I decided to extend my stay in Kalimpong by a day. The day being a festival ,getting a cab was difficult but providence works in ways we fail to undersgtand often. The gentleman who was driving me happened to be from my church denomination but now worshipping in the local church so he was quick to offer help for the next day although he was already booked for the airport the next day.The hotel guys were finding it difficult to find a cab for the day but they offered to try so we left the hotel early morning on foot .We wanted to walk around a bit.At eight in the morning this particular sight tugged at my heart-strings and brought to memory a scene from more than a decade earlier when as a young doctor I had seen a similar scene which had moved me to the roots.
These are young and middle aged men offering themselves for manual work.Anyone who needs them needs to come here and pick them up .There surely must be a more dignified way of doing this.
Just today I was attending a beautiful presentaion put up by ICMDA about 'personhood' by Dr Vinod Shah.
He talked about how differently and in a special way God created man.He not only created him out of matter but also put His breath into man.The only creature he conversed with directly and gave responsibility to was man.He was talking about the intrinsic value of man regardless of whether one can contribute to the society or not.Personhood of man starts even before conception because God calls out Jeremiah and tells him,'I knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb'.
Coming back to the cab situation Rajmit didi organised a cab to drive us to Delo and the resort.it was an elder from her church who seemed to drive around with a ready new testament in his car.He was a first generation believer. Once in Delo we met up with a barrage of pastors and elders..
The drive to the resort was uneventful .It was a restful place where what I did was rest. The food was home-cooked meals.We enjoyed the variety of birds and animals in the resort.There were emus, patridges,turkey and a hen with legs which Lhorium described as 'putting on jeans' and there were fishes .Brings to mind a song we learnt and performed in the college.
.'Bird in the sky,fish in the sea,
don't have a care....
I am a child of the Father ..
he takes care of me to
so I don't have to worry about what to do.'
I was ready to go home.Delo was allright.I guess I would have enjoyed it more in it;s wild state.The decrepit state of the buildings of Dr Graham's home left a defeated taste in my mouth.I realised Kalimpong is huge and somewhere along the line it seems to have been left behind in the race.Tiny homes line the roads and extends into villages and one could easily dissappear into these places.The driver was relating an incident where one individual had opened a TV repair shop and had been living in the hill for sometime and was found to be one of the top commanders of ISIS.
We drove down the hill after breakfast vis Monsoong road,saw the Cinchona plantation and was wondering if it was just a tourist site now with hardly anyone using Quinine anymore.
It was a thoughtful drive down this different road.
Reached home to a houseful of workers and people coming for their once a year visit from different parts of our land.
I was tired to the hilt and needed some sleep.
Quick dinner, passed the gifts around ,unloaded the stuff and then stroddled to my room for the blissful sleep .
Thank you Lord for the break,I have one more day before I make a quick trip to Gnagtok and back with my sibling and lo the puja break is over.
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