The Harrison Hotel and The Master

I’ve noticed when you wake up in a new Indian city, the sights and sounds from your hotel window don’t change: lots of honking and lots of hazy, blue, polluted sky. I’ve almost gotten used to it.

It’s 7:00 a.m. and I haven’t really slept all night. I made it to the last day on the trip and I’ve been up every hour letting “India run through me” if you know what I mean. I’ve tried to be pretty descriptive in this blog but on this occasion I’ll spare the details. Instead, let’s focus on yesterday, which may have been the highlight of the trip and one of the most moving experiences of my life. But first, details on the daily grind.

Hotel and Headquarters

The Harrison Hotel, a place that looks promising on the outside but odd and frustrating on the inside. Sort of like a pomegranate. The Internet was down, the T.V. didn’t work, the refrigerator was locked without a key and the shower provided only small trickles of water. Of course, none of this was really important, as we would be gone all day. It had a bed and that’s what mattered.
After a “safe” breakfast of toast and bananas, we were off to visit the last of the three IJM headquarters on our journey. It was located above the Indian equivalent of Red Robin and had a motto that read, “Never trust a skinny chef.”

Once again, entering headquarters was like a family reunion. Lots of hugs and smiles for everyone, as if they couldn’t wait to see us. We were used to the IJM morning routine by now, so we knew what to expect when we all piled in the conference room, 25 employees and interns and the 10 of us.

It was Friday, so instead of getting down to business, on Fridays they play a game called The Master. The staff is split into five teams and one gal, Sherry, is The Master. She reads a trivia question on sports, history, math, religion or culture and the first team to raise a hand tries to answer. You get points for right answers, but if you’re wrong, other teams can use what you’ve said to help answer the question. The winning teams gets to keep The Master for the week, which means if you win, you proudly display a stuffed gorilla on your desk.

Apparently, lawyers don’t like to lose. It was friendly, but competitive. Lots of the questions were about Indian history. I thought I had a chance when Sports came up, but it was some question about the MVP of the Cricket championship. Cricket’s not really my thing. I did help my team out by guessing the MVP of the 1998 Super Bowl (John Elway, thank you very much).
The game ended with controversy. The last question was, “What is the highest peak in the Pacific Northwest and what five mountain ranges surround the PNW?” The answer was: The Cascades, The Olympics, The Sierras, THE COASTAL and THE COLUMBIAN. The Coastal and Columbian mountain ranges? What the…?

Brian objected stating, “I’ve lived in Washington all my life and have NEVER EVER heard of the Coastal and Columbian Mountain Ranges.” The response from one of the IJM staff was priceless, “Now you’ve learned something from Indians.” The staff was very amused at our expense. Apparently, Indians rely on Wikipedia.

After the game ended, we got a tour of the office, focusing mainly on the role of the investigators. Then we returned to the conference room and were briefed on a rescue mission that took place February 5, 2009. Yes, that’s seven days ago. The mission took place at a rice mill where the ruthless owner conducted forced labor with physical and sexual abuse. These people had been enslaved in this factory for years, some born and raised there. The case is still open so I can’t discuss details, but the information they shared made your skin crawl. We were briefed on this case because after lunch we would be taken to an aftercare facility to see Freedom Training, where aftercare workers train the rescued to take care of themselves in their newfound freedom.

I was pretty tired and on information overload. Things had been so intense for so many days it was if I couldn’t take in any more stories and statistics. I felt a bit guilty, but while listening to the briefing, my thoughts had drifted toward Seattle.

I had no idea what I was about to experience…