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Greetings Dearest Brethren!

Where to start, Where to start... As you know I have had once again the distinct good fortune to be able to travel again this year and my stop was once again India.

I departed Canada on January 31st 09 and arrived in New Delhi to meet WBro Sunil at the airport. After nearly 30 hours it was wonderful to see his smiling and welcoming face to greet us. First stop was the Lodge, where we shared a drink and caught up for an hour before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

After a couple of days of sight-seeing it was time for the big event, the 46th Annual Grand Lodge of Northern India Convocation. The meeting lasted approximately 3 to 3.5 hours and was once again a privilege to attend. Amongst it's highlights was RWBro Porus D.'s appointment, several Service to Masonry medals, many wonderful speeches and a very well done power point slide which highlighted just a few of the Masonic Charitable works going on around New Delhi.

After the meeting was concluded it was on to the evenings events, meeting with Brethren once again that I had seen two years prior as well as meeting so many new and wonderful Brethren and their families. I'm also very humbled that several Brethren I met and re-met were readers of this very website. Thank you so much once again.

The following day was once again an enjoyable day and evening. The day was filled with meetings in concordant bodies of Freemasonry (of which I am yet a member), as well as full of socializing, eating and certainly a few libations.

After the Grand Lodge convocation was concluded I was off to do some sight-seeing, which included once again Agra, and two new stops, Varinassi and Amritsar. Bother were new and enlightening in their own special way and were both two cities that I had missed on my previous trip to India.

On arriving back in Delhi a couple of weeks later, I was once again greeted warmly by Bro Sunil and his family. Not only did he and all the Brethren in India really make this trip special but he also helped to introduce my mother to his culture, religion, family and really made the experience of India something special. Bro Sunil, once again I thank you so much for all of your Brotherly Love, Kindness and Help.

Before departing India several really wonderful things happened, exceptional things which I would like to share with you all. Firstly, I petitioned the Lodge Takhti-i-Suliman No. 65 in New Delhi. This Lodge has a very interesting path which I will share with you in more detail at a later date. Quickly, the Lodge was originally in Kashmere and due to the political climate of the region it was forced in to darkness. Now, more than a few years later, the lodge has officially been moved and re-opened in New Delhi. More details and the full story and background will be coming in the future.

On my last full day in India I decided to check out some of the Masonic Charitble works. I jumped in a Tuk-Tuk and headed off to The Masonic Public School. This school is just one of the many charitble projects that are on going and is certainly an endeavour to be very proud of indeed. The school has approximately 900 students, which amusingly refer to themselves as "Masonians" and the entire school is funded by the generous donations of the Brethren. I have many pictures as well as the details to follow on this project too at a later date.

Finally on returning to Canada I have been so incredibly busy for the past week. Just prior to departing for India I signed the papers for a new Condo. Being my very first home buying experience I didn't really know what to expect, but going on a three week vacation and arriving home just days before the closing date is perhaps not the best idea! Now, I've moved to a city called Richmond, near Vancouver and thought I did not realise it at the time, the Lodge Building is tucked on the main street not 350 metres from my residence!

In the next week or so my Internet and phones will be hooked up and I will be able to update the photographs, answer more e-mails and generally get the site running at normal speed again. So please bare with me!

I would like to share one final story with you all. It's hard to exactly start, but I think I will jump right in. It's personal, painful but at the same time wonderful and fulfilling. As most of the readers know, I was playing the role of a backpacker in my wanders around the world and thought 99% of the trip went flawlessly there was in the final weeks a disturbing story of getting scammed out of some money. I had met this Irish man in Germany and to make a long story short he made himself out to be a business man who had left his wallet and was in a bad circumstance. I helped this man out and of course the money eventually was gone and never seen again. Though I was quite bitter on the sour experience at the end of my trip, I got over it and really didn't discuss it outside of the family and a few select friends and Brethren.

SO where am I going with this? Well on my way to India the GAOTU was looking over me. I had a stop-over at Heathrow in London. I am sitting in the hall-way when do my eyes deceive me, who do I see? My heart racing and temper building I decide a direct confrontation was a bad idea because though I consider myself a reserved man in general I feel that perhaps this situation would have brought out an ugliness which I didn't desire. Not being seen by him, I searched frantically for a Police Officer, and upon finding one explained the whole situation about what had happened to me in Germany the previous year. I know that the incident in Germany was out of their jurisdiction, but I pleaded my case and they let me discreetly identify him and then they proceeded to speak with him and run his passport. On doing that a wrap sheet of 7-8 similarly fraudulent complaints and histories now became well within their jurisdiction.

To make a long story short I was doing a happy dance in the hall-way of the airport and pulled out my digital camera to savour the moment of his arrest and subsequent removal from the airport and departure via police transport!

I just had to share that story!

Brethren Thank you all for the support and the news letter and site are flourishing. We've got over 1500 readers and it's steadily growing. Keep up the great work, I love getting your submitted articles and stories and keep on telling other Brethren about the site!

S&F
Bro Ken Dennis
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