Another rich and full day. It's amazing how this trip has been going. Each day brings more things to think about, experiences with people and new knowledge and insights. We started out today going on a little tour of Kalimpong, escorted by Dr. Miku Foning, a friend of Enos'. We went to a golf course, an old house built by a Scottish Presbyterian missionary that is now a government-run tourist house and the best part, a Buddhist monastery. The monastery had lots of frescoes on the wall and many prayer wheels all around the building. It had three levels and at each level we could see progressively more of the surrounding countryside.
After the sightseeing we went into Kalimpong town for a little shopping excursion. The streets of the town are really narrow and we went from one street to another by going up stairs in between buildings. There are prayer flags strung all along the street.
Next we went to visit Dr. Enos Das Pradhan at his home, which is quite nice. It is built on the side of the mountain (everything is built on the side of a mountain up here) and has 4 levels, including an attic which I think he's going to use as a playroom for his grandchildren. We had a nice lunch and then we went to Dr. Graham's Homes, a boarding/day school which was originally started for orphaned and abandoned Anglo-Indian children. It's now a public school and Dr. Foning is a graduate (or as they call them here, OGB – Old Girls and Boys). It's so big that it's like a town in and of itself, with a dairy, a bakery, a hospital and a workshop, among other things.
Dr. Pradhan and his house
Next we went to the work site of the Sadhu Sunder Singh school that is Dr. Pradhan's work in progress. This is going to be a vocational school for young people from the surrounding area who might not have a chance otherwise. These may be kids who are school dropouts or kids that have been trafficked or are otherwise disadvantaged. There is a problem in the surrounding area because there are no jobs for young people (or for anyone else for that matter). The kids leave home and go to the cities, where they are often trafficked. When they come back to the Kalimpong area, this school will give them an opportunity to learn a skill and get a job. The project is underway, with some of the footings already being sunk. We had to climb up a steep and rocky path and the fact that it had rained the night before didn't help matters much. When we climbed a little farther up, we got a good view of the mountains and we could see over to Sikkim.
After touring the site, we went to DISHA, which stands for Diocesan Institute for S_____ and Holistic ________, where we met with clergy from the Kalimpong/Darjeeling area. There were about 12 of them, plus Dr. Pradhan, and they welcomed us with traditional welcoming scarves and gave us gifts of local handcrafts. We weren't expecting the gifts, so it was very generous of them. We had a wide-ranging discussion, covering topics from youth to women's place in the church to same-sex marriage. Of course we talked about how we can assist them in the work that they are doing and one idea that came up was twinning congregations. I have experience of this from the Oceanside church and found it to be very rewarding, so I liked that idea.
We talked for about 1-1/2 hrs., then went into the next room where we had dinner. It was an excellent meal (as all of our meals have been) and we continued our conversation with Dr. Pradhan. Then it was back to the hotel for tea and bed.
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