Posted on April 12, 2017 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

 

There will be no Thursday Tidbits today. We’re on the move and internet access is very unpredictable.

Have a great day and say hello to my friend!

Posted on April 9, 2017 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

Humayuns Tomb – New Delhi Built in 1533

 

I left southern India last week, starting the long road back to Antigonish. I made two stops en route to the airport in Thiruvananthapuram to visit the young girls who are studying to become Sisters. I have been calling them “ noviciates “all this time… in error. As they are in their first year of training, they are called “ aspirants.” We had a great visit and sang “Let it Be” one last time.

So, arrangements had been made by the Sisters for someone to pick me up at one of the convents, to stay with their family overnight and then deliver me to the airport in the morning. A father and son tandem piled my belongings into their car and off we went. “ It will take about half an hour to get to our house,” said the son who spoke very good English. We were making great time when inexplicably, traffic ground to a complete stop. It was dark out and no one seemed to know what was happening. After sitting for about a half an hour, an ambulance went by and we thought for certain that this was the cause of the delay.

Wrong.

When traffic started moving again, we inched towards an intersection in a rural area… hardly where one would expect to find gridlock. Someone on foot walked by us and we found out that there was a major religious festival nearby. And it was just ending. There were thousands of vehicles trying to make it through the intersection… no traffic lights and no traffic police. When lawlessness breaks out, everyone and no one is in charge. Smack dab in the middle of total confusion were about a dozen young Indian men trying to make sense of the madness. They were screaming, yelling and flailing their arms desperately trying to break the logjam. Patience was not in abundance. I now believe that the ambulance may have been delivering victims of a fist fight amongst angry motorists. A thirty minute drive took two hours. I have never witnessed such bedlam.

The flight to Delhi was uneventful… no runway rage! Another friend of a friend picked me up. Berly is a great young guy. It had rained in Delhi the day before which cleared the air and caused the temperature to cool down to 38. There was no evidence of the legendary Delhi pollution. The streets were clean and tree lined and just a few minutes from my room, I saw the Lodi Gardens, an amazing green space covering 90 acres.

He drove me to my accommodations which were arranged by Sister Archana. She had never been there herself but found out about it through friends. It is a residence owned by an NGO called Integrated Social Initiatives. It’s sort of like the Coady. People come to the Institute to take courses and they end up staying in the dorm. Yes. The building reminded me of Mockler Hall in the 60’s. The rooms are very spartan.

Oh yes, the residence was in the middle of a small slum area. This didn’t bother me in the least as I have seen my share of poverty on this trip.

The next morning, I took a city bus tour. I had an image of Delhi that many people have: a large , dirty, polluted city of 19 million. I was astonished to see well organized traffic with people actually obeying the rules but even more remarkable was the “ greenness” of Delhi. Many of the streets are tree lined and there are large swaths of green space and parks. The air was relatively fresh and the sky was clear. No doubt the pollution will reappear after the rainfall cleared the air a few days earlier. It had all the appearances of a modern North American city.

My brother  Don arrived safely from Canada after a 24 hour delay with his flight. Yesterday, we decided to do a bit more sightseeing and did a tour with an  auto rickshaw driver. I won’t bore you with all the details but safe to say we were very impressed with the richness of the history of the place.

Sorry, Delhi if I have offended you in the past. You are now one of my favorite cities in the world. Once you get your pollution problem solved, people will flock to your door. I plan to explore the city when I come back to India next year.

I am posting this earlier than usual as we are on our way to the Taj Mahal today.

Have a great week.

 

Posted on April 6, 2017 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

 

Three great women… and an old guy!

As I begin to reflect on my six months in India, I am pondering the things that amazed me, perplexed me and occasionally frustrated me. And make no mistake, India can frustrate you to the point of screaming. You need to have your wits about you at all times and keep your “ patience meter” well calibrated.

I don’t think you need to hear any more about demonetization, pollution ( garbage, environmental and noise ), traffic chaos, frequent power outages and unpredictable internet service.

The plusses have far outweighed the minuses.

I expect that somewhere along the way when I get back home, someone is bound to ask me what surprised me most. This is a pretty easy one to answer.

Religion.

I had no idea of the scope, intensity and fervor that religion plays in this country of 1.2 billion people. You simply can’t escape it. Every village, town and city is dotted with churches, temples and mosques. And I think it is fair to say that religion is very much an “ in your face” thing. It is hard to ignore when  religious groups place massive speakers inside and outside their premises with the volume cranked to 10 ALL THE TIME. It’s like there’s some kind of competition to see who can attract the most attention. And in many places, the entire community is hard wired with speakers linked to the church/temple/mosque so that everywhere you go , you can catch a service just as if you were there.

Religion simply dominates the landscape. For a guy from a small town, it seems a bit over the top.

And then there are the quiet foot soldiers who live their religion through quiet action, particularly their work with the poor, marginalized, mentally ill, the sick and the elderly. And I’m not just talking about people in religious orders.

Like our own Sisters of St. Martha and the Congregation of Notre Dame back in Antigonish, the Daughters of Mary do their profession proud with deeds and not words. If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that they work with all of the groups mentioned above. I don’t want to single out one thing they do that’s more important than the other, but their work with the mentally ill, is particularly impressive and noteworthy.

Mental illness is universal and many of us know someone who has suffered or is presently suffering from poor mental health. It is one thing to have access to top notch health care but for many people in other countries, getting quality mental health care is a bit of a crap shoot.

The Daughters of Mary operate two facilities for mentally ill women. These women have been cast aside by their families and society. At Emmaus, 100 women are provided a safe and warm home along with medical care. Many of these women  are moved to a rural residence called Assissi Farm when they are stabilized.

With no government funding ( some day I will do a full rant on this subject ), the Sisters are constantly challenged to make ends meet. In order to contribute financially to operational costs, Emmaus runs several small cottage industries with the residents providing the labor. It is a win/win proposition. Having a reason to get out of bed is important for all of us.

Emmaus manufactures hosts used in area churches. They do these in a tedious fashion using hand operated equipment. There is a large market for hosts that Emmaus cannot currently satisfy. They need new, modern equipment but making “ heavenly hosts” doesn’t come cheap. An automated host maker costs about $5,000.

I know many of you have already given to one of the other projects but maybe some of you haven’t and might want to help out. The Sisters received a major boost from Antigonish a few days ago. The Opportunity Shop , run by St. Ninian’s Catholic Women’s league have contributed $2500 towards the purchase of the host machine. ( Speaking of women who quietly go about doing so many good deeds! ). That means Emmaus needs another $2500 to buy the equipment. Sister Agnes Cordeau taught me math. I think that 25 donors @ $100 would do the trick!

Check out this video (    https://youtu.be/hCjtAWy1soc ) to learn more and click on the Daughters of Mary link on my website ( http://www.week45.com/supporting-the-daughters-of-mary-in-india/ to donate.

Have a great day.