Real Saints

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I am a member of a quirky WhatsApp group named ‘The Real Saints.’ With only 15 members, the group is unusually vibrant with one post or another popping up every now and then. Everything under the sun is grist to this group’s carnivalesque mill whose members belong to diverse professions: banker, lawyer, businessman, jeweller, entrepreneur, teacher, and – believe it or not – a Catholic priest.

All of us had studied together for two years in the mid-1970s in Kochi. That was probably the only thing that united us. Otherwise, we were all as different from each other as oil and vinegar. But there is a streak of eccentricity in all of us, I think. Probably, it is that eccentricity that keeps us together. One is a staunch Modi supporter and one (that’s me) is an equally staunch Modi-basher. There are hardcore Congressmen and equally hardcore Marxists. But we have never had a fight at any time anywhere – neither in real physical plains nor in the digital realms.

A couple of months back eleven of us came together at the palatial residence of one of the members. The America-returned host had kept a couple of bottles of exquisite brandy ready. A few members brought along with them whisky, including a Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Drink as much as you wish. Another member had sponsored the food. We spent hours together drinking, sharing experiences, telling jokes and stories, even questioning some views. But, all that intoxication notwithstanding, there never was any raucous moment. It remained a gentlemen’s affair till the end, except that we laughed a bit louder than usual occasionally. We were all happy, contented. With our unique friendships. In spite of the glaring differences in our views and attitudes.

Why I chose to write about this is only to show how people can believe in whatever they like, be entirely different from others, and yet share an unparalleled spirit of camaraderie. Why on earth will a country of 1.4 billion people aim for ONE RELIGION, ONE LANGUAGE, ONE WHATEVER? Impossible to understand. More impossible to make it practical. I would like to present our group, which one member ingeniously named THE REAL SAINTS, to our Prime Minister as a model for building up his nation.

Ours is not a new group. This has been in existence for over ten years. We met many times earlier too in different places. This time, when someone mentioned to add more members who wished to join, a few others objected like the Renaissance Freemasons. Not everyone can imbibe the spirit of THE REAL SAINTS. ‘Saintliness’ is not a frivolous matter. When the name of a particular person who wished to join was mentioned, I threatened to walk out of the group if he was admitted. So, we are exclusive too in spite of our cosmic large-heartedness.

I’ll tell you why. There are certain people who will ruin an entire group and its spirit with their meanness which they perceive as spirituality. Just imagine this aspirant – let’s call him Jim – attending a meeting (party, really) of ours. Jim is a confirmed (or confounded, as Shaw would say) teetotaller. Anything that is spoken against Christianity is satanic blasphemy for him. Jim is likely to die of a massive stroke after spending five minutes with us, THE REAL SAINTS.

We move between irreverence and solemnity, seriousness and levity, philosophy and plebeianism, bourgeoisies and proletariats, heaven and hell, all with the grace of a ballerina. We have internalised that art. That is why we are ‘saints.’

Well, not one of us in the group actually thinks of ourselves as greater than any other person out there. But we know that we are comfortable to be together, without others, occasionally, and that we can do that ballet just for the fun of it. We know that life is ultimately as absurd as that meaningless ballet, but as graceful too.