Day 7, August 17


This morning Fr. Marriappa and I celebrated Mass in the parish church for the sisters and the parishioners. It was a good turnout. The Faith seems to be strong in India as the devotion to the saints and Mary are held in high regard. Priests are respected to a degree that makes me uneasy. In some parts the people put their head to the priest’s feet as they petition for a blessing.
As was expected, we retraced our way out of Bengalore on the way to Mysore. Only this time we took a main road. (There seems not to be any equivalent to an Interstate Highway in India. All the roads are congested to a degree when in populated areas. Every vehicle tries to go as fast as it can; but the result is everyone going at a reduced speed. Foot propelled three-wheelers vie with heavy trucks and all sorts of autos and dilapidated buses for room on a single lane. That one lane (out of two or four) may have cars going both ways. And, yes, there are many accidents.)
We finally arrived at Fr. Anthippa’s rectory. He is a clever man who spent three years as a priest mostly in Lancaster PA. After dinner, he took me on a walk through the few streets of his small town. Although small and seemingly backwards, the five blocks of commercial business had at least two electronic shops each. The one we entered was busy. There Father took out a mobile phone which I would use throughout the rest of my trip. He bought and inserted a SIMM card. We also had to buy a charger for it. They had virtually very size and shape of charger in stock. The clerk found ours easily. The price was 30 rupees. That’s about 80 cents.
Earlier, I had told Father about my toenail problem in answer to his question if I needed any medications. He called up a physician and got a verbal prescription for a regimen that was not topical but by mouth. I had been asking about such a pill for years from MD’s in the US for years. Again, at one of those third world kiosks Fr. told him the prescription. Presently, the pharmacist (one of many in the town) came back quickly with the pills. The cost was about $5.00. Fr. Anthippa thought it might be too much!
After the walk, we returned to the rectory where we continued conversing until time for bed.