Joel, Grace, and Their Mother.

Joel, Grace, and their mother are friends of mine that live across the landing from me at the Ganatra's. They are a Christian family, which is something of a rarity for Hyderabad. Joel and his mother do not understand my searching or my more Unitarian minded spiritual perspective. That's okay. I should seek to understand, not to be understood. Despite their lack of broadmindedness in regard to religious matters, they are quite pleasant to be around. Realizing that their persistence is rooted in a genuine concern for my life's well-being makes it easier to accept Joel's continuous hassling and the mother's squeezing of my cheeks together while telling me how important it is for me to read the Bible, before commenting on how I need to eat my ice cream faster. Grace and I can talk more freely with each other.

Joel is an outspoken demanding fourteen year old socialite who is a blast to play cricket with. Joel's mother is a generous, loving, protective woman who seems to have every ones best interest at heart. Grace is a more timid and soft spoken sixteen year old who for me is such a treat to be around. Her gentle curiosity and he humbling spirit allows us to have more authentic encounters that are a familiar trace of some of my most profound attachments back home.

I've gone to church with the family once. They attend The Baptist Church of Hyderabad, which is similar to Baptist churches in the South and for me, just as desolating.

I just don't feel the possible supreme being of the universe in a church the way I do watching the sun set in the smoggy sky while sitting on the cement blocks on the terrace, or like I do when I look at Sophie crunching on her dinner, or like I do when I see little Noelle making up songs, or like I do when I cry hard into what seems an endless pit of despair, or like I do when the few times I've been fortunate enough the glimpse the depth of the human heart. For me, church is the dwelling grounds for stagnance. It just simply isn't my way. Today I honor God, by honoring Life, beautiful, heart wrenching, glorious, raw Life, and believing, as Emerson said, that "if we live truly, we shall see truly." Live and love and seek to understand.. That is my religion.