Transcendence in India

When you dream of an exotic vacation, rural India may not be the first place to cross your mind. But my trip last year to the small village of Karapa was one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.

Some folks are attracted to ecotourism vacations; others are drawn to other types of traveling charitable endeavors, or as one writer in the U.K. dubbed it, "guilt trips."

As for me, I was pulled to Sharon Children's Home, an orphanage in Andhra Pradesh, India.

I visited this worthy institution on behalf of my church, and I wanted to meet the head of the orphanage himself, Pastor Abraham Samuel, and to ensure that the children there were well cared for.

The visit exceeded my highest hopes.

Andhra Pradesh is on the southeastern coast of India; the state is best known for its capital, Hyderabad.

Muslim and Hindu temples are a major tourist attraction through the city, which more recently has become a hotbed of tech and biotech companies.

Although there are direct flights to Hyderabad, I learned that my journey to Karapa would take a full day and a half, door to door.

Mumbai the Wayside

After a 15-hour flight from Newark, N.J., to Mumbai, I had an eight-hour layover in this most populous Indian city, which has an arresting mix of gleaming new office towers next to street beggars and stray dogs.

I then took a short flight to Visakhapatnam, in northern Andhra Pradesh. While this is a city of three million people, it is more traditional than cosmopolitan: I spotted only a handful of Westerners in the airport, and the women were all dressed in traditional saris.

I was greeted at the airport by Samuel, who founded the Sharon Children's Home. He bestowed me with a garland of fresh marigold blossoms, and we set off on the four-hour drive to Karapa.

As we traveled into the countryside, I attracted a fair bit of attention. I was clearly a foreigner -- one person asked for my autograph when we stopped for gas! Andhra Pradesh is obviously not a tourist hot spot.

While it was nice to be noticed, I was totally unprepared for the highways and byways of India.

Pedestrians jostled with cattle, trucks veered around elephants and bicycles jockeyed for position with ox carts. Did I mention the monkeys? After twenty minutes, I felt overwhelmed and closed my eyes.

Nevertheless, I arrived without a scratch. Since India is 10 1/2 hours ahead of New York, it was now almost two days after my departure. But it was worth every minute: at the orphanage, thirty children were waiting to shower me with rose petals.

This place was no Taj Mahal, but everyone there treated me like royalty.

A Warm Reception

	A Dedication Feast

Sharon Children's Home opened in September 2005, and was built by members of Calvary Baptist Church in Morristown, N.J.

I first met Samuel after my wife looked on the Internet for a place to send used clothing. She learned that Samuel had twenty children sleeping on the floor of his church, and we decided to help.

Samuel was an orphan himself, and takes in children found sleeping at local bus and railway stations. He initially accommodated as many as he could in his church, and he and his family cooked for them from his home.

Fortunately, all of the children at newly expanded Sharon Children's Home are well fed, clothed and are enrolled in a school down the block. They stay through high school, and then move on to jobs or to college.

To view Robert Martorana's video take of this column, click here.