I asked the car to come pick me up, picked up KJD and then headed to Vasai to pick up Virgil, Joel’s Mum and Granny. We might have gottten lost in Vasai itself if it had not be for Fr. Wendell who gave us precise directions to get to Ambadi – sitting in Nashik!

Loaded the car and set out for Nashik only to get LOST in Bhiwandi ….. just when it seemed like we had to call our long distance navigator again we managed to get on the right track and sped to Nashik.

We got to Nashik and promptly lost our way to the Novitiate – AGAIN! (maybe its a sign that we need to go there more often what say Tony V? ) A few phone calls and a motorcycle escort later we reached Sadhnalaya and our darling Joel

We dropped both the aunties there and headed to Sula Vineyards which is about a 15 minute drive from the Noviatiate.

Lunch was at a local restaurant from where Wendell picked us up. I have never been to the Infant Jesus Shrine in Nashik and our trip there provided a perfect opportunity to pay a visit.

I fell in love with some pottery and had to stop and buy. I ended up buying a lot of stuff which I belatedly realized that I had to cart all over Nashik!!!!

We then drove to MPSM along long beautiful winding roads. After an exotic supper we tucked in for the night in anticipation of the long drive through rural Maharashtra the next day.

We had a short mass and headed out. We ended up driving hundreds of kilometers in the interiors of Maharashtra all the way to Ambatta and back. We visited two Jesuit mission stations, heard the stories, learned about the plant kingdom from the two Botanists we were traveling with, the shocking tale of some political lobby’s plan to submerge a whole valley to build a mammoth dam and the hope filled story of the idea of building hundreds of smaller dams that will be connected to each other thereby enabling pumping of water from dams that have filled up to those that have not at no risk  of displacing people.

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