Christian Schools - Another view

Ladies and Gennu'men

I think it is time we all took 3 deep breaths - No , no reference to Swami Ramdev - 3 steps back ( You put your left leg in , you put your left leg out ... ) and , as to use the expression of my children , chilled out.

There is truth in what both Savike and Minoo say ; and I guess to myself, I am the living proof. Cathecism was never forced on us nor was Mass or Benediction - though I did enjoy being in the Choir and singing hymns in Latin. Brought up in a very devout and othrodox Buddhist family I was drawn towards Christianity by what saw during my school days. AND NO ONE - NO ONE I REPEAT - EVER MADE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF CONVERSION.....EXCEPT, and here Ms Savika pls hear me out, it was a Keralite Brother. He would go out of his way to tell a select lot of Hindu and Buddhist boys that we were condemned to go to hell because we did not believe in Christ. He, I know was an aberration...BUT THEN SO , I BELIEVE, ARE MANY OF THOSE WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF THE VARIOUS DIOCESE TODAY ( ROMAN CATHOLIC, PROTESTANT, JEHOVAH'S WITNESS etc - DENOMINATION NOT BEING A FACTOR ). In fact after school and just before joining College i was contemplating on convertng to Catholicism... all on my own steam and with NO inducements.

But my experience with a few Keralite nuns and priests ( Jesuits) and one bible thumping Scottish missionary ( n Calcutta / Bangalore / Siliguri and Kalimpong ) changed everything. So those of you who studied in the good old days of Irish / Canadian / Belgian priests, Brothers, sisiters and nuns and live abroad would do well to keep those memories beautful & alive since things have changed and are quite like what Minoo says. There is an old Urdu saying - a newly converted Muslim is fanatical about observing namaz 5 times a day. Something like a new broom sweeping cleanest.. so is it with the present lot of holy men on both sides of the battlefield.

For those of you who do not live in India - things are NOT as bad as the media puts it out to be. It is just that with the billion TV channels and the zillion magaznes and dailies they do need to stoke up some heat - what better than a pyre built on Churches / Masjids / temples ? For those of you from Goethals - I have just heard an interesting story which should put all this in a different light . It seems that Brother B C Morrow ( yes our very own Pinky, God forgive me the levity ) was a close friend of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. As long as Br Morrow was in St Columbus both Rajeev and Sanjay Gandhi studied there. Once Br Morrow left St Columbus Panditji transferred his grandsons to Doons. But during the winter hols when Br Morrow would come to Delhi the boys were sent back to Br Morrow for tuitions !!! Even with this great regard that Pandiji had for Br Morrow there was stll a restriction on the "invasion" of missionaries into the hills. So you see, it is not just a case of religion A Versus religion B ... there is regonal politics also attached to it.

I was of two minds - should I write or not. I decided to do so when I was reminded of Radheyshyam Sharma ( my old school house captain) when he quoted Edmund Burke in one of his blogs " the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing " It is NOT that I am one of the good men - it is just that I think we all need to hear each other out. And Ms Savika and Ms Noronha ( ncidentally, Ms Noronha, are you related to Captain Alan Noronha of the Indian Navy ? ) seemed really concerned.

take care

thondup
GMS - Class of 67