...in which sean and i have an amazing experience in batala

sean and i spent two amazing days with some very kind people in batala, india, visiting the school that my great aunt lilly started as a methodist missionary. it will take a number of posts to share about the school, program, and the things we have learned.

amritsar is the big city south of batala in the punjab. the punjab is an amazing region with a sikh majority. the state of punjab has been split on two occasions. first, partition in 1947 when india and pakistan split, and then again in 1966 when the new hindu speaking state of haryana was created. in the punjab they speak punjabi. the area surrounding the city is farm land, and very green and clean looking. we saw a lot of rice and wheat growing. we caught an evening train, 5:30 to batala. we have been trying to communicate with the school in batala, but this has been difficult. i sent a number of letters while still in china, but the chinese mail system is not good, and the indian system worse, and none of them made it through. i have been trying to e-mail through my grandparents and the bishop in delhi, but was never able to make direct contact with anyone at the school. as a result, sean and i had no idea what was waiting for us. after being crammed with 6 people to a bench in 100 degree heat for an hour we stopped in batala. we hopped off the train for our fist major shock: we hadn't stopped at a platform! with my hurt ankle, and our heavy packs, we took a minute to stare at each other in shock, looking up and down the rows between the trains hoping none of the decided to move before we found a way out. eventually some kind people directed us to hop through another train and we found our way to the platform. we climbed up and down the trains from the gravel, pushing my pack ahead of us.

we took a moment to collect ourselves and it was clear that our communication efforts had failed and there was no one to meet us. we struck out from the train station looking for a hotel. we got a lot more stares than normal, i can't imagine foreigners are a common sight in batala (which i am told has a population of about 200,000, but seemed a lot smaller). when sean and i bought our tickets in amritsar the ticket agent thought he had misheard me when i announced our destination. i had to yell three times before he said, "you mean batala? you want to go to batala?!" yes!!

we found a hotel, and then decided we didn't like it and found another. by this time it was dark, so we camped out in the restaurant for some amazing chicken tikka, paneer tikka, and a beer. while we were there a little boy came in and said his father invited us for breakfast the next morning at 9:00. we accepted the invitation and went to bed feeling excited and welcome.

the next morning was the dawn of the 59th indian independence day. it was cool and rainy and we went to wait for the boy downstairs to go to breakfast. he never showed up, so sean and i started walking to find the school or breakfast, which ever we found first. i was worried that we would find no one at the school, no school would be open in america on the 4th of july, and we didn't realize that august 15th was independece day when we planned our trip. sean and i walked for a while and found kahnuwan road, the address we had for the school. after wandering around for a while, looking extremely lost, i am sure, a man helped us find the school. as soon as we showed him the address he knew exactly where we wanted to go. he led us past the church, and pointed us down a road. at the end of the road we saw a sign:

lilly swords methodist college of education

we found it!! it was a white sign with blue and white lettering and the methodist cross and flame. the school did look deserted, however. we asked a group of little boys where we could find the head master the pointed us to the assembly hall. when we got there, we realized we had arrived right in the middle of an independece day assembly. we met miss alka hamid masih, and the principal of the high school. we explained to them who were were and were warmly welcomed. they had no idea we were coming. no idea. we felt badly, like we were crashing their party, but they were quick thinkers and made us feel very welcome. we were seated in the front of the hall and listened to the pastor speak. the children were sitting cross-legged on mats in rows all the way to the back of the room. there were 30 children per row and perhaps 25 rows or more. it was hard to count. i was particularly struck by how well behaved the children were, peace and quiet and attention like nothing i could ever expect out of my students in china. even the tiny little kids, 5 years old, were paying rapt attention. miss alka made an impromptu announcement of our visit and introduced us. we stood at the front of the room and waved at the children and i said a few words. this, and we had only arrived 5 minutes ago! then, they welcomed us with garlands of sparkling something, which girls came and placed around our necks like they do in hawaii. i wish i could remember what they were called, but i didn't catch the name. we finished up the ceremony and went to have a snack with the staff.

they explained that indian independence day is really celebrated for 2 days. on the 15th the students come to school and there are presentations and festivities. we missed most of the morning program but we were invited to attend the afternoon program at 5:00. it was a cultural program put on by the hostel students (the children who live at the school, 425 residents in all). more about that later. on the 16th, there are no classes and teachers have the day off.

sean and i need to get going, but next time i write i will recount our tour of the school. we had an amazing tour filled with great information and history. before we go, though, i will give some basic facts. the school was started by my great aunt, lilly swords, from germany, educated in america. she and another german missionary, hildegard grams, are largely responsible for building the school into what it is today. miss grams enlarged the school substantially. miss swords was involved in the purchasing of the land, the school has 13 acres and even grow their own rice and wheat, which they process on the school grounds. they also grow some vegetables. the school now has about 1600 students, from the ages of 5-20. of these students, 425 live in beautiful hostel accommodation...more on all of this later. classes are taught in three different programs, in the punjabi, hindi, and english languages. sean and i were very impressed by the peace and serenity of the school grounds. india is a very chaotic place, and at times the noise and dirt can be overwhelming. these children are very lucky to have this safe and beautiful school. the grounds are amazingly well-cared for and there are many trees with green, healthy grass. birds sang and chipmunks ran around. the paths connecting the brick buildings are all brick, too. the campus is extremely beautiful and seems a whole world away from crazy batala, right outside the gates.

i will write more later, but if you had questions or specific details you would like me address, please leave those comments so i don't leave anything out.

also: the site for the school and their newest project, the lilly swords methodist college of education, is:

www.lillyswordsbatala.org