There and back again... A Vellore tale

Last time I'd been home, I struck upon the idea of visiting my Periamma (Mum's elder sis) and Periappa (her hubby!) in Vellore as they were down here from Aus. I hadn't seen Periamma since Thaatha (Grandpa) passed away in May 2006. I hadn't been to Vellore since December '05 cos I didn't feel like visiting Periamma after she moved out of the house in the wonderful CMC Bhagayam campus. :(

Anyways, a coupla calls to Periamma got me a lil bit of totally-deserved sleep (I missed getting off the train at the right station). A couple more calls found me trying to locate a place called Otteri (which till then I thought existed only in my hometown of Chennai). Then I was home.... Man! What a home. If ever you've lived in CMC's Bhagayam campus and you shift out, this is the place to live in!!! It was really grand.

Overall, the trip was good. I had some nice time chatting with Periappa and Periamma - discussing work, life and the Christianity of things. I even managed to stun Periappa with "How do Credit cards figure with the values set out by the Bible?" and he was like "Wha..... ?!?!?!" Pretty cool, innit?! :D -grin- -grin-

One of the highlights of the trip was attending the wedding of one of Periappa's friends. It was a typical Hindu wedding - and so it had me questioning the lack of Indianity in Christianity in this country. (Ref. Sadhu Sundar Singh) Let's take apart a Christian wedding, for example. We've got the Church service, the reception thereafter, etc. etc. etc. But exactly how Indian is any of that? All our Christian customs and norms seem to have been handed down from the West - not surprising really, considering that the West gave us Christianity -but still... There's nothing Satanic or anti-Christian about a Nadaswaram; and there shouldn't be. Yet, we don't have such things in a Christian marriage... Instead, we have Here Comes The Bride played by a mini-Orchestra. Seriously... We're in India, but not of India. I'm not saying we should all conduct our Christian marriages in Mandapams with the nadaswaram playing... But we do tend to overlook it as a non-christian custom - and that we shouldn't be doing.

One more thing - Periamma has started this thingy of vada-frying at her church every Sunday after service. Apparently, it has been taken up by the Women's Fellowship of her church as an activity to engage the church-comers to stay and fellowship after service. Me thinks its a wonderful idea (which has been followed from time immemorial).

I guess that's it for now. God seems to be stirring up something big - come 2008, I'll know. And when I know, I'll let this lil space on the web know. But till next time, Adios amigos!

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