For students of St. Anthony's College, Shillong there is an optional retreat program to Siloam, Umiam. Siloam is a Salesian Brothers (Missionary group) retreat/resort at Umiam. The stay is usually one night.
For atheist students who are wondering whether this trip is worth it, let me relate my experience. The journey over was on a bus. Crowded in cattle like we took a half an hour journey to Umiam. We were given tea and snacks on arrival. (However people in need of a more wholesome meal, bring your own snacks and junk food.) Their timings for food it seems was quite strict. Then it was off to our rooms, boys and girls on seperate floors, the usual puritan behavior. The rooms themselves were quite nice, two beds a room and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. The views from rooms were quite spectacular, the heavily sedimented and polluted Umiam lake glistened a sickly greenish blue that was quite alluring, for folks used to the city.
Then in the evening some sort of quasi-team building/proselytizing session began, students were asked to display their talents and all the while sing some strange religious songs in-between. I guess the fun and games were supposed to be some sort of softening up for proselytizing. I guess if you were a religious teenager or child it would seem fun but being a atheist adult, well it felt kind of infantile. I played along as much I could, watching grown men and women get re-intouch with their inner child and all the while getting closer to God/s.....or atleast I think that was what it was. I couldn't really make heads or tails as to what was happening.
The night began with everyone sleeping at 10:30. Personally I went for a walk around the compound and out of it till about 1AM. Sleep evaded me, I usually take till the second night to adjust to a new bed, particular one I had to share with another stranger. (A shortage of beds or too large a number of students, I know not which) A lot of the smokers too joined me in my nocturnal prowl looking for a place to smoke a few (or a few boxes of) fags.
The place would be considered beautiful by most people, but I tend to be more critical of what I see. The compound had a large garden, flowers, many of them alien to this land bloomed in plenty. Fat palm trees, aliens too, were plentiful. The grass to was kept neat and trim. The buildings were large and imposing, meant to draw the viewer away from the nature and to them. There were a few stone villas and and an attention grabbing lavish looking chapel. All made of stone and cement, meant to keep nature away. Infact the entire place felt like it's existence was to subdue mother nature. The only nature allowed were caged rabbits and birds, all aliens to the region. Strangely there were deer statues in plenty, which seemed rather appropriate considering how the landscape was designed to impose on nature; thus the only nature allowed to grow freely were artificial ones. The entire place felt sickly sweet, like a cheap quality candy, the effort to impress the visitor goes over board and the visitor is left underwhelmed. Nature however cannot be tamed even by Christians, I saw quite a few wild birds and their nests present in the tree tops.
Large greening white statues of the Christian, Jesus and his supposed acolytes dotted the compound. They seem to have unrealistic proportions with Jesus as largest, men garbed in traditional Khasi attire second and women always the smallest. I guess it's their way of symbolically representing their religion, Jesus is the jefe, men are second in command and women are the supporting roles. This is was appropriate considering that most of the women whom I encountered there, fulfilled domestic and servile positions like kitchen workers or receptionist while all the counsellors and decicion makers were male.
The morning started around 6 AM. I went for another jog, had a bath and went to eat. The neighboring private house, where I had been a guest years earlier had their residents out in their canoes and were paddling across the water, I could only stare jealously at them. Fun and happiness were simply just over the fence in the home of some rich member of society. There were more sessions as the day went on, more proselytizing. Talks about "perfect partners" that was a form of paternal chauvinism. Not what I would call healthy things to teach future minds. By then I had enough, my parents didn't raise me to be have these toxic ideals, so I simply quit the sessions. I sat in the terrace and soaked the sun. After a while I was given the choice of either joining back or leaving, I chose to exercise my legs and leave. The short walk to a taxi stand was quite pleasant and the weather was clear and blue. ₹30 was the price charged for travel to Shillong, I daresay I enjoyed those 2 hours of my return journey more than the entire time of my stay.
Thus to sum up, to future atheist students of St. Anthony's College, who are considering taking this retreat, I advise against it. But if you have a thicker skin than I do and you decide to go, please remember to pack your own blankets and extra clothes, bring lots of snacks and carry mosquito repellent; Plenty of it. They allow smoking outside the gate, so bring a carton full of fags, you'll need them.
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