Friends

Yesterday could possibly be the best day I’ve had since being here in India. I got to spend all day with three of God’s beautiful children at the Chennai hospital as I helped them get through their eye exams. There was Bhoopathyannal, an older woman with no fingers, no front teeth, little boy Velcro shoes, short gray spiky hair, and a smile that could win the hearts of millions. She stayed close by me all day. She wouldn’t go anywhere without having me walk with her. She would tap me with her stub of a hand and she would mumble in Tamil words that I didn’t recognize but that I still understood. The patients all had to get their eyes dilated and I guess Bhoopathyannal was very tired so she insisted on laying on my lap for a good half an hour while we waited. She really liked that.
Her husband, Dastha Giri, was also with me all day. Dastha Giri was a fast moving man with very leprosy effected hands and feet. He was missing his thumb aong with the ends of some other fingers and all his hands and feet were very scrunched in and not very usable. He had very tall gray spikey hair and was very thin. He was more independent and kind of took care of his own business and I didn’t really talk to him much until he wouldn’t close his eyes to let them dilate. So I had to keep telling him to do that, and he was a good sport about it.
And the third woman I was with was named Noorjahan. She was probably around 4 feet 6 inches tall with some teeth missing, some fingers missing, but none of her spirit was missing. She was the most talkative of the group and would vocalize her opinion of the woes of the eye exams whenever she could. Don’t get me wrong she was a very happy woman and she liked having me around, and she even tried to teach me a little Tamil. We were going over food because all of us were tired by the time 2 o’clock came around.
So since I was not able to speak with these three I had a hard time really knowing what they were thinking or what they wanted. But as the day was coming to a close we found ourselves with one of the nurses and these three were just going off. Bhoopathyannal was clearly telling her how I let her lay on my lap because she kept doing sleeping motions with her hands and she kept tapping my lap with her hands. I don’t know what Noorjahan was saying but she was very excited and even Dastha Giri was letting his voice be heard. It was funny seeing this nurse’s reaction to what they were saying. She was just kind of laughing and bobbing her head until she told me “ they have affection for you. They like you very much. Friends”. All three of them looked at me when she said that with smiles across their faces and we all just laughed together. There was no need for a facebook confirmation to know that we were official friends.
From that point we were a lot more relaxed and they all talked a lot more. Laughing at my terrible Tamil and getting very excited when we started taking pictures. I asked Noorjahan to pose for the camera and a told Dastha Giri to get in but she pushed him away because she wanted to be the only one in it. Haha. And then Dastha Giri had to be in his own picture too.
Seriously this was the best day ever. We usually don’t get this much time with the patients and I got to spend a good four hours with all three of them. I pray that I will be able to see them again before I take off for home. But even if I can’t I know that God will keep them safe and that when I do reunite with my friends, whether in this life or the next, it will be a happy reunion indeed.