CLOSING IN ON HYDERABAD

POST #16

NAME THAT INDIAN TOWN. We’ve been traveling from town to town just long enough for the names of our daily destinations to be hard to recall. Like the name of the town in which we arrived this afternoon. What is it? It’s Shadnagar. But where did we sleep last night? Uh… O, yes, (after asking another more map-minded team member): Kathakota. And the day before that? We may not remember the names of all these places we’ve been over the past two weeks, but we’ve not had a single dull moment. Every day is an adventure full of unique, never-to-be-repeated encounters with incredible, real, hard-working people. Local folk are very interested in our bikes, helmets, fluorescent lime green vests with “Bicycle India 2007” scribed in Hindi and English on the back. But they may not know that we are also very interested in them. It is one of our goals to make the day of every person we encounter, even with a smile, a wave, and a “hi!” from the bike as we pass by. Photo: Typical interest in our bikes at many stops.

INDIA FLOWS. Our ride today was 87 kilometers/54 miles, mostly uphill with a headwind and humid. When we’re on the bike, we can tell it’s humid by the number of times we’re reaching for water or Gatorade to replenish the moisture and nutrients we’re sweating away. We’ve now covered 1,316 kilometers/816 miles out of an anticipated 3,240 kilometers/2,000 miles. We ride on the road or, when it’s paved and marked, on the shoulder. Rarely are there any markings on the roads and where there ARE white lines, it’s clear they don’t mean much. India flows. That’s a reality which is expressed in many dimensions in multiple personal, social, political and religious applications. Driving and traffic is just one very visible expression of the heart and mind of this diverse, colorful land. Photo: Joe James rides along.

A HOSPITAL LIKE UCH. We had a great surprise along today’s route. About 100 miles south of Hyderabad, we came upon a sign for the Christian Mennonite Charitable Hospital. Every curious, Bob and Joe went inside to look around. A hospital administrator (brother to Jaya John) showed them around and offered tea (chai!) in his office. The hospital in its physical facility and inpatient, outpatient, and community health service, is quite similar to the plans for Umri Christian Hospital. We believe that when a new facility is built at Umri, its good reputation and solid services to poor Indian residents will begin to grow and flourish. We hope you—and those you encourage—will help us make that dream a reality.

READY FOR HYDERABAD. We are about 46 kilometers/26 miles from Hyderabad. We anticipate riding to the city by mid-morning, being joined by other local riders at the city limits, and cycling through this metropolitan area of 6 million + people to our weekend quarters—the Operation Mobilization (OM) campus. That will put an exclamation point on 14 days of riding. It will also prepare us for next week’s push—a trek to Umri Christian Hospital, an overnight stay at Gandhi’s ashram at Sevagram, and visits with our friends who bicycled between Umri and Yavatmal with us last January. But first we rest in…what was the name of this town?

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