Reaching Nagpur Seminary

Itarsi Railway station

The train from Itarsi was late allowing me to settle down on the railway station, watch life on the platform (that included men, women, children as well as cattle!) , watch amusingly as the cow and the train battled for space on the railway track and relish on some "Bread Omlett" (beaten eggs with bread). I sent off my cousin Binoy, who had been with me all this while, on the train back to Bhopal . The late train also ensured that I could sleep the whole night and reach Nagpur only by early dawn which was nice because the person coming to pick me did not have to stay up in the night.

Mr. Oommen who was the Principal Fr. Bijesh Philip's secretary had come to pick me up. Bijesh achen was kind enough to arrange this even though I had not directly spoken with achen at the time. I knew Fr. Shaji John since achen had been with us in Albany, NY for a Holy Week service in one of the previous years, so I had been in touch with Shaji achen regarding my trip and he had arranged for another person for my pickup, but the arrangement had to be altered because the train had been late .



St.Thomas Orthodox Theological Seminary, Nagpur - entrance

Nagpur theological seminary is about 26 kms from the railway station, in a place called Kalmeshwar. It helps if first time visitors are picked up by someone, (and if we call up at the Seminary, they will be able to arrange this) but I also learnt subsequently that there are bus routes from the railway station that ply very close to the Seminary.

Mr. Oommen, whose family is in Delhi but has been at the Seminary since a while now and knew the city well, educated me a little bit about the town and the area as he drove me into the Seminary. As I walked out of the car and followed Mr. Oommen through the entrance and into the quiet hallways, I saw a couple of black robed deacons hurrying towards what was the chapel. "There is a Holy Qurbana today morning" I remembered. Mr. Oommen opened one of the rooms on the first floor and asked me to rest a while till its time for breakfast. I thanked him and went into the room for a quick shower. But the urge to attend a Holy Qurbana in the Seminary made me take the decision to forgo the rest, and I was soon glad I took that decision.