As we entered the residence of the sisters we received a cup of tea and birthday cake as one of the sisters was having her birthday. As we were exchanging snippets of our life stories it transpired that one of the sisters who had been at this particular place had in fact been the first ever principal of the PV school.

Sister Uditha had been at the PV school when it was still in a mud brick building. I have truly been in awe of these sisters who have done such remarkable pioneering work. This is really done in the genuine name of selfless service! They live very simply here only travelling to Ranchi one a month or less.

Then the students and teachers of this girls’ only school and boarding school showcased some of the traditional dances and songs from the region.

The dance presentations were followed by a couple of speeches by Sr Laila and myself (an attempt to show of my rudimentary Hindi) before returning to the house for some lovely lunch.

We travelled for over one hour on pretty rough roads to a remote place that the sisters had started 56 years ago. This is still an area where Naxalites pose a real threat.

A quick search reveals the following:

Naxal, Naxalite and Naksalvadi are generic terms used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes. In the eastern states of the mainland India (Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha), they are usually known as, or refer to themselves as Maoists while in southern states like Andhra Pradesh they are known under other titles. They have been declared as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967).

The sisters have been living there in most humble living conditions. Only last week was the school, their residency and the vocational training centre for young women connected to the main electricity grid ( which does not mean a great deal as electricity even in this resource rich state is as unreliable as in Bihar). Still better than “nix”!
The country side is beautiful.

When we arrived Sabina and I felt a bit like royalty. In Jharkhand there a number of traditional welcome songs and rituals. We had been greeted in a similar fashion before. What was absolutely novel though was the sea of beautiful faces of nearly 400 children lining the path way to the school!

It was going to get even better!

For early morning meditation we left the sisters’ residence and crossed the railway tracks. Not by over pass but by simply looking to the left and the right and walking across. Sabina was just a tad bit concerned about safety and legality of such a maneuver.

We were on route to Yogananda’s ashram ( http://www.yoganandavidyalaya.org) where we met a good friend of Kiran Lama. Panda showed us first the most beautiful gardens then the various man made constructions. The place just resonates with love and devotion!