends to these flavors). After dinner Su or mom as we all call her read from K.P. Yohannan's book "Against the Wind" (great book, you all should read). After we had great discussion sharing what spoke to us and discussing things of the day and the coming days. We sang some American songs:) and prayed together before we all went to bed. This is a blessed group that I am so thankful to share life with for a time.