Anna and I have made an observation that most houses in our village, we have passed by on our walks, have a bush of jasmine with white blossoms. It is a traditional belief that the fragrance of jasmine will fill the home. Most women keep a small bunch of it as habit in their hair. They use it at their time of prayer to a deity. It is often kept in a basin of water in the drawing room, which fills the room with its fragrance.
It is a plant which gives flower throughout the year. It requires little attention, watering or manuring. It requires little but gives away a lot.
An elderly woman told me that it has been a custom to have a jasmine plant in the courtyard as a symbol of what each home should be- fragrant and giving.
We live in a season where our homes are far form this. One of our neighbours told us that most women fear the evenings because their husbands return in a drunken state and turn the home in to a battle ground.
The first indication of a mission, that is difficult but critical, is to address the social evil that push people to be alcohol dependent. Now days in many homes of the labour class, the women work and the men spend most of the income for substance abuse. Many men experience depression, job related stress, frustration due to struggles of life, debt due to loans taken to educate children or marry their daughter, etc.
We do not succeed in de-addiction programme unless some of these social challenges are addressed by pro-active community initiatives. One minister of a Church showed some interest in this issue. That gives me some hope.
Home is a place of fragrance and self-giving.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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