"Anytime!"

I was invited to visit a friend, family, and their 4 amazing churches in Guntur, which is one of the largest cities in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, this weekend. Had an absolutely fabulous time, and of course will write several blogs and attach many pictures from the weekend. Just to give an idea….This area, between the months of April and July, is VERY HOT. At this time/end of March, the area is basically just heating up. The temps for this weekend were 100 F, with “real feel 106 F”.  It is only going to get more hot very soon, and my hat is off to these people as they attempt to remain cool in this area during these upcoming months!

It was quite a neat getaway from Bangalore, as the roads were so much more empty (though this city is considered highly populated) and I could actually “walk across the street” relatively easily. (Side note: Once you have lived in Bangalore, India, crossing a street just about anywhere else in the world will be a piece of cake.) Also, the people were so warm and friendly (though that is India in general), and the street food, with the famous Red Chilies of the region, was just awesome. I was served so many fabulous home cooked meals, I cannot count all of them.

One of the (very many) neat things I experienced over the weekend, that I will write about first, was a boat ride to an island, which is actually considered a ferry. People live on this (very small) island, and others visit to buy vegetables that are grown here, and other commodities.We bought some fried onion local food (fritter-type) that was so delicious. On the way, you can see people swimming here in one of the pics. Pictures attached, and much more to come about the weekend.

Getting off the boat, I saw a man holding a chicken. A very interesting man. To give some perspective here, people in Guntur speak the language Telugu, and for most, that is “their language”. Not much English, understandably, and not much Hindi language for many, though I obviously don't know numbers and knowledge for sure. Literally, I say Hello and people are not sure what I am saying, etc. (as I am still SO used to saying "hello" and "hey!" (ingrained) so much I still forget Namaste! daily, though if you are smiling, they know you are being friendly no matter what you are saying). So….I spotted the man with the chicken, and really wanted a picture. I asked him “Can I take your picture?”, knowing that he may smile (as I was) or he may keep walking. Before anyone from my group could translate (as luckily my friend knows 4 languages)……the man simply suddenly answered, flatly, yet friendly, in English......“Anytime”. 

It really took me off guard that he answered, with such a quick, perfect, English response "on the fly" like that! You really have to be here, and experience life here in rural villages of AP (this was outside of Guntur by 30 kms), to understand how rare a response like that is. "Anytime", indeed!