At breakfast, Jomon was telling us about the bananas they
were serving and how they were boiled or something and they had enough protein
that you could go the whole day without eating anything else. And he was trying
to explain the hills in Kerala had houses on them. He pointed up to indicate
the hill and said “Ulta” and then pointed down and said “Seedha” and then said
that his house was at the top of a hill and that maybe we could visit when we
reached Chanagacherry.
“Ulta?” I asked. He said, “Huh? What ulta?”
On the way to Thiruvalla we stopped at a church where we
were fortunate to meet His Excellency Joshua Mar Ignatios, Bishop of Mavelikara
and he spend some time with his and take his blessings for our journey. He also
quoted a whole bunch of well known leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother
Teresa and all. But what struck me was that each thing he said was fitting our
message, our journey and out spirit completely. So many times you hear people
say stuff that they ‘remember’ but it isn’t necessarily apt. “To help the
least, the lost and the last – Mother Teresa” Really yaar.. Wow.. Just so
profound.. How come soooo few people think like this now days?
There was this one time when Jomon was speaking in Malayalam, in full flow and Ravi
was nodding along as if he “understood’ every word. It was so funny to watch!
It sounded like “Winsdofughognarggh CBCI Youth Commission
agjbaigjafjzldkfjvhaugharug K2K Jago Yuva Bharat
areiufnbsagfiuinalsjfnbsaidupui Kerala gfrjanfgioarghoandgkj Youth jdsvnfauigfn
Peace & Harmony nfdspfuan Development cndsjifaiudjfnvajkfnpfjgbsnljg
vajfngiapg najfnpgjanf najngfpuagfp afgn gvadfsigj India gfnapigunong Bishop
asgnpoiagn vnfdogng ansdfgaosp Father Alwyn fhausdpfuiog napsidugh asngpuhgap
apushgpga.”
And Ravi was like, ya man. Absolutely.
When we reached Thiruvalla we visited this Church which
was CIRCULAR! It was so peculiar, but so awesome and interesting and beautiful
at the same time.. Found out later that they had incorporated the architecture
of many other religious places of worship like temples, mosques, gurudwaras and
even influences of Chinese and Japanese religious architectural symbols. And inside it was soooooo beautiful and the energy was sooooo peaceful..
Just check out the pictures..
In the evening we had a program at Changanacherry
Archbishop’s House with some spectacular dance performances by our girls and some
local youth showing us some of their traditional mind blowing stuff.. Shucks..
The balance and energy they have.. And even with fire and stuff. And how they
sing and speak in Malayalam that fast is beyond understanding. I cant figure
out one syllable before it’s already the next sentence. At least I think it is...
Our very own Jomon was the star of the evening, being
honoured by his own people for becoming the Asian President of FIMCAP. It was a
very proud moment for all of us as well..
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