Audrey's Story

Incredible India

One Monday evening, just after Easter, we heard that our choir, the Gloucester and District Christian Choir, had been invited to sing in India. Did we want to do it? Could we do it? The answer was a definite “yes”. After less than 4 months, busy practising, fundraising, singing and organising, the 2nd August arrived. The choir, including Peter (Staite), Michael (Gregory) and I left by coach from Christchurch Abbeydale at 5am en route for Heathrow, still with signs of the recent flooding around.

After a flight to Helsinki, we flew overnight to Mumbai (Bombay). We landed in pouring monsoon rain, and taxied past a vast array of shacks along the perimeter of the airport. On board our coaches we were handed bottles of water – home from home! Our internal flight took us to Chennai (Madras), where there was a welcoming party, and we were all given garlands. The 2 air-conditioned coaches then took us through Chennai south to Mamallapuram to stay at a Beach Resort Hotel. This was our first real sight of India – small “shops” – little more than shacks – selling anything including fruit and vegetables, motorcycle repair shops and everywhere dirty streets and thousands of people, motorized rickshaws and (we discovered) traffic with horns beeping late into the night.

At the Beach Resort Hotel we were again greeted with garlands, this time made of shells. It was a peaceful place, an oasis set in a poor landscape. We met some of the staff from the travel agency who had organised our trip, and were also involved in the mission at Chennai. The next day, after some sightseeing in Mamallapuram, which is a World Heritage site, we transferred to our hotel in Chennai, to be greeted with garlands of jasmine.

There began the real purpose of our visit – to spread the Christian message in song. Sunday morning saw us visiting the mission church. There are 70 pastors based there. Services start at 7.30am and continue until after lunch. 30,000 people attend every Sunday. We sang to 5,000 people in one area and the service was being relayed to other parts of the building. We then sang in another area and had communion with 700 people, in a congregation of 2000. Peter and I have a very special personal memory of this, as we were wished “Happy Anniversary” and prayed for.

Sunday evening we took part in the “Onre World, One Voice” concert in Chennai, organised by the Indian Missionary Society, in from of 7,000 people. The sound of the other choirs, the dancers, the children dressed in costumes from different countries dancing to Walt Disney’s “It’s a small world after all”, learning a new chorus and singing as a massed choir was truly amazing and very moving. Afterwards, all participants and the 7,000-strong audience were fed with curry, etc. The next evening we sang “Jailbreak” in the open air, with the sounds of the trains and the traffic in the background.

Tuesday morning we were up early to catch the 7.15am train to Bangalore, an experience in itself, which gave us the opportunity to see something of the countryside – very flat with rocky outcrops. At our hotel we were greeted with glasses of fruit punch.

Wednesday morning, we were able to have a communion service and prayer time, taken by one of our choir, Rev Graham Osborne (vicar of St Catharine’s church) in St Mark’s Cathedral, Bangalore, before we had a rehearsal for “Jailbreak” which we sang that evening to a packed cathedral.

The next morning we visited Bishop Cotton School for Girls (attached to the Cathedral), where their choirs sang to us and we sang to them. There are 3,000 girls at the school, with 60 to a class. After shopping time in one of Bangalore’s main shopping streets, we started the long journey home. We had been warmly welcomed wherever we went, and given hospitality after each performance. We found the Indian people warm and friendly.

Yes – we did suffer from stomach upsets, and we were tired from all the early mornings and travelling, but it was an incredible trip to an incredible place and a spiritually rewarding experience.

Audrey Staite