Walking in the woods

 On our very first walk around the top of the hill at Landour we got the following message from a tree:

OK.  So it wasn't from the tree itself - but some kind soul who decided to tell us something on behalf of the trees. 

But the point is well taken.  There is something absolutely wonderful to hear the softest of rustles as the wind moves through a deodar forest.


Being with trees humbles you.

As you walk through these gentle giants you think about all those who have walked the trail before you.  The gnarled oaks with their old scraggly hands make you realise how new you are - and what the lives of the people before you were like.

Then there is the sheer joy of breathing in air which is pungent with the scents of leaves and soil - filling your lungs with Himalayan coolness. 

Sheba and I did a prayer walk earlier today and it was lovely to lift up the issues of our lives to God - and so many of our dear friends who are walking through very hard times - while all around us the beauty of creation filled our hearts with wonder.

What sheer joy to see the variety of species in the late afternoon sun - like here just above Fairy Glen.  Himalayan Maples with Rhodhadendron and Oaks grown up under a cover of Deodar - with the odd fir and blue pine mixed in.

 Even at night the trees can amaze.  Like this Banj Oak reflecting the light of a street lamp at Sister's Bazaar.

As one poet has put it:

I think that I shall never see     

A poem lovely as a tree.              

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest      

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;            

 

A tree that looks at God all day,         

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in summer wear             

A nest of robins in her hair;        

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;         

Who intimately lives with rain.    

 

Poems are made by fools like me,           

But only God can make a tree.

- Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

Sporting Clube de Shanti Kunj

It's hard to beat acres and acres of cool mixed oak and deodar forest for sheer beauty.  The paper tells us that parts of India are as hot as 48 C - which is hard to imagine in the cool air Landour at 2000+ meters above sea level.   And so we drink deeply of the forest air and wander off on little expeditions in the forests each day.

But then again - how many day-hikes can you take?  Especially when you have four very active young people at hand - including Enoch for whom sport ranks somewhere near godliness.

 And so the front courtyard of Shanti Kunj has had its share of sporting encounters over the last few days.

Mindful of my bad back - which I managed to 'throw' the last two years we came up to Mussoorie - I have not launched myself fully into the the melee - but when you have a winsome lad urging all and sundry to hit the court - what can you do?

Last year badminton was all the rage - but the sorry state of the racquets seems to have cooled this season's desire.   Instead - having John and Nalini and the kids here has opened up the door for some basketball. 

 Its wonderful to have a net at a level that you can dunk in without having to leave the ground too much...

But the game of this season is 'baseball' - Shanti Kunj style.   We play on a miniscule diamond, with young and old drafted in and a large softball helping most of us to actually connect.

Teams are drawn up and whole games gone through - with arcane rules like stealing of bases - being carefully learned and practiced.

When we were small, Mum and Dad would take us to Kodaikanal for our summer hols.  One of the high-lights for me was watching the annual baseball game between the graduating class of Kodai International School and the alumni.  It was part of their graduation weekend - and was billed as the 'embryos' vs. the 'fossils.'

History repeats itself.  Here in Shanti Kunj we have two clearly demarcated teams.  The first is made up of the young 'uns -  Asha, Nikita, Enoch and Jasper who called themselves the 'Fresh Ferns'.  The other team is made up of the others!  All us older folks are clubbed into the 'Oldie Oaks' and so our last epic game took place yesterday.

The scoreboard before the game.  No inkling of what was to take place.

When the dust had settled, we were comprehensively beaten - by a score which could never have taken place in a real baseball game - but was all too possible in the Sporting Clube de Shanti Kunj:  Fresh Ferns beat Oldie Oaks by 50 runs to 30!

 And so we add golden memories to the golden evening sun that washes through the oaks around us.  The joy of games on summer evenings.  Vive la sport!

Family Picture

Each year we take a family shot with all the denizens of Shanti Kunj.  Opa has a series of pictures on his wall which show the progression from year to year.  With our pilgrimmages to Shanti Kunj being an annual event - you can watch them 'grow before your eyes'. 

Feast your eyes on this year's version - plus our alternative shot - and tell us which one should be the 'official' one!

Feasting at Shanti Kunj

I write this from the crisp coolness of Mussoorie.  The smell of hot wada and coffee is swirling over to Dad's office where I sit typing this in - telling me that another day of bliss in Shanti Kunj is about to begin.

This is only our third day here but we have already had enough experiences of joy to last for a goodly while.

You barely get through the gate of Shanti Kunj and already the world is a different place.  To start with there are the newest additions to Mum's flowers:










The hugs of Mum and Dad give way to a thanksgiving prayer.  Both the hugs and the blessings of the prayers continue to weave their ways in and out of these days of joy together.  Each annual pilgrimmage to Mussoorie is special - and we are joined this year by our dear friends John and Nalini and their lovely kids Nikita and Jasper.

It's wonderful to experience Mussoorie with the fresh eyes of our closest friends from Mumbai town.

When we moved to the Mumbai suburb of Borivali in 2001 we met John and Nalini and their lovely daughters.  Though we moved on to Thane 11 months later, this family has been woven together with ours over the past decade. What a dream come true to all be together for a few days with Mum and Dad.

And so here are a few shots - mainly of the meals - in the first 2.5 days of our time here to give you a foretaste of heaven (and to remind us when we descend back down to Thane town).

What better way to be welcomed to Shanti Kunj than a lovely breakfast! 

We could barely believe just how quiet everything here is.  The only sounds punctuating the stillness are the rustle of the breeze in the oak trees outside, the contented scrape of another happy eater shoveling scrambled eggs on toast, and the cheery chatter of everyone giving the oohs and aahs of looking out at the mountains.

A lunch of rajma and dal and rice followed at what seemed an impossibly short period afterwards.   The afternoon had us walking around the 'chakkar' to get our feet acclimatized to the hills - and of course an obligatory stop for pakoras at Anil's tea shop in Char Dukhan.

Supper?  Well count on our Oma to make it special.  She has made a time-table to plan for all the meals of our stay with them with Germanic precision - and steeped it all with love.  On this first night - to our delight we were served an amazing meal of lasagne and had it topped off with vanilla ice cream and home-made strawberry preserves.

A night. Sleep that starts to erode at the huge tiredness that hangs on our bones.  And then the bright morning sun of a Mussoorie day.  It's time for breakfast in Shanti Kunj.

And what better way to start the day than with a round of pancakes?  Make that multiple rounds.  Dad manned the electric skillet which has been nursed on its last legs (one broke off long ago) - and which is an inheritance from his missionary parents to us!





 Lunch?  We love Shanti Kunj - but we also love the out-doors.  The acres and acres of mixed oak and conifer forests that cover the hillside beckon us to leave Shanti Kunj and take to the trails outside.  And so we have a bunch of happy hikers tucking into parathas and alu bhaji at Fairy Glen!

By the time we get back, the golden sun is slanting into Shanti Kunj.  Its just the time for a glass of iced-tea for a happy set of weary legs (we are from the plains after all and beauty does not immediately translate into strength).  Its time for a chat on the porch - and for Oma to have a small swing!

And so the happy spiral of love and food and food mixed with love continues.  Each meal an opportunity to thank God for His goodness.  Another celebration of being together after being away for so long.  Another time to ooh and aah at what is set before us.  Or what our eyes see outside the windows.

Mum and Dad's table is a place where many are blessed.  The fare is usually not as eleborate as we are feasting on over these days - we are the recipients of such concentrated love that we are almost breathless - but in each meal the key ingredient served is love.

In years to come - we may forget many a thing - but the feasts that we enjoyed together will linger.

Bon apetit! Prost Mahlzeit!  Dig in!

Prayers of little ones

She came to the meeting with a bandage on her neck.  She was a mother who had come to see her daughter perform.

It was the last day of a 5-day vacation Bible school that JSK had facilitated with the help of many local church volunteers for children and neighbours of the families we see day in and day out in our home-based care work.

Most of the children were from families in which at least one member was known to be HIV positive - or had already passed away from the disease.

When we see the kids we would never imagine the challenges that they live with.  On the surface we had a week of engaging activities with bright, active, rambunctious kids.  Yes some of them were thin.  Yes others were not able to sit still.  But take any group of kids from off the street and you will find that. 

Why do we spend this time with these kids?  Because beyond the outside 'kiddishness' are many areas that need deep love.

In one of the classes the boys were speaking about stealing.  One boy said that the other boys' brother was a thief.  The second boy responded in kind - claiming that the first boy's father had been sent to a lock-up because he was found stealing.

Its sobering to think of how secure my family is. How far from the culture of the police station I am.  But how different it is for so many of the children what we are in touch with.


What a to help set a positive course for some of these kids.  The overarching theme of the week was "Its Your Choice" and we spend a wonderful time helping all of us to understand the consequences of our decisions - and making choices to change too!


In one of the games we played, the kids had one friend blindfolded - and then four others guided them by voice through a set of obstacles.  The results were hilarious - lots of shouting - and plenty of hand-waving too! 'Go here, go there' accompanied by directions for the unseeing friend!

How many of our instructions are the same way.  Statements to do things - when the person does not really see what we can see.

But that hardly means that guidance is impossible.  Despite the confusion the kids managed to navigate their way through.  In each one of our lives we face a multitude of different voices.  Which ones should we listen to?  How to make good and Godly choices?

One of the take-homes of this week was knowing that God cares for us and hears our prayers.  How much He yearns to have us use the free will that He has given us as a precious gift in loving and obedient ways to Him.

Spiderman joined us on our last day too!

Sheba spoke earlier in the week to the daughter of the woman with the bandage. 

The girl told Sheba that the previous week she had seen her father take a knife and attack her mother at 3 am in the morning.  After the assault he had run away and has not been seen since.

And yet the girl came to spend time with us at the VBS.  And her mother came, a sad woman with the bandage on her neck, to see her daugther perform on the last day.

Who are we to help children like this?  Whatever we do seems so pitifully limited when weighed against the vast sum of suffering and sorrow that so many of the kids have gone through.

But we take hope from the words of Scripture which tells us that our God is a God of all comfort: "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."  At the end of the day, it's not us - but Him working through the simple steps we take, the simple opportunities to touch lives and shape futures.
 

And so we press on... not as "boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past".... following some kind of a pipedream of a future...  but rather as people who know that everything we do has value, and that every decision we make can be used by a loving God to help undo the mess around us (and inside us).

The prayers of the little ones touch the heart of a great compassionate and just God. 

We don't have a quick fix for the woman who came to see her daughter.  But we are so glad she came.  And so glad her daughter was with us for these five precious days.  And are so totally convinced that we have hope despite being in some very dark days.

Retreat

Each day brings a new set of challenges.

Some of these are exciting.  Others slip in unknown.  Many are in the league of the slow drip-drip-drip that takes away so much of our joy.  Working with people - many of whome are in such shambles wears you down - dries up the inner you.

As a team, we make sure that we go away each year to some place for a staff retreat.  Last month was our time.   The fact that this post is being written almost a month later tells you a bit about the pace of our lives...

But back to the retreat.  After spending a Friday all together at the Jeevan Sahara Kendra centre (partly so that out-patients coming to the centre could be catered to) - we bundled into a hired school bus and drove out to the Blessed Sacrament Ashram in Vasai.  

The Ashram is a retreat centre tucked away in a coastal village - well off the beaten track.  An hour and a half by bus took us into a different world.

But more than the out-ward change of scenery - the retreat helped us to look inwards - and together in reflection and song and prayer.



What a blessing to have superb teaching from the Bible by our dear friend Phil.  He had flown in especially to spend this weekend with us.  Our hearts were 'strangely warmed' as Phil walked us through 5 sessions looking at God's grace in our lives - and our responses to Him.

The times of teaching were interspersed with small group discussions and times of individual reflection and prayer.   On the first day we charted out our lives so far - and were amazed to share with each other the amazing grace each one of us have received over the years.

It's vital to be thankful - especially when we work day-in-and-day out with people in so much brokenness.

And there were games too!

How to build a tower.  One that actually stands.  Using newspaper and tape.  And competing with other teams.

We saw how quickly we most of us look at others and are spurred into doing things because we don't want to lose - rather than actually working together as a team with a plan.

A lot of laughter went along with these learnings!  Here's to education by games.   Another day we were beside ourselves trying to make 'rockets' out of baloons and string.

An evening 'talent show' had each one of us participate in some way - with plenty of acting on show - perhaps some Bollywood agents were around?  The Eichers put on a 'round' of a song which has become a family favourite: "I will sing unto the Lord for He has done gloriously..."
 

 But more than anything - our time of retreat was meant to be a time of families being together.  Of spending time in a non-pressure environment. Of living out our fellowship together.

The tea-breaks and meals in the Retreat centre dining room, the morning Emmaus prayer walk, the times in the bus singing and talking together.  All of these are worth their weight in gold.

We need each other very much.  In our day to day lives we often seen each other's rough edges.  There is so much to be done in appreciating and celebrating each other.  Its all part of being a family.  At Jeevan Sahara, we are a pretty big one that has been growing over the last few years.  With all the strains and challenges that any large clan has.

Add in the black sands of Arnala Beach - a mere 2 kms away from us and you have a real winner.

Where else can you go on a camel ride

Or bathe in the warm Arabian sea at the end of the day?

If there is a place to get sick - like Enoch did on the last day - what better place when everyone you love is around you! 

Mercifully, his illness was not too long.  A viral fever that started to fade once we got back home to Thane.

The retreat reminded us again how much we need to be constantly renewed.  How much of the time we are living on the capital of the past - times which are now slipping well behind us.  When actually we need to be renewed day by day.

The old hackneyed saying has a powerful truth - a family that prays together, stays together.

How very true for us at Jeevan Sahara.  We do pray, but how much more we need to come before our loving Lord.

Its been a month now since our blessed retreat.  Its not that everything is perfect.  But we know that this time away was worth its weight in gold.

On the last day, after having communion together and thinking about where we are going as a movement, we had one last beautiful experience as a family.

Following the example of our Lord we washed each other's feet.

As we have experienced a number of times in the past - this simple but deep act of love and service
- makes a world of a difference.  There were many moist eyes - and even more thankful hearts. We were blessed.  We are blessed.  All glory and honour to Him who is past change.

------------------------
in addition to the Eichers - a number photos were taken by Suneeta and Phil.  Thanks for letting us use them!

Ten days ago...

... we were on Retreat with our JSK Staff.  Life has been pretty much a haze since then, but here is a pic to tide you over till the posts catch up a bit with life lived out large...