We made our presentation last night to the four Rotary clubs of Bijapur. There was no LCD projector so we had to kind of wing it without photos. It went fine. Prior to the presentation, my host's wife and mother dressed me up in one of their saris.
My Bijapur host, his wife and parents.
My host taught me a Ganapathi Sloka - a prayer in the state language of Kannada. I read it at the presentation:
"Vakratunda Mahakaaya, Suryakoti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Mey Deva, Sarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada"
Meaning: Lord Ganesha has a curved trunk with a powerful body. He has the brilliance of a million suns. May the Lord remove all the problems from the actions I aim to achieve.
As I had mentioned, my host doesn't have a car. So we took his motorcycle to the Rotary meeting. As I was riding (side-saddle... while wearing the sari) a pig went running by and I just had to laugh. In my wildest dreams, could I have ever imagined myself in this situation?!
Not actually me, but the way I traveled to the meeting!
This morning I just feel gross and totally need a real shower. We were supposed to stay another day in Bijapur but instead are leaving for a town called Bagalkot which is more than fine with me. I hope it's a nice place.
Misty's still pretty sick. She missed out on all of yesterday, but we've assured her that she's picked a pretty good time to get sick. She's in very good spirits though, and I find her to be pretty inspirational. She never complains, even though she's so sick.
Only 16 more days here in India - I wonder what each will bring? I truly do keep flip-flopping from being miserable to ecstatic, and I think it really is all about my own perspective. I'm trying to be a lot more positive about it all - to just kind of go with the flow and put aside my fears and expectations. It makes life a lot easier and more enjoyable when you're not constantly trying to fight against it.
So on that positive note, I'm off to start another day!