+ REV. P. HERBERT ANANDARAJ +

We just received word of the death of + Rev. P. Herbert Anandaraj + ("Pastor Herbert") of Barugur in the Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu, (South) INDIA. Pastor Herbert was a Bible student of my grandfather. (He said the class was at an ungodly early hour!). He and his wife live in Grandpa and Grandma's house on the IELC compound. Pastor Herbert was a shy, gentle, sweet man with a resonant laugh. He was so excited about my visit, and his wife got the biggest kick out of my love for lime pickle. Pastor Herbert was semi-retired, having been pastor in Barugur for 35 years. He was helping at a couple of local parishes as an interim/transitional pastor. He fell ill a couple of weeks ago, was hospitalized in Ambur and then returned home. Mother received a call this evening from one of his sons to let her know that he had, as Mom and some of her kin would say, "JJP" - "joined Jesus in paradise." His son Prem Anand met me in Kanchipuram and together with two of his friends we toured one of the temples there. Prem is a great guy, and I will call him soon to extend my sympathy.* To my knowledge, Pr. Herbert only recently fell quite ill (a couple of weeks ago) and had gone home from hospital just a week ago. The funeral service is going on as I write this. It's about 10 a.m. in India. Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

*I called Prem this morning (Wednesday evening India time) and the funeral was held about an hour ago. He died at home, having refused returning to the hospital after a heart attack, and died a few days later, with his wife, a nurse, at his side.

Take a Rickshaw Ride!

You Can the Guy out of India...but You Can't Take India out of the Guy

From 90 Degrees to 9 Degrees...

I made it home last night around 5:00 p.m. The traveling was like a Twilight Zone epidode because I was going west through several time zones, and since it was always light out, it seemed like I was traveling for days and not getting anywhere. It started with a Tuesday a.m. 4-hour drive from Tiruvannamalai to Chennai...3 hour flight to Delhi...6 hour layover in Delhi airport...7 hour flight to Amsterdam...9 hour layover in the airport there...7 hour flight to Minneapolis. From the plane, I saw Iceland and Greenland. I slept really well last night, and so far the jet lag hasn't been a problem. We'll see how the next few days pan out. I spent the entire afternoon working on organizing the over 2,500 photos and videos. I'll put up a few here on the blog...on my previous posts, too. Take a look. You can see them all soon on Flickr....I'll send a link or post a slide show here when they're ready.

"India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!"
~Mark Twain

Going Dutch

Halfway home...

I guess I forgot how noisy and busy India is. I've spent the day in the Amsterdam airport and all I can think of is HOW QUIET IT IS! Why is everyone whispering? You would need to multiply the number of people here times three and increase the decibel level significantly to match the airport in Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai. The noise level and crush of people can be overwhelming, but you do get used to it, and you just have to accept the fact that there's a constant "festive" atmosphere. My favorite times were late evening. There were still a lot of people out on the streets, but they had eaten and the men were socializing around the shops and food stands, and things were winding down.

I'm so thankful that I made this trip, and that I'm coming home safe and sound. One thing I didn't tell anyone... The day I checked into the Madurai YMCA, there was deafening music playing on a loudspeaker outside. Turns out there was a political rally getting underway. The podium was right outside my window. A large intense-looking crowd began to gather, and just about the time I was to go out for a temple tour, a group came marching down the street waving placards. The only thing more unnerving that seeing a lot of police is seeing a lot of police in a foreign country. My driver and temple guide pushed me gently back to my room until the actual program had started, then I kind of slipped out quickly. It had something to do with Sri Lanka. Supposedly it was some kind of peace rally, but I'm not so sure. It was definitely political, and the speakers were certainly animated and loud. I made a point to stay out until the rally was over at 10:00 p.m. The other sort of unnerving thing was all of the police security at some of the better hotels. Otherwise, I felt completely safe and secure, even venturing out on my own.

Anyway, maybe I'll return to India someday. The people are so surprised and honored that you come to visit them. I'm very proud of the work that LPGM, Bethania Kids and my relatives have done to make India a more peaceful, prosperous and loving place, especially for children. Maybe you can have some small part in that, too.

See you Stateside, and watch for my photos.

Thanks for all your well-wishes and prayers,

Mark

On the Eve of Departure

More Miscellaneous Thoughts...
India is a country of such diversity and great contrasts - to the point of being bizarre. It's like watching one long performance art piece. You never know what you're going to see passing you by on the street....14 people in a 2-person auto rickshaw (like a yellow-and-black 3-wheeled golf cart), a person driving a motorbike while holding cement blocks, a funeral procession with drums and horns, peacocks (the national bird)... Sitting next to me in the internet cafe doing online chatting is a old swami with a long, greying beard, wearing a pink robe, matching turban, and some lovely beaded bracelets. (By the way, "internet cafe" is a misnomer...it's a dusty roadside room with plastic molded chairs and no a/c. Last night I had a computer on which the "x" didn't work.) My all-time favorite visual so far, however, was an old man pulling a rickety wooden cart loaded with Xerox paper!

A Few Random Things I WON'T Miss About India...
--Perpetually filthy feet. I don't think they'll ever get clean.
--Lack of shower curtains. Indian bathrooms either don't have shower curtains or they have ones that are inadequate. In Kodai, the bathroom had an elaborate shower, with several massage heads and a curved glass door, but...the shower door didn't go all the way to the floor. They just don't get it. This morning, the drain in the bathroom floor wasn't working well, so as a result, when I opened the bathroom door to leave, I discovered that the bedroom was flooded.
--Tipping. It's a newbie tourist's nightmare. Especially when you're trying to convert INR to USD in your head. You either offend someone or shock them. First of all, you look in your wallet and see all these 100 or even 500 bills and think, "I'm rich!!!" (Of course, these are only about $2 and $10 respectively.) Then you think, "Well, since I'm so rich, why don't I leave a generous tip?" However, a generous tip may be completely bizarre in most situations...like leaving a days wages or something like $100 to an average waiter. I did feel very fine giving my main driver Chandran, my manual rickshaw driver Murugan (remember him?) and my auto rickshaw driver Manikandan generous tips. They went beyond the call of duty.

Leaving Tomorrow...
Today, my auto rickshaw driver, Manikandan (we got acquainted with him there first time we were in Tiruvannamalai), took me on a nice tour of the 8 temples surrounding the base of Mount Arunachala. There are 9 all told, including the large temple here in town. I also had some quiet time at Quo Vadis and was able to read up on the mountain and its religious significance. At the risk of oversimplifying a very complex Hindu concept, I'll just say that it is a very sacred site. This is where Shiva (Siva) manifested himself in a great pillar of fire to the gods Vishnu and Brahma, who were getting too big for their britches. The mountain is the result. Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar, attempted (for 1000 or so years, I think) to find the depths of Siva's presence. Brahma, in the form of a swam, attempted to find the heights. Both were unable. Siva has many names (1008, I think) and manifestations. Among them is the concept of Siva as the great lingam (lamp). You may have seen something about the huge Deepam festival here on the PBS special on India. Men hike up the mountain to light an enormous lingam as the full moon is just rising and the entire town cheers. Wish I could be here for that. Next time...

The small roadside temples always have a few people filing through. The large temples I've seen in India are teeming with people. The air is close and humid and reeks of sour ghee (clarified butter), milk, sandalwood paste, turmeric, and other things which are poured over or applied to the statues and to the devotees. Extreme reverence is always the order of the day.

Hard to believe, but I'll be picked up at 10:00 by a taxi for Chennai (Madras) for a connecting flight to Delhi, them Amsterdam (with a 9-hour layover!), and on to Minneapolis...returning Wednesday afternoon.

Now, I need to go get a bite to eat at the Roots Cafe and see if there's any way I can get the harmonium I want to buy onto the plane.

Malai Vanakkam (Good Evening)...or in your case, Kalai Vanakkam (Good Morning). Probably my last post for awhile. I have fallen in love with India. Still, I'm ready to leave. Clean feet, here I come!

"Mr. Mark" (As they call me here. Hey, if I can't pronounce things like "Melipattakabattchulum," they shouldn't have to attempt "Spitzack.")

Miscellaneous Thoughts

A few random things about India I'll miss...


--the smell of moth balls - everyone bathroom has them

--sauntering cattle

--multiple light switches in each room (I counted 37 in the current suite!), most of which have no geographic relationship to the device they control and some which remain a mystery

--Nescafe instant coffee (always with hot milk and sugar)





Ants in My Pants

A funny incident I forgot to tell you about earlier....

We were at the Siloam Girls Boarding School for their evening event. (Ever spent an evening with 700 hyped-up schoolgirls?!). For the second time on the trip, we opened the folder to discover that we were on the program...i.e. "Mr. Gordon Olson and LPGM Group." Why Gordon hadn't figured out that this would happen - as it has in the past - I don't know. And even though he's a musician himself, he came running to me asking what we should do. What, am I wearing a sign that says "Talent Coordinator?!" With Cath's help, I decided we would do "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes." She offered to lead "Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes" as a warm-up song. (Big mistake. Ever try doing that with 700 hyped-up schoolgirls?! They did not need a warm-up song.) I ordered Gordy to go somewhere and dress up like Granny, and told him to enter the scene when we sang "We will all go out to meet her when she comes...Hi, Babe!" He grudgingly agreed. Meanwhile.....
Before the program started, we had noticed a massive colony of red ants doing their thing just in front of us, between us and the dance floor. I watched and avoided them the entire evening--- but managed somehow in the flurry of getting ready for our songs to stand right in them!!! I have never before felt such intense itching! I took the opportunity to scratch during the "knees and toes" phrases. Otherwise, I had to pretend nothing was wrong. As soon as the program was over, I ran for a cold shower and some "Stop Itch." Almost a month later, the bite marks still show.

Oh, and the song? Well, the children looked bewildered throughout. And it turns out, when "Granny Gordy" enetered, they thought he was a monkey. Oh, well. It still got a laugh. When in doubt, do drag!

The Family Pinnacle

"Who will answer gladly, saying, 'Here am I. Send me, send me.'?"

Karl Gustav Theodor Naether, ca. 1903

On Friday afternoon, Pastor Anandaraj and Mr. Arivanandam took me on to Krishnagiri. Here, our ancestor Theodor Naether, the pioneer missionary of what was to become the India Evangelical Lutheran Church, began his work. Naether married my great-grandfather's sister, so I guess that makes him my great-great uncle-in-law or something like that. Naether is highly revered by the IELC Lutherans here. They sort of whisper his name, and they glow when talking about "Father Naether." Here great-grandfather Georg Naumann and grandfather John G.P. Naumann began their work, and here my mother Helen Naumann had her earliest childhood days, having been born in Kodaikanal while her parents were there for language study. Great great grandfather Ottom Willkomm was also a missionary to India. On their way to India in 1029, my grandparents stopped in Germany and received from Mrs. Naether the large Tamil Bible that her husband had used. At the time of Naether and my other ancestors, the church became known as MELIM (Missouri Evangelical Lutherans in Mission). Several missionaries left the Leipig Mission in Germany for doctrinal reasons - Mohn and Naether among them - and were "adopted" by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the U.S., which sent them to India.

The church is Christ Lutheran Church, and though the old church building survives, a new one was built in 1995, which was also the centenary of the congregation. The architect was Paul Bertelsen, who has designed several beautiful church buildings in India - some of which we saw earlier in the trip - including Quo Vadis, the New Jerusalem Church in Panruti, and other Arcot Lutheran Church projects supported by LPGM. (We especially liked the weaving hall at Lebanon Home for Women.) Once again, the church leaders had been assembled and had secured a photographer for the occasion, and I was treated like a dignitary. I was given a garland and shawl by the son of the first person baptized in the IELC (by Naether). He himself is very, very old. I was very tired, but gave a brief thank-you speech.

After lots of fuss, and after viewing the graveyard where the Naethers and others are buried, we moved on to the very large elementary IELC school, where I met with the headmaster, former headmaster, teachers, and others, and visited some of the classrooms. I'm glad I brought along some photos of my cat and of the Church School Choir at Mount Olive. The kids here have really enjoyed them.

In this trip, I have had to wrestle with my heritage, which is steeped in rigid confessional Lutheranism. Despite my own objections to many things the Missouri Synod stands for and my own break with that denomination, I can see that the bottom line is that the Indian Christians are so grateful that people like Naether and Grandpa made such monumental sacrifices (Naether himself died of the plague, which also took [some of?] his children) to bring them the Gospel. The Gospel - the good news for these people - was and is that Jesus stands with the lowest and weakest, regardless of status, caste, color, or creed - and brings them to his loving embrace. Whether or not you agree with the proselytizing, the missionaries also brought hope and love in the form of numerous social programs. For instance, I'm proud of the work my grandfather put into adult literacy and into his work with the blind. The church folks here reminded me that he learned Tamil - including colloquial Tamil - very, very well, and that he was very much loved by the average villager. He refused to wear a pith helmet, which tended to be a status symbol for missionaries. He showed filmstrips (remember those?) and provided his own sound! The Indian people are so amazed and delighted that someone is thinking about them and would come all the way to India to visit them, or in the case of the missionaries, that someone would devote their lives to them.

I left Krishnagiri wiped out, with my head spinning. Chandran drove me the 3 hours to Tiruvannamalai, where I collapsed into dinner with the Koons.