At the end of January I left Rome with John Antony for visitation in Karnataka, South West India. I had been looking forward to this visitation as I am always happy to be among the Indian people. I find them a very welcoming and courteous race. And I love Indian food!I was not disappointed. The Capuchins in Karnataka are a great group of friars. They have many vocations: young, energetic and seriously searching young men, eager to learn about Francis and the Capuchins, eager too to give themselves to the Lord in the Order. Obviously all of them will not remain, but the experience of spending some years in formation houses of the Order will be of certain benefit to them in the years ahead.
The economy in India is booming, but, as in many other places, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Bangalore had become one of the world's centres for IT, literacy rates are high but there are still many visible signs of poverty, neglect and abandonment. The traffic is horrrendous. Going for a walk in the evening meant stepping out into blue air, so great was the volume of traffic and the noxious emissions, especially from the autorickshaws.
