Day 71, Oct. 20


Today turned out to be a double moving day. In the morning I closed out accounts at the Jesuit Residence at Loyola of Chennai. Dr. Anthony picked me up and drove me to the Central Train Station where it was too crowded to do anything but let me out in front as fast as the traffic would allow. By now, I knew the routine well. Only now, I had a regular seat. I got right into the carriage (train car) and found that my ticket was wrong. The sets were three across and I had a window seat. But my seat number was on the aisle. As the seats all filled up, mine was the only one with one person for the three seats. So, as the train started moving, I moved over to the window. At the first station the other two passengers boarded. They didn’t mind a bit. India is like that. The people don’t sweat the small stuff. Fr. Mariappa had told me to take the next to last stop. It would leave me much closer to his parish. (Actually, it saved over n hour.) This forced me to ask the ticket taker for help and my two companions to help. One of them had been keeping his sizable luggage between his legs.
After an enjoyable ride, I arrived in Bengalore (there are many permutations of this city’s name, including Bangalore, Bengaluru, and Bangaluru of which all and more are correct. That comes from translating from different languages and alphabets.). My train was so long that I had to exit down to the tracks and then climb up to the platform. The intrepid Devukumar, who managed the itinerary, was in contact by cell phone. So, we met easily, left the station and found a three-wheeled taxi (auto-taxi, or auto-rickshaw are alternative terms) and, very soon, arrived back at St. Anthony’s where this Odyssey began.
It was amazing. The church was about finished. The dedication had been set for November 1st. The site was cleaned up, the neighborhood had its sidewalks finished, and the storefronts were in place. The area looked very good. I couldn’t believe all this was done in nine weeks. Tht gave me a different tool to measure the time I took to take virtually a lap around India.
Fr. Joseph Menizes greeted me with Fr. Mariapppa, the pastor. They announced that we could go to Fr. Ariappa’s parish for the night. I heartily agreed. The three of us, then rode down the road to visit our fellow priest for a friendly visit. We met an, instantly, our rapport came back and we conversed amid sips of Kingfisher and chips. Ecce quam bonum…