pojo: ON THE BANKS OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA

I had the opportunity to visit the North-East recently. I left Jeolikote the day after the Midlife Transition and the Spiritual Journey programme concluded on the 31^st July. I had been invited to do two workshops, one for the staff and the other for the MBA students at Don Bosco Institute in Guwahati, located on a picturesque hill on the banks of the Brahmaputra. Don Bosco Institute has become a premier institute in the North-East offering a variety of services for young people of the region. It has been graced by visits from the Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, who have left very appreciative messages and which are displayed at the Institute entrance named after the Prime Minister.

The day after I reached there, that is on the 4^th August, I was able to make a trip to Tura, a major town in Meghalaya. The Salesians of Don Bosco run a Teachers Education College there. The College has been doing extraordinarily well. Last year (I believe the very first year it sent students for the University exams) it bagged seven of the first 10 ranks in the University. A remarkable achievement!

The trip to the North East gave me an opportunity to spend some time with a few of my friends from my Novitiate days: Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, Fr. Stephen Mavely, currently Vice-Chancellor of Don Bosco University, Fr. V. M. Thomas, Director of Don Bosco Institute, Guwahati, Fr. V. A. Cyriac, former Principal of Don Bosco College, Tura and currently with the Don Bosco University, Fr. C. A. John, Pastor at a small town in Assam, the name of which I unfortunately do not remember. The six of us spent a few hours together on the banks of the Brahmaputra, sharing experiences and recalling the old days. I was also later able to meet with another old friend, Peter Paul Haunar, who is also with Don Bosco University currently.

I was very happy to make a trip to Siloam, an Institute for Transformational Leadership run by another friend and fellow psychologist, Fr. George Palamattam, at Barapani, a few miles before Shillong. It’s a lovely centre, with very picturesque scenery all around.

I got back to Jeolikote on the 16^th August. The Kumaon region has been badly affected by continuous rain this last month. Train and road services were badly disrupted. It took me 8 hours to reach Jeolikote from Lal Quan where the Ranikhet Express was terminated at 5 am because the tracks were flooded. Normally the train would have reached Kathgodam around 5.20 am from where I could have reached Jeolikote in half an hour.