When Todd was house-searching for our new home in Delhi, India, there were several things on the list of “would like to have” as he saw flat after flat after flat.
Some sort of space somewhere for the kids to play. Many times over I’d been told “children don’t play outside during the day … only at night when the heat has passed.” Even though we figured they knew what they were talking about, we still felt it was important to have green space nearby.
Todd scored in a serious way, with a small park one block away to our left … and a much larger park to our right. There is even playground!
It looks “normal” right? JUST like in the States, right? And it’s JUST down the street … walking distance. We are in heaven. We had to drive to a playground back home, so this is like amazingly wonderful.
Most days, we find it’s true that children do NOT play outside until much later in the day … close to 6:30 pm or so. We’re troopers though (either that or we’re BORED) and we go at ANY time of the day, heat or no heat.
We take our cold bottled water and a little package of baby wipes (for cooling our brows) and trek out.
We leave our house and all of the guards snap to attention. “Good morning (or afternoon) Madam” they say. We turn the corner and walk past a street cart filled with fruits all displayed just so. We walk past numerous dogs (street dogs … NOT to be petted) and round the corner near the Dominos and Cafe. So far, we seem to be the only non-Indian folks out walking and taking strolls. No matter though, we’re not going to stay “inside” for anything!
We then pass the fresh flowers … dirt cheap and gorgeous, the street cart with icee cones and the man in his normal spot selling baskets … piled high on the back of his bicycle.
It all feels normal to us already.
Guess what else is the same as back home? The smiles. We don’t need to know Hindi, and these kiddos don’t need to know a lick of English.
“Fun” looks the same whether you’re in Suburbia somewhere in Ohio … or in the middle of Delhi, India.
I have felt happy tears well up during our outings at the playground. Watching my kidlets form bonds with these children … who they don’t know and can’t communicate with. Watching them hold hands with children and take turns on the slide.
[Yesterday, there was a group of street children at the playground. They seemed to be taking a break from their long day of begging and were simply getting in some playtime. Out of the 5 that were there, 3 of them were naked … head to toe. Mia sat down next to the baby (I’d guess 8-12 months?) and just looked intently. She didn’t say anything except “Hi baby” and then walked away. Tony also didn’t have anything negative to say about their cloth-less bodies except to ask where their parents were. Fascinating to me to see/hear the way my children are processing all of this.]
[another side note :: I am kind of apprehensive about photo taking. I want to capture dozens of photos, but I want to also respect the subjects of my photos. I haven’t figured out the appropriate way to ask … or to discreetly snap photos. Hoping I figure that out soon, because I want to share the images and sights, sounds and smells with you through my camera.]
