Day 37, Sept. 16

When I left Tennessee, I thought I was going to be picked up in Bangalore by Fr. Vijayan Joseph who is the pastor of Holy Spirit in the Bronx. Later I thought he was going to meet me in Chingleput. Now, he actually was going to meet me at the railway station in Tuticorin. And, lo and behold he showed up. It took us little while to hook up; but it was like meeting a long lost brother. He was the first person I met in India whom I had known in the US. It really is a profound experience, even after making many good new friends, to find an old one.
Fr. Vijayan got to working on his hospitality right away. Friends though we were, we tussled over carrying my bags up the train station’s stairway. Safely out of the station, Fr. hailed a cab and got us to the Bishop’s House. We got there in time for breakfast. Once again, the diocesan staff was genuinely welcoming in their greetings to me. When the door to my room had a problem, they gave me a better room next door.
Father had to tend to his mother the rest of the morning. She had to go to the hospital. So, as soon as Father took me to the laundry, I received a chance to catch up on my blogging and settling into my room until the early afternoon. That proved to be until past 3:00 pm.
At that time, Father got his brother to drive us in a car his brother borrowed (his was under repair) to Gramodaya. This was a place where the leaders of the community had been doing an outstanding job organizing the people. When I arrived, the people had been waiting a fairly long time. The vast majority were women who had HIV+ children. The first thing they did was to honor us as guests and make us seem very important. I get very apprehensive every time someone tries to make me bigger than I am. This was grossly overdone here. The women told us their stories. They were compelling. Somehow, I got into the position of judging what they should be doing. In the course of developing options it became obvious that these people had been highly trained by first rate group development workers and were far ahead in thought and resources than Love and Care Mission. They had over 1,000 volunteers they could count on. We were very cordial as the meeting with us handing out saris to the women and gifts to the children. These folks knew how to get a crowd.
Down the road, there was an old but working Hindu Shrine. One of the leaders had a good knowledge of the place. About 400 years old it still gave evidence of excellent art and workmanship. Yet, especially since it was now dark, the fact it was in session, we received a flashlight tour that let us feel like we were meeting the gods and goddesses for real. When we got to the holy of holies we were required to give the priest a prayer request he would pray for in the sacred room. It was all serious and more educational than the government controlled shrines.
We returned back to Bishop’ House (which was steps away from Fr. Vijayan’s family home. We were to get ready for a fun trip the next morning.