As Carey Baptist Church was an easy
walking distance from All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health
(AIIH&PH) where I was staying for a year, I became a regular member of the
Church and attend the Sunday morning services at 8:00 AM. I met a number of
wonderful people there and one of them was a tall gentleman who was then
working as GM of Calcutta Mint. He was from an engineering background,
belonging to the Indian Railways Services cadre and holding the rank of a Joint
Secretary under the Government of India. He was conducting TAFTEE courses as he
also held a Bachelor of Divinity degree through the same extension program. On
our introduction he was wondering if I would be interested in enrolling myself for
the course. I did not join the ‘extension’ theological course but very soon we
got to know each other better. He also invited me to become a member of the
Calcutta chapter of Gideon International which conducted their weekly Bible
study fellowship every Friday at a restaurant in Park Street and also a program
for distribution of Gideon Bible every Saturday in hotels and schools. I was
interested in both the activities and enrolled myself for one year. Later we also discovered that we both were
alumni of Haggai Institute for Advanced Leadership Training in Singapore.
Bible Study every Friday at a
restaurant in Park Street with fellow Gideon members was good but a little
embarrassing at times. There, I came very close to some extremely devout Christian
friends who held pretty high and respectable positions either in government offices
or in private companies. Bible study was always very good, so was the food
thereafter. The embarrassing part was that after the meeting I had to catch a
bus back whereas others drove their own cars and I also had the nagging feeling
that the currency notes I used to put in the offertory bag were sure to be the
smallest of the lot.
The Saturday Gideon Bible
distributions in schools and hotels were good but challenging. On our distribution
day we had to reach the Gideon’s store room at Calcutta Baptist Guest House in Lower
Circular Road. A fellow Gideon Mr Peacock who held the post of General Manager
of the city’s Great Eastern Hotel also lived there. We would load hundreds of
Bibles in the cars and then drove to pre-assigned schools or hotels where we
had due permission from the concerned authorities. It was wonderful to see how we
were welcomed by the authorities. Mr Lee would demonstrate to us how we might
lift up heavy loads with due care to our own backs. He actually had a slip disc
in the past and wore a belt sometimes but had perfected the art of lifting
heavy cartons of books without causing further injury.
One of my biggest challenges was when
I wanted to do the same in my own hostel and gave out Bibles to my own hostel
mates. I spent considerable time in preparing – praying and rehearsing my
lines. Surprisingly every one of the 100 odd residents graciously accepted the
Bibles. Another challenge was to do the same to the Hostel Warden who also
happened to be Professor and HOD of one of the toughest subjects of our course.
I was afraid that if I did not do well in his subject, I might taunted for frittering
away my time for such activities without concentrating on my studies. That fear
lingered till I had to face him for my viva exams. Luckily God intervened and I
had no difficulty in doing well on the particular subject. One of my greatest joys
was presenting him with a packet of choice Bibles and telling him that I wish
to share what was most precious to me.
Langkham
(recollection of 1988 in 2012) 
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