Another year passes by

Another year passes by...

Time gone by, in bits and pieces
leaving behind only memories and experiences...
None too great nor too small...
Each in due place and of some worth to all.

The grand wall clock in our community room at Chertsey

Christmas in flesh and blood

On Christmas eve, I was surprised to see a couple of policemen with a youngster in our community room.  Fr John told me that the youngster was a past pupil of our Salesian school and needed a place for the night. So he'd be with us that night.  I was awake all through the time since I intended to participate in the midnight vigil service in the Parish.  I went down to the community room a couple of times and found the policemen speaking to this youngster.  I gathered he had not committed a crime serious enough for the police to arrest him and lock him up but there must have been something that necessitated their presence.

A while later a member of our community came in and found this whole scene a bit uncomfortable.  Since Fr John had by then left for Mass to some place, he came up to my room asking what was going on downstairs.  I told him as much as I knew.  But he was not in anyway consoled.  So he went down and spoke to the police officers themselves.  He then came up and informed me that the youngster had been caught up in a fight and had no place to go for the night.  Since he mentioned that he was a past pupil of the Salesians and that we would offer some assistance, they came to our place.  I told the confrere that Fr John has said that he'd be staying with us for the night and he also had left a note on the notice board to this effect.

Around 10.30 the policemen left.  I guessed they felt their work done and that the youngster could be left alone.  Our confrere was still quite agitated.  He then 'volunteered' to stay back (rather than go to the Parish for the vigil service as we had earlier thought of) and awake till Fr John returned from wherever he went for Mass.  He advised that I lock my room when I go for Mass, "just in case".

I found it a bit odd, an over-reaction.  Here was a youngster who in blind faith had sought help from the Salesians, after years of finishing his school.  If he was of any real danger, the police would have taken him into custody.  But they didn't.  So why should we be so alarmed.  After all, he was a youngster, may have been drunk or a bit high on drugs or maybe that was his way of talking (as I realised over the past couple of days), in need of shelter for the night.  And most important of all, it was Christmas eve!  We were about the celebrate the birth of a child who had no place of his own, born in someone else's cattle shed, far away from his own hometown, with no family or friends to assist his parents.

The youngster is still with us.  He was falsely accused in a violent incident and was himself a victim. However he is homeless.  He has two little children with a partner, whom he does not trust.  Yesterday he appeared in court and was cleared of all accusations.  He is currently looking for a place to stay, through the social services.  But being Christmas season, most places are full or under-staffed and hence he is still with us.  He is just 25 but talks as if he's an old man, about practically anything and everything!  A few other things are peculiar about him, but I guess they're more to do with the general lifestyle here than about him particularly.  However, I noticed something very noteworthy: Since the past four days he never took any food by himself, even though we asked him to help himself to whatever was available in the kitchen, just next to his room.  If invited he would join us for meals - just the one meal we have in common.  He could not go out for fear that when he returned there'd be no one to let him in.  So he'd sit, watch TV for sometime, smoke a bit in the garden...

I admire Fr John for his patience and trust.  He himself did not know this youngster, nor did the youngster know Fr John.  The young man's fond memories of time with the Salesians is mainly due to another Salesian who is presently not here.  But he was warmly invited to our Christmas meal, he received the same gift as did anyone of us at table that night.  There was no air of suspicion or superiority or condemnation of his present state of life.  No preaching or long lectures - neither in public nor privately!  Just offering him what he needs most at this point: a place to stay.  And while with us, he was as equal a guest as was anyone else!  No partiality! No deferential treatment. For me, it was a very humbling experience just to be around and listen and be of whatever help I could. A very unique experience of what Christmas could mean in flesh and blood. 

Starting with nothing

This Christmas season what comes most frequently to my mind is the manner in which God chooses to start his work here on earth - with nothing! Absolutely nothing!  First of all, as a little helpless baby.  That too in a foreign land.  With not even a proper shelter.  Born in a poor family with only the father working as a carpenter. No riches, no fame, no inheritance.  Perhaps the only claim to fame was that he was of the line of David!  But that too, the lineage going so far back that it might as well have been upto Adam.  Even if it was of importance, the claim to belong to King David's family offered no rewards or freebies.

However, the only thing of great importance to him was he had good and loving parents.  At least that he was not deprived of.  Considering the number of children born to broken and shattered families or living in horrific conditions lacking love, affection and the least of concern, Jesus did not have to suffer a childhood.

In spite of "lacking" so much, riding on hardly a couple of beneficial factors, Jesus goes on to make a mark in the history of the world and specifically on human beings.  Compared to his initial available resources, most of us, for sure we religious, have plenty! 

Growing in discipline

As I went in the Church at Weybridge for Mass, this roller scooter perfectly parked caught my eye. This sort of scooter is quite famous with children around here. I see children taking it up to school and then parents gettting in back with them when they come to collect them at the end of school.  Children just love pushing, hopping on it and riding it!

This particular one caught my attention because it was neatly parked in the place where cycles are normally parked. I'm sure the one who brought in the scooter was just a little kid. But she (given that it is painted) had the perfect discipline to park it in place rather than leave it about in some corner.  That's growing in discipline.

However once inside the Church I was wondering, if children could be taught such discipline and they retain that even when the grow up, how come frequenting the Church and participating in the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church is not something children carry on once they touch their teens?  Granted that parents and elders here value greatly the opinion and freedom of their children right from when they are little, how come civic discipline is retained but not religious fervour?   

Smart thinking

Call it business sense or pretty smart...
The ten-year old visited a farm one day and wanted to buy a large watermelon.
"That's three dollars," said the farmer.
"I've only got 30 cents," said the girl.
The farmer pointed to a very small watermelon in the field and said, "How about that one?"
"Okay, I'll take it," she said.  "But leave it on the vine. I'll be back for it in a month." 

Meaning and work

Imagining a world dominated by work and nothing else...

If meaning, understood as the ludic interaction of finitude and infinity, is precisely what transcends, here and now, the ken of our preoccupations and mundane tasks, enabling us to have a direct experience with what is greater than ourselves, then what is lost in a world of total work is the very possibility of our experiencing meaning. What is lost is seeking why we’re here.

Source: Aeon article by Andrew Taggart

Mechanical complications

Almost two months ago I burned our lawnmower.  Instead of mowing the lawn I was shredding leaves with it!  At one point it got too loaded and the motor got burnt.  But however I tried I could not open the thing to get to the motor!!  There was no way of reaching the motor.  The only thing possible was to change the blade.  That's it.  The mower was so designed as to prevent any other handling.

I remember distinctly an event many years ago. While in the Provincial house and on one of my many trips to the airport (to pick up or drop off someone - never once did I ever enter the airport!) I saw a taxi driver desperately flagging oncoming vehicles standing beside the road.  I stopped my vehicle ahead of his parked taxi and he came running to my side.  The spot was almost on the airport road itself.  He then pleaded with me if he could have some diesel.  He needed to be at the arrival spot to pick up someone but had run out of fuel.  He wanted just enough for him to pick up the person - would have been about 3 kms.  I did not have any reserve in my jeep but told him he could draw some from the tank itself.  He said none of the other vehicles stopped, even the rare ones who stopped did not want to share.  He was deeply moved when I agreed to his request. I said I have no clue of how to get out diesel from the tank but was absolutely willing to help him, if he could.  He said he knew.  Unfortunately there was no way he could draw out diesel from the tank.  The tank and engine were so built!  He said these modern vehicles are so built that any work on them could be done only by an expert and that too in a garage.  Unlike old vehicles which could be 'tinkered' with by someone with little expertise. However he profusely thanked me for my willingness and then began to flag down someone else.

My uncle a car mechanic, assembled a whole car from the spare parts he gathered over the years of his work.  Even dad could do much of the repair work of the car he was driving.  However, with modern cars there is nothing of this possible.  At the most refuel, top up screen wash or the radiator.  For anything else, however minor it may be, one would have to take the car to the showroom or garage.

Machinery made complicated or so intricate that it was just not possible to do anything other than use it.  And when encountered with a fault or repair, either approach the technician or discard it altogether!

So now I'm left with a lawn mower that I need to take to the recycling centre/dump! The only thing I can save of it is the rear end basket used for collecting the grass clippings - to grow one or two tomato plants this summer. 

Hannah and childlessness

In the readings of the day, we see Hannah re-visiting the temple to offer Samson to the Lord.  She meets Eli, and reminds him that it she was the same woman whom he found desperately praying for a child not so long ago.  She thanks him and offers her son for service of the Lord at the temple.

The clock has come a full circle today, when we hear parents not wanting to have children at all or having them aborted. In most early civilizations barrenness was conceived as a sin or a punishment from the gods.  Any woman not having children was often looked down upon and being cursed.  For the woman herself it was a big social stigma.  Times have so drastically changed that women today no longer want to bear children.  Couples who do not want to have children.  Women undergoing abortion merely to ascertain that their body is theirs and they have the right to decide what best to do with it.  Couples deciding to bring home a puppy instead of starting a family with children!  Woman bearing more than three children are seen as 'supermoms'!

Today's prayer: for all aborted children and the women who live with the adverse consequences of abortion.

Re-reading Biblical texts

After supper almost every evening, Br Mateusz practices the following day's Mass readings with me.  Listening to him, who is a first time learner of English coming from Poland, I sometimes am amused by what he reads.  Of course, he is making his best efforts, but what he utters sometimes changes the meaning drastically!  Am reminded of the same struggle of some of the Brothers back in Kondadaba and Karunapuram. Here are some things which I found very amusing, though not all are from Mateusz's mouth...

• The Lord has filed my lips ... (filled)
• His joke is not heavy and his burden lit ... (yoke) (light)
• The childless wifi has children and the fruitful wifi bears no more... (wife)

Two Santas

The other day two Santas appeared in our community room...

They are just a little more than an inch tall, further dwarfed by the new 59 inch TV!

Christmas decorations are already up and about, mostly for more than two weeks.  Though one barely sees the crib anywhere, most houses are lit with special lights, Christmas trees, reindeers, santas...  Shopping malls began selling Christmas 'merchandise' almost a month ago.  Adverts related to Christmas began as early as October!  Christmas certainly comes very early here in the UK!  About Christ, well...! 

Fashion and women

The Daily Mail rarely goes without atleast 4 pages (either together or scattered) of pictures about clothing and accessories.  Most of these are for women.  It is quite surprising that it does a detailed analysis of which royal wore what, when and how much did it cost.  It would then have whole pages of photos of the past members of the royal family wearing the same or similar dress or using similar handbags or wearing the similar ear-rings.  From dresses, to footwear, to rings, ear-rings, hand bags, tiaras, hats ... gosh, what not!

However, all of this and in other media outlets too, there is mostly 98% of it all directed to the female gender.  There is hardly anything about men's clothing.  In that sense, men's clothing range begins with the t-shirt and ends with a suit.  That's it.  Nothing more than that.  There is hardly anything spoken or printed about men's clothing anywhere at all.  Thanks to that!

Know not if it the women's craze for such fancy accessories and garments or media's frenzy feeding the minds of the female gender.  Whatever be the case, the male gender have something they don't mind not being burdened with - more than the suit or shirt!

But here's an enlightened view from the other side...

Openness to God

The text preceding the vision Zachariah has of angel Gabriel announcing the birth of a son to him, describes Zachariah and his wife to be devout Jews, following the Scriptures scrupulously, blamelessly.  Yet when the angel appears to Zachariah, he finds it hard to believe the words of the angel.  There is nothing of such description about Mary preceding the annunciation.  She is not described as 'following the commandments and ordinances blamelessly', yet when she is told that she is to become the mother of God, she accepts and the angel - same, Gabriel - departs.  No punishment.

Wonder why Gabriel was so harsh on Zachariah and not on Mary?  After all, Mary too asks, 'How is this possible? Since I do not know a man?'  Gabriel only replies her that God will see to it.  While in the case of Zachariah, he is silenced!  He is struck dumb!

I guess there is more of what has not been truly recorded.  Perhaps Mary, even though she did not follow the letter of the law to its perfection, she was more open to the spirit of Yahweh.  Zachariah, on the other hand, was very much concerned about keeping the letter of the law.  He did not expect God to spring surprises on him, certainly not with something outside the text.  Being a priest, he should have been more open to His spirit than Mary who was not so well versed in the Scriptures.  Just goes to show that openness to God is what is more appreciated than perfect adherence to rules.   Apart from this there seems no valid reason for Gabriel to be kind to Mary and harsh on Zachariah. (Unless Gabriel was partial, or Zachariah dumb-stricken by surprise, more than punished by Gabriel).

Unreported episode of the nativity event

Did you know that Mother Mary had to fight off a sheep who was keen to take baby Jesus with it?  Watch this...

Children will be children!  Poor baby Jesus... perhaps that'd be the first time there were people fighting for him ... rather than against him or in his name!

Santa paws?

Call it ridiculous or obscene or whatever... but here are some ads for Christmas presents for pets!  Yes, for animals!

Last month there was a whole page ad in the papers for cat-proof Christmas tree!
Now that's going to the dogs, literally!

Winning by losing

There is a beautiful scene towards the end of the movie The birth of the dragon.  The two great Kung Fu masters Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man have fought one another.  But after a while of fighting both stop, thank one another and end the fight.  Those watching the fight cannot say who won.  When they ask both of them who won, they do not respond.  It is later when an avid student approaches Wong asking him to state who among them won, so that he could declare it to the world (and gain freedom for the girl whom he loves), does the following conversation take place.

Wong: My intention was to teach Lee Jun that his attitude was irreverent and his style inadequate.  If in defeating him I've driven him further in that direction then I have lost.  If in losing to him, I've changed his direction, then I have won.  

Mac: We're not in a monastery in China.  This is America.  In America we have winners and losers.  

Wong: Life is not always that easy.  

Not always is there a clear line dividing everything in the world into good or bad, white or black, win or lose, this or that, secular or holy...  The Western mind does not know or does not want to acknowledge ambiguity.  It seeks precise definite answers, even when there cannot be answers or when answers are not that simple.

Does Charles Taylor's understanding of reasoning (and faith) and his whole exposition of language pointing us to move towards this Oriental perspective?  Jesus' teachings too contain similar paradoxes: those who want to save one's life will lose it and those giving it up will save it;  last shall be first and first, last;  when you're weak then you are strong...

Elsewhere in the movie, Master Wong tells Mac, 

Knowing you opponent and knowing yourself are the two things Kung Fu is all about. The rest is eternity. 

A western mind would clearly state: 'The rest is irrelevant'... but eternity?  Now how does one understand and explain that.  Certainly not in any easy terms! 

Chertsey meads

Some pics of the Chertsey meads ...

 

Mixed prayers

This morning as I entered the Chapel for morning prayer and Mass, I was quite excited, happy, thrilled and relieved... all at the same time.  Thanks to the information I received the previous day regarding my research proposal.

As we began morning prayer, I found it weird that I was reciting Psalm 50 (Have mercy on me God in your kindness...) today being Friday.  My present state of mind and heart was anything but in that mood!  And for the first time in years I realised that what I truly felt and the sentiments I was uttering as I recited the psalm had no connection.  In my heart I was truly happy but here I was praying for mercy and forgiveness.

And I've been praying these psalms for donkeys years, everyday - twice!  Certainly I was only reciting, never really conscious of whether the psalm or canticle I was reading embodied my true feelings and state of being.

I'm aware that the compiled psalms in our breviaries are the 'hand-downs' of centuries of prayer and reflection.  And I can't imagine the confusion if the 7 of us in the community were to have the same mood and to choose the same psalm and then recite it together. But ...

Anyway am happy that at least for one day, on one occasion I was conscious of what I was reciting while praying! 

Unholy religion?

From The Times (Dec. 11, 2017) ... 

Religions have brought great things to civilization: schools, hospitals, learning, science, social organisation, art, altruism.  Yet they can also bring horrors, persecutions, and injustices, contemptuous exploitation of those they consider unsaved.  Religions still protect thousands of irrational and sometimes rules that have nothing to do with spirituality or even their own founding scriptures.  

Muhammad did not demand the burka or the suicide bomber.  Christ expressed no views on whether to eat meat on Friday, keep women out of the priesthood, give cardinals red hats or condemn same-sex love.  There is no evidence that the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, ordered uncut hair and turbans; that came over a century later, for social and distinctive reasons.  Buddha certainly did not recommend the murder of the Rohinghya in Burma.  

Human beings, self-seeking and irresistibly drawn to bureaucratic dogmatism, hung all that stuff on the hook of religion.  Some of it is harmless, some terrible.  Most of all, human like to seize on the mysterious sense of the "holy" that raises an echo in every heart and gleefully use it to shore up systems of unquestioned authority.  ... Human beings have weaponised holiness, made a sword and shield of it. 

The title of the article is "Putting priests on pedestals has abetted abuse" by Libby Purves

Language as the key

Am learning a new way of looking at reasoning and language.  Have always learnt and taught that language follows the process of reasoning.  That after the mind or the brain has done with the process of abstraction and reasoning does language chip in to label the concept or the notion the mind has now conceived.  Even to the describe the process of what and how the concept was arrived at, language helps.  However, a slightly different perspective is to see language as more than the end process or a labelling tool.  Language can be viewed as the one that actually collaborates with the process of reasoning.  It actually creates reality (not the physical one).  Without language one does not make any sensible headway in the process of reasoning.

This view of language is propagated by Charles Taylor in his latest volume The Language Animal.  Given that I'll be spending most of the coming two years (atleast) dabbling with this theme and the thoughts of Taylor, I feel a sort of contentment at having to work on a topic that always has been close to my heart:  meaning and religion.  My basic premise is that if language is constitutive of reasoning (or even the other way round), then so is belief.  The initial steps would be to see the divide between reasoning and belief - whether at all there is such a divide.  Or is it something that has been projected and debated while the underlying processes and core principles have always been the same?  Hope the endeavour to make sense of the meaning-making process helps me see myself and everything else in a better light.

Deuce

The 1961 women's final at Wimbledon was the last time that Wimbledon witnessed an all British competition.  Both the finalists were British: Angela Mortimer and Christine Truman.  The commentator wanted to be fair to both of them.  However, after the match he received 34 letters of outcry from the general public accusing him of being partial.  Of those 17 accused him of siding Mortimer and the other 17 accused him of being partial to Truman!

Such is life and human thinking.  No matter what you do, people will have an opinion.  If one were driven by what others say, one can never ever be happy or make any conclusive decisions.  While having an open attitude is healthy, one also needs to rely on one's own prudence and judgement in the final analysis.  

Dehumanisation and violence

What drives people to torture and kill scores of people as in genocides or ethnic cleansing?  The easiest answer to that is that those perpetuating these crimes have lost their humanity.  They do not recognise the other as a human being.  But if one does not regard the other as a person, worth respecting and whose life ought to be safeguarded, then it only leads one to indifference.  Not desire or thrill in killing, at least not consistently and in such great numbers.  Just like we see mosquitoes.  We don't go about smashing every mosquito in the house.  We protect ourselves against them.  We carry on our work and only when they disturb us do we chase or kill them.  The same with lizards and even pests.  No sane person kills them en masse just for the heck of it, for no particular reason.  Most often these are outside our observation radar. They just don't exist!

One opinion is that the roots of mass violence is to be found not in dehumanisation but in human morality.

We find that moral violence emerges only when perpetrators see victims as capable of thinking, experiencing sensations and having moral emotions. In other words, when perpetrators perceive their victims as human.

.... dehumanising victims predicts support for instrumental violence, but not for moral violence. (Source: click here)

Does that mean dehumanisation has no role in killings of any sort?  Not necessarily.  Most often it is a deficit in humanity that lets one not do anything positively to prevent violence or murder. 

The early morning of the soul

Today is the feast of St John of the Cross.  He was a man who stood firm in times of extreme criticism, that too from those closest to his heart.  But he knew that what he was doing was for the good of the very same people whom he was determined to show a better way.  Thus today he is renowned for rejuvenating the Carmelite way of life.  His autobiographical work titled The dark night of the soul, contains his endeavours at the reformation of the order and his guiding principles.  It also speaks of his trials and tribulations along this herculian enterprise.

Fr Sean who was the main celebrant of this morning's Mass spoke in brief about the life of St John of the Cross.  When he mentioned about the book, I was amused because somehow the thought of what-if Fr Sean were to write a book along the lines of St John would be like.  The title of which was the cause of my amusement.  Given Fr Sean's habit of going to bed early and rising early, it occurred to me that the apt title for his book would be 'The early morning of the soul'! 

Kindness

What goes around, comes around! 

Time and railways

Today we commenced the winter time here in England.  I do not know of any other country that adjusts its clock twice a year.

Only last week did I learn that for quite some time in England, people did not have a national time or clock.  They only had local time or regional time.  It was only with the railways becoming a means of national transport that people felt the need to have a time followed across the country.  That's how the history of having a unified system of calculating time across the country began.  And it is only after 1807, when horse-drawn carriages were used on tramlines, which eventually led to the evolution of railways, that England began to follow one clock.

This once again proves the theory that time is nothing but a record of motion.  If not for the national rail network, people would have followed their own respective time and no one would have had serious difficulties.  More than transport, I think it has all to do with network.  I guess, if the internet were discovered before the establishment of the railways, even then there would have been the notion of a single clock being followed.  However, in this case there would have been some wider consensus on following a particular clock than mere national boundaries.  

Eat here!

Came across this particular signboard during one of my tumbling around on youtube videos!  Found the caption quite amusing!

Religion: Public or private?

A youngster at the University described herself as a 'Catlim' when sharing about her religion.  She said, her father was a Catholic and her mother a Muslim and she grew up in both the religions and therefore, 'Catlim'.

In a recent survey at the place where I did my Master's here in UK, it was found that only 50% of the students fill in their religion while filling up the application form for the studies.  The rest prefer not to mention.  Of those, only 18% are Christian, and the rest are of various religions.  But even of those 18% not all are practicing believers.  Now there is a strong move to drop the optional question of religion in the census forms for the UK in the coming years.

More than ever, here in the UK, I see how religion is a private matter.  Though England claims to be a very Christian country in its civil and political structure - and it certainly is - the fact that practice of the religion is totally a private matter.  On the collective front there is a tussle between being called Christian, on the basis of its historical past, and being called by no religious affiliation, on the basis of its progressive future.  All the while practice of religion is purely a matter of conscience, even the choice of a child - each one for oneself.

We got pepper here

Fr Sean was narrating to us, how in the 1950's when he finished his novitiate and came to England for his post-novitiate, one of the first things a senior told him about the new place was, "They have pepper here!"  In the novitiate, they only had salt at the table but no pepper. But the post-novitiate was an 'improvement': they had pepper besides salt, at table!

How times change!  And how differently at different time across the globe!  

Battling belief and truth

I don't remember a word of what the sermon this morning was!  Not because the priest was not speaking sense, but because my mind was battling some overflow of my meditation.

What would be the basic difference between belief and truth?  Now that's what I intend to research for my further studies. But it occurred to me this morning that belief is a matter of the heart. Truth a matter of the mind.  Not that they are compartmentalised but still predominantly, it is the heart that kicks in when it comes to matters of belief and faith.  I believe in something not because it makes complete sense or because it is true.  I honestly don't have logical explanations and rational proofs for most of what I believe in.  I feel.  I believe.

Now what is true (if it means abiding by the correspondence theory - that itself needs to be justified... or else how does one explain the concept of truth), need not always be the foundation of my belief or  what makes meaning.  And most often it is the mind that is most concerned with the truth (or falsity) of a reality. Now if I know something is the truth, then I cannot contest it.  Does that also mean, I'm bound to believe in it?  If not, what is the worth of calling something truthful?  In other words, can I have reasons for belief and heart for the truth?

But this whole idea of dividing the heart and mind is again Cartesian!  Can there be any other way of relating the two, without one merging into the other, each retaining its identity yet making sense to both.  I sense meaning has much to do with all of this. Yet am unable to lay my finger on it.

On the other hand, why should I be worried if there is a conflict between the two?  Isn't that a good thing?  Perhaps it is the conflict between belief and truth, between the heart and the mind that keeps me alive and going.  If not for this I'd be doing nothing, thinking nothing, striving for nothing.  But again fear this state as well: because it is a luxury only religious like me can afford.  Who else would have the time and space for sitting and thinking?!  Most of humanity is up and about working for their livelihood and some for basic survival.

Christian Resource Exhibition, Esher

Last week, on October 18, I attended the Christian Resource Exhibition at Esher along with Brian and Pat.  It was kind of them to inform and invite me to join them for this trip.

More than anything else, I was keen and interested in the way it is organised and planned.  Unlike most of what I have seen, there is more confusion and disorder and last minute rushing in most of such events involving hundreds of people.  None of it here!! Honestly I could not find one single person who was part of the organising team - or perhaps I was too dumb to identify them among the crowd.  But no one running around, trying to fix things, or arrange things or sort out confusion.  Not one in the whole crowd with a worried face!! Wish I could reach that stage of tranquility and organisational capacity!

So besides the usual stalls from the various denominations of the Church there were talks (some spontaneous, some serious and lengthy), prayer sessions, interviews, performances, sale, and possibility for one-to-one chats with individuals for various Church related themes... all of these going on simultaneously without one causing interference with anything else!  Luckily I had gone through their website earlier and had picked and chosen where I wanted to be and when.  That way, I made the most of the day.  So I attended two talks, one on the 'Green Church' - which was really good - and another on the Celtic tradition in modern Christianity - wasn't what I thought it would be.  Then a couple of youth speakers sharing (in short duration of 5-10 mins) their experience and learning in running youth groups.

Also sat through a Ukrainian dance troupe performance titled, Zozulenka.  I liked it very much.  A team of 8 youngsters (all aged between 14-20) led by their music and arts teacher.  A 45-minute performance of song and dance, perfectly synchornised, without even a minute of delay or confusion.

Walked around viewing every stall, their exhibits, seeing how each stall had the little space arranged, decorated, designed... really amazing!   The exhibition was held at Sandown park, the racecourse of Surrey.  That way got to see a racecourse in person too!

Go on your way...

Jesus sends out his disciples two-by-two (Luke 10: 1-9).  As he sees them off, he instructs them to carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals... From an Indian context this would not be a very very difficult task.  However for an Englishman, it would be quite impossible.  As Fr John during his introduction to the Mass stated, "He'd not get much further than the main door!"

Thanks to the cold of England, it would not be possible to travel outside one's home without sufficient warm clothes, and certainly not without some protective footwear.  So for an Englishman to try to live the gospel in its call to set off for evangelisation as per this passage would indeed be a radical choice.  Very well aware of the danger of reading the Bible as solitary passages, this call of Jesus certainly challenges the Englishman much more than an Indian.

Perhaps, if this Gospel passage were to be written in an English context, it would read:

Go on your way; behold I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no wallet, no picnic, take not your car, walk through the bylanes, greet every person you meet...

Altar buds

Thanks to the cool weather of England, the flowers on the altar last longer than in the Indian subcontinent.  In our chapel we change flowers once a week.  Mostly gladiolas, asiatic lilies, bedonna lillies and tulips when available.  There are a couple of other flowers which we use when available cheap.  They remain quite fresh for that duration, some even for two weeks at a stretch (asters, for example).  However, one weird thing is that most often the flowers are yet to fully bloom.  So most often we have buds instead of flowers!  By the time they have fully bloomed, all on the stem, they are discarded!  Partly because the first flower on the stem has almost withered!  Left to me, I'd keep them a little longer.  But I suppose the Lord understands!

Pampas Grass

White perennial Pampas Grass (from one of our neighbour's courtyard)...

A guardian angel

An angel keeping watch over a departed soul at the Chertsey cemetery...

Another Salesian residence

Another piece of history that I learnt about today is that the house adjacent to the Salesian school was once the Salesian residence.  It perfectly makes sense as it is the connecting plot between the pavement beside the cemetery and the school compound.

I'm told that it presently is the residence of the Cor et Lumen Christi, one of the few lay communities of England.  They had bought that house from the Salesians when we had moved to the present location.  Fr Eric Donnell, himself a Salesian, who was then the parish priest of St Anne's Church was instrumental in mediating this purchase of property.  It was also because he had been in touch with the societies of laity living together in a community and one of them was looking for a residential plot.  He negotiated this deal between the lay group and the Salesians.

It was interesting to know something about this particular lay group which lives together as a community, something akin to religious living together.  Brian has volunteered to put me in touch with one of them who is an active parishoner.  The Hungarian priest, Fr Thomas who occasionally appears in the parish for Masses is said to be their current Chaplain.  Look forward to know more about this particular group.  

Neighbourhood history

Only this morning did I come to know that the house two doors from our present residence was once upon a time a police station.  I've walked past that house a thousand times over the last year and always found it a bit fascinating in comparison to the others in the street but it never occurred to me that it has this bit of historical significance.  The house even today has an emblem of the queen, the crown, on its walls

The houses behind the same were once the courthouse.

The house where Brian and Pat live was of one who owned many horses.  His stable was behind his house - part of which is still intact!  And all around was grass cultivated for the horses.  Including the plot where we presently live.  As years went by, he sold bits and pieces off and that's when the police station was built adjacent to it.  To its left is the house which now belongs to our immediate neighbours.  

Teddy from the attic

And whom did I find in the attic?...

Also learnt the name of the little boy who comes every Sunday for Mass with his mother and his little teddy and a handful of small cars, Jacob.  He is always so full of questions! It is a great joy to see him every Sunday. 

At Sean Devereux's grave

In the morning, on our way to Farnborough, Fr John and I visited the cemetery.  Fr John wanted to pay homage to some of the Salesians buried there.  He later told me that he did his first year of practical training at Farnborough and there were about 20 Salesians in the community then, most of whom were buried at Farnborough.

As we just walked around the part where the Salesians were buried, we were also looking for the grave of Sean Devereux, the past pupil from the place who was killed in Somalia where he was working as a volunteer with the UN.  We found it along the Salesians graves.

Have to admit I was more fascinated by the small flower pot someone had placed on his tombstone rather than the epitaph itself! Am told it is the heather flower. 

Adults at risk

Today was the Safeguarding Policy day for half of the GBR Province.  We were at Farnborough for the animation and presentation.  It was good again to meet many of the confreres of the south, especially those at Farnborough.

What I found most interesting of the animation today was the morning session which focused on 'adults at risk'!  Well all these years I had heard and very much been part of the discussion on 'young at risk', but never once did I ever hear of 'adults at risk' (except when Thathi was elected as provincial someone was pulling his leg and saying, now we have TaR - Thathi at risk!).  But having lived in the English context especially the present state of the GBR Province and its outreach, it made sense to me.  Taking care of those vulnerable - whatever the age group.  Mostly it was about vulnerability regarding physical ill-health and mental well-being.  The second half of the day was about the dangers faced by children in the digital world.  The latest report on children and internet states that 98% of 7-16 year olds have access to internet across the UK.  And most of these are active users of the latest apps.  Messaging and sharing information, pictures and whereabouts seem to be the most engaged activity.

Another thing that caught my attention: The stark difference in our approach to dealing issues with young people and children between the 'western' mindset and the 'eastern' mindset was visible to me in our discussions. There were a couple of us non-Europeans and in our response to certain case studies we found it most important for the family to take to first step with regard to teenagers and growing children.  In our own groups we found ourselves stating the same possible immediate responses: a calm dialogue with the teenager, asking the youngster to invite his or her friends home for a party together with the family, sitting and talking together as a family... Others felt the school and existing systems/structures needed to be initiated or approached for handling the issues.

Jonah is 'religiously' upset

Jonah goes and preaches to the people of Nineveh and he does a great job.  He delivers God's message to the best of his ability.  He understands what it means and communicates it effectively to all the people.

Unfortunately he appropriates the job and the message as his own!  It is a familiar scenario.  When one gets so involved in a task, even though it is not of one's own responsibility, one is likely to treat the task and everything involved in it personally.  So naturally when God changes his mind and does not bring about the destruction he has promised, Jonah is upset.  Perhaps if I were in his place, I too would have felt the same.

Take the unlikely scenario of God carrying out what he initially planned to do to Nineveh.  Destroy it.  Then naturally Jonah would go about saying, "See, I told them so!"  He would have happily taken the credit. That's how we humans normally work: quick to take credit for success but reluctant to acknowledge failure.

What Jonah suffers from is a typical sickness of religious and priests.  Taking God's work as one's own, leaving nothing to God!  The former part of the process is good, not the latter.  We need to realise that God is incharge.  It is primarily his work that we are upto.  

They understood...

The first reading of the Mass today is from the book of Nehemiah.  Reading it was as if it was a description of the Holy Mass, at least the first part of it.  Ezra, the priest and scribe, reading from the book of the Law.  The Levites explaining the text.  Nehemiah, presiding over the whole animation.  The people, listening to the whole reading with great reverence.  Conclusively the people are very moved by the whole reading, listening and understanding of it and are exhorted by the animators to go back home and rejoice... and share their food and drink with those who haven't anything to eat or drink.  The last sentence of the reading reads thus:

And all the people went off to eat and drink and give their shares away and begin to enjoy themselves since they had understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them. 

What struck me most was the last line... they understood the meaning of what had been explained to them... and I wish this could be said of every Mass and every sermon preached in every Church!

Cyclamens

Cyclamens in bloom at the Salesian Gardens...

Extending the boundary

When I was small and along with friends about to play a cricket match, one of the first things we collectively would decide is the boundary line.  If the place was limited or inaccessible, then certain spots would be declared 2-runs by default.

We grown ups do the same with our relationships too.  There are people and I mean certain groups as a whole, certain sections of humanity as such which are either within or without the boundary.  I distinctly remember one of the first conversations I had with someone in Kondadaba when I reached the place for my first year of practical training, way back in 2000.  It was the one who regularly supplied the seminary with the chicken.  Since the Brothers had not yet arrived, I went to shop (as directed by the cooks) and introduced myself.  Since my name wasn't revealing any "affiliation" they gently stated that very many of the Brothers in the seminary were "their" people.  I had no clue of what he was talking! After repeated and creative attempts and only when he realised that I wasn't getting what he wanted to know did he bluntly ask me, "What's your caste?"

The further the boundary we set by which we consciously or unconsciously exclude people is the better human beings we will be.  Some set nationality, colour of the skin, or religion as the boundary.  Greater are the souls who have extended the boundary beyond human beings to include animals (if not all, at least most) within one's relationship circle.  I'm not talking of those who love animals more than human beings, but of those who love animals as much as all human beings!  The greatest see no boundary at all.

We celebrate today the feast of St Francis of Assissi, one of the rare gems of humanity who saw no boundaries at all in relating to the world.

Happy anniversary!

It is exactly one year since I landed in the UK.  I reached here on this very day in 2016.  It is hard to say whether the year has flown by or dragged on.  However the only thing sure is that it has been the most relaxed (can read it as lethargic too) year of my whole Salesian life!

The other thing that strikes me today as I reflect on how same or different am I from the day I left India is that the things that I initially found weird or strange are no more so.  I guess living the life makes one accustomed to the different aspects that make up life.  I was more than aware of this last Sunday when I met a couple of Indian Salesian Sisters from the Province of Tiruchy.  They were here along with a couple of their relatives and other nuns for a month long holiday in Europe (that Salesian Sisters in India were permitted to a foreign trip for a month was in itself shocking!).  After Mass as we introduced one another outside the Parish, I found them asking the same questions that I had when I first began to see things.  Their follow-on questions to my replies were all the more revealing of the differences, both between the Indian context and the English context and most importantly, my ways of explaining to them (in as close an Indian context as I could) and their grasp of the same.  As I walked back home, I was laughing to myself!

Katie wanted to make today's meal special to commemorate this event!  So we had yellow rice, potato curry, egg and chicken curry, dal, chapati, bhajjis and some masala curry.  God bless her!  Ultimately, cannot but ultimately thank God for the year that has gone by and all that He has graciously blessed me with.  Feel so strange thinking, where is Sulthan Nagar, Hyderabad and where is Chertsey, UK - and all the places and experiences I've been through in between!!  

God is with you

The readings of the day and the responsorial psalm offer a very simple yet necessary challenge to all who claim to be close to God.  In the first reading we see people of other nation and places demand the Israelites to lead them to Jerusalem because they believe that God is up there.  They would have gone there themselves but they are aware that the Israelites are 'God-specialists'.

And that is what each one who believes in God is supposed to be: one who reflects God's presence in everyday life.  All the more applicable to priests and religious who claim that God has called us specifically for this purpose!  

Bullet train and the cow

Nothing describes the latest 'developments' in India better than this cartoon...

End of summer

Winter is setting in and the signs are clear and present!

The leaves of the maple tree in front of the house have already begun to change colour and quite a
few have already dropped.

Last week one morning the field across the road had a thick mist in the morning.  

Phenomenon

It's been more than two weeks since I posted anything.  Not that I was busy.  Rather, was totally free!  Once again prove the age old dictum: Give work only to those who are busy; they will find time to do the additional job too.  To those who have none, don't give any!

Well, last night I watched a decent movie, Phenomenon.  Am surprised I never came across it earlier.  (By now, I must have watched practically most movies which seemed to appear on the IMDb list!).  I liked this movie in particular for the acting of John Travolta.  Never thought such role would be done any justice by an actor of Travolta's type (action, macho, rough type).  The movie is fantasy drama about a man named George Malley who suddenly becomes very bright and intelligent, after he sees a bright light on his 37th birthday.  He then begins to surprise everyone, himself included, with his vast knowledge, increased hunger for reading, psychokinesis skills and lots more.  Only later it is revealed to him that he has a sort of brain tumour that accelerates his brain's potential rather than impede it, but none the less fatal.

Two instances stand out from the movie for me.  The first is when he is angry that the townsfolk are not anymore paying attention to what he has to say but carry on probing him for what they think him to be (in touch with aliens!).  Trying to calm himself he works in his patch of the garden and at one point looks up to the gently swaying of the branches of a tree.  Honestly couldn't make out what exactly was the director hinting at through that scene which results in him becoming more calm and serene.  But one comment from a viewer that it is the realisation that only he is at rage with the rest of creation for not wanting to listen to him. The awareness that the rest of reality, in spite of knowing things and being aware of far greater truths, is still peaceful is a very humbling experience.

The second scene is when a renowned doctor wants to perform a surgery on him just for the advancement of science.  George denies him saying that he is missing out the whole point of exploring the human spirit and is instead focusing on only his brain.

Here's the scene where George explains to the children his imminent death...

A funny scene when the questioner states that he will be specific!

On another lighter note, cannot but mention one of the online viewer comments: 

Someone was diagnosed with a brain tumour and on being told this, asked his doctor if he would now have some superhuman powers.  The doctor replied, "You are not John Travolta and neither is this a movie!"

Weird captions

Having to do a bit of cooking in the past few days, I've noticed some queer things printed on the edible products.  Today I came across two such weird descriptions... couldn't really make sense of what actually did they mean!

The following was on the beef burger pack... "Made with 95% British beef."  The rest 5% of what?  Indian beef??

Then there was this caption on the double cream container I served for desert... 'lasts longer once opened'?  Does it mean that it will stay fresh longer, if opened?  Or that it tastes so bad that it would never be used again?

Helping strangers

I reached the airport this afternoon on time but the flight was delayed and hence spent time walking around.  At one moment two ladies emerged from the international arrivals wing and were frantically looking around.  One of them had her phone in hand and constantly looking at it.  They tried to ask a couple of commuters but none seemed to be interested in stopping at all.  By then I realised they wanted to go to the car park.  I volunteered to help.  On the lady's phone were the details of the car park.  I showed them the direction to take to reach there.  But then realised myself that in their state of anxiety they'd lose their way, so I volunteered to guide them to the spot.  They were grateful.  Once at the spot we looked for the car.  Finding none, they told me that it was a uber taxi.  Glancing at the app I noticed that the vehicle was still on its way.  I assured them that it would arrive exactly where they were and left.  I could notice that they were quite at ease by then.  Perhaps they would have sorted out the whole thing by themselves, if only they were a bit more relaxed from the beginning.  But such confusion and anxiety is common during journeys and that too if it is the maiden trip to a new place.

I did not know much of the airport or the logistics, but felt great to be of some assistance to those two ladies in their moment of anxiety.  Perhaps the feeling was special because it is after a long gap that I've had some interaction with people other my confreres or those whom I regularly meet on Sundays.

Children and displays

I was at the airport this evening to pick up Fr Sean. And his inbound flight was delayed by almost 2 hrs. So? Another opportunity to walk and watch people, especially children.

Among the other amusing antics was the difficulty of parents keeping their children's eyes and hands from the displayed racks of chocolates and other colourful things at the shops. The smaller they are the greater the danger. The risk is all the more greater if there are more than two kids to handle - besides the luggage. The best chances are to keep the kids as far as possible from any of these displays. If they somehow do reach close beware of the hand shooting out!  Then the mad scramble to get the object out of the child's hand before it opens up the wrapper or decides to get rid of it and in the process break it!

Love your neighbour

The leader of a church music group practiced his trombone almost daily late into the night and sometimes in the early hours of the morning.  Someone complained this to his parish priest and asked, if such a man could be called a good christian at all.  "It's possible for the musician," replied the priest, "but not so easy for the neighbours!"

The Master destroyer

Jesus is described as the worst funeral director: He sabotaged every funeral he attended, including his own!

Children

My niece, all of three years, is all mischief.  She claims to be 'big'.  So she stands beside something and makes sure the other person or the object is below her shoulder level... all to confirm her claim that she is 'big'.  Not to be outdone by her elder brother, who is four years elder to her, she is adamant that she too is seven years old.

During my last conversation with my people at home, Mum was reporting that one morning she was tired of being "harassed" by the little one and she said to my brother (her father) as he was getting in the car to go to office, "Shall we give away Anet to someone because she is becoming too naughty?"  All of this within her earshot.  Pat came the reply, "Give me to Mai (that's how she addresses my mother!)"

Was reminded of someone reporting something similar about their grandson who was being stubborn about eating something.  So the grandma asked the boy, "You do know which kind of children go to heaven, don't you?"  The reply was quick, "Yeah, all the dead ones!"

Differently abled

In some sense I like the phrase 'differently-abled'... of course, not as a label for those physically or mentally challenged but as to what it conveys.  I certainly am not for the phrase being used as a sort of gradation of people with 'normal' being the standard of measurement.

The phrase 'differently-abled' conveys the fact that just because a child or a person has a different set of thought pattern or does not think or act in the way that most people do, is not less than others.  It is just that the child is different.  In a sense, each one of us is different!  In fact, it can be viewed as meaning that the 'normal' people have not yet found out ways and means of comprehending this 'different' thought or guiding principle.  For all one knows, those labelled 'differently-abled' may be far more gifted that most people, only not recognised and acknowledged.  What if the existing standard measuring unit of 'normalcy' is itself flawed?  What if the goalposts set up by the society and the times are themselves off mark?

Intelligence is not something that can be graded merely on the basis of doing things 'right' or getting reality right - least of all, scoring high marks.

Murder, most brutal

Everytime I dig out a grown up plant in the garden, I feel a bit bad.  Not because the plant is a rare variety or that it is a 'good' plant for the garden but because it has taken more than a year to grow to the stature it is.  And my act of 15 minutes is going to undo all of that year's slow painstaking effort of the plant to keep growing.

The same logic is applicable to people as well.  Whenever someone is killed, however or for whatever reason, that single act of an instant negates years of growth.  Not only of that person but of all those involved in the life of that person, right since infancy.  Surviving all those years of childhood's vulnerabilities mostly riding on the gracious and generous sacrifice of parents, the risks and dangers of youth, dodging those viruses and fatal bacteria, carving out a life, building up relationships and a worldview... all of it, everything is destroyed by one senseless act of someone.  And most often why does one murder?  Merely because something the person said or wrote is not to my liking, or because the other person's belief structure is different from that of mine... If only one would weigh all what goes into making a life against that one particular differing aspect, just for one silent minute, may be several lives would be spared.