Kalyan, India by M. D. Wood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 24, 1913

Kalyan, India

By M. D. Wood

M. D. WOOD

[In a communication written aboard ship just before reaching Calcutta, Brother M. D. Wood gave a very interesting account of their journey from College View, Nebr., out to their old mission field, India. This appeared in the Second Sabbath Readings for January, 1913. The following article continues their experience in locating near Bombay, in the vicinity of their old field of labor, and will be of interest to all the brethren and sisters in the home land.]

THE brethren requested me at the Calcutta conference to come to Kalyan and look over the field thoroughly, and then tell them if I thought this would make a suitable place for a permanent mission station among the Marathi-speaking people. Consequently I came to Kalyan December 1.

I left Mrs. Wood and the two children with some of our old Methodist friends, of whom many, I am glad to say, are still very kind to us.

When I came to Kalyan the only stopping-place I could possibly find was the government bungalow. I obtained permission to stop in this bungalow erected for the convenience of government officials when on tour through the district. I had to pay one rupee a day for this home. The house contains a few chairs, tables, and two couches on which one may repose at night. I had to retire with the chickens. I had no lamp with me, and the servant could not furnish one; so I got my bed ready before dark and retired early. During the day I would spend all my time inspecting the town and its surroundings, on foot.

A few days later Pastor Geo. F. Enoch came to Kalyan, and together we hired a tonga, a two-wheeled pony-cart, and we drove all about the place together in search of a house in which to live. When we had failed completely, we decided to call upon a Parsee gentleman, on the very outskirts of town. This man had a large house, something after the style and construction of a two-and-one-half-story house in the United States. He was very kind to us indeed, but said he did not really want to rent his house, as he and his family lived in it. He wanted an exorbitant rent, but after a few kind words he consented to move out in a few days, and let us have the house for any length of time at the rate of fifty rupees a month. The house has four rooms and two bath-rooms on the first floor, five rooms and two bath-rooms on the second floor, and a large finished attic on the third floor. In the compound is a large well, about twenty feet in diameter. The compound contains various kinds of roses that are watered from the large well, and are continually in bloom. In fact, the landlord cuts at present about one thousand roses a day for the Bombay market. These roses are not cut with long stems, as in America, but are nipped just back of the blossom, and are sold for offerings to the idols of Bombay. The upper-caste Hindus usually purchase them. There is also a large banana orchard in the compound.

December 10 Mrs. Wood and the children joined me, and thus we began our life at Kalyan. The Parsee lent us a few chairs and a table, lamp, etc. Igatpuri friends sent us a few pieces of furniture also. We found our small oil-stove we brought with us a great help.

The first month we spent practically all our time tramping the fields to select a suitable building site. But Kalyan has two rivers running through it, and the most of it is on low land. The salt water from Bombay backs up with the tide and the water is not good; in fact, the people are afflicted with guinea-worms and ringworms from the use of foul water. For health’s sake we sought high ground. This station is at the junction of two important railroads, and within a year several hundred Europeans will be settled here. Hence the price of land is enormous near the town.

After we had become almost discouraged, we took a walk out on a road. We saw just at sunset a most beautiful spot up on a hill, away from all the dust and smoke of the town. We climbed this elevation, and got one of the most beautiful views of palms, green groves, and silvery streams we had ever seen. Back of it all are high mountains, with broken peaks of rock, and mother earth dotted with large green trees. We said “Sunset Ghat,”—ghat means hill, —and the die was cast.

In a day or two we brought the Hindu magistrate up with us, and he immediately said, “Mr. Wood, we will call this spot No. 1.” Not long after this the West India Committee, with Prof. H. R. Salisbury and Pastor J. L. Shaw, met at Kalyan, and then we all visited Sunset Ghat together, and all pronounced it a most beautiful spot indeed. So we thanked God that our prayers had been answered, and that he had directed us to select this place.

The owners were two elderly Hindu farmers. They seemed quite willing to sell. In town no land can be purchased for less than one thousand rupees an acre. This land we got for two hundred rupees an acre. An engineer in Bombay has drawn up plans for a mission bungalow to be erected on this spot. A Bombay contractor is to have the job. The well, which is an absolute necessity, has been started, and we hope to find water soon. In a few days ground will probably be broken for the foundation of the new structure. The house is to be made of local dark-gray stone. The roof will be of red tiles. The bungalow will contain a large front veranda, two offices, three bedrooms, two bath-rooms, a sitting-room, dining-room, and store-room. The outbuilding will consist of kitchen, wood-room, cook’s house, and storeroom. The house will face the north and afford continual shade on the front veranda,—a thing to be greatly appreciated in this hot and sultry climate. Another pleasing feature is that the sea breeze often blows over Sunset Ghat.

A very interesting point is the fact that on all sides from the top of Sunset Ghat may be seen the thatched brown roofs of the homes of the people in many little villages. We are as a city on a hill. The people are all about us. O, what an opportunity! The population of Kalyan is twelve thousand. Here, within one hour’s ride of the large city of Bombay, lies not only the town of Kalyan, but many towns and hundreds of villages, where the gospel herald has never gone, where the people are ignorant, without clothing and without the knowledge of the Christ we love.

You may ask what we are doing for these people. First, we have established a medical dispensary, where we reach at present about five hundred persons a month. We have a school for boys and a school for girls at Kalyan. Here the Bible is read, Christian songs sung, and prayer to God in the name of Jesus Christ is offered. We also have a school for low-caste children not far from the railroad station. We are just about to open another school for children in a near-by village. We had tried to enter two villages, but Hindu influence closed the doors. However, all these villages and towns are open to the preaching of the gospel, and we hope after a while to plant the gospel standard in every one of them. The darkness of heathenism all about us is like that of Egypt,—it may be felt. Please, my good brethren at home, pray much for us here in the darkness. We have also established three Sabbath-schools for these people, and already some of these heathen children bring little offerings of grain and pice [money] for the Lord. It would do your hearts good to hear them repeat the ten commandments, the twenty-third psalm, the Lord’s prayer, and other portions of the Word of God. Yes, the seed of truth is being sown and God will water it and give the increase, I am sure.

The people here are composed of three classes: the Hindus, the Mohammedans, and the Parsees. The Parsees have been

exceedingly kind to us ever since we came to Kalyan. The Mohammedans also have been very friendly, and many of the Hindus as well. The Mohammedans have many large and small masjids, or mosques. The Hindus also have a number of idol temples. But there is as yet no house of worship erected to the true God. At present we meet for our weekly prayer-meeting every Wednesday at 5 P. M. at the schoolhouse, and at 5 P. M. Sabbath afternoons for preaching service at the mission home. All our workers are with us, carefully studying the message of present truth.

Since I began this letter one of our schoolmasters has called to say that he has a house for himself and a school in a near-by village. It is a rather difficult task for the missionary to get into close contact with the villagers; but when we have a village school the missionary may daily go there to inspect and say a few words, and thus he gradually gets the confidence of the people, and they are not so shy of him. Here is where the medical missionary may also perform an important service for the Master and for the people.

At present Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey are with us at Kalyan. Besides our family there is only one European family in town. How do you think you should feel to be thus cut off from all your accustomed surroundings or associates? Well, it’s a blessing in itself. Here one proves the power of prayer as he does not at home; here one learns to rely upon God alone, and not to lean upon the arm of flesh. The one who said, “Go ye into all the world,” is the one who also said, “And, lo, I am with you alway.” We daily find it so, thank God!