Thank you for joining the adventure by following me on this Blog. I have been so encouraged by the support that has come in from all over. I feel confident that I have sufficient funds for what I will need on this trip and also some costs, after this trip, related to research and the writing of the book (including a trip to Germany later this year). We are pretty sure that we have thought of everything to pack and plan. There are just a few things left on the checklist. Someone asked me what exactly I will be doing on this trip. We are going as Tourists, but with a specific purpose to discover our ancestors history and legacy. So essentially the general answer is seeing sights (that may be off the beaten tourist track) and research. Exactly how the research will happen is not so marked out. As has been true in my professional life, I am the accidental researcher. Wandering about accidentally hitting upon a sweet spot, a gold mine. Not that I believe it is any accident. It is a calling -- destiny. The same Spirit that lead me into this project will carry me through. My prayer is to be open and listening. I often worry about being a vessel too humble and weak to carry the abundance that comes my way. But that is one good reason to share my thoughts in writing and photos. Sharing delectable morsels that will hopefully refresh your soul. I function generally under the guiding principle/premise that we all are missionaries in this world, sharing what we've each been given. Truth is more than we can hold alone. So my ultimate hope is to share the Gospel of Love and Peace that Jesus so mercifully shared with me.
May you also be able to afford to be generous, as people have been with me. As you follow along on this journey may you also witness the generosity of adventure. I have longed for but never realized, till recently, how this all could be afforded.
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Now in considering what to take on the journey, I am starting to value the idea of renouncing all possessions. Take nothing. Buy what I need there (of course that's not the sanyasi way either). Even so Dad and I just returned from buying gifts. It is our custome to give something to those we meet along the way.
We were given a handy scale to determine the weight of the possessions we plan to take. Oh what judgement! The challenge is to have our check-in bag be no more than 15 kg, which is the limit for most domestic flights within India. My big suitcase is 5 kg empty! So already some changes need to be made. Along with miscellaneous assundry I'm up to 11 kg.
Today I am reflecting on the word "want". It began with hearing someone say "I wouldn't want it any other way" to describe a new travel adventure. I wondered, what would be different if anything was not as they wanted. In three weeks I will be heading out on my own travel adventure. All I am aware of is that I want to go. and I want to see certain people and places. Beyond that I am not sure what I want. Not even sure what to expect. I almost feel that having too much want beyond that would get in the way of fully appreciating the experience. I certainly do not want anyone to get sick or hurt. But I am open to the possibility of that happening, just because things happen, and plan to role with whatever comes. Currently I am visiting my daughter in Michigan. I had to postpone my road-trip a day because the first great winter storm hit the midwest the day I'd "wanted" to travel. We had around six inches of snow. I had to dig out of the drive way. After thirty minutes of shoveling, my dad suggested that maybe I shouldn't go. I was not going to be deterred. I was pretty sure that beyond our poorly shoveled street that the roads were drivable. It wasn't so much that I was thinking, I want this trip, so I'm going to do it. It was more that i felt called to this trip, so whatever it took I would forge through. My wants were pretty irrelevant. I didn't want it to snow, I didn't want to shovel, I didn't want five hours of driving. I did want to go and see my friend and my daughter and I am so appreciating the journey. I questioned my self for asking my friend, who has metastic cancer and doesn't expect to live beyond summer, what she wanted or hoped for in this leg of her journey with cancer. She wants to not have pain, but it is with her always. She wonders how she can appreciate the life around her and still within her through this pain. I find her courage in taking what comes as best as she can. Appreciating that some times things are better. Some times she is angry and frustrated, because none of this she wants. However, she doesn't dwell there in anger. It helps nothing. Her journey is a difficult one. I am grateful to her for sharing it. We all must navigate our wants, our fears, our pains and discover our appreciation along the way. My expressed intention is to appreciate the journey as it unrolls. In whatever I do or say to be thankful to God through my Lord Jesus for the life that is given and the path that lies ahead. 4 Weeks - Waiting All plans and reservations have been set. What is left is the waiting. I keep reminding myself that there are still many details, such as packing. And, even greater, here we are at Christmas. The time for celebration and family. Yet, my mind is in a state of anticipation. My wrestless heart waits for what lies ahead. I have spent a lot of my life waiting. Traveled enough to hurry to many a station , like the one in the photo, to wait. One would think that I would have learned an effective practice. I tend to be anxious. I wish I were more like a child, having a gleeful anticipation for things like Christmas, Birthdays, and trips to Disney. This little video reminds me to turn my anxiety into wonder. Click to see video: The excitement and wonder of a child.....and utter trust. May there also be that child like wonder and anticipation in this Christmas. The world is in desperate need of the Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace.
Five more weeks before we go. It took a while for Dad's visa to come. But it is here. So by this weekend I'll finally settle all of our reservations for travel within India.
Today was the last day of my Hindi class, but I continue to study. This was my final project. Not top notch, but what more can one hope for from a begginer, if I may say so myself. For those of you who can read Hindi this might be interesting. मैं एक उपन्यास लिख रहा हूँ| I am writing a novel. यह प्रथम विश्व युद्ध WWI से पहले भारत में रहता है, lt is life before WWI जो अपने पूर्वजों के जीवन के बारे में है The life of my ancestors वे जर्मनी से ईसाई मिशनरियों किये आये थे। They were Christian missionaries who came from Germany और आदिवासी लोगों के साथ काम करते थे| And worked with Aboriginal people कहानी आजादी के लिए आदिवासी के इतिहास The story tells about the history of the Adivasi और ब्रिटिश राज के साथ संघर्ष के बारे में बताता है। And tells about the conflict with the British Raj. उपन्यास में हर कोई Everyone in the novel एक तेजी से बदलती दुनिया में अपनी पहचान और Their identity in a fast changing world उद्देश्य को खोजने के लिए मांग कर रहा हैं | Are seeking to find their purpose मैं ज्यादातर ऑनलाइन उपन्यास के लिए शोध करते हैं I mostly do research for the novel online इतिहास में चार पीढ़ियों पहेले से मेरे दादा-दीदी डोरिस और फेर्दिनंद History of four generations prior to my grandparents Doris and Ferdinand वे स्कूलों शुरू किया गये थे\ They had started schools वे घरो और काम चंडाल के लिए बनाया गये थे| They created houses and work for the outcastes वे लोगों को अधिव्क्न्ताओ थे They were people’s advocates वे एक स्वयांत्त ईसाई चर्च शुरू में मदद की They helped start an autonomous Christian Church. वे एक बड़ा परिवार थे They had a big family बच्चे जर्मनी में स्कूल बेजा गये थे| The children were sent to school in Germany दो लडकी को भारत में पढ़ी थी| Two girls studied in India चार पीढ़ियों के पीछे किये और भारत में रह चुके हैं | Four generations after have lived in India. और आज आदिवासी को आधे लोगों इसाईं लोग हैं | And Today half the Adivasi are Christian people. दक्षिण एशिया सम्मेलन पिछले साल के लिए मेरा शोध के लिये बहुत मदद किया था| South Asia conference last year was great help to my research आदिवासियों के बारे में विषयों की एक बहुत थे। There were a lot of topics about Adivasis इस साल सम्मेलन में मैंने पसंद कीया लेखकों उपने काम के बारे बात सुनवाई\ This year I enjoyed hearing writers talk about their work. मैं अभीतक उपन्यास नहीं लिखा हूँ । Now, I have never written a novel. तो यह एक बड़ी चुनौती है। So this is a big challenge. मैं शोध कर रहा हूँ और UW-Extension में भी लेखन कार्यशालाओं ले लिया हूँ | I am researching and I have also taken writing workshops at the UW Extension मैं जगह, चरित्र, आवाज, संघर्ष, और साजिश के बारे में लिखने के लिए सीखना पढ़ा हूँ | I have had to learn how to write about Place, Character, Voice, Conflict, and Plot इस शोध बहुत रोचक बनाता है। This makes the research very interesting. यह उदाहरण है की मुझे पता करना है की १८७१ में जब वे शाधी कीये रांची केसा था \ For instance, I have to find out what Ranchi was like in 1871 when they got married there. आज कल रांची यह एक बड़ा शहर है। तो उन दिनों में केवल गाओ था। Now it is a big city. Then it was just a town. जंगले की हालत केसा था? What was the condition of the jungle? लोगों क्या करते थे ? What did the people do? वे कैसे जीये ? क्या खाए? क्या कीये? उनके मकान कैसे थे? कैसे यात्रा करते थे ? किस किस्म कपरे पहिने? How did they live? Eat? Work? What kind of houses? How did they travel? What kind of clothes did they wear? इसके अलावा वे कैसे मरा? Also how did they die? क्योंकी मंसूरी में 1910 mein मेरा बरा-महान-दादा की मौत और कफन हूआ | Because, my great grandfather died and was buried in 1910 in Mussorie. मैंने मुन्सूरी में पढ़ी लेकिन उस समय मुझे मालूम नही थी| Mussoorie is where I studied but I didn’t know about this. मंसूरी रांची से दूर है | रांची झारखण्ड में है | पुराने दिनों में झारखण्ड छोटानागपुर कहाँ गया Mussoorie is far from Ranchi. Ranchi is in Jarkhand. In old days Jarkhand was called Chotanagpur. मैं बहूत सवाल हैं | I have a lot of questions. पुराना भारत कैसे है ? हिंदुओं कब छोटानागपुर आया था? कब मुगलों आया था? ब्रिटिश आए, तब क्या हुआ? रेल आया था, तब क्या हुआ? कब बिजली बनाई थी? When did the Hindus come to Chotanagpur? When did the Moghuls come? What happened when the British came? What happened when the railroad came? When was electricity? क्या भाषाओं में बात कर रहे थे? और अपने पूर्वजों हिंदी और आदिवासी भाषाओं कैसे सीखे ? What languages were spoken? How did my anscestors learn Hindi and the tribal languages? बहुत जवाब भारत में सीखाया जायेगा Many answers will be taught in India. December 8th is a significant date in the family tree. 144 years ago Doris and Ferdinand Hahn were married in the magnificant church in Ranchi. 119 years ago their oldest daughter Louis married Karl Nottrott in the same church. 94 years ago the oldest Nottrott daughter, Marie married Herman Feierabend, in the USA, but they went a year later to India about 400 miles south of Ranchi My parents were expected to get married in 1946 on the same date, but they just couldn't wait, so they got married in October. However, all four generations spent a considerable amount of their adult life in India. It all started with Doris and Ferdinand. All married 25 years apart. We have enjoyed these videos of a train ride found on youtube. The people are talking and singing about their land and history. Top video is short 5.5 minutes. The bottom one is longer. Sorry I can't give a translation. If you want to get a feel for travel in India....there are still places like this..... Enjoy! Much of my research while I will be in India will be about the Adivasi Christians living in Jharkhand. Here is a little background.
The Adivasi people are 8.6% of India's population, over 100 million. These are tribal people, the indigenous people, the original peoples of India. There are many tribes, and the Indian Constitution recognises the Scheduled Tribes, though they continue to struggle to hold on to their land and culture. My anrscestors worked directly with the Oraon tribe, as well as the Munda tribe. These two tribes are very different in language and origins, but they lived together in the jungles of Chotanagpur. Now they are scattered in various Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Chhaatisghar and as far as Assam. About half of the Adivasi today are Christian. In 1868 when my anscestors first arrived in India there were a few thousand Christians in the region. Now the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam alone has over 500,000 members. There are others who are members of the CNI and Catholic church and various other Protestant and Pentecostal churches. This church that my ancestors helped establish remains predominantly Adivasi and was one of the first native churches to receive autonomy (1919). See video above of a Oraon Christian celebration of Thanksgiving. So there is another nine weeks before our grand adventure. I've made my list and I'm checking it twice:
Visa application: DONE. It's a tedious process, but the applications were shipped out and we should get our visas back in a couple of weeks. Likely after Thanksgiving. Gratefully only ten year visa are issued now, so IF I plan to go again (and I do) I don't have to go through this process again. India is making it easier for tourist to come to India. I think they particularly are happy to see those of Indian descent return to Mother India. While never having been an Indian citizen I kind of fall in the category since I have a parent, grandparent and great grandparent born in India. International Air Flight: DONE So apparently people are still spending more than $1000 on round trip tickets between India and the USA. So maybe I can help out anyone interested in going to India. There are cheaper ways to go! My second cousin just bought a ticket from California for $650, our tickets from Chicago were in the $800-$850 range. In the past six months since I started looking into this, I saw tickets as low as $500. There are so many people traveling to India that prices for tickets are getting cheaper and cheaper! Still for most people this is a hefty investment. I highly recommend www.onetravel.com They always seem to offer good rates. You can always go to the airline and see if they have even a cheaper deal for the flights you find on onetravel website. Domestic Flights in India: It seems that India has invested more in its air travel than rail. I hope to get a train trip in somewhere along the way. But mostly we will be flying around India. I haven't purchased the tickets yet. It is amazing to me that to fly across India it can cost between $35 - $75.I plan to purchase them in December. Here again, it's made very easy, or so it seems, with websites such as makemytrip.com or easemytrip.com. The proverbial saying is the taste is in the pudding....so we shall see how it is in the end. Guest Houses: In all the place we are visiting we have found very reasonable (for US rates) guest houses. In most of them the rate is Rupees 2500/day or $37/day. You'll be hearing more about what I experience at each accommodation. Actually in one place our guest house is only $15/day. How I found these various guest houses is through recommendations from friends.o Still not too confident about finding something on line, though hotels are posted on line. So what else is on the check list? Learning Hindi: Progress is being made! मैं हिंदी बोलना सीख रहा हूँ। यह हर दिन बेहतर होते जाता है| Research Preparation: Now here lies my greatest challenge. I don't know what I don't know. I'm making a list of places and peoples to visit. My research so far has been very serendipitous,following leads that have brought me to some very interesting discoveries (primarily on line). I truly cannot imagine my self ever breaking out of this mold of the accidental researcher. However, when it comes to visiting places and people I may need to be more intentional and systematic. Spiritual Preparation: perhaps more than any other time in my life I believe that I have been lead to this very time, by a power much greater than myself, for a purpose that reaches beyond just writing a book. This does not mean that I anticipate anything dramatic. What I anticipate is that every encounter, every location, every experience be full of meaning. I am preparing myself and quieting myself in hopes of enhancing my perceptions so that I won't miss out on the full experience. Honestly, it is a challenge. It is challenging to be attentive when there is sensory over load in a cross cultural environment. It's a challenge to keep attentive when one is perpetually on the move. On the other hand the senses can be made alive by the newness of experience. But beyond my personal receptivity, I also believe, it is necessary to be spiritually prepared to be generous with one's self. Can I leave every place or person better than when we met? I don't want to be guilty of being the consumate consumerist tourist. I hope that I am able to share any part of myself and enhance the lives of those I meet on this journey. Partly, I do this, with a clear sense of reciprocity. We all have something to share with each other. In everything there is love, faith and hope, may the greatest always be love. With God this is possible. The itinerary for the trip to India is taking shape. John Steinbeck once wrote, “we think we take a trip, but a trip really takes us.” I have to say that is how it has been and continues to be for this Heritage Trip to India. Doors have opened, support flows in from all sides, interests spark, and expectations mount. There are so many places of interest in India that it is hard to exclude some places. However, we are settling on an itinerary that is full of very specific intentions and promising purpose.
Please join in the journey by following on this blog. There are ten weeks till our departure, during which I will share some background information. For now I share a sketch of where the trip will take us. Mumbai: This is one of India’s largest cities. A dear friend lives there and it is the best way to see the city, through the eyes of a Mumbaikar. It typically has been the place of arrival and departure for me, but I always leave it enchanted, hoping to return and wanting to learn more. Reading: City Adrift, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, Em and the Big Hoom. Movies: The Lunchbox, Life in a Metro, Salaam Bombay, Slumdog Millionaire, Ye He Mumbai Mera Jaan. Ranchi, Jharkand: we will be spending a little over three weeks there. From there we will visit other places where my ancestors lived: Chaibassa and Lohardaga (in Jharkhand) and Purulia (in West Bengal). Books about Adivasi: Chota Munda’s Arrow, Harma’s Village (harder to find copies) Movies of Ranchi today: https://youtu.be/VVDLfM03YHo Kolkata: There are various museums and archives that I would like to visit, and it remains to be seen still what all I may find there. To my great delight the timing perfectly coincides with a friend’s son’s wedding. This is like icing on the cake, to attend a traditional Hindu wedding. Movie: a random video on youtube to show what a wedding is like: https://youtu.be/-S9LjkI-KBs Darjeeling: This is where my father went to school. It is a spectacular mountain hill station. Movie: Darjeeling Limited is not the right movie to tell you about Darjeeling. This youtube is quite lovely https://youtu.be/P5Vo_nK5qvU New Delhi: This is one of India’s large cities that I am most familiar with. Unfortunately the pollution has made it one of the less favorable places for me, but some dear friends and colleagues will be the highlight of my stay there. I hope to get in a visit to the Taj Mahal which is south of Delhi. Movie: Here is a basic tourist video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=093hf63pM24 Mussoorie: Another of India’s lovely mountain towns. My friend and I are making this a regular retreat for writing. It is the place where I went to school and is the closest place to “home” for me in this world. Photos: a classmate’s brother has published a wonderful book about Mussoorie Then and Now https://plus.google.com/photos/106976621613437674265/albums/6038930564719533217?banner=pwa Dehra Dun: At the base of the Himalaya foothills is a city where I will visit friends. |
Mary GirardI will be traveling and visiting India, with my Father. Our primary destination in India is Ranchi, Jharkhand. We will also visit other towns and cities in that north-eastern region as well as other places in India. Archives
May 2016
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