Letter from London 5: India’s poverty and riches

March 10, 2011November 3, 2013 selvam London Letters

India’s poverty and riches – A look from outside by an insider.
These days, one of the questions that is becoming increasingly difficult for me to answer is, “Where do you come from?” When people ask me “Where do you come from?” I keep wondering if I should be saying …

I come from London, where I am living since last September (2008)?
Or do I come from East Africa, where I have lived 16 years since 1992 – six in Kenya and 10 in Tanzania?
Or should I be saying, I come from India, where I was born, and spent the first 25 years of my life?

As a Roman Catholic missionary, having lived with Africans in Africa, and with Europeans in Europe, I know I am slowly losing my Indian-ness: I find difficult to eat spicy food; to me, Indian movies seem too long and sentimental, and watching them a waste of time; […]

Letter from London 4: Role of Memory in Spirituality

March 10, 2011November 3, 2013 selvam London Letters

Do This in Memory of Me!
What can the young learn from the spirituality of the elderly?
At least once a month I celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in a nursing home for the aged. Except the nuns who look after them and a few visitors, who are apparently the children and grandchildren of the residents, the participants of this celebration are in the age range of 85 and 105. There are some challenges to be paid attention to: I need to speak loudly enough for the deaf to hear, at the same time I should not be jarring in the ears of those who use hearing-aid; I should not be too long for the sake of those who suffer from incontinence, at the same time be lengthy enough for the pious old Irish ladies to get a satisfaction of having been to the Sunday mass; and above all, being able to meaningfully […]

Letter from London 3: Slumdog Millionaire

March 10, 2011November 3, 2013 selvam London Letters

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 […]

Letter from London 2: There’s probably no god

March 10, 2011November 3, 2013 selvam London Letters

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

March 10, 2011November 3, 2013 selvam London Letters

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 […]