single-day seminary sojourn

Its not often that I get to visit seminaries. But the visit at the end of August to the Union Biblical Seminary in Pune was special.

Special in part - because it gave Lun and I amazing glimpses of God's grandeur in the lush monsoonal landscape between Thane and Pune.

Looking out of the train window gave us visual treats like this:

I am always glad to see paddy sown - it means golden harvests later when the rich husks of rice are cut and the farmer rejoices in the yield. For a hungry land we need these harvests so much - and when the monsoons are good (like they are this year in our area) it is a cause for joy!

A few minutes later we were climbing the Western Ghats. Lun - one of this year's UBS interns (and who is from Manipur) was buried for some time in the paper catching up to the daily happenings.

Later we had an animated conversation with a retired bank manager who now travels the world and had a goodly stock of opinions (sample: Moses, Abraham and Ibrahim are the founders of the three main religions - but why are the followers fighting with each other?).

Outside the scenery continued to stun:

Check out the monkey on the right side of the frame - neither he nor I knew that he was in the picture when it was clicked.

The monsoons do such magic to the hills. What is dry and brown come alive with greenery and waterfalls.

A sight for sore urban eyes like those in the sockets of yours trully. I just couldn't stop myself from exclaiming at the sheer beauty of it all.


The main purpose for the visit to UBS was to talk in a special Current Concerns chapel in the afternoon about HIV/AIDS in India and what work we are doing at Jeevan Sahara Kendra.

I had had minimum sleep the night before in preparation for the day - but it was all worth it.


We were greeted by the three interns who had been with us last year - John Jeebaseelan, Binson James and Ashis Karthak. What a joy to see these wonderful men again. It really warmed the cockles of my heart to see their enthusiasm and the love that they poured on us to make sure that our time was as comfortable as could be.

We were joined at lunch by Rev. Premanand Bagh - the coordinator of the internship programme. It was also good to meet students who are looking into working with us next year for their 7 months practical training.

The chapel was a great opportunity to meet with the students and staff and share our heart. I talked about the scenario of HIV in our country and what Jeevan Sahara is doing. Lun shared about the experiences of working as an intern at JSK.

The talk was well received with good questions afterwards. The conversations that were started continued over tea (bless the Lord for that wonderful drink). It was heartening to meet pastors in training who really seem interested in having their churches a places where people with HIV are loved and in speaking out to help prevent the further spread of HIV.


Lun and I left the greenery of UBS in particular and Pune in general - to come back to the greyness of Thane - grateful for the opportunity to meet some wonderful people - and challenged to keep going forward!