Friends

She had HIV for the last 13 years.

She was a mother and active in the church.

But she did not tell anyone.

For the previous pregnancies she had gone away. Her in-laws did not know about her status.

This time she suddenly had pains. It was well before her due date, but her family rushed her to the hospital. After she was admitted a 'routine' HIV test was done. No counselling. No informing that the test was done. Just part and parcel of what it means to be admitted for anything these days in a private hospital.

The test came positive. She was asked to leave the hospital. Her in-laws were shocked. They tried in another place. Same story.

Finally they went to a government hospital. By this time she was stabilised. It turns out that the pains were false labour pains. The pregancy was not full term. But the damage has been done.

The whole church 'knows'. She has been teaching in the Sunday School. Everyone is shell-shocked.

She wants to leave. She says that she will go South for treatment. A dear friend of hers told her that treatment was available in Mumbai. "I can't deal with any more rejection".

This friend is a true friend. One that doesn't give up. Tomorrow her friend will go to meet the lady with HIV and hopefully bring her over to us for treatment. Love is not cheap. It means that we have to put ourselves in others shoes and move forward - come what may.

We hope to make friends with this dear woman tomorrow.

Speaking on Spirituality and Health

Its been a long time since we had a lego posting. So here we have some shots of Enoch's current project. He calls it a church. It certainly doesn't look like our normal house fellowship - where we meet in a small group on Sunday mornings in the home of Jolly and Suma Thomas (do come if you are in the neighbourhood!). Enoch's vision at this point seems larger.



In Enoch's lego church looks suspiciously like the public meeting called the "Great Life Series" which our group of house churches help organise on the 4th Sunday of each month.

The idea is to have a seminar open to all where we explore issues of importance from a Biblical perspective. I spoke on the topic of "Spirituality and Health" at the most recent event (2 rapid weeks ago now!).

Given that there are 74 million google hits for the two words - it was a challenge coming up with something pithy. But at the same time what a fascinating set of relationships between our spirituality and health. A review a few years ago spoke of over 1200 studies that look at religious involvement and spirituality and its correlation with health outcomes. The vast majority of the studies point to positive associations between the two. People who are religious tend to be more (insert positive variable here). The list is a laundry list: lower BP, better cardio-vascular health, quicker recoveries, less complications, better immunities (important for HIV), less alcoholism, less suicide, less depression etc.

That doesn't mean that we can take spirituality like a pill. It doesn't mean that people who are spiritually grounded will never get sick. There are some sects that teach this: Know Jesus and you will never be sick. Hardly. The apostle Paul writing to his dear friend and disciple Timothy (an early and youthful bishop) tells him to not only drink water but also some wine on account of his stomache and frequent illnesses (1 Tim 5.23).

What we do see is that in this broken world, that people of faith mend better, are sick less and live longer. Death comes to all. We fall apart. These amazing bodies have their wear and tear. But how wonderful to see the healing that does take place. The remarkable way that tissues once torn are now mended. The marvel of our immunity taking on multiple threats to our body at once. The recovery from the man-inflicted-but-necessary wound of surgery. The huge number of diseases that are efficiently nipped in the bud without our ever knowing it!

Spirituality and Faith are not primarily about getting physically better - but they sure do help.

Lazy Saturday

Amidst the relentless busy-busy-busyness of the last 2 weeks - today has been a haven of peace.

The driving rain outside was enjoyed from indoors.

The day started with our Saturday morning prayer time for JSK. This Saturday hour from 7.30-8.30 am is open to anyone who wants to pray. Today it was enjoyed by Andi and Sheba and two cups of tea.

Then a slow lazy getting up. The kids wanted some things moved around in their room - so parents are happy to oblige. Mould was found on some books (thankyou monsoon!) a brief, brisk clean-up ensued.

As the rain lashed down outside - the Eicher foursome sat down to a late breakfast of waffles! Our amazing Oma has ensured that some of the Eicher traditions are passed down and gifted us the machine 2 years ago. The waffle-iron makes its appearence every now and then - as it did today when we had waffles and maple flavoured syrup to the tune of the rain on our roof. I have to remember the formidable metal clunker from my youth - a venerable East-German machine that may have been made in the fools paradise of the GDR - but made superb waffles. Our current machine is a bit anaemic - but does the job passably.

The rest of the day so far? A short walk outside to by some chicken for supper (we hope that our dear friends the Gabriels will make the trip over to us). A stop at a cobbler to have one of Asha's chappals fixed. A short but hearty conversation with a friend who manages the back behind the cobbler. A few calls. Music practice by the kids. Books. The morning paper. More rain outside. A skimming of mail and some final comments on Ben Davy's capstone paper - off it went to Nebraska. And now this update on ye olde blogge.

Lunch calls. Hot rice and chole (what our American friends call garbonzo beans). I am a very blessed man (and have a small paunch to show for the great food and sedentary lifestyle I live). Off this post goes into the ether - and then we four will sit down for another beautiful meal - at 3 PM.

A lazy Saturday. The best there are.

Perhaps a book read together after lunch? Perhaps a snooze?

The rain continues to lash down outside. Inside all is warm and cozy.

Our man from AP

This week has been a mini-maelstrom - of which we are still spinning from.

In the middle of all of this we had a visit from Mr. Ravi Kumar of NICE Mission - Dommeru AP.

He came out to see what we are doing with HIV care here through Jeevan Sahara Kendra - and to attend the first day session of our Church partner training in HIV/AIDS care.

Looking back I wish his visit had been a bit better - he ended up sick for 1.5 days out of the 4 he spent with us. But all in all it was very much worthwhile for this young man to get a glimpse of what is going on this side of our land.

Ravi tells us that Dommeru is a village of 10,000 people. The government health authorities say that there are 170 known HIV positive cases in the village. How this figure came about he does not know. But it is shocking stuff.

Ravi's father helped start a group of 13 churches in the area - and one of Ravi's main responsibilities as a 25 year old is to run a school. They have 5 children who are HIV positive attending - and another several who are orphaned by HIV.

The village has 5 men who are sick - and whose wives have abandonned them. Ravi and his team have tried to help these men out. They took them to different local people and sought jobs for them. One was taken to a merchant, another to a tailor. The men were rejected because they looked so thin. Ravi tells me that a number of people have been disowned by family members when they were found out to be HIV positive.

Stigma and hatred towards people with HIV continues at so many levels.

This is why Ravi was amazed to visit the people we are working with here. "When I visit the house of the victims here" said Ravi "I see that they are being loved. It is not like in my village."

Yes, it is not like in Dommeru. But many of the people here have been through similar situations - but have stuck on - and have been helped by others. HIV is never easy - even in the most supportive family situations. The disease and the stigma that clings to HIV/AIDS are so insiduous that for most people with HIV the illness seems to ever expand (even when physically under control) and seems to invade every part of their lives.

But with love things can change. Simple acts done by simple people. Simple love put into practice by people who are often quite flawed themselves - but more often than not in our experience - have experienced grace in their own lives.

Ravi is back in Dommeru. I got an SMS earlier this evening saying that he had arrived safely after his 1.5 day journey home. We are so glad to have been able to share a bit of our lives and work here - and trust that it will bear fruit in the far-away East and West Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh.

End of the ride

On the front page of today's Indian Express was an article that I did not want to see. P.G. Tenzing - the cousin of our dear friend Dr. Chering Tenzing has died. Chering had told us before that PG was suffering from severe medical issues - and that he had almost died several times previously - but to see the obituary of someone you know on the front of a paper first thing in the morning is a shock.

P.G. Tenzing had made it big in the Indian Administrative service - rising up in the Kerala cadre and ably holding varied portfolios in Fishing, Transportation and Information Technology. After 20 years of work, he put in his papers and took to the road on a motorbike. Driving his trusty Enfield, he starting in Kerala and followed his whims - taking notes on the journey for a book he was going to write for Penguin. Chering told us about him when we visited her at the Nav Jivan Hospital in Jharkhand in 2007 - and told us that he may very well be coming our way too.

He did. We had a very brief encounter with P.G. in November of that year. He roared into Thane on his Enfield - spent a morning with us - and then roared on towards Gujarat. We merit a small vignette (page 201-202) in his book Don't Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions which came out 2 years later and which chronicled his 25,320 kms journey.

P.G.'s parting sentence about us was: "I have never prayed so much in such a short time. They were friends of my missionary sister and she'd wanted me to visit them. I did not regret the visit by I was overwhelmed by the praying."

It is so strange to think about Chering's cousin - a person who to me seemed almost larger-than-life - in the 'past tense.'

We meet so many people on this road of life. And then it ends. How fleeting our time is. How long the shadow of eternity looms.

Caricature Christ

Protests in Mumbai regarding the above image, led to the Times of India apology which appeared in today's front page, saying -

" WE ARE SORRY: An illustration resembling The Last Supper, which appeared in the Sunday edition of the paper (Page 18), has hurt the sentiments of a number of our readers. We sincerely apologise for the anguish it has inadvertently caused. This paper is truly respectful of all faiths; it is one of the cornerstones of our editorial philosophy."

As a Jesus-following iconoclast - I have no problems with pictures of pictures. The Holy Scriptures tells me not to have any graven images - so I hold no pictoral representation of my dear Lord close to my heart.

The common "Jesus" picture seems to be drawn mainly from a self-portrait that the German painter Albrecht Durer made of himself in 1500 when he was 28 years old.

Since I owe no allegiance to the plethora of pictures of pale-faced-jesus which people call 'Yishu-foto' here - I cannot really be too outraged.

In fact, the placing of RK Laxman's 'common man' in the place of Christ strikes me as singularly apt. Jesus was after all fully man - and would have looked like anyone of us. We know that he was Not handsome ("He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Isaiah 53.2b). The beauty of Christ - the fact that his first disciples confidently said that he was 'full of grace and truth' came from His character, came from the words that He said and the things He did - and the power of a life that was stronger than death.

The Times picture is probably wrong in putting a bevy of Indian political heavy-weights clustered around this 'common man' as disciples. If anything these dear worthies are un-disciples of Christ as seen by the sad spectacle of most of what passes as leadership from them. For the record - the artist feels these are the 12 most important political leaders in India today: Mayawati, Swaraj, Jaitley, Karat (funny to see him poking his head between the BJP big two), Advani, Gadkari, then the dear 'common man' followed by the Congress trinity of Rahul, Manmohan and Sonia, and then the other trioka of Mukherjee, Banerjee and good old Pawar to round off the lot.

Getting back to Jesus (what a relief) - if we do want to draw an image of him - how about something more along these lines.

If anything our Lord, being a praktikas (carpenter/builder/or as we say here in Bharat a 'mistry') would most probably looked far more like those of us who are melanin blessed rather than those poor in melanin (like yours truly for instance).

It is sad that global Christianity continues to be dominated by the European image of our Lord - that vapid bearded Durer-esque form endlessly reproduced in various forms. How I wish that the type could be erased and replaced with a desire to see Jesus through the words of the book - through His amazing life - and all the wonderful things that have been said about him. Even better - that the truth of Jesus would be seen in the lives of all who profess to follow him as Lord.

If we take Jesus at His words, then He is either Lord of all - or not Lord at all. There is no in-between. This is why the very earliest Christian creedal statement - predating even the writing of the first gospel - is these three words: Jesus is Lord. A statement deeply heretical to the understanding of the Jews (who could not see Jesus as fulfilling Messianic Deity) and dangerously seditious to the Romans (for whom Ceasar was Lord).

As for the caricature of a caricature that appeared in the Sunday Times of India ... draw on!

Our blessed pump

11 years ago yesterday Sheba's Dad suffered a massive heart attack.

Appa was still living in Rourkela then. I remember hearing Sheba telling me about it over the phone. She was in Chhatisgarh at that time - serving at Champa Christian Hospital. I was in Jharkhand, at the Nav Jivan Hospital.

After we got married Sheba told me that that most people live another 5 years after such an attack. By God's grace, not only did Appa pass the 5 year mark, but he passed the 10 year mark as well and has crossed over 11 years too. A massive contributing factor has been how carefully Appa takes medications of all kinds (he is a diabetic too) and how often he monitors his health through regular checkups with his physicians. And he (and all of us) pray too. God answers. We are so glad for these years that we have had together.

Last month Dr. Thomas Koshy gave a public talk on the heart and I saw something that I never thought of before. This amazing organ - which so tirelessly pumps blood all through us - is itself served by such a limited set of blood vessels on the outside of it. Just like the crudest thought of bankers as people who randomnly dip into the millions that pass through their hands whenever they want to - so somehow I had never actually considered where the heart got its own blood supply from. Having never actually thought about it - I guess that I had just assumed that it sort of 'took on' blood as it pumped the fluid of life out to the rest of the body.

Hardly.

Suddenly all the talk about 'clogged arteries' etc. makes sense. Cut off the supply to these few feeders - and the machine will slowly wind down - just like your computer does when the power suddenly flickers down to a dim-glow-bulb level (often seen in Mussoorie - but occasionally cropping up in my office in Thane these days). Put simply: No red juice - no working ticker. No working pump - no life in the body. Hence the value of making sure that ye olde arteries supplying the heart be without buildups of plaque and other gunk. Hence the concern over cholestrol other mouth-ingested-food-factors which contribute to poor areterial health.

The 'heart attack' takes place when parts of this amazing constantly working muscle is deprived of blood from portions of its coronary artery. Blocked arteries lead to muscle death since it is not getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs. A tiny amount of tissue necrosis may even go unnoticed. But there comes a time when it cannot be ignored. Muscle death can lead to heart failure. A heart that fails means that or body doesn't get the blood it needs. How strange that I spend so little time thinking about this beautiful vessel which makes life possible. How glad I am that my vital functions do not depend on how much I think about them.

Yesterday morning we got a call from Vishakapatnam. Amma said that Appa had not been well the previous night and had been sweating abnormally. Not a good sign at all. People with diabetes apparently often do not have pain in the chest when a heart attack happens. She had Appa taken to hospital in the morning and admitted for tests.

We spent the day praying. Text messages went out to church friends here in Mumbai-land and family members up North. Prayers went up - and out - as others texted the message further.

In the evening we talked to Amma again. Appa was a lot better. It may have been a change in the diabetes medication which caused a lower blood sugar level than normal - and triggered the sweats. Appa was cheerful and had been discharged home in the afternoon. He will be taking an ECG on the morrow to see if there is any heart involvement.