Page 25 - MML - Journal - Centenary Edition - Vol. 01 / 2023

arranged for the ceremony had all been blown away by the cyclone. Whether it was into the Arabian sea or the Bay of Bengal or even the Indian Ocean one cannot say. Not a Grand Master to give up so easily, M W Bro. Gautam Divan carried on with the foundation stone laying ceremony – perhaps for the first time in the history of the Grand Lodge of India, – in the hotel banquet hall hastily redone for this purpose!
The next morning as we were preparing to move out for the return journey, we were shocked on being informed that all the roads from Kanyakumari had been washed away and there was no way we could exit. We had to stay put in this hotel for three full days and nights during which time the hotel was also running out of supplies.
This group stuck at the hotel consisted of the Grand Master M W Bro. Gautam Divan, the Regional Grand Master of Southern India R W Bro. K. L. Reddy, the Regional Grand Secretary, R W Bro. N. R. Santhanam, R W Bro. K. V. Aswathiah, my father R W Bro. S. Chintopanth, R W Bro. V.G. Ramamoorthy, R W Bro. Prabhat Kumar with his wife and myself with my wife and a few others.
The funny part was that R W Bro. Prabhat Kumar had brought his wife, who was initially reluctant to come, by tempting her with an assurance that she could witness both sunrise and sunset at Kanyakumari. The three days we were there, we could barely see the sun, let alone rising and setting!
Finally, after three days of ‘hotel arrest’, we drove on almost nonexistent roads in a circuitous route all the way to Madurai and dispersed from there to our respective homes.
In a way, R W Bro. V. G. Ramamoorthy was our savior, for, before departure he went into the hotel kitchen and made sandwiches
for all of us with all the bread, he could lay his hands on. Without this we would certainly have starved during the return journey when no food was available.
It only remains to account for R W Bro. Sarangapani and Bro. Jawahar (R W Bro. V. Rajendran’s nephew) who had dared to leave after the foundation stone ceremony that night itself with Bro. Jawahar at the wheel feeling assured from the manner in which Bro. Jawahar had driven previously, that they could make it. They got stranded in some unknown place without money or fuel and it took them almost a week to reach Madurai!
The second incident with nature was at Dharwad. Again, a foundation stone laying ceremony for the Masonic Temple on the portion of land donated by Bro. Col. Michigan in his orchards at the outskirts of Dharwad. It was not a cyclone here, but heavy rain on the previous night that had made the land extremely slushy.
M W Bro. Gautam Divan insisted that the ceremony be gone through. It was drizzling constantly during the ceremony and, as the Grand Director of Ceremonies, I had to surrender the Director of Ceremonies’ wand and carry an umbrella instead! By the time the ceremony was over, we were not only fully wet but we had slush almost upto our knees spoiling our shoes and trousers no end. I could see the anguish in Bro. Col. Michigan’s eyes, for, he was the one who would spot and reprimand any brother who came with unpolished shoes!
During one other trip to Dharwad when I was the Regional Grand Master, we were travelling by train from Bangalore to Dharwad for a consecration ceremony. M W Bro. H. P. Mathur the then Grand Master had already reached Dharwad via Goa and was awaiting our arrival.
Madras Masonic Journal Vol. 01 / 2023 - Centenary Year Edition
A Publication of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103, GLI 24