Pilgrimage to Blessed
Theresa's Tomb
- Simon Lasrado, Bangalore
It was on 18th of October early in the morning we gathered at BIAL and began our
Journey at 6.05 AM to Kolkata, the City of Joy.We reached Proggaloy a Pastoral &
Development Center,Kolkata from the Airport in a mini bus.Having the breakfast
and fresh up ,we visited the Tomb of Blessed Theresa of Kolkata,which was a long
cherished desire of many of us. We arrived and had the Holy mass offered by
Fr.Peter Mascarehnas who all the way came from Bangalore with us, and spent time
in prayers and saw the small exhibited museum. The place was very simple as
intended by Blessed Teresa Herself. The simplicity and decorum of the place and
location is appreciable. It was unique opportunity to have the Holy Eucharist by
the side of the Tomb which is well preserved by the Sisters of Missionaries of
Charity till today. We took many photos around the tomb as it was memorable
moment for many of us. As our group was rather small, it was more of a family
get-together. We moved forward to see Shishu Bhavan, a walkable distance from
the Mother House where many small and orphaned children are nursed and taken
care by the Sisters. There are nearly 400 of them, many are mentally challenged,
and physically disabled. It was a moving scene. Since it was afternoon, the
children were sleeping and we could not really spend much time with them.
The next day on 19th early
morning we had a jolly ride on the roads of Kolkata. After the breakfast at
Proggaloy we went to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Bandel about two hours from
the city. A Shrine of the 15th century, today the Salesian of Don Bosco Fathers
are taking care. We went around visiting the shrine, the huge Basilica and
Statue of Our Lady of Bandel. We had the holy Eucharist Mass and prayed for our
near and dear ones and spent the morning in prayers.
We visited the Science city and having fun around,visiting and participating in
many indoor visual programmes including LIVING SEA.Some of us went on Ropeway.We
proceeded to Victorial Memorial Hall.The whole afternoon was spent going around
having fun in midst of people and traffic.While coming back from Victoria
Memorial, one of the organizers lost the valuable bag which had huge amount of
cash and the documents.All of us were in panic.And we prayed to Blessed
Theresa.And to our surprise,by the Grace of Blessed Theresa within 20 minutes we
got back our lost bag.Really that was a great miracle to get back our bag amidst
of thousands of people who visited Victoria Memorial.Thanks to our Blessed
Theresa.
In the afternoon we visited the very famous Haldhiram's Mall and other places
for shopping and came back to Proggaloy and proceeded to Sealdah railway station
and took the train to New Jalpaiguri Jnc. We arrived on the following day
morning and travelled by two Tata Sumo vehicles to Darjeeling, via Mirik, so we
had chance to enter Nepal. Since we were at the border of India/Nepal, we spent
about an hour in Pashupathinagar(Mall),and moved to Darjeeling and went around
visiting the town and did our shopping.We saw RopeWay,some of us climbed Tenzing
Rock,visited Tibetian Refuge Center,had an opportunity of wearing traditional
Darjeeling costumes and captured photos.Also we visited Japanese Temple which is
called Japanese Peace Pagoda.We stayed at Divyavani Pastoral Center,Darjeeling.
On 20th early in the morning around 4.00 am we went to Tiger Hills to see the
Rising Sun. It was a wonderful experience. The Sun was beautiful as ever in its
original beauty from a distance. The Reflection of Rising Sun on the
Kangchenjunga mountain was a marvelous and enchanting scene.An early trip to
witness the sunrise is a must for those who visit here for the 1st time.Watching
the rising sun, strike the colossal Kangchenjunga range of snow-capped peaks, in
a blaze of rapidly changing colours was truly spectacular. We spent real time
taking photos and enjoying one of the marvels of God in Creation.
As we came down from the Tiger Hill, we visited Samten Choling ,Buddist
Monastery, a beautiful tourist place and Batasia War Memorial Park.We had the
Holy Mass at Divya Vani Chapel and had the breakfast at hotel Teestha did
shopping in the town and after lunch began our journey to Gangtok Sikkim. It was
supposed to be 4 hours trip but then turn out to be six hours as we had some
inconvenience with the vehicles. However we reached Gangtok by 8 pm in the
evening and had our dinner and stay at Hotel Venus. After a good rest, the next
morning we went for site seeing around Gangtok, the Swizerland of India and is
also called as Heaven on Earth.We booked 4 Maruthi vans and visited Bakthang
Falls,Dharma Chakra Centre(East Sikkim),Tashi View Point,Ganesh Tok where we
wore Sikkim costhumes, Chogyal Memorial Park(Flower Exhibition Center) where we
saw hundreds of beautiful and rare flowers & took photographs. Also we visited
Sikkim Handlooms and Handicrafts Emporium center. Gangtok though it is a small
but very touristic city,it is well planed has neat,clean streets and a lovely
experienced for shopping, relaxing and a traffic free zone in M.G.Marg. All had
good time and felt that we need to come again to Visit Gangtok. Around 1 PM we
travelled in 2 Tata Sumos to Siliguri town and visited the large China Market.
We spent about two hours there and reached New Jalpaiguri Junction to take the
train to Kolkata . The next morning arrived at Kolkata and had wash at Seva
Kendra in the city itself and after the Thanksgiving Mass, we visited the New
market in Kolkata, the shopping center and arrived at the airport in the midst
of heavy traffic and made our journey to our Home town or the Garden city of
Bangalore.
We had good time having fun and run with always a flavour of spiritual insights.
Special thanks to the organizer Fr.Peter Mascarehnas who inspite of his busy
schedule, took great trouble to arrange this successful pilgrimage to Blessed
Theresa's Tomb & Church of Our Lady of Bandel with the support of all the people
of goodwill .Thus, this being a memorable event and enjoyable moment with divine
moment too.
