the way we were

A friend of mine called this evening. He studied with me when I was overseas in med school. We were in India, in a place that was really remote, more than a hundred miles from the nearest major city. The place we were in was very "backward" as the Indians used to call it. They couldn't have anticipated how right they were. I still scratch my head at the customs and other things they have there. For example, the first floor of a building was known as the ground floor. No problem there, but one floor up was called the first floor. So a five story building would have a ground floor and the top story would be the fourth floor. I don't remember learning the Hindi word for zero, so perhaps it was an Indian thing, the starting point at the building was "zero." I can't think of any other explanation. If you can, let me know. :-)

Here is a picture of the "ground floor" of a mosque in the city I studied in (the mosque had only one floor). This mosque was built more than 100 years before Columbus saw the New World. My friend and I were reminiscing about our times there. We had lots of rough times dealing with the studies, the food, sickness and every now and then we had incidents that were more than just adventure. Now we can laugh, but then at the time--we were scared. One friend of mine was actually kidnapped (by strangers). One night, an intoxicated friend tried to start a bus and back it out of the bus station. Problem was that it was filled with people who were about to go on a trip. They charged the wannabe bus driver as a naxalite (Indian term for terrorist) and arrested him!

One evening my friends and I decided to head to the outskirts of town to a new restaurant. There were four of us there, all Indians from America, and we were eating and having a good time when an acquaintance came by to say hello. This person, Karthik, was known to all except me. Karthik was obnoxious and right away I didn't like him. He was smoking a cigarette--well at least he was holding it. He was using our table as an ashtray. Of course, Americans in India were considered to be elite. I mean everyone in India (and everywhere else in the world) wants to come to the US. And since we were in this desolate place, their feelings towards Indians who had settled in America, were somewere between fascination and admiration. So here was this drunk Indian guy, trying to show that he was sophisticated far more than the local indigenous people.

Whenever we were together, my American friends and I would talk about home. The US of A, all about basketball, the magical moments of our lives, the food we used to eat. Everything from the US seemed grander when we were deprived of them. So if any Indians were with us, understandably they used to feel left out, and I am guessing that Karthik, the unwanted guest felt that way. So he started to tell us about his brother, who was a doctor in America. And how his brother was an important person, and how Karthik knew this person and that person. How in his University, he was so important and well-known. I had never heard about him, or met him, so I was wondering if he was studying engineering, and not a doctor as we were.

India is a status-conscious country. Due to their Hindu beliefs in karma, you have earned your position in life because in a previous life you did good. If you didn't do good, you would end up as a street sweeper or in some other lowly position. So the best way to improve your karma or fate in life would be to slog through your entire life for decades, doing the right things, serving those above you. And if you were lucky (you would have to believe in luck) you would end up one hundred years from now as the head street sweeper. And over the generations you would slowly climb your way up the ladder. But...what if you screwed up? What if you didn't feel like sweeping the streets for your whole life for one dollar a day (due to inflation, the wages today are probably closer to three dollars a day)? What if you wanted to just sit around, and watch Hindi movies? Well, then you would get demoted in the next life. Probably become a dog. Now dogs in India are not treated like American dogs. They are abused and kicked and spit at...etc. Or maye they would become a leper, or whatever. One way to escape this infinite cycle of karma is to get promoted by hard work or something else. So education was the way out. If you got into medical school and became a doctor, you would automatically improve your karma. Much easier than waiting for a few generations. And in modern day India, karma is being replaced by the economic reality of the world today. Of course, a growing number of people in India are realizing there is yet one more way to escape karma and that is through Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder, that in Christ they find hope? They even find forgiveness, a concept which is antithetical to Hindu karma.

Well it is getting late, so I will continue my story about Karthik in the next post.