Flowers and fruits !

What occurred to me yesterday as our domestic worker brought these banana bunches from our garden, ready to be sold, is the giving nature of our garden. There will be some flowers or fruits in our garden all the time. 

Our domestic worker has a 'feeling' disposition towards plants and trees. Now that summer heat is crossing 32 degrees, he cares to irrigate the land two to three times a week. This domestic worker helped for a season, when my parents were most active with farming. He therefore has a scientific approach to taking care of the farm. 

I get a feel of the distress of the farming community. When I take the banana bunches to the market, I will be offered Rs 15 for a kilogram of bananas, where as, it will be sold in the shops as ripe banana for Rs 75 a kilo. This is what the farmers all over the country is communicating to the local governments that a minimum purchase price ought to be  fixed for farm produce so that farmers get at least fifty percent of the price. It is only then the farmers can live from the income from the farm. 

The farmers from Haryana have been on protest for three months now with a few on hunger fast pleading for Minimum Standard Price for farm produce. 

The large corporate establishments have come into buying and selling of farm produce, eliminating the regular daily markets where the farm produce used to be sold. The farmers are compelled to sell at a low price to the corporate firms who then would transport the produce to the cities to keep in cold storage and sell in the retail market controlling the price at their will. The price of Onions, Pulses, Apple and such products go high to benefit the corporate sector. The government seems to be on the side of the corporate sector favouring them to create the capitalistic economy. 

The social welfare and distributive justice which used to be the climate in the country is getting replaced by consolidation of wealth in those who are resourceful. 

Our domestic helper told me yesterday, that there are about thirty people in our village who have different forms of cancer and some are not able to access treatment as the treatment is only available in the private sector. The nexus between the corporate health sector and the insurance companies create another hurdle for genuinely needy people to receive health care as specialised health care is available in the government sector only in a limited way. 

The earth gives its produce. The farmers till the land. The beneficiaries are middle men and the corporate businesses. 

It is when I see the flowers in our garden, I get a relief from the stress of this maldistribution of resources. The flowers appear and disappear after having been present with their nectar for a few days. 

None of us can change a system when the powerful in the society controls the distribution of resources. 

The newly installed president of the USA speaks a language of arrogance, defiance and vengeance. The migrant community suffers because of his policies and the oligarchs remain protected even if they are tax evaders. The latest unsettling message is a letter that has gone out to 2 million government staff to offer resignation! I suppose the president of the USA comes with a history of a belief system that 'I have my way and there is no other way'. The president  has moved the court to free him of the conviction for the out of court settlement of his personal misconduct, for which he was found legally guilty, but punishment not rendered as he was the president elect! Now he wants the offence erased!

I feel compelled to believe that social justice will be denied in the affairs of nations. With Israel offering no assistance to help residents of Gaza who return to their homes, it is clear that humanitarian thoughtfulness has retreated from the social obligations of the powerful governments.  

I wish there will be many more advocates who practice 'loving our neighbour as ourselves' !

This year being the 125th anniversary year of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, I draw my comfort from its founder, Dr Ida Scudder who during her life time spoke the language of love, quoting from the New Testament of the Bible, (I Corinthians 13: 4-8) :

" Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant; does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..  "

Dr Scudder seems to have used this text to speak whenever she was asked to lead the chapel services. She read this text to students and visitors who came to meet her on Friday evenings. Her prayer in circulation was this:

"Father, whose life is within me,

and whose love is ever about me,

Grant that Thy life may be maintained in my life

today and every day,

as with gladness of heart, without haste or

confusion of thought,

I go about my daily tasks, 

conscious of the ability to meet every rightful demand,

seeing the larger meaning of little things,

and finding beauty and and love everywhere

in the sense of Thy presence, may I walk

through the hours,

breathing the atmosphere of love rather than

anxious striving.."

The counter culture to the current self-promoting pursuit is self-giving love. 

On 24th May, 1960 when she entered her eternal rest, she left behind her story of how a corn of wheat fell on the soil to bring much fruits. 

That is why the call of the flowers and fruits to be giving, resonates within our hearts!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)