Usha Nagar

So the other day it occurred to me that not everyone knows much about some of the more life defining moments from earlier years of my life. I think there have been a quite a few, so let's start with the Big Adventure.

I often say to young people who are bemoaning the fact that they have done nothing in their lives thus far that they really shouldn't worry, and point to myself as an example. Until I was 28 I had never been abroad - unless you count a school weekend trip to France (which I don't!), I was starting to wonder myself if I'd ever go anywhere interesting. I told myself that I was just a home-loving boy at heart, and that's the way it would always be (oh, the irony of that now!), and then in the summer of 1992 came the opportunity of a lifetime; the chance to spend 8 months serving as a missionary in India.

Despite the month of training and preparation we received in London before heading off there, I really had no idea how I would react to a country where white people are completely in the minority, the humidity and temperatures are stifling and the place is crowded beyond belief. Anyone who has ever been to what I prefer to call a "One Third World" nation will tell you that NOTHING, but NOTHING can ever prepare you for the reality of the situation.

To backtrack for a moment; I was going to India with the Oasis Trust (now known as Oasis Media) and founded by a Baptist minister who I got to know while he was serving in my hometown. His name is Steve Chalke, and he is still one of my heroes. I and around 20 others would be going to the city of Bombay (then in the process of being renamed Mumbai). We would be split into teams of 3 or 4 and would be serving local pastors in their churches which were spread around the city. We would be doing whatever jobs the pastors asked us to do as "pastoral assistants". The work included preaching at services, leading the youth group, visiting church members in their homes, conducting Bible studies there, and work in slums and similar.

So as I was saying earlier, nothing prepares you for the reality of arriving in a country like India. Pretty much the first thing I realized getting off the plane was that although it was September in England, and that meant jeans and a sweater, I was totally overdressed for Mumbai in September! Next experience was being accosted by beggars while still in the airport. We had been warned about this, but when you first see it close up, it is pretty difficult to deal with.

The 8 months went by pretty fast, during which time I got to know the rest of my team of four very well and learned a great deal about God, about myself, and about life in general. Over those months I managed to have my credit card stolen in the first week I was there, shared an apartment floor with Larry the Lizard, spent my first Christmas away from home - and preached on Christmas Day in church, traveled the Mumbai rush-hour trains, which must be among the most crowded and dangerous on earth, got my first, and so far only tan, and saw the very best and the very worst of scenery, as well as of humanity.

Looking back now, I think I can say that I have kept with me a number of the main lessons I learned. First among them, on a practical level, I shall never complain about lining up (what we British call "queueing") again, since in India they have it down to an art form, with massive lines for even the most mundane of things. One day towards the end of our time we had to spend all day lining up at a government office to get a piece of paper that confirmed we had not worked for money during our stay, without which we could not have left the country. Should you get impatient in any line, it was very likely that you would make whoever you were lining up for do his or her job much slower, and the trick therefore was never to display your emotions. To this day I always try in supermarket lines to remain calm and cheerful!


Additionally, I learned that if I thought a train or bus was crowded, by comparison to Mumbai ones, it really wasn't. The trains were so crowded that you had to know in advance which side of the train the platform at your stop was, because you had to push your way through a throng of bodies to stand any chance of getting off. It became a fun game to ride the train when you had no schedule, but a bit of a lottery if there were time constraints.

But most important of all I learned that these people who had so little were among the most generous on earth. Every time we visited the slum dwellers we got to know well, a family member would disappear, only to return shortly afterward with folding metal chairs for the visitors to sit on. I reckon they shared them round. The Indian people were never anything short of generous to a fault, eager to please, a little shy, but loyal friends who are easy to love. People invariably say after such an experience that they benefited more than those they went to serve, but I can attest to it really being true.

Another truism is that you really do leave part of your heart in the place in which you spend pivotal periods of your lives, and a part of me will always be in Mumbai. As a postscript I was able to revisit the city 4 years later as part of the Christian band I was then in, as we were due to play some concerts in the city and others nearby. It was great to be back and rekindle the love affair with India.

One day I hope to return. After all, that's where a part of me still resides....