Looking back on the Year

It’s just turned eight in the evening. I went to evening prayers (my favourite of the three as the chants are more tuneful,) and then there was dinner. Instead of rice tonight it was vermicelli, served with a peppery chickpea curry. Dessert was the standard banana. (banana at breakfast, banana at lunch, banana at dinner.) It’s now eight o’clock and I am at my desk, listening to the muezzin calling the Muslims to prayer from the minaret of the nearby mosque. If I go to Mass in the chapel, tomorrow morning, I shall hear the chanting from the Hindu temple as I walk through the compound, between the banana plantation and the milking parlour; then the Bollywood anthems from the loudspeaker of either the lottery ticket seller or the mobile general store.

I’ve been here a week now, and I am still coping with the lack of hot water in my bathroom, the hard bed of a kapok palliasse on a board base, and I’ve not grown tired of curry three times a day (though it’s pity bananas are the only fruit in season right now!)

After lunch today, the tailor came with his swatches of fabrics to see if anyone wanted him to run a shirt or a dress for them. I opted for the former, and chose an off-white/cream coarse cotton which will be made (if I understood the conversation) India style, almost knee length with a stand-up collar and inset pockets on both sides. The regular price for normal sized guests is £3.50, but I expect to pay a bit more given the amount of cloth he will need for a shirt my size. He’ll deliver it tomorrow, and I’ll probably be tempted to order a couple more.

I am finding the early evening silent meditation in the chapel offers a splendid opportunity to work out the structure of my book. Even living at home alone in Lincoln, I often find it is difficult to avoid distractions – especially if there are biscuits in the cupboard to go with a fresh pot of coffee. Sitting in the dim and silent chapel in the glow of the evening I can ponder ideas and see a new way of introducing – or refuting – a fresh argument in the debate. It is an uphill struggle, especially when you already know that the answer to the question that I am pondering is 42. 

Ford Prefect discovered that in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

I have been chatting to an Indian student,Christhu,  who has been studying for the last six years since leaving secondary education, and now he has a BA in English Literature, a BA in Philosophy and a BA in Theology. He was accepted for the priesthood (R.C.) and was due to take up a place at an American seminary, but his visa application was turned down. His bishop has now put him forward for a seminary in Belgium, and once again, he is awaiting his visa. I have promised that we shall remember him at Lincoln School of Theology. We plan to keep in touch; he has a really sharp brain.

His bishop is very forward-thinking, and wants his new ordinands to have a cosmopolitan outlook, which is part of the reason this student was sent to Shantivalam to gain a wider perspective. I cannot imagine any of the Lincoln Evangelical churches embracing such a broad outlook, nor would I have expected it from the Catholic Church in India, but there are some radicals around, obviously!

I have not heard of any celebrations here at the ashram for New Year’s Eve, so please have a dram for me…. And more importantly, save a dram for me for when I return to Lincoln.

Wishing you all the very best for 2015!