Enthree (as in the third entry).

Enthree, the third entry to this blog, could also be called "Entree" because tomorrow is वन महोत्सव, or the “forest festival” in India.  This is an annual, week long festival, in which every Indian citizen is required to plant a tree at some point during the week.  Tomorrow I will be planting a sapling with other students here at IITB.  I think this is a great initiative, and that Canada would be wise to adopt a similar practice!

Nava Karār, New Agreement, or New Testament, in Marathi.

They had bibles in over 10 different languages at St. Thomas's!

Last weekend I explored some historical sites within Mumbai with my two friends, अनकित और शुभाम. We visited two churches; St. Thomas’s Cathedral and the Afghan Church.  The first of these was especially interesting; just as we were about to leave, one of my friends asked a security guard if he knew what denomination the church belonged to because it was not clearly denoted anywhere.  The guard did not know but he led us to the church’s priest, who informed us that the church is Anglican, and then proceeded to give us a quick tour.  He said it would only take five minutes but he ended up going into great detail and we stayed for an extra half hour or so.  But the tour was definitely worthwhile, and we all came out fascinated with the amount of history present within only 300 years of the church's operation.  I won’t bore you with details, but the coolest thing that I discovered here was that it is widely accepted that Jesus’s apostle Thomas came to the state of केरल in 52 AD to preach the gospels to the people of India.  There is plenty of evidence supporting this, including a great number of churches still congregating today.  Seems like somebody was paying attention in Matthew 28:19, The biblical passage where Jesus tells Timothy and the other apostles to go and make disciples of all nations!

This weekend I am going with 5 friends to औरंगाबाद, a city 7 hours from Mumbai by train.  From here we will explore 2 Buddhist caves called अजंत और एल्लोरा.  These are supposedly very nice during this time of year due to the monsoon rains.  I am very excited to see these, and will certainly post some pictures when I return.
शुभ रात्रि (Good Night)