What an eventful day!! I think, by far, this has been the
busiest day we’ve had!
We start off at Sacred Heart Church with our program where our girls performed
their dance on women empowerment. Rakesh drove the issues into the minds of the
crowd, explaining the Millennium Development Goals and why they are so
important and what we can do to help get closer to them. I really appreciate
Rakesh’s ability to relate to any kind of audience, regardless of where they
come from. He figures out a way to communicate in a way the people in front of
him get what he’s saying. Everytime. I
would really love to learn that from him.
And he kept rocking back and forth on his feet as usual.
He he..
Prashanth also spoke to the crowd. They christened him
the ‘Son of the Soil’ coz he’s from Mangalore. He spoke in his native language
and really connected with everyone on a level the rest of couldn’t. But apart
from that I noticed that he was a very different person here. I haven’t known
him all that long, but there was a marked difference watching him now
addressing his own people. The tone in his voice, his body language.. It was
interesting to see...
We head over to St. Aloysius College to find an
auditorium full of people waiting for us. We start having our regular program
where Sister and Ravi and all speak and the girls put up their dance. The
students seemed to be present and listening, but they didn’t show much of a
response. Then Rakesh comes up and throws convention out the window. He started
running out of the auditorium shouting that no one is responding to anything
we’re asking and that he doesn’t want to speak to the crowd. He mixed it up
completely and used different language from the previous sessions and really
woke up the audience to give a reaction. Then they gave such answers that it
surprised us! Rakesh mentioned how someone had asked in a previous session that
our country needs to develop further and part of that is to make more roads.
But to make more roads there is a need to cut trees to clear the way. So how
much do you compromise your environment in the name of development?
And this young girl gave a very insightful solution. She
said, “Someone said that if you cut down 1 tree, plant 10 instead. It is
important to build more roads in our country to grow, so if you are cutting any
trees, then plant 10 trees anywhere else, nearby, in your home.. Anywhere. That
way you can find a way to sustain both the environment and development in the
country.”
Ok – wow.
After this we got to visit a Mosque just outside the
college. Since women aren’t allowed inside, all the girls waited outside and
the men folk met with the Mosque officials and priests. While waiting outside,
we had a question – How come women aren't allowed inside Mosques? Women also
pray. And to the same God as the men do. Then how come?
We find ourselves next in this beautiful chapel that is
reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel in Italy. It’s virtually covered in paintings
all over like a storyboard of the
life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. It was painted solely by 1 person – a Jesuit
called Antonio Moscheni. It’s hard to believe that one person single handedly
created such a masterpiece. Check out the photos. It’s truly breathtaking.. And
there is a real peace and serenity in the Chapel. If you ever get the chance,
do visit.
Today we also visited a temple – Shree Gokarnanatha
Kalyana Mantapa. We got to witness the pooja
and drink the holy water. It always made me feel like if incense had a taste,
it would taste like that water. People were ringing the bells here and there,
and I remember reading somewhere that they are there to awaken the spirit
within. What a feeling! Ding!
After darshan
to so many churches, the temple had a different feel. Peace, yes, but it was
distinct from everywhere else.
Following this we went to Milagres Church. I liked the
quaint look and feel to this Church here. Rakesh mentioned later that it was
here that he got married. Somehow I liked the church a little more after that.
The penultimate stop of the day was at St. Joseph’s
Seminary where we had an interactive session. I had thought that this might be
like last time at a seminary and we’d get a luke warm response, but this was
the most proactive group of young priests-to-be! They caught it when Rakesh
said K2K stood for Kerela to Karnataka and they were really paying attention to
what all he was saying and in the question/answer round they were very actively
participating. The best part was Ravi’s ‘Ole le’ routine. Normally people would
never do the actions in the song whole heartedly, but here they were the most
animated lot we’d seen yet! Sometimes it’s hard to believe that a childish
bunch of people would be Fathers and leading sermons and all.. But it’s all
good. The world needs more cool Fathers.
The final destination for the day was a sea beach for
dinner. A resort or some such thing, I think. Rakesh, as usual, free spirited
as he is, jumped the fence and started catching crabs that were crawling out of
the sands. And then dropping them into all the girls’ hands.. He he..
I don’t remember where exactly this was, or how long we
stayed there, but it doesn’t matter. The waves were there bringing their music
with them.
