Celebrations

We love celebrating - and when it's Asha's birthday, then the celebrations start early and continue for a goodly length of time.

This year we had Oma and Opa with us over Christmas and New Year's.  Before they left we celebrated Agnes' birthday on the 4th of January ... 

 ... as well as an advance B-day with Asha and Enoch later that night.

On the big day when Asha turned 13 we had our early morning family celebration, as well as a surprise for her after her normal Thursday evening violin lesson.  Enoch and Sheba were waiting with 13 roses for us at a restaurant that Asha and I 'happened' to walk by (Asha said that she had her suspicions...).

The next day was Friday, and we hosted 2 excited sets of sisters for a sleep-over.   The not-so-secret-Seven of them played Pictionary, read, talked, ate and had a whale of a time.   Sleeping seems to have been low on the priorities with Nikita and Jasper as well as Kirti and Nitya making it quite the night of laughter. 

Enoch joined in for most of it but faded shortly after mid-night.  I was working on the cake and when I finally finished cleaning up it was past 1 AM and the girls were still going strong with gales of laughter.

The next morning was the party - and so the girls reluctantly did some sleeping...  A pancake breakfast got them up and energised to put up balloons and streamers.   The cake was brought out - this year's edition being a treasure chest to illustrate the over theme of each one of us being a precious treasure...

We did something new this year - a 10 AM party on a Saturday morning - and despite what some said, Asha's friends were soon trooping in.

Of course we had to play games...

Finding out your 'real name' using only questions that can be answered 'yes' and 'no' is a good one for different groups to get to know each other!

The animal clapping game was a new one for many in this year's group.

Eating chocolate after you roll a "six" and getting 'dressed up' and only using a knife and a fork... until the next "six" is rolled is an old favorite that Asha specifically wanted (and as a birthday girl actually ended up getting a good many pieces into her mouth!).

In keeping with the theme for this year, however, the 'biggest' game of the day was a treasure hunt - the first time we have done one here...

Thirteen clues had the group wandering far and wide, and exploring parts of the complex that are well off the beaten track.


It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we made sure that every nook and corner of the Lok Upvan Phase 1 society compound was well covered by the 14 youngsters being sent to different parts of the grounds by the clues they discovered.


 ... and finally ending up back in the flat with the 'treasure' being a box of animal chocolates that was hidden on top of the fridge.

We wound off with a time of sharing about just how precious a treasure from God that Asha is to us - and how each one of us is so very valuable - and how vital it is for us to guard the treasure we are. 

On the other hand, on the theme of 'treasure' we also explored how Jesus told a story of the man who found a treasure in a field - and the man was willing so sell everything he owned in order to buy the field.  There are times when we may do things that seem silly - but have real meaning - because we know that they have value far more than what seems so on the surface.


A short break had the girls oohing and aahing over the hamsters (down to only 2 - with Cinnamon and Garlic holding fort since we gave Nutmeg, Ginger and Jeera away to the Andy Bose family).

Sheba had to go over to JSK to see a patient, but on her return she prayed for Asha, we had the traditional song and blowing of candles.

Speaking of treasure, here is one that Asha has been blessed with since we moved to Mumbai 12 years ago - her dear friend Nikita who is only 4 months older to Asha.

This year Nikita brought along a most extra-ordinary card - a massive 3-D object decorated with some of Asha's baby photos and celebratory messages from all of us hanging down and a cutout figure of Asha reaching out for it.

This photo does poor homage to the card that has been put up in a corner of Asha and Enoch's room.

The party itself ended with hot 'wada-pao'  the ubiquitous 'Bombay-burger' which we all love so much.  Our dear Asha David had been with us since morning, cooking up a storm of these savory treats as well as a large vat of fried rice - both of which the Eichers have been feasting on since the party thanks to our large fridge!

Whew!  What a day!

But wait, the celebrations were not over.   Coming in just as the last of our young guests of moving out - a new friend Ekhard Hitzer proved to be another memorable part of Asha's special day...  Ekhard is the nephew of our dear friends Stefan and Maria Winkler.  He is a professor of theoretical physics at the International Christian University in Tokyo, is married to Eriko - a lovely Japanese lady, has two teen-aged boys Isaiah and Joshua and was passing through as he is presenting at a physics conference in Nagpur this week. 

Enoch was thrilled that Uncle Ekhard brought a new lego fire truck for him.  Enoch's Daddy was fascinated by what his son had made...   Look out for a long-overdue 'lego posting' on this blog soon...

And so our celebrations came to an end ... or shall we say a pause.   Enoch's birthday is exactly one month away...

13

My dear Asha

13 years have slipped silver-fish quick

Through our fingers since

You announced your arrival with the quietest

Of cries on a cold Jharkhand morning

Today I see a young woman

Quick-silver mind, voracious book-swallower

Looking back at who I was at your age

I catch-breath awe at your spick-span-neat school-books

Your easy joy in explaining a mathematical concept or

A set of grammatical terms

Especially when you have a pupil or two
As you work the white-board

From whence came such as this?

With bow in hand music flows

Your inner ear attuned

Discipline added

Multiplied in my sight as a miracle

You reading notes off a page and playing them 

First time

Like my eyes seeing pictures 

From small squiggles of black on white

Speak nothing of the deeper grace, the kindness of heart
Still developing, still questing forward

Dear daughter
Dear child of Christ
Drink deep and live full

Thirteen sun-spins are done
We step into the next today
Your mother and your brother and I
(and many others besides)
Are so very glad
For you

Olio rocks Manipur - many a year ago!

Many years ago there was a fellow called Chris Hale - a year ahead of me at Woodstock School - who loved music.  Western Classical. Hindusthani.  Rock.  You name it - he played it!

A number of years after we finished school Chris was back in India after having studied composition at the Berklee School of Music.   He and a number of young men put together a rock band called Olio - and ended up joining college rock competitions - ending up with radio time when one of their tracks Surulurulu was chosen as part of the Great Indian Rock album that an Indian rock magazine ran in those days.

When I started work with the SHALOM project in Manipur in 1996 we had a wild dream to get Olio to Manipur and play for our rock hungry young people.  The dream became a reality and the Olio band drove their band bus all the way from Lucknow and performed at a number of venues in Manipur.  The response was tremendous.  As an HIV prevention and care programme - we were hitting just the people who were our biggest target group - young people who were prone to or already into drugs...

Chris recently took some of the old video footage from 3 of the concerts that Olio played at on that tour and added it to their studio version of Surulurulu.   A noticeably younger, thinner and hairier version of myself shows up in the end of this video wearing a bright yellow Brazil football jersey and giving a talk about reaching out to people with HIV....

Enjoy!  Lets rock and roll!

A beautiful - and real - dream

There are some days that you just want to freeze into a time warp... and slowly unwind them at leisure.  Days that are a daze and a happy haze that you never want to end.  We have just come out of a week of delight where the Delhi Eichers were with us... and so were Mum and Dad as a huge bonus!

It all started - as it should - around a meal.  Mum and Dad had arrived a few days before - and we had celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary.  Then the next day - Christmas Eve - Stefan and Neeru and their pack of 3 - Ashish, Anjali and Anita arrived.

We got out a 'kids table' - just like we had when we were small - and the laughter and conversations began.  Later that night we sang and read about Jesus' birth and the joy He brings us, which was followed by a treasure hunt where the kids unearthed various gifts that we had for each other.

The next day we celebrated at church... and then had another meal - this time with all the folks who had attended the Christmas morning service.

We had plenty to do at home - there were hamsters to play with, puzzles to be done, football to be played downstairs.  What a treat for Asha and Enoch to have their cousins with them.

There are of course chappatis to be made...  

Asha became the heroine of two adoring cousins for a variety of fine reasons.

And there are lots of books... and some comics to be read.  Especially classics like Tintin, Asterix and Lucky Luke.

Plus, when we want the general volume to be a bit lower than it is, there is always the joy of watching a video on ye olde computor...

Since our loved ones had come from so far - and since Thane is not really bursting with family-friendly things to do - we decided to venture further a field.  An over-nighter in Alibaug for all of us!

We started our journey with the early morning State Transport bus taking us towards the Mantralaya.

Crisp, morning air as Mumbai started to groggily get up.  Cruised down and before we knew it were at Flora Fountain.  A quick decision and all 11 of us were out!

Almost immediately we ran into the late M.F. Hussain's iconic horses that he had painted on a wall of a cafe - and which still remain today for the urban art-lover to enjoy - even when everything is still shuttered up...

Our short walk took us past the Kala Ghoda area - with the Jehangir Art gallery tempting us a tiny bit (but being only 8.45 we didn't want to wait till 11 AM to go in)...

Once we got to the Gateway of India, we had to take a good tourist shot:

... and almost before you could say 'Jack Robinson' (or should that be 'Janak Rabinathan') were were on to a ferry plying through the morning murk, surrounded by seagulls.  

Magical.  Out of sight of land.  On the top deck eating (again - this was almost Enid-Blightonian) cheeze-onion-tomato sandwiches and tossing bits of buns to the gulls.

Definitely an experience where the journey itself is well worth the destination.  

And so we burbled across the bay, till the other shore loomed out of the haze and we were alighting at Mandua.  There a bus awaited us and took us to Alibaug - which was a 45 minute ride through rural hinterland - dotted with the play-palaces of the Mumbai elite - and increasingly large smatterings of tourist kitsch.

But in this case, the destination was well worth the journey.  An oasis of quiet.  Hammocks.  And view like this as you gently swing under the coconut and aracea nut palms...

Having your son with you in the hammock is not bad too!  

And add to this place for badminton, swings and a slide, and 3 large male turkeys strutting around doing their 'gobbling thing', a totally relaxed atmosphere is at hand.                             Greenwood Cottages is the name of the place.  At Angaon - another 30 minutes out of Alibaug - but well worth the trip.

With this visit, we saw a whole new person the youngest cousin of the lot - Anita who will be reaching the ripe old age of 2 this month!   

Throw in some ice-cream and we have a winner of a place!

And as delightful as games of badminton and pick up cricket are for the younger generation - as pleasing as eating poha and bread omlettes outside in our green cathedral is for the seniors ... there is something more to Alibag that hanging out at a resort.

We are after all here for the elemental pleasures of running on sand and diving into the murky brine...

Asha must be part mermaid.  She just loved the waves and kept pulling me to go back with her to get some more water time.  Having a jet ski pulling an inflated contraption got a chorus of 'please can I go on that' by our intrepid daughter.  That will have to wait for another day... in the mean-time we enjoyed the water as the sun travelled in its down-ward arc. 

 The sands mixed well - and each receding wave brought tapestries of colour to bear.

What a wonderful world - to be able to be with those we love in a beautiful place.

These were the dying days of 2013.

We look back on these days - and the whole slightly blurry year - with amazement and delight.

Having stepping into the new, we now have so much more to look forward to.

Thank you Stefan and Neeru and kids for the memorable visit.  We are already looking forward to the next time we can link up.  We missed our sister Premila of course - having her would have made the time complete... but a day will come we know.

Thank you Mum and Dad for coming to bless us - despite Mum still being in recovery from her hospitalisation in early December.   We are so grateful for this time.

 And thank you Sheba and Asha and Enoch for your amazing hospitality.

What a wonderful family we are blessed to be in.

May this year unroll more and more of these experiences.

Dreams do become reality!  We have just been through one of these wonderful times!

Bye bye 2013

Another year has just slipped by...


This last month was cut in half - with the first part a busy blur of activity ... and the second part a delicious set of blessings as family descended upon us... and how!

To have Stefan and Neeru and their lovely 3 kids Ashish, Anjali and Anita with us over Christmas was amazing.  And it was heightened by having Mum and Dad with us too!

Here is a shot of all of us at 'Shetty's' - the restaurant that we used to occasionally have a treat at when we lived in Nana Chowk:

In a few hours we will be stepping into 2014.  We are just about to go for our 'watch-night' service with our fellow Yeshu-bakhts where we will share what happened over this year and pray the new year in.

God is good.  May light shine this year!  Onwards!  Upwards!

Mum in Hospital

First post in December!

And its not about AIDS or any of the 'normal' things that we are whirling around like mad-people about during these 2 weeks (patience, friends, the posts will come... I promise)...

Its about Mum.

Just before the 'Redemption Concert' on World AIDS Day I saw a quick email from Dad addressed to Stefan, Premi and myself saying that Mum had been admitted at Landour Community Hospital with a bad case of pneumonia.

That night we talked to Dad and Mum in the hospital.  They were down in Hyderabad to be part of the 50th year celebrations of OM in India - and had soooooooo many old (and new) friends to meet.  Each meal was booked - breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Meetings were attended.  Late nights.  Travel.  Then a wedding attended in Dehra Dun with Mum wearing a sari and just a light shawl on a winter night.

Then 3 days of exhaustion at home with a fearsome cough, before she was brought to the hospital and was admitted for what was diagnosed as a pneumonia.

Big kick in the gut. No way.

When we talked to her on the phone her voice was so croaky - and we knew she was on an IV line for the antibiotics.  We felt so helpless being so far away.  But we prayed and got to word out among your local prayer-warriors.

The next morning she sounded the tiniest shade better.  Then last evening another small step.  This morning a further bit of improvement.

Then just as I was putting off the computer at work after another full day of meetings (John Forbes is in town), I saw an email from Dad with the title "Mum Home Again" - and here is the picture.

Worth a thousand words!  All is well.  The sun is shining. Dad is back to reading the Hindu newspaper.

God answers the prayers of simple saints.

Leaving Ccpur - Shillong whirlwind

Thanks to an assassination, our long-awaited time in Shillong was cut in half.  

We were all set to head over to Shillong on Friday morning - having packed up and said all our good byes in Churachandpur the night before.  After waking up and doing some last minute packing, we heard the first news of possible trouble early in the morning.  A prominent politician from one of the Meitei parties had been killed.  A 24 hour bandh was called to protest this.  5 AM from Friday morning to the next day.  Our local hosts had only found out about this in the morning newspaper.

Then the news came from town was that no vehicles were on the roads.  Phone calls to Imphal and other sources to look into options.  Could we go another way?  Initially that seemed likely - though about twice the distance.  But then seasoned folks said it was not possible - since the aggrieved party had cadres in all the plains areas and would most likely enforce their 'bandh' with violence.   Could we get an escort from the paramilitary forces?  We sent out feelers, including one of the Tusing clan who is an officer in one of them.  Calls to high places revealed that a vehicle was already burning on one of the roads - and the security forces were not interested in 'provoking' the bandh-callers.

combinations and permutations... can we get over to Imphal for the flight?

Finally we had to bite the bullet.  We called up the Jacob in Imphal and asked him to postpone our tickets (at a hefty price of course) and so we spent an extra day in Churachandpur - and cut our already miniscule 2 day visit to Shillong down to a single day...

Saturday dawned pale and lovely.  The only problem was that we were supposed to be in Shillong for the sunrise.  Instead we saw the sun go up over the hills of Churachandpur instead.

No further bandhs and so we after a leisurely breakfast with Dr. Lalzakung Tusing and Auntie, we did the finally stuffing into our bags and then waited in the morning sun for our intrepid driver Robul Pudaite and his sister Pui to pick us up in their jeep.  

A final prayer and we were off!

As we drove past through the plains we saw farmers harvesting and treshing the rice crop.  The villages and small hamlets along the way, which had seemed so fresh and new just a week ago were now rolling back in reverse order as we came closer and closer to Imphal.  

After passing Imphal, we had a bit of scenic tour of the countryside before we found Jacob Tusing's CRPF camp and finally met his family - one of the few of the far-flung Tusings that we had not met till then.   Jacob and Din welcomed us heartily - and their orderlies cooked up a storm of hot fresh chhole bhature - which was just the fortification we needed for our delayed hop over to Guwahati.

Over to Imphal airport which has just become an 'international' one with flights to Myanmar slated to start at the end of November.  There was a shocking smell of urine that pervaded the whole passenger area after security as we waited for our Air India silver bird to drop down from the sky.

When it finally came we walked out to meet it.  Our last steps in Manipur for how long?  Hopefully not another 17 years...

As the golden sun set at the still strange time for us of 4.30 PM, our plane climbed into the deep blue skies that sheltered darkening Manipur and winged us over to Gauhati, the capital of Asom.

Landing in Asom we were met by Mr. Peter Thapa - a genial bear of a man who drives a super taxi to and from his home-town of Shillong.   Peter is also an elder in the Nepali-speaking church he has helped found. We were soon driving through the darkness and traffic of Gauhati and being entertained by Peter's accounts of the Nepali community in Shillong - and sundry information about Shillong and all points around. 

The 130 kms between Gauhati airport and Shillong took us up to the hills into the darkness - and in between what seemed an unending procession of smoke-belching trucks grunting their way up an incline which seemed to be one long construction project.   Peter told us that most of the road was the major artery for road travel to Mizoram and Tripura - and it seemed that most of these states' good were being transported on the night of the 16th of November. 

We finally shook off the trucks when the road forked off to Shillong and drove through the silent streets to our accommodation at the Presbyterian Church of India guesthouse that our dear friend Pyn Shullai and organised for us.  The first place we came to was the New Hope centre - and the puzzled person asked us who we had come to meet.  We soon found out that it was a rehabilitation home for injecting drug users - and while glad that this fine institution was open for folks who need help in conquering addictions, we needed to find our place – thankfully that was quickly done as the real guesthouse was just around the corner.

Our phones did not work in Manipur since they use the CDMA technology, which apparently is not being used in the North East. We thus had to patch things together using borrowed phones.  Dr. Lalzakung was most generous with one of his phones.  Coming to Gauhati, I was sure we would be ‘on line’ again.  Sadly we were not.  On our way up the hill we used Peter/s phone.  Our taxi driver / church elder also became our communications provider.

Thanks to a call on Peter’s phone, we were visited within a few minutes of our arrival in Shillong by Isaac Hmar and Nelson, a friend of his from Tripura.  Isaac is active with the Nepali churches in Shillong and was trained by us in Thane along with his colleague Rajiv.  Among other things, they look after children orphaned and affected by HIV, and each year run a whole month of programmes through which they get people involved in caring for people with HIV.  It was grand to see Isaac and learn that he is now the father of 2 little ones.  Since his was doing an all-day programme the next day, the only day of our bandh-shortened stay in Shillong, he made sure he met us late at night.

The next morning we woke up North East style at 5.30 AM and were determined to get as much out of Shillong as we could in the 24 hours we were there.   The Eichers were out of doors by 6 AM and within 10 minutes found ourselves walking up a beautiful forested path.  Shillong does that to you.  On one hand, the houses are clustered up and down the hills that the city charmingly sprawls over.  On the other hand there seem to be forest and forested area in the city.  And park after park.   Quite the contrast to the grunge and grime that the behemoth of Mumbai is.

The Sun was rising, sending golden rays through the woods.  We stopped frequently as we climbed the hill - and finally found our path end at a neat barbed wire fence.  On the other side an immaculate road and more trees.  Were we crossing into a military or government area?  We decided to wander up the road and see.  Turns out that the road is just a normal road, taking us to another compact neighbourhood and a cemetery on top of the hill.  All along we had seen the pink bursts of cherry blossoms.  Now the church bells started to peal as we walked back down towards our rooms.

We were back to our rooms - but no breakfast.  So I walked out in search of something.  The buildings around us seemed many government offices.  All closed on a Sunday morning.  There did not seem to be the normal tea-shops that I would expect in a city.  Everything cool and quiet - and shut.  Finally, after some leg work in the almost empty streets I found a street vendour.  She had tea and some chappatis and chole as well.  'Red tea' (without milk) as they drink it in Shillong.  She agreed to give me a metal jug full of tea and I hoofed it back with my prizes.

We were now well and trully in Shillong - but needed to meet as many more people in the 24 hours we had.  Our friendly caretaker let us use his mobile phone and we started calling.  In a few minutes our dear friend Pyn Shullai appeared.  Pyn is from Shillong and worked with us at JSK in 2007 for 7 months as an intern during his theological studies.  Though his church was celebrating its 50th anniversary that day, he took time out and drove over to meet us.   Then our friend Arbind Singh showed up, having walked down from the Airforce base he is stationed at on Shillong Peak.  After Pyn left we were blessed with with a visit by Bafin's family who drove all the way for Jowai - 60 kms away to meet us.

Bafin is a dentist who lived with Sheba in the same house when they were both posted at the Champa Christian Hospital in Chhatisgarh in 1999.  Later that year I swooped in and took Sheba as my bride.  Bafin was blessed with a wonderful husband Spyser and three years ago they were blessed with their lovely daughter Shekinah.

The family took us and Arvind out to a lovely restaurant in the middle of the city.  After stuffing ourselves with food and conversation, we continued talking while taking in a Sunday afternoon in Shillong on the Ward's Lake.

To have such a beautiful park in the middle of such a large city, to be able to paddle (make that pedal) your boat in the midst of flowering cherry trees and pines was something like a dream for us.  And all along to have the joy of catching up after 15 years of what God has done in our different lives and families.

Needless to say, a lot has happened.  Bafin, for one, came within a hair's breath of death and actually had a vivid out-of-body experience where she watched the team of surgeons desperately working on her body in the operating theatre.  But God had other plans for her - and now she and her husband Spyser live each day with a purpose - pouring themselves into the lives of others.

After a reluctant fare-well to Bafin and her family, we drove up to the top of Shillong - the famed Shillong Peak where we saw the whole of Shillong sprawled out across the hills as the last pinks of sun-light tickled the clouds and the city below started to wink alight.

This is also the place where our dear friends Arbind and Putul and their son Rishav stay.  Arbind serves in the airforce and over the years we have become super close to this family as they were first posted in Thane and then in another part of Mumbai.  As we worshipped together, we also grew together - and as soon as we started to think of going to the North East - a visit to Arvind and Putul was a must.  Hence even a 24 hour visit to Shillong was worth it.

Arvind is orginally from Ara in Bihar and made a decision to follow Christ while stationed in Gujarat some years ago.  It has been a joy for both of our families to grow together over the years we were in Thane / Mumbai - and what a delight to meet up again.  

And also to meet Arvind and Putul's new family - the small house-fellowship that meets Sunday evenings in their home for worship.  How lovely to worship with Garo speakers and Malayali and Tamilians who meet with Arvind's family each week.  With Hindi as our link language, we joined voices in song and prayer as the cold wind blew in the dark night outside.

Time was so very short - but we milked every minute of it!  Enoch was in gales of laugther as he and his dear friend Rishav joked and played with Asha.   Arvind and I had our heart-to-heart talks as Sheba did with Putul.  Then there was the lovingly prepared meal:

We were treated with sister Putul's famous Litti - a particularly Bihari dish which I once complemented her for and which is now made religiously for me almost every time as a special treat!  It was our last supper on our trip - and we tucked in as we had been doing all along this special time - with our waistlines being a major souvenir of this North East sojourn!

And then as the early morning hours came close, we had to wind down our conversations and catch a few winks before our dear friend Peter the taxi man came to pick us up at 5 AM the next morning.

Putul and Sheba bundled up for the cold!