Well, we made it safely to Hyderabad. Our first show was to play for the Rush festival, which was a youth oriented event to build momentum for a Franklin Graham outreach event in November. Here’s a shot of Seth working the crowd at the Rush event:
We just finished up playing for a college today to about 400 people, and afterward met with the school’s chancellor. He told us they’d kept the school open today just for our concert, but released the students after we were done. They have been targeted by political protestors recently and there is real and physical danger in the school staying open.
See a related article here.
There is political unrest in Hyderabad related to a region called Telangana and their desire to become a separate state – we don’t know much about it, but evidently it’s an old issue. But as of late, several labor unions are rioting (their term for ‘striking’) related to the issue. The public transportation has not been running for several weeks, and this has played into concert attendance.
The school was visited yesterday by political agitators,who are trying to violently voice their opinion and conscript students into their demonstration. The school has been vandalized and frequently threatened with further disruption and harm if they remain open.
Of course, we aren’t on either side of the issue, but we are humbled and encouraged when people demonstrate the kind of love that would persist in hosting our concerts at their own risk. That, dear friends, is revolutionary. Throwing rocks through windows and terrorizing students is not.
So now, we have one more show at a college tomorrow, and we’ll see what that brings. Then, the long journey home…