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Today was very informative in terms of lectures. The first lecture I went to was about Dalit theology. Dalit is the word used by people outside the caste system (one called untouchables) to describe themselves. The word dalit means oppressed. It was interesting an interesting lecture because it was looking at caste and how Dalits fit in – or rather how they are outside the system. It seems to me that Dalits occupy a position that like those on the margins of society in Britain such as gypsies and new age travellers. Dalit theology looks at the oppression that the Dalits suffer.
The second lecture on the gospel and Indian culture gave the background to the Syrian and Mar Thoma churches. They claim to have been started by St. Thomas in 52AD. St. Thomas is said to have come to India and been given a commission to build a temple. So he went off and asked for lots of money, gold etc. Then next year he asked for more and so on. Eventually the maharaja went to see the temple but there was nothing there. St. Thomas had given away all the money. He said it would build the most beautiful temple for the maharaja in heaven. The maharaja was not impressed and threw St. Thomas into prison. But that night the maharaja dreamt of the most beautiful temple built in heaven. So he released St Thomas and the Syrian church started. The Mar Thoma church is a reformed version of the Syrian church that started in the last century. I have arranged to go to a Mar Thoma church on Sunday so I must get prepared for 2 hours of worship.
Later the first years asked me to go with them to Half Way House. It is programme for people with psychiatric problems who have left hospital and are being rehabilitated. It was well run and the patients who opted to stay after rehabilitation showed clear improvements. Some had better communication skills than others. The students were surprised by the normality of the people. Compared to the West there is not much psychiatric help for people in India or, for that matter, much understanding .
After returning I did a spot of drawing and played some volleyball. The latter is good because I not only enjoy it but I am getting to know the security staff.
In the evening I went to Sathi's again for dinner with some of the college visitors (John from Boston) and staff. The conversation was a little over my head but on the whole I could follow. I was interested in what was said about environmental ethics. They suggested that the Indian religious idea of dharma (or duty) is not sufficient by itself to produce better environmental ethics.
I had some discussions with Ekie and Visa from Nagaland.
Naga culture is based around the villages each of which has its own boundaries and the villagers possess their own land. The villages are independent village-states. Originally the Nagas had an animistic religion but now about 95% of them are Christian, mainly Baptists. We talked a little about what we might learn about the imminence of God from animistic religion. Ekie also told me that many of the Christians are nominal, but that is the same everywhere.
In many ways the people of the North East of India find it as difficult to adjust to Bangalore as Westerners. Their food is largely boiled and not as spicy as in the rest of India. They also find the food too oily in S. India. Like other more Eastern people they eat dog meat, indeed this is a highly prized meat. Dogs are also kept for hunting and Ekie says his family wouldn't eat their own hunting dog, if they killed it would be given or sold to someone else. We discussed differences in attitudes to animals in the East and West, especially the sentimental attitude in the UK.
The other lecture I went to was on Church and society, and was largely about India's history of development plans. The room was large and echoed so it was difficult to understand what was being said. The accents made matters worse.
Most of the afternoon was taken up reading in the library as I have a lot of catching up on the courses. I am getting there. After finishing reading I played some volleyball. I was concerned that someone else might have been excluded so I could play, but I think he had his own problems.
For evening meal I went to the students mess, then I was invited to the hall fellowship. It was songs, sung rather loudly and not entirely in tune, a scripture reading and exposition and a few prayers. Then I went and saw Ekie and we talked about many things including his home land. He gave me a copy of his BD dissertation, on his tribe, to read.
In the morning lectures the most interesting part was students reflections on caste and what they had read in the light of their own experience. After lectures I went to see Phil (another student on placement) at TAFTEE (a Christian education organization). Hopefully we can do some things together, visit places, both tourist and non-tourist. Sathi suggested Phil could come to a lecture or two here.
In the afternoon I met Alan from Edinburgh University. He has been to India many times so it is useful to sharpen my own impressions by talking with him. One example, we were talking about child labour. The West for example wants to control child labour in rug making but their efforts only affect the international part of the trade that is 3% of 100 000. This compares with 80 million child labourers in the construction industry in India. To get these children educated would be very difficult as their parents depend on the income they generate. I have seen many children working in restaurants myself.
Then I went to the fellowship group in Bob Robinsons house. It was quite western, we sang songs, elected a secretary, and discussed what we might do. Music seems a common interest. Then to dinner, I wasn't feeling 100%, a little nausea so I avoided the meat. Next I went to the hall fellowship and then to the chapel to learn some Bhajans (A classical form of Indian Music). They were difficult for me to sing as the music is so unfamiliar. I must try to learn more about them.
The slum on the way to TAFTEE was the most shocking thing I saw today, but is becoming harder to be shocked. The best thing was sharing in the fellowship of the students who are warm and want to share faith, music and prayer.
At 10 am I went to find Alan and we went off to TAFTEE. We had a long stay there and decided that we would try to go to Cochin next weekend. Then we went to Cantonment railway station to buy the tickets but the queues were so long that we got an autorickshaw to the main station.
There were a large number of different queues, 14 downstairs and more upstairs. The procedure is: 1) find a booking form, 2) find what train you want, 3) fill in the form including names of those travelling with their sex, the train name and number, destination and time. We queued up in the short tourist queue, but there were problems. Only 2nd class tickets were available for going out and nothing for coming back. We were wait listed for the return journey which meant we would have to hope we could buy tickets for the return in Cochin. The idea was that we ought to be able to get tickets from the tourist quota coming back. Next we went upstairs and back down behind the counter to try to pay in British money. Unfortunately Alan hadn't got his passport and they wouldn't accept his drivers license. So back upstairs to the credit card queue. This had about 7 people infront of us. The man behind the counter must have been slow even by Indian standards as the Indians in the queue were tutting and complaining. The booking system is automated but the credit cards have to be checked manually against a list of stolen cards. It took an hour and 10 minutes to be served. By that time we were quite hungry so we headed to Brigade road for lunch. We had an excellent chicken Biriani eaten off banana leaves. Then to Thomas Cooks for Alan to change money- more queues. Our next stop was the cyber cafe, I needed to get in touch with Prof. Chandrashekaran in JNC and to send some emails to Europe. In fact it works out cheaper than sending letters at Rs 11 each.
We visited ATC to look at theological books and then the Cauvery craft shop. This was better than a museum. There were some very beautiful carvings, marketry tables and pictures, statues, and all sorts of odds and ends.
Back at UTC some more volleyball and a long conversation with Laxman about Nepal. His people are very poor, Nepalese rupees are about half the value of India rupees. He sees education as being the answer to problems of poverty. There is much in what he says but I wonder if he would ever see caste as part of the problem.
Dinner in the mess was very wet; there was a lot of water being thrown around. I was threatened with the same at some stage. I went to the hostel prayers and music practice. Then two of the Nagas asked me to come with them to get a Pepsi. I didn't catch their names. They told me a bit more about Naga history. How it was conquered by Britain and wanted to get its Independence separate from India. The students felt that they were never part of India and that Britain should have restored them to the same condition when they left. The way the world was divided up post colonially seems to be a big problem in the world. One only has to look at other groups like the Kurds to see that.
I was intending to go into the city today but so far haven't managed it. After breakfast I found Glen trying to convert Laxman. I have to say that I disagreed with his approach as well as his analysis of history. Also he seemed largely unwilling to engage in real conversation. I doubt that such an approach is really effective with a person as intelligent as Laxman. I also learned a little about Laxman and his family. He has 3 brothers, one studies in Australia and his other, Ram, will be joining him in Bangalore in 3 or so days. Being from outside he is finding it difficult to get cheap accommodation and the best he can do is the hostel annexe at Rs 150/day. He hopes that he might be able to move into the hostel but this will take some negotiation.
Finding a school was also difficult for him. Christian colleges put Christians first. One asked him for Rs 40 000 to register but he bargained them down to Rs 5 000. The college is two bus rides away, which is hardly convenient. He mainly worships Devi and he explained some of the puja he does. Talking with him, it it is clear that when Christians eat beef the offence they give to Hindus is enormous. If Hindus consider the cow as their mother, can we respect them and eat beef?
In the afternoon I went to see if Ekie wanted to go out but he was busy. Some of the other students asked me if I wanted to go to Inter-sem. This is an organisation of all the seminaries in Bangalore. We went to Christa Jyoti College. The event was very good, a powerful sermon on the church’s need to be missionary. Then there was a cultural event with music and sketches. There was one about an Indian doctor in the country which was very good and one about a family visiting all the troubled areas of India. There was also a classical Indian dance done by some nuns!
The journey back was through the inevitable slums and streets.
After dinner I joined the group practising music for Monday. Somehow the time went after that. I also managed to borrow an iron to press my clothes.
Today I went to a Mar Thoma church with Thomas. We took the bus which was a new experience. At one stage the bus from the station wouldn't start and the driver opened up a door into the engine and prodded around with a stick. Then as the bus rolled forward he bump started it.
The Mar Thoma church looked very modern, no icons and plain white walls. Incense and liturgy remained and so I was there for 2 hours. Of course I couldn't understand the Malayalam but Thomas brought a book for me to follow the service in English. The sermon was in English so I could follow that. For communion most people took their shoes off to go to the rail, but only some of the people took communion. The wine was administered with a spoon and the wine thrown into people’s mouth. After the Eucharist it was quite a rush back for Thomas to get lunch.
In the afternoon Lamboi, Ekie and I went for a trip out into Bangalore. First we went to Commercial street for Lamboi to look at some trainers. But he didn't find anything suitable that were cheap enough. Then we went to the science museum. The standard wasn't as good as in the west. Many of the displays were old and didn't work, but it was interesting never the less; we enjoyed going round. Then we went to Lalbagh Botanical gardens. This was quite a large park with a lake. Not so many things were in flower this time of year.
Back at UTC the evening worship had a powerful liberation theme. The preparation contained the following:
"Freedom as a biblical principle and ethical category plays a crucial role in the life of every individual. This ideal has found its way into the constitutions of all the countries. The fact remains that social realities do not always match constitutional provisions. Rather, freedom appears to be an ambiguous term that lends itself to different interpretations.
Apparently freedom is understood by many in different ways. Nevertheless, how free are women, dalits, tribals and vulnerable sections in our society?
What is freedom, after all? Is it possible to make use of freedom without social, economic and cultural security, without exploitation. These and other related questions ought to become the subject of our debate, reflection and action."
I thought about developing my own approach to these problems. In particular, what should the churches role be in promoting freedom in British society? What are the plans of the new labour government and how will they produce freedom and social justice in Britain?
The preacher told a story of a typhoon in Andra Pradesh and how the central government voted relief but the local administrator did nothing. When people got so desperate that there was a protest he agreed to do something, but the following day arrested the leaders of the demonstration. This sort of thing seems common in India but it is hard for me to imagine. The power of officials and their corruption is huge.
The Vicar
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