TII and India Eyes...What do these two phrases mean?

There are two phrases that still resonate in my mind after returning from Rising Star.  The first one is TII, which meant This is India.  When we would see things that just don’t quite make sense from a westerner’s point of view, this was said with a shrug of the shoulders.  It was when we had random power outages for short spurts of time daily throughout the day.   Sometimes in the evening you might be in the middle of a bucket shower and be standing butt (buck) naked in complete darkness saying this.

Maybe it would be said when we were driving zigzag down the road to avoid the worshipped cows.  Other times you might say this when you see a family of six on one motorcycle with the lady sitting side saddle in her sari while holding her little one. 

 You might find yourself uttering this phrase when you see hundreds of exposed power lines acting as a canopy over a city.  You might say this when you are bombarded with beggars selling you trinkets and many just wanting money.  It is things that just are and probably won’t change.  They are accepted and just part of the experience of being in India.

 The concept of arranged marriages baffled me, especially for those that are marrying their first cousins.  One of our house moms is sadly accepting this fate although she is intelligent enough to know that her future children may be affected by this and ostracized by society.  She is doing it only to please her parents and have their support.  Special needs children are accepted about as well as a leprosy affected person.  I refused to say TII to this as it should change.  The treatment of our leprosy affected patients broke my heart and it didn’t make sense.  Many of these cases wouldn’t have advanced if society attitudes and the road blocks that are put in front of these people didn’t exist.  I refuse to say TII to this as it has to change for Hansen’s Disease to be abolished.

The other phrase I have thought of often now and throughout the trip was India Eyes.  India Eyes means to try to overlook a lot of the things that appear dysfunctional, dirty or disorganized and look above it and find the beauty of the country.  This concept was revisited frequently by the coordinators and helped me to find the beauty in India.

  I found myself admiring the beautiful women in their colorful saris overlooking the garbage, cow manure and dirt they were walking on or stepping over.  I found myself noticing the raw beauty of the busy, colorful markets or fruit stands.  I found myself noticing the country’s landscape full of orange flowered trees and people herding goats and cows. I smiled when I saw happy, uniformed children making their way to school in the morning. 

 I noticed the beautiful smiles and lovely dark skin with gold jewelry adorning the women’t faces.  I enjoyed seeing people do the head bobble in agreement with a smile as you asked a question.  Instead of nodding they have a way of loosely moving their head in this manner. I basked in the glory of the kindness shown to me and to one another from all walks of life.  Many with so little would give this rich, by their means, westerner the shirt off their back.  “Vannakum” not only means hello but “Do you have enough to eat?” 

 It was refreshing to see children so present in their surroundings and not plugged in to technology. 

 I was constantly amazed at how people were so happy with so little.  Some of the patients had so many health challenges but managed to serve me by making me smile and inspire me with their courage to press on. 

The children and patients gratitude pulled at my heartstrings.

India eyes took over the longer I was present in India. India eyes will always stay with me as I share and explain to others of the experiences I have had in this rich, colorful country.  India and its people have left me changed on the outside and forever deep inside my soul.