Returning to Lucknow 3 years and 4 months after leaving

Roshini and I had planned on visiting Lucknow in 2017, after about three months of teaching at
the Filadelfia Bible College in Udaipur, but I had a health problem and had to cut short my time at
the college, and we had to give up going to Lucknow, and went directly to Trivandrum to consult
with my oncologist.

In 2018, we travelled to the UK to spend time with Elishba, Joe, Sophie and Zach, and the USA to be
with Ishaaq, Jess, Priya, Alisha and Juliet, and so any other travel was out of the question.

Finally God has enabled Roshini and me to travel to Lucknow. We left on Saturday, Nov. 2 in the
morning and after a tiresomely long layover in Bangalore we arrived in Lucknow. Ashish Khan
(Associate Pastor of Grace Bible Church) picked us up and dropped us at Asha Deep, the North
India HQ for Operation Mobilisation. We are staying in the same apartment that we occupied in
1997, when Grace Bible Church started in the upper hall. Our family stayed there for four months
and the church met at the OM Base for about four years, thanks to the North India director Pradip
Ayer and his team giving us permission and moral support. Our present stay is courtesy of Bishop P V
Kurien, who heads OM in North India.

Jerusha (who is virtually a daughter, after her parents Usha and Manohar Antin, though they had
their own siblings, had designated me her guardian while she was in school, in case anything should
happen to them) came with her parents to take us to church. Jerusha does take her role in my life
seriously and I love it. (Jerusha also gave me her scooter to use while I was in Lucknow).

On knowing of our plan to visit Lucknow and attend Grace Bible Church,
Pastor John Thomas Raja invited me to
preach at the service on Sunday, the 10th.

I had forgotten that Grace Bible Church had

bilingual services with Hindi interpretation of
messages. Pastor Ashish translated for me as
he had done earlier while I was based in
Lucknow. He did a terrific job.

After the service I met Akansha, Ashish’s

“bride” for the first time. Though she had
never met me in person, after a personal
crisis in her life she started to call me “Papa”
because of the love
and care I gave her
from a distance.
 Muanding Guite is a new member
of Grace Bible Church, who was
very enthusiastic about meeting
me, having read my articles in
Light of Life while working in
Bombay.

Bunny, who was recently in Trivandrum, was happy to

meet us again.

And here’s Jerusha…

…with her parents Usha and Manohar Antin

Usha is Sunday School superintendent and
Manohar has been the secretary of the Board of Elders from the
time I was here

Shobha Praksh was a member of Lalbgh Methodist Church, while

I was pastor, and migrated to Grace Bible Church when it started.
She has been a faithful friend, who also has given me the status
of her father just for being the one who reached out to her when
she had a health crisis.
While I was still pastor of Grace Bible Church, Akanksha Chopra
used to attend occasionally, as her mother Shalini Meerza was
attending our church. However they never stayed for after-
service fellowship, until one day, I “gruffly” asked/urged them
to stay, and to get me off their back, said they were staying.
After we left, and Akanksha had finished her course of studies,
she could attend regularly and did. Here she is meeting me for
the first time after that.

When I left, Arpit

Prakash (Shobha’s
nephew) was still
in high school,
having known him
from the time he
was in primary
school. He was
home from college
during a break and
shares a light
moment with me.

Arpit’s younger sister Arpita had just started

school when I got to know her. She is now in
high school.
 When we left Lucknow, Arnav
Verma was just a little boy

Della Singh has been a Sunday School teacher for the little
ones for a very long time.

Fellowship time
with special eats

Roshini is talking to Tabitha Lugun. Tabitha

regards me as her Papa, after her father’s
death.

Srishti, talking to Roshini, is Tabitha’s

daughter
 Poonam Modwell, after her father’s death, started to call me “Papa”
and in the next picture is her son Amrit.

Ruth Chakravarty, standing next to Roshini,

is her former colleague from Isabella
Thoburn College where Roshini taught
from 1975 to 2015.

Roshini talking to Akanksha and her mother Shalini

Sandy was a motherless girl, who was left at an orphanage by her

father who remarried. After finishing high school she came to
Ashish’s parents home to help with their little school. Over the
years with Ashish’s mother’s encouragement and support Sandy
completed her graduation and also did her degree in education.
During this time when her father died, because I was her pastor
she started to call me “Papa”.
 Tabitha’s daughter
Srishti

Pushpa Singh is a widow. I had been visiting her

regularly from the time when her husband was alive

Lunch that day was at the home of Nalin Phillips, Manjuli (aka Manji) and Bunny. Nalin and Manji
opened their home along with their children Bunny and his sister Fizza when Grace Bible Church had
to move from the meeting hall at Operation Mobilisation. For four years, their drawing room and
dining room and lounge was converted into a sanctuary by arranging chairs in rows. The pulpit was
placed in the lounge in such a way that people sitting in the drawing and dining rooms could also see
the preacher and some portions of the gathering. The takeover of these rooms took place every
Saturday evening. Then on Sunday mornings the family used to get ready fast so that their bedrooms
could be taken over for Sunday School classes. While the church has its own sanctuary now, the
Sunday School continues to meet next door in their home. Grace Bible Church owes them big time.
And I, as the pastor of the church during this period when the church was “homeless”, owe them all
– especially Manji, as the brunt of it all fell on her.

I got Manji to invite Akanksha to join us so that we

could get to know her more. I’m that free with Manji
because she has regarded me as her elder brother for
a very long time. I knew her when she was in college,
and years later, soon after the family started to
attend Lalbagh, Bunny had to be hospitalised after a
fall from the rooftop, and I was there for the family.
Shobha invited us to dinner, while Arpit was still home. He was to leave the next day back to his
college hostel. We met Raju’s bride Shalini for the first time in the morning.

On Monday, November 4th, Jerusha took

us to see folks at the Lalbagh Methodist
Church. From September 1974 to August
1997, I was pastor at Lalbagh. Ishaaq and
Elishba grew up in parsonage and played
in these grounds. Later my mother died
in the parsonage. Lots and lots of
memories…

Maya helped with all the house work. When

we went on vacation, we left our keys with
her so that she could get the place ready on
our return. Her husband Gyan Das was
employed at the school nearby but helped
clean the church. Their son Sanjay is a
paraplegic. Standing to my right is Rajesh, the
gardener I had appointed just before leaving
the Methodist Church.

We had tea with Malini and her mother Mrs Shireen Revis. Sadly no one thought of taking any
pictures.

Tuesday morning, Radhey Shyam, a former gardener at Lalbagh, came with his wife, son
Rajjan, daughter-in-law Madhu and grandson to see us. While Radhey was working at
Lalbagh he had arranged for Hemchand to give him a helping hand with the gardening as
a casual daily-wager. Later on Operation Mobilisation engaged Hemchand as their
gardener. He is seen just in front of the grandson who was walking away from being
photographed.
In the foreground, taking a
selfie, is Radhey’s son Rajjan.
Suseela, who has visited us in Trivandrum, treated us to a movie on Tueday afternoon. We were
joined by Miriam, who is payging guest in
Suseela’s home while working for an NGO.

Dinner was at Della’s home. Her sons Anshuman

and Sumitabh joined us

Wednesday, sixth, we went to Allipur village

to see the developments at the St Paul’s
School, and then had lunch with Pastor J T
Raja and his wife Jeba (No pictures).

Dinner was with Vineeta and Pradeep Gunnar. Their children Mayank and Monica had been in the
Sunday School at Lalbagh and for a while Vineeta was a Sunday School teacher. Mayank and his
family had recently migrated to Canada, while Monica was already living abroad. (No pictures again).

Thursday, the 7th, Jerusha picked up Roshini and took her to Isabella Thoburn College during the
chapel service time and she got to meet a number of her former colleagues (though most are not in
the picture below)
While Roshini was doing
that, with Jerusha’s help
I went to the cemetery
to check on my mother’s
grave, whether it was
still in good condition.
After scouting around for
a particular medicine I
needed, we went to the
Tunday Kebab place and
picked up a batch before
picking up Roshini from
the college
In the evening, Suseela invited us to dinner to
celebrate our wedding anniversary. After Ishaaq
and Elishba left, Geetu took over celebrating my
birthday with a cake. Suseela’s Miriam baked the
cake fo our anniversary, taking over Geetu’s role.

Friday, eighth, we spent midmorning with

Pushpa Singh. She fed us so many snacks that we
didn’t need lunch afterwards.

In the evening we went Tabitha, Manohar and Srishti’s home for dinner. Their friend Rupam joined
us. (Sadly, no one thought of taking pictures)

Saturday, ninth, Lucknow turned into a bit of ghost town in the morning. Many shops were closed.
There was little traffic on the road. There was foreboding in the air, all because of the apprehension
about riots that could be arise because of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Babri Masjid that was
to be delivered midday. However nothing untoward happened in Lucknow – typically.

Jerusha came and took us for

ride on the Metro Rail. When
we left Lucknow in 2016 all that
was there were dugup roads in
preparation for setting up
Metro Rail. Everything is
unbelievably clean. No eating
paan and spitting. So if it can
be done on the Metro, why
can’t it be enforced all over the city?

After the ride, we went home with Jerusha to have dinner with her family, including Usha’s niece’s
son, who is very attached to Manohar, and is in and out of their home
 And then it was another Sunday – the tenth. I got to carry Silas for some time. His
family is new to the church and were not there the previous Sunday. Silas’s father
Tanner is in the picture below.

On the previous Sunday, we had missed

getting any picture with Pastor Raja and
his wife Jeba. That was remedied

Lunch was with Sweata Lal, son Armaan,

and mother-in-law Malathi (no pictures)

As soon as we announced that we were

coming to Lucknow, Akansha Khan
invited us to dinner on the 10th. Roshini
had alerted me that it would be Ashish’s
birthday. Ashish picked us up and we got
to meet Akansha’s family, who had also
come to celebrate the occasion

Sandy didn’t eat with us, but was

going to eat with Akansha’s family
later on.

Monday, eleventh, different folks

dropped in on us. Devanshi
Bhatnagar, who was a faithful
worshipper at Grace Bible Church,
came with her mum to see us (Sadly, no picture).
In the evening Roshini went to her former colleague Sunita Khanduja’s home. Sunita had organised a
gathering of others who had retired from the college so that Roshini could meet them and spend
time with them

In February 2005, Grace Bible Church dedicated its sanctuary. Our

VIP was little Grace daughter of OM workers Ashang and Rinon,
who were attending the church. After Grace cut the ribbon, the
Sunday School children entered first and then welcomed the
adults into the sanctuary. "A little child shall lead them... the
Kingdom of God belongs to children.”

And on Tuesday, the twelfth, I met Grace again. I had

carried her back then. She carried me on her scooter
and gave me a ride in the compound
Devina Kapahi came to see me. When Grace Bible
Church started she was there, until her circumstances
changed.

After that Martha came with Sandy, and brought

Sandy’s brother Solomon and his fiancée Reshu

I have known Suneel Chowdhary from 1975. He is now a pastor of

the Assembly of Believers’ Church. He was kind enough to come
and take us to see Gladys.

In 1989, from first week of January to mid-

February, Gladys was a part of our family.
She was the caregiver for my mother when
she was terminally ill. She is now 94 years
old.
 Gladys’s daughters, one son-in-
law, three of her grandchildren
all came together to meet us.
Some of them had to go
elsewhere soon after meeting
us, before we started to take
pictures.

In the evening we had dinner

with Poonam and Ravi Modwell
and their son Amrit (no pictures
taken)

Manji and Nalin Phillips came to

see us before we left for
Rupaidiah on Wednesday, 13th.

Rupaidiah is home to Jenny and Roy Ramble and their youngest, Rachel. We have a long history and
a special bond with Jenny. There was a period in her life when she needed a home and she came and
stayed with us until her marriage to Roy. We were virtually the parents who gave her in marriage,
and I performed the marriage too. Every time we’ve gone to Rupaidiah, either Jenny makes it a point
to refer to us as “parents” or Roy makes it a point to refer to us as “in-laws” so that everybody there
knows who we are and why we are fussed over so much.

Roy came all the way to pick us up and take us in their SUV. The road has improved so much that
what used to take four and a half to five and a half hours took only 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The Rambles run a school, a women’s empowerment work, a home for girls from backward areas
and also have a church there.

Fourteenth, Roshini visited SEEMA

(Social Endeavour to Elevate Mahila
(women) Awareness) in the morning.

In the afternoon the Junior School

sports day was held and Roshini was
the chief guest.
In the evening, I led a Bible study for the girls of the home and the staff on campus.

The next day nothing much happened, except that in the afternoon we were invited to witness the
finals of some sporting events of the senior boys.

One reason we were asked by the Rambles to be in Rupaidiah for this particular weekend was that
the sixteenth of November is Rachel’s birthday. After school as a family we drove into Nepalganj
and had lunch at a restaurant run by an
American, and in the evening there was a
party with Rachel’s friends from school, the
girls’ home and the school staff.
Among those attending the party was Ratna Rana and her husband
Vishnu, a pastor in Nepal. While Ratto, as she was known then, was
a student in Lucknow, she used to attend Grace Bible Church and
Roshini and I were her guardians

The Rambles knew, of course, that 17th is

Roshini’s birthday, and so they had
coordinated things so that there was a
cake for Roshini to cut

Sunday, seventeenth, I preached (with interpretation) in the

church and after an early lunch we made our way back to
Lucknow.

After we got back, Ashang, who manages the Operation

Mobilisation base, brought his family to meet us. Ashang, Rinon
and Grace I had met separately earlier. Roshini and I were meeting
Shanpei after many years. When we saw him last he was just five
years old.
Neha Arora used to come to Grace Bible Church a long time ago, before she moved to Bombay. She
came to see me and brought her friend Ishita along. We had a wonderful time together and I prayed
for Neha and the baby she is expecting and Ishita’s future plans.

Martha and Stanley, Manji and Bunny also turned up to wish Roshini for her
birthday.

Pastor Raja came to take us to the airport. Jerusha came with him to pick up her
scooter