Inter-religious Dialogue Survey

A classmate and fellow-scholastic of mine from DNC is doing a survey on inter-religious dialogue and needs responses from non-Christians:

World Cup Fever

In the first semi-final, Brazil and Spain were deadlocked until the last minute of normal time, when Spain struck what seemed to be the winner, only for their fans to watch in horror as one of the Spanish defenders turned the ball pass his own keeper two minutes later. And so, on to extra time. In the last minute (again!) of extra time Spain scored a controversial goal with the Brazilian keeper claiming he was kicked in the ear while he scrambled to get a hold of the ball in a goal-mouth scrimmage. In the second semi-final, Germany scored two goals in the first half and, although Argentina fought back to reduce the deficit to one goal, held on for the win.

Sarvodaya is now a Plus Two School

Flash News: Sarvodaya, the Jesuit school in Wayanad, Kerala, has been approved to offer Plus Two courses (the equivalent of a Sixth Form College) by the State Education Department. This means that Sarvodaya students can now continue to study here and reap the benefits of Jesuit pedagogy instead of having to scour around for pre-university seats.

Coming on the heels of approval of its 'minority school' status last week by the central Minorities Commission, this is a big development in the 20-year history of Jesuit involvement with the school. Having minority status means the school is protected by the Constitutional rights of minorities to preserve, propagate and develop their own culture and values. In practice, one of the most significant consequences is that the management of the institution in question has greater control over staff appointments. Thus, the Jesuit identity of the school can be further strengthened and the Ignatian outlook of our staff better developed.

A Week at Eachome

As I come to the end of a physically tiring yet psychologically enervating week where I found myself as an adhoc substitute teacher (English, IT, Maths, Music!), I just wanted to share a few highlights of the week that was at Sarvodaya, Eachome:

Characteristics of Jesuit Education

(Below is an abridged/edited version of a speech I gave at the awards function last Tuesday at Sarvodaya High School.)

Respected Chairman, distinguished guests, parents, teachers and my dear friends.

We are gathered here today for two reasons. One, to inaugurate the school club activities for this year. Two, to felicitate the students who obtained high grades at last year's SSLC (Kerala-equivalent of the O-Levels) examinations. The Chairman has already spoken to you about the first, so I would like to focus my speech today on the second.

First, let me once again congratulate the students who received 9 or 10 A+ grades in this year's examinations. Your parents are proud of you; your teachers are proud of you and your juniors gathered here today are proud of you. We wish you all the best for your future studies and careers.

All of the students here today – past and present – are part of a large community of nearly 30 lakh (3 million) students who study at Jesuit educational institutions around the world. Wherever you go, you can always say with pride that you studied at Sarvodaya High School, a Jesuit educational institution. Last year, I worked at our Jesuit school in South London (Sacred Heart College, Wimbledon aka Wimbledon College) where the students look different from you, speak a different language, come from a different culture, do different things with their spare time etc. Nevertheless, you are joined with them by the common bond of your Jesuit education. Studying at a Jesuit school means that people will have certain expectations of you. I would like to focus today on three characteristics you are expected to acquire by the end of your studies in a Jesuit school – excellence in learning, excellence in life and becoming boys and girls (or men and women) for others.

Excellence in learning is not about bookish knowledge or remembering facts. It means that people expect you to have depth of understanding, of insight in all that you have learnt here. It also means that you are expected to have breadth of knowledge – about the world, about society, about yourselves. This can only happen if you are constantly keeping yourself aware of what is happening around us; by reading the daily newspapers, for instance. Excellence in learning can only be achieved if you apply yourselves with discipline to your studies.

Discipline is also part of the second point I want to raise – excellence in life. People will expect from Jesuit students excellence in all aspects of life – work, extra-curricular activities, arts, music, drama etc. In that respect, the other purpose of today's function – inaugurating the club activities – plays a crucial role. In your time here, I hope you will participate in these wholeheartedly. But excellence in life is not just about excellence in achievement. It also means excellence in virtue. As students of a Jesuit school, people will expect you to be men and women of kindness, of courage, of wisdom, of gratitude.

This brings me to the last point – being boys and girls for others. If you have come out of a Jesuit school with a selfish mindset, then our education has not done its work. Concern for others is an absolute must. You can begin in small ways: if you notice a classmate is lagging behind on school work, take the time to help her/him catch up. These three aspects – excellence in learning, excellence in life and concern for others must be part of your everyday life in this school.

Congratulating our former students once again for their achievements in the examinations, I conclude my speech.

The Land of Paddy Fields

Oddly enough, the weather's just like England. It started off as a bright sunny day; suddenly a few clouds gather together conspiratorially as though to ruin the pleasure of all those (like me) who'd finally hung some washing outside.

This is Wayanad, the land of paddy fields (Malayalam vayal, “paddy” and naad, “land”). But that title's a tad misleading because Wayanad is actually the southern tip of the Deccan plateau and is at least 2000 feet above sea level. Nevertheless, the fertile soil has long made it an attractive destination for agricultural entrepreneurs from various parts of Kerala. The long history of settlement has not been without its social cost, however. The indigenous tribal peoples (adivasi-s) of Wayanad were often exploited, tricked or coerced and, consequently, find themselves on the margins of progress in Kerala.

I arrived on Thursday at the Jesuit-run school in Eachome (a medium-sized village outside the Wayanad capital, Kalpetta) and the small Jesuit community (4 priests) attached to it after a wonderful bus journey through some very pretty countryside. The school, Sarvodaya, serves classes I to X (Years 2 through 11 in the English system). The medium of instruction is Malayalam. The school has nearly 800 students, mostly from agrarian and/or underprivileged backgrounds. About a third of the students are from the adivasi community. I'll be here for a couple of weeks, mainly meeting the students (and, hopefully, inspiring them to ambitious life-goals) and teaching them a spot of English. On Friday, I went around a few of the classes, doing a bit of 'meet n' greet' and letting the kids interview me (the most common question was about my family). Yesterday, I assisted Fr. Salvin Augustine SJ (recently ordained and a new arrival to the school staff) in conducting a day's leadership work for the student coordinators team.

Working with kids can be very very tiring – and still leave you with a buzz and a hunger for more. I think it has to do with the fact that their lives are full of promise, their outlook always optimistic. Somewhere into adulthood, most of us lower our hope thresholds significantly; kids remind us just how high it can (and perhaps, should) be. And, perhaps, how little our many cares actually matter in the grand scheme of things:

How void of care yon merry thrush,
That tunes melodious on the bush,
That has no stores of wealth to keep,
No lands to plough, no corn to reap !
(C.K. Williams, The Thrush)

The Lord of the Dance

(Photos of the retreat can be viewed online at http://picasaweb.google.com/kensyj/201005AnnualRetreat )

Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Sion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp. (Ps. 149)

Between the 23^rd and 31^st of May this year, I joined the scholastics of the Kerala Province on their annual retreat at the Ignatian Retreat Centre, Pariyaram in north Kerala. The retreat was directed by Prashant Olalekar SJ (BOM), Director of the Jesuit retreat house in Bandra and Hazel Fernandes (Pune), a lay collaborator. Most of us were surprised to learn that this wasn’t going to be another vanilla Ignatian retreat.

InterPlay^®

Prashant and Hazel are founding members of InterPlay India, an Indian group inspired by Body Wisdom Inc.’s InterPlay^® programme (www.interplay.org). InterPlay is a set of tools and techniques that help a person be attentive to, deepen, enjoy and ultimately integrate her/his physical experience with her/his emotional and spiritual experiences.

The tools explored during the retreat varied from simple walking to free-form dancing. We were constantly reminded to pay attention to our “bodies” (including our instincts and intuitions) and to trust our bodies. We were encouraged to play freely, even as little children. Through simple exercises like ‘walk, stop, run’, we discovered that spirituality doesn’t always have to be “serious business”; sometimes it can just be fun.

We also had the opportunity for some personal direction and counselling (Ms. Fernandes is a professional therapist) to integrate the various movements raised from the subconscious through the InterPlay activity.

Justice

All was not simply fun and games, however. Throughout the retreat we were reminded of the pervasive presence of structural injustices, particularly towards women, and of the need to be committed to ecological preservation. We had at least one session each day outside the house, close to Nature, consisting of exercises that combined elements of Yoga and Thich Nhat Hahn’s meditation techniques.

Ignatian

This was the first time an InterPlay retreat was being offered to Jesuits in India, so an attempt was made to integrate some elements of the traditional 8-day spiritual exercises. Each day had a theme, most of which should not suprise anyone who's done a traditional Ignatian retreat (“Great to be Grateful”, “Come Dance with Me”, “In the Brokenness is the Wholeness”, “The Passion”, “Breath of the Spirit”) along with a few that might (“Embracing the Feminine”). Although the sessions (we had three each day, along with a very active Mass) were conducted in a light and free-flowing vein, we were still expected to maintain silence and spend some time in personal contemplation/meditation outside the sessions.

I was often reminded of St. Ignatius’s fourth Additional Directive [SpEx 76] about the importance of posture and the body in prayer. One of the highlights of the retreat was a video of an Imaginative Contemplation in Dance (called ‘StoryDance’) by Betsey Beckman (www.thedancingword.com).

Personally, I found this style of retreat quite liberating and also helpful in integrating my “left brain” (the centre of our logical and rational thought) with my “right brain” (creativity and spirituality). But above all, I found it useful to be reminded that “I am my body” and that we are not called to a disembodied union with the Transcendent (the focus of many spiritual traditions).

After all, we do profess a faith in the “resurrection of the body”!

Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He! (Sydney Carter)