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FATHER MATHEW C. GEORGE
REFLECTIONS ON MY DECISION TO BECOME A PRIEST

After spending the night at that village we started our return journey to Pattaguda early in the morning. The villagers wanted us to stay there a few more days, but since we have had plans in other places we had no choice but to leave. The return journey was not as tedious as we thought, and by evening we reached our destination. I was not in a mood to do anything except find a place to sleep! The next morning we visited some other mission centers and schools run by the diocese. Even though we spent only few days in those villagers, it was hard for us to say good bye to them.

We rejoined our friends at the diocesan center who had gone to another location. We expressed our gratitude to the diocesan people who arranged to have such a wonderful mission experience for us.

Next on the agenda was to visit a few places in Delhi and Agra. We took the train to Delhi which was almost a day's journey from Chanda. A few of our friends who went to Agra for their mission adventure joined us in Delhi . They also had lot of good things to share about their stay in the mission areas of that diocese.

Since there was no religious significance to the rest of the journey, I think it is irrelevant to give a detailed description here. But still it is worth mentioning the places we toured in Delhi and Agra . Delhi is a very crowded city like any other major cities in India. In 2006 there were nearly seventeen million people. In the local railway station you just have to be there when the train arrives in the station, you don't have to walk - the crowd will carry you to the train! In the same way, when you want to exit the crowd will carry you out.

We visited some of the historic places such as Qutab Minar, India Gate and the Bahai Temple . Qutab Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret (72.5 meters), built in A. D. 1193 under the orders of India's first Muslim ruler Qutb-ud-din Aibak. The India Gate is a national monument, one of the largest war memorials in India commemorating the 90,000 soldiers of the erstwhile British Indian Army. Following India 's independence in 1947, India Gate became the site of the Indian Army's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, known as the Amar Jawan Jyoti (Immortal Soldier). The Bahai temple is shaped like a half opened Lotus flower and is a marvel of modern architecture. The temple represents the Bahai faith, and according to them, theirs is an independent world religion - divine in origin, all embracing in scope, broad in its outlook, scientific in its method, humanitarian in its principles, and dynamic in the influence. Two years ago I visited a Bahai temple in Chicago, also.

After seeing Delhi, we visited the city of Agra which is famous for the Tajmahal, but there is lot more to see than the Taj. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is considered as the finest example of Mughal architecture, completed around 1653. When I was in Port Huron, the pastor put the sign “Tajmahal” above the garage to show my Indian identity. He was reluctant to heed my advice to remove it, even after me telling him that the Tajmahal is a tomb.

We returned to the seminary after fifteen days of an enjoyable experience, which remain with me even today as one of the best experiences of my life.

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