Redefining India:
Watching between the frames of the Slumdog Millionaire
London, 28 January 2009. This afternoon I went to watch the Slumdog Millionaire – famous in the West, with 10 nominations for Oscar; and infamous in India, with a number of reported demonstrations. I wanted to see for myself what the point of contention was. Is it a conflict between how India defines itself and how the rest of the world does so? My decision to go to the movie was itself prompted by the comments that I heard from my English friends who had already seen it.
As I sat through the film, I could perceive a certain dynamics of the Aristotelian catharsis unravelling with me. May be a catharsis in reverse! First, a revulsion: this is not the complete picture of India! Surely, this is not what happens in my home village or in my district! Besides, how could a British […]
Author: selvam
Letter from London 2: There’s probably no god
Believe in God and Be Happy
“There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” There are 800 buses running across the United Kingdom carrying this slogan. The campaign is part of an anti-religion movement. They managed to raise £140,000 (Rs.1 Crore) for this campaign.
The slogan is an expression of an exaggerated humanism that believes that the way, perhaps the only way, of liberating humankind is by killing God. My faith tells me that God is not an insecure Being that I must rush to protect. There are others who do believe that God needs to be protected. They may even justify killing human beings in the name of God. These abhorring attempts by fundamentalists actually backfire. They prompt the opposite pendulum effect in anti-religion movements, equally fanatic, as seen in the bus slogans. In fact, the fundraising for this campaign began as a direct reaction to Christian bus-adverts […]
Letter from London 1: Western Attitudes
Getting Things Right
A knock at the door of our residence. A woman makes a request, “Please contribute £2 for the care of abandoned pets.”
I want to rush back to my room, fish two precious pounds out of my school bag and give it to her. And add, “Could you please donate £1, with which I can feed a whole family, for a whole day and more, in a village called Mtakuja in Tanzania!” But I would seem too impolite!
A prayer moment in our church. The theme: Caring for Creation… or something like that! A melodious song with an accompanying PowerPoint of beautiful meadows and flowers. Perhaps there were also some photos downloaded from the website of National Geographic. The PowerPoint was followed by a scripture reading, a psalm, sharing…
I heard them say (perhaps they didn’t say, but I heard them that way!), “Destroy all the forests, throw some concrete and […]
A Politician’s Prayer
Lord God, the source of all power and goodness,
I praise you for your infinite yet wise plan for the universe.
I praise you for your powerful yet gentle presence in the world.
Lord God, the source of all love and kindness,
I thank you for the patient journey that you have walked with me.
I thank you for the impeccable way
you have prepared me for your mission here on earth.
Lord God, the source of all forgiveness and reconciliation,
May your compassion purify me of every trace of selfishness.
May your loving kindness strengthen me
to see others’ good in all my undertakings.
Lord God, the source of all truth and freedom,
Help me ever be open to dialogue in our search for the truth.
Help me assert the dignity of the human person in our fight for liberty.
Lord God, the source of all peace and joy,
Bring lasting prosperity to my nation.
Let ‘quality of life’ be the way we define […]
Indian Missionaries in Africa
Missionaries from India Karibuni Africa!
The other day I met Neema. She is a Tanzanian, and a candidate for a congregation of sisters who hail from South India and who have now some convents in Tanzania. She wears the churidar, speaks English with a strong Indian accent and shakes her head like a doll as she gives her assent. Whose fault is it? Is it the 18 year old Neema’s, who agreed to be Indianized, or is it that of those holy nuns who refused to be indigenized?
I heard from a fellow Indian missionary that in a convent in Tanzania, the local cook speaks very well one of the languages of South India. In fact I was told that on the one hand, the sisters are proud of their feat, on the other hand they regret that they are not able to speak any secret among themselves at table anymore. I […]