Someone Should Tell Dean’s Dairy Producers…

This is one of those, “wow… you really don’t see this every day in the US” kinds of posts. See this tree? It’s a banyan tree. It’s remarkable. It grows tall and strong, then it drops a sort of vine and root from its branches down to the ground. Each of these vines forms a new tree of its own, but is still attached to the original, thus supporting each other and forming a gigantic mass of connected trees. That part is way cool.

But do you see the little burlap and plastic bags that are dangling from the vines and branches? Want to know what’s in them? Cow placentas. Yup. See, here’s how the belief works here in India. If you have a cow, and that cow gives birth, you have to tie the placenta up into a bag and hang it from a tree like this. If you do that, your cow will give healthy milk for its new calf, and will produce many more healthy calves. If you do not, however, and dogs eat the placenta, then your cow’s utter will dry up, the calf will die, and will be barren. So… in terms of rural Indian dairy farming, when your entire life depends on your cow continuing to give milk… you tie up the placenta and don’t take the risk.

Justice Team Send Off!

We knew that the Justice Team was going to be working in a village (Ranipet) first, and that it would be slightly farther away from where the rest of us were going to be working (in sort of a loose smattering of relatively proximal villages). As a result, about an hour before the rest of us, the bus pulled over to the side of the road, and like a group of Marines descending from a landed V-22 Osprey onto a “hot” Landing Zone, the Justice Team piled out, grabbed their gear, and were ready to rock! Pastor Nermil (one of our GCC “Super Pastors” and the pastor who is training church planters in the area of Ranipet) met the team and shook hands, and then motioned to a fleet of waiting auto-rickshaws (think stripped down riding lawnmower with a covered “pickup truck” cab) who were to whisk the team away. After the team loaded all their gear, the rickshaws peeled away and putted off down the street.

Now THAT’s Fresh!

En route, Raj suddenly asked the bus driver to pull over. When the bus stopped, he asked all of us to follow him off the bus, where we quickly surrounded a little man standing next to a bicycle that was laden with fresh coconuts. As Raj approached, the little man took a bladed tool (looks kind of like a scythe) and hacked off the end of one of the fresh, green, skull-sized fruits, plopped a straw into the little hole he had created, and then handed it to Raj. Raj removed the straw, then downed the entire contents of the coconut in about 5 seconds amidst cheers of “Chug! Chug! Chug!” from us (too many fraternity movies in the mid-80’s, I guess). Then, each of us received a coconut and had a refreshing little treat. Manda Harris pictured here with hers.

Sing Along with “The Raj”!

On our way out to our respective fields, we took a little time to “sing along with Raj”. See, in India, despite the influence of television and media from the West, traditional songs and dances are still very important to Indian culture. This has amazed me elsewhere. Short of “the chicken dance”, we Americans don’t really have any distinctly cultural dances that celebrate our history, or really, any songs that tell about our mythologies or oral tradition. It’s interesting to me, then, to see what happens when we collide with a culture that does have such a rich history, and still knows its roots and traditions as they are so jealously guarded in their singing and dancing. Anyway, because of the above, it’s very important for GCC India teams to be able to do at least a modicum of singing (and dancing… oooooh, what I wouldn’t give sometimes to be Baptist and be able to play the “we’re not supposed to dance” card… but more on that later), so we practiced with Raj for a few minutes as we were en route. As it turns out, we weren’t half bad, actually, especially after having Don Reynolds coach us with his superb voice skills, and had even managed to master one “of our own” (Dan Vukmirovich actually wrote a song for us to sing that translates very easily into Tamil with minimum turbulence for our English tongues… you rock, Dan!). Ted Bryant was singled out as the best and most enthusiastic of all of us, and so was coaxed to join Raj at the front of the bus to help the rest of us with our head banging (yeah, literally… you are supposed to create a personal mosh-pit of sorts when you sing) and hand-clapping.

St. Thomas: Apostle to India!

After lunch, we spent a good bit of the day being introduced to one of India’s national treasures:  St. Thomas, the Apostle.  You remember St. Thomas… he was the guy who is often called “Doubting Thomas” for his “lack of faith”, but who also was among the first after Jesus’ resurrection to proclaim “My Lord and my God” upon meeting the risen Savior.  Based on what most people can piece together, Thomas left Jerusalem after Pentacost and made his way to what is now present day India in about 52 AD.  For the better part of 2 decades, he proclaimed Jesus as Lord in this country, and was eventually killed by local rulers for that proclamation in about 72 – 75 AD. 

There are 3 spots in Chennai that are significant to where the apostle functioned, and we got to see all three of them.  They are outlined as follows:

St. Thomas Mount:  There is a small Catholic church and convent built on the spot where Thomas was finally killed at the point of a spear on top of a small mountain that overlooks the city of Chennai (and now is remarkably close to the international airport).  Pictures here include the inside of the chapel erected over the site of the murder, and feature an icon supposedly given to Thomas by the apostle Luke, a relic of Thomas (a vacuum sealed cross that contains a bone fragment of Thomas), and a cross carved by Thomas.

St. Thomas “Little” Mount:  While being hunted, Thomas took refuge in a small cave for several days.  There is now also a large church built over the cave, as well as a well that has given water for the better part of two thousand years.  According to legend, when Thomas needed water, he struck the rocks of the cave with his staff and, the rest is hydro-history.

Santhome Cathedral:  One of three of the world's cathedrals built over the bones of an apostle is in Chennai, India.  Santhome Cathedral is about 5 miles from both the Mount and the Little Mount, and is a beautiful structure constructed largely out of white marble.  

Like a Sleuth of Hungry Bears!!!

So we made it to the hotel, and were quickly (after being introduced to our rooms) treated to a fun "multi-cultural" meal for lunch.  I say "multi-cultural" because it was both Indian and also Chinese (great noodles!!!), and most of us were really hungry, so set to it with the ferocity of a sleuth of starved bears.

Featured here are a few of the tasty entrees.  There was Mushroom Curry, "Lollipop Chicken" (think General Tso's or a spicy version of Orange Chicken), mixed noodles, fried rice, and, of course, "Chicken 65"!  

Touchdown!!!

We finally landed in Chennai airport at about 7:30 am, grabbed our bags, and exited the terminal to the bright and smiling familiar faces of some of my favorite people on the planet!  Standing and greeting us were Raj and Prema (Raj's wife), their two kids (Bruce and Clarinda), Anandraj (another Life Mission staff member), Pastor Anbuannan (a "SuperPastor" from Vellavedu), Diako and Stephen (additional friends and volunteers), and a handfull of others who were new to us.  We snapped this picture before piling all our gear onto a huge bus and heading to the hotel for some refreshment time.  

And in case you're wondering what those gigantic flower garlands are that are hanging around our necks?  Well, that's a traditional Indian greeting, and the hospitality-driven nature of our Indian brothers and sisters does not disappoint.  Each team member is greeted with a fresh "lai" (erm... or at least that's what they call them in Hawaii, right?) that weighs about 2 - 3 pounds, and the flowers are so fragrant that they fill up your room with the scent of fresh flowers!