Manali Missives October 2015
Meanderings Down Memory Lane
Time travel is a concept that has been popular for a long time with the "Back to the future" movies, the books "The time traveller's wife" and the "Outlander" series and many other books and movies. I (Lena), have also done some time travelling during this our last month in India. David joined me in my travels to Tamil Nadu, back to my schooldays in Kodaikanal and the place of my birth 60 years ago - Thiruppathur. The reason for going was not only to share some very memorable childhood places with my husband, but also a quest to try and obtain my birth certificate. For 60 years I have lived with a lie, knowing full well that my birthplace is not Västerled, in Stockholm, as stated in my passport, but an obscure little village in the South of India.
Although I finished my work officially on the 30th of September, I doubted that my patients and also some of the staff here would understand why I suddenly could not work, so David and I decided to take the trip down to South India.
After travelling for 40 hours nonstop, by bus, metro, plane, train and taxi, we finally arrived at the hill station of Kodaikanal. The bus trip up the hill brought back so many childhood memories for me. As a child, my sisters and I with our parents, would travel by train from Nagpur to Central station in Chennai, take a taxi to Egmore station for the last overnight train trip to Kodaikanal road where we would get on this same bus. David and I were happy to see a quote from Ps. 121:8 on a plaque behind the bus driver. The climb is over more than 2000 metres and the roadside is scattered with Lantana bushes and coffee and banana plantations. The beautiful waterfall named Silver cascade was renamed in Swedish to "Tanternas tårar" (The tears of the women) in anticipation of all the tears that would be shed as parents left their children for 4-5 months at the boarding school.
David and I had breakfast at "Cloud street", named after the book by Tim Winton, a nice little restaurant very close to the bus stand.
In the afternoon we went for a walk around the lake, luckily we took our umbrellas as suggested by the hotel staff, as it started raining quite heavily. As a child I have crossed the lake, rowed on it and walked and run around it many, many times. Things have changed quite a bit, there are now lots of little shops near the boat house and the park, but some things are unchanged. The house where Mrs Gomperts taught us English is still there, now turned into a shop. I was able to go inside, into the room where I was introduced to Jack and Jill and "the owl and the pussycat went to sea..." etc. I missed the piece of home made peanut brittle that we always received after our lesson!
Other memories were not so happy, once on our Sunday afternoon row we came across a woman who had drowned herself and her 2 children in the lake. It was rumored that her husband abused her to the extent that she could not even face leaving her children in his care. Some things we see really get imprinted on our retina!
The circuit of the lake was almost completed when we veered off up the hill a bit to have a look at KIS. Here also were many small stalls selling spices, eucalyptus oil and homemade chocolates. And suddenly there it was, just as I remembered it, Highclerc, the American school and I was transported back in time, tears welled up in my eyes as memories flooded over me. The gates still had the old name on it and behind them the beautiful church built in stone in the Norman style.
Highclerc school was opened in July 1901, started by Mrs Margaret Eddy whose son Sherwood was a missionary in India. In 1972 Highclerc was renamed Kodaikanal International School (KIS) and became the first international school in India.
The Swedish school where I and my sisters studied was situated just next to Highclerc, today there is nothing left of its buildings, the grounds have been taken over by KIS.
The Swedish school was moved into a new building in an area known as the Swedish settlement. Here the Swedish Church missionaries who worked on the plains in South India would retire during the hottest season. The Swedish church is still there, now handed over to the Tamil Lutheran church. My older sister was baptized and confirmed in this church and we had many "skolavslutningar" (end of school year celebrations) here.
Albs from previous bishops of Tranquebar (some of them Swedish) are still hanging in the closet. There is also an old Swedish bible kept in the church. Next to the church is "Nordhem", the church hall which housed the Swedish library. This is where we had church coffee and celebrated some of the Swedish festivals. The 6th of June, which now is the Swedish national day, was then celebrated as Swedish flag day. As most of the missionaries would have gone back to the plains and the school would have started by the time of Midsummer day, this very Swedish celebration with dancing around the Midsummer pole, was incorporated in our 6th of June celebrations.
Nordhem is still there, well looked after with the original name on the gate even if it is now used by the local council.
We visited some of the regular tourist sites in Kodaikanal, places I went too as a child. Pillar rocks, which are unchanged, and Coaker's walk with a beautiful view over the plains with Vaigai dam and Periyakulam, and many other places. There were some emotional moments, with very precious flashbacks.
Next stop on our journey was Madurai, a city built around 300 BC, housing amongst other buildings a large temple devoted to Menakshi (one of Shiva's wives) and the Thirumalai Nayak Palace built in1636. It also has 3 major bus stands which is a bit confusing for visitors who arrive by bus. We found our hotel and arranged for a taxi to take us to the small town of Thiruppathur on the following day. God is so good! Our driver was proficient in English and of course spoke fluent Tamil so he acted as a translator and guide as well as driver. The drive went through the beautiful South Indian countryside with paddy fields and palm trees. The Swedish Mission Hospital was not difficult to find and it was a treat to walk around it. There was the maternity ward with the name of the Swedish doctor, Dr Helena Eriksson, who did the Caesarean section to deliver me. The operating theatre is still there, same building, but recently renovated. I remembered some iron gates from the time of my younger sister's birth; amazingly they are still there. My forehead had a very close encounter with those gates; I still have the scar to prove it!
After a short tour of the hospital we headed off to the Registry office, which funnily was just next to the hospital under a great banyan tree. 1 1/2 hours later and Rs 312 (Aus $ 6.50) poorer I had my birth certificate in my hand! What a fabulous feeling!
The day after I celebrated my 60th birthday and the hotel staff all enjoyed having some birthday cake.
We had booked and payed for train tickets up to Vellore but were still on the waiting list on the morning of the day we were to travel. David cancelled the train tickets and we travelled by bus instead. The bus appeared to be full too as there was a lot of commotion after we had boarded. Some passengers had no seats! It was an interesting experience as we left an hour late and travelled through the night.
The town of Vellore has an old fort which was used by the British during their time, it also has a newly built golden temple but what interested me is the amazing hospital that was started by Dr Ida Scudder in 1902. In an earlier missive I have written about her and how her life story impacted me. Now I was here in Vellore for the first time.
Dr Ida Scudder's story is truly inspiring; her parents were missionaries so she grew up near Vellore. As a teenager she attended school in the U.S. and struggled with childhood memories of famine and disease. However when she returned to India to care for her sick mother she had 3 men visit her in the one night asking for help with their wives' childbirths. Ida encouraged them to see her father, the doctor, but none of the men would accept a male doctor. The 3 women all died and Ida determined to return to the U.S. to study medicine in view of becoming a medical missionary to women.
Auntie Ida, as she was known by the people in Vellore, started a nursing school and later a medical training college for women. Today the Christian medical college in Vellore is known for its excellence in medical care and training all over India. Truly an amazing woman of God!
David and I enjoyed being taken around the hospital, worshipping at St John's church in the fort area and meeting old friends and gaining some new ones. The hospital at Vellore is also investing a lot of energy in solar power and solid waste management which David was very interested in.
After 10 intensive and interesting days in Tamil Nadu David and I returned to Manali to prepare for the visit of Australian friends. Ross and Lesley arrived in time for a Buddhist wedding celebration after a flying visit to the castle in Nagger. We also went on a lovely church picnic and a visit to the Solang valley (ski valley).
One week ago we dropped them off in Chandigarh and continued on to Amritsar for a farewell. Just outside of Jalandhar we encountered a long queue of trucks, not an unknown feature of Punjab. Three roadblocks and several diversions later we were defeated and returned to Jalandhar and a hotel. Thank God for Google maps; without them we would have been totally lost.
I returned to Manali last Wednesday, David came back on Saturday morning after attending his book launch in Delhi, both of us a bit worse for wear.
This I hope will conclude our travelling here in India for a while apart from the last drive to New Delhi before we board our plane back to Sydney, Australia.
These last 2 years have been so rich - in experiences, travelling, friendship, love, exhaustion, hard work and bewilderment in many ways. We have encountered the unknown in many areas - medically, culturally, linguistically and geographically.
We would not have had it any other way(apart from enjoying it for a longer period of time); we have been so blessed and enriched by these 2 years. To God be the Glory!
Lena Reichardt
