Calcutta 1963-1965
Calcutta opened a new chapter leading on to a brighter and much better future. The arrangement was that
we were responsible for our own living costs, the ELD provided housing.
The first major event was the birth of Yvonne in Feb 1963. Gladys was 43, the Doctor insisted she go to
Woodlands Nursing home for her own protection. This was a step of faith as we did not have much in the way of finances.
Yvonne was born although Gladys lost a lot of blood and this pulled her down for a long period. A transfusion would have
been a good idea but such things were not very current in 1963 and even so blood in India is problematic.
Eventually we found a Nepali amah who was a great help and support much needed as Gladys did not really
pick up in health and by the middle of 1965 was beginning to get infections which did not easily heal in the climate of
Calcutta.
For me Calcutta was a real break. I was in charge of the ELD a bookshop and
publishing house established some years ago by a business man who became an Anglican clergyman - George Howlett. He was more
active in the Church and passed the bookshop work on to a missionary in the Missionary Church. Weyburn was happy to come in
from the country where things were not really doing much and establish himself in Calcutta. He was very interested in
Bengali literature and worked hard to establish this ministry.
In Calcutta I found a number of outlets in addition to the Bookshop management. I did some -preaching in
Hindustani, was active in the Evangelical Literature Fellowship of India (ELFI) traveled around India in 3rd class coaches to
many parts in search of contract work for the ELD along with other literature interests. Compared to Lahore it was a great
step up and stimulus.
There were practical problems. Compared to other missionaries we were penniless. The other American backed missionaries all
had vehicles. I pushed a bike for the first period then was able to purchase a motor scooter and so became more mobile. With
the very crowded buses and trams getting too and from the workplace was a real chore, On our budget taxis were too expensive.
Holidays were also another challenge. Thankfully due to the generosity of some friends in Seattle we had an air conditioner
and this kept us from the worst of the debilitating effects of the Calcutta humid and sultry climate.
Two notable holidays stand out both of them piggy backed on the generosity of others. Our Bengali
landlord who lived on the compound had a house in Darjeeling. He
invited us up there and we went to stay with him. Daily he made a visit to the bazaar in the town to buy fish for the evening
meal. This trip was made on the little steam train which came up the hill and pulled into a siding nearby to take on water.
We would go to town in this train and then return in taxis. The other was down to the mission compounds of the group of
Americans. We did not have much but surprisingly were not too worried about it as we found other more simple ways of enjoyment
and sharing.
Exit Calcutta, Enter Canada 1965
By the beginning of 1965 we were about burnt out. Funds were slowly decreasing making for straightened
financial circumstances. Weyburn Johnson returned and was not all that happy with what I had done with ELD. For sure I had
made some mistakes. I knew little about financial management and was more interested in moving ahead then carefully checking
up behind. Due to my lax scrutiny the accountant had been systematically looting the till and draining off needed cash flow.
Weyburn had to put what funds he had been able to find and had hoped to use for expansion or Bengali literature into bailing
the system out. So I was not that popular at that level.
I had put considerable energy into building up a contracting department doing printing for anyone I could
find in the Christian circle. Groups like CEEFI a newly emerging Christian Education group were grateful for services in
providing printing and getting started. Others in the Literacy field had primers produced. We were much less successful in
printing hymn books for interested Church groups in Assam even though they needed this service.
Another venture of mine was to work on 'Holy Hardware' building up the saleables in bookshops. This
proved very popular throughout India and in time became a thriving trade. But -neither of these ventures had much interest
to Weyburn who was much more interested in real Christian literature and begrudged the energy and time needed to develop and
promote these less spiritual lines! In time he allowed them to dry up and fade away. Calcutta was a great place for getting
all of these things done. In the back alleys you could find people to do all kinds of amazing things at quite low prices. The
contacts with other Bookshop and outlets put ELD on the map as a place of resource. The wider contacts in the local secular
market also brought us into contact with a larger group of people all making for spin offs which I saw as valuable but for
the more plodding Weyburn less focused and so of limited interest. In addition Weyburn was not good at delegating. What he
did himself was done very well backed up by his able and capable wife Dorothy but it did impose limits on expansion. Weyburn
was much stronger in the pastoral and missionary tradition than I was so concentrated on the essentials and the basics relating
to what was directly concerned with the 'spiritual'. My approach was much more entrepreneurial seeking to put ELD on the map;
to make it a more viable commercial enterprise adding into the total picture throughout India by becoming a key supplier; then
building up the contracting side was well to act as a middle man in the printing industry in all seeking to arrive at the
critical mass that would bring the now much sought after syn-energy. For these activities more organization was required, more
delegation and they were then embracing a much wider agenda than the mission to Bengal! I had ideas and could put some of them
into effect but needed capital and resources which my small base did not really afford. Gladys was also not really excited about
such ideas and projects and her health was deteriorating. It was time to pack and go which I did with some reluctance as the next
step ahead was very much a move into the unknown. Whatever precarious situation we were in at least it was known and the dynamics
somewhat understood. But in that Biblical language the 'brook was drying up'. It was time to move on and out once more. Calcutta
had been a pleasant interlude and did feed into a wider picture of bringing needed stability and continuity to the family as
well as our future.
Gladys was not well, The infection on her leg causing concern. She needed building up as the loss of blood
was still having spin over effects. In the end it was the generosity of Eldon and Honora, Gladys's sister and brother in law
that found an outlet. They agreed to take Gladys and family in to their farm in Nth Saskatchewan. A haven where they stayed
for 6 months while I put things into order, sold up and wound out the Calcutta experience.
There was not too much to salvage. The old spirit of adventure returned and under the guise of saving
money from airfares I made another overland trip.
Setting out from Calcutta I went to Delhi expecting to pick up the old overland trail taking the Frontier
Mail to Amritsar enjoying the charcoal cooked toast in the station then setting out by taxi for the border. It was not to be
as Pakistan and India were involved in a border war. The land route was closed. However all was not lost, Afghanistan was
neutral in this conflict so still retained the right to fly from Delhi to Kabul. The old DC6 flew from Amritsar then took up
landed across the border in Lahore after being inspected by Pakistan and then made it on to Kabul.
A visitor in Calcutta had been old friend and boy hood companion Howard Harper, by this time a qualified
Eye Surgeon married to Monica a German woman he had met in London. With Naomi a daughter they were a family. Howard moved
on to Pakistan where he learn the practical parts of his trade from Novell Christy a renowned eye surgeon who was able to do
7,000 cataract operations in a year at his hospital in Taxilla. In 1965 Howard was in Kabul enabling me to visit with him
there. Howard was very interested in my joining up with him again in the Eye Hospital project that they were developing
there. This would eventuate but it was going to be 3 years up the road.
The details when it comes down to where I stayed are rather misty . The bus took off for Herat regularly
from Kabul a long journey over a good road made by the Russians. From Heart to the border with Iran then on to Tehran after a
short stay in Meshed the large shrine city on this Eastern border. Hotels used by the locals were quite cheap and even if a
bit primitive usable. Breakfast could be found in Iran with nan, tea and local cheese.
In Tehran I met up with the Presbyterian missionary group and from there found the TBT which ran a bus
through to Istanbul and then on into Germany. On this bus was a Russian emigree who had found refuge in Paris from the Bolshevik
debacle in 1919 and who had ideas of starting a ballet school in Tehran. This had been a failure so here she was going back on
the low cost labor migration route to Paris again. She was grateful for my support particularly when you had the toilet stops as
well as finding accommodation for the night.
The bus would stop and the driver with a sweep of the hand indicate the hotel was over there. It was your own business to go
there book a room and find accommodation for the night. There were three of these kinds of stops as the bus did not normally
drive in the dark.
Istanbul was the destination I was looking for as I wanted to go to Zurich in Germany to meet up with a former German
missionary who had been in Lahore. This was a train journey from Istanbul overnight to Greece. The train pulled out of
Istanbul late evening then picked up locals and milk cans to arrive at the border around 05.30. A coach was then hauled
across the border to await the through train from Athens which went up into Europe. By looking for the correct coach it was
possible to find a number of destinations. Mine was the car likely for Paris which would go through Switzerland on route. All
I can remember from the trip was the Turk eating sun flower seeds and spitting out the husks on to the floor of the
compartment.
Included in this package was migration to Canada for this big decision had to be made. We were packing up
out of India for a period knowing that our return depended on finding a new support base. New Zealand was a possibility, one
favored by Gladys as my parents had been the really only strong consistent supporters through out those difficult six years.
But I was biased in favor of Canada even though we were unknown. To rebuild a support base in New Zealand was a big challenge.
In the end Canada was the decision. I had been into the migration process. Time spent in Delhi went into getting medicals and
other needed possibilities. I then arranged to pick up the final papers in Belfast Nth Ireland. There were time factors
involved. In the end even after this 3 weeks overland tour I had another 3 weeks to wait it out in Ireland before gaining the
needed entry papers.
Zurich to London then on to Belfast. Uncle Jack meeting me off the boat train in Belfast or maybe it was
off a ferry not clear at this point. Uncle Jack was the more generous and open minded of the Blair brothers. Some of the
others were open at the level of the clan but attended very closed carefully monitored Brethren Chapels. Uncle Jack did also
but he at least somewhat understood my position so was more able to cope with this interdenominational type fellow.
Being in Ireland I was determined to learn something about Irish heritage so arranged to fly from Shannon
on Aero Lingus the Irish airline. The trip down to Shannon also made overland by bus and train looking out the window to see
the peat bogs and learn what I could of Irish background and history.
Shannon to New York and then New York to Toronto where Gladys was there waiting. The plane greatly delayed
found us at around 01.00-02.00 in the morning but after about six months finally re united again.
