Both Carmen and I are quite surprised to see the amount of people at NJP station. The whole area is under extreme military surveillance. As we head to the exit we are asked to go though a metal detector before leaving the station. We are now at in the area of India called «Chickens Neck» bordering Bangladesh, Bhoutan, Nepal and China. The Chinese have been wanting this strategic piece of land for quite some time and the Indian government set up big military camps in the area to control the coming and going of trucks, passengers, etc. I did not remember it to be under so much control the last time I was here exactly 4 years ago for a month doing social work at the Ashram.
As we stand in line to phone Father Julius (the Jesuit father running the Ashram with whom I have become good friens with) we notice a change in the faces and style of dress here. Many passengers are from Nepal and the surrounding hill area and are wearing jeans and big sweaters or polar jackets. Salwars are not warm enough or adapted clothes in this region.
Julius soon arrives with a young Jesuit brother working for the hospital during 6 months. I am anxious to see the changes in the Ashram since I was last there. For those of you who don’t know Jesu Ashram, it is a hospital for the poor and destitute with 4 wards for the sick: leprosy, TB, general sicknesses and a recently added AIDS ward. They are partly sponsered by the Indian government from whom they receive medicine and food. Mostly they manage by private sponsors from all over the world like Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, etc. Since we arrive in the evening and it is already dark we will begin our visit the next morning.
The road from the station to the Ashram is extremely busy with trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, autorickshaws, bicycle rickshaws. He tells us that the government wants to boost the economy and education in West Bengal State and has set up an big amount of IT and management schools. I begin to find the area familiar when as we arrive near the river running nearby the Ashram and where many poor families (mostly from Bangladesh) break stones for a living…
I am pleased to see some familiar faces as we arrive: Stella (from the kitchen of general ward), Kanchi (the deaf girl), Elicius (running the leprosy ward), Raju (the driver), the gardener... The staff running the Ashram has changed alot, the sisters I used to know are now working in other places. We meet the new superior sister and the other 2 catholic sisters (all qualified nurses running the different wards) and Father Millege (an old and very strict Jesuit father)... Here is an idea of the size and geographical location of the Asrham.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=26.716342&lon=88.375408&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2
We are invited to stay and have meals with the staff for the next 2 days. I am staying in the same room as last time and Carmen is in the room next to me. Since I was last here there have been many visitors and people doing social periods. Just the day before a group of 8 Austrians were there for 2 weeks. We meet a 20 year old German girl who is staying for 1 year. She wanted to do something useful between school and her studies. She looks like a doctor running around the place with her white jacket, glasses and notebook. Let’s say she has made herself quite useful since she has arrived giving classes to students, feeding babies, checking up on the AIDS patients, etc. We hope she also gets some time to rest in between!
The next morning we are invited by Julius to visit the place. It has grown alot, the GW now has 3 floors, compared to 1 before and there are now 50 nursing students compared to the 10 he began with and a new AIDS ward with 15 beds. It makes everything alot more work to organize, but seems to be going all right. Julius now has a mobile phone and is available at almost any time of the day. He has been running the place for the past 7 years, but it seems he is running around alot more now.
In the afternoon we go on an outing with Julius and visit the tea garden region nearby. Many of the nursing students come from the tea gardens. The tea estates are well organised with housing for each family, schools, clinics, a church or temple. It is a Hindu holiday today and the villages we pass are empty. People have gone for a walk or have left for a picnic by the river.
I love the atmosphere of the tea gardens. There is a slight haze and the trees that give shade to the tea gardens make it very beautiful. We look closer and see a tea bush flower and further away a teak tree. In India you can get fined if you cut down a teak tree as they are protected. The vegetation here is very lush and there is a big mix of types of trees. Apparently along the roads we take you can sometimes see elephants just before the sun goes down. There are even observatory stations where entire villages take turns keeping watch for elephants than are known for causing big destruction.We also pass by some military camps in the region housing entire familes. In Panighatta we stop for a break and say hello to a parish friend of Julius living in a convent. They always seem to have lovely gardens in front of the house with flowers and plants. Inside it is a little impersonal and there are many images of the Pope and Mother Teresa. We meet a lovely elderly Nepali lady called Missing. She has been helping out the Catholic Sisters for many years and is now retiring in the convent. The Catholics in this region have many well known schools where all the education is given in English. Funny how all these houses have servants and drivers…
Before we head back we drive towards the river that makes the natural border separating India with Nepal.
