Blog 14 Sunday January 25th Daleep comes back to RUHSA

The brief private visit to be made by Daleep Mukarji, who was the founder of RUHSA and who was here for the first eight years, from 1977, has been much anticipated by his old friends from that era. Mr Immanuel has been emailing him and he knows that we ex Bishopston-Kuppam link folk are here too. He is here at the invitation of CMC, the very large Christian Medical College in Vellore, who are holding a symposium next week to discuss the future of that institution. He arrives at around 9.30, having got lost in his taxi from Chennai around Ranipet, being unfamiliar now with what was once a well-known road for him, because there have been such changes here since his last visit five years ago. He is greeted by the old RUHSA staff who have are delighted to see him and he asks after each of their families with real interest. I am pleased to hear him say that he forgets names all the time- because he is such an inspirational man that it is good to know he is human too! His wife Azra would have been keeping him up to speed had she been with him. He is currently Director of Christian Aid and this trip is taken as holiday by him. He is trying to take in all the changes to the site – the way the trees have developed and so on, so that he can report to Azra. He will have to be able to tell her about everything and everyone or ‘she will kill me’ he says. They spent eight years together here and during that time all three of their children were born, so as he says in a sense it is like a home-coming for him. He says they had a vision for the site and how it would look one day, as well as the vision which underlies the work of RUHSA.

I first met Daleep in 1977 when he came to Bishopston to talk to us about the possibility of us forming a friendship link. This is the first time that I have ever been with him in RUHSA as he had long since left when I came in 1991 for the first time. By coincidence Carolyn Whitwell is also here now, so the three of us who sat around Carolyn’s table that day to talk about a new kind of town linking, are all in K V Kuppam together. Daleep comes up to our flat and spends a short while talking to us all and listening as he always does while we talk about what we are doing. He then goes on for a further whistle-stop before moving on to visit the BTC site, which he has never seen. Like us all he is very impressed with the superb building and the site with all its trees and flowering shrubs. We follow later to have lunch at BTC- Selvi insists on this of course- and to catch up with Carolyn and David who only flew in last night. It seems that Daleep has indicated that he might be able to come to our school inauguration this week, which would be great. Though who will win the debate about what names go on the commemorative stone is yet to be seen! My money is on Daleep remaining as anonymous as always, but perhaps Dr J will prevail?