Trip to India: God, Where Are You?

By Jim Franks

Dave Baker and I are continuing our trip around India. We have traversed the country from west to east, from New Delhi to Kolkata; and north to south, from Kolkata to Mumbai and Hyderabad; and then back north again to Moradabad and Agra; then south to Chennai. From Chennai, we fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to visit the members in that country.

Driving in India

Most of our trip has been by air, but we did spend two days driving in the northern part of the country, going from New Delhi to Moradabad and then on to Agra before returning to New Delhi for our flight to Chennai. If all this sounds confusing, check out a map of India and you will see what a large territory we will cover during our 10 days in the country.

I have traveled by vehicle in some of the largest cities in the world, but nothing prepares you for the driving in India.

Our driver is a Hindu named Jasbir. In India, the Hindus have no love for the Muslims, and the Muslims have no love for the Hindus. In reality, their religions contain built-in conflicts. The Hindus worship the cow, but the Muslims eat beef. The Muslims avoid pork, but the Hindus keep pigs for food. The Hindus revere monkeys and other animals, but the Muslims worship Allah and revere the prophet Muhammad. In most parts of India you will find communities where the overwhelming majority is either Muslim or Hindu or, in a few cases, Christian. When these religious groups live in the same village, there is often conflict and sometimes violence.

When riding in a vehicle in India, you learn very quickly that the lines on the streets and highways mean nothing. Driving is more like a sport in India, where you can drive on either side of the road at any time, or you can simply straddle the white line, swerving to avoid cars coming at you or taking to the shoulder to keep from colliding with cars driving beside you.

People constantly walk in the streets and on the highways. When driving a vehicle in the U.S. (and most other countries) you do everything to avoid hitting a pedestrian, but in India it seems that drivers point their vehicles directly at pedestrians with the understanding that the pedestrians will move before the car gets there. It is nerve-racking to say the least!

Jasbir, with a smile on his face, told us that in India you need three things to be a driver: good brakes, a good horn and good luck! After two days in a vehicle, driving more than 750 kilometers (about 500 miles) through villages and cities, I believe his analysis is correct.

Tarun Ghosh’s story

Our first stop after getting settled in Kolkata was to visit Tarun Ghosh and his family. Tarun was raised in a Methodist household. When it comes to religion in India, 82 percent are Hindu, 12.5 percent are Muslim, and only 2.5 percent are Christian. So Tarun was used to being in the minority, but coming into the Church made him part of an even smaller minority. In fact, Tarun is our only baptized member in Kolkata, a city of several million people.

The Methodist religion never answered the big questions of life for Tarun; and the more he searched the Scriptures, the more confused he became. He concluded that the Methodists were not teaching the truth as he saw it in the Bible, but what should he do?

In the year 2004 Tarun purchased his first computer. One day he decided to type this question into one of the search engines: “God, where are you?” As you can imagine, thousands of webpages addressed that issue. As he went down the list of responses, after several pages he came across a small icon, a picture of a booklet titled Are We Living in the Last Days? He immediately went to the link where the booklet was located and wrote an email to the address under the booklet.

After reading more literature, he asked for someone to contact him. In 2006 Dave Baker made contact with Tarun and his family. He began counseling him for baptism and then baptized him in 2008.

Tarun is a 54-year-old schoolteacher. He and his wife, Seema, along with their 18-year-old daughter, Priscilla, live on the outskirts of Kolkata. Dave Baker and I spent a wonderful evening with the family in their home. Sadly, almost two years ago, just as Seema was preparing to begin counseling for baptism, she had a stroke and is now paralyzed on her right side and has difficulty talking. Tarun and Priscilla take turns caring for Seema. They have limited funds, but they do hire a lady to stay with Seema during the daytime while they are both at school. It is possible that physical therapy would help Seema learn to walk again; but with no insurance, the family simply can’t afford it.

The Feast

Since the Feast was held in Kolkata this past year, Seema was able to attend with Tarun and Priscilla. This gave the family great hope and appreciation. The Feast will be held again this year (2014) at the same resort on the outskirts of Kolkata, so Seema, Tarun and Priscilla are already looking forward to it.

You see, the Feast is the only time they get to meet with other members. Because of this, each Feast takes on special meaning. This is true for all the members in India. In most cases they are scattered and alone except for other members of their family. One of our goals for the future is to secure high-speed Internet for everyone so that Dave Baker can make regular contact and conduct Sabbath services and Bible studies over Skype for all the members. This will be a big step forward for the members scattered throughout India.

I was inspired by Tarun’s story. Surely God works in mysterious ways in each of our lives. To type in the question “God, where are you?” and from that become a baptized member of the Church four years later is one of the more remarkable stories I have heard. John 6:44 is clear: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” And there seems to be no limit as to how God may choose to draw someone!

On to Hyderabad

From Kolkata, we head down to Hyderabad to visit the Ali sisters. Their mother, Dr. Ali, was the first baptized member in India. Although she was baptized in 1960 while doing her medical studies in Great Britain, she moved back to India in 1962 and was the only baptized member of the Radio Church of God in India until another couple, the Kulisingams, were baptized in 1966.

The Ali sisters, Arjumand and Nargis, have a fascinating story to tell about their mother and their lives in the Church of God. I would like to share their story next time.

From Kolkata, India,

Jim Franks