A ride to koti

Day three: Today our task was to go with our peer tutors and get on the right bus, explore great markets, and take the right bus home. Oh...if Indian life were only this easy.
Taking the first step unto that bus will never be forgotten. I was the minority, I was the intruder, I was not expected or accepted. It felt like the world stopped with a thousand Indians stareing directly at ME. Ok, ok, this passed in a second and I shoved my way into the middle front. In India ALL buses are segregated. Women and elderly only enter the front door, men in back. The first five or so rows that are indicated are only for the women and elderly to sit and the rest is for the men to fight over. Each bus squeezed about 300 percent more than it seems possible. People holding on the sides and people pushed side to side. A few side notes...its HOT and everyone is SWEATY and Indians do not believe in PERSONAL SPACE. Us girls jumped, pushed, and shoved our way in. Then the bus just stopped! Oh, another side note to consider of Indian transportation is that its on its own schedule. There are no driving rules only to use horn liberally and get there quickly.
So we are in the bus that is now parked and I turn to my new friend Molly and she calmly and confidently tells me, "I am going to faint." (The next things happened within I dunno what time frame or if the bus was even moving.) I smile say ok to Molly, being a past experienced fainter as well. I hear nothing and see nothing but Molly. She turns pale and I grab her body, she goes limp in my arms and I feel no weight or strength, just Molly. I remember saying her name to her over and over. We are given a seat and she slides on, I get water down her mouth and she comes to just as quickly as she left. She apologies and I realize a child is screaming within in inches of us. Just stareing at Molly and screaming.
Thats all I wanted to do, scream with this baby. I wanted something comfortable and easy. I wanted to quickly and efficiently take her to get re dehydrated, but we were an hour and a half from our hotel and who knows where from the hospital. BUT THIS IS INDIA (Tii) I was told before I got here. So our leaders hundled around us and we got her a juice box and banana. She quickly regained the color in her face and we just keep apologizing to each Indian around us. We all breathed a little easier and I just kept praying and thanking God that I had spent time with him this very morning and opened up my day with Him. (we are all safe and healthy, after food and naps)
I am overwhelmed not from Molly, but from the entire day. So much goes into just getting to market. Heck, so much goes into taking the bus. All convenience is lost. I wonder if this reality is too simple for me to even grasp. Life is hard. Statements like these filter through my day here. From seeing rows and rows of slums to rich wealthy Americans dine out upstairs. Tii...this is India.