On my current adventure, I’ve already met come local Christians who are inspiring me to be braver and more vocal in my faith. I won’t be able to tell their full story until I return home, but it is amazing.
Another cultural tidbit I forgot to mention: We arrived in India during the “world’s biggest, noisiest religious festival” but it was brought to a silent standstill Friday by a dramatic annular eclipse. Tamil Nadu (home of Chennai) offered some of the best views across the globe, supposedly.
Some newspapers reported that Hindus considered an eclipse unlucky or evil while others quoted sadhus – holy men – promoting the eclipse as an especially auspicious moment to bathe in the Ganges, an act believed to purge sins.
Elsewhere in India, many people were reported to have stayed indoors and abstained from cooking or eating during the eclipse, warned off by ancient superstitions.
The last time India saw this ‘Ring of Fire’ was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not witness such a phenomenon again before June 21, 2020. The next longest annular solar eclipse will be seen in 3043.
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