When Victor visited us in Delhi |
Victor and I were undergraduate classmates at St
Albert’s College, Kochi. I was a student for priesthood then and Victor was
just another of the many ordinary lay students. We were majoring in mathematics
with physics and statistics as our optionals. Today Victor is a theologian with
a doctorate in biblical studies and is a member of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission in the Vatican. And I have given up religion for all practical
purposes. Victor and I travelled in opposing directions after our graduation.
But we have remained friends notwithstanding our religious differences.
Victor had very friendly
relationships with some of the teachers in college and it became very helpful
for me towards the end of my three-year study there when I had quit the pursuit
of priesthood. The final exams approached and I needed a convenient
accommodation near college. An inexpensive and quiet place was what I wanted
during the period of the university exams.
“What about the college hostel?”
Victor asked me.
The hostel was closed for undergrads
long ago because of incessant disturbances and occasional bouts of violence.
Only postgraduate students were given rooms in the hostel.
“We can request SS Sir,” Victor
suggested. He had a good relationship with SS who was one of our math teachers.
SS was the hostel warden too at that time. I was hopeful of getting a positive
response from SS because the teacher had a soft corner for me. I was one of the
serious and most regular students of the batch. Victor and I met SS in his room
in the hostel.
It didn’t take much time for SS to
take a decision on the matter. He permitted me to stay in one of the rooms as
his guest. That was the only option available to him.
The exam lasted for about a month. I
stayed in the hostel all through that period as the guest of a lecturer. Nobody
bothered. Victor had told me that the lecturers had to pay Rs 10 per day [not a
small amount in those days] as room rent for their guests. When the exams were
all over, I visited SS to thank him for his magnanimity. He merely asked a few
questions about my future plans and expected me to leave. I offered him Rs300.
“Why this?” he asked. “I know that you have to pay my rent,” I said. “You stayed
as my guest. It’s my duty to pay the rent.” SS refused to accept the sum.
Victor wasn’t surprised when I mentioned this to him.
The collected works of Maxim Gorky
that stood prominently in about ten volumes on SS’ bookshelf have lingered in
my memory all these years along with my ineffaceable gratitude. Had it not been
for Victor, I would be staying in one of the dingy and noisy lodges of the city
and my performance in the exams would have been below par. Life isn’t always hostile
to us. People like Victor and SS are like the stars that shine in the eternal
darkness of the infinite spaces.
Another such star at St Albert’s was
PP. [Both PP and SS are the real initials of the lecturers though the
repetitiveness of the letters may suggest otherwise.] PP was a lecturer in
Malayalam which was my optional language for the course. He was a very gentle
and warm-hearted person. A very exceptional man among the characteristically
indifferent lecturers who seldom cared about what their students did.
Victor and I had cordial
relationships with PP too. PP somehow discovered that I could write relatively well.
“Why don’t you participate in this essay competition?” He asked me one day
showing a pamphlet about a competition being organised by the Corporation of
Cochin for college students. “My Malayalam is not as good as my English,” I
confessed. “I’ll help you. You write a rough draft and bring it to me,” PP
said.
Eventually I won the first prize not
only in that competition but also in a few others, all because of PP’s guidance
and support. One teacher can make an enormous difference in the life of a
student.
One friend can too. Victor was one
such friend. When the B.Sc. exam was over and I needed a financial support for
moving forward, Victor was prompt to help. “Are you ready to take tuitions in
maths for high school students?” Victor asked. I grabbed the offer and that was
the first job I ever did for a monthly remuneration in my life. I was able to
meet most of my expenditure with what the tuition centre paid though the
payment came long after each month was over.
Then one day Victor told me that he
had decided to join the Society of Jesus to become a Jesuit priest. I wished
him all the best. I moved to Lonavala in order to complete the Hotel management
course that I was doing in Kochi supported by the income from the tuitions. But
the Fariyas International Hotel in Lonavala (Maharashtra) came as a big
disillusionment and I quit the hotel industry once and for all. That’s how I
stepped into the profession of fulltime teaching in Shillong.
Victor and I met again a couple of
times years later. By then, he was already a scholar in biblical theology and a
teacher of the subject too. When he came as a visiting lecturer in Delhi, he
visited Maggie and me. During the course of the conversation, he offered to
connect me to SS and PP by phone.
“No,” I said, “they won’t remember
me.”
“Are you sure? Just try it.” The
phone was already ringing.
I talked with both PP and SS and they
not only remembered me but were exceptionally cordial too. Victor smiled at me
when the conversations were over. Later Maggie said, “His smile is like an
angel’s.” My response was that religion can make angels too out of believers. At Sameeksha in Kalady where I met Victor after many years
PS. I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
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You've briefly mentioned how you were at one time studying to be a priest, but something changed your mind. I'm curious about that. Yes, there are good people in this world who will help when needed.
ReplyDeleteThat'll be a pretty long story, Liz. A story of disillusionments, degeneration of the self, eventual self-discovery through an excruciating process...
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteVictory with Victor! An example of the goodness that abounds - and it does, though at times it may seem far. YAM xx
Goodness is often not allowed to flourish!
DeleteGreat blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteIt interesting how one mine changes.
ReplyDeleteI think thats why so many of us still hold out for Religion. Just to be part of something bigger and better than us and maybe something more.. Good teachers are a blessing. Also. Its amazing the number of things you've tried out. Hotel managment was a surprise!
ReplyDeleteLife was tougher back in those days with little financial support from home, no support at all from government, and so very few options available...
DeleteYou were in hotel mgmt too? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt was so positive to read this post; especially the offer to take tuitions for school students. You mentioned about the teachers - Our lives have been influenced heavily by such teachers.