Farewell !

This is the second fruit tree to get uprooted following the heavy rain in our garden. The first was the custard apple tree with many fruits in their early stage!

This papaya tree has given us fruits for  five  years now and it was our favourite tree among the four other papaya trees! 

Watching all the raw fruits on the ground in our kitchen garden area and the tree fallen to the backyard of our kitchen,  I felt that the tree was sadly bidding farewell to us!

A tree too has its life. A jackfruit tree in the hospital campus which was trimmed before the monsoon is now drying, probably the water seeped in to the stem through the cut surface ! I noticed that the custard apple and the papaya tree were uprooted, probably because the soil got eroded from around their roots in the rain!  The trees also need attention and regular care, which is sometimes forgotten!

It brought a message of 'tilling the ground and tending the plants'! We are custodians of our environment! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Then and now!

Dr Solomon Chellaiah, an alumnus of CMC Vellore was posted to a mission hospital at Gadak, in Karnataka to spend two years to fulfil his sponsorship obligation for his undergraduate studies. Later he finished his post graduate training in internal medicine. I heard him speak about his life long service in that hospital during the alumni association meetings at CMC Vellore.

What moved me was his sense of humour while talking about all the difficulties he has had to face to develop the hospital to a secondary care hospital with facilities for dialysis and other specialty services. 

The mission hospitals have had a difficult season due to shortage of medical professionals. When one hears stories of people who stayed on in mission hospitals for their life time of service, I am inspired by the sense of call and dedication which make all the difference!

Since I heard this story, I spoke to about ten senior professionals working in mission hospitals in different parts of India. I felt moved to explore their stories. They live their calling!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Music and formation!

Every time I watch a dance performance, I become conscious of the skill of body co-ordination in tune with the rhythm of the music.

I have watched the rehearsals and that is what gave me an insight to the efforts that go onto such performances. 

Those with musical ears, kinaesthetic sense and intense observational and translational skills are chosen for dance recitals. 

They follow a story line or a music line sometimes with fusion music in which case the rhythm and mood would change through the performance!

It is a performance where each performer has to have high level of attention to integrate the body movements with facial gestures!

In fact according to multiple intelligences theory, the musical, linguistic and kinaesthetic intelligences  are exercised in dance performances. 

Those who watch the performance follow the rhythm and movement intently and enter into the mood of he dancers. It is one of distressing to return to soberness!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Fragile and yet secure enough!

How fragile or secure we are in one sense! All what we have do not necessarily protect or redeem us! 

As I watched this leaf securely held by a web around which a spider has woven its strands, I realised that it has withstood the rain and wind of the last five days !

It is a time when we think about human vulnerability to circumstances. 

However, I hope we would believe, that 'God who watches over us does not sleep or slumber'! It is  a paradox that we are devastated by the recent flood, but we can still trust that we are held safely, it appears to be a fragile security!

Let me invite all of us to consciously trust this security in God...it looks fragile, but it is a sure and certain direction for human soul in difficult times!

I shall keep a watch over this leaf in the days to come!

This leaf with its supporting strand is a touching sight ! It was a gift given to me to revive my spirit!

This flood brings back memory to me of 1992 at Chennai when I was caught in a flash flood and the car stopped and got carried away by the gushing water for a while off the road! Few shopkeepers saw me in a dangerous situation pushed the car to safety! I could reach home only late night! To stay on the road with above waist water for six hours was a frightening experience!

What I celebrate is is our safety, which might appear fragile, but is still good enough and certain!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Seven hundred thousand people or more homeless staying in five thousand relief camps!

I woke up this morning confused and overwhelmed by the news of what await those who plan to return from relief camps to their homes!

It is a sight of shock and despair as the whole house and household facilities have a devastated look!

I watched on TV a few who went back to inspect their homes. They looked sad but spoke about a challenge to rebuild their lives!

One gentleman spoke about the memory of the night, when the torrential rain brought flowing water into his compound. He got up to watch water enter his house to waist deep in no time!

He said that it is this memory that would return to him! This is what might lead to post-traumatic stress dusorder in some people!

So the challenges would be restoring the houses, attending to the post-traumatic stress that would manifest in different ways, financial challenges for making the homes livable...

What a I watched in the garden yesterday came back to me! Even after the rain, the rose plants have few buds, ready to blossom!

It is not comforting enough in one sense! But this is the story of human calling! We shall overcome!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Honey sucker at dawn!

I was keen to sight any bird that woeful break the silence early in the morning after five days of rain!

It was the birdsong of a honey sucker I spotted near our gate this morning!

Th honey sucker made the rain battered tree its transient home!

It renewed my expectations and hope as seven hundred thousand people live in relief camps! Every act of small help would be a birdsong in human hearts!

The students and faculty from MOSC Medical College visited some relief camps for the last three days. One student who called to give us this news gave us heart rending story of pain and distress!

I wish more people would come forward to bring the dawn in the lives of those, who are distressed in their neighbourhood!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Beatle, Dragon fly, Grass Hopper !

These three sights in the garden of our cottage on a morning, after a week of rain and cloudy weather   fascinated me! 

All the three have wings ! That is interesting and insightful! 

As I listen to the devastating stories of loss of of human life and cattle life, I sense how they felt disabled with the flash flood which caused the devastation! 

How do we empower others to act in difficult circumstances!

What is evident during the flood relief work is that a lot of support and caring have come from volunteers. I heard a family say that few young people came to their home three times a day for five days with food and water when they remained trapped in the first floor. They even rescued their cattle!

This is our calling! How to give others wings to fly!  This a journey from self absorption to mindfulness of our 'neighbour'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)