Jim and Karen Dosdall

The New Pathway

2009-11-20T21:42:00.004+05:30

Monday 9 November 2009 was the inauguration ceremony for two new buildings at Pathway Agro-farm, which have been under construction the last two years.

One is a dormitory and the other classrooms for rehabilitation of physically and mentally handicapped children. The concept is to enrich the experience of both groups by combining them in a single facility. (See http://www.pathway-india.com/ for more of the story.)

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Guests included the mayor of Chennai and several state officials who came with proper retinue of police and were welcomed with traditional "fife and drum", or shehnai and mridangam.

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We chatted with Becky Douglas, the Mormon mom from Atlanta who founded the nearby Rising Star Outreach for children of lepers.

(Their story is dramatically told at www.RisingStarOutreach.com )

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Though it is monsoon season, the weather held beautifully through the day. Just in case, a large tent had been prepared to protect the ceremony.

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The program began with traditional dances from eight states in India, which students had practiced for weeks.

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Beside state and local political leaders, speakers included a remarkable assemblage for a remote farm in rural India.
Judge William Sheffield, in search of meaning in his life, resigned the California Superior Court bench to enroll in Yale Divinity School. While in his studies, he discovered the Church of Jesus Christ has truly been restored in modern times.
Years later, while working as general counsel for the church in Asia, he was led to discover Pathway, which he proceeded to bring to the attention of President Hinckley and a number of other well-connected friends who have provided funding.

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Bill Benac is a financial turn-around expert who has headed multiple multi-national mega-corporations, including EDS when it was spinning out from GM.

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Gary Sabin, a multi-billion-dollar real estate developer from southern California, started the Sabin Children's Foundation to sponsor research on Cystic Fibrosis, since all of his children are affected by it. The foundation has since branched out to do projects of service to children in many places in the world.

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A part of the duties of Presiding Bishop H. David Burton is responsibility for all the properties of the church worldwide.

He and his wife toured classrooms and met children.

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Our warm fuzzy as Latter-day Saints Charities volunteers is to know we have some part in this substantial effort to help a bunch of children in India to become useful citizens and Saints.

Happy Divali

2009-10-24T23:27:00.004+05:30

Divali, the Festival of Lights, is the biggest celebration of the year in India. It is the time for giving gifts (shops are all crowded for weeks before), getting new clothing, and being with family (train tickets are sold out and multiply in price). It is celebrated with "crackers" which is generic for any kind of fireworks. Last year when we were in the city for the celebration, there must have been crores (= 100 lakh, 1 lakh = 100,000) of firecrackers fired. At Pathway this year the celebration was less extravagant, but they all had new "dress" (= any kind of clothing) and the camera caught their excitement with their "Festival of Lights".

DAVID KIM DOSDALL 4 Jan 1969 - 31 Aug 2009

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(Our son David joined the family in 1983 at age 14, along with his brother and two sisters, after the death of both their parents. A premonition of his own early death has for years inhibited his desires to marry and have children, not wanting to leave them orphans. In retrospect, perhaps he was better connected spiritually than the rest of us. This fear was reinforced when he had his first heart attack on his 37th birthday. The next three years brought three more episodes, the last of which he did not survive.)

David, our bright, tender son whose heart was broken. . . We have enjoyed the spark and humor you have brought to our lives. We have appreciated your easy talent for making friends, of being able to talk to people in every situation and of every age. We have watched your ready smile and heard the enthusiasm in your voice as you have been a good and favorite friend to the children and a buddy to your peers. We have seen you meet and conquer physical challenges – fast motorcycle rides & car races, a dump into the chilly Detroit River with your sister during a sail in a small Styrofoam boat, flying down mountains on a snowboard, agilely climbing scaffolding and roofs to do daunting jobs.
We have seen you meet larger challenges of depression and discouragement, despite losses & disappointments which have befallen you. We have seen strength, a willingness to do good and to be good, and to keep on keeping on. You have gone to work, trying to stay busy and to maintain yourself and your feelings of self-worth, even though your heart was faltering and your energy waning. You faced your uncertain future with courage, struggling to live each day to the best of your ability.
We have wished and prayed for you to have peace and a greater level of understanding. We have hoped you could know and feel that you are a beloved son of God, that life is only a step in your journey, that death is only a door leading to greater knowledge and to greater happiness. That door has opened to you earlier than we anticipated, and now you, our dear and unique son, have gone ahead of us.
We trust that your spirit is in the tender care of our Heavenly Father, with new light opened to your view, that you are experiencing a reunion with your birth parents, family and friends who rejoice to see you again. We hope you can also feel the love of those you have left behind here on earth, who await a time of joyous reunion with you on the other side of the veil.
With assurance in the love of our Father in Heaven and the mercy of Jesus Christ, we bid you a tearful goodbye – God be with you. Continue your work and your learning until we meet again.
We love you, our dear son David.

The Light of the Gospel in South India

2009-08-13T11:53:00.002+05:30

Welcome to Pastor John's church. (continued from 18May09) Since he has been preaching from the Book of Mormon for some months now, he asked us to bring copies for his people, and called a special meeting. Being near sunset and the chapel door facing west resulted in this sriking and symbolic photo. However, since the sun had not yet set, most of his people were still working in their fields. As a few sang enthusiastically, more gathered.

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The denomination that built this church 12 years ago 2 km. from John's house could not find pastors willing to come to this rural slum area. In response to the congregation's request, John put the other two churches he founded in the hands of assistants and has been ministering here over five years.

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He asked us to speak to his people about the coming of the Book of Mormon (while he translated) and then to give each of them a copy.

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With this smiling, toothless little old lady in the red sari, the emotion of the event hit me when I placed a book in her eagerly outstreched hands- which were missing several fingers.

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I don't know how many of them will be able to read it, even in Tamil, but they are sure proud to have it.

(to be continued)

Conference in Coimbatore, ogling in Ooty.

2009-08-07T22:38:00.004+05:30

With another missionary couple and 12 young Elders, we travelled 8 hours by train to Coimbatore for a missionary zone conference.

The trains here are electric, quiet, cheap to ride, and this one was air conditioned, clean, and quite comfortable.

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For the benefit of our family and friends who live near Salem UT, Salem OR, or Salem MA, we passed through Salem, Tamil Nadu which you see named here in Tamil, Hindi, and English.

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We spent Tuesday in the lovely Coimbatore chapel, learning from our insightful mission president and his wife, and from some very dedicated young men.

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Having better things to think about all day, the only time we thought to snap a picture of the group was over the lunch pizza.

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The Chennai zone is capably led by Elder Manohar from Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh. In the course of his travels he has had to learn Telegu, Kanada, Tamil, Sinhala and in school Hindi and English. He has siezed opportunities for exposure to French and Spanish but doesn't claim competency in those. The embodiment of missionary enthusiasm, he has had to resist his mother tugging him to come home and be with the family. He would like after his mission to go to BYU-Hawaii and then get his MBA in the states.

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After the conference we took a holiday to see a different India. Just west of Coimbatore (like west of Denver) the mountains rise abruptly into the Western Ghats, which separate the state of Tamil Nadu from Kerala. Nestled in the tops of the Nilgiris Hills lie several "hill stations" to which the British resorted to escape the summer heat.

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With the same missionaries in less formal circumstances, we hired an 18 passenger bus to carry us up the face of the mountain on an adequate road with dozens of switchbacks where the busses honked politely before (literally) taking their turns.

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The tall, straight pines of the mountain forest would lead you to think you were in the Pacific Northwest, except for the local fauna.

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At the summit of Doddabetta, elevation 8600 feet (not Himalayan, but a respectable height), it never freezes or snows, but never gets much over 70F either; a refreshing change from the heat and filthiness of Chennai. Here they actually care about litter and provide "dust bins" (which is the generic name for any kind of trash container from wastebasket to trash can to dumpster) which are both rare and ignored in the city.

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The view from the mountaintops is of forest interspersed with cultivated terraces. It is interesting to see that even in this most densely populated country there is still good land sparsely settled.

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Vegetables grow well here, but by far the largest crop on the neatly terraced hillsides is tea, which grows on convenient waist-high bushes and is harvested by hand. Entire plantations of it mingle with forest and village.

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In the distance 8 km. from the summit of Doddabetta lies the tourist "hill station" of Udhagamandalam, or Ooty as it is more commonly called.

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One kid (Elder Schmidt) samples the local veggies, and another kid gets the leftovers.

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We wandered leisurely in the botanical gardens in Ooty, where the orderliness of the Pax Britiannia is still apparent.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

2009-08-02T20:29:00.003+05:30

1 August 2009: Groundbreaking for the first LDS chapel in Chennai. Led by Chennai First Branch President Sunderajan, speakers included "pioneers" who joined the church in the 1980's when all Asia was administered by the Singapore mission, and there was one missionary couple in Madras (now Chennai) who held meetings in their apartment.

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They told a remarkable story of the acquisitiionof the land in 1998 when Sathidas Powell was branch president. The parcel had been inherited by an old man, and then had been in litigation for 22 years, by which time the heir was in his 80's. He immediately put it under contract with a large real estate development company who would put shops and apartments on it. They tore down the structures and cleared the land, then fell on some hard times and had to sell some assets to meet their cash flow needs. This is when the church was looking, and they grabbed it. It is located on a major street, easy to find, with a bus stop in front. Next door is a Catholic church built on a hill where the Apostle Thomas allegedly lived for several years after converting the local king (and before being killed by an irate brahmin on a hill about 3 km away). Across the street is the largest Assembly of God church in this city of seven million. With the development in the last decade you don't find parcels this large anymore, unless the price is astronomical.

Then there was the long process of approvals from zoning, building, city, police, fire, etc. officials, all looking for a little grease money which the church refused to give. One of the holdouts was the police chief, who happened to rent an apartment which he owned to a missionary couple who became his friends. He gained an appreciation for what the church is about, and approval was forthcoming.

Now construction is ready to begin, the lot is empty with no squatters on it (which is rare here, and unpleasant to deal with), and even the vendors who lined the sidewalk a couple years ago have gone elsewhere.

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David Chelladurai was part of the team that translated the Book of Mormon into Tamil in the late 1990's. He told me that his father-in-law was having a hard time with the King James English of the Book of Mormon. After the work of translation was finished, it took the church five years to publish it. When he received his first copy (autographed by the Quorum of the Twelve) he thought of his father-in-law who had died waiting for it.

Even today, the Book of Mormon is available in only three of the 20+ Indian languages: Hindi, the official "national" language spoken in the north, Telegu (there are four branches of the church in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh), and Tamil ( 6 of the present 28 branches in India are in Tamil Nadu).

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Dr. ADSN Prasad, founder of Pathway, joined the church in 1992. Our main assignment is to help him raise 200 of his kids to be community and church leaders in a few years.

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Rosalin Berrymore has for years taken the bus on Saturdays over two hours each way from Chennai to Pathway ostensibly to teach music to the kids. She really teaches scripture stories wrapped in Primary songs and hymns. Without the church providing a Primary, she has single-handedly (with the help of recruits among the older children) laid the base for all we are doing in Seminary and Mutual.

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Paul Vijayakumar joined in 1986 and served a mission in India. He accompanies us as translator on our forays into Tamil territory. In 1999 he and his wife started the Seventh Star Home for Destitute Children. We would sure like to find some combination of American donors who could reliably provide him about $1000 a month to take care of the 34 children they have taken into their home in addition to their own two.

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There was much rejoicing and many participated with the cermonial shovel. There was some concern that we might get the cloudburst that we had seen each of the last five evenings, but it was courteous enough to wait until an hour after we had finished and most everyone had time to get home.

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We had been assigned to get refreshments for 75 for after the ceremonies. When they ratcheted up the estimate to 100, we bought for 120. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 5pm, but "This is India". When it started at 5:30, all 75 chairs were full, and here halfway through I counted about 50 standing. By the time for food, someone had counted 200.

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Early in 2010 ther will be this large, beautiful building, with parking on ground level, chapel on the "first" (i.e. above ground) floor, and classrooms on the "second" floor.

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I watched the stream of onlookers on the sidewalk who stopped and asked the security gaurd what was happening here.

What a tool this building and location will be for the Restored Church of Jesus Christ in south India!

I think St. Thomas would be pleased.

Graduation Day

2009-07-28T16:33:00.003+05:30

On Sunday 26 April 2009 the Seminary classes from Pathway and the two Chennai Branches gathered at the First Branch meetinghouse for graduation ceremonies. The Country Directors for the Church Education System came from Bangalore (our good friends, Elder & Sister Asplund, retired schoolteachers from Utah, on the right of the picture) and also Patrick Cheuk (center), Asia Director stationed in Hong Kong, and Brad Howell (left), Asia administrator from church headquarters in Salt Lake City were in town.

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Of the 28 baptized church members at Pathway, 34 regularly attended early morning Seminary last year. The other 6 are faithful but have chosen to respect the opinions of whatever family they have and await their blessings upon their baptism, showing how the teachings of the gospel have been a positive influence in their lives. Some have done so and brought many of their relatives into the church with them.

Why do relatives oppose? One was born a brahmin, and though the family is in destitute poverty, they are still in a revered caste. Most Christian converts come from the lower castes, so it would be a social step downward. Another's mother is a Pentacostal Christian who tells her daughter, "Your church doesn't have a band. They don't serve you dinner after church. Why do you want to go there?" Most Indians are superstitious idolaters who fear what mischief may befall them if they do not appease the traditional gods.

(Since I am late telling this story, the school year has rolled over and we now have 50 enrolled in Seminary, with average attendance about 46. In India, standardized exams at the end of 10th grade separate students into college or vocational tracks, and at present Pathway has classes only through 10th grade. Though Seminary worldwide is for 9-12 grade, we have permission to teach 7-10 so they can have the full 4 year program before they leave here.)

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The next morning Brothers Howell and Cheuk visited the Pathway Garden of Eden, toured the campus with the founder/director, Dr. Prasad (who modestly assures us that when he was younger he looked like Elvis Presley), and heard the amazing story of how Pathway came to be (which I promise to blog one day).

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They spoke to our Seminary group and experienced the open warmth and love of the kids. As they were leaving I heard one say something about feeling like he was standing on holy ground, and the other that he needed to go back to his hotel room and bawl for about an hour.

It gets pretty intense sometimes.

Have you ever heard of Gingee?

2009-05-20T17:31:00.001+05:30

On the coastal plains in random locations rise granite hills. On a group of such hills about 30 miles inland from the French colonial port of Pondicherry is the Gingee fortress. Krishnagiri, about 400 feet high, was allegedly first fortified in about 800 A.D.

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Eventually, three fortified hills were connected by walls enclosing an area up to three miles wide.

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This view from the top of Krishnagiri better shows the 20’ wide wall and its 80’ moat (left of the wall, now with grass instead of water).

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With the transformation from fortress to tourist site over a century ago, easy(?) access has been provided by a stone stairway.

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Atop the hill are fortifications, palaces, and storage facilities for grain, oil, and water to supply the complex for years.

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Some show the early Indian cut granite pillar-and-lintel construction overlaid with later brick and mortar with Arabic style cues.

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Most impressive is the 800’ monolith of Rajagiri with its extensive refuge citadel on top. Inasmuch as the temperature 105 F, we saved that climb for a cooler day. More on that later, maybe.

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In the walled valley below was a sprawling complex dominated by a plaza in which the king could address thousands. Here our group on the throne platform looks to the colonnade at the back.

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Here is a perpendicular view across the plaza.

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A stone spiral staircase ascends from near the throne platform to a temple complex above the wall on the left.

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Behind the colonnade rises the 8 story Kalyana Mahal, or marriage hall. It seems that extravagant weddings go back a long time.

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The complex includes a large and deep pond for storing monsoon rainwater, surrounded on all four sides with steps and bathhouses.

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Part of the grounds is kept as a watered garden where we and our group could rest in the shade of a dozen massive banyans.

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Near the fort is a temple, said to be much older.

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Entry is through this elaborately carved gate

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Across the courtyard from the gate is the “temple of a thousand pillars”

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(If you don’t believe me, count them.)

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which goes on forever, covering acres.

When the French captured the area in 1760, they plundered and pillaged some pillars for their own monunents in Pondicherry.

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Twenty foot high columns cut as single pieces of granite support granite lintels which support two-foot-wide by eight inch thick slabs of granite laid across as a roof. All this has been standing there for centuries. Note the detail in the column capitals and in the ceiling.

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All the stone is native. Here is a boulder which was successfully split but for some reason abandoned.

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The stonework is beyond my comprehension: the size of the single pieces, the precision of the cutting, the zillions of man-hours it must have taken. Walls are laid up without mortar (except that added later in clumsy repairs by Europeans) with fit that would make an Inca proud. Here are the eaves of the bathhouse surrounding the reservoir. One stone has broken, allowing a cross-sectional view. A root about 6” thick extends to the right over the lintel, with this complicated curved cross section of about 4” maximum thickness cantilevered outward. How do you cut that without breaking 90% of them in the process? As you see in the background, most of them are still there after centuries.

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We monkeyed around the temple site for a while. No, the monkey is not carved in stone, and he was close enough to plop that banana on my head if he wanted to.

Meet John

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John lives in the rural village where he was born, about 70 km. south of Chennai. He was raised Hindu and became a priest. He was also bright, learned English, left the village, and had a good job in a bank in Chennai when he was bothered for a year or so with an incapacitating illness. Someone suggested it might be tuberculosis, but a TB specialist put him through extensive tests and could not tell him what the sickness was, only that it was not TB. He went from specialist to specialist with the same result. Desparate for help, he stumbled across a Christian magazine which talked about faith healing. He wrote the editor a letter describing his plight, who replied that if he had faith in Jesus Christ he could be healed. Within three days his symptoms disappeared and did not return.This got his attention, and he decided he had to learn something about this Jesus Christ. He got a picture of Jesus, placed it in the Hindu shrine in his house, and started praying to the picture. As he went from church to church, each told him a different story. He did not give up. Eventually he enrolled in a theological seminary and for two years studied for the ministry. He felt called to return to his native village and bring Christ, which about 20% accepted. He found he could not affiliate with any of the local denominations (some of the main ones here are Church of Southern India (CSI), Church of Northern India (CNI), Roman Catholic (RC), Assembly of God (AG), Seventh Day Adventist (SDA)) because none of them taught what he believed the Bible taught, so he called his church The Church of Jesus Christ. Non-affiliation presents some hardships, as there is no source for teaching aids, manuals, or handbooks. He had to rely on the Bible alone.

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The word spread to nearby villages, and he now ministers to three congregations, and to provide for his wife and four children, works as a security guard at nearby Rising Star Outreach, a school for children from the leper colonies. (See http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/ for another mind-boggling story.)

When one of the Latter-day Saint volunteers at RSO told John about the modern restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, he eagerly began to read. A third of the way through, things got busy and he put the book down for a couple of days. He was awakened in the night by a voice telling him, "Read the book of Alma". He looked in the Book of Mormon for the book of Alma, and found answers to many questions that had long troubled him.

After finishing the Book of Mormon he took up the Gospel Principles Sunday School manual and found out for himself the benefit of having modern living Apostles and Prophets. He excitedly pointed out to us Elder Boyd K. Packer's parable of the Unwise Debtor and exclaimed, "Now I can explain the doctrine of the Atonement in a way that people can understand it!" He is now using the Gospel Principles manual to teach in his church, and we are supplying him copies of the Book of Mormon in Tamil, though most of the villagers are not literate in either English or Tamil.

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On the day of this photo, his sister (seated on his right, in red) who lives in Chennai, had been out in the countryside on business and on her way thought to drop in on her brother while we were there. Within an hour's discussion she told her brother, "God delayed my return to the city so I could hear this. You need to be teaching us every week out of this Book of Mormon."

(to be continued)

Welcome to Sri Lanka

2009-03-07T21:48:00.003+05:30

We had the opportunity to meet with the rest of the dozen Latter-day Saint senior missionary couples scattered across southern India for a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We heard amazing stories (like that of Anton and Ann Kumarasamy, pictured here) of the sacrifices made by Indians of Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian backgrounds who, upon understanding God’s plan for our happiness through living by his instructions to become more godly people here and to inherit his lifestyle in the hereafter, requested baptism at the cost of rejection by family and friends, and how many of them persevered long enough to bring that understanding to their families as well.

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While there we got to see a bit of the country and its 3000 year history, during which it has been known as Serendip, Ceylon, or Sri Lanka (literally, Honorable Green place, in Sinhalese).

Here at a monument to the nation's history we each deal with the locals in our own way.

This dragon looks so much like a Mayan Quetzalcoatl, but on closer examination it is really a general-purpose monster. It has a serpentine tongue, reptilian eyes, crocodilian fangs, tiger claws on its feet, and an elephant trunk curled up on top of its snout just for good measure.

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Though it claims to be the site of Hindu classic battles of the gods 5000 years ago as recorded in the Ramayana, the country is now 80% Buddhist, and proud to be the homeland of Theravada Buddhism. The Buddha himself is said to have visited here three times in his life. Everywhere there are images of Buddha, magnificent temples, and stupas (shrines) purported to contain some sacred relic.

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The capital city of Colombo is modern and clean. Our group stayed at the Hilton, next to the twin towers of the World Trade Center which houses the Colombo Stock Exchange along with other financial institutions. From our window we could see the docks in the harbor, the Parliament building, and many other government sites.

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The surroundings are luxurious, and in this ruined economy only cost twice what I would be willing to pay, not the four to ten times that could be expected anywhere else. From the twelfth floor where we stayed we could look down on the gardens at ground level, surrounded by the six in-house restaurants in which we dined.

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At the street level there were numerous shops catering to tourists. Here Sister Dosdall is being hustled by some helpful vendors who pulled a dress over her head to show her how well it fit her.

The other conspicuous presence on the street was military. 12% of the population is Hindu Tamil, who after centuries of oppression by the Sinhalese majority, formed under the leadership of a non-Tamil named Prabagharin, the LTTE or Tamil Tigers which has waged a terrorist civil war for 25 years. In this downtown area the security was intense. On every corner were sandbag emplacements with armed soldiers. Walking to their stations the automatic weapons were on their shoulders. In place, they were in hand and at ready. We were forewarned not to photograph them.

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This link takes you to Sri Lankan defense forces images of the light plane coming in low past the World Trade Center and past our hotel window en route to its target, just before the barrage of anti-aircraft fire that induced me to open the curtain and see what the fireworks were about.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Exclusive-Footage-of-attack-on-LTTE-plane/videoshow/4169235.cms

Dateline: 21 Feb. 2009, Colombo Sri Lanka, by war correspondent Elder Dosdall

2009-03-07T20:47:00.001+05:30

After two days of remarkable uplift in the Bangalore Mission Senior Couples Conference in which we heard marvelous stories of courage and devotion and were instructed in strategies for establishing the church in India and Sri Lanka, we were sitting in the lobby of the Colombo Hilton chatting with fellow missionaries about 9:30pm when the lights went off. This is normal in India though it had not happened yet this week in Sri Lanka. Within a few minutes the hotel was up again on backup generators, though security personnel were still scurrying about with some urgency. During the break in the conversation we decided it was time to retire to our room on the twelfth floor, where we settled down to read for a while. When we heard what sounded like firecrackers outside (though we were unaware of any local festival in progress) I went to the window where it was immediately apparent that the materiel in the sky going over the hotel was anti-aircraft tracers and the searchlights were frantically looking for something. We ducked behind the bed and Sister Dosdall suggested it might be a good time to pray. The thud of an explosion was our cue to retreat to the central hallway away from windows. There soon came an announcement to turn off lights in our room and proceed to the basement, which everyone did in an orderly fashion. When we took census of our missionary group, there was some concern over three couples: Elder Wood had been sick in his room with the flu and had not even been able to attend the conference meetings (though he is a retired Secret Service agent who could likely assess the gravity of the situation). Elder Mills, of the one missionary couple stationed in Sri Lanka, had gone to get Elder Wood some medication and was out on the street. Elder and Sister McKinney, a seventy-year-old couple stationed with us in Chennai, soon appeared dripping wet in their swimsuits. They had been outside in the pool when it all broke loose. During the next hour while we waited in the basement, the hotel staff kept us informed as they received news. Apparently the defense system (conspicuously present on the street in this neighborhood of government buildings, business centers, and port, with armed soldiers in sandbag emplacements on every corner) had detected the approach of three light planes flying low beneath the radar and had blacked out the city. The anti-aircraft barrage had taken down two planes, one which has dropped a bomb at a government building two blocks from the hotel, and a second plane at the airport. Though the news reports the past week were all about government troops finally mopping up the last LTTE (Tamil Tiger) strongholds on the Jaffna Peninsula at the opposite end of the island, this apparently was not the whole story. Today's (Sri Lankan govt.) newspaper report does not mention a third plane. After it was all over, we got a good night's sleep. The airport was back to normal today and this last paragraph is written in the peaceful sanctuary of our Chennai apartment after a comfortable flight home, on which we (equally unexpectedly) got bumped up to first class.

On the gentler side...

2009-03-07T20:42:00.002+05:30

There is an effort to preserve the environmentally threatened elephants. In the forested central highlands the government has established a refuge for injured or orphaned elephants who would likely not survive in the wild. Here they live out their lives, have offspring, and hobnob with tourists.

2009-03-07T20:37:00.001+05:30

This lame one is here because he lost his right front foot to a land mine. Another immense 70 year old tusker had both eyes shot out by poachers.

2009-03-07T20:19:00.003+05:30

Meet 85 elephants on a hot day on their way to a cool river.

(I have a video of 85 elephants coming at you, but after wasting hours unsuccessfully trying to get it to load, I will just say, "Sorry, an elephant stepped on my blog.")

2009-03-01T20:34:00.000+05:30

There they hang out, or just lie around.

2009-03-01T20:27:00.003+05:30

The kids like to hang out together, and express their affection.

2009-03-01T20:24:00.002+05:30

Family pose: Bull in the center, baby in front, with hangers-on (cows and young) around.

2009-03-01T20:22:00.000+05:30

How would you like the job of giving this baby a bath?

Hi-yo Jumbo!

2009-03-01T20:13:00.004+05:30

Near the preserve was a tourist spot where for $10 we could take one out for a spin through the palm and banana groves, and even to the car (or passenger) wash.

2009-03-01T20:07:00.001+05:30

This young couple is getting drenched.

Republic Day at Pathway

2009-01-31T00:40:00.002+05:30

Though independence from Great Britain in 1947 is celebrated on August 15, the anniversary of the adoption of the constitution (patterned after American, Canadian, Australian, and British models) on January 26, 1950 is celebrated as a national holiday, and at Pathway with a three hour program of marching, speeches, songs, and dramatization.

Flag Ceremony. For the benefit of the Boy Scouts of America in our audience, here the flag is lifted furled with a release knot. When it reaches the top of the pole, a pull on the other rope releases it and a load of flower petals, which you see in a cloud about half way to the ground.

2009-01-31T00:20:00.000+05:30

Children march smartly past the flagpole in the opening ceremony.

2009-01-31T00:19:00.000+05:30

A first-grader in traditional costume greets the director.

2009-01-31T00:16:00.000+05:30

Gandhi addresses his people.

Doing swimmingly.

2009-01-31T00:14:00.000+05:30

Pathway has a very nice swimming pool, which I am sure will be a refuge in the summer, but we had not seen anyone use it yet. Monsoons were followed by winter, and with daytime temperatures only in the low 80’s F., “it is too cold for swimming”.

2009-01-31T00:13:00.000+05:30

A bunch of girls decided to take the plunge, and since swimming suits are unheard of here (people at the beach are fully clothed) they jump in with whatever they have on, including churidar complete with shawl.

2009-01-31T00:09:00.000+05:30

The soaking wet shawls were quickly shed to the rim of the pool while a good time was had by all.

Rising Star Outreach

2009-01-31T00:07:00.001+05:30

We visited Rising Star Outreach, a residence school for children of families affected by leprosy, founded by a Mormon mom from Atlanta (go to risingstaroutreach.org for the amazing story behind it) and staffed by American volunteers. Historically, lepers have been cast out of society and isolated in government colonies in the countryside. The disease can be controlled by modern medication, but it is communicable to those with a genetic predisposition, which of course the children of lepers will have. If the children are taken out of the environment and given a good education, the disease -and the colonies- can be shut down in a generation.

2009-01-31T00:02:00.001+05:30

RSO has a sparkling new facility, though the typical furnishings here are a stylistic throwback to Little House on the Prairie.

2009-01-31T00:01:00.000+05:30

The school serves 120 resident students and 40 day students from a nearby village. The management takes great pride in this vote of confidence that the villagers would allow their children to mingle at the school with children from the leper colonies.

2009-01-30T23:57:00.001+05:30

As at Pathway, surrounding land is farmed. Here the farm workers are planting chilis which will be used by the kitchen. I am constantly amazed how the women keep looking so fresh and clean while wading in the mud.

We Wish You a Happy Pongal !

2009-01-15T22:39:00.002+05:30

Pongal is the official Tamil New Year (14 January), and is celebrated at the first rice harvest after monsoon, which is also shortly after the winter solstice. In the city, many businesses are closed for three days and large numbers of city dwellers go visit their native places. In the rural villages the celebrations last a week. They begin the day before by burning all the rubbish from the previous year. In the evening, doorways are decorated with these colorful chalk drawings, the equivalent of US Christmas lights, where everybody tries to outdo his neighbor. On the 14th, they cook a sweet mixture of rice, sugar, fruits, and cashews in a new clay pot. When it comes to a boil, they exclaim “Pongal, pongal!” which is the name given to the special treat as well as the day. This treat is offered to the sun god who gives them the harvest (and everybody gets a little too). The next day is their Holy Cow day, and they show appreciation for all cows give them by decorating cows with flower garlands, painting their horns, etc. The next day is filled with rodeo-style games for cowboys, which the government has officially outlawed because of the injuries and deaths (like the bull run in Pampalona, Spain), but some villages threatened domestic violence and the government looks the other way.

2009-01-15T22:38:00.000+05:30

Pathway School had a holiday Wednesday thru Friday, so the kids decorated all the blackboards Tuesday evening.