India- An ancient country with over one billion residents

Because of visa restrictions, no welfare specialists have been able to visit India for over a year. Because we obtained our India visas before we left the United States, we were able to visit India before the last of the India couples to have visas completed their missions. We decided to concentrate our visit to Bangalore in Southern India where the Country Directors, Elder Norman and Sister Mary Fairbanks, were assigned. They will complete their 18 month mission at the end of March. We were invited to stay with Elder and Sister Fairbanks who have a large apartment with a spare bedroom with bath. By staying with them, we were able to understand more fully the welfare and branch work they have been able to do during the past 18 months. It also avoided the problem of going back and forth from a distant hotel through very slow traffic.

India has had five welfare couples serving. One in Delhi (north), one in Hyderabad (central), one in Chennai (east), and two in Bangalore (south). There are two missions in the country: One in Bangalore and one in Delhi. There are over 6,000 members of the Church in India.

The following brief history of India from Wickepedia on the Internet sketches how the diversity of religions and cultures developed through the centuries.

The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE. This Bronze Age civilization collapsed at the beginning of the second millennium BCE and was followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilization, In one kingdom, Magadha, Mahavira and Gautama Buddha were born in the 6th or 5th century BCE, who propagated their Shramanic philosophies.
Almost all of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. It subsequently became fragmented, with various parts ruled by numerous Middle kingdoms for the next 1,500 years. This is known as the classical period of India, during which India is estimated to have had the largest economy of the ancient and medieval world, controlling between one third and one fourth of the world's wealth up to the 18th century.
This period, of Hindu religious and intellectual resurgence, is known among its admirers as the "Golden Age of India." During the same time, and for several centuries afterwards, Southern India, under the rule of the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas and Pandyas, experienced its own golden age. During this period aspects of Indian civilization, administration, culture, and religion (Hinduism and Buddhism) spread to much of Asia.

The southern state of Kerala had maritime business links with the Roman Empire from around 77 CE. Islam was introduced in Kerala through this route by Muslim traders. Muslim rule in the subcontinent began in 712 CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab,[1] setting the stage for several successive invasions between the 10th and 15th centuries CE from Central Asia, leading to the formation of Muslim empires in the Indian subcontinent such as the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.

Mughal rule came to cover most of the northern parts of the subcontinent. Mughal rulers introduced middle-eastern art and architecture to India. In addition to the Mughals and various Rajput kingdoms several independent Hindu states, such as the Vijayanagara Empire, the Maratha Empire and the Ahom Kingdom, flourished contemporaneously in Southern, Western and North-Eastern India respectively. The Mughal Empire suffered a gradual decline in the early eighteenth century, which provided opportunities for the Afghans, Balochis and Sikhs to exercise control over large areas in the northwest of the subcontinent until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia.[2]

Beginning in the mid-18th century and over the next century, India was gradually annexed by the British East India Company. Dissatisfaction with Company rule led to the First War of Indian Independence, after which India was directly administered by the British Crown and witnessed a period of both rapid development of infrastructure and economic decline. During the first half of the 20th century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress, and later joined by the Muslim League. The subcontinent gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, after being partitioned into the dominions of India and Pakistan.


We flew by Singapore Airlines. We had a three hour layover in Singapore both ways. The total time from Hong Kong to Bangalore was just over 10 hours. We had to turn our clocks back 2 1/2 hours. The 1/2 hour compromise came so all of India could be in the same time zone. The airline served a meal on each leg of the flight. We had individual seat TVs, with about 100 choices of movies, audio choices, or video games. I was able to sleep, but Sister Smith ended watching some movies.


The stewardesses were beautifully dressed and they each had great smiles. This one was a favorite on our first leg of the trip and offered to have this picture with Sister Smith.


The Singapore airport is the most beautiful one I have seen especially the new Terminal 3. Chinese New Year is next week, and the new year is the Year of the Tiger. This "tiger" was strolling through the Terminals greeting young and old alike.

All of the Terminals had beautiful flower gardens throughout the open areas. They had free wireless internet tables in each terminal for passenger use. The shopping arcades were very spacious with lots of lounge areas that had upholstered furniture and tables.

Behind us is a large pond with Chinese gold fish, waterfalls, and winding paths. We really felt like we were in a park. We had been to Singapore when we went to Malaysia last May, but we hadn't spent much time in the airport.

Terminal 3 even had a two story butterfly garden. We came in and out in Terminal 2, but we had time to catch the train that went to Terminal 3 so we could experience the garden.

The flowers and butterflies were beautiful. Here I captured a closeup of one of the beautiful insects. They had many descriptive panels that talked about different types of butterflies and how they differed from moths.


These butterflies are enjoying a cut pineapple dessert.

They even had a feature on carniverous plants.

They alsohad an area that showed the magical tranformation of caterpillars to butterflies.

THE SIGHTS OF INDIA. This is the first of five blogs I have prepared from our India trip. The others center on our humanitarion project visits and our church activities. This blog tries to capture some of the sights, and by description, some of the sounds, that we experienced during our week in this vast country. It was hard to pick from the hundreds of photos we took with our two cameras and the Fairbanks one. But hopefully the following provides a little insight into what we saw and heard.

This is the front of the Fairbanks home with Elder Fairbanks. The owners live on the first floor and the Fairbanks live on the 2nd and 3rd. The home is in a middle class neighborhood, only 5 minutes by car to the branch building.

We arrived in Bangalore in the middle of the night and found our way to the suburb of Baniswadi where we were greeted by the Elder and Sister Norman Fairbanks. They have a very spacious apartment, and they made us feel right at home. The next day we started our travels using the most common type of vehicle in India, the yellow three-wheeled auto rickshaws. They serve as taxis. There are thousands of them. They have a 2 cylinder engine and dart in and out of traffic at about 30 MPH competing with cars, trucks, motorcycles,cows and humans. The driver is in the single front seat and the two seat rear accommodates 2-5 passengers depending on their age and size. The sides are open, so the street vendors and solicitors can be right in your face when you stop for traffic. The driver on the left we used most often, Baskar.

A close-up of the auto rickshaw. Notice the small wheels. You can almost "turn on a dime" or a "rupee" to be more Indian.

Lined up looking for a fare

We are at a light. Get ready, get set, go. One of the disturbing features of the Indian traffic is that everyone honks their horn, not just once in awhile, but all of the time. The trucks all have a sign in big letters: HONK YOUR HORN, or BLOW YOUR HORN. The drivers really don't need to be encouraged. If you have an accident and didn't honk, you can be cited. Elder Smith was grateful for his poor hearing.

Can you guess what this is? A hint. It is breakfast. They are thin rice pancakes folded into a pyramid. The three cups have different sauces, some hot and spicy, others sweet. You eat with your right hand. No utensils, not even chop sticks. We had some meals that way, but often reverted to forks.

This was called a "Juicy Lucy" sandwich and Sister Smith couldn't resist ordering it. Now came the challenge.. Can I open my mouth wide enough? She had help finishing it all.

Even handicapped children could ride in the autos (short for auto rickshaw)

This young Indian boy really intrigued us. What do his eyes say? Is he one of the thousands of orphans and street children in the land of over a billion people? What dreams does he have? What will he have to eat tonight? Where will he sleep? Jesus said all children were precious to Him. They should be precious to us. We should have asked his name.

Busy women in the marketplace.

Street vendors are common sights.

The Indian farmers raise a local grain by the name of ragi. This is a large stack of ragi. They winnow the straw out from the kernels as they do for wheat. We had one meal served to us that had a ragiball as part of the food. It was mixed into a heavy paste-like food and was eaten by pinching off a piece, dipping it into a sauce, and swallowing it whole so it wouldn't stick to our teeth.

Many men and women carry their loads on their heads. They often put a wooden frame on their head first and set the item they are carrying into the frame.

These vegetable and fruit markets were along the roadside in the country. Like Hong Kong, the prices are very reasonable.

The women all wear beautiful saris. We saw very few veiled Muslim women during our trips. In some parts of India, the population is more Muslim. Bangalore is more Hindu.

These are immature coconuts. They are purchased for the juice, "milk", that
is inside. The flesh is still soft and not fully formed. The following pictures show the seller cutting off the top of the coconut for us and the two women enjoying a drink with their straws. The taste is mildly sweet.

This is the bakery where Sister Fairbanks bought the cake for the Church fireside.

Beautiful flower leis for sale at the market.

A native Indian bullock. Notice the distinctive horns. These are not considered sacred as the cows are.


Notice the use of the head by the Indians in both the pictures above and below

This cow was on the street near the Fairbanks home. We found in India that we were more often awakened in the morning with a cow's moo than with a rooster's crow. You can also see trash on the road. This was a noticeable difference from Hong Kong where streets are swept and sprayed many times a day. We saw very few people in India look for a trash can.

I have the right of way. After all, I'm special!!

Palm trees and coconut trees are in abundance.

Many Indian workers and families have no homes. Throughout the cities, these squatter tent villages spring up and provide quarters for tens of thousands of Indians. When the land is needed for something else, they are sent away.

The above type of design is chalked each morning onto the front walks of midde-class Indian homes by the women in the house. In the neighborhood where the Fairbanks live, there are dozens of different designs in front of most of the homes.

These are a few of the sights we captured with our camera.

For more Indian sights, view the next four blogs.