Day 53, Oct. 2

Yet another travel day arrives. It seems these days are getting more frequent as time rolls on. Either my schedule is getting tighter or my sense of time is changing as I get used to things Indian. So, I packed my bags in the morning and later put the in the trunk of a car rented to get us to the See city of this diocese, Trichy (or its official name of Tiruchirapalli).
Fr. Deveraj went along as he was sort of assigned to take care of me (seeing that I eat a lot and see a lot of sights). He heard of a magnificent new bridge the State built just a few miles out of our way and thought it would be a good diversion. There is a major road building project going on n Tamil Nadu for the last 2 years with one more year to go. The cost is rps.3,818 crore (one crore is 10 million). That’s a lot of money and it seems to be put into effect efficiently. The work looks pretty much up to US standards. The work seems to be going well. When we got to the bridge, we found it to be only a to lane concrete bridge spanning a ravine with a railroad track. It wasn’t much to see. So, we doubled back and hightailed it to Tiruchirapalli.
The Bishop’s House was more or less like every other Bishop’s House I have lived in. It was, as usual, historic (that is to say old and raggedy). But it is cheap and filled with ready made friends, namely the bishop’s staff. This stop was no different. The highlight of the supper was the Judicial Vicar. He had a happy professor’s sense of humor even though he has been working marriage cases for decades and was taking witness statements that evening in person. He taught Fr. Anthony and my host as well (a generation apart). Other priests took a shine to me and the time was well spent.
I was given a ride around the city observing what we might be visiting the next day. People drive more sanely here; but it’s still mad by US standards. When we returned, a priest saw me and stated his desire (approved by his bishop) to come to the States. He has been in charge of education for the diocese. I also tried to get in touch with the Capuchins to join in their Transitus festivities the following night as I hoped to do when I was in Delhi.