all 27 of us at the zoo
25 cent ice cream for everyone
this had to be one of the top 3 days of my entire life. Jess, Peter & I spent Rs 1000 each (20 dollars) to pay for transportation, admission, lunch and refreshments for 14 slum children, 4 orphans (10-17yrs old) and 9 staff (including ourselves) to go the zoo. We piled all 27 of us into 2 SUV-sized vehicles bursting with sheer excitement and pure indian chaos. Honestly, it was the actual zoo that was the blandest flavor of the day- rather, the children dressed in their best clothes (no tears or rips or dirt to be seen), and spent the day running at full speed, jumping, laughing, fighting to hold your hand/take pictures with your camera/be in the pictures/ get on your back/get on your shoulders or have you spell D-U-C-K, duck! I claimed my two little boys- my partners in crime, Gajanand, an extremely intelligent boy who so understands the language barrier that he feels it is neccessary to mime everything he needs to communicate with me (the other children will go a full 3 or 4 minutes speaking to you in Hindi with no concept of us not being able to understand one word). And Fardeen, an extremely affection young boy who found it neccessary for me to watch in astonishment his ability to chug his entire glass of sprite at once. The best moment of the entire day had to be when my two little partners and I shouted, at full volume, "HADTI DEECOW! HADTI DEECOW!" (SHOW ME ELEPHANT!) and ran to the elephant exhibit, stopped, and all sighed in unison: "aaaah.....haaaadti.." Later we shouted anything we could think of with Deecow following it. Peter Deecow! Panee Deecow! (water) Kana Deecow! (food).
It was a picture perfect day and the word of the day was Challo! (Let's Go!)
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