A couple of times we walked through the neighborhoods of Agra, off the main commercial boulevards, to get to Sheroes Hangout. It was clear few tourists venture there. The extroverted kids smiled and waved and ran toward us shouting the memorized word “hello!” “hello!” “hello!” Most of the adults and the more shy kids – once our eyes met and Ben and I smiled and greeted them – greeted us back genuinely. The drivers of motorcycles or bikes saw us as annoying obstacles.
I couldn’t take photos of everything I saw, there was so much to take in. And I had to be thoughtful about pictures, because my curiosity and appreciation could simultaneously be objectifying and invasive. But know that we saw a community of residences and shops. We saw craftspeople, chefs, barbers, shopkeepers and utility workers. We saw parents, children, grandparents, siblings, friends. We saw kids playing, parenting, housecleaning, labor/commuting to work, and worship.
It was an honor to be in the midst of their lives for those few hours. I am reflecting on all the experience is meant to teach me.
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- Nursing puppies
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- Goats, birds, a kite and laundry
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- A matching set of pigs
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- Don’t let the sumptuous blue and green colors keep you from seeing the chicken!
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- Cricket in silhouette
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- Badminton with Ben
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- Look at the adorable face of that boy!
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- Carrying water
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- “Picture, yes!”
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- Those cheeks! Those matching pink pants and sandals! I wish you could see the perfect teen coiffure on that boy in the background. You can definitely see his cool skinny jeans.
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- Piglets
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- Neighborhood mosque
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- Among other details… those electrical wires!
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- One of the commercial areas
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- Look close to see babies clutched to their mamas!
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- I love all of the paint and cloth colors.
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- Morning newspaper and coffee
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- Holy cow!
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- Beasts of burden, on the left. A bicycle cart that hand cranks, for one who does not have use of their legs, on the right.
