Pretty in Pink

The Saturday evening youth meeting was over. The wadas that Sheba had made had been eaten gratefully by all and sundry (the large crowd of 5 of us in the meeting that is - as well as Asha and Enoch the 2 servers). Our young people had gone home. It was time for a family supper together.

Then Asha came up with the idea: "lets all dress up in one colour." When asked which colour - prompt came her answer: "Pink!"

And so it was that at the end of Jan 2010 the Thane Eichers dressed monochromatically for their evening repast.

A jolly time was had by all.

My apologies to all gents from the Southern parts of our land for the sadly tied bedsheet - oops I mean lungi. The paper napkin bowtie also did not quite make the grade - but its the thought that counts.Its a great life. We are so thankful to God for each other - and for the on-going joys of living and loving as a family.

Breaking up is hard to do

Our problem with history is that we have so much and so little of it.

We live in India – a land that is millennia old. And yet how old are we really? Most cannot even tell our great-grandfather’s name – much less when he was born or what the village or town grew up in was like in those days. Beyond the vague "I come from here / there" label - everything else is haze.

As for our cities – well – other than the odd wall of an ancient fortress or stupa poking its way out of the grime and smog of a million auto-rickshaws and the festering nest of phone, power and TV cables – what history?

But boundaries and the eddies and currents of histories do still wield power. The latest is the rise of the regional assertion.

These students have stripped their shirts to demand the creation of Telangana State

On the face if it, having small states makes a lot of sense. If the US with 300 million odd folks has 50 states – why should we only have only 28 states (that too with 3 of them just turning a decade old), when our national population is at least 1.1 billion!

Smaller states means that the state capital is closer – that the chief minister is more in touch with the people – that the government offices and departments are easier to monitor than in states like Uttar Pradesh where the population is over 120 million people.

These folks have forcefully blocked the Vidharbha Express - in order to demand the creation of ... Vidharbha State

In the 50s our country was divided up into states that were amalgamations of the directly ruled British Raj territories – as well as the previously princely territories that the Maharajas ruled even under the British. Then in the early 60s came the various demands for states to be re-organised and moulded along linguistic lines. States like Gujarat (for Gujarati speakers) and Maharashtra (for Marathi-mother-tonguers) sprung out of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency. Andhra Pradesh took a bow on behalf of Telegu speakers and so forth.

Things held pretty steady through my childhood and growing up years – but gradually the political scene shifting to the powers played by local parties – each region seems to have developed its own nativist or semi-nativist group (Telegu Desam, Asom Gani Parishad, DMK/AIDMK/MDK etc., Shiv Sena, INLD, Akali Dal … the list goes on…). At first these parties made their splashes by ruling their states – and then leveraging into power at the centre through coalitions of the willing (and the billing).

The next wave is still upon us – sub-regional groupings that saw how successful the regional parties were. These sub-regional movements hope to bring utopia by carving out ever smaller sections. And so we have the on-going tussle in Andhra Pradesh to have Telegana carved out of the northern part (including the capital of Hyderabad). The long-drawn fight to have the Darjeeling and hill parts of W. Bengal become Gorkhaland. The simmering demands for a Vidharba State out of eastern Maharashtra to overcome the ‘step-motherly treatment’ that this drought prone area suffers from the rest of fat and sleek Maharashtra State. And the list goes on. There are anywhere between 5-55 areas demanding statehood / autonomy / independence (the latter sometimes used as a bargaining tool).

Strike one for Telangana - this chap takes it out on a bus - all in the good cause of course of carving out a separate state!

These well-fed gents (with a reigning Telegu film super star amongst them) are adamant that Andhra Pradesh should not be split!

One interesting trend is that in the demanded splitting of states which share the same linguistic heritage (Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra) we see geographic issues – esp. related to water (or lack of it) coming to the fore. The dry areas want their own freedom (and also a big chunk of the river flows) which they feel the wetter parts of the state are misappropriating.

Distributional justice. Identity and purpose. Self-determination. Better and closer accountability loops.

My gut feeling is that we are wishing in a utopian way for something different. What we really want is basic governance. Justice. Order. Peace.

We want Gorkhaland! A young man wears his demand on his face.

Will these desired-for things drop our way when we make smaller states?

Well the data is in on our newest threesome. The last 3 states to emerge are now a decade old – and we have seen Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand all grow at more than 10% - more than many of their parent states. But do we see stability and an Edenic situation which the activists who were demanding the creation of these states promised? Hardly. Politically at least, these small states are just as volatile if not more so – and the horse trading after each election is notorious (esp. in Jharkhand – no surprises here).

So here we have it. On paper there is a strongish case for smaller states. And may a thousand (ok, make that about 75 at least) bloom! But the lived reality is always far from the rhetoric.

Our governance is in shambles not because we don’t have small states – its because we look the other way when top to bottom corruption touches our daily lives. If everyone stopped paying the money under the table – we would see so much real change take place.

But in the meantime our roads sprout pot-holes in 4 months, our water keeps disappearing. And life goes on for most…

A new song

Its not often that we are at a world premiere of a song - and not often that the song is dedicated to People with HIV around the world - and to Jeevan Sahara Kendra and CANA.

But on Wednesday, in our last session of the Training of Trainers in HIV Care through Churches, our friend R. Isaac Hmar - one of our participants - performed the song "Roshini, Asha" which he and two others had written after meeting people with HIV who have been changed by Jesus.

And so to complement the world premiere - we also have our first biggish upload to Youtube (it took 4 x 2 hours - the first 3 times being failures). You can take a look at it by clicking: here.

The song was shot using a simple camera and so the quality is not too hot - but I think you will get a feel for the atmospherics - we had it as our closing song as the candles were lit and we thanked God for a tremendous training.

On the run

Mr. Shrishti is on the run.

His wife is 5 months pregnant, but he has not been home for 2 months now.

Apparently a murder was committed and 4 suspects are being searched for by the local police. Two suspects have been nabbed. Two are at large.

Since the cops can't find the 2 missing men - they have started after Mr. Shrishti's brother. The brother bolted to their anscestral village. And now it is Mr. Shrishti's turn.

Mr. Shrishti washes cars for a living. He is faithful and good at this. He continues to do this work. Only he is hiding. He sleeps in a room at the base of one of the appartment buildings where the cars are parked. This is his home for the last 2 months now.

We met Mr. Shrishti yesterday. He came with his wife to the JSK Positive Friends meeting.

In addition to his current troubles - Mr. and Mrs. Shrishti are both HIV positive - which is how we got to know them in the first place.

Their meeting yesterday was a small respite from the burdens that these last months have placed on them. Sheba prayed and talked with them. They have no clear answers - the closest they have come is to shift their room (rented of course) to a new neighbourhood and hope that the 2 million other residents of Thane will shield them from the police.

Our constitution guarantees the right to individual liberty. We celebrated 60 years of our Indian Republic earlier this week. 60 years of the constitution being operational.

Its a bitter anniversary for Mr. Shrishti. Though his right to freedom is enshrined - the reality of his situation says otherwise. Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) specifically states that: "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law."

The procedure that actually takes place when a person is hauled up to the lock-up, when a person is thrown into prison as an undertrial, when a person's family is hounded by the cops is very different matter. We are grateful for the police force - but the grim reality that the poor face is just that - grim. The rich have their lawyers - who are able to spring them out even before they are arrested ('anticipatory bail') - but for Mr. Shrishti - and many, many others like him, the police are people to be feared.

Tonight, as I write this, he is sleeping in that small room. Mr. Shrishti is in exile - away from his 5 month-pregnant wife - and their 2 year old son.

On the run. In hiding. 300 meters away from his family. Unable to meet them and live as he should. One of the many silent, hidden people who do not stride the national consciousness, who do not prick the national conscience.

We still have a lot of work to do in our dear nation.

Anger

Yesterday a man was late for an appointment.

Instead of walking the 5-8 minute route, he hailed an auto-rickshaw and barked a command - telling the driver to go to a housing complex near his destination.

A minute later the man told the auto-driver to take a left turn - just before the housing complex.

The driver responded saying: "you told me you wanted to go to the housing complex" in a slightly surly tone.

The man exploded. He shouted at the driver. "You go where I tell you!" the man bellowed. The man's face was contorted with rage.

The shocked driver stopped the auto. "I say one thing and you start shouting?"

Enraged the man put down the fare of 10 Rs. on the back seat and jumped out. Grabbing the big cardboard box he was carrying, he steamed the last 50 meters to his destination at a furious pace.

I saw the whole scene yesterday.

I saw it with my own eyes.

I heard everything with my own ears.

Because I was that man.

CANA Training

We have 14 new friends. 14 folk from a wide spectrum of places in North and North-East India: Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Meghalaya, Orissa, and Uttarakhand. Our new friends have been brought here to Thane through CANA (the Christian AIDS/HIV National Alliance).

They have all come to be trained as trainers - so that they can help their churches and organisations reach out in love to people with HIV/AIDS.

Its a tall order - and we have some excellent folks: pastors, community social workers, network-leaders, evangelists, a radio programme producer, and a principal of a bible college.

How to share all about what it means to reach out in love to people with HIV? How to spur and mobilise people to work through their local churches to bless those with HIV in their congregations - and in the communities around them?

We have no easy quick-fix solutions - but we do have a set of teachings that JSK has developed over the past 7 years of our work here in Thane. These have been crystallized into a 4 day training programme which we give to local churches 2-3 times a year - with each session given after a 2 week gap. For our friends from North India we are doing them all at once.

But if people came all the way just to hear us give lectures - that would hardly do justice to the learning opportunities on hand. Our challenge is the issue of confidentiality. How to expose our trainee-friends to the lives of people with HIV, without jeopardising the often hidden HIV status that our HIV positive friends have?

What we did was take our trainee friends in pairs to families that JSK has been working with on the first day of the training. We will then be taking the same folks to the same families on the last day - to see how much they have learned in our training - and give them a chance to put it into practice.

In between - on the Sunday (which was yesterday) - we split them up into pairs and send them to worship with different churches - and then visit people with that the churches are looking after. This allows our friends to get a first hand view of the amazing way that people are being cared for - as well as many of the challenges that are involved.

Interspersed with our times of sharing on different key topics - we are also trying to have as much application as possible. We do this through small group discussions, games, case studies and role plays. Since we are not able to take people to people's homes as much as we would like - we have to recreate the challenges that people have - and ways of helping them in the class-room.

Probably the most powerful part of the training comes when people who are HIV positive themselves share their stories.

You can just feel the intake of breath when people say out loud: "I am HIV Positive" ... "I have been living with this disease for 15 years..." Many of our friends have never met a person who has HIV in their lives. To see and hear their story. To become part of their story. To move away from cold abstract statistics to the lived out reality of our friends lives - all of this is very precious.

We are excited about the impact that the current training is going to have in different parts of our country. The last training we conducted for CANA in May 09 seems to have really blessed all the participants - and contributed to some exciting developments in Bihar.

May this current training - born out of sweat and challenge - as well as joy and laughter - have a long-lasting heart-changing impact on our trainee friends from North India - and all whom they are in touch with!

Never a dull moment

Take a good look at the picture below:


Do you see anything unusual?

We were near the 'new park' yesterday - Sheba was teaching at the training for CANA - and I had taken Asha and Enoch to the park for a quick outing - when something fell down from a bush. I looked more closely and saw something green and motionless - a tree snake!


The beautiful creature just did not move. It knew that its colour and shape did a good job at camouflage - and without have seen the previous motion we never would have noticed this beauty.

To add to the joy of our outing, Enoch lost one of his teeth. He is pretty good at doing this at his age.

The current one came out while we were having a late breakfast out in the open.


And this is where that beauty came from:


Remarkable - how the next gen of teeth are making their appearance in Enoch's mouth. And to think that the ones he is now growing are going to service him for his entire life.

So did we go to the park for snakes and teeth? No - we did go because it was a Saturday morning and though we have a 7 day training going on - we had the luxury of being able to sneak off for a little bit for a late breakfast for the kids - and some fresh and fun for their dad.

What can be better than helping your children learn how to climb trees? Even if they are small chickoo trees - life is very very good. We thank God everyday for His goodness to us.