Naomi Osaka the Japanese wonder girl

Born in Japan to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, Osaka has lived and trained in the United States since age three. She came to prominence at age 16 when she defeated former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in her WTA Tour debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic. Two years later, she reached her first WTA final at the 2016 Pan Pacific Open in Japan to enter the top 50 of the WTA rankings. Osaka made her breakthrough into the upper echelon of women’s tennis in 2018 when she won her first WTA title at the Indian Wells Open. Later in the year, she defeated 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams in the final of the US Open to become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title. Since 2018, she has won a Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years.

Osaka has said, “My dad’s Haitian, so I grew up in a Haitian household in New York. I lived with my grandma. My mom’s Japanese and so I grew up with the Japanese culture too, and if you’re saying I’m American, I guess it’s because I lived in America,” Her Haitian grandparents only spoke to her in Creole [African/European language spoken in the Caribbean] because they did not know English, while her mother conversed with her in Japanese. Osaka elected for Japanese citizenship over American in 2019, with an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She said, “I always represent Japan when I play.” Osaka can understand Japanese, but is not very confident speaking the language. She has said, “I can understand way more Japanese than I can speak.” At press conferences, Osaka can take questions in Japanese but typically will answer them in English.

Osaka’s background is particularly unusual given that she represents Japan, a country that perceives itself as being very racially tolerant. In Japan, she is referred to as a hāfu, meaning that she is half-Japanese. Her Japanese grandparents did not initially accept her parents’ relationship. This led to her parents’ relocating from Hokkaido to the city of Osaka, where she and her sister were born. As a result, her mother had no contact with her family for nearly 15 years and Osaka did not get the chance to return to Japan until she was11 years old, nor did her grandparents initially support her parents for building their daughters’ lives around tennis. However, they later began to support Osaka as a tennis player following her unexpected upset of Sam Stosur in her WTA Tour debut. They were also proud of her in particular for winning the 2018 US Open.

Osaka had a shy, reserved personality in her early years on the WTA Tour.  Her former coach Sascha Bajin was initially confused by her personality, saying, “I thought she was a little bit more of a diva because she didn’t talk much. She doesn’t really look at someone’s eyes, but that’s just because she was always so shy . Back then I didn’t know for what reason.” Osaka is also very frank and is regarded as having a dry sense of humour. During her 2018 Indian Wells Open victory speech, she began by saying “Um, hello … I’m Naom … oh never mind” and later noted, “This is probably going to be the worst acceptance speech of all time” after being worried about forgetting whom to thank, and appearing to nearly forget to thank her opponent Daria Kasatkina as well as one of her sponsors Yonex.

When Osaka was three years old, her family moved from Japan to Valley Stream, New York on Long Island to live with her father’s parents. Osaka’s father was inspired to teach his daughters how to play tennis by watching the Williams sisters compete at the 1999 French Open. Having little experience as a tennis player himself, he sought to emulate how Richard Williams trained his daughters to become two of the best players in the world, despite having never played the sport. François remarked that “the blueprint was already there. I just had to follow it,” with regard to the detailed plan Richard had developed for his daughters. He began coaching Naomi and Mari once they settled in the United States. In 2006, Osaka’s family moved to Florida when Naomi was eight years old so that they would have better opportunities to train. Naomi practiced on the Pembroke Pines public courts. When she was 15 years old, she began working with Patrick Tauma at the ISP Academy. In 2014, she moved to the Harold Solomon Tennis Academy. She later trained at the Pro World Tennis Academy.

Although Osaka was raised in the United States, her parents decided that their daughters would represent Japan. They said, “We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age. She was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture. Quite simply, Naomi and her sister Mari have always felt Japanese so that was our only rationale. It was never a financially motivated decision nor were we ever swayed either way by any national federation.” This decision may have also been motivated by a lack of interest from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) when Naomi was still a young player. The USTA later offered Naomi the opportunity to train at their national training center in Boca Raton when she was 16 years old, but she declined.

Osaka was named a 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for her activism alongside the year’s other prominent activist sports champions LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and Patrick Mahomes, as well as medical worker Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. She was also honoured as one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world in 2020 for her activism, having also been named to the list in 2019 for representing professional tennis well as an excellent role model and a major champion.

Osaka has been featured as the main character in a manga series published by Kodansha in Nakayoshi, a leading Japanese shojo magazine. The series is being drawn by Futago Kamikita and was made with the help of Osaka’s sister Mari. The first edition appeared in the February 2021 issue of the magazine, which was released in December 2020.

Osaka is in a relationship with American rapper Cordae..In 2021, Osaka became a co-owner of the North Carolina Courage in the National Women’s Soccer League, the top level of the women’s sport in the U.S.

–T.D’Souza [content mainly taken from the Internet] –Aug 2021

He was popularly known as Pat

Reaching for the Skies

He was known as Father Pat

Goa and Beyond

For some western-minded thinkers, and for some ‘locals’ too, Goa is feels like Tennyson’s land of the Lotus-eaters. Even for Goans (natives of Goa) who may have moved on, it is still ‘home’ and comfort if not a refuge. It feels for many like a safe haven when times get tough or troublesome. Life and the need for work and survival often urged people to wander off beyond their ‘homes’ like Ulysses or Vasco da Gama yet for many it would seem that the inner human desire was to stay close to the shore and not move on beyond the sunset. For Remiz, our Dad, it certainly was the land that gave him identity and belonging and perhaps a sense of security when life (in his teens) was still uncertain and his horizons unclear. He never forgot his roots and when he got more confident in life he kept every Goan, and everyone with even the faintest affiliations to Goa, close to him, helping them wherever and whenever he could. What became apparent was that all through his career he found and recognized Goans (and those who had links to Goa). It was a natural association without showing any apparent bias or partiality.

Though there aren’t many records to go by to prove he was a ‘man for all seasons’ there is enough evidence to show that he kept up his links to Goa and Goans, and to his ancestral property in Vaddem, in Soccoro in the Bardez sector of Goa. He always maintained his family connections. Dad’s family in Goa had set up arrangements with a family of neighbours. This family looked after the property when Remiz was away so that, when the ‘badkars’ (Konkani for Land Owners) came by over the winter months, this family looked after them and their needs. Dad’s frequent trips to Goa show that this arrangement worked well and protected his links to Goa and to his property.

Goa (one of the small states in India) was a colony of Portugal since the 16^th Century. It was annexed by India in 1961. Goa is located on the western side of India, not far below Mumbai, in the area known as the Konkan coast. It is about 300 miles south of the sprawling city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Today it has easy access by road, railway, air or sea. Several domestic airlines operate from all parts of India to Goa while some international flights by Air India, Qatar Airways and Oman Airways also operate flights during the week. Goa in terms of space is the smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Probably because of its association with the Portuguese and with tourism (its vast beaches, and its cuisine and easy-going lifestyle) it is now one of the most frequented holiday hubs for many Indians and foreigners. Some European groups like the British and the Germans have almost super-infiltrated into the local population and some have set up their own stores and housing, and one of them (apparently dubiously) even their own security system.  

After his retirement from the Railways in 1957, from Pandu station, his last posting in the railways, Dad travelled to several parts of India looking for a place to settle. He finally landed in Bhusaval. He had members of his extended family already established there and he needed openings for his second son, Orland who was now in his twenties. Jarlath, his eldest son had chosen a career path for himself and had earlier flown off the nest, much against the will of Remiz. He had to almost ‘seize the day’ for his second son, Orland, to try and salvage a family plan that seemed to be going pear shaped.   Orland hadn’t done brilliantly well in the academic field and in spite of his apparent bravado he was in many ways a novice in the ways of the world. Dad used his experience on the railways and some of his contacts to get Orland sort of wedged into the railways brand.  Meanwhile his daughter, Nympha, just junior to Orland had got engaged to a distant cousin, George, also in Bhusaval. Another close relative, an aunt, a practicing Doctor, who acted like an education advisor to Remiz, was also based in Bhusaval.  So like a bunch of ‘Goa-files’ Dad decided he would settle for Bhusaval however remote or unfamiliar it appeared to many of his close friends and relatives.

Dad was born on 1^st Oct 1901 at 4 am and was baptised on 9^th October in Bhusaval (Maharashtra, India). When he was 5 years old his father died and left behind his mum (Granny, whom all the children knew & lived with, in Mariani, Assam) four sons and an only daughter. After his father’s death he left Bhusaval and went to the Vaddem village home/property, in Soccoro, Bardez, Goa. Dad spent 12 years in Goa. He learnt Portuguese to a fairly good conversational standard. At 15 years of age his Uncle, a Priest, who was the Vicar of the Kurla church took him away. So he left Goa for Bombay (Kurla) on 19^th May 1915. He probably went by train because he reached only the next day, the 20^th. But he immediately began learning English from 5^th June 1915 in the Kurla Catholic Church School.  Dad apparently had a knack with languages. He not only picked up a good level of English but we know that, years later, he also learned conversational Hindi and Bengali besides being fluent in Konkani.  In Bombay, he passed the Second Standard in a year and was then sent by his Uncle Priest to the Gloria Church’s Antonio D’Souza’s School. Here he was taken on to the 3^rd standard in May 1916. He passed his 3^rd in May 1917, and went to the 4^th. On February 9^th 1918 he suddenly had to leave school as his uncle had to retire and could no longer support him.

In September 1927 he went to Goa to attend the First Mass of his brother Anton Sebastiao, celebrated on 15 October 1927. He spent around Rs.900 on that occasion. There were apparently some family squabbles mainly between him and his brother Marks, who tried to claim all the glory and the expenses for the ordination, which actually Dad did. Dad tried to put aside 2 wine bottles for his sister Beatriz in Poona. But Marks’ wife, Olinda, made up some gossip about Dad and this seems to have annoyed Marks terribly. To avoid trouble Dad ran away. No one knew where he had gone and his mother thought he had drowned in the well nearby. Dad however returned late one night (1 am) when it seemed to him the commotion had subsided. Dad however just moved on with his life and went to Goa again in September 1927, this time to get married. But there were strong objections from Marks who tried in various ways to block the marriage.

But for Dad, Remiz, Cupid had earlier struck one her arrows. He had fallen for a girl. In those extremely conservative and secretive deal days. Remiz had his eyes on Ophelia, a teenager, about 10 years his junior, from Cotula (Khotla), a village in Saligao, which really wasn’t all that far from his village, Vaddem in Soccoro.. The sort of central shopping central area for all these villages was the town of Mapsa (a two-hour walk from either village), where Friday was the market (or shopping) day when people from the villages around would visit either to buy or to sell. That’s where everyone went for shopping or gossip. Besides traders there was a whole bunch of teenagers on the hunt for prospective partners or link-ups. Parties were not yet the order of the day but young blood was never known to have bridled passion or interest. The moment Remiz spotted Ophelia he knew, like a scene in the Romeo and Juliet story, that he had got his Maid Marian, (the lady in the Robin Hood story) his life’s match! The two seemed to have fallen in love instantly. It would appear that Ophelia too seems to have fallen for his dashing looks.

Apparently Ophelia used to go every Friday to the Mapsa market to sell garlands of ‘abolim’ flowers 9abolim interestingly is the flower of love – about which many songs and poems in Konkani are composed). We’ve not really mentioned this earlier but Remiz was a lover of songs and used to compose verses that he occasionally sang at informal parties or get-togethers. We know that he wrote one about Ophelia. Unfortunately we were not able to find it. So, that’s where Remiz went every Friday: to see his Maid Marian. We are not sure why Sunday is mentioned in the diary because everyone really travelled out only on Fridays, the market days. There was also some hidden opposition to Ophelia from Dad’s own mother. She, Claudine Sequeira (D’Souza) was a class-conscious person and did not approve of the match. But Dad has his way. He took leave from his job in Bhairab and brought Ophelia out of Goa – a sort of elopement. We have a further entry into the diary, made much later on 26 April 1964, where he records that a Fr Valentin Fernandez of Saligao passed away in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania, Africa). He was the one who had blessed the engagement rings of Remiz and Ophelia in Saligao, and had even given a speech on that occasion.

Life moved on for Remiz (Dad) and he took a 14-day leave again on 8^th February 1928. He went to Pune and there on 15^th February 1928 in the Church of St Ignatius at Kirkee (just outside Pune) at 8.00 am he got married to Ophelia. He got back to Pune the next day and then moved back to Bhairab on 23^rd February 1928. It is difficult to find out all the reasons and connections, but Dad tried for a job on the NW Railway through his brother-in-law Frank Pinto but failed. He then went to Lahore (now in Pakistan) with Ophelia on 8^th May 1929 and was there for 22 days. He returned from there on 10^th June 1929. But Ophelia was keeping poorly. She had a miscarriage on 10^th June 1929. Later that year, on 26^th December 1929, he was fined Rs.5/- He had to undergo a medical examination (probably due to the earlier accident injuries). He passed it on 26^th April 1930.

Later, he put his wife for confinement on 18^th May 1930 in Cottage Hospital, Pahartali (Chittagong). On 6^th June 1930, at 15.20 Dad’s prized son, Jarlath was born. He was baptized by Fr Goggin in Chittagong on 17^th June at 16.00 hours, and was named Jarlath Artemio Januarius. They all returned to Bhairab Bazaar on 19^th June 1930. Earlier he had been to Goa with his wife and son on 9^th March but returned alone to work, as his wife was not too well. She was expecting. His second son was born in Goa on 10^th August 1931, and was named Orlando Deusdedit (In Latin it means God Given). Dad seems to have had a bunch of ‘chatterboxes’, almost like ‘paperazzi’ in today’s world, after his blood because he got a serious warning from the DTS about slack working on 31^st December 1931

In September 1935 after hearing that his sister was in great distress in Mahim (Bombay), Dad took leave and went to Goa where he met his brother-in-law, Valentine Abreu (Vallu—based in Africa –Kenya-Mombasa –Ophelia’s eldest brother). All the while his mother was with him but she seemed to show little or no interest in family matters and this only intensified Dad’s problems. Dad writes about this period of his life in his diary as one of ‘trouble and no peace’, in Goa. Then once again Dad went to Bombay with Vallu searching for his sister. They got a lawyer to help sort out things as legally as they could. All the difficulties they experienced here are not explained but Dad managed to convince the brother-in-law that he was taking them all for a change. In reality he was taking them all away permanently. What dad’s plans were we do not really know, but he genuinely had concern for the family and felt responsible for the family, something he felt and did all his life.

The Chittagong period of Dad’s life was probably the brightest period of his life. He was also somewhere near the peak of his career in the Railways. The family was growing too and so was his circle of friends. Nympha, a girl, the third child, was born on 10^th Nov 1936. Neopole, a boy, was born on 2^nd May 1939, and soon after, on 3^rd March 1942 another boy, Trifi (as his maternal grandmother loved to call him) came along. The family had grown and added to the bunch were the five cousin children of his sister, Beatriz – Bertha, Gerson, Violet, Francis and Rita.

While in Chittagong, even with the limited knowledge of English that he had (i.e. the little High School education he had managed) Dad passed with flying colours all the Departmental Examinations of the Railways in the Traffic Department. Perhaps it should be mentioned here that there are these two broad areas on the Railways, the Traffic and the Loco. Some members of Dad’s wider and close family worked in both departments. Jarlath remembers Dad spending time on his books and notes preparing for his exams. It paid off in the end as he came out on top, placed ahead of all the other Anglo-Indians who also sat for these exams. The result was that in April 1938 Dad was promoted to be Station Master of Chittagong, the Headquarters of the ABR (Assam-Bengal Railways). It must be mentioned here that Jorhat, only 10 miles away, also had an airport that the British used. So, Dad was placed in Mariani at quite a strategic point for communication both for the Railways as well as the British Government which was then in power.

When World War 2 broke out, in Chittagong of those days, the Dicksons were one of the families that had a good radio. Dad followed the news with keen interest, and every night he briefed the family on the War developments. The older ones, especially Jarlath, Bertha and Gerson listened eagerly. The volume of work in the Railways was now very heavy and office hours were irregular. Added to this were the growing political unrest and the Bengal Famine.  Then life or Fate perhaps suddenly turned it all around. To begin with two more Dickson children –Aquila in 1945 and Libby in 1947— came on the scene. But more momentous events were happening around on the sub-continent (mid 1945 to mid 1947) when the country was in ferment over independence. Mariani was a Muslim-Hindu township and so quite a political hot-bed with the Hindu-Muslim tension quite high. Being an important railway station and junction Dad had to go the station at odd hours and was given little notice of what to expect. There were crowds and leaders of both religious groups passing through and often Dad’s presence at the station was required.  Mariani also brought on one of the saddest days in the Dickson family. Iry, the third child in the family, contracted polio and passed away on 16 March 1944. In spite of all the best care given to her by the American Army doctors in the military base there. Iry was taken for burial to Lumding, where she was buried near the Railway Chapel there as there was no Christian cemetery or chapel in Mariani.

But there were more momentous plans afoot in the Dickson saga! On the night of May 27, 1947, Jarlath took the train to go to Chittagong, to do his Matriculation examination (under Calcutta University). Actually there were other reasons for this important trip. He had already decided to leave home and join the Holy Cross Brothers, much against the will of Dad who wanted him to go to the UK to join up to become a Tea Planter. All the correspondence and paper work had already been done to process his case to become a Tea Planter. But, earlier, that night Libby was born and Jarlath was named God-father. Teresa, an Oraon tribal nurse from the tea gardens, was named the god-mother. This is quite a stark revelation of the openness and attitude of Dad. He was always broadminded and treated everyone as friends and equals. But this departure of Jarlath was a massive blow to all Dad’s plans. In fact, in his diary entry of 26 January 1951, Dad wrote: ‘My eldest son Jarlath went off his own accord and joined the Holy Cross as a Brother in 1947 in Chittagong. This broke my heart.’                           

Dad was also the ‘catechist’ and ‘sacristan’ for the Don Bosco priests who came regularly once a month for Mass, from the Golaghat mission, which was celebrated in the Dickson house. Dad offered the same service when he moved to Pandu years later, when the priests came from the Guwahati church.  For this generous and unstinting service to the church Dad was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (for the Church & the Pope –in Latin) medal by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The medal was given to Dad in the Guwahati church with Mum, Nympha and Granny around. A similar tribute was given to Dad when he was in Bhairab Bazaar by the Holy Cross Superior, Fr Lawrence Graner CSC, who later became the first Archbishop of Dhaka. The CSC (Congregation of Holy Cross) priests came to the Dickson house in Mariani to celebrate Mass for the people around which always included groups of tea-garden workers too.

Dad passed away in Bhusaval railway hospital on16 June 1967. He collapsed about a month before he died in what seemed like a stroke. He couldn’t speak and had to be attended to all the time. His son, Neopole made all the arrangements for him at hospital and all Dad’s children, except for Jarlath were able to come by. Trifi who was then posted in Kolkata was there for most of that one month and spent several hours helping with Dad’s care. Nympha and Dad’s wife Ophelia of course were there most of the time. At the time our aunt, Doctor Couto, who practised in Bhusaval, was also around. It appeared to everyone around that Dad was conscious of what was happening around him during those last moments of his life. He was also probably aware of who was around because it looked like he was waiting for the arrival of his sister Beatriz and his brother Priest arrived. They were not there when he took seriously ill. What was amazing was that as soon as they came in he passed away. It was almost as if he was waiting for them. He died as he lived, calm, serene and blessed. His death left a void that showed that here was a man who was much appreciated by his friends and dearly loved by his family.

Jarlath stayed in Bangladesh, where he is gratefully remembered as the great Principal of St Placid’s School Chittagong, though he spent his last years in Dhaka. Orland progressed in his railway career and eventually climbed the ranks to become a mail train driver, a prestigious job on the Railways. He has two sons and a daughter. Nympha had no children but remained dedicatedly close to Neopole and Aquila and their children. Neopole rose to a senior rank in the Railways and became a respected member of the Bhusaval Church. Neopole’s three boys and Aquila’s two boys are settled and doing well. Libby married into the large Phillips family – where many boys had gone off to different Gulf States where they worked out in prosperous careers. Libby’s two boys and one girl have done well in life. Trifi first did many years of committed work in institutions in India but later moved on and branched off into the education sector in the UK. After his passing away all the family members spent several hours reminiscing about Dad and his memorable life. They spoke mainly about the way he always cared for others –his family, his friends and his workers. That also seems to have been the underlying thought whenever people spoke about him. His selflessness is what stands out as a powerful indicator of what he always wanted for others. May his beautiful soul rest in the peace he so deserves!

By Trophy D’Souza (trodza@ymail.com) 02.06.21

Greta the Wonder

From winning a competition to winning over the world is quite an achievement.  When Greta won a climate-change essay competition in a Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, at just fifteen, the world, outside Sweden, hadn’t really heard of her plans to change the world. Three months from that point, May 2018, she launched her first protest, a School Strike in January 2020. Since then Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg has become an environmental activist for action against climate change.

Few people would have expected this not-very-imposing youngster (she’s only 1.5m tall) from a nation not often splashed across the press pages of many papers to be making headlines. Apart from their main export to the world, ABBA starting in 1974 (their first win) to 1999 their second win, Sweden has not had exceptional banners to unfurl till Greta came on the scene in these last few years. ABBA craze has not faded away and still plays in the background (or on many radio stations) while a new crop of enthusiasts are rooting for a new package, that of the brand of this 17-year old who brazenly talks to world leaders challenging them to do better. Greta is somewhat of a voice in the wilderness shaking up the political order so that the world can have a better future.

Greta Thunberg grew up in Stockholm, in Sweden and is the elder of two girls. Her mother, Malena Ernman, is an opera singer and former Eurovision Song Contest participant. Her father Svante Thunberg, is an actor, and is a descendant of Svante Arrhenius, a scientist who came up with a model of the greenhouse effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1903. Greta says she learned about climate change when she was eight, but didn’t express any views early on as her parents were not climate activists. Greta has Asperger’s syndrome, a developmental disorder, and has described it as a gift and said being different is a “superpower”.

From August 2018 she started protesting in front of the Swedish parliament building, vowing to continue until the Swedish government met the carbon emissions target agreed by world leaders in Paris, in 2015. At her protests she held a sign that read “School Strike for Climate” and began regularly missing lessons to go on strike on Fridays, urging students around the world to join her. Her protests went viral on social media and as support for her cause grew, other strikes started around the world, spreading with the hashtag #FridaysForFuture. By December 2018, more than 20,000 students around the world had joined her in countries including Australia, the UK, Belgium, the US and Japan. She joined strikes around Europe, choosing to travel by train to limit her impact on the environment.

The teenager took the whole of 2019 off school to continue campaigning, to attend key climate conferences, and to join student protests around the world. In September 2019, she travelled to New York to address a UN climate conference. Greta refuses to fly because of its environmental impact, so she made her way there on a racing yacht, in a journey that lasted two weeks. When she arrived, millions of people around the world took part in a climate strike, underlining the scale of her influence. Addressing the conference, she blasted politicians for relying on young people for answers to climate change.

She said: “How dare you? I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?”  She was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Greta says big governments and businesses around the world are not moving quickly enough to cut carbon emissions and has attacked world leaders for failing young people. Initially, her protests focused on the Swedish government’s climate targets, and she urged students around the world to make similar demands in their own countries. But as her fame has grown, she has called for governments around the world to do more to cut global emissions. She has spoken at international meetings, including the UN’s 2019 climate change gathering in New York, and at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos. At the forum, she called for banks, firms and governments to stop investing and subsidising fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas. “Instead, they should invest their money in existing sustainable technologies, research and in restoring nature,” she said.

Millions of students around the world have been inspired by her strikes, and Greta has received support from climate activists, scientists, world leaders and the Pope, who told her to “continue” her work. Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough told her she had achieved things many others have failed to do, adding: “you have aroused the world. I’m very grateful to you.”

But her message has not been well received by everyone. After her UN appearance in September 2019, US President Donald Trump appeared to mock her by saying she “must work on her anger management problem”. Greta then changed her Twitter biography to include Mr Trump’s words. She did the same weeks later when Russian President Vladimir Putin called her a “kind but poorly informed teenager”. In January, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the teenager to go away and study economics before lecturing investors.

Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World: is a three-part BBC documentary series following the climate change activist Greta Thunberg from August 2019 to late 2020, when she was aged 16–17. She travelled North America and Europe, hearing experts talk about the complex and diverse effects climate change has had, including damage to forests, the retreat of glaciers, ocean acidification and flash flooding. The series also explores methods to combat climate change such as carbon capture , but finds that such solutions cannot be rolled out fast enough.

Thunberg speaks at conferences, meets the natural historian David Attenborough and attends climate strikes. Plans for filming in other parts of the world were abandoned when the COVID-19 pandemic restricted travel from March 2020 onwards.

–T.D’Souza (info from Wikipidia & internet sources) April 2021

Loreto brings education to Kolkata girls

Padma remembers the years when she changed her street life into one of learning and purpose. It was all because of Mooney, a Loreto nun, who happened to be Principal of one of the five schools the Loreto nuns run in Kolkata in West Bengal. Mooney stepped out of her privileged role to rescue this five-year old and saw her through her final education in the school. Cyril Mooney used the Rainbow night-shelter provisions to support Padma. Now in her late twenties Padma speaks of the kindness and support she got in the Sealdah branch of the Loreto schools in Kolkata where she spent close to 19 years.

Padma Mukherjee who later worked in Nil Ratan Sirkar in Kolkata, one of the oldest medical institutions in the city, is deeply grateful to Mooney who helped transform her life. Padma described Mooney as a loving and caring person who understood that girls like her had nowhere to go and so she took good care of them. She launched Rainbow because of her dissatisfaction with a system that did not allow poor girls and those living on the streets to have access to quality education that Christian schools and colleges offered. Mukherjee considers Cyril Mooney as her second mother, the one who gave her identity and a place in society. “If not for the vision of Cyril Mooney, hundreds of girls like me would be still living on the streets of Kolkata, forced to face hostile surroundings, human trafficking and flesh trade,” Mukherjee told Global Sisters Report (GSR).

Mooney told GSR that her disillusionment with the system began during her first assignment as a teacher in Lucknow, capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, after completing her doctoral studies in zoology. “The same feelings continued to taunt me when I was assigned as the assistant principal at Loreto School, Entally, in Kolkata,” she recalls. It was after she took charge of Loreto Day School in Sealdah that Mooney began to put into practice her vision of integral, inclusive education. By taking the girls to villages to educate the rural children, she instilled patriotism in them. The Rainbow project gave the girls a sense of service, and the teaching and extra-curricular activities prepared them for a fruitful career, Mooney says. Most parents welcomed Mooney’s initiatives because they could see a change in these urban, middle-class girls. The project offered the girls opportunities to take part in outreach programs and time to reflect on their experiences with the poor. Mukherjee says Mooney was strict with girls like her and it helped them make use of the facilities to build their future.

The Rainbow children are integrated into the system, and it is often hard to say who is a Rainbow child and who is not. Following the principle of inclusive education that Mooney insisted on, the Sealdah School has admitted several differently abled girls, and the teachers take care of their needs so that they may become part of the whole system. This is one place where there is great happiness, seeing all the people, especially the poor, feeling at home, which shot to fame under Mooney’s innovative approach.

Soon after taking charge as the principal of Sealdah Loreto School in 1979, Mooney began admitting half of the school’s students from the slums, providing for all their needs but insisting their parents pay what they could afford toward their children’s education. The Rainbow program has changed lives. Many girls have completed their studies and are now back in Loreto schools as teachers. Others are married and settled in life. Mukherjee’s sister is married to Mooney’s nephew in Ireland.

Mooney recalls that in 1983 the girls who lived on the streets would wait outside the Sealdah Loreto School for the regular classes to get over, so that they could enter the premises to study. Soon Mooney arranged to keep the girls in the school terrace building during school time, while the other school girls were trained how to teach them. Gradually, the new girls were ready to join the mainstream school.

The existing schoolgirls did not lose any of their study time, but they used their work education time to coach the new girls. “Receive to give” was one of the slogans that Mooney repeated to the students. She told them that the poor children were as precious to her as they were to their parents. She invited her girls to sacrifice their leisure time. Those who did not wish to join the effort were given alternatives to build similar values.

She also initiated ways to extend her tutorial methods to teachers in the villages. Mooney bemoans that teachers in village schools are not properly trained. Her training method encouraged teachers to return to their villages to raise the quality of education in their schools. Over the years she has trained thousands of village teachers. She says her educational approach was in tune with the charism of her congregation founded by Mary Ward. Ward too wanted to let poor girls have access to quality education, along with rich and middle-class students. Loreto founded in Ireland continues to spread Education values worldwide in all the institutions and countries they work in. Mooney also considers her role as initiating values of the spirit through education, pointing out an alternative method to enrich and ennoble education. Bringing the new values of justice and honesty, she believes, can enrich the nation.

Recognizing Mooney’s contribution to education, the Indian government honoured her in 2007 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the country. The church in India also applauded her work but was not as generous of her contribution to the field of education. This has not shaken Mooney in her resolve. Today five Loreto Schools in Kolkata admit girls who live on the streets to their campuses, as part of the Rainbow project. A strong message from Mooney is that the power of education surpasses the power of money. Theresa Mendes, who supervises social work at Sealdah Loreto Day School and is a close associate of Mooney’s for over 25 years has warm praise for the nun and her projects. She says that the Rainbow children are taught to face any situation in life and are trained to improve their self worth. The nun treats everyone, the teacher and the janitor, on equal terms and interacts with them with equal respect and regard. This instils self-respect and confidence in the support staff.

–T.D’Souza – [thanks for info from GSR, Matters India & Julian Das 2015]

Nun Conversion

Crossing over in life from one profession to another can be a daunting challenge. Often it could be mere necessity as when people lose their jobs or are thrown out of their countries. They then have no choice but to try and survive. In other situations people keep to their traditions as when a whole family settle into a way of life like farming. The younger ones occasionally have no choice but to take on the family set-ups or perhaps learn new trades because their fathers, grandfathers or elders began a way of life. Sometimes marriage decides the fortunes of a family. Love often plays a subtle role in helping couples decide what they want from life. Yet sometimes there are influences that leave impressions on young minds which could mature with age.

Sometimes the human mind throws surprises and sows a seed that could take time to grow. We know of Mother Theresa who left her native Albania on a mission to help disadvantaged young people. Hers was a winding way that sometimes turned toilsome. She had to process herself first by becoming a Loreto Nun before branching off, much later, to found her own Order, the Missionaries of Charity. The sight of the poor and the abandoned on the streets of Kolkata transformed her perceptions. Her change came late in life but her work helped transform the world to become a better place. Somewhere along the way there was a Power urging her on towards her goal.

Radha probably didn’t really realize where her inspiration came from, and knew even less about how her life would be totally transformed. In spite of the restrictions of her being female in a male-dominated society and in spite of the limitations her religion could have placed on her she was able to sail on in this large boat of the world she lived in, sustained by a belief and a hope.  Radha was Hindu by religion but became a teacher in a Catholic school in Mumbai. She belonged to the Brahmin caste, one of the most conservative in Hinduism, the Ivengar group. To move on anywhere independently in life she would have had to break several bonds, more perhaps than even modern women in today’s world would have had to face to live in the free society of today.

Yet that is what Radha precisely did. She left the religion she was born into, left her conservative family, converted to a totally different religion –Catholicism, joined one of the most closed Orders in this religion and against all the odds decided to lead a life of prayer and contemplation, most women of her age would not even have dreamt of.  She chose a way of life completely different even from that which most ‘active’ Orders of today (teachers or nurses) who work for people. Why did she do that? In all probability Radha herself would not be able to explain what exactly happened during that complicated yet inspired time in her life.  Today there are several groups of individuals, usually people leading high-profile lives who suddenly decide they want to do something different in life. Some of them choose to go on walking pilgrimages to famous places. Yet at the end of it many of them do not always seem to achieve their goals. This was not the case with Radha. Though she apparently didn’t know what was drawing her forward she seemed to sense there was a force driving her on which made her feel she knew what she was doing, and definitely Who it was that was urging her on even though externally she may have looked confused and aimless.

Radha young and attractive as she was didn’t let her beautiful black hair or her friendliness take her away from her dedication to work or her deep sense of kindness. At 24 after she had done her qualifications she got employed as an English and Social Studies teacher in the Canossa convent school in Mahim [Mumbai] in 1971-72 in Andheri East. This brought her into closer contact with the Canossa nuns. It is here that a new realization began to dawn on her, a revolution perhaps. She was at the age when young women look for love and companionship. They easily get obsessed with perfumes, hair styles and trinkets. Employment gives them better opportunities and they generally see a dazzling world opening up in front of them. If they have good looks then there is no end of young men on their trail. Parties and get-togethers add to the opening up of this blossoming flower and if the stars are right a prince charming could come along and become the fortunate partner to a wonderful relationship.

Unlike most women her age our heroine says she felt an urgent and pressing call to meet Jesus the person. She says her love for Jesus began growing and she wanted to know more about him, with a burning desire to love and serve him. Particularly during this period of infatuation with Jesus she began to enjoy her dedication to the girls she was teaching all the more. She however began to feel this call to know Jesus deepening. She was restless even though busy with work and she felt she had to do something about it. So, after much thought and not very much planning and little guidance and security she took the ultimate step. She ran away from home. She found no other way. Changing religion was one of her biggest hurdles. She could not contemplate learning to live as a Christian in a Hindu home with her brother and sister, who were Hindu, and her parents and relatives all Hindu. It was more than what her imagination could fathom.

It was quite a shattering experience for her but she remained focused. She was determined to meet this Jesus who had overwhelmed her thoughts, shaken her beliefs, created new longings and built up her desires. The Canossa nuns took her and her desires on board and helped to work out a path for her. It was confusing yet challenging times for her but she stayed resolute in the belief that the Jesus she wanted so much would come to her rescue. He did. Everything fell into place. The Canossa Order sorted it all out for her. They used all the expertise of the Seniors in the Order and their different institutions in the country to get Radha to straighten out a way for her, just the way John the Baptist told the people to prepare the way to receive Jesus, the true Redeemer in her life.

But joining the Order was perhaps only the beginning of this Way of the Cross that had only begun for Radha. Her family was completely shattered. She had brought shame and embarrassment on the family who had to suffer humiliation from their friends and relatives. Since she was from a very traditional and high caste Brahmin Iyengar family converting to Christianity was a very big blow to their family pride. Her parents suffered unimaginable pain, and her elder sister who was married had to bear the taunts and torments of their well-meaning relatives. Her mother, a very religious person, who spent her days performing religious rituals and reading sacred Hindu Scriptures was just too distraught to even continue thinking straight.

After joining the Canossa convent, as Sister Mary Joseph, she was sent for further studies. However, academic studies left her with very little time for prayer which still left her unfulfilled. She felt restless because she had a deep desire to devote her day and night to being with Jesus, praying, meditating, sharing, doing everything, even living for Jesus.  All this left a yearning within her which made her direction-less in a way. Then finally at this point there was a break-through. Her calling to the cloistered life was discerned. The Jesus she craved for brought peace to her soul. She was allowed to join the cloistered branch of the Order, the Discalced Carmelite Order, in May 1977. In her sixties now that brought the peace to her soul that she craved. The next 30+ years that followed became the happiest and most joyful years of her life.

But Jesus never failed his beloved. Over the years her parents, especially her mother, were completely at peace with her vocation as a Christian and as a Carmelite nun. Both her parents have died but were completely at peace with her and her Christian vocation. Her brothers and sister too, and their children are very happy and reconciled to her Christian vocation. Now they too are at peace. Also her relatives are now reconciled to her being a Catholic nun. The entire family is now united in reconciliation. Occasionally they come to the monastery with their own children – this is a matter of immense joy for her. Her Spouse (Jesus) takes care also of her affectivity. All of them are still Hindu.

The Carmelite way of life began in Palestine in the 12th Century on Mount Carmel. The Carmelite Order began with a group of hermits who wished to lead a life like that of Elijah, the solitary one and the prototype of all hermits called to live a life of prayer. Early on these hermits asked St. Albert of Jerusalem to give them a simple formula of life which became known as the Rule of St. Albert. Carmelites throughout the world still retain and live this rule. These first Carmelites however were forced from Mount Carmel by the advancing Saracens. Their departure then meant that it became a spiritual challenge which forced the friars to ask, “How can one remain a Carmelite apart from Mount Carmel?” Every monastery, then, became a holy place, where everyone consecrated themselves to a fervent desire for God and for holiness.

Today in the 21st century the Discalced (not wearing shoes) Carmelite men (friars) and women (nuns) continue to live this way of life begun on Mount Carmel and reformed by Saint Teresa of Ávila in the 16th century. Called to be contemplatives, absorbed in God alone, Carmelites are also called to be at the service of the Church and of all people. The ascent of Mount Carmel is a call to face the challenge of prophecy and contemplation. Drinking from the spring of Elijah means following Christ. It demands keeping one’s feet on the ground while reaching for the heights of the mountain often hidden from view.

So how does Radha live her life? Her hours of prayer are spent praying for the current events and trends of modern society. She enters deeply into the suffering of people with her prayer for the persecuted Church, for the moral and ethical issues in the world, for those suffering in the attacks against life, for the youth of today, so that they can face the snares of temptations like drugs, pornography, and for people facing the break-up of families and of problems of marriage. She has these requests always in her constant prayers.

–T.D’Souza                     [with info from CMPaul & Asia News] April 2021

DICKSON – THE RAILWAY GUARD

Just about half a century after his grandfather retired from the railways in 1957, Chris began his steady climb up the ladder of positions on the Indian Railways. Chris wasn’t around when his grandpa, Remigius Dickson, retired (after several years of service on the former Assam-Bengal Railways) as Station Master from the busy Assam railway junction, Pandu, on the Brahmaputra. Remigius chose to call it a day in this rather laid-back but fairly large railway junction, Bhusaval, on the Central Railway as he believed that he could, with his lifetime savings, cope with the cost of living in this semi-urban town in Maharashtra. He also found that, in his retirement, he would be close to some of his relatives who had settled there earlier. Chris’ Dad, Neo, in the late fifties, and an elder brother of Neo, also became railway employees, in Bhusaval, long before Chris came onto the scene.

Chris probably didn’t realize that he would one day enter the ranks of one of the largest public sector undertakings in India, the Railways, which began operating as early as 1853, on the first line, built by the British, Mumbai to Thane (in Maharashtra). Today, a little over 160 years later, Bhusaval (geographically not too distant from Mumbai or Thane) ranks among India’s leading goods and passenger hubs. Actually Bhusaval, which came to its own, in 1892, barely 40 years after the start of the Mumbai-Thane route, has one of the largest railway yards in the world. Moreover, the Indian Railways use a very profitable goods transportation business to subsidize the passenger traffic fares so that the common man can benefit from inexpensive travel. In fact, today the railways have improved and widened the railway network to inner and distant regions of this sprawling country offering ever greater numbers of people to travel by train.

Chris’s Mom, Caroline, was also a railway employee as she was a teacher in the railway school. When Chris’s Mom passed away in 1997, the railways offered him the vacant ‘railway position’. Chris took on the ‘Dickson Brand’ (-the diligence and commitment trade-marks of his grandpa and his father) and he soon climbed the ranks. We find him in the 2000s getting to the position of Guard, after doing his rounds in the (traffic) Controller’s office where he operated as a TNC (train clerk) from 2002 to 2008.

Adventures of a Guard
A Guard on a railway goods’ train is a lonely figure, sort of pigeon-holed in his brake van, with anything between 50 to 60 wagons (bogies) away from the driver of the train, who is the only other human being on this rather longish ‘moving juggernaut’. Goods’ trains carry freight varying from coal to petrol, from bananas to brinjals (both items being specialities of Bhusaval) and other utility items like onions, sugar, wheat, rice and heavy goods like iron rods, ballast and a variety of other materials.

On a goods’ train (or any train really) it is the driver who first sees the signals ahead and then links up with the guard (using walkie-talkie, and mobile phone, if necessary) to decide on when to stop and later start the train. The railways provide them with walkie-talkies and mobile phones. This communication usually works but there could be situations where the guard could still be left a lot on his own. The guard has to carry sufficient supplies of food and water because he often does not get to a ‘human’ station for a snack or a meal as a goods’ train does not always stop (or park) at a functioning railway station. Quite often the driver gets to stop closer to an actual station (where there may be a halt) while the guard is left about 50 wagons away often in not very friendly settings where security or human-support is concerned.

Living through the risks
Restricted by the narrow space within which he has to cope in his guard’s van Chris sometimes gets off his van to answer ‘nature’s calls’ when the train is stationary. However, this can prove risky if he is in some ‘wild-animal-infested’ areas. Many guards have had pretty narrow shaves from other unwelcome situations as well. On one occasion soon after a train had entered a yard a mad man climbed on to the brake van and beat up a guard. The poor man could not defend himself as he didn’t see it coming.

On another occasion when a train, going towards Khandwa (on the north, 124 km away from Bhusaval) stopped for a signal, a leopard was seen roaming around the train, near the guard’s brake. The driver who had got off the train for a break was alerted by the guard. In a sort of panic he ran for safety to a nearby hut. Linking up with the guard he was able to get back to the safety of his engine. However, leopards can jump huge distances, and could perhaps attack the driver or the guard if their cabin doors are not shut.

Chris had an experience once when he got off the guard’s van during a stop near a station. He got down to attend to his needs but soon had to get back quickly without having completed his job! He hadn’t washed up and, with one hand on the walkie-talkie and the other hand on the water tumbler, he scrambled back on to the safety of his guard’s van. On another occasion the driver who was annoyed with the railways because he had been not given relief (after he had completed his scheduled hours of work) started off the train without informing the guard. The guard, who had got off his van for a breather, literally had to cling on to the hand-rails to get back to the safety of the train he was responsible for. The driver, who always has the advantage of seeing the signals first, should have waited for the walkie-talkie message from the guard before taking off. Trains can be held up for long periods, from a few minutes to a few hours, and both driver and guard can often find their patience running out.

On other occasions there could be problems arising from the way the actual train behaves or performs. If a train is not checked it can emit fire from wheel axles. If the brakes are not released properly the area near wheel (axle) can get red hot and can catch fire. Such trains cannot be kept standing. These wagons have to be detached because the heated areas could become rock-hard and the wagons could fall down. In such conditions the guard has to walk with the train till the nearest station which has loop lines, where such an operation can take place. Sometimes he may have to walk distances for up to 10 or 12 kms, which even in reasonably ‘safe’ times can be risky and unpredictable.

On another occasion, a guard returning to Bhusaval ‘spare’ (i.e. not actually ‘working’ on a train) was sleeping in a coach. He heard a train passing in the opposite direction giving off a peculiar noise. He immediately called up the Station Master of the nearby station to check the train. They found that one wagon was jumping off the tracks and making a huge noise. They were able to stop the train and prevent a serious accident. Another time a guard was attacked in the Bihar section of the railway. The train was standing by when a gang of 4 or 5 men attacked the lonely guard. A chance railway employee passing by noticed the injured employee. He called up the Station Master who discovered that the guard had been attacked and that his phone and his purse had been taken.

Another time, something happened when a train had reached the point just outside Bhusaval station where the guard usually has to get off and stand and wait there for motor-transport to take him to the yard. This happens when a train comes on to a mainline station. This van/car usually takes the driver first and then returns for the guard. This incident happened around 1.30 am when people are not around. Three drunkards came by on motor-bikes, beat up the guard and robbed him. They got little from him but he was badly beaten up and had to be hospitalised.

Another interesting incident took place again on the Bihar sector. After a train had been on the run for 10 hours a memo had to be passed on by the guard to the station master, who had to repeat the message on to the Controller. This was done so that he could make arrangements for a replacement guard. In this instance, quite unpredictably, and for no plausible reason, the station master and the points-men beat up the guard. They locked him up in his own small store room. The Assistant driver, when out to get a refill because his drinking water had got over, chanced to discover what had happened. He of course released the guard.

Climbing the ladder
Christopher Dickson, 44, who has now been a guard for around eight years, on the Central Railway based at Bhusaval Junction seems to take it all in his stride. He is the eldest of three boys of Neopole Dickson, his dad, who spent a lifetime, actually 36 years, in the railways in Bhusaval occupying different positions of responsibility. In 1958 Neo started off teaching in the senior section of Saint Aloysius’ High School, the local Convent School, before he got on to the Railways in 1959. Neo retired as Loco Inspector after spending several years in the DRM’s (Divisional Regional Manager) office. Sylvester, 40, Chris’ younger brother, now works in that office. Neo was highly regarded by the bosses and was always called for by those responsible especially when there was need for emergency preparations for inspections and things of the sort, as he was efficient both in assessing railway traffic as well as in issuing instructions in precise English. He was as good when working as a driver on goods trains, and spent many hours, and years, ‘on line’, facing all the hassles that train operators have to encounter –not least of all the hazards of lack of food and rest.

Chris met his wife Liliyan, a nurse, at her sister’s place. They have two children, Megan 11 and Regan 15 months. They live in a house Chris’ Dad, Neo, set up years back. Sylvester lives with him. Oliver, 35, Chris’ youngest brother, who got married in January 2017, has moved to Pune where he is an Events’ Manager. Chris, from the time he began working in Bhusaval got into the swing of events and has become quite a leader both in social as well as church circles. His Christian faith sustains him and his family (and his Dad too) must surely be proud of him keeping up the family traditions.

Facing the challenges
A guard is given a 12-hour rest if he has done less than 8 hours duty. If he does more than 8 hrs duty he gets 16 hrs at home or as per the requirements of the time depending on the trains that require guards and on the number of guards available for duty. If he goes to an ‘outstation’ (a station not in the vicinity of Bhusaval) he could get a maximum of 8 hours rest. There are other scenarios too. If he takes over a train that has come in from Nagpur (on the eastern side) to Badnera, he goes to Bhusaval with that train. If he goes on this run he could get a minimum break of 16 hours after a 12-hour shift, or longer perhaps. If there is a shortage of staff these runs come oftener. Now, with most guards’ vacancies filled up he gets more regular rest periods sometimes ranging from 30 to 60 hours. It is helpful to get an idea of distances. Bhusaval to Badnera is 220 kms, Bhusaval to Khandwa is 124 kms, Bhusaval to Nandgaon is 160 kms. Chris does line runs on all these sectors.

Chris usually has to take trains which have between 50 and 60 bogies (wagons). In his guard’s van, he has about enough space to sit and do his logs. He has just a hole for toilet and seldom gets to stop at a shop/civilized spot for a meal or a drink while he is with his train, travelling. Surprisingly, he does get WiFi on line and can access his emails or his Facebook or other social media sites or perhaps read a magazine or book which he may have brought along –that of course is if his work has not exhausted him. In addition, he has to be alert all the time, even if the train has to halt every hour. Each time the train has to stop or to move again the guard’s signal is required. If for any reason he is not alert (technically ‘caught napping’) he could be in trouble.

However, there seems to be some sort of silver lining showing up on the horizon. Some helpful changes seem to be coming his way. Without having to wait months or years for promotions, he could soon be functioning as a guard on passenger or mail trains, which in railway terms is an upgrade. But this won’t mean any difference to his salary. It will basically keep him a guard, for life perhaps, with just the annual increment to his pay. So, really the sky still seems to be somewhat fuzzy where his future is concerned.

His immediate boss is an Area Manager who reports to a senior DOM (Divisional Operations Manager) who reports to a COM (Chief OM) who is the head of operations of Central Railway and is based in Mumbai. He comes round for Inspections once or twice a year. He is also in charge of all Divisions. There are 5 Divisions: Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Pune and Sholapur (closest to Daund). The highest official in Bhusaval is DRM (Divisional Railway Manager) who is in charge of all Bhusaval Division, which has 18 departments. There would roughly be 100 to 500 employees in each Division. So, Bhusaval division might have a total of around 5000 employees.

One of the developments taking place is that ‘performance-related-pay’ will enter the equation for increments in salaries. It’s a new ball game and employees are apprehensive about how this will work and how their lives could be affected.

The Indian Railways
The Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km (71,000 mi) of track with over 7,100 stations. In 2015-16, Indian Railways carried more than 8 billion passengers, i.e. more than 22 million passengers a day. The Railways also carried over 1 billion tons of freight in the same period. While freight revenues are around ₹1.118 trillion (US$17 billion), passenger tickets account for only around ₹451.26 billion (US$6.7 billion), which is why the Railways use freight revenues to subsidize passenger travel fares.
The Railways today operate all over India and also have connectivity to Bangladesh and Pakistan. The organization also exports ‘railway expertise’ to other countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. In earlier days technical assistance was also given to Uganda.

The Indian Railways today run three gauges: broad, metre and narrow. Chris works on broad gauge. Today the Railways offer excellent service in state-of-the-art services like the Rajdhani Express (between Delhi and Kolkata) or the Shatabdi – Bhopal Express (between Agra and Faridabad), or the Gatimaan express (between Agra and Nizamuddin) which is the fastest train in India at 160 kmph. A few areas also have double-decker AC trains. Besides long-distance trains there are also very good local or suburban services in cities like Mumbai or Kolkata, with some cities (like Kolkata) now offering excellent ‘metro’ (overground-underground) services. The Indian Railways run steam, electric and diesel systems.

People who work for the railways in India enjoy privileges: they get housing and medicals, and free ‘pass’ travel, e.g. an annual family travel package on the Indian Railways. They also get some benefits for children’s education (-a maximum of ₹ 18,000, after bills are submitted) which was really introduced only about eight years back. They get 3 passes a year to anywhere in India, which is a 1st Class Pass (2 tier). They can also claim money in lieu of housing. It is calculated on 10% of the basic pay. However, they face the hassles of transfers, especially if they work in certain sectors.

The Railways have 18 departments, some of which are: operations, carriage and wagon, mechanical, electrical, lighting, engineering, personnel, budget and audit, traction (TRD –traction running department), overhead equipment, health and safety, medical, housing and training. The Zonal Training Institute (ZTRI) in Bhusaval is one of the leading Zonal Training Centres for the Indian Railways.

Bhusaval – the railway town
Bhusaval, the railway town (near Jalgaon in Maharashtra), is close to the famous Ajanta Caves, which are only about 60 km away. Bhusaval railway yard is the largest in the subcontinent, and Bhusaval stands at the cross-roads, if not the cross links of four railway networks –the Central, the South-Central, the Northern and the Western. So the junction offers connections to Delhi in the North, Mumbai in the West, Kolkata in the East and Hyderabad and Chennai in the South.

The famous 1956 American movie, Bhowani Junction, was shot around Bhusaval station. ‘27 Down’ a Bollywood movie was also created around Bhusaval junction. The Catholic graveyard, which is about 150 years old, is the largest one of its kind in the region. Families who have emigrated to Australia, Canada, UK, USA or elsewhere still visit Bhusaval graveyard to pray for the souls of their relatives who are buried there. Neo often called Bhusaval the ‘one-horse’ town probably influenced by the one-horse carry-vans (called ‘Jhatkas’ in Hindi) that were plentiful in his day, meaning of course the minimum facilities the town provided –i.e. market, railway station, church, police station, and basically just one big busy road link to towns and villages around. Today Bhusaval is a much bigger trading point as well with hotels, multi-storey buildings and quite of lot of entertainment as well.

Many Anglo-Indians and Christians (including several Catholics) who were employees largely on the Railways were based in Bhusaval. In the fifties and sixties there was a very large English-speaking population and they formed a strong supportive group both as part of a ‘railway-population’ and as part of the Catholic population. These families, who linked up informally and formally for several functions especially around Christmas time, are no longer around. Many of them have migrated but every so often some of their traditions and functions still see revivals in wedding and anniversary celebrations. Recently, in January 2017, Oliver, Chris’ youngest brother, got married to Priya Thomas (of Bhopal) in the Sacred Heart Church in Bhusaval where colourful celebrations were held both in Church and at the reception.

The Schedules
When Chris gets a call on his mobile he has to report to office promptly in about an hour. His office is about 20 minutes away on a motor-bike (in what is called the 15-Blocks area). There the Area Controller (ACOR) will inform him about which train he has to take. He has a lobby (a comfortable waiting room) where he has to wait till the train he has been allotted is brought to within a reasonable walking distance of 15 to 45 minutes. If the train is some distance away a motor-transport will take him there. The Mumbai-side trains are close to the Bhusaval station. The trains to Nagpur and Itarsi are usually close by in the yard.

To get an idea of destinations: Mumbai is on the west, Itarsi on the North, Nagpur on the East, and Badnera and Wardha on the South. Khandwa is the shortest distance that Chris does and is somewhat the easiest and fastest to reach. Badnera is the longest distance and so is the best paid. The payment is by kms multiplied by 10, 20, 30 & 40%. Khandwa e.g. is 124 km away. If Chris does over 125 to 150 km he gets a 10% bonus; if he does from 150 to 175km he gets 20% bonus. To Nandgaon e.g. which is 160km he gets paid for 191 km @ Rs.2.28 per km; or to Badnera, a distance of 220km he gets paid for 307 kms.

On Mail or Express trains he is paid less. So there is more money to be made on goods’ trains, and there’s more time for rest at home. But there could possibly be more runs on Mail trains and so the financial deficit is sort of made up for. Pay is regulated by the Government Pay Commissions, which takes place every 10 years. The last one was in 2016.

The Reality of the Job
Chris enjoys his job and takes it all in his stride. However, perhaps what would perhaps be a bother just now is that he has to spend so many hours away from his family –his loving wife Liliyan and his two lovely daughters –Megan and Regan. Sometimes he has to spend anything from 22 to 32 hours away from home. Sometimes he has to leave for work in the middle of the night. He has to be on call literally all day, when he has completed his scheduled rest period. He has to carry sufficient supplies of food and water and quite naturally his wife has to help with getting his travelling pack ready. He has to carry at least 8 kg of water and quite a pack of vegetables and ‘chappatis’ to last him possibly for about two days. Sometimes he has some unspecified delays caused by the priority given to Mail and Passenger traffic over goods’ trains. This naturally affects not just his health but also the anxiety of the family back home. His little one especially, Regan (just 15 months old now), misses him badly. When back home Chris just relaxes and mixes it all up with family joys and plentiful doses of TV, music and sleep! Chris probably prays with John Bunyan, ‘I am content with what I have, little be it or much; and, Lord, contentment still I crave, because thou savest such.’ He is indeed quite content with his lot as a ‘Railway Guard’ and stays close to his family and …to the Lord!
–(c)tds—most facts checked with Chris Dickson – Jan2017-
contact trodza@ymail.com for comments/corrections.

Flight to Bangkok

FLIGHT TO BANGKOK
Romance in the Air

Flight to Bangkok covers an eventful journey that has an unexpected outcome for some of those on board. It is not a travel odyssey and really deals with two individuals, who meet accidentally, ‘in the air’.

The two travellers on this flight from East Africa to Thailand sitting side by side get to know quite a lot about each other. Turbulence over the Indian Ocean compels the airline to take an unplanned stopover on a tiny island. In the hotel arrangements, passengers are allotted only the limited double rooms available, according to their pair-seating on the plane. The two from Africa –a man and a lady— have to share a room. The lady has an anxious request for a separate bed at least, in the room.

After less than an hour in the hotel, the lady, who appears to have emotional baggage, uses the room situation to seek help from the man. The chat earlier on the flight leads her to believe that he is the ideal person to rescue her from the uncertainties in her life. She finds him knowledgeable, supportive and trustworthy and wastes no time in thinking out a plan to win the man’s sympathy and confidence. She employs ingenious moves to get closer to the man.

The narrative describes how the two quickly slide from a casual acquaintanceship to a closer relationship. Flight to Bangkok, a fascinating tale of how two people get drawn to each other, also deals with snippets of African and Thai history and culture, and of some eastern traditional practices.

This story whose alternative title is ‘Romance in the Air’ is and isn’t about ‘romance’. It is a tale that could easily be played out in today’s world where ‘religious’ involvement in ‘secular’ situations can lead to surprising outcomes. The book seeks to portray situations that even those living committed lives could have to face. Dedicated living by definition is moored to established principles and statutes. However, varied influences from social pressures and from work situations could in subtle ways misdirect the focus of individuals from a commitment to laxity or perhaps even to frustration. The book seeks to analyse what happens when cracks appear in training or performance schedules. The narrative takes up a few instances of committed individuals who veer away from their goals and objectives under unexpected pressure.

Flight to Bangkok serves up some typical examples of how pitfalls occur or perhaps of how constructive programmes might bolster flagging dedication. Romance is a natural phenomenon, and people who live committed lives are not above its influences. Managers who are responsible for training may be able to take a leaf out of this book and include wholesome and perhaps innovative programmes to add to their training schemes.

The Author draws from his experience of travel and of working across a few countries delivering programmes, and projects. His involvement with people and cultures comes across in the six books he published earlier. In some of these books he tries to be the ‘voice of the voiceless’ or perhaps the ‘speaker’ taking up causes. His books attempt to delve into what happens when theories, systems and traditions collapse, and human emotions take centre-stage.

Flight to Bangkok, his seventh book (published: September 2016), picks up this emotive theme and shows how relationships do not always develop or evolve. They can sometimes just happen, as incredible and refreshing surprises, with people walking into them or perhaps ‘flying’ into them, as happens in the story.

The Author’s books throw up sensitive flashpoints and show how empathy helps in resolving tangled human issues or settling complex emotional situations. In Flight to Bangkok he seeks to demonstrate how what often really only matter are Understanding and Love, and perhaps Patience as well.

[See http://www.trodza.wordpress.com for more on his books.](Flight to Bangkok: published September 2016)
[Order copies: Amazon price: $9.63 or £5.86 or €6.50- Kindle price: $3.49, or£2.68, or €3.13]

–T.D’Souza (oct 2016)