Several years ago in one of the hospital units of Emmanuel Hospital Association (a non-profit Christian healthcare organisation in India), there was a financial crunch. Although there seemed to be an influx of patients, the hospital’s account books did not match. Someone was stealing. It was decided that CCTV cameras would be placed just above the cashier’s desk. Not surprisingly, the finances began coming in and the bookkeeping began to… Read More »Whom Do You Fear?
Teenage years, I find, are the epicentre of awkwardness. On the one hand, the typical teenager is trying to find acceptance and a sense of belonging to some group. On the other hand, he is trying to find what makes him an individual and unique in the midst of his social culture. It often leads to a bizarre mix of fakeness and emotional instability. When I was a teenager, I… Read More »3 Reasons Why I Don't Care What You Think of Me
A few years ago, as my parents were relocating from Delhi to Dehradun, my father gifted me a selection of his potted plants. Initially, all I did was water them. Then I started digging out the weed until one day I tried pruning the plants with a clip here and a few snips there. Before long, our mini jungle in the balcony looked like it had been hit by a… Read More »The Purpose of Pruning
The greatest of songs (Songs of Solomon) draws us into an intimate love narrative with eternal consequences. The shepherdess-bride feels unworthy, tainted and desperate. The king-husband brings nothing but acceptance and love without condition. He sees the depth of her beauty despite her own insecurity. He enjoys and dwells on her whole being with the choicest of imageries. He wants her with him – close, forever. Unworthiness is given eternal… Read More »A Song of Love
Knowledge, in its simple English meaning, refers to the fact that you and I know something. For example, we all know that the earth is round, the sun is hot, Delhi is dusty and noisy, my neighbor’s dog is crazy and so on. On a serious note, the whole of history is a testament to the fact that we do want to know. In fact, our progress as a species… Read More »Love in the Time of Information
Rape is one of the clearest embodiments of evil that we have seen in many years. The very existence of rape culture is a mockery of the so-called civilised society. Rapists prey on the innocent, including children. There’s no question that rape is a menace that deserves the fiercest punishment. Over the last few days, many of us watched with horror and heartbreak as reports of child rapes and murders… Read More »Praying for Rapists: Justice or Salvation?
When I asked my three-year-old daughter recently if she could finish a task, her reply took me by surprise: “Just let me finish some work on the pututa (computer) first.” I laughed out loud because I realised that she was imitating a phrase I often use. Children follow and imitate words and actions readily. The other side, however, is that they can also be fiercely self-oriented. If they don’t get… Read More »Pututa and Selfishness
Consider the bird. Birds don’t sow or reap like humans. They don’t even store their grains in a barn. But unlike the birds, I sow. I reap. I collect a harvest. And I store it in a savings account. Then I look at those bank savings and worry. I worry that I don’t have enough. I worry about paying back loans. I look at the numbers in my bank. I… Read More »Consider
We live in a hyper-competitive world. Try getting your child into a top school in any major Indian metro. Try telling a football fan that his team is horrible compared with the others. Competition, in fact, is so inculcated into our day-to-day culture that most of us don’t see it. When it comes to our church culture, it’s often much the same: competitive churches, competitive leadership, competitive institutions and competitive… Read More »You Lose, I Win
The cross means many things to many people. What does it mean to me? Today, as we remember the death of Jesus on the cross, I’d like to share three things that the cross symbolises for me. 1. A symbol of life and joy For centuries, the cross has been seen as a symbol of shameful death – a punishment befitting condemned criminals. In Homeric and classical Greek, until… Read More »What the Cross Means to Me