I left Delhi and arrived in Calcutta.
A really awesome young man named Robert was
anxiously awaiting my arrival at the airport. He was nice enough to even make me a sign.
In Calcutta, I stayed with a family that I never met
before. I found out about this family through my brother seminarian’s mother,
Vimala Philip, who knows an uncle in Houston, Matthew, who used to live Calcutta. They usually host foreigners at their home when they come to visit Calcutta. Such a blessing to stay with their family for the past few days.
It’s amazing how people are connected in in
India. Some scientists have come up with a theory that any person in the world
can be connected with any other person in the world through six intermediary people. It’s called the “Six degrees of separation”. I feel like everyone in
India somehow knows everyone else. It’s a lot of fun to watch people meet for
the first time and try and find out how they’re connected somehow. There are
probably three degrees of separation in India. Seriously.
But before I speak about my experience in Calcutta, I want to
invite Kanye West to say a few words.
Really. I don’t know how many Indians would agree with
me, but thank you British for making my trip much smoother than expected.
In every place I went in India, I was somehow able to
survive by only knowing English. Most of the signs are bilingual –having the particular
local language in bold with English written underneath.
You can see a lot of British Influence in Calcutta.
Calcutta was actually the capital of India at one point, before it was moved to
a more centralized location in Delhi.
Calcutta is the only city in India to have the “tram
system”, thanks to the British.
This is the Victoria Memorial, which is dedicated to the
last British Empress of India, Victoria.
And of course, having the steering wheel on the right
side and driving on the left side of the road was a British influence as well.
Though I’m not sure if drivers more time is spent on the left side or the right side of
the road (if you’ve been to India, you know what I’m talking about)
One of the guys I’m staying with, Paul, took
me out to get street food. (pray that I don't get sick)
Not sure what it was was, but it was good.
Then we came across the infamous gol gappa. Move over 53rd and 6th.
Gol gappas are REALLY GOOD. Like really good. Paul told me that there's one rule while eating gol gappas: keep eating until you can't anymore. I wasn't sure if he was indirectly challenging me to a gol gappa eat-off, but if he did, I would've gladly enjoyed beating him.
Not sure what it was was, but it was good.
Then we came across the infamous gol gappa. Move over 53rd and 6th.
Gol gappas are REALLY GOOD. Like really good. Paul told me that there's one rule while eating gol gappas: keep eating until you can't anymore. I wasn't sure if he was indirectly challenging me to a gol gappa eat-off, but if he did, I would've gladly enjoyed beating him.
Now, I know what you’re thinking
and if you’re like Tony Patteril and need some more clarification because the only Indian movie you've seen is Slumdog Millionaire (which doesn't even count)
Now, I know what you’re thinking (again).
Kevin, you’re in Calcutta –where are all the pictures of
you helping the poor? Show us some pictures of you holding an orphan baby on
the street and washing the dying elderly man on the street.
Helping the poor was one of my intentions, but it wasn't my main intention
Of course, I did visit the Missionaries of Charity
sisters and visit their home for the dying, but my main reason for coming was
to visit the tomb of Mother Teresa and experience the city of Calcutta, also
known as “the city of joy”.
I was so amazed to see so many volunteers from America
and Europe come to Calcutta to help the sisters. It’s so inspiring to
see these people adjusting to a whole different culture in Calcutta and getting
on their hands and feet to help the poorest of the poor.
Many of the volunteers from abroad come to Calcutta and leave
the city as a whole different person, having experienced extreme poverty and
the seeing the love the Missionaries of Charity sisters have for the neglected,
unwanted, and abandoned.
If you have been following my blog, you know that before
I came to Calcutta, I had the opportunity of being with the poor and unwanted –the orphaned
girls at Children’s Village in Haryana, the slums in Aluye, the children at the
SOS house, and the people living in the slums by the garbage dump in Kottayam. I
didn’t have to leave Delhi or Kerala to be with the poor. In fact, I didn’t
even have to leave the US.
Mother Teresa knew the desire that so many people had in wanting to experience
Calcutta and be with the poor. But because of whatever difficulties they had, they
were not able to come all the way to Calcutta. So this is what Mother Teresa
told those people who had a desire to come to Calcutta and be with the poor:
Stay where you are. Find your own
Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you
are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in
your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to
see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved,
uncared for, just rejected by society — completely forgotten, completely left
alone.
Mother Teresa wants us to find our own Calcutta wherever
we are. To simply say that the poor does not exist in the United States would
reveal a person’s severe blindness.
The immigrant mother who raises her children in constant fear
because of status as “illegal”; the young woman who feels she has no other option but
to have an abortion; the young man who feels unwanted by his own family members
because of their inability to see his dignity beyond his same-sex orientation; the alcoholic father who takes out
his anger by abusing his wife and children.
These people are the poor among us.
If we are so blind to think
that we can only serve the poor by going to Calcutta, it would probably be better if
we actually physically go blind so that we may empathize with someone
who is deprived of something we easily take for granted, and through that,
develop a compassionate heart to see those neglected, unwanted, and unloved in our own society.
But to show compassion is not to merely show pity for.
The word
"compassion" comes from the Latin "passus", which is the
past participle of the deponent verb "patior" which means to suffer.
"Com" comes from the latin "cum" which means
"with" (like in cum laude; with praise).
Compassion means "to suffer with" --much more than "to show pity for" (one of the few moments when you’re thankful for learning Latin in the seminary, with a little assistance from Wikipedia).
Compassion means "to suffer with" --much more than "to show pity for" (one of the few moments when you’re thankful for learning Latin in the seminary, with a little assistance from Wikipedia).
Jesus Christ
was compassionate. And so was Mother Teresa.
But what drove Mother Teresa to serve the poorest of the
poor? How did she do it? What was her secret?
Mother Teresa saw God in the people she served; she saw
Jesus Christ in every person she met. Again, Mother Teresa says:
Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening: This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor
Blessed Kunjachan too, saw the face of Jesus in the
oppressed Dalit people he cared for. He wasn't a “missionary” in the traditional sense. He
wasn’t part of any religious congregation of priests like the Jesuits or Franciscans.
He didn’t go on long journeys searching thousands of kilometers for people who
were being neglected and unwanted. He was a simple parish priest from the
Diocese of Palai and helped work towards the liberation of the untouchables who
lived within his own parish boundaries.
Blessed Kunjachan stayed where he was at his parish in Ramapuram and there he found his own Calcutta.
Let us implore the God of compassion,
Who showers lasting grace in the minds of all,
Prayer is the source of life-giving stream,
Bestowing mankind with life and salvation,
Blessed is he who bears the armor of the spirit,
To conquer the spirit of the world below
-Onitha d'Mawtwa, Lelya(night prayer), Season of Lent, SyroMalabar Liturgy of the Hours
just wondering.. how many gol gappas did u end up eating??
ReplyDeleteLol, I ate eight
ReplyDelete