At the Foothills of Himalayas

Aerial view from the Pastoral Centre, Kotdwar

At the Foothills of Himalayas

In the wee hours of Sunday the 26^th April, I set out along with Fr. Anand by the Garwal Express to attend a three-day ‘Web Administrators Workshop’ at Kotdwar, in the diocese of Bijnore. And the ‘express’ took over 7 hours to cover a distance of 238 kms from Delhi to this district headquarters of the state of Uttarakhand situated at the foothills of Shivalik Range of Himalayan mountains. While the plains of Western UP and the Southern UK looked vast and dry, the forest after Najibabad was indeed mesmerising.

With Bishop John and the workshop group

The Kotdwar railway station was unique- giving a clear indication that we have arrived at the foothills of the Himalayas! The Pastoral Centre at Nimbuchour, where the workshop was held is an architectural wonder. The natural ‘air-conditioned’ weather, the green lawns and the colourful flowers, the imposing hills and the mountains were enough for anyone to have a journey into a world of fantasy. To add to it were the honeycombs hanging on the parapets of the buildings which lets out an exclaim- ‘oh how sweet’!

The next day our visit to St. Joseph’s Cathedral was memorable. The architecture is of course an integration of Hindu-Muslim-Christian culture. The statues and images, the silence spectrum, the imposing structure and the spiritual solace at the cathedral welled up within me an overwhelming urge to pray.

Well, it was indeed a memorable trip that I will ever cherish.