Maybe I Should Buy a Lottery Ticket

Let me regale you with a tale of woe: 

It was a dark and stormy night.  The sultry late summer heat had taken its toll on all the citizens of the small town Canadian town of Tecumseh.  Towering clouds were rolling in and an unsteady energy bounced around in the air.  But that didn’t matter… it was pageant night so the entire town gathered into the outdoor venue to see the young ladies vying for the crown.  A young girl sat in the audience, just one year too old to compete in the beauty pageant that shaped her teenage summers.  It didn’t matter that she’d never won… she still loved to participate.  And now she loved to watch.

As the winner took her final victory walk around the stage, beauty and grace quickly exited the scene to make room for complete mayhem and terror.  Lightning lit up the sky and stole the show.  Spirals, loops and ground to sky: lightning was doing things previously not thought possible by the former pageant girl in the audience.  Was this girl scared?  Not at all.  She was delighted!  She’d always been a risk taker and now fancied herself a budding storm photographer. She even had quasi-serious dreams of moving to Kansas someday to chase storms.

The girl, transfixed by the sky, slowly put her fold-up lawn chair back in its bag, swung it over her shoulder and started the 10 minute walk to the car, parked down a residential street.  Her mother walked beside her and they joked and laughed as they watched lightning’s magnificent show. 

In an instant, the girl’s whole life changed.  It happened as if in slow motion, but it must have been fast.  Lightning fast.  Lightning struck the road beside the mother and daughter.  Unbridled energy rippled through the air as the lightning forked and started heading straight for the girl’s head.  She ducked, but the metal lawn chair acted as a lightning rod.  Lightning hit the girl in the ear, knocking her to the ground.  Miraculously, she remained unhurt but for a small entry and exit burn on either side of her earlobe.  However, this girl would give up her storm chasing, lightning photography dreams.  Instead, she would spend the next decade of her life being completely traumatized.

The former pageant girl who was in the audience that fateful night.

So readers, do you want to know something?  That girl was me.  I’ve not always been the girl you know now, curled into a ball on the ground or cowering in a corner.  Those are the effects of trauma on a person.  Just two years prior to this incident, I clearly remember sitting with a friend by the edge of a swamp in the Florida Everglades, trying to snap pictures of a huge lightning storm overhead.  (That was very stupid and dangerous.) 

I’ve alluded to my hatred of storms on this blog before, but I realize I’ve never actually given the reason.  So there it is.  And this was not an isolated incident.  Lightning tries its hardest to strike the same place more than once, or at least the same person.  Lightning has been after me my whole life, both before and after this incident, and I tempted fate too many times:

-In grade school, my school’s chimney was struck, right above my French classroom.  The chimney came crumbling down and a mild electric shockwave travelled through my classroom.  I can still remember my teacher screaming and jumping onto her desk.  At the time, we all laughed, but I understand now, Mlle. 

-The backyard hydropole of the house I grew up in was struck twice.  We lost all our appliances twice due to power surges from the lightning strikes.  Thanks for the new TV, insurance company!

-A tree was struck in my parents' current backyard, rendering our hammock useless.

-On my way out to California, my train was struck by lightning, leaving the navigation system unusable and leaving us stuck in a field in the middle of Kansas for 12+ hours.  (If I had any lingering thoughts of moving to Kansas to chase storms, those thoughts were gone by the end of that ordeal.)

Kansas.  This was our view from the train window.  All day.

-My car was struck on the highway while my husband was driving (I wasn’t in it at the time).  Luckily, that one worked out for the best.  A car is a perfectly safe place to be and a jolt of electricity seemed to fix an electrical problem the car had been having.

-A tree was struck outside my classroom window back home.  (And I, as the teacher, had to appear much braver than I actually was.)

It’ll be a decade this summer since the incident.  I’m getting better.  I don’t have to hide under my bed in the basement anymore.  I no longer cry and rock back and forth in a dark, windowless room.  However, if we happen to be out somewhere together and a storm starts (even if it’s a very distant storm), don’t be surprised if I freak out, seek immediate shelter and refuse to leave (this weekend, my friends definitely saw the worst of me).  Don’t be surprised if I set my phone browser to the local lightning tracker service and refresh the page a few times a minute.  If there is a storm a-brewing, don’t be surprised if I cancel plans. (For example, sorry Fi, but I may cancel our lunch plans this afternoon…. Stay tuned for up-to the minute weather forecasts… it may be cloudy with a chance of brave Stephanie.  I'll keep refreshing my lightning tracker.)

So that’s the story behind the madness…. An electrifying tale of doom.

Driving in a storm... Gripping the wheel for dear life and sitting like a granny, as though that was going to help.

A Magic Carpet Ride

It was with great excitement that Kaitlin and I travelled to the land of magic carpets and caravan camels.  We flew into Delhi and arrived at 2am or so, with no money.  (It turns out it’s nearly impossible to get rupees outside of India.)  We headed to a hotel in an alley about 10 minutes from the airport so we could catch some sleep before our connecting flight to Jodhpur the next morning.  Upon arrival at Jodhpur (also known as The Blue City because everything is painted blue), we were met by our private driver, Nand, from ‘India by Car and Driver’.  The plan was to drive around the entire desert state of Rajasthan (and then dip down to Agra).  The plan was NOT to get three marriage proposals, but Kaitlin managed to do that anyway throughout the course of our trip.  (She did not accept any… hehehe.) 

We would return to both Delhi and Jodhur later in the trip, but the first order of business was to drive right on through towards Jaisalmer (The Golden City).  Jaisalmer made me feel like I’d stepped back hundreds of years.  Everything was yellow and brown, being made of sand and cow dung.  Ok, that doesn’t sound that so nice, but it was beautiful.

Jaisalmer stretched out behind us.

Displaying their colourful wares

After a few days, we headed into the Thar Desert, which is right on the border of India and Pakistan.  We rode camels for hours before giving our beasts of burden a break on the hot sand dunes.  I should also mention that this was during heat like I’d never experienced before.  Not even Hong Kong is this hot!  It was well over 50 degrees!  However, it was a dry heat, and I stayed covered most of the time, so it was all good.  Somehow, in the middle of the desert, miles from anywhere, a man showed up at just the right time with cold beer while we were resting on the dunes.  It might have been simply a mirage, but it was the most refreshing beer I’d ever had.

Riding camels through the desert

In the Thar Desert

My camel is watching the sunset

That night, we saw an incredible fire eating, sword swallowing, traditional dancing show in a tiny little village while we ate the best meal ever (actually, every meal I had in India turned out to be the best meal ever).  After the show, we were given the choice to sleep in some little village huts or out in the desert.  Of course, we chose the desert!  We were quickly whisked away in the back of someone’s pickup truck and driven 15 minutes out to the middle of nowhere.  They set up a makeshift bed (which surprised us, as we were prepared to sleep on the ground with the scorpions) and left us there, saying they’d be back to get us in the morning.  What a night!  This was the night we discovered that camels growl in their sleep (and how thankful we were that it was not a very lost tiger). 

In our desert bed

I stayed awake for a long time thinking about how the world is timeless and political borders are arbitrary… there was nothing in the desert to differentiate whether it was 2012 of 200 B.C.  There was nothing to differentiate this border desert from Pakistan, and all of the Middle East which lies beyond.  I thought that these bright stars illuminating the endless desert were likely quite similar to what the wisemen and shepherds experienced while making their pilgrimage to Bethlehem all those years ago.  I awoke at 4:30 and decided to let Kaitlin sleep.  I climbed to the top of a nearby sand dune and fixated on the east.  Signs of morning gradually sprung up around me: stars modestly covered themselves in silk scarves as the sun lifted its sleepy head, scarabs began looking for the breakfast, and a transformer blew in a distant village because too many people had used electricity at the same time. 

Heading back to the village the next morning

Jodhpur and Jaipur (The Pink City) were full of both ancient sites and bustling markets.  In Jodhpur, we stayed with a local family who graciously welcomed us into their home.  In Jaipur, we thought we’d switch things up and stay in a palace.  It was so fancy Ifelt a little uncomfortable at times; they even cut our food for us!  But man, was it ever gorgeous!

The palace in Jaipur

Then we headed into the jungle in search of tigers…. and we found one!  The tiger was bathing in a pond, but when he saw us he started stalking towards us.  (A lesson thoroughly impressed on us in South Africa was NEVER break the shape of the vehicle you’re in.  Animals see a 4x4 safari vehicle as a large predator, but if you stick your hand out or climb on the hood, as the boy in India did, the animal will start to see the vehicle as smaller animals combined together to look bigger, like a herd of antelope.)  Luckily, the guide summoned the boy back into the vehicle in time, but I was starting to get worried.      

Roar!

We didn’t stay directly in the jungle but rather in a small village with a big name right outside it.  The hotel we stayed at had the best food ever (it was my first time trying cashew curry) and you just couldn’t beat the fact that they plunked around 10 baby albino bunnies on our table so we could cuddle and play with them while we waited for our food.

So many baby albino bunnies!!!  (My red eyes tell you just how allergic I was to this pile of cuteness.)

Our last stop was Agra, where we saw the Taj Mahal.  I’m not usually one for looking at buildings, but this was a work of art. 

Taj Mahal

Despite my love of India, I need to mention the extreme poverty.  Indian people are some of the friendliest and most welcoming I have ever met.  However, they are also some of the most destitute.  We drove past many shanty towns where it would have been dangerous for us, as outsiders, to even enter past the main road.  When I travel, I find myself frustrated with my powerlessness to help people right where they’re at.  I always thought that when I was finally able to travel the world, I’d swoop in with bags of clothes and hygiene supplies, throw some money into the air and change lives.  Reality is not like that though.  Social hierarchy, government, organized crime, and exploitation of the weakest and poorest make helping not just difficult, but actually dangerous, for both giver and receiver.  I help where I can, but not in the ways I’d always dreamed of.   

In a bustling city

Men played their instruments all over the place.

To end on a happy note, I will tell you about the animals of India.  People don’t have cars there.  They have camels and elephants to transport their family from Point A to Point B.  These animals (along with all the wild cows and goats roaming the street) are highly revered and are not mistreated in the slightest.  I have actually seen animals living better than people in India.  Just like cars, you might want a different colour or style from your neighbours… how can you do this with elephants?  Decorate!  Kaitlin and I were very lucky to find a family that allowed us to paint their elephant.  What a wonderful experience!

Painting an elephant

The snake charmer let me sit with him and his snake!

**Washrooms are, ummm, a special thing in India, and in other countries I’ve been to.  I already wrote a post on that though, so there’s no need to repeat myself.  Go check it out here.  **

**Nand was helpful, reliable and funny throughout our entire trip and ‘India by Car and Driver’ helped us to arrange things in a way we just wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.  If you are going to India, you must book with them.**

**Aladdin actually take place in ancient Iraq, but it still felt all magical in India**