Gandhi's Birthday

Tuesday, October 2 was a holiday in India to celebrate Gandhi's birth. Coimbatore 2nd Branch had an activity out at Semmedu. We met at the church at 8:00 for our bus trip to the small village. Well, things in India don't happen on the time they are supposed to (except sacrament meeting). Everyone was told to be at the church by 7:45 a.m. so the bus could leave by 8:00. The bus was there before 7:45, but most people did not arrive until closer to 9:00. Before the opening prayer, President Arul, the Branch President, talked about the blessings they have for living in India and told the people that they need to thank Heavenly Father for Gandhi because he is the father of India. He said that we need to be thankful because Gandhi was able to bring independence to India through peaceful means. President Arul reminded everyone that not many nations in the world have achieved independence through peaceful means. As he said that, we thought about our own great country of Canada and that we share that with India. President Arul talked to Elder and Sister Tiefenbach just before we boarded the bus and asked us if we knew anything about Gandhi. We told him we knew everything he had talked about; he was surprised. Elder Tiefenbach then told him that the City of Regina has a statue of Gandhi outside the City Hall. President Arul was even more surprised.

We boarded the bus shortly after 9:15. The Branch clerk, Brother Suresh, and the Branch President, President Arul, are doing a final count.

The trip took about 3/4 of an hour. Our activity was held at the church meeting house in Semmedu. The building is bigger than we anticipated. It has a large hall for Sacrament meeting and has several rooms for classroom. Oh, and best of all, it has TOILETS - not squatters. Sister Tiefenbach was particularly thrilled with that!

The church building is situated in a quiet, green space. The whole area is far more lush and treed than Coimbatore, but the ground is dry like Coimbatore. Behind the church is a large open area bordered by coconut trees. The church owned area used to be planted with all kinds of vegetables. There are a few tomato plants in the area, but mostly it is empty.





The people here will cut the green coconuts from the trees and cut the top off to drink the water inside. Apparently, it is supposed to be cooling for the body. Elder Tiefenbach decided to give it a try. Often, people use a straw to get the water, but straws were not available at our activity.

Sister Tiefenbach was more dignified and poured some into a plastic cup to have a drink. We don't find the water particularly cooling. The water itself is not cool. Many people in India believe that if a person drinks cold water, he/she will get sick. Their grandmothers have told them this, so it is definitely true.

We sat around and talked for a while.

We played games, such as a game similar to duck, duck, goose; blind man's bluff; and toss the ring.

 

The children played some games, as well.

 

 

The children also took the opportunity to play in the holding tank for the irrigation system.

Later, some of the men played games. Interestingly, the men and women in India rarely do activities together. We see this in North America to some extent, but here, the separation is very apparent.

 

Not everyone played hard; a select few were able to sleep through the festivities.

Yes, a baby is inside. The advantage of this type of sleeping arrangement is that it is lightweight, unlike the bulky strollers or cribs that we use in North America. We don't think we will adopt this type of bed for our grandchildren, though. Several babies had their naps in these "beds" during the activity.








Lunch consisted of chicken biryani, curd (with onion), and boiled eggs in some kind of chili sauce. That is a whole lot of biryani!!!











Curd with onion:

This is a typical portion for a woman. The plate is a regular sized paper plate. You can also see the egg in the chili sauce.


















Sister Mary (who regularly feeds us) was concerned the food might be too spicy for us, so she and her daughter, Sister Shanthi, prepared some chipote and a chick pea dish for us. She was right. The food was too spicy for us. Elder Tiefenbach ate some biryani, and Sister Tiefenbach took a small, small taste. We are grateful for Sister Mary and Sister Shanthi. The food they made for us was welcomed - and good.





After lunch, many people went to the nearby river, the Siruvani River. The river, which is one of the cleanest rivers in India, is quite shallow at this point. It is only about one foot deep at the most. Everyone enjoyed the dip in the river to get relief from the hot, hot sunny weather.

 The Branch President got right into the swing of things and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the water. Our driver, Brother Augustine (right), liked the water, but he wasn't prepared to be quite as enthusiastic as the Branch President.  The water was actually quite warm, which is not surprising considering it never gets cold here.

Elder Tiefenbach was conservative in his splashing about in the water, too.  President Raghu, the 1st Counselor in the District Presidency, and Elder Tiefenbach had a good chat while they stood in the water. Elder Tiefenbach, your legs look soooooo white!!!







Sister Tiefenbach watched from the sidelines. Sister Tiefenbach is still squinting from Elder Tiefenbach's bright, white legs!!

Many of the local women came down to the river to do their laundry. As we watched this couple come to the river, we noticed that the woman carried the heaviest load, while the man, presumably her husband, carried the lightweight things.

As we watched, we couldn't help but wonder if the detergent they were using was polluting the clear river. The women have been doing laundry this way here for many, many years, and the water is still clear, so it must be okay. These women work very hard out in the scorching sun doing the laundry. We are certainly grateful that we have a washing machine.

This area is wild elephant country, but alas, we saw no elephants. If we had stayed until night fall, we would have seen elephants. This is the third place we had been that was known to have elephants, and we have seen absolutely no elephants! But, in the end, we are fortunate that we did not see them because wild elephants are very dangerous.





At the end of the day, we were tired and hot, and we welcomed the offer of Sister Punitha Amalrag to drive us home in their air conditioned car.

In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving on October 8. Let us express our gratitude to Heavenly Father for the MANY blessing we have. We have become so grateful for the consistent power supply we have in Canada. India experiences many, many power outages everyday. On Friday, the power was out from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Each day, the power is out for around 12 hours in a 24 hour period. India may have difficulties with things like power, but we are blessed to serve here. We have met so many wonderful people. We have seen the blessings of the Lord in the lives of many people here. The members of the Church are helpful and kind to us. They are thrilled when we attend their activities or when we visit their homes. They truly love us. We have been able to work closely with many people who have recently joined the church.They have strong testimonies and are eager to learn more about the Gospel and about church standards. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

We are grateful for our family and the support they give us. We acknowledge the sacrifice they have made for us to be away from them. We are thankful for our granddaughter, Cassie, who posted a wonderful blog about the blessings she has received. She has a wonderful spirit about her. We are particularly grateful that we have technology that allows us to communicate with our family and friends instantly. We can both see and hear our children and grandchildren. This is a great blessing because it helps us keep close ties with them.