Saturday 2 Jan 2010

This morning is not a free day.

I am meant to be preparing the sisters for their second mediation meeting to be held this afternoon. First a very necessary load of laundry, then it's off to work. I argue with auto rickshaw drivers who are particularly ornery this morning and want to overcharge me (150 Rs instead of 40 Rs) I give them the cold "memsahib" shoulder. I finally find one who will accept 50 Rs and off we go. The meeting is to be held once more at St Roch's Convent, near the airport.

I gather the sisters together and they are much more keen to see me than the last time we met. We go through everything and brief the only lay-person Raji. There is a printed sheet of their conditions for an out-of-court settlement. I go through with them the various points that might come up. We still haven't had a copy of the petitioners' conditions, so we are shadow boxing. Raji knows what the gossip is around Cheru Resmi so she shares freely - this is very useful.

One of the issues that seems to keep coming up is that of "people of the land". By this they mean fishermen and their families who live in the coastal areas - the lowest socio-economic group in Kerala. The opposition are basing much of their case on the fact that the sisters are not "people of the land". The sisters don't dispute this. They insist that they are in sympathy and constant consultation with them and can prove it.

Although they are 4, they are very keyed up as they fear the demands about to be made by the other 3 members of the Governing Body will be draconian. The latter are devious and have been dividing the community so that factions now argue and create unpleasantness instead of working together.

After careful probing I elicit another piece of bad news. The sisters are pretty sure that the two mediators, priests of the diocese, also have their own hidden agendas. These ICM sisters are the only congregation of female religious in Trivandrum to still have control over their missionary works and property. All the others have been taken over by or left to the Diocese. The sisters fear that the priests are looking for a way to get the land off them. So they don't entirely trust the very people who should be giving them a fair hearing. No wonder they are anxious.

I remind them that God is on their side and that he is the one who is in charge of the meeting. I also mention that God has probably sent them this trial because he knows that they need to grow and become strong. They seem reassured by that. I hope I am right!

We take time to have lunch and then I depart leaving them to face the opposition! I try not to think about them too much. When I get home, Babu of course wants to know chapter and verse. He has his own ideas on the subject.

Later at about 5 pm, I get a call. The meeting is still going on and Sr. Mercy needs reassurance. I remind her she does not have to accept their conditions or the mediators' compromise. If she is not in agreement then she can simply refuse and say she needs to consult her sister provincial. She asks me to pray for her.

As I hang up, my feeling is that the meeting is going on far too long and I smell a rat! Sr. Mercy is a kind, gentle, scholarly nun and she is really going to have to toughen up fast if she is to withstand this kind of pressure.

I feel powerless yet also know that these things have to run their course. Keralan cultural reactions and expectations are not second nature to me. And there is always my difficulty in understanding Keralan English. Am I really getting the points they are making? As I mentioned earlier - God is the only one in control.

The rest of the day is taken up with waiting for the air-conditioner boys to come and repair or replace my brand new Whirlpool "6th sense" air conditioner.

To use the time, I am revising Dr Ajith's SNEHA blog, which really, I am convinced, must have a gremlin. I am having all kinds of problems with formatting. In the end I remove all the posts and repost them in the order I wish them to appear. The 'stupid' date is today's date, which rather spoils the effect but what the hell!

Now I must get on with my own! Though I am tired of staring at the screen!

But no! Babu and I discuss our evening plans and both have a yen for a change of scenery. So after supper we get the wind in our hair by driving South to Kovalam junction where we meet up with Carol and Peter. They are from the UK and Carol has prepared a very detailed and thorough study of Ayurveda opportunities in the UK. This has been requested by Babu with a view to opening up an avenue for the Gokulam Medical College and Ayurvedic centre to send trained practitioners.

I still cannot quite understand the mechanics of this idea and this means I have my critic's hat on. Babu is always the dreamer, buoyant and ultra positive but a little short on the practicalities. Carol and I discuss the pros and cons. On the whole she sounds quite positive about it all but she is reserved. I can tell we are slightly imposing so we cut our visit short.

Still I am glad to talk to someone else with a good command of English and aware of the subtleties of the language. This is something I miss a lot here. The Keralan form of English leaves me in the dark, most of my questions unanswered and multiplies the chance for misunderstanding. In particular they leave out articles such as "the" and "A/an", they drop prepositions ("to", "for" "with", "before", "after", etc) and they often omit half the verb "I going" etc?. They invent lovely words such as "pre-poning" an appointment". I must make a note of a few more.

The drive home is breezy and the roads are relatively empty which is a real pleasure. I feel refreshed psychologically.

Day is ending and I have achieved a couple of things: I have booked my Sri Lankan flights - 18 Feb to 2 Mar. And spent an inordinate amount of time checking out possible hotels near the Cultural Triangle - all fully booked it would appear. Hmmm! What to do?

Another small step for me was a call to the Regional Transport Officer of Trivandrum to ask him whether I can drive a scooter (Vespa type) on my International Driving Licence or not. He asks me to come into his office on Monday to discuss further! I think this is more of a question of language barrier.