Buchman summed up his hopes for India in a New Year message, widely published: 'Men are hungry for bread, for peace, and for the hope of a new world order. Before a God-led unity every last problem will be solved. Hands will be filled with work, stomachs with food and empty hearts with an ideology that really satisfies.'13

In Calcutta, perhaps more than in any other city, the contrast of rich and poor and the clash of class war were strongly apparent. The labour men and the group of employers travelling with Buchman found their way into the homes of labour leaders, some not long back from Moscow or Peking. Rajani Mukherjee, Vice-President of the West Bengal Socialist Trade Unions Congress (Hind Mazdoor Sabha), commented, 'Asian workers have been suspicious of the West. Moral Re-Armament does not come from the West to the East, nor from the East to the West. It comes from man to man. When I saw your plays, I thought, "You are not against Communism or any other 'isms'. You are way beyond Communism. You are reassessing Marxism in relation to modern problems and moral values."'14

One day in Calcutta Buchman was sitting listening to God with a largish group, when an unknown man came in and sat down at the back. After some minutes Buchman said, 'The only thought I had was, "Stop stealing." I don't know what that means. It may mean my watch that someone stole the other day. It may refer to myself, though it is some years since I stole anything. I just don't know what it means.' At this point the unknown man slipped out. 'Who was that?' asked Buchman. No one knew. Next day, however, he returned. He was a rich Marwari business man. 'I am amazed how Buchman knew my problem,' he said. 'I have been cheating on my taxes for years.' He had sent a cheque to the tax department for many thousands of rupees that morning. Later he had Buchman and two hundred of his colleagues to meet a group of business men whom he told that he had decided to be honest in future.15

Buchman went from Calcutta to Darjeeling to see Metropolitan Foss Westcott's grave at St Paul's School, 800 feet above the town. He told the boys there, 'I am thinking about the Metro. He used to sit in the Bishop's chair, but he had one of these little black books. He listened every morning ... He had a big house, but he lived up in that little hut on the roof. It was in his house I met Gandhi. One met everybody there.'

'At seventeen I was a rascal,' he continued. 'I had all sorts of problems ... I used to go to a chapel like this. A good old fellow, the salt of the earth, used to preach, but he never touched my problems. And school is the time when you meet your problems . . . Did you cheat at school? I did. I got caught once. I used to take money, too, and buy candy for the girls. I was always thoughtful for other people!' His audience were enthralled.

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