Thursday - Tuesday

In a previous post I mentioned that we were unable to post before we left for Chennai. Here's the entries from my Dad's journal, covering from Thursday (before our Chennai trip) up through Dad's Israel talks on Tuesday. As usual, I added the photos from my camera.

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Thursday, January 24

In my last account I gave a very professional list of the crops we see in the rich agricultural land by the sea. Unfortunately, I forgot the two largest crops, rice and cotton.

The cotton is picked by hand and gathered into bundles in a large "bedsheet." The bedsheet is probably some kind of hemp cloth. The corners are gathered to make a huge ball that looks quite heavy. A number are then loaded on the back of a truck to be taken to the mill. A truck load of raw cotton is very wide because as many balls as possible are tied to the sides of the load. Overtaking one of the trucks you wonder whether you are going to scrape a bag or one might just break away and fall on you.

Friday, January 25

After three days of travel gathering information on the churches, we spent Friday in Guntur addressing minor problems like a power strip to plug in chargers (laptop, cell phone, camcorder, Pauls digital camera…), parts for the computer that Eric brought, etc. We solved most of the problems but have to wait until Monday when orders come in. Planning next week's schedule has taken up most or Eric's time.

We have decided that because of Karuna's lung infection we should move to the Seminary when we return from Madras.

We had some shopping to do and did not want to be chauffeured everywhere so we took an autorickshaw (know here as simply "auto") to the shopping district. It was my first ride in one and was amazed at how maneuverable they are. The steering is done with handlebars directly connected to the front wheel so it is more like a bicycle. I still compare them with bumper cars at the midway.

For some reason our travel to Madras was moved up to Friday. Joined by the young pastor in training who had retrieved our baggage in Hyderabad (Rajesh), we boarded an 11 pm overnight train. We were able to get our three seats in the same compartment and met the fourth passenger, a man who works for Indian Railways, the largest employer in the country. He was mainly a troubleshooter. His office is in Guntur but considers Madras to be his home. Talking to him it became clear that English, not Hindi, is really the common language of India. People in Madras speak Tamil, in Guntur speak Telegu. Hindi is the language in the north west cities like Bombay and Delhi and Bengali is the language in Calcutta.

Saturday, January 26

We pulled into the station after a pretty good sleep and grabbed a taxi. Our directions were to the Guest House near St. Thomas Mount which did not seem adequate for the driver. He finally let us out at the big Catholic church at the top of the mountain and we worked our way on foot down the mountain asking directions. Before long we found a hostel operated by the Daughters of Mary Immaculate. They had thought that we were to arrive in the evening instead of 7 am and claimed to be full until we contacted the relatives of Aaron, one of Eric's friends from Columbus, who magically said the right words to the receptionist and we were in.

Everything is clean but austere. We were expected to bring our own soap, towels and washclothes, which we had not. Each room has two cots with interesting "hangers" at the head and foot. We learned that there were mosquito nets in the drawer which could be spread over the hangers. Food is available but you must let them know ahead of time if you plan to eat there. We decided to eat out for both lunch and dinner as we expected to meet Aaron Shank who had arrived earlier in the day to visit his wife's family.

Eric was thinking that a nice dinner might be appropriate, and something modest would do for lunch. We asked the "auto" driver to take us to a place that was recommended and as we got out, Eric said that this was the place he had picked out for dinner. We are here so let's try it for lunch instead.

This was the most luxurious place that our pastor-in-training had ever seen. The buffet would put to shame any of the ones in Ixtapa. There were gardens and a swimming pool and all of the luxury you could imagine. We were pleased with the food but when we got the bill were glad that we had only had lunch. We had a perfectly adequate dinner in a modest Indian restaurant at one fifth the price of lunch.

Aaron showed up in the late afternoon and moved into a second room in anticipation of the arrival of the others. Eric and Aaron went to the airport to meet the others on the 1 am flight from London. They returned at 4 am having never found their friends.

Meeting a flight here is not quite like meeting one at home. You wait on the sidewalk outside the terminal. You do not get any flight arrival information and you cannot talk to any authorities about arrivals. You cannot meet people in the baggage claim area.

They called everyone at home that they could think of and no one had heard about any missed plane or change in travel plans.

Sunday, January 26

After Eric had had a brief sleep, he and Rajesh took an autorickshaw back to the airport, checking both the international and domestic terminals. It was about 10 am when we received a call from Tally that the three men had indeed landed in Chennai. We could not reach Eric. By about 10:30 Eric and Rajesh returned empty handed. When we gave them the news, Eric and Aaron headed back to the airport and found the group. Apparently, the call to Columbus that they had arrived was long before they could exit the airport and be met. Of course they arrived without luggage.

Apparently there was a snowstorm in Chicago and they sat in the plane on the runway for 4 hours, thereby missing their connection in London. So it goes.

Our plans for Sunday went by the way. We had a very good mid-afternoon meal at the restaurant Eric and I had visited Saturday and people caught up on sleep.

I did not give much detail about the place where we stayed in Chennai. It is a hostel operated by a Catholic organization called DMI (Daughters of Mary Immaculate). The cost was modest. Meals were available but you must notify them 4 hours ahead of time so they know how many they will serve. Each room had two cots and a private bathroom and there was a fairly large lounge where we met some quite interesting people. I was most impressed with a glossy book on the table describing all of the programs that DMI and its brother organization, MMI, conducts in India. They have colleges and hospitals, etc. Of all of the Christian organizations with outreach programs in India, the Catholic programs are the most prominent. BFLC explains that Rao Dasari focused on the remote villages that the big programs did not reach.

Aaron wanted to attend the 7:30 Anglican service at the military garrison at the foot of the mountain, but his plans to get driven there by his wife's cousin got delayed and he arrived "in time for the sermon." The rest of us caught up on sleep.

By noon we all were on the top of the mountain (hill) where a Catholic service was in progress. The views in all directions were spectacular. The airport is close so the planes flew right over our heads.

The other thing we wanted to see in Chennai was the beach. We packed up and moved out of the hostel, rented two SUVs with drivers, and set off for one of the finest beaches in India. It was already dark when we arrived but the beach was lit by all the activity including hawkers with ears of corn that they would cook in a charcoal fire. Several of our group tried some cooked fish which they found to be excellent.

The beach is very deep; you walk a long way from the street to the nearest water. I am sure that the number of people wandering around was huge but they were dispersed enough that it was not a problem.

The ride from the beach to the train station took us through the tourist parts of Chennai so we felt that we had seen it adequately. Our train left at 10 pm giving us 6 hours of sleep before arriving at 4 am.

Monday, January 28

Eric and I moved over to the Seminary which was more adequate for the six of us westerners. We still got our meals at the Moriah Home.

Once again the first item on the agenda was getting lost bags. We learned that Air India would not forward them once they arrived in Chennai and they insisted that they could only be picked up by the owners. Once again, they admitted that they could release them to an agent if he carried copies of the passports and claim documents, this time notarized.

After breakfast, Pastor Mike Weaver fell ill for a while and had some difficult moments but managed to teach his class on Monday. Eric worked on trying to get the computer that he brought to work.


In the midst of our tiredness we went off to visit a congregation due west. It was one that does not have a church although the congregation is quite large. We participated in a short service sitting on the entry porch of the pastor's rented house, visited a large site that they have acquired for a church, and had our mid day meal.

I knew that I was to talk about Israel on Tuesday so spent my time polishing the pieces. They rented a projector and screen which worked very well. The screen was a large piece of heavy white cloth which stretched the entire width of the chapel!

By late afternoon I found that my lingering cold was getting worse and went to bed, skipping dinner.

[Eric] In the evening, Aaron, Mike, and I went into town to find some clothes for Mike, who had additional classes to teach.

Tuesday, January 29

The cold seemed better in the morning and I launched into my first talk, the one to the Seminary students. The focus was "What Would You See That was Related to the Bible if You Went to Israel Today?" To make the helicopter video more understandable, I preceeded it with some maps comparing the size of Israel with this region of India, then photos of places from our 1998 trip that will show up in the video. I think that it went well although I did not get many questions. At 2 pm the entire Moriah School of 350 kids arrived and filled the floor. They were seated shoulder to shoulder squirming like a slowly boiling calderon. I actually got more reaction from the kids. They saw a whole lot of things that they had never seen before, like a stunt plane and sky divers, and you could hear their excitement as each new scene appeared.

The downside of the second talk was that it took a toll on my fragile voice. By about 5 pm I called it quits and crawled into bed. Soon after Eric too crawled into bed complaining of cold symptoms and a possible fever. Neither of us planned to go to dinner, but a little after 8 the young women who made the meal came over to the Seminary and told me I had to have their chicken soup.