Asia Journal ’26 - #7

 

After the awesome send-off dinner on Sunday night, I only got about 3 hours sleep before I had to be up at 3:30am for the 2-hour drive to the airport. The president, and treasurer of the Section (Conference) transported us. Punjab was the perfect start for this leg of my research. The helpfulness and hospitality were over-the-moon! The trip to Kolkata was through Delhi. There are 3 large airport terminals (miles apart) in Delhi. All lovely. But it took a while to do the transfers and get around. All good, however, since I got another front seat to the culture. Incidentally, going through security was intense. I have to take out every cord in my carry-on and anything

electrical! In Kolkata also the experience is exciting. Busy roads with lots of people and traffic and lots of sounds. The welcome by Pastor Sumeet Vaid, the Director (the Conference president) of the region was delightful. The guestroom here at the Secondary School is wonderfully comfortable. A huge fruit basket was awaiting me. It was fantastically surprising: Naseberry (a Jamaican fruit), mango, pomegranate, guava, orange, pineapple, banana, grapes, apple, pear. WOW! I had some as breakfast. Need a big knife for others. Then Pastor Biswajit Bhoumick took me to see Mother Theresa’s House. I especially wanted to go there to

see the place that was so special to my former student, colleague, and friend, Rachel Davies. While she was in College at WWC, she spent a year there. We also visited the church of William Carey, the father of Protestant missionary work. Before going to lunch with Pastor Biswajit, I had a planning session with Dr. Gayan and pastor Sumeet. The next few days are going to be marvelous!