CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN INDIA

(A paper prepared for the CBCI-AICU dialogue meeting held on the 14th September 2001, at Bangalore)

1. INTRODUCTION: “Blind guides, having eyes, they see not”. We are familiar with this strong castigation by Jesus. His words often seem rather harsh, to those who prefer to remain blind to reality. Nevertheless they echo through time. Could we slightly change the metaphor? “Having I’s, they C not.” Confusing? What’s the big I? Ego! What’s the big C? Competition, Commercialisation, Corruption, Conversion. Take one’s pick. Whether or not we agree with these 4 C’s, they have, unfortunately, come to characterise Catholic education in India today. These are common perceptions, which are subjective, and may not bear scrutiny. This paper attempts to objectively analyse and assess Catholic Education. We seek to remind ourselves of the Catholic Church’s teachings on education. We will then apply these Teachings to the ground realities, based on facts and figures. We will then seek to evolve a synthesis of thought, to be translated into action.

2. COMMON PERCEPTIONS: Whenever there is a physical assault on clergy or religious, we cry “foul”. We say we have so many service institutions in the forefront of serving our country. There was a time when Christian educational institutions were equated with the word “service”. The very act of teaching somebody was a genuine act of service. There was indeed a time when getting girls to study was service in itself, with no questions asked. When such services were extended to the rural poor, the dalits, the tribals, orphans or destitute children from broken homes, no questions were asked. Though certain sections of Indian society felt distinctly uncomfortable with these services, and levelled allegations of “conversions, under the guise of service.”

Unfortunately, though pioneers in the field Catholic education is now caught in the web of societal trends in the country. Earlier education was perceived as a means for knowledge, cultural advancement and empowerment of disadvantaged sections of society. However, over a period of time education became more and more regimented and academic. Education is a State subject. But most States failed miserably in imparting education to its subjects. Government run schools (especially of State or Local Self Government) were cesspools of inefficiency and inadequacy. The demand for education increased. Christian institutions were the “first choice”. However, with demand outstripping supply, the stakes in education became higher. Industrialists preferred to close down their factories, and open “teachings shops” instead. They were in a seller’s market. Competition became fierce. Those who could not compete were ready to pay a price. From Competition, education now regressed to Commercialisation. Come stage three. There are many things that money can’t buy. Education is one of them. So Corruption made its back door entry into education. Various forms of pressure tactics were resorted to, not just to get admissions in institutions of their choice, but even in manipulating the results of Board and University Examinations. The stakes were too high to leave anything to chance. A glance in any newspaper shows that it is full of advertisements from coaching institutions. Private tuitions are passé. This is not a question of passing an exam. It is a matter of gaining entry into prestigious institutes of higher learning – especially medicine, engineering and the civil services. These again are not ends in themselves, but means to lucrative careers, preferably in the USA!

Since the Catholic institution does not exist in a vacuum, it has unwittingly got caught in the quagmire of the Indian educational system, now characterised by the 4 C’s Competition, Commercialisation, Corruption and Coaching. In the case of Christian institutions a 5th C may be added – Conversions. To what extent do these charges stick?

2.1 COMPETITION: There is no objective yardstick to measure this. However, indications are that societal pressures, and the demands of the “haves”, have blunted our zeal for the “have-nots”. With more and more of the moneyed class and higher castes seeking admission in our institutions, we have gradually succumbed to the general trend of competition, wherein the disadvantaged are further handicapped, and relegated to “also rans”. How far competition is compatible with Christian values, we shall examine later.

2.2 COMMERCIALISATION: With increasing wage structures, higher expectations in academic excellence, and a depletion or unwillingness to accept Government aid, the cost of education has increased. Fee structures are revised upwardly, again easing out the economically deprived. There is a perception that several dioceses and religious congregations have found that schools (especially English medium ones) are lucrative means of income generation. Unfortunately, the increasingly “worldly life-styles” of several “dedicated persons”, and the imposing structures put up by several Church institutions, give credence to the charge that Catholic educational institutions have gradually degenerated into commercial ventures, like any others. If commerce is an underlying compulsion it soon becomes an overriding consideration.

2.3 CORRUPTION: There is a Tamil saying, “He who collects honey cannot help licking his fingers.” As with honey, so too with money. The large inflow of money into fee-levying institutions leaves one open to the temptation, and the allegation, of financial irregularities. Allegations about money changing hands for admission, employment, or award of various contracts are rife. These allegations, by their very nature, are almost impossible to establish, unless one makes a criminal complaint or initiates civil proceedings. The victims, abettors or go-betweens will obviously not open their mouths. However, the growing instances of nepotism (especially of bringing poor relatives from the South to work in institutions in the North, and North East), as also the changed lifestyles of the institutions, again lend credence to the belief that the malaise is deep. Since the laity is seldom ever involved in the administration of such institutions, the suspicion grows that, “If you have nothing to hide, then why are you afraid of public scrutiny?”

2.4 COACHING: Earlier coaching meant additional efforts for the weak students. Now it means fine tuning the skills of the already accomplished. It means polishing up a ninety percenter into a ninety-eight percenter. Fortunately our institutions have not fallen into this racket. Conversely, with the advent of coaching institutions, the role of mainline educational institutions is becoming peripheral. This is a dangerous market trend, where the means justify the ends. If this phenomenon grows at current rates, main line institutions, as vehicles of academic activity, would become redundant.

The Coaching activity of our institutions in so far as they are aimed at improving the lot of the weaker students, is a noble act, which is to be greatly appreciated. A related matter is that of private tuitions. This is an area where lay teachers are to be severely faulted. Granted that many of them need that “extra bit” to build a house or get a daughter married. But it must be frankly admitted that most teachers, especially in the elite “convent schools”, have transformed private tuitions into a highly lucrative profession. This again works to the detriment of the disadvantaged. School managements seem unable to deal with the tuition racket that now abounds.

2.5 CONVERSIONS: No less than the Prime Minister himself has now alleged that Christians indulge in conversions under the guise of “services”. Two days after the PM’s allegation, Amar Ujala, the second largest circulated Hindi newspaper, conducted an opinion poll. 79% of the readers concurred with the PM’s opinion. Dileep Padgaonkar may write in the Times of India, that the German Jesuits he studied eleven years with in Pune, did not make any attempt to convert him. However, the English language press, as also the English speaking elite, are neither the opinion makers nor the policy makers of our nation.

Even Padgaonkar quotes Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar who decried conversions. They were far from today’s saffron brigade. So the conversion charges stick, even though Census of India statistical evidence points to the contrary. The truth lies somewhere in between. No doubt Catholic service institutions were used as instruments for conversion in the pre-Vatican II era, when we were taught to believe that there is “no salvation outside the Catholic Church”. Over zealous missionaries were rather hasty in pouring water in the baptismal font. Fortunately things have changed in the post Vatican II theology and economy of salvation. But we cannot undo the past. It is indeed sad if, at the end of the day, the “massive service to the nation” is misinterpreted as a selfish and subtle game of proselytisation.

2.6 CATHOLIC STUDENTS: Where does the Catholic student find itself in its very own Catholic institutions? At the outer edge, or right out? For all our tom-tomming about education, the harsh reality is that only 25% of Catholic children of school going age are studying in Catholic institutions. This means that 3 out of every 4 of our children are not studying in our own institutions; have left them; are studying elsewhere; or not studying at all. This is a damning piece of evidence, for which the entire Church in India must answer.

I have undertaken a detailed analysis of the information available in the Catholic Directory of India 1998 (the latest edition). Of the 140 dioceses, only 43 have provided detailed information about the number of Catholics studying in their institutions. (This itself is an indication that this data is unimportant to so many dioceses)! As per Census of India statistics for 1991 (the latest available) 43.29%of the population is in the age group of 3 years to 21 years, that is of school and college going age. We have then compared these figures to the actual number of Catholic students in our institutions, to arrive at the sad conclusion that Catholic institutions are not ministering to 3 out of 4 of our children. Details are to be found in the Annexure attached.

Going by available statistics, two Latin rite dioceses, Calicut in Kerala, and Shillong in the North East, have the highest percentage of 50, followed distantly by Ajmer Jaipur at 38%. The small diocese of Bijnor in Uttranchal is at the bottom of the table with 5%, followed by Khamman in Andhra at 6% and Madurai at 9% (though the last figure is possibly incorrect as Madurai has not given the figures of Catholics in all its institutions). An interesting observation is that the percentages are in no way dependent on the size, rite, ancientness or nascence of a diocese.

There could be various reasons for just 1 out of 4 Catholic students being in our own institutions: (a) Non-admission (b) Dropouts (c) Incompatibility of the institution with the community (d) Inability to study.

2.6 a: Non–admission: There was a time when several schools made a fuss about admitting our own. However, with increasing assertiveness by lay leaders and organisations, as also enlightened clergymen, things have changed for the better. In normal circumstances Catholic children are admitted, especially at primary levels. At higher levels the situation changes somewhat. Ironically, Catholic children are discriminated against on two grounds – age and domicile.

Most primary level admissions are taken at a fixed age level. For this Catholics produce their baptismal certificates, which cannot be tampered with. The same cannot be said about non-Christians who produce any municipal birth certificate or affidavit as proof of age. It is common knowledge that such documents are often concocted or fudged. This means that a 3-year-old Catholic would be pitted against a 5-year-old non-Catholic. This is a grave injustice to the honest Catholic child.

The second blatant injustice is that of domicile. Where there are multiple institutions, Catholics are told to admit their child in the institution closest to their place of domicile or parish. Here again, the Catholic cannot fudge the domicile to seek admission in an institution of its choice. This goes against the grain of the Church’s own teaching on freedom of choice, as we shall see in the next section. For the present, it suffices to say that non-Catholics can show any domicile to obtain admission, an option that is foreclosed for Catholics.

There are other lesser causes for non-admission, like parents taking it easy, or expecting admissions as a birthright. For this, such easy-going parents have only themselves to blame.

2.6 b: Dropouts: There is no statistical data on the dropout rate of Catholic students. But dropouts there are. In elitist schools this is because the average young Catholic is pitted against the older and elite non-Catholic. The problem is compounded where there are just a handful of Catholics in a class. The majority sets the standard, and the Catholic student finds itself marginalized in its very own backyard. In elitist schools, Catholics of modest means do not have the spending power – for refreshments, tuitions or extra-curricular activities. They soon develop an inferiority complex, leading to their dropping out. Dropouts also occur because of the incompatibility of the child’s aptitude and the school system or standard.

2.6 c: Incompatibility Parents are often told that their children should conform to the standards set by the institution. This is easier said that done, especially if the child is from a socially or economically deprived background, without basic amenities like electricity, housing and sanitation. Inspite of such incompatibility there are umpteen cases of parents depriving themselves in order to see that their wards lacked nothing in school. Such heroic sacrifices apart, a very fundamental question arises. Are the children made for the schools, or the schools made for the children? Jesus has clearly answered this for us when he said that the Sabbath was made for man and not vice-versa (cf Mk 2:27). It is the same Jesus who declares that he is the good shepherd who leaves the 99 to search out the one lost sheep. He would not crush a bruised reed or blow out a flickering flame (cf Mat 17:10-12, Is 42:3).

2.6 d: Inability: It is often stated that two thirds of Christians are either dalits or tribals. That being so, how many can afford to study in our institutions, even when fees are waived or massive concessions granted? There can be geographical, economical or social circumstances that prevent many of our people from entering the portals of our institutions. They therefore prefer to send their children to neighbourhood, private or government schools, which are more compatible to their milieu. It is nobody’s case that the institutional church has undertaken to educate, clothe and feed every Catholic. In all humility and openness it must also be admitted that the Catholic Church in India, despite its multi-Crore investment in educational institutions, and several thousand personnel working in this field, has been able to minister to just one out of four of its children.

3. CHURCH TEACHINGS: It would seem odd to remind our Bishops about the Church’s teachings on education. This is not an attempt to “throw it back at them.” It is an exercise in objectivity. It is also an indication that the laity is not raising unreasonable demands. Most of what we have to say is already reflected in current Church teachings. We seek to reiterate the Church’s own pronouncements, both at the universal level, and that of the Church in India. The primary sources are the Documents of the Second Vatican Council and Canon Law, both Latin and Oriental. We have taken the liberty to sometimes paraphrase the original texts to make them more intelligible to our fellow-laity, minus the dogmatism and legalese.

3.1 VATICAN II TEACHINGS
· Education has to be undertaken, not only to refine talents, but also to produce great souled persons who are so desperately required by our times (GS 31).
· This sacred Synod enunciates certain basic principles of Christian education (GE Intro).
· Every person has an inalienable right to education corresponding to his native talents, sex, culture and heritage (GE 1).
· The general goals of Christian education are described as that of developing a mature sense of responsibility, authentic freedom, positive and prudent sex education, participation in social life, useful skills, involvement in community organisations, and willingness to act for the common good (GE 2).
· The Synod reminds pastors of the acutely serious duty to make every effort to see that all the faithful enjoy a Christian education of this sort (GE 2).
· Parents are the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role is decisive, and nothing can compensate their failure to do so. The family is the first school of social virtues (GE 2).
· The Church is bound to give her children the kind of education through which their entire lives can be penetrated with the spirit of Christ (GE 3).
· The Church gives foremost importance to catechetical training (GE 4).
· Parents, who have the first and inalienable duty and right to educate their children, should enjoy true freedom in their choice of schools (GE 6).
· The Catholic school’s distinctive purpose is to create an atmosphere enlivened by the gospel spirit of freedom and charity (GE 8).
· It is the teachers who actually determine whether or not a Catholic school attains its goals (GE 8).
· Importance is to be attached to professional and technical schools (GE 9).
· Every effort should be made to see that suitable co-ordination is fostered between various Catholic schools (GE 12).
· This sacred Synod implores young people to be aware of the excellence of the teaching vocation, and undertake it with a generous spirit (GE Conclusion).
· Priests will always avoid any greediness, and carefully abstain from any appearance of merchandising (PO 17).
· Priests and bishops should spurn any type of vanity in their affairs. Let them have the kind of dwelling which will appear closed to no one, and which no one will fear to visit; even the humblest (PO17).

3.2. LATIN CODE OF CANON LAW (LC)
· The faithful have the right to a Christian education (LC 217).
· Catholic parents have the duty and right to choose those means and institutes that can best promote the Catholic education of their children (LC 793).
· Pastors have the duty of making all possible arrangements for the faithful to avail themselves of a Catholic education (LC 794.2).
· The goal of Catholic education is the formation of the whole person to attain their eternal destiny and the common good of society; to develop their physical, moral and intellectual talents in a harmonious manner, for the right use of freedom and active part in social life (LC 795).
· There must be the closest co-operation between parents and teachers. Teachers are to collaborate closely with the parents and willingly listen to them. Associations and meetings of parents are to be set up and held in high esteem (LC 796.2).
· The faithful are to promote Catholic schools, doing everything possible to establish and maintain them (LC 800.2).
· The diocesan bishop has the responsibility of ensuring that schools imbued with a Christian spirit are established (LC 802.1).
· Wherever suitable, the diocesan bishop is to establish professional and technical schools, and those for special needs (LC 802.2).
· Formation and education in a Catholic school must be based on the principles of Catholic doctrine, and the teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness of life (LC 803.2).
· The bishop has the right to watch over and respect the Catholic schools situated in his territory, even those established or directed by members of religious institutes. He has also the right to issue directives concerning the general regulation of Catholic schools; these directives apply also to schools conducted by members of a religious institute (LC 806.1).
· Catholic schools are to ensure that the formation given in them is, in its academic standards, at least as outstanding as that in other schools in the area (LC 806.1).
· Clerics are forbidden to practise commerce or trade, either personally or through another, for their own or another’s benefit, except with the permission of the local ecclesiastical authority (LC 286).

3.3 ORIENTAL CODE OF CANON LAW (OC)
· The responsibility for the education of children belongs primarily to their parents (OC 627.1).
· Parents are to enjoy true freedom in the choice of the means of education (OC 627.3).
· The Church has the duty to care for their Catholic education, together with parents (OC 628.1).
· Pastors must help parents in educating their children; make them aware of their rights and obligations (OC 628.2).
· Educators are to pay heed to the formation of the whole person, physical, intellectual and moral talents, Christian virtues, human and moral values, right conscience, true freedom, justice, social responsibility and loving fellowship (OC 629).
· The faithful must support Church initiatives in promoting education, erecting, conducting and maintaining schools (OC 630.2).
· Parents should send their children to Catholic schools (OC 533.2).
· The Catholic school has an obligation to create an atmosphere animated by the Gospel, to orient the whole of human culture to the message of salvation and the knowledge students acquire is illumined by faith (OC 634.1).
· The Catholic school is to adapt to circumstances if the majority of students are non-Catholics (OC 634.2).
· The bishop is to see that Catholic schools are established especially where other schools are lacking or are inadequate, so too professional and technical schools as required (OC 635).
· As it depends chiefly on the teachers whether a Catholic school achieves its purposes, they should be outstanding in doctrine and witness, and work in close collaboration with parents and other schools (OC 639).

3.4 LAY CATHOLICS IN SCHOOLS: WITNESS TO FAITH (Issued by the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education on 15/10/1982, signed by Cardinal William Baum, Prefect of the Congregation)
· Without lay Catholics as educators the Church’s education in the faith would lack one of its important basic elements (No. 74).
· In speaking about lay people this Sacred Congregation has declared that by their witness and behaviour teachers are of the first importance to impart a distinctive character to Catholic schools (No.76).
· Priests, men and women religious and laypersons should be integrated fully into one educational community; and each one should be treated as a fully equal member of that community. (No.77)
· Laity should participate authentically in the responsibility of the school…To achieve this participation several conditions are indispensable; genuine esteem of the lay vocation, sharing in the information that is necessary, turning over the distinct responsibilities of teaching, administration, and government of the school, to the laity (N.78).

3.5 CHURCH IN INDIA SEMINAR – 1969 (Considered a watershed in the life of the post Vatican II Church in India).
· The philosophy of Christian Education has been set forth in the Decree on Education of the Second Vatican Council. In implementing it, Catholic educational institutions must seek a dimension beyond the secular, bearing a shining witness to Jesus Christ (Pg 354).
· Unless the commitment to social justice and the brotherhood of man becomes an active force in the actual working of the institution, it may only be producing an easy venue for the spread of ideologies, which it is the business of Christian education to combat. In its pre-occupation with administrative and organisational matters, and its almost exclusive attention to distinction in the secular programmes of study, it may happen that the Catholic educational institution imparts the skills that the student needs, but some other agency provides him with the philosophy that he will live by (Pg 355).
· There is often unwillingness in the Catholic educator to get out of himself and accept the radical challenge of the Gospel (Ibid).
· Far too often it may be found that the generous impulses evoked and nurtured in schools and colleges wear off after they have left school. This is because these impulses were not given a firm grounding in intellectual conviction (Ibid).
· The first responsibility of the Catholic school is to impart Catholic education to Catholic children. Admission policies, such as criteria for selection, should conform to this primary requirement (Pg 356).
· A cognate obligation is to be of service to the poor, and hence to educate the children of the poor. To the extent that resources permit, the endeavour should be to educate the children of the poor and underprivileged (Ibid).
· There is need to be wary in getting involved in running schools and colleges that only the rich can afford. It is no part of the mission of the Church to provide facilities for the rich, if the latter do not respond by discharging their obligation to help the poor. The country looks upon education as an instrument of social change. Catholic institutions have a special obligation to ensure that they do not help to perpetrate social injustice (Ibid).
· The present system produces far too many candidates for unproductive desk jobs. There is need for supplementing and enriching the academic programmes with vocational training at an intermediate level (between the artisan and expert technologist) (Pg 357).
· There should be an agency for planning the total educational effort in a diocese… Diocesan Educational Councils, Inter diocesan Councils and a National Catholic Education Council should be established, with powers to exercise such functions as accreditation and rationalisation (Pg358).
· Catholic educational institutions have by and large a reputation for efficiently working under the existing system of education in our country. Considering the general standards this is no high matter for self-congratulation (Ibid).
· The question of who owns the Catholic school is not so important as who runs it. It could happen that legal proprietorship may vest in a Catholic, and yet the education imparted in the school is far from Christian (Pg 359).
· The institution should be so administered that it becomes part of the wider community, be it the parish, diocese or the nation (Ibid).
· While the priests and religious have made Catholic education what it is and their work is central to the maintenance of its quality, it is also necessary to recognise that for the vigorous growth of Catholic education, the involvement of the laity in educational work, including its organisation and administration, is imperative. It is also necessary to remind ourselves continually that the quality of education depends on the teacher rather than on the quality of the management, and anything that devalues the teacher’s position imperils the quality of education (Ibid).
· Institutions should maintain the highest standards in staff-management relationships, and aim at the evolution of an academic community with no sharp cleavage or division between employers and employed (Ibid).

3.6 ARCHDIOCESAN CONSULTATION ON EDUCATION – 1986 (Speech by Abp Henry D’souza of Calcutta)
· The educational system seems almost weighted in favour of a highly competitive and individualistic formation of the student, to the detriment of social and national concerns (1.2).
· An education in what is known as a “good” school means good jobs, good money, and good living. Hence people will make great efforts to get their child into such a school (1.3).
· Schools perpetuate a social structure, which leads to the survival of the fittest when often the privileged and rich have advantages (1.4).
· The National Policy of Education (1986) has a beautiful directive: “ Each individual’s growth presents a different range of problems and requirements at every stage. The catalytic action of education in this complex and dynamic growth process needs to be planned meticulously and executed with great sensitivity”. The paragraph is a gem of human wisdom (2.4).
· The reason for obtaining minority protection on the basis of religion is to enable the minority community to protect its religious traditions. One could therefore expect that in a Catholic school a high priority would be given to Catechism and faith formation (3.2).
· A preferential option for the poor has been the explicit choice of Church leaders and the church itself. This calls for social change and efforts to reform the social and economic structures that are causing the poverty. The child has to learn through the school to be sensitive to the needs of the less privileged, to see the inter-dependence of all, and to obtain a commitment towards a more just social order (3.4).
· The relevant question now emerges whether the existing institutions are serving Catholic children. From the small number of Catholics who pass out each year form our schools, one could reasonably wonder whether the Catholic school is for the Catholic children (4.2).
· Catholic institutions have, over the years, developed a high standard of academic excellence, and the Catholic community by and large cannot keep abreast. The Catholic community has become socially and economically less privileged and cannot match the demands of the school. Some other reasons are the laziness and apathy among Catholic families; encouragement to games and dance, rather than application and hard work (4.3).
· This year I tried to get statistics of the number of Catholic children who had passed the school leaving examination. I did not get even 100, inspite of the 50 Catholic schools we possess in the archdiocese (5.1).
· The Present structure of our Catholic schools could be highly discriminatory to the Catholic child, except in respect of admission. Having admitted the child, the pace that is set may be impossible for a normal Catholic family, given the housing and poor facilities (5.3).
· The admission policy tends to make the Catholics the weaker section in a Catholic school. The norms of admission bring in students with very high IQ from the other communities and these are then pitted against the average and even less talented Catholic child (5.4).
· The self-image of the Catholic child may already be poor, because its peers in the school come from better economic and social backgrounds. The child may feel a lesser citizen in a school when expensive habits bring importance, or wrong values are prevalent. Some reports have mentioned that Catholic children are at times chastised as wasters, or by some such picturesque term. The sum total is that discouragement enters the child, and it soon loses its desire to go to school (5.6).
· Our schools are not easily attacked as they serve the rich and powerful too well and are much needed. But their purposes will be manipulated. They will be used, occupied and made to serve the interests of the powerful. If a Catholic school is to continue to fulfil its original purpose of assisting the Catholic community, it has to be watchful against these hidden attempts to capture the schools, to make them subservient to the interests of the powerful and rich. Positive efforts have to be made to retain both the Catholic ideals of the school as also to make them serve the Catholic children and the Catholic Community (5.7).

3.7 WHAT IS CHRISTIAN ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS? (Abp Henry D’souza of Calcutta in the New Leader dt 16/3/91 – Excerpts):
· We continue to think and act as privileged, sheltered minority institutions unrelated to the lives of our sisters and brothers in the area – islands of excellence amidst seas of misery.
· What is in fact a high standard? Is to have a cent per cent pass, or get first divisions? That is an academic standard. We want human standards, to train human persons to the best of their ability.
· The school must become an agent for the transformation of society.
· The new vision will include love for the poor, not as objects of charity as by giving a few concessions and books, but as persons.
· There will be a desire to assist the weak and the backward. Such an atmosphere will immediately change the school ethic from competition to co-operation.
· Tuitions can no longer be acceptable. It is the greatest source of discrimination among children…They are a serious indictment of the quality and adequacy of the school teaching.
· The admission policy could be examined. Taking only the brilliant leads to the Catholic students becoming the weaker section of the schools. Perhaps we need neighbourhood admissions of all intelligence and ranks.

3.8 SUMMATION: Summing up the various teachings and pronouncements of the Church and its prelates, it becomes more than apparent that Competition and Commercialisation, with their endemic evils, should not be on the agenda of Catholic education. Let us now move on to the ground realities in our country and community, and thereafter synthesise a vision for the future.

4. GROUND REALITIES: No doctrine, teaching or ideal can exist in a vacuum. It has to be contextualised. We need to briefly remind ourselves of the ground realities in both Church and society.

4.1 SOCIAL CONDITIONS: No doubt the country has made much socio-economic progress in the 54 years since Independence. Compared to the West we are nowhere. Compared to some African countries with totalitarian regimes we may feel accomplished. Looking east at the South Asian tigers, which obtained independence at the same time that we did, we have to admit that we are lagging behind. A recent report shows that even a country like Vietnam, that was ravaged by war for eleven years, and lost 4 million civilian lives (10% of its population), has less poverty and a better or more equitable social order than India (India Today 3/9/01).
Vietnam has achieved what India has not, because it had adopted certain policies and implemented them. There are several such instances in history, where a pragmatic and principled leadership has brought about change. A spineless leadership will allow things to drift with the current, pleading helplessness. A spirit-filled and people-empowered Church can never plead helplessness. It must address itself to the situation with wisdom and fortitude.
We do not require a sociologist to tell us that literacy levels in India are still abysmally low. We don’t have to go to the U.N. Conference in Durban to be reminded of ongoing caste prejudice. The continuing instances of dowry deaths, female foeticide, acid throwing on girls etc reminds us of the sorry plight of our women folk. Tribals are still not involved in planning their own development, often getting displaced instead. Corruption, lawlessness and insanitation are the hallmarks of modern Indian society. Many of the perpetrators of such evils have studied in our institutions. What impact have we had on them?

4.2 THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY: Indeed, our institutions have educated generations of Catholics, often at heavily subsidised rates. Many prominent or accomplished Catholics today owe a deep debt of gratitude to the missionaries who educated them. This is especially true of the tribal and dalit members of our community. Hostels in rural areas were a springboard for a new life that such persons could never have dreamt of. Our educational institutions have also been a major source of employment in both the teaching and non-teaching cadres. We cannot forget this stellar role of our institutions. But we cannot rest on our laurels. There is a niggling fear that the missionary work, done by heroic pioneers from foreign lands, has gradually been diluted and derailed, digressing from its original purpose. There are a lot of misgivings and heartburn about our educational institutions in the minds of the Catholic laity. Attend any Church seminar or conference on any topic. The moment somebody raises the issue of schools, the litany of woes is unending.
At such times the laity is invariably told, “This is not the correct forum to raise these issues.” The question then arises, “What is the appropriate forum?” This presentation is also a forum for expression of the heartburn and misgivings of the laity. These misgivings may not always be justified, but nevertheless merit attention.

4.2.1 MISGIVINGS/ APPREHENSIONS/ ALLEGATIONS BY THE LAITY:
· Church teachings notwithstanding, there has been no serious attempt to involve the laity in the management or administration of Church run institutions.
· Institutions are supposed to be established by and for the people. However, in reality they are established by the clergy/religious with their own or foreign resources. The beneficiaries are not the local church.
· Senior teachers with requisite qualifications are not made principals. Instead young and inexperienced clergy/religious are invariably given these plum posts. The laity feels that it is not trusted.
· The clergy/religious, and/or their relatives from outside the locality are now cornering seats in professional/vocational institutions like Teacher’s Training, B. Ed, MBBS, originally meant for the people, especially the local people where such institutes have been established.
· Clergy/ religious are sent outside the country for higher studies, though there is no guarantee that they will return to put that knowledge and experience to use for the community. Such opportunities are not extended to competent laity.
· In many dioceses religious congregations function autonomously, with scant regard for the local Church and its concerns or priorities, even though Canon Law provides for diocesan supervision.
· As already elaborated herein above, just one of four Catholics of school/college going age are in our own institutions, even though the number of institutions has increased at more than double the pace of the population. Unfortunately, the Catholic Directories of India for 1994 and 1998 have retained the figures of 1990, so we will have to rely on the 1990 statistics as below:




HEAD 1969 1990 GROWTH RATE
PARISHES 3,513 6,277 79%
MISSION STATIONS 10,025 17,467 74%
CATHOLIC POPULATION 7,607,286 13,424,00 76%
INSTITUTIONS 8,877 22,865 158%

· It often felt that in Protestant institutions all Christians, including Catholics, are given preferential treatment, especially in institutes of higher learning, where there is a limited Catholic presence. However, inspite of much talk about ecumenism, Catholic institutions seldom reciprocate, and turn away Christians of other Churches.

5. REMEDIAL MEASURES: In the light of the above we propose some remedial measures, and an action plan. The remedial measures stem from an attitudinal change or a paradigm shift. Most of these are already stated unequivocally in Church teachings. It is a question of implementing resolutions, the courage, faith and will to act. It has already been a long wait, 36 years since the Vatican Council. Any further delay will erode the credibility of the Church beyond retrievable limits.

5.1 G0ALS OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION: They may be identified as two primary goals – (i) Care for the Catholic students and their catechetical formation (ii) Social Concern and its resultant social transformation. This is where a paradigm shift is required, to jettison the present comfort zones, and to move back into the path of basic Christian values, with all its attendant dangers, risks and uncertainty. Some practical suggestions are given in the next section.

5.2 STOCK TAKING & ANALYSIS: In this study we have presented some data, which are a revelation in themselves. In 1991, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s “Fifty Percent Judgement”, the AICU had proposed to the CBCI-CRI that they conduct a detailed survey of their institutions. It was not done; though the All Indian Association of Christian Higher Education (AIACHE) did conduct a limited survey of 226 colleges affiliated to it. We propose a survey of our institutions as below:

A. TYPE OF INSTITUTION
(i) Primary
(ii) Secondary
(iii) Higher Secondary
(iv) Graduation
(v) Post Graduation
(vi) Vocational/Technical/Professional
(vii) Special Care – as for physically/mentally impaired
B. LOCATION
(i) Urban
(ii) Rural
(iii) Semi-Rural
C. MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION
(i) State Language
(ii) English
(iii) Bi-lingual
D. GENDER
(i) Male
(ii) Female
(iii) Co-Educational
E. CATEGORY
(i) Govt aided
(ii) Fee levying
(iii) Subsidised fees
F. STUDENT’S PERCENTAGE
(i) Catholics
(ii) Other Christians
(iii) Dalits (including Christians)
(iv) Tribals (including Christians)
(v) Other Backward Classes
G. PRINCIPALS/ INSTITUTIONAL HEADS
(i) Cleric
(ii) Religious (Non-Cleric)
(iii) Layman
(iv) Laywoman
H. TEACHING STAFF PERCENTAGE
(i) Cleric
(ii) Religious (Non-Cleric)
(iii) Lay Catholic
(iv) Other Christian
(v) Other Faith
I. NON-TEACHING STAFF PERCENTAGE
(i) Cleric
(ii) Religious (Non-Cleric)
(iii) Lay Catholic
(iv) Other Christians
(v) Other Faiths

Such an exercise will be an honest appraisal of the Church’s contribution to education. The picture that emerges will help the Church in reorienting itself for the future.

5.3. LAY PARTICIPATION & MANAGEMENT: Thirty two years ago, at the Church in India Seminar (1969) the decision was taken to hand over the management of educational institutions to the laity, in accordance with Vatican II teachings. It is a promise not kept. The unwritten statement is that “the laity cannot be trusted.“ This is a fallacious and specious allegation, and can be thrown right back at those who make it. Allegations and counter-allegations will get us nowhere. If lay Catholics can hold the highest offices in the land – Chiefs of Defence Staff, Supreme Court Judges, Ambassadors and Bureaucrats, surely they are more than competent to manage educational institutions, and perhaps more experienced and better qualified. When Pope John Paul II visited India in 1986 he spoke forthrightly that “The Church’s ministers are not called to play leadership roles in the secular spheres of society. India has many competent lay men and women to attend to those matters “ (No 41.2). He also said: “ The church must count ever more on the contribution of the laity. In matters of assisting the poor, eradicating hunger and promoting human development, social reforms and peace they are in a special position to assume roles of service and leadership” (5.9).
It is high time then that the hierarchical Church in India takes the Church’s own teachings to heart, and makes a time bound action programme for handing over the governance and administration of mainline educational institutions to the laity.

5.4 TEACHERS & TUITIONS: Management professionals may not entirely agree with the Church’s teachings that the quality of an institution is determined by the teacher’s rather than the management. Nevertheless history is replete with instances of how noble teachers have influenced those in their care. Unfortunately, as with everything else in education, teaching has regressed from a noble vocation to a lucrative profession. We have thousands of lay teachers. How many of them can be considered paragons of Christian virtue or exemplary faith? Again what criteria do school managements use for selecting teachers? Are the docile submissive ones the obvious choice, to perpetrate the status quo?
Another strange phenomenon is noticed is several parts of the country. Several schools prefer to employ the wives of senior defence and civil officers, who are on transferable posts. More often than not they are non-Christians, belonging to an elitist background, with no commitment to society or the local Church. Such Memsahibs can seldom have the good of the institution at heart. They are just passing time, and also depriving needy persons of jobs. The practice should be eliminated immediately.
Tuitions are now conducted in batches. This is crass commercialisation at its worst. School managements must crack the whip hard on such malpractices. Catholic teachers must be made to understand in no uncertain terms, that God does not bless this kind of moneymaking, which perpetuates discrimination!

5.5 SHIFT FROM MAINLINE EDUCATION: Religious Orders have been pioneers in the mission of the church. Like John the Baptist, they levelled the ground. Thereafter diocesan clergy stepped in. Once the Church is established the diocesan clergy should in turn make place for the laity to take over. Religious Orders, in particular, should now move from mainline education to more pioneering and challenging fields. In India the Jesuits have made a distinct shift in their priorities in education. When they handed over the prestigious Campion School in Mumbai in 1988, to a lay administrative body, Rev Heredia SJ, Vice-Principal of St. Xavier’s had this to say: “As a pioneering group we have served our purpose in Bombay. It is time to pull our stakes and go where we are needed most now, in the villages….Academic excellence is essentially a bourgeois ideal, and social relevance is the cry of the underprivileged. The trickle down process of influencing the elite is a feudalistic hangover. Today the elite co-opt us to their interests. It is not we who influence them…. I am not against excellence, against striving, but it has to be relevant. If you are excellent in an irrelevant educational system, what does it say about you? We have got to be relevant in our excellence” (Times of India 23/6/1988).
No doubt other Religious Orders and Congregations have also made forays into fresh pastures. The thrust must become stronger in other fields of education like vocational, professional, technical and special education for groups that are handicapped – the hearing and visually impaired, the mentally challenged, Cerebral Palsy, etc. Adult and no-formal education also open up large vistas for service, that are relevant and urgently needed.

6. PLAN OF ACTION: In order to bring this vision to fruition we submit some practical suggestions in random order:
* Strict verification of age and domicile of non–Christian applicants
* Freedom of choice of institution to Catholic applicants, with preference to those of the neighbourhood or parish.
* Screening of those aspiring for teacher’s posts, to determine their emotional and spiritual quotients, and commitment to Catholic social doctrines.
* Vacancies for both teaching and non-teaching posts should be announced in the parish and neighbouring ones.
* Competent lay people should be on the selection panel.
* Arbitration Boards must be established in every diocese; with adequate and competent lay representatives, to resolve disputes and conflicts.
* Grant of scholarships/concessions should not be at the whims and fancies of individual heads. Scholarship Committees, again with adequate lay representation, should be established in each parish, and their recommendations should be binding on the institutions in their territory.
* A scientific/sociological study should be undertaken to ascertain dropout and failure rates and their reasons.
* Career Guidance, especially at high school level, should be integrated into school curriculum.
* Social justice requires participation of the target group in the process of empowerment. A practical step would be to reserve a certain number of seats for SCs/ STs/ OBCs. This would strike at elitism, and also reduce the pressure for admissions from the privileged and influential classes of society.
* Religious congregations should be sensitive to the needs of the local Church, and abide by the Diocesan Education Policy.
* Diocesan Education Committees, with adequate lay representation, should be formed.
* To remove the gender bias, all new schools should be co-educational.
* Adopt the CBSE pattern where the humanities are taught in the local language (mother tongue), and science and maths are taught in English. The mother tongue is important for cultural expression, and English is necessary for scientific advancement.

7. SUMMATION: We began this presentation with a rather cheeky pun on eyes and sees (I’s and C’s). The C’s stood for Competition, Commercialisation, Corruption, Coaching and Conversions. The big I of the human ego makes us blind to these C’s. In faith, humility and courage, Catholic education could do with a sea change (another pun, but not for fun)! The new C’s that should characterise Catholic Education are: Catechesis, Character, Conscience, Concern, Compassion and Co-operation.

7.1 CATECHESIS: In the old order we had catechism, which was a set of questions and answers, doctrinal in emphasis, and unrelated to life. After Vatican II, catechism has given way to catechesis – which is more experiential and contextualised. This is much tougher than catechism. Hence it has been almost abandoned, resulting in the de-Christianisation of our institutions. We must bring Christ back into Catholic schools, to imbue them with His Spirit.

7.2 CHARACTER & CONSCIENCE: These are not limited to Christianity or Christians. They should be the primary goal of our institutions. If our country today is steeped in corruption and oppression, it is because we lack both character and conscience. We have vacated the high moral ground, and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Character and Conscience formation must start from day one. If parents bluff their child’s age at the very first stage, they will be cheaters through life, with the ends justifying the means.

7.3 COMPASSION & CONCERN: Our institutions are better known for strict discipline than for Compassion and Concern. Discipline by itself is no virtue. Hitler’s storm troopers and Caesar’s legions were highly disciplined. To what effect? The RSS is also considered a disciplined force! Discipline must be tempered with compassion for those in need; and concern for society, the environment, the nation, etc. We must set an example in Compassion and Concern. There is no better way of teaching these virtues.

7.3 CO-OPERATION: Abp Henry D’souza has advocated co-operation instead of competition, and we fully agree with him. In a competition some win and many lose. But co-operation is a win-win situation, which modern management gurus talk about. We look forward to a new era in the Church, an era of co-operation, where there will be no losers, only winners. May that day dawn soon.

That will indeed be a C change in Catholic Education.






DIOCESE STATE CATHOLIC POPULATION CATHOLICSTUDENTS@43.29% OF POPULATION STUDYING INCATHOLICSCHOOLS PERCENTAGEOF CATHOLICCHILDREN IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
1. Agra UP 11,155 4,833 972 20%
2 Ajmer- Jaipur RAJ 13,054 5,656 2,122 38%
3 Allahabad UP 11,135 4,826 1,177 25%
4 Alleppey KER 1,35,000 58,500 15,431 26%
5 Ambikapur CHHA 66,841 28,964 9.070 32%
6 Bagdogra WB 40,266 17,449 5,955 34%
7 Balasore ORI 15.650 6,782 710 11%
8 Baruipur WB 47,102 20,411 2,201 11%
9 Belgaum KAR 29,575 12,815 3,193 25%
10 Bellary KAR 23,715 10,277 2,040 20%
11 Bijnor UTTA 1,586 688 31 5%
12 Calcutta WB 1,24,708 54,040 10,390 19%
13 Calicut KER 55,620 24,102 12,060 50%
14 Cochin KER 1,64,714 71,377 23,255 32%
15 Coimbatore TN 2,08,394 90,305 10,778 12%
16 Delhi DEL 81,000 35,100 5,987 17%
17 Dumka JHAR 79,329 34,363 4,715 14%
18 Hazaribagh JHAR 32,807 14,217 4,901 35%
19 Indore MP 22,846 9,900 1,438 15%
20 Jalpaiguri WB 1,00,877 43,714 5,675 13%
21 Jamshedpur JHAR 58,000 25,133 4,479 18%
ANNEXURE
(Source: Catholic Directory of India 1998. Figures tabulated are of those dioceses that have revealed the number of Catholic children studying in Catholic schools).


22 Jhansi UP 6,742 2,921 727 25%
23 Kanjirapally KER 1,58,000 68,467 13,513 20%
24 Khamman AP 94,708 41,040 2,483 6%
25 Khandwa MP 28,400 12,307 3,475 28%
26 Kohima NAG 38,506 16,686 5,191 31%
27 Kothamagalam KER 4,89,700 2,12,203 41,231 19%
28 Kurnool AP 55,396 24,005 3,169 13%
29 Madurai TN 1,52,120 65,919 6,091 9%
30 Mangalore KAR 3,46,467 1,50,135 27,061 18%
31 Nagpur MAH 22,519 9,757 2,736 28%
32 Palai KER 3,34,000 1,44,733 47,875 33%
33 Palayamkottai TN 99,571 43,147 11,355 26%
34 Patna BIH 60,605 26,262 4,403 17%
35 Raiganj WB 71,326 30,907 10,861 35%
36 Sambalpur ORI 30,137 13,060 2,922 22%
37 Shillong MEG 3,02,622 1,31,136 66,024 50%
38 Shimoga KAR 23,287 10,090 2,371 24%
39 Thamarassery KER 1,15,356 49,987 15,003 30%
40 Varanasi UP 13,652 5,916 1,123 19%
41 Vellore TN 1,30,397 56,505 17,478 31%
42 Verapoly KER 2,36,030 1,02,280 32,675 32%
43 Vijayawada AP 2,04,308 88,533 21,282 24%
TOTALS 18,77,584 4,65,629 25%

WHO’S AFRAID OF DA VINCI?

Dan Brown’s fictional work, “The Da Vinci Code” has sold millions of copies worldwide. The movie is now due for release. Wonder how much money Brown made out of the book, and how much more he will get out of the movie?

The adage that a half-truth is more dangerous than a lie holds good for Brown’s Code (why call it Da Vinci’s Code anyway?) It is sugar coated poison. I am an Indian Christian, and believe in the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus Christ. This is not because I was born into a Christian family, but because I have experienced the love and power of Jesus in my life. At the same time I have been actively involved in promoting communal harmony and inter-religious dialogue in my hometown of Kanpur. I have constantly challenged any form of religious bigotry, clerical hegemony or injustice in my own community. I say this by way of introduction, because I am no religious zealot, when I call Dan Brown a cunning and clever insinuator.

Brown is a master of double speak, double entendre and insinuation. He knows only too well that if he makes an objective averment he can be hauled up for fomenting religious hatred, or deliberately denigrating a particular religion – in this case Christianity. We need to distinguish between faith and practice, including distortions of faith. The notoriety of inquisitions and crusades cannot be attributed to Christianity; but a gross distortion of the same. By the same yardstick we cannot blame Hinduism per se for the perpetuation of caste, or Islam for certain terrorist movements.

Brown uses fictitious characters to mouth unsubstantiated allegations, that a gullible public would lap us as “Gospel Truth”. What irony? If Brown had written a scholarly thesis, with references of research, his sources could have been crosschecked and countered by scholars. A fictional work has no counter point. Of course, if Brown’s intention were scholarly research, his book would have just gathered dust in university libraries. By writing fiction, Brown has attained his primary objective, of making a lot of money. If Christianity, or the Catholic Church, is embarrassed in the process, so what! Make money by hook or by crook or a fictional book!

What does Brown base his fiction on? His first funda is the Divine Proportion, the mathematical term PHI, and the Fibonacci Sequence, around which he constructs his hypothesis of Da Vinci’s cryptic messages. I checked out with a professor of Maths (a PhD and DSc), who in turn checked out with the most respected and competent number theorists in the world. Their considered response – you cannot read too much into these numbers. PHI is not found in the dictionary of mathematical terms. The Fibonacci Sequence is the quotient of adjacent numbers, and the further one goes in the sequence, the closer the quotient is to PHI. However, we cannot stretch a natural phenomenon beyond reasonable limits, to present a case like Brown’s, via Da Vinci. If there are natural progressions, there are also millions of “exceptions” in nature. No scientist or mathematician in his right senses would distort one mathematical progression to codify all of nature.

Brown gives the impression of having done much research on art, maths, nature, ancient religions, symbols, Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion. Unfortunately his scholarship of Christian biblical texts, exegesis and canonicity (what constitutes divine revelation in the Bible) is woefully lacking. The Bible is the most researched and documented compendium in the world. Biblical scholars over centuries have not hesitated in picking it apart. Brown has arrived 2000 years too late.

He alleges that the Catholic Church in particular has “doctored” the Bible, suppressed sexuality and the feminine. He couldn’t be further from the truth. There are 4 Gospel writers – Mathew, Mark Luke and John. In several instances their accounts vary – especially of the Baptism, Transfiguration and Resurrection of Jesus. If there had been a doctoring of the texts, then these anomalies would have easily been edited, long before the advent of the printing press. The Bible is replete with the sexual escapades of hallowed characters like Abraham, Gideon, Solomon and David. The book “Song of Songs” in the Old Testament (OT) of the Bible has passionate words like breasts, buttocks and kissing. By Brown’s convoluted logic, all these “offensive” texts should have been expunged from the Bible.

Brown’s obsession with the Divine Feminine accuses Christianity of suppressing womanhood. Again off the mark. In the second chapter of Genesis (the first of 72 books that constitute the Bible) God says that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife! In nature, which Brown so admires, the male has always been dominant. Physical strength was the dominating force – warrior, hunter, ironsmith, carpenter, etc. With mechanisation, computerisation and education, physical prowess has become redundant. If Christianity were accused of suppressing women for centuries, Islam and Hinduism would be even greater defaulters. Brown should have visited India before hypothesising about the Divine Feminine. Hinduism has a pantheon of Goddesses. Many women are also addressed as Devi. This did not stop bride burning, sati, ban on widow remarriage and modern female foeticide. Ironically British (Christian?) colonisers were the first liberators of Hindu womenfolk.

Brown’s mystery thriller leads to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton, and the missing orb – the apple. The double entendre connects Newton’s gravitational apple to the apple with which Eve tempted Adam, and thereby brought a curse on womanhood. Brown is a liar. There is no mention of Eve eating an apple in the Bible. Apples are not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Apples are not a Mediterranean fruit like grapes, pomegranates and figs – that are repeatedly mentioned in the Bible.

How did popular art depict Eve eating an apple? The OT, which predates Jesus, was written by the Jews in their mother tongue – Hebrew. In the fourth century AD St Jerome translated the Bible into Latin. As per the Bible, the fruit that Adam and Eve ate was from the Tree of Good and Evil. In Latin this got translated to “Bonum et Malum”. Mal is the Latin root word for bad or evil – malfunctioning, malicious, mala-fide, etc. In modern times, with the advancement of science, a glossary of botanical names was prepared in Latin. Ask any zoologist or botanist, and they will tell you that all flora and fauna have Latin names. The Latin name for apple is Malus Pumila. Malus therefore is common to evil and apple in Latin. Perhaps this caused confusion in people’s minds and artists’ work. Popular calendar art still shows Eve offering an apple to Adam. Brown should have researched better, before making mountains out of molehills.

This brings us to Brown’s central theme – Da Vinci’s so called cryptic messages, hidden in the painting of the Last Supper. We have already seen in the case of the apple that it is an artist’s misconception. Let us address another artist’s myth – the cross. Popular imagery to this day shows Christ’s death on a cross – two beams intersecting at right angles +. Historical and biblical research has established that it was not a cross at all, but a T shaped contraption. Unfortunately popular artistic belief has greater impact than scientific and objective truth. The same goes for Da Vinci. He was not an eyewitness to the Last Supper. He was born 1500 years later. However, Brown would have us believe that Da Vinci had access to secret sources, via the Masons, Knights Templar and Priory of Sion. He therefore gives a cryptic message that the disciple sitting next to Jesus is actually a woman, his wife, Mary Magdalene, who bore his child. This is stretching a point to absurd limits. Stray references from “secret“ sources are deployed to destroy the basis of Christianity – the Divinity of Jesus.

As a believing Christian I have no problem if people don’t accept the divinity of Jesus. In fact Jesus always referred to himself as Son of Man (Bar-e-Nasa in the native Aramaic language that he spoke). I would also not be unduly alarmed if it were conclusively proved that Jesus was married. After all marriage is God’s gift to humanity, and there is nothing to be upset about it. 11 out of 12 of Jesus’ apostles were married. Had Jesus also been married the apostles would have had no difficulty in portraying him as a married man.

Biblical evidence is to the contrary. Jesus, referring to himself, said that the foxes had their holes and the birds their nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head. Before he breathes his last on the T shaped “Cross”, he asks John, the only unmarried apostle, to look after his mother Mary. If he were married, with a wife and child, he would not have made such a request or bequeathal.

Brown would have us believe that the secret of Jesus would destroy Christianity if it were revealed. For fear of the Church, the secret could not be revealed. How come Brown is not afraid of this “malicious” church when he reveals the secret? Also, if Jesus was just an ordinary human being, then what is so special about his royal lineage? Nothing. The grail then is a meaningless trail. By Brown’s own convoluted logic there is nothing worth guarding, protecting or secreting.

As for destroying Christianity, it is based on the Resurrection of Jesus, not his death on the T Cross. The Romans killed thousands that way. 600 years after Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed stated that Jesus did not die on the cross. He was taken up to heaven, from where he will return in triumph on Judgement Day. This should have destroyed Christianity 1400 years ago. It hasn’t. Try again Brown.

And finally, Brown liberally uses words like Mason, Knights Templar, Priory of Sion, Masonic tools and symbols. He also refers to eclectic, occult and cultic ceremonies with black, red and white colours, and a sex act thrown in for good measure. The resemblance to modern day Freemasonry is much too obvious to be dismissed as mere coincidence. Brown himself admits that he is influenced by Freemasonry. The Freemason’s website also has things like Knights Templar cufflinks, and an illustrated version of The Da Vinci Code for sale! It is no secret that the Catholic Church was arch enemy number one of the Freemasons. Is The Da Vinci Code then, Freemasonry’s latest and subtler attack on Catholicism?

Many Christian organisations are incensed at the blasphemous nature of Brown’s insinuations. He knows that modern day Christians are not going to launch inquisitions and crusades against him. It does not absolve Brown of his culpability in distorting truth, and fomenting communal tension. Recall the recent turmoil over the Danish cartoonist’s impression of Prophet Mohammed.

Christians have a right to peaceful protest against Brown’s code of lies. More importantly, they should study the Bible and find the answers there. If cine-goers in India want to see the movie, we cannot stop them. However, if they are prepared to buy the storyline of what is admittedly fiction, then they too need to first read the Bible before forming any opinion. There is nothing to fear from Brown or Da Vinci. What we should be afraid of is our own ignorance.

* The author is the former National President of the All India Catholic Union, and Founder Secretary of the Manav Sadbhav Abhiyan, Kanpur

WHAT ROT?

His self-flagellation, or own goal as it were, has set the cat among the pigeons. It causes a flutter when a Supreme Court Bench castigates its fellow Justices of the Allahabad High Court. Not known to mince his words, Justice Markandey Katju made a portentous remark based on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, that there was something rotten in the Allahabad High Court. This was in the context of nepotism and corruption in the country’s biggest High Court.

Justices are usually more circumspect. The erstwhile Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, seemed overly protective of his fellow members of the Bench, not wanting probity or transparency. But Katju is a different genre altogether. On a petition filed by the Registrar of the Allahabad High Court, against his observations, he stuck to his guns; saying that judicial corruption is common knowledge, and nobody is so naïve as to believe that it does not exist. Now Law Minister Veerapa Moily has endorsed that view. It augurs well for millions of litigants across the country, who cannot or will not pay up.

Since a lawyer relative cannot appear before a judge, there is tacit uncle-nephew nexus; where A’s son appears before B, and B’s son before A, in a quid pro quo. In fact unscrupulous litigants actually look for a counsel based on his “relations” rather than on his legal acumen. A pity. The people of India should salute Justice Katju for his forthrightness. Civic groups and litigants fora like Common Cause in Delhi, should assert themselves for judicial reforms. Even the senior lawyers of Allahabad have welcomed Katju’s observations.

The common man is usually in awe of the court, and afraid to say anything, lest it be construed to be contempt of court. But Justice Katju himself is on record in an earlier statement, that in England there are Crown Courts, whereas in India it is the People, not the Crown, that is supreme. Hence the People of India have a right to express themselves on matters that are in public interest, even if they pertain to the judiciary.

At a recent function Justice Ferdino Inancio Rebello, the newly appointed Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, said that we need to look for new answers to old questions. Is that why he was hand picked from the Bombay High Court and sent to stem the rot in Allahabad? Good luck to him.

There is an adage that when a fish rots, it begins from the head. Sri I.K. Gujral, then Prime Minster of India, had observed that when we sweep the steps we must begin from the top. Justice Katju’s observations have quite literally swept some off the top, to clean the Aegean stables.
* The writer is a life member of Common Cause
12th December 2010

THE WONDER OF LOVE

Do the names of Anjula, Bipasha and Mumtaz sound familiar? All three were in the news recently. Mumtaz Mahal was the wife of Emperor Shahjahan, who built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum, in her everlasting memory. It is called an eternal love story, and some vague media company has now listed it among the new Seven Wonders of the World (7WW)

Bipasha Basu was all nervous and excited about the declaration to be made in Lisbon, by the Swiss media company. She was so excited that she arrived in Lisbon minus her clothes (lost baggage). Not that many men would be complaining! A classmate of mine, Vijay, who lives in Agra, found Bipasha a greater ajuba (wonder) than the Taj, in whose shadow he lives. He didn’t mention whether this was with or without her clothes, I mean baggage.

What of Anjula? One can be pardoned if one’s memory of her has dimmed. She is Anjula Singh Mahaur, the Mayor of Agra, who, together with Bipasha, but with her clothes, landed up in Lisbon, for the declaration of the ajubas. Bipasha’s glam role is over, so let’s roll over to the other two ladies (no pun intended). What is, or was, the role of Mumtaz and Anjula, in the recent declaration of the Taj Mahal, as one of the new 7WWs?

To begin with, the 7WW exercise was organised by an obscure media company in Switzerland. Can anybody off hand remember the name of the organisers? A survey in the Times of India showed that 73% readers considered the exercise a sham, with the telecom companies raking in the moolah through SMS and email revenue. A writer in the same journal observed that had this been a UNESCO survey, it would have had some legitimacy. Just orchestrating votes through celebrity endorsements means nothing.

Before the media blitz the Taj was not on the 7WW short list. It was in the 10th place. After the blitz, the Taj topped the charts. I wonder how many people from outside India voted for the Taj? With a population of over 1 billion, India’s trigger happy SMSers can win any popularity vote. The ground reality is, unfortunately, very different.

If the Taj got voted in for its architectural splendour and aesthetic beauty, as an Indian heritage, I would join the ranks of proud Indians. However, if star-eyed Bipasha and doe-eyed Shabana call the Taj a monument of love, I have a serious problem. Love is expressed to a spouse during her lifetime, and not by building a mausoleum in her memory. Was Mumtaz Shahjahan’s only wife? Did Shahjahan marry again after Mumtaz died? He probably did. Did Shahjahan build the Taj with the work of his own hands, and the sweat of his brow? He had thousands of artisans from all over the world slaving for him, for 22 years, to build his magnificent obsession. Where did the money for the construction come from? By additional taxes and levies on the poor populace? Then comes the ultimate irony – the Emperor’s fatwa to cut off the hands of the artisans, so that the Taj could not be replicated! Is this love? Or is it a symbol of selfish and egoistic indulgence, not unlike Mayawati’s obsession with making colossal Ambedkar statues and Buddha parks?

Colossal! That rings a bell. The Colossus of Rhodes has literally and physically fallen out of the 7WW. But another, with a similar sounding name, is still among the 7WW – the Coliseum of Rome! The Coliseum is where gladiators fought gory duels; or timorous early Christians were thrown to the lions, while the blood thirsty Roman Emperors gleefully watched. Another case of selfish indulgence and unbridled passion. The Coliseum, like Hitler’s notorious gas chambers of Auschwitz, is a symbol of hate and genocide. Would any right thinking European think of listing Auschwitz on the 7WW? The Jews would howl in protest. Yet the Coliseum makes it to the 7WW, without a whimper from billions of Christians across the world. Shameful!

If it is any consolation, particularly to the Christian community, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, hands outstretched over the bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has also made it to the 7WW. What irony. Jesus’ arms are outstretched in love, even when nailed to the cross. He wears a Taj (crown) of thorns, as the price for loving humankind. He protects his own, and sacrifices himself. This is the real wonder and symbol of love, which no SMS campaign or 7WW list can change. It is time that right thinking humans dumped selfish symbols like the Taj and the Coliseum, and stretched out their arms in loving service, as so beautifully symbolized by the statue of the Redeemer in Rio.

Now let’s come to the third lady in our 7WW drama – Anjula. What is her claim to fame? She happens to be the Mayor of Agra. I have nothing against Anjula, who has assumed this office just a few months ago. I refer to her only as a symbol of the Government – Central, State or Local. I have been to Agra several times. The first experience of a visitor to Agra, arriving by a morning train to Agra Fort station, is that of repugnance. The visitor is hailed by a line of bare bums, defecating along the railway tracks. I call it the 300 bum salute. What a welcome to the city of the7WW Taj. Shit man, shit.

Perhaps we Indians are inured to such shit. Not our foreign tourists, who come to Agra with romantic illusions. Tourists are in for more shocks. The next culture shock is of modern apartheid – racial segregation. At the Taj, or any monument in Agra, our distinguished guests, the foreign tourists are directed to a separate ticket window. We racially inferior Indians pay a lowly sum of Rs.20/- to see the Taj. The foreign tourists, being superior beings, are charged a whopping Rs. 700/- for the same peek-a-boo. I consider this a gross injustice, bordering on extortion. If we Indians go as tourists to America, Europe or the Far East, are we charged 35 times more that the locals, for the same service? This defies logic.

Agra stinks. Its traffic is chaotic. Taxis and autos are not metered, so tourists both Indian and foreign, are fleeced. There are five railway stations - Fort, Cantonment, City, Idgah and Raja ki Mandi. Of these only the first two have a semblance of passenger amenities? The bus stations at Idgah, Bijlighar and Buddha Vihar are in a shambles, though an attempt is being made to shift them to the new Inter State Bus Terminal. There is no airport, just a domestic flight terminal provided in one corner of the Air Force base. The once pristine Jamuna, on whose banks the Taj is located, is reduced to a filthy sewer.

If I were a foreign tourist to Agra, swamped by touts, louts and shouts, I would return with a sad and bitter experience. I would never have voted for the Taj. If we Indians really consider the Taj a national heritage (never mind the love angle), then we need to clean up, not just Agra, but all routes that are frequented by tourists. We need to treat foreign visitors with dignity and respect. And the Government should stop fleecing tourists by charging 35 times extra. Only when that happens can the Taj truly be counted among the 7WW. Bipasha and Anjula, are you listening, because Mumtaz can’t?

* The writer is a social activist, who lives in Kanpur, a few hours drive away from Agra.

THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Munnabhai was sipping his coffee in the lawn in front of his house. It was a moonless night, when the stars shone brightly in the firmament. It reminded him of an episode from the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Watson.

The detective duo was camping out at night, when Holmes awoke with a start. Lying flat on his back in the grass he saw the bright stars in the sky. Shaking Watson out of his stupor he asked him, “Do you see what is happening?” Watson grinned and said, “That depends on who I am. If I were a meteorologist I would forecast a bright summer day for tomorrow. If I were a traveller I would say that I was moving northwards. If I were an astronomer I would say that I can see the Big Bear and several planets from our solar system.” Watson was immensely pleased with his clever answer, when Holmes jolted him into reality. “You fool, can’t you make the elementary observation that somebody has stolen our tent from over our heads. That is why you are now seeing stars!”

Stephen Hawking’s book, “A Brief History of Time”, is something like the conversation between the two detectives. Who makes the complex scientific observations, and who makes the elementary ones? Hawking’s book is an international best seller. Despite his severe physical disability and subsequent loss of speech he is acclaimed as one of the greatest astrophysicists and mathematicians of modern times. He is bracketed with all time greats like Aristotle (340 BC), Ptolemy (2nd century BC), Galileo Galilei (1609), Sir Isaac Newton (1687) and Albert Einstein in the last century.

The goal of Hawking’s book is to unravel a “complete description of the universe” (Pg 14). To arrive at such a conclusion he advances various scientific theories like Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (GR), Quantum Mechanics (QM) and the Uncertainty Principle (UP). Fair enough for scientific research. What is startling are the conclusions that Hawking arrives at. In his introduction to the book, Carl Sagan of Cornell University, New York, says that the author is “making an attempt to understand the mind of God”. His conclusion is that there “is no edge of space, no beginning nor end of time, and nothing for a creator to do”. This is indeed an amazing or alarming conclusion!

Mathew Verghese was one of Munnabhai’s neighbours. Born and brought up in Kerala in the Marxist heydays of the 1950s, he was a professed atheist. He did not believe in God or a creator. Everything just happened, or evolved as Charles Darwin had claimed. There was no such thing as an intelligent design that either created or controlled the universe.

Verghese was to drop in at Munnabhai’s house the next evening. Munnabhai had a beautifully crafted globe, gifted to his father by a Britisher. He placed the globe on his writing table and awaited Verghese’s arrival. Verghese was amazed at its beauty and attention to detail (the British are probably the world’s best cartographers). “Wow” he exclaimed, “Where did you get this beauty from?”

Munnabhai offered Verghese some home made biscuits and laconically answered, “It came here by itself, nobody made it.” Verghese choked on his tea and biscuit. “Are you mad? How can such a beautiful thing, with so much attention to detail, happen by itself, or not be made by somebody? Do you think that I am such a fool to believe that?” “I think that you are a big fool. You are not willing to accept that this small model happened by itself, yet you are willing to believe that the entire universe just happened? Open your eyes to reality” said Munnabhai.

Verghese was livid. He tried wriggling his way out, saying that it was an inappropriate analogy. So Munnabhai told him another story, about a little girl’s geography lesson. The teacher had shown the children a globe in school and said, “Children, this is the world”. Hopping and skipping back home the little girl excitedly told her mother, “Today I have seen the world”. In the language of a child she was correct, but in an adult’s rationale she was terribly wrong.

Just then Verghese’s cell phone rang. When he had finished the call Munnabhai asked him, “Isn’t your service provider the one with the slogan Kar lo duniya mutti mein?” (Put the world in the palm of your hand). “So what about it?” said Verghese, still annoyed. “Don’t you think that this slogan is illogical?” queried Munnabhai. “If you have something in the palm of your hand, it cannot be the world, it is just an illusion, a mirage”.

“I think Hawking’s book falls into this category,” he added. Verghese had been a science student, and admired Hawking. “Now you are talking rubbish”, he said. “Look at the wealth of scientific material that he has presented to prove that there is no beginning nor end of time and space. There is no such thing as a creator”.

Hawking said in his book that the philosopher Immanuel Kant held that there was no concept of time before the beginning of the universe (Pg 9). St Augustine in the third century AD held a similar view. Earlier, scientists also believed that the universe was static and unchanging. However, the discovery of an ever-expanding universe by Edwin Hubble in 1929 turned conventional wisdom on its head. Through the observation of the red shift phenomenon, astronomers found that the galaxies and stars were actually moving apart at very high velocity, greater than the force of gravity. This eventually led to the Big Bang theory. This meant that there was a First Cause that occasioned the beginning of creation. This initial burst of energy, light and heat gradually converted into particles (matter) and was compatible with Einstein’s path breaking General Theory of Relativity (GR), through his famous equation e=mc2 (e stood for energy, m for matter, and c for the speed of light). Hawking states that astro physicists use two basic principles for studying the universe. The first is GR that is used to observe and investigate vast masses (the macro level). The other is QM that studies the nature and behaviour of the minutest particles (the nano level). Hawking calls them partial theories (Pg 12), incomplete or insufficient by themselves, to study the nature and origin of the universe, and its resultant implications. He then investigates the more recent phenomenon of the Uncertainty Principle (UP) an offshoot of QM.

There was a time when the atom was considered the smallest particle – it actually means “indivisible” in Greek (Pg 67). Later electrons, neutrons and protons were discovered. Again proton means “first”, or the fundamental unit of matter (Pg 68). But now we have discovered several other nano particles like neutrinos, quarks, anti-electrons, positrons, anti-particles, photons, gluons, mesons etc. (Enough to turn a non-scientist off, from all the ons). Such nano particles can only be observed by using very short light waves. However, using such waves to study them disbalances them, like waves rocking a boat. So there is an element of uncertainty about their nature (Pg 59). Equipment for accurately measuring such nano particles would have to be as big as the solar system itself (Pg 79). But even 20 years after Hawking published his work in 1988, the largest tunnel for observing such phenomena at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland is just a few kilometres in circumference. It does not stop Hawking from pushing ahead, with his own observations.

Hawking presents further scientific evidence that the universe is both cooling and reducing in velocity. The time could come, 10 billion years down the line, when the force of gravity would exceed velocity, and suck the universe back into a mighty black hole of infinite heat and density. This would be the reverse of the Big Bang, called the Big Crunch (Pg 49). The Big Bang and Big Crunch hypothesis is compatible with Einstein’s GR. It implies a beginning and an end, and something beyond that – a creator.

Some other significant observations of Hawking are that due to the force of gravity, space is bent into a curve. He compares it to a spherical object like the earth. He then makes his most audacious claim, that since the earth’s surface has no edges, and therefore no boundaries, you cannot fall off it and it has no end, nor beginning for that matter (Pg 48). He applies this analogy to the universe to arrive at the similar conclusion that space and time don’t have any boundaries. Hence they have neither beginning nor end. By combining together the various principles of GR, QM and UP he arrives at a contrived conclusion that the universe is self contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It could neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE (Pg 144). There would therefore be no place for a creator (Pg 149). From this ethereal level Hawking makes some more profound statements.

He considers time imaginary, a property of a created universe (Pg 176). Despite his self-assurance Hawking is still asking questions at the end of his book. How or why were the laws and initial state of the universe chosen? (Pg 183). Why does the universe exist? Does it need a creator? Who created him? (Pg 184). From the “how” he moves to the “why”, to which he has no answer.

He now conveniently blames the philosophers who have not kept up with scientific advancement (Pg 185). He ends his book with a question not an answer. His swan song is “Why do we and the universe exist? If we know the answer it will be the ultimate triumph of human reason – we would know the mind of God” (Pg 185).

Poor Hawking. Throughout his book he strived to present a single theory to describe the universe (Pg 11). In the process he belittled Einstein, all circumstantial and scientific evidence that points to a beginning, an end, and by consequence a creator, whose existence he doubts. He unfortunately ends up frankly admitting that he doesn’t really have the answers, and ultimately finds himself at the doorstep of the god whose very existence he had questioned.

Hawking’s work is an exercise in futility, as evidenced by his own statements. Here are some of them: -
· Any physical theory is always provisional … you can never prove it (Pg 11)
· GR is an incomplete theory as it cannot go beyond the beginning (Pg 55)
· Laws may have originally been decreed by God who then left the universe to evolve according to those laws, and then does not intervene (Pg 129)
· It is very difficult to explain how the universe began, except as an act of God, who intended to create beings like us (Pg 134).
· God may know how the universe began, but we cannot give any particular reason (Pg143)
· A scientific theory is just a mathematical model to describe our observations, it exists only in our minds (Pg 147)
· Theories are always being changed to account for new observations (Pg 178)
· Even specialists have a grasp of a small proportion of scientific theories (Pg 179)
· We don’t know how the human brain works, but do know how computer memories work (Pg 155)
· We have little success in predicting human behaviour from mathematical equations (Pg 179)
· Only a few can keep up with the rapidly expanding frontiers of knowledge (Pg 178)

It would therefore seem that Hawking, while on the one hand making a tall claim about a unified theory of the universe; was simultaneously admitting the limitations of the very scientific tools that he had employed to propound those theories. He used finite scientific tools to probe the infinite. If the tools of analysis are faulty, it is a natural consequence that the conclusions drawn are even more faulty. Hawking seems to be a victim of the Uncertainty Principle that he propounded to describe the universe with such certainty! The short wave of infinity seems to have rocked the boat of Hawking’s brand of scientific investigation.

Munnabhai took a deep breath as he looked at Verghese’s crestfallen countenance. He said, “So far I have just quoted Hawking ad verbatim, to disprove his own hypothesis; it can’t be termed a proven theory. Now let me proffer some counter arguments of my own. In order to disprove the existence of a creator God, Hawking had to establish that there was neither beginning nor end of time. There was no Big Bang, no cause and effect. To do so he propounded two ideas; one, that space being spherical had no boundaries, and two, that the sum total of all matter and energy was zero, hence time was also zero, therefore imaginary.

This is not true scientific scholarship. It is like using a measuring tape to take a patient’s temperature, or using a thermometer to measure the length of a piece of cloth. This may sound absurd, but this is exactly what Hawking did. Just because space is spherical it does not mean that it has no dimensions. It has a circumference, a diameter and even a mass. Hawking himself admits that our galaxy is just one of some hundred billion galaxies visible with modern telescopes. Each galaxy in turn contains a hundred billion stars (Pg 39). Our galaxy alone has a diameter of 100,000 light years. The most distant object is 8 billion light years away (Pg 30). There are 1 (with 80 zeros behind) number of particles in the observable universe (Pg 136). Is all this imaginary, just because it is spherical? Does that globe on my table have no weight, circumference, height etc just because it is a seamless sphere without any boundaries or edges, as Hawking would have us believe? This is the theatre of the absurd.

Look at his second conclusion, that the sum total of all energy and matter is zero (Pg 136). Assuming this, without admitting it, does it mean that there is therefore no such thing as time, because the energy and mass totals zero? Einstein would turn in his grave. Hawking has again used the wrong tool for analysis. He should have consulted a Chartered Accountant. A ledger has debit and credit entries. It is possible that at any given time they may balance out, showing a balance of zero. Does that mean that all the transactions in that period were a mere illusion? Absurd isn’t it?”

Verghese had no answer. Hawking’s book seemed to have begun with a bang and ended with a whimper, quite like the Big Bang and Big Crunch that he had so assiduously attempted to disprove. The sun had set. Verghese looked up at the brilliance of the night sky. What Munnabhai said seemed to make sense. Indeed there seemed to be great power in the universe. The one who created it must have been even more powerful. Why did he do it?

After Verghese had left, another thought struck Munnabhai. Hawking stated that in 1951 the Catholic Church had accepted the Big Bang theory as being compatible with the Biblical account of creation (Pg 50). Thirty years later, in 1981, he gave a talk to Jesuits at the Vatican where he had presented his hypothesis that space and time were finite but had no boundary, hence no beginning or moment of creation (Pg 122). Ironically, after his presentation, and unaware of what Hawking had said, the Pope told the participating scientists that it was appropriate to study the evolution of the universe after the Big Bang, but not the Big Bang itself; as that was the moment of creation, and therefore the work of God (Pg 122). Who was right, Hawking or the Pope?

The Catholic Church has, rightly and wrongly, often been in conflict with science and the outside world. But the Genesis account of creation: a formless void (nothing), wind (energy or velocity – nano particles), light (an emanation of heat and energy – atoms and gases like hydrogen and helium), water (formation of oxygen, molecules and liquid), dry land (solid state with heavier atoms like carbon), vegetation, water creatures, winged creatures (fins evolving into wings), creeping creatures (wings evolving into limbs) and man (homo erectus to homo sapiens) was very much in accordance with the scientific evidence of the Big Bang, and the evolution of the species.

Munnabhai marvelled at the wonder of creation. The scientists told him “how” creation took place. He knew “why”. Because God is life and love. Both are dynamic and expansive, and seek expression. Creation was the natural consequence. Like Holmes, Munnabhai had made the correct observation, and arrived at what seemed the most plausible conclusion. Elementary my dear Hawking.

* This article is an extract from the author’s forthcoming book “The Jerusalem Code”

THE FOURTH IDIOT

Has Aamir Khan’s “Three Idiots” been in vain? Because engineering students continue to commit suicide. The latest in the series is Madhuri Sale, of IIT, Kanpur (IITK), my hometown. This is the eighth suicide here in the last five years. The IITK authorities nonchalantly attribute it to excess internet and mobile usage by students! Are the Neros of IITK fiddling while students are hanging?

Six of my classmates joined the IITs in 1966. Three were in IITK. I occasionally visit some professor friends. But a tragic memory of IITK is of 2000, when Remo Fernandes and his musical troupe came for its cultural fest Antaragini. The next day four of them died in an accident. After the post mortems IITK dumped the decomposed and disfigured bodies on blocks of ice in an isolated room that they call a morgue. The previous day everybody had wanted to touch the living stars. The next day the fallen stars had become untouchable to both the IITK authorities and the fawning students.

It fell to me to bring those bodies to my home, arrange for coffins for airlifting to Goa, and a prayer for the deceased. These memories came alive when I saw images of how IITK dumped Madhuri’s body on ice in that same “morgue”. How insensitive is human nature, and how fleeting our glory? What are we killing ourselves for (pun intended)?

I don’t know what my classmates who went to IIT achieved in life. Another six became defence officers, four in the army, and one each in the navy and the airforce. Two became doctors, and two became commercial pilots. An illustrious class. When I organised its reunion after 31 years in 1996, I discovered that the only one who had expired was the allopathic doctor! I had my entire class’ mark sheet. Of the six officers, the one with the highest rank had the lowest school marks. The one at the bottom of the heap in class was a Member of Parliament, and had won a gold medal in international sport. So who are the real idiots?

Saddened as I am by Madhuri’s suicide, I implore parents and students to realistically assess their own potential, and limitations as well. Don’t push too hard, you could be pushing the lever to the trap door that tightens the noose.

Counselling and psychiatry are not much help. They identify the causes, but cannot uproot them. Psychiatry merely addresses the symptoms with medication, which is not a solution. Those in depression need emotional and spiritual support. Unfortunately IITs know how to deal with metal fatigue, not mental fatigue; metallurgical stress not emotional ones. Stop and think before becoming the fourth idiot.

* The writer has been actively involved in youth counselling and spiritual inner healing.

NOVEMBER 2010

THE ABC OF KANPUR’S GOANS

My mother was a gracious host and an excellent cook. However, whenever any guest complimented her on her cooking, or said that Goans were good cooks, she would take umbrage at it. I did not understand it then. It was some years later that I came to know of the ABC Goans – Ayahs, Butlers and Cooks. That is how the British sahibs condescendingly looked down upon the Goans, which is probably why my mother resented the linkage to cooking!

The early Goans of Kanpur were made of sterner stuff. They had another connotation for ABC – Astute Business Capability. The pioneer of the ABC of Kanpur (then known as Cawnpore) was Manuel Xavier de Noronha (MX). Born on 30th October 1825 in the prosperous Grand Coimo Vaddo of Aldona village, MX had learnt the art of photography from the Portuguese. It would be apt to also term it a science, for there was neither camera nor film. One had to fabricate one’s own equipment. Gold and silver nitrate solutions were applied to plate glass to make the photographs, as neither celluloid nor photographic paper had been invented.

Legend has it that MX set off for distant lands with a retinue of 300 bullock carts, to photograph the high and mighty. There may have been other traders or businessmen with him, as Aldona had a history of business acumen. In a souvenir published by the Aldona Association of Bombay in 1943, Dr. Thomas C D’Silva MBBS wrote, “In trade and commerce, the Aldonense has usually blazed the trail; he may be called the pioneer among Goans”. In the same souvenir, Luis Jose D’souza MA, MSc, writes: “At a time when the so-called Novas Conquistas (New Conquests) were as unknown to the Goans as Bombay was, the Aldonense with his characteristic daring and unsurpassed spirit of pioneering, penetrated the ‘unchartered area’. He went as a businessman…. Their means of transport were the oxen. Many of us still remember the caravans of oxen with bags slung across their backs and bells jingling from their necks, trudging their way wearily over hills through malaria-ridden jungles plying their trade…. They left us a legacy of daring, love of work, integrity of character, unsurpassed qualities of leadership, and above all a marvellous spirit of self-confidence”. Surely MX had imbued that spirit.

Somewhere around 1854, when he was just 25 years of age, MX sought greener pastures. His major customers were in the princely state of Rajputana, as they were among the few that could afford his photographic charges of Rs 200/- over 150 years ago! Sometimes MX’s entourage was beaten up and his equipment smashed because the negatives looked like ghostly images and the darbaris thought that the photographer was a magician who had extracted the “souls” of their masters.

In the course of his travels MX arrived in Cawnpore circa 1856 and got caught in the vortex of the 1857 War of Independence. The 1943 Souvenir places MX on the Roll of Honour for saving 80 lives in 1857. It is not clear whose lives he saved. However, a letter dt 3rd July 1880 written by Col Mowbray Thomson, Resident with the ex-king of Oudh, states that one Col Wilson of the 64th Foot was mortally wounded in a skirmish with the Gwalior Contingent, and “Noronha behaved gallantly as well as compassionately in staying with him till he was safely carried off the field and into the fort where he died a short time afterwards”. Gallantry and Compassion are words seldom used in tandem, especially in war, when passions run high. So MX must have been an exceptional character.

Businessmen, by their very nature, remain politically neutral. MX must have been no different. By virtue of speaking English and being a Christian, he would have been acceptable to the British rulers. Being Konkani speaking, which is akin to Marathi, he would also have been acceptable to Nanarao Peshwa and Tantya Tope, the Maratha rulers of the region at that time. Even the Gwalior Contingent would have had Marathi speaking soldiers under Scindia’s rule.

Cawnpore, post 1857, was a boomtown after the British recaptured it from the Peshwas. They built a large Cantonment and established various factories. The river Ganga was still navigable for small sea going vessels from the Bay of Bengal. The next year the railway line reached Cawnpore. So MX was at the right place at the right time, and seized the opportunity to establish business. He began his firm of M/s M.X. de Noronha & Son in 1858.

From photography he branched out into contracting, auctioneering and printing. The press was known as Aldona Press. Auctioneering became the mainstay of the Noronhas for over 140 years. Military auctions were the major ones – vehicles, supplies, stores, and in later years tanks, aircraft and ships. There was also scrap from the factories and mills that were coming up. Post Independence there were the sale of evacuee properties. And finally there were the household auctions of Britishers going home. In those days there was precious little manufactured in India, and the “Made in England” tag was as valuable for new as for second hand merchandise.

MX’s only son William Constantine Sr (WC) took over from where his father left off; diversifying into tanning, hide and skin trade, brick kilns, dal milling, manufacture of coaches, carriages and furniture, running the Post & Telegraph services, supplying electricity to the Cantonments, and sale of arms and ammunition. WC also went on a property-buying spree. It was claimed that he owned 99 bungalows in the cantonments, and half of the rest of Cawnpore!

It was smooth sailing till WC’s death in 1932. A bitter succession struggle went to the Allahabad High Court for adjudication. It must have affected WC’s three sons, Peter, Willie (Jr) and Stanley; who continued with the family businesses, but they were probably not as astute as their father was. Several factors contributed to the gradual decline of the Noronhas’ fortunes.

The first was the Rent Control Act promulgated sometime during the Second World War (1939 – 1945). It reduced landlords to paupers. Then came Independence in 1947. It was not just a political change; it was a deeper attitudinal one. Socialism, red tape and the brown babu reigned supreme. Corruption followed. The Noronhas couldn’t adjust to these changes. In the auction business they charged a 5-10% commission, and ensured the best price for their principles. Post Independence, “official” commissions dropped to as low as .25% with the biggest clients – the Director General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D). The Noronhas got squeezed out. The DGS&D even instituted an enquiry as to why the Noronhas were no longer prepared to do their auctions. But time and tide had turned irretrievably.

Precious properties also turned to dust, as the Noronhas didn’t have the heart to arm twist their tenants. Absurd rates of Wealth Tax and Estate Duty on non-remunerative assets took their toll. The Urban Land Ceiling Act of 1976 was the last nail in the Noronhas’ coffin.

Nevertheless, a small remnant made a fresh beginning in 1982. Now only one Noronha family remains on in Kanpur; running a super bazar, promoting the city’s first Mall, and having a small export business. Where will it take them? Kanpur is situated in U.P., which hasn’t had a business friendly or corruption free Govt for the last 20 years. The power scenario is dismal. Yet even in adversity one must seize the opportunity and make the most of it.

The Noronhas were not the only ABCs in Kanpur. WC’s first cousin Louis Caetano D’souza from Quitla in Aldona also came and set up the Regal and Roxy cinema halls on the prestigious Mall Road. One Mr Carvalho from Carona Aldona ran the Bristol Hotel and made a colony, Carvalhonagar. Ignatius D’silva who came from southern Goa ran the Orient Coffee House, Hotel and Billiard Saloon. So the Goans in Kanpur did have the capital ABC – Astute Business Capability.

Today there are several landmarks named after the Noronhas – Noronha Crossing, Noronha’s Exchange Post Office, Noronha Road and Mrs Noronha Hall. In common parlance the name has been colloquiallised to Narona, just as Carvalho has now become Karvalonagar, and one Sequeira Estate has become Sakera State. Connotations may change with time, but hopefully the Noronhas will continue the capital ABC, combined with gallantry and compassion, as their forefathers did.

* The writer is the great grandson of M.X. de Noronha.