Follow-up visit by our India GSE team leader: Warren Crain

GSE Goes On and On

FOUR YEARS AGO a team of four plus myself began preparing for our Group Study Exchange to Rotary District 3200 in the south Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In February 1999 we spent a marvelous four weeks here; days and often nights filled with rich experiences in the company of our Rotarian hosts. As must be true in every GSE tour many of our hosts pressed invitations upon us to return. Few GSE team members do. As India is my country of residence part of every year, it is relatively easy (only a five-hour bus journey followed by forty hours on the train) for me to be back in District 3200. This is my second return visit to the land of rice paddies and coconut palms coffee, tea and cardamom plantations – a very prosperous part of this rich country. And I am finding, sometimes exhaustingly, GSE goes on and on..

22 December 2002
Kochi, Kerala

SCENES ALONG THE WAY

LAST EVENING ONE more view of the magnificent Buddhist stupas dark against the almost full moon sky as our train highballed through the Sanchi station.
THIS EVENING A quick glimpse of a lighthouse, proof that we are close to the Bay of Bengal on India’s east coast.
A BIT LATER the moon rising orange and then yellow behind wisps of cloud, speeding along. Today is full moon, so the full orb is gloriously with us.
A CHRISTMAS STAR-- tissue paper stretched over a bamboo kite-like frame and lit by a single bulb within – bringing back one of my earliest childhood memories. Our south Indian cook in Rangoon for the Christmas of my seventh year had made just such a star for us.
AND IN THIS crowded train – one of Indian Rail’s longest runs (2791 KM in 54 hours) about 1500 of my fellow citizens and I head south for the holidays, to visit families or friends, perhaps on business. A couple of college sweethearts, though the berths are already narrow, shared a berth. I suspect that, though they said not a word to me about this, they used this as an excuse to practice good Indian hospitality by freeing up a berth for my use. A young soldier, his fatigue shirt proudly emblazoned with the one word “SIACHEN” perhaps returning home from service on one of the world’s highest and coldest battlefields – between Indian-controlled and Pakistan-controlled zones of Kashmir. Most of my fellow passengers are south Indian. This is, after all, “The Kerala Express”, named for the southern state which many say is more beautiful even than Kashmir. And we are going to places with wonderful names – Kochi and Kovalam, Kotayam and Kattappana. Some all the way to Thiruvanantapuram.
LATE IN THE night – The Southern Cross, the most beautiful constellation in the heavens, high in the sky in these tropic latitudes..

20 December 2002
on The Kerala Express

BARBARIAN ROTARIANS

ROTARIAN SHYLAJAN MET me as I stepped down from the train and whisked me to his home where his wife welcomed me with a tall cold glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. I was looking forward to a shower (preferably cold, as I am now back in the tropics), lunch, and an afternoon nap. Knowing my host, though, I was not surprised when he let me know that I had time only for the first two. We needed to be on our way by 1:30. We were going to the forest.
I SOON FOUND myself with a small group from the Cochin Beachside Rotary Club: five Rotarians (myself included), three Rotary Annes and seven Annettes. We drove about six hours from the coastal city of Cochin (Kochi) to a splendid resort in the high ranges of The Western Ghats at an elevation of a bit over 1000 meters.
A ROARING CAMPFIRE was most welcome, as was a cap and a shawl. We roasted the chicken by throwing it into the fire. Everyone seemed to have a different notion of how it should be done, and in the end it did provide a tasty snack. A real dinner of chicken curry, prepared elsewhere, vegetables and chappattis was served a bit later.
THE FOOD WAS good. The whisky excellent. The fellowship superb. This is Rotary at its best. WE sat around the fire singing: Malayalam love songs, Hindi film songs, Christian songs in three languages. I sang “Jingle Bells” and then all I know – just the chorus – of a Hindi film song.
IN THE NIGHT a heavy blanket kept me warm. Here in the tropics..

21 December 2002
in the high ranges of Kerala

CHRISTMAS DAY

I’VE NOT SEEN Rudolph, but I have seen several Santa Clauses and hundreds, nay thousands, of Christmas stars. Five pointed, seven, many pointed, most about one meter across though many much larger. Heavy paper stars illuminated from within. The majority group in this part of Kerala is Christian. The reason I have come to Kerala now is to celebrate Christmas with Christian friends. People I first met in GSE four years ago.
I CAME BY bus to Thodapuzha (don’t fret, I as a north Indian Hindi speaker cannot pronounce it properly either, though you will, of course, find it in the Rotary International directory.
MET BY THE local Rotary club president I was very pleased to find that his office included an internet cafe. I had earlier found all the internet offices back in Kochi closed. You can imagine my dismay to find that I could access only a list of messages in my inbox. Some server problem would not allow me to read any of the messages.
BY CHRISTMAS EVE I was in Rotarian Baby Joseph’s home, where the children were finishing the decorations on the Christmas tree and the Christmas crib beside it. Then dinner and we were on our way to Christmas mass.
ALONG THE DARK country lane – no streetlights – we passed groups of people walking to the church. And on every home a Christmas star. A huge star hung over the church entry gate. Thunderous rounds of firecrackers announced the opening of the mass. I know no Malayalam, so caught only the occasional word such as “Bethlehem,” but I know the Latin mass and easily followed the flow of this ancient liturgy. The host was distributed to the people by about two AM, and by three we were home, in bed, asleep.
IN THE MORNING we cut the Christmas cake..

25 December 2002
Ramapuram, Kerala

ANOTHER DAY

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER place, a new family, a new experience. I went with Baby Joseph to the evening meeting of The Rotary Club of Thodapuzha. Dinner after the meeting was a delicious egg curry and paranthas washed down with glasses of cold Kingfisher beer. Then home with the club secretary for a good night’s sleep and resting for the next day.
BY NOON WE found ourselves on a sound stage on the fifth-floor flat roof of the town’s tallest building watching the process of shooting scenes for a feature film. How many GSE teams have this experience??

27 December 2002
Thodapuzha, Kerala

CHARTER PRESENTATION FOR A NEW CLUB

GSE FOLLOW-UP CONTINUES. This evening a very festive occasion - the presentation of the charter for a new club. The assembly hall on the second floor of a nice hotel. Decorated with Rotary banners. The dias framed by white stage curtains and brightly lit. Handsome men, mostly in business suits, though the new president and I were resplendent in white kurta pyjamas. Attractive Rotary Annes in saris of every color. Many Annettes. Jisha and Ninny and the other girls lovely in western-style frocks. The boys in slacks and shirts.
THE EVENING INCLUDED a ceremonial lighting of a lamp, the presentation of the charter itself, many speeches and felicitations, a challenge from District Governor K.C. Philip, greetings from me on behalf of all the 1.2 million Rotarians around the world. After the meeting rounds of whisky or rum or brandy - take your pick - for the men (male chauvinism is alive and well here in India). Then we joined the women and children upstairs again for dinner. Annette Ninny Sunny entertained us with some delightful singing.
AS I HAD ridden with Assistant Governor Baby Joseph we were the last to leave and even at that past-midnight hour the president invited us to his home for another drink and presented me with two bags of cardamom from his plantation. This new club is well on its way to being one of the strong clubs of the district..

30 December 2002
Nedunkandam, Kerala

BACK IN THE LAND OF COCONUT PALMS AND RICE PADDIES

A FEW MORE days in the coastal area of Kerala, down from the high ranges to a tropic place where people even in December carry umbrellas to ward off the hot sun. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations with Shylajan and his family. A good meeting of The Cochin Beachside Rotary Club. Then packing for a morning train to the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu..

3 January 2003
Kochi, Kerala

WITH THARUN AND SHILPA AND BALA

MY WEEK IN Tamil Nadu included many rich experiences in the company of Dr. Balavenkatasubramanian (a name so long it is abbreviated on the board in the foyer which lists the doctors on staff at Ganga Hospital), Dr. Shilpa, a physician on the staff of a naturopathic hospital in the hill station of Ooty, and Tharun Shah. Tharun and Shilpa were on a GSE to the district just east of 5030 and came to Seattle to get Canadian visas last year, so this was my exchange visit with them. Bala was on the team which exchanged with our district in 1999.
A FINE DINNER one evening with Dr. Bala in a swanky hotel, at the end of his normal long day in the operating theatre.
A DRIVE TO Ooty (well, if you insist, Udhagamandalam) a hill-station at about 2000 metres in the Nilgiris, for a couple of days with Shilpa. Those days included a hands-on introduction to her work there. We were treated to full body oil massages and relaxing in the steam bath before breakfast of our second day. Then, though Tharun (the master salesman that he is) cajoled and cajoled, we did not go boating on Ooty Lake. Dr. Shilpa insisted that it was not a very clean place. Doctor’s orders prevailed.
BACK IN COIMBATORE I was privileged to address the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis, one of the strongest clubs in the district. Their president had heard me speak at another club earlier and asked that I give the same address to his club. As I had expected – as I spoke very critically of two extremely popular politicians – I stirred up a hornet’s nest.
MY GSE FOLLOW-UP ended with dinner at Tharun’s home. Shilpa was also with us. She and Tharun and his family presented me with a new kurta pyjama as a send-off gift before taking me to the station to board The Kerala Express..

8 January 2003
Coimbatore, Kerala

AN INCIDENT ON THE TRAIN

A YOUNG MOTHER, dressed in a simple cotton sari, comes and sits on the berth opposite me, her harmonium in her lap. Her little daughter, playing the spoons for rhythm, stands next to her, dressed in a ragged not-overly-dirty frock. The boy, a bit older, carries a drum. The mother sings and plays well. Her children a competent rhythm section.
IN THE CROWDED aisle a waiter goes by carrying lunch trays and spills gravy on the girl’s frock. She, embarrassed almost to tears, reaches out to her mother who stops playing for a moment to console the girl. Each of them realising that it might be some days before they are able to wash the dress. I give them three rupees. Probably three times what they usually get.
I SIT HERE in white homespun, clean and comfortable, with many rupees and dollars (to say nothing of credit and cash machine cards) in my pockets and bag. They may collect enough to pay for rice and a few vegetables.
WHY DO I have so much and they so very little. Surely I am no more deserving than they..

4 January 2003
at Shoranur Junction
on The Sabari Express
 

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