REPORT FROM INDIA

We drove from Chennai to Pondicheri beginning with a nice lunch at an authentic Indian restaurant where one eats a wide variety of traditional dishes with one's hands. Later in the afternoon we drove across town for a tour of St. Thomas Cathedral. We then proceeded to a Hindu temple on the Bay of Bengal outside Chennai in a coastal region hit by the tsunami several years ago. It is very old, and very stunning. Lots of statuary. We also met with our Indian postulants, who are a really sweet couple. We went to tour St. Thomas Cathedral, and left them there. We also stopped at another temple site that told the story of the Bhagavad Gita from the Hindu literary classic, the Maharbarita. This is an ambling area where temples and statuary are built into a sacred rock formation in the 12th through the 17th centuries. Most impressive!

Driving in any third world country is hair raising, especially when in the back seat, so I am getting over a little touch of motion sickness. The Sheplers and Sr. Mary Catherine will relate well to driving the roads at night.

Lastly, I was uncomfortably aware of the beggars at all these places. I have seen begging before in places from the Holy Land to the Philippines, to Central America, but I have never seen such annoying persistence. They break into obviously serious conversations (such as trying to say goodbye to our Indian postulants and attempts to photograph something). They simply do not take no for an answer. But, if I were a professional beggar I might be forced to do the same.

In Jesus,

John Michael Talbot

John Michael Talbot

Founder and Spiritual Father

The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage