Onions: political miracle?

For the past week or so, Bryon and I have been staying with Father Gilbert, a friend of the family, at his children's home in Mysore (about three hours from Bengalore).

News here from House of Love is that India and Pakistan are now bffs.

I'll explain: today, because I didn't pay very close attention in history (sorry, Olathe South) I wanted to know the specific reason Pakistan and India were not friends.

The kids here will play chess and assign one side India and one Pakistan, and the children at New Life had a simple Game Boy-like video game in which they would always call the enemies Pakistan. I wanted to know the full story.

I asked Harry, one of the older boys, why there were such shaky relations. Bryon told him to keep the answer short, to three sentences. Harry gave us a look that said three sentences would be difficult, thought for a while, and then simply said, "Because they are bad people."

Some of the other children chimed in, saying they were terrorists, that they had bombs, etc., but nothing specific. It was sad to see hatred indoctrinated into such young children.

Then Priya said, "No, they are friends now!" I asked her to explain, and told her that to come to India, we had to get visas, and that if you were from Pakistan, you couldn't get a visa. (The official clause says something along the lines that if you are from Pakistan, game over. [Um, edit: I was informed by a Pakistani friend of mine that they can, indeed, get visas. I'm just here to uphold the stereotype that Americans are underinformed; you're welcome.] If you hold dual citizenship, say with Pakistan and the US, you must apply under your American citizenship and renounce your Pakistani ties. The process also asks if any of your parents or grandparents were ever affiliated with Pakistan. It's serious. But anyway.)

Priya elaborated, and because of her thick accent I had to clarify: "So, Pakistan gave India onions and now they're friends?" Priya nodded, adding that Obama wanted them to be friends.

Whew. Glad that's over. I'm also happy that both countries could put to rest such an extended dispute thanks to a shipment of vegetables.

I knew I loved onions for a reason.

Be home in a few days. Happy New Year! Don't worry, folks at home (can I call you "homies"?), I'll test drive 2011 for you...or at least the first 11.5 hours of it.

Lots of love,
Jessica