The arrived

 Every group has a variety of members and a greater assortment of leaders! The Salesian community or Province too is no exception. 

Glancing at the working style (without making any moral or character judgement) of the leaders of our communities, we get to see a wide variety.  There are those who are simple. They know they are not complicated or omnipotent and therefore go about their work, seeking assistance and are open to guidance. Then there are those who go about as if they know it all. No consultation. Unwilling to alter course, even if they recognise they have made a blunder. And it is always somebody else's fault - everytime.

I remember a particular phrase Fr Camillus, the former Provincial of Chennai, would use to describe the latter: the arrived confreres!

A little help, please

Five-year old Jack was in the kitchen as his mother made supper.  She asked him to go into the store-room (the place where much of the provisions were stored) and get her a can of tomato soup. But li'l Jack didn't want to go in alone there and cried: "It's dark in there and I'm scared, Mamma" 

She asked again, and he persisted in his refusal. Finally she said, "Jack, look… there is nothing to fear in going to that store-room. Jesus will be in there, with you…" 

 The constant request and this assurance made Jack to walk hesitantly to the door and slowly open it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, got all frightened and started to leave… … when all at once an idea came, and he said: "Jesus, if you're in there, would you, please, hand me that can of tomato soup?!"

The anecdote ends here.

But just to add a twist... Jack does get his request fulfilled and he gets a can of the soup, standing at the door. He is ecstatic. Runs back to the kitchen clutching the can like a trophy. And tells his mum what happened. What would mum have said?

Medical donation

While in the UK, I was fortunate to enjoy good health.  So much so, I had to visit the local health centre only once in 5 years.   Nonetheless, I am also aware that in some centres, getting an appointment was sometimes so delayed that by the time your appointment date draws near, your ailment has either naturally healed or aggravated to such an extent that one would have to call for an ambulance.  

The primary reason for such delays was because some (particularly elderly) would book appointments practically everyday.  And that too for small petty health issues, which actually need no medical intervention. Their health anxiety and fear of mortality was so high that they needed constant treatment. 

Luckily in India, we are a bit more resilient.  Perhaps it also has much to do with the financial burden that one would like to avoid.  We visit a doctor or a hospital only in extreme cases.  Otherwise, most of us resist going anywhere near a health centre.  When all home remedies and suggestions of every aunt has been followed, but with no improvement; or rather, one is totally bedridden, then we think of visiting a doctor. But among the Salesians there seem to be a few who prefer this medical tourism. Every other day they come asking to be taken to some doctor or the other, on the pretext of some ailment or trouble. To one such, I had the joy of saying, "'No!  There is no need of visiting any doctor or going to a hospital.  There is nothing wrong with you!" But I'm aware he is approaching everyone, in the hope that someone will actually take him or let him go by himself to the hospital.  

I have a better proposal: offer him to Gandhi Hospital (government hospital of Hyderabad) for medical research.  He can stay at the hospital itself, offering his illness for experimental treatment. It would do a lot of good to everyone! 

God's inadequacies

 Watching the movie, Karuppu, reiterated even God's inadequacies in the face of human free will.  In a fantasy world, God can play the 'God mode' and 'set right' all things! But in reality, even God is limited! The movie attempts to 'liberate' God and assist him work 'outside the God-mode'. It even throws an open challenge to God to work in and as the human mould.  So far so good! 

However, the rest of the movie takes recourse to a fantasy, without making any serious effort at addressing an evil plaguing our Indian judicial system. The closest the movie comes to making a possible response or proposing a way forward, through the maze of the judiciary is citing fear.  Fear among the people, especially those directly involved in judicial matters: lawyers, judges, court staff... Fear primarily of the Divine.  But, that is a very lame attempt.  

For if those involved in the court process were God-fearing, the whole system would have never got corrupted in the first place.  And if everyone was so obedient to God, the courts would be redundant! 

In comparison to this movie, the other recent movie of Surya titled Jai Bhim is a much more powerful and sensible one. 

Nonetheless, the movie is a rather good trigger for discussion in a Theodicy class.  God is omnipotent, and almighty, all powerful; but before the human free will, God makes himself and is 'limited'. 

Travesty of Justice

To take my mind off the hundred and one things that were literally eating my brain, I watched the Tamil movie Karuppu, yesterday. Wrong choice!! It only added fuel and angst to my already preoccupied mind.

The movie is centred around the Indian judiciary system, or rather the inbuilt corruption and red tape that cripples the system so badly that while apparently everything is as per the process, the results are totally skewed and wrong.  The process itself, is so prolonged that even when justice is served, the intermediary costs are exorbitant.  The movie clearly indicates that even if God himself were to follow the legal procedure, he/she would be unable to do anything differently!  

Having to undergo the same judicial trials of matters concerning various issues of the communities, in the last four years, I could very much vibe with the sentiments of the victims, as I watched the movie.  The only difference being, the dozen cases that I'm involved in aren't anything serious or life-altering for me personally or for the community that I'm representing.  But that is not the case for most people approaching the courts for justice.  Their needs and demands are far, far, far more pressing, basic and absolutely human.  A decision - if at all, one arrives at it - is enough to break a family, shatter dreams, plans and even alter the lives of individuals and families irrevocably. Besides the corruption underlying the whole system, the duration these court cases take is perhaps the most agonising and traumatic aspect. 

During my 5 year tenure so far, there is only one case that has seen us walk out of the court for good. Only one.  That too after 17 long years! Presently there are 11 ongoing issues, with 9 of them being initiated within the last 5 years!  

The part and the whole

 What if one confrere constantly gets his various parts repaired!  He is regularly getting some part or the other of his body treated. Sometime it is his eyes that need check up.  Other times there are multiple operations to cure his hearing.  Then there are visits to the dentist.  Not to count the number of hospitalisations for various other reasons. 

By itself, it sounds odd. But what is more annoying to me is that the person himself is doing no good.  As a whole he is not involved or actively contributing to anything anywhere.  So I'm wondering what is he getting himself repaired for?  

Or perhaps I'm getting paranoid or manic about the individual!

Stay hidden

 The pic says it all!

Carryon!

 Another instance of consistency and focus, rather than getting lost in the maze or craze of power politics and positions: the story of Elijah and Elisha.  

The latter asks for a parting gift from his mentor.  The master, does not promise him.  But states that if he does see him being taken upto heaven, he will have his wish granted.  Elisha sees the other being taken upto heaven.  I asked myself, what if he had not seen him and he was not granted his wish.  Would he still have carried on the apostolate?  

I guess he would have!  With what he had.  To ask and pray for more and better is fine, but the granting or receiving of it is not a criteria to carryout one's work.  One does what one is to do, not because there is some reward or award but because that is a good thing or the right thing to do. 

Superb title and inspirational lives

 This evening after supper as I was glancing through the news, I came across the following headline and it certainly caught my attention

Meet India’s first family of Chess: Father who never watched, mother who can’t name the pieces, two grandmasters

I could easily guess from the title what the content of the article (published in Financial Express) could be. But the title itself is superb! 

More interesting and inspirational is the content of the article.  It describes how the family still continues to live in the same house, as before.  That the father of the house stays home (primarily because of his disability) but watches his family earn name and fame across the globe.  The mother accompanying the siblings as they travel the world, playing off world champions and becoming grandmasters themselves.  The parents themselves are grandmasters, albeit in a different life game - like most parents, in the whole living kingdom. 

Salesian poverty

 An extract from the book titled Don Bosco Up Close, by Teresia Bosco (English translation) 2023 edition, p. 122. The following is a testimony shared by Fr Francis Dalmazzo, during the process of Don Bosco's canonization and who had the fortune of being one of Don Bosco's boys at the oratory.  

When he (Don Bosco) came to Rome once, when the Salesians were still living in Via degli Specchi, he found very poor lodgings, so poor that I (Francesco Dalmazzo) was obliged to give up my bed and sleep on the sofa, and when he looked at the table in the middle, made of ubleached wood, covered with a miserable spread, he was consoled and said to me: "Oh, this is what I like: here is a real Salesian house!" And he laughed heartily.  

As I read this passage for our spiritual reading, I could not but think if anyone today would have the courage to say such a thing at any of our Salesian houses.  First of all, there would be the totally opposite scenario: lavish dining hall, exquisite furniture, posh flooring, special cots and mattresses, costly electronic gadgets and a lavish spread at the table. 

Don Bosco grew up poor and knew the value and necessity of poverty for our apostolate.  He could have very well continued being a diocesan if he wished to become rich.  Working for the POOR and abandoned youth, and being materially rich are incompatible!