Weekend in Guntur – October 7th – 10th
Raju and Rajan Bhitrakoti came down from Nepal for the Joint Asian Pastoral Conference 2010. Due to the Commonwealth Games taking place in Delhi as well as the Indian holiday season, train travel especially towards Delhi was stuffed to overflowing. It was difficult to find any tickets heading in that direction from Nellore, eventually however we did manage to find two tickets that would return the brothers just in time for an important school related activity Raju needed to get back for. These tickets however were not until two days after the end of the JAPC. This meant that Raju and Rajan had extra time to come with Jyothi Benjamin and myself to the Guntur-Nidubrolu area where I was scheduled to teach at the Bible School the following week and to visit a number of congregations over the weekend.
So the four of us, two Nepali, one Indian, and one American, visited churches, and hung around the Guntur area. The best part was I wasn’t the one complaining about the heat. Kathmandu being high up in the mountains always has mild weather and the intense heat of southern India was difficult for the Nepali natives though they bore it well and had a good time nevertheless. The real intense summer heat has long since passed in India, but it is sometimes difficult here to tell the difference between summer and non-summer. Generally it has been pleasant enough in the shade but that sun is something else, you certainly learn quickly not to forget your hat. I am always reminded of a phrase from a novel, I believe it was a Ken Follet, and here a paraphrase, “He worked with his shirt off showing a contempt for the sun only possible of one raised in the city.” One day after Raju and Rajan had returned to Nepal, Jyothi as normal wished to get a group picture of myself and all the students from the Bible School. He took us to the roof where we sat directly in the sun. Again it was a pleasant day assuming you had even a mild amount of shade but to sit under the direct attack of that heavenly fire even for the few minutes it took to take a picture was torture. Being in India in general has certainly taught me a deeper appreciation for the psalmist “the sun shall not strike you by day.”
None of this however stopped us from enjoying our time together and getting out to see at least a few sites around the Guntur area. Saturday morning we visited some old Buddhist caves. Rajan and I climbed up on top of the hill the caves were dug out of and got a rather splendid view of Vijayawada and the surrounding country side. Some of these picture will be posted here. Following this little adventure we cooled off at a brand new water/theme park still slightly under construction. Apparently I was the only one not only of our party but in the whole park that thought sitting in a tube slowly drifting down the lazy river sounded like an excellent idea, the river was deserted. However, I did represent America well on the bull fight. The goal was to stay on for three minutes, which I missed by a single second. I did not know I was this close when I did finally fall off. The man in charge was very impressed and said he had never seen anyone last more than a minute.
That evening we had another church service. The congregation was as always very happy to see us. Raju and Rajan spoke a little in welcome and greeting. Then we left the Nepali brothers alone on a strange train platform at 11:00pm and Jyothi and I went back to the hotel to sleep. Apparently they handle the situation well because they have since written me confirming their arrival in Kathamandu.
