India, the melting pot of all cultures

Good day, mate! Or evening, or afternoon, or night, depending on where in this wide world you are. This is to commemorate the EID team on their, and my, trek through India, the melting pot of all cultures. We, obviously, survived. Three cheers and a drink for that, please. Now, for my first blog since my return, the subject is India. Fancy that.

The day we got there, I realized, out of all the countries I have visited in my life, this one was going to be different. That was when two Indians were trying to speak English to each other because they did not speak the same language. India has over 300 different languages complete with their own alphabet. How did that happen? The trick is that every state has different languages, and further languages are made for each cast withing that state. So in the same village, you can speak to your neighbor, but not the guy across the street.

On top of that chaos, there is also the religious relativism. A Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu can be best friends and be perfectly okay with that. On the other hand, if there is a call to kill your Christian cousin, that is perfectly okay as well, as they have been in North India. We have seen in one instance a church, and temple, and a mosque side by side.
The women there are modest as can be, dressed from head to toe. The men, on the other hand, practically go naked. Many wear a "waisty", a small bed sheet around their waist with a split in the middle so that they can relieve themselves when ever they wish... where ever they wish.

Idol worship has penetrated every facet of living. Sometimes, like when they open up a little drawer to show you a tiny parade of idols and lights with music, that it can be funny, but in a fully functional temple, the laughing stops. The fact that the Christianity there and the Hindu worship were so similar was of no comfort.

The times of Rudyard Kipling is over, for there is very little wildlife left. Now all I say is that it is a very beautiful place at places, but, although I enjoyed myself, I don't think I shall ever return.

I suppose I should say more, but I don't think I will anyway. Now is the time for us to be ever vigilant that we do not fall in the trap of relativism and that God's truth is absolute, that is, is the Bible.

-Caleb