The Christmas season is already round the corner. It brings along festivities and prayers and offering gifts to the children. Two years back, I was in Harrow during Christmas festival and there was a mild snowfall with light sunshine which added glitter to the celebrations. Almost all stores lure customers with discount in UK and USA. The best depiction of the Christmas theme is usually at Copenhagen airport.
The missions to seafarers wear a festive look. I have picked up most of the woolen caps from these missions by paying one dollar as token donation. Before the advent of mobile phones, we made cheap calls to our homes from the cabins of the seamen’s clubs. We used to purchase stamps and forward the letters for priority dispatch. Stella Maris and Flying Angel have done very good job for the seamen’s welfare over the years. Large number of hospice shops exists there. I had purchased few jackets by paying reasonable prices. Most of the jackets were in good condition and looked like as if they were new.
Christians have always been in the forefront when it comes to giving charity. Most of us learnt grammar by reading the PC Wren’s book with iconic red cover. We mastered the art of good hand writing using ink pens before ball point pens became popular. I think most of our children are aware about nursery rhymes. While studying in engineering colleges we used to refer British paper backs and English translation of Russian books, like Timoshenko. These idiots who possess rate cards for conversions did not write any useful books.
I began my schooling by taking admission in municipal schools where we used to sit cross legged on coir mats. We used to write on wooden “takhtis” with “khadia” and “narkul pen”. During those days, the Cathedral School located in Lucknow was very spacious and elegant.
People had voted for the Modi government for eradication of corruption, infrastructure development, generation of employment and bringing black money back. On the other hand, we are witnessing frequent logjams in parliament over the conversion issue. The opposition has been raising this issue and is not allowing the parliament to function. An united Opposition has been demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter. However, the PM has chosen to remain quite till now. Our priorities must be providing education, improving health and mobilizing the energy of the youth for constructive purposes and instilling in them some discipline and sense of purpose.