A Winter in India

We are thankful that this "arborist" did not kill himself last Saturday when he took down major portions of the big tree that overhung our porch and yard. We liked looking right into the tree, but someone must have decided it needed to be "thinned".

He was up there in his bare feet, walking around on the limbs with his ax. The ropes you see are what held the huge tree limbs from crashing down. There was nothing that held the man from crashing down, other than skill and experience. A whole crew down on the street manned the ropes to lower the tree limbs after he had chopped them free. They cut it all into about 6 foot lengths, some at least a foot across, and loaded it into a truck and away it went. Sure opened up our view. Hadn't realized how pretty the houses across the street are.

No picture to go with this because its dark outside, but with the view more open we just saw a wedding party go right down our road. This was the bridegroom, on a big white horse. Both horse and rider were turbanned and beribboned. They were preceded by a marching band of turbanned drummers and horn players. Some pretty good rhythms. This few weeks is, according the the newspaper, the most auspicious time for weddings and so all of Delhi is competeing for places to hold theirs. We have been hearing these marching bands almost every evening, but tonight was the first time we actually saw the show.

Every day is filled with wonders, as well as frustrations and contrasts. We have broadband internet in our apartment, while outside our window someone is in his barefeet in a tree. Not a minute goes by that you aren't very aware of being a "have" in a city with millions of "have nots". The beauty and the history are side by side with the poverty and the dirt. Things are changing here very quickly these days, but the contrasts are stark. And it all makes us ever aware of all we have to be thankful for.