St. Thomas Tour – the unexpected ways of God
Our youth group had planned for a St. Thomas tour on 15th August – a kind of a picnic to St. Thomas Mount and St. Thomas memorial at Little Mount. I said I wouldn’t go because I would be at Tirunelveli for Independence day holiday. I missed booking the train ticket so I booked ticket in bus for 14th evening 6:00 PM.
I was in the bus stand by 5:20 PM and started searching for the bus which I was to board. Out station busses would be in platform 1 or platform 2. For 40 minutes I was searching for the bus which I was meant to board and couldn’t find it. I missed the bus. I cannot believe that a bloke as I wouldn’t be able to find a bus to board in 40 minutes. It is just too incredible. I think I was completely blinded. I believe God did not want me to go home, he wanted me to stay at Chennai on August 15th and go for the picnic with the youth folks. I booked my ticket for the next evening, August 15th and called up Reeba and told her I would come for the picnic.
Slept at about 3:00 am early 15th morning as I was writing some stuff and woke up very late and couldn’t go to Church from where folks started by van. I called Reeba and told her I would go straight to St. Thomas Mount and wait there. I also took with me my journal as I knew that awesome sight from up there would be inspiring and I could write a poem there. I wrote an essay of a poem over a couple of pages sitting at the edge of the hill-top platform and looking into the vast expanse before me.
Just after I completed the long poem, folks joined me there and we had a good time. Below are a few snaps.
First thing you see as you enter is the sight of Christ Blessing with extended arms.
I guess the figure in steel rails is St. Thomas seen above him is Christ blessing folks that come in.
It is I guess a kind of imitation of one of the 7 new wonders of the World - Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
Here is St. Thomas welcoming you…
A view of the sprawling civilization down below – more of concrete less of green (inspiration for my poem)
More of green and less of concrete (inspiration for my poem)
A flight going across with the landing gear down for landing at the airport
The Fourth-person view
This tree must have witnessed quite a lot here…
There is something special about this tree, it has been cut so many times but still it has 'stood' the test of time though slightly skewed…
Bennett in his new get up…
Me at the tip…
Its Vijay there….
Other folks from youth…
Going down the hill, the steepest descent… in fact Vijay and I went down the hill and then came up and then went down again just for the sake of 'adrenalin rush', it was a roller-coaster ride. In one of the bends, I was too fast and had to bank my bike to an acute angle to keep the balance that the foot rest of my bullet gazed the road, it used to happen when I was in college so this was a de javu experience – the footrest of my motor cycle touching the road in the bends.
Lunch chat…. So what’s for lunch???
In life does one walk down the steps or walk up the steps… Plato used the cave analogy to depict enlightenment may be a well analogy would do just as good, except that perhaps the gaint shadows there would reflections here and reflections are more realistic than shadows.
This was a tree in Little Mount that had too much symbolic beauty. It is actually two trees that have merged into one. Symbolic of the metaphysical fact of Christ and the individual living in each other, symbolic of the metaphysical oneness between husband and wife in marriage. I just had to shoot pictures of this metaphysically beautiful tree.
My four good pals in youth. Rufus, Vijay, I and Ashwin (from bottom to top)
The cave where St. Thomas supposedly lived.
Me emerging out of the cave, actually the idea for this shot was Vijay’s.
The great St. Thomas with his timeless classic quote that even 2000 years after he uttered it is so full of life that it fill us with awe and elevates our spirits to worship God with trembling transcended reverence in our hearts.
I cannot fanthom why God wanted me to miss this bus and not miss the St. Thomas Tour but indeed I had a great time writing poems, cracking jokes, taking snaps and thinking deeply... ‘My Lord, My God’… how great Thou art. Amen