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The Secular Citizen, Mumbai, Bandra, Andheri, Mira Road, Borivli, Mangalore, Catholic, Christian

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Page 1: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

13 February 2014

Page 2: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

2 3 February 20142 3 February 2014

Sr. Natali completed 93 fruitful years of her life on 1st ofFebruary 2014. This year, She also completes 71 yearsserving God as a religious nun (Mission Sisters of Ajmir).On this occasion we pray, may almighty keep her in goodhealth to serve him and wish her

Happy Birthday Sr. NataliHer loving family

Kochi: A week-long International Dialogue between theOriental Orthodox and the Roman Catholic church will beheld at Pampakuda near Kochi from Monday.

Thirty five delegates from the Oriental Orthodoxchurches of Egypt, Armenia, Malankara, Syria, Ethiopiaand the Roman Catholic church will engage in a theologi-cal dialogue to discuss issues like ecclesiology, episco-pacy, apostolic succession, the relevance and importantof the Ecumenical Councils, the church and its mission,Metropolitan Dr Gabriel Gregorios told reporters in Kochi.

Catholic-Orthodox DialogueBegins In Kochi

Pope Says Judgments OnAnnulments Must Be

Impartial And Pastoral

Addressing the Vatican court primarily responsiblefor hearing requests for marriage annulments,Pope Francis said judges on church tribunals

should show “imperturbable and impartial balance” aswell as the “delicacy and humanity proper to a pastor ofsouls.” The Pope made his remarks to officials of theRoman Rota at a meeting to inaugurate the tribunal’sjudicial year.

“You are essentially pastors,” he told the officials. “As youcarry out your judicial work, do not forget that you arepastors. Behind every file, every position, every case,there are persons who wait for justice.”

Pope Francis has said that church law on marriage is atopic that exemplifies a general need for mercy in theChurch today, and that it will be among the subjects ofdiscussion at this October’s extraordinary Synod of Bish-ops on the “pastoral challenges of the family in the contextof evangelization.”

In his speech to the Rota, the Pope said a judge on aChurch tribunal must sympathise with the “mentality andlegitimate aspirations” of the community he serves, andthus render “justice that is not legalistic and abstract, butappropriate to the needs of concrete reality.”

Such a judge “will not be content with superficial knowl-edge of the reality of the persons who await his judgment,but will recognize the need to understand deeply thesituations of the parties,” the Pope said.

“The legal dimension and the pastoral dimension ofecclesial ministry are not in conflict,” Pope Francis said.“The church’s legal activity, which takes the form ofservice to the truth in justice, has in fact a profoundlypastoral meaning, because it is aimed at the good of thefaithful and of the edification of the Christian community.”

Page 3: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

33 February 2014

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A WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITEA WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITEA WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITEA WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITEA WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITE

Vol.23 No.5 February 3, 2014 Rs.5/-99, Perin Nariman Street, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.

Tel: 2269 35 78 / 2265 49 24 .: 2264 0996E-mail : [email protected], [email protected]

Website: www.sezariworld.comwww.secularcitizen.com

Editor-in-chief : LAWRENCE COELHO Editor: PHILIP MYABOO

‘Thought for the week’Do not complain about others. Change yourself if youwant peace. It is easier to protect our feet with shoesthan to carpet the earth.

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Cover : Present Tax System v/s Bank-ing Transaction Tax

(Read on pg. 4)

Pope Says The Internet Is‘A Gift From God'But speed of communicationhampers reflection, he warns

Careerist clergy. The super rich. And now we can add another pelt toPope Francis' collection: Internet trolls.

In statement released on Thursday, the Pope said the Internet and socialmedia are making people across the world "increasingly interdependent."

"The Internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter andsolidarity," Francis said. "This is something truly good, a gift from God."

At the same time, though, all those tweets and texts and comment streamscan cause people to "lose our bearings," said the 77-year-old pontiff.

"The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacityfor reflection and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced andproper forms of self-expression," Francis said.

"The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful," he continued,"but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources ofinformation which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political andeconomic interests."

There's a tinge of irony to the Pope's comments, considering that his ownsoaring popularity can be partially traced to the Internet and social media.According to a study released in November, Francis was the most talkedabout person online last year.

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Contents

pg. 3 - Pope Says The Internet Is 'AGift From God'

pg 4 - Replace the present TaxSystem with Banking Trans-action Tax (BTT)

pg. 7 - Reader's Viewspg 8 - Mandela Will Never Die!pg 9 - Arvind Keriwal An Alleged

Anarchist?pg 10 - Follow your Passionpg 14 - Our Good Bishopspg 16 - Ho, That Common Man!pg 17 - The Circle of Lovepg 18 - Need of the Hourpg. 19 - Importance of Laughterpg 20 - Matrimonials

Page 4: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

4 3 February 2014

What is BJP's Proposal:The BJP's vision document - 2025 whichwill be released before the Lok Sabhaelections promises abolition of IncomeTax, Sales Tax and Excise Taxes. Itproposes a flat banking transactiontax.

It proposes abolition of IncomeTax, Sales Tax and Excise Tax. Pro-poses a flat two per cent banking trans-action tax. The complete modalities ofthe system is yet to be released by theBJP.

The BJP argues that even if thegovernment charges just two per centbanking transaction, it will fetch overRs 15 lakh crore annually instead of thecombined current earnings of Rs 10lakh crore.

For example: A person who earnsRs 10 Lakh a year, pays Rs 20, 000 taxevery year. He/she won't be taxed forany other transaction.

What is the gray area:In India the banking transaction is

just 20 per cent. Rest is in the form ofcash. BJP hopes that the flat tax willencourage the people to do more andmore bank transactions. It argues thatit will gradually finish the black money.

What is flat tax:A system that applies the same

tax rate to every taxpayer regardless ofincome bracket is called flat tax. A flattax applies the same tax rate to alltaxpayers, with no deductions or ex-emptions allowed.

Supporters of a flat tax systempropose that it would give taxpayersincentive to earn more because theywould not be penalised with a highertax bracket or conceal the real income.

In addition, supporters argue that a flattax system is fairer because it imposedthe tax on all taxpayers regardless ofincome.

How it works in other coun-tries:

In a progressive tax system, indi-viduals who make more money aretaxed at a higher rate. Many of thecountries that have imposed a flat taxrate system on individuals and busi-nesses, including Estonia, Lithuaniaand Latvia, have experienced economicgrowth since adopting flat tax rate poli-cies.

In the United States, a progres-sive-rate tax system is used. In 2010,for example, people who earned up to$8,375 fell into the 10 per cent taxbracket; people who earned greaterthan $373,650 fell into the 35 per centtax bracket.

Is it feasible:Some experts feel that it is both

feasible and desirable. FICCI Presi-dent Siddarth Birla describes it asaspirational. Another expert argues thatit has worked many countries and thereshould be no reason to worry that itmay not work in India.

However, the experts caution thatthe flat tax should be thoroughly exam-ined before replacing the old taxationsystem with it.

Tax experts and industrialists saythat it will reduce corruption and savethe people from harassment. Even Ernstand Young argues that it is feasible.Some say instead of flat tax, the pend-ing Goods and Services Tax (GST)proposal should be accepted.

Countries with no IncomeTax:United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman,Kuwait, Cayman Islands, Bahrain, Ber-muda, The Bahamas, Saudi Arabia,Brunei Darussalam

BJP's proposal:Replace the present Tax System with

Banking Transaction Tax (BTT)Banking transaction tax

will push India further back

The BJP will become a laughing stock andcease to be taken seriously as a contenderfor being trusted with India's prosperity, if itpersists with a harebrained scheme report-edly favoured by its former president NitinGadkari to replace all extant income andcommodity taxes with a banking transactiontax (BTT). It is one thing for a seller of herbaloils like Yoga Guru Ramdev to sport a bottleof snake oil along with other medicines, andquite another for a political party with formerfinance ministers among its ranks to comeup with such ideas. India would be pushedback to ancient ages if such a scheme isadopted.

A stand-alone BTT will see a flight of depos-its from banks. People will hoard cash toescape paying the levy that will be chargedevery time a person deposits money in abank or withdraws/spends it.

India will then have a permanent and thriv-ing parallel economy. A flat 2% BTT will beregressive and iniquitous: the poor withmeagre incomes will pay a larger proportionof their income as tax than the rich. It willhurt industry too.

Manufacturers will not get credit on taxesthey pay on inputs, unlike, say, the value-added tax. This will raise the cost of produc-tion and make products more expensive forconsumers.

The levy will cascade and render our exportsuncompetitive. Exemptions, if any, will makeit even more messy. BTT will be an ineffi-cient tax. No country in the world has astand-alone BTT. Only Brazil experimentedwith the levy, and that too as an extra tax.True, the UPA also introduced the bankingcash transaction tax. But the levy, chargedon withdrawals from the current account,was scrapped later.

Present Tax Systemv/s

Banking Transaction Tax

Page 5: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

53 February 2014

What is bankingtransaction tax?

BTT is the tax levied on debit or creditentries on banking transaction madeby any account holder. Essentially thiswould mean that each time an accountholder withdraws from or depositsmoney in his account, it will be taxed.How many taxes does the country haveat present? India has two classes of tax.One is direct tax, which can only belevied by the Centre. This includespersonal income tax, corporate tax,securities transaction tax and wealthtax. Since the tax rises with income,experts call these progressive. Thesecond group is indirect tax levied bothby states and by the Centre. Since agoods item or a service can have onlyone rate, it makes no allowance forwhether the payee is poor or affluent.The only way it can be made progres-sive is to set an income or turnoverthreshold for levying the tax. At thecentral level, indirect tax includes ser-vice tax, customs duty and excise duty.In states, other than excise there issales tax, octroi and others.

Since people will inherently move awayfrom the banking system due to BTT(contestable claim, as above), therewill be serious misuse of the system,and people will move into other “storesof value”, like gold, bitcoins, and othercurrencies!

Stamp duty is a tax on transactionsand does not work as people pay partof the amount in cash to avoid havingto pay the full duty. Ergo, they willavoid paying all kinds of taxes, andergo ergo, BTT will not work.

BTT will require constitutional amend-ments, which will take a lot of time, asour experience with GST has shown.

* CSF Report presented to CardinalOswald Gracias, CBCI President

* About 4000 Christians targeted inanti-Christian violence

* Over a 1000 women and 500 chil-dren affected victims

* Over 400 clergy and community lead-ers attacked

* About 100 attacks on churches orworship meets

* Minimum 7 Christians killed, includ-ing a minor

* Over 200 instances documented byactivists

Martyred for being Christian?1. Rajasthan: Anugarg (Anmol) - a

seven year old Christian child killed2. Tripura: Christian man beheaded

for not converting to Hinduism3. Uttar Pradesh: Christian killed for

his faith4. Odisha: Christian youth dies in po-

lice custody.5. Odisha: Dr. Jaishankar from Bless-

ing Youth Mission killed6. Madhya Pradesh: Christian raped

and killed7. Andhra Pradesh: Nursing student

found murdered in a church8. Jharkhand: St. Joseph’s Christian

teacher stabbed to death9. Karnataka: Rector of Bangalore

Seminary beaten to death.

Karnataka Leads in Christian persecutionMaharashtra next Hindutva laboratory - CSF 2013 report

* About 4000 Christians targeted inanti-Christian violence

* Over a 1000 women and 500 chil-dren affected victims

* Over 400 clergy and communityleaders attacked

* About 100 attacks on churches orworship meets

Top 10 states wherepersecution occurred

1. Karnataka - 432. Maharashtra - 253. Andhra Pradesh - 254. Odisha - 145. Chhattisgarh - 136. Madhya Pradesh - 117. Tamil Nadu - 108. Kerala - 109. Rajasthan - 610. New Delhi - 5

The 200 major anti-Christian violenceincidents across 19 states documentedrange from being murdered for thefaith and being brutally assaulted tobeing raped and jailed for propaga-tion of what one believes in. Otherstates from which are persecution hotspots include, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, WestBengal, Gujarat, Manipur, Tripura andAssam.

Why start something new all overagain.

No country in the world has eliminatedall taxes and hence we should not doso. Also, international experience withtransaction taxes has shown that onecannot collect more than 2% of GDPin taxes and Modi would need around10% of GDP

Why make such radical changes whenthere is a better way forward. Removethe myriad taxes that we have in oursystem today, and converge on twosimple taxes, Personal Income Taxand GST, with few liberalisations onrates, etc., and let life go on as normal.

It won’t work because

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Page 6: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

6 3 February 2014

APANG SEVA, Vasai 27th annual rally of the handicapped was held in St.Joseph's College, Satpalle, Vasai on Sunday, 19 January. Mr. Cecil D'mello ofthe MBA Foundation, Gorai was in the the presidential chair. Ms. JeanFernandes was awarded ‘Jidda Puraskar 2014’.

Ms. Cynthia Baptista thanked Mr. Peter Fernandes, Chairman, DnyandeepMandal, the College staff and students for the trouble they took to organisevarious sports and activities for 200 handicapped people of Vasai-Virar-Talasari area. Fr. Vency D'Mello,sj and Mr. Florian Roderigues were the chiefguests.

—Fr. Michael G.Guide, Apang Seva (Association of the Handicapped)

Director, Jeevan Jyoti, Catechetical Centre, Girij, Vasai

Christian medical college getsnational stamp of quality

Vellore: The century old Christian Medi-cal College hospital in Vellore, TamilNadu, has become the first among theoldest and largest hospitals in the coun-try to receive a certificate of accredita-tion from the National AccreditationBoard for Hospitals (NABH).

The CMC hospital’s director DrSunil Chandy and medical superinten-dent Dr C E Eapen said a team ofofficials from NABH would formallyhand over the certificate to the hospitalon February 7.

The citation received by the hos-pital said the CMCH has been assessedand found to comply with norms set byNABH to meet quality standards.

Blessed John Paul II's secretaryto publish pontif's personal notesWarsaw: Pope John Paul II's secre-tary "did not have the courage" to burnall of the pontiff's notes after his death,and is now having some of them pub-lished, he said Wednesday.

The book, Very Much in God'sHands. Personal Notes 1962-2003,comes out February 5 in Poland, wherethe pope is still a much-loved author-ity. It contains religious meditationsthat Karol Wojtyla recorded betweenJuly 1962, when he was a bishop inPoland, and March 2003, when hewas pope.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz told anews conference that in preservingsome of the notes he was motivatedby the "despair of historians" when theletters of Pope Pius XII were burnedafter his death, as he had wished.

Rally Of The Handicapped

JACK OF ALL STALLReliable House forReligious Goods

Gloria Church Bldg.,263, Dr. Ambedkar Rd.,

Byculla, Mumbai - 400027Tel.: 23725963, 23749358

Estd: 1951 Prop. B. D'Souza

Silent Protest24th To 31st January

Fight against the BMCs Unjustacquisition plans of the St.Anthony'sChurch & School Lands still continuesunder the head line "NOT AN INCH OFOUR LAND"

The Silent Protest conducted from24th Jan'14 everyday from 7.00 pm to7.30 pm till 31st Jan'14 (except 26thJan'14) starting from the meeting pointoutside Hotel Radhakrishna at MalwaniNo.1 in a slow march towards theChapel. Citizens/ community memberslead the protest each day.

On 1st Feb - The entire commu-nity/ citizens/ parents joined in thePalkhi Procession from the Chapel &moved to St. Jude's School, then thruthe Kharodi Village ending back in theChapel to wake up this dumb/ deafGovernment/ BMC a massive rally"CHALO AZAD MAIDAN" has beenplanned for March 15, 2014.

—Dolphy D'souza, SpokespersonSAVE OUR LAND- SOUL TEAMSt. Anthony's Church, Malwani.

BCS “Power OfOne” Awards

The SABHA DAY of TheBombay Catholic Sabha is on Sun-day 23 February 2014 and as inprevious years the Awards for BestUnits and units excelling in Thrustareas will be given. Besides these,the Sabha honours individuals whohave excelled in any particular fieldof activity, career, profession, ser-vice, etc with the “POWER OF ONEAWARD”.

The Sabha invites applica-tions or nominations for theseawards with full particulars of theperson nominated and detailswith attachments of the work orachievements of the individual.Kindly send the same to the officeof The Bombay Catholic Sabha, St.Michael’s Church Annexe Building1st Floor, Mahim, Mumbai 400016before 3rd February 2014.

Page 7: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

73 February 2014

Mani Shankar's Ire -Advantage ModiThe disparaging remarks made

by Congress MP and spokesman ManiShankar Aiyar against Modi at the AICCmeet that the latter " would NEVERbecome PM but was welcome to selltea there " , do neither him nor his partyany credit. More importantly, by speak-ing contemptuously of the humble ori-gins of the BJP's PM candidate, Aiyarhas denigrated a large proportion ofthe Indian electorate which earns itsliving by sweat and toil, and squashedits aspirational hopes to leadership ofthe country which, in Aiyar's impliedopinion, is the birthright only of themembers of the Dynasty who are re-garded by him and others of hispartymen as ‘to the manor born’.

Shankar's ire against all Con-gress rivals in general and the mainopposition BJP and Modi in particular,stemming from his personal frustrationand the unmistakable writing on thewall - spewed in print and on TV de-bates - would be credible were it notcoming from a Doon School-Cam-bridge alumnus who was roundly de-feated in the general elections in1996,1998 and 2009 , and enteredParliament by the back door as a nomi-nated member of the Rajya Sabha.That is something a former tea vendorwould never do .

—Bernie Tellis

Live-in-relationshipThis has reference to the write up

" Looking Beyond Article 377 " by L.L.D'Souza (S. C. 13 January ). One cannotsay the legal aspect pronounced bythe Supreme Court that the "live inrelationship" is neither a crime nor asin, is wrong. Though I cannot admitthat it is "right", it is difficult to say that itis unpatriotic or immoral.

As a Christian my opinion is thatsuch relationships must be discour-aged on account of the following rea-sons

1 This kind of relationships is nothingbut wholetime occasion for tempta-tions. We are told that occasions that

cause temptations must be avoidedso that we can avoid sin.

2. Our Indian culture is generally not infavour of pre-marital sex and in viewof the possibility of sexual encoun-ters in such fellowships, there is apublic disapproval for the same

3. Though the Court says such rela-tionships are not illegal,itsrepurcussions involving legality ofchildren, property, length of relation-ship, the consequence of abandon-

ment of relationship etc. etc., arevery serious . Ultimately there will bea society that never need to recog-nize father and mother. Permissive-ness will inrease, morality will be-come loose

The couples who prefer such re-lationship seem to be those who do notlike the traditional concept or rituals orparental approval. In all such cases thecouples can register their relationship( the common parlance is known by theword "marriage" ) They are at liberty todivorce later, if they choose so accord-ing to the existing rules. In any situationwe have to abide by rules which aremade for the common good.

Ladislaus is right to think that theChurch should express its opinion andteaching on the subject when an occa-sion arose. In the western countrieswhere such relationships exist,most ofthe catholic partners abandon the reli-gion and do not pass on the faith tochildren. We hope our learned Bishopswill bring out the Church teachings onthe subject for the information and guid-ance of Catholics.

—K.C.Thomas

For small businesses, the ending ofanother year presents a great oppor-tunity to take stock and set goals forthe year ahead. If increasing revenuein 2014 is one of your goals, there area few business practice adjustmentsthat will go a long way to creating bigreturns.

1. Become an investment, not an ex-pense. If what you offer is posi-tioned as simply a service, you'reviewed as an additional expenseand nobody likes expenses. Peoplewill always haggle over price, buteveryone understands the impor-tance of an investment. Positionyour product or service as a com-modity that will benefit the buyer,not only in the present moment butin the long-term.

2. Price for value, not time spent. It'scommon practice to charge based

on the time spent on a project, butit often means you're devaluing yourwork in the process. Some projectstake longer to complete but deliverthe same value. Does that meanyou charge one client more forwhat in the end is the same deliver-able?

3. Get your books in order.Many business owners are passionateabout what they do and have littleinterest or time for balance sheets.Few things are more tedious than theadministrative tasks of running yourbusiness but tracking cash flow andprofit and loss statements are key tolearning from your mistakes.

Once your customers see the value ofinvesting in you, you're on your way tobecoming a trusted partner. When theimpact of your work is understood,your services begin to sell themselves.

3 Ways to Make More Cash in 2014

Page 8: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

8 3 February 2014

Catholic Bishops ToDeliberate On Elections

Kottayam: Some 235 bishops, mem-bers of the Catholic Bishop Confer-ence of India (CBCI), will come to-gether in Palai, Kerala, for their biennialmeeting February 5-12, few monthsahead of the national elections.

The bishops are to discuss thepolitical stand the Church should takein the coming Lok Sabha elections,Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Palaitold Deccan Chronicle.

“The stand the Church shouldadopt in the coming general electionswill be discussed at the plenary meet-

ing, which will see the third biggestassembly of Catholic bishops in theworld," said Bishop Kallarangatt, thenewspaper reported.

Besides the elections, the bish-ops are expected to discuss the standthe Church in Kerala needs to take onthe Kasturirangan report on the West-ern Ghats and various other socio po-litical issues.

The participants for the 31st na-tional meeting include bishops of 167dioceses, 12 auxiliary bishops, twoKuria bishops and 56 retired bishops ofthe three ritual Churches--the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara and Latinchurches--across the country.

Source: deccanchronicle

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Rule Of 72

If you divide the number 72 by therate of interest, you get to knowthe number of years it will take for

you to double the money 72: is sort ofa magic number of personal finance,a.k.a known as the rule of 72 in per-sonal finance parlance.

* Years:* If you divide the number72 by the rate of interest, you getto know the number of years it willtake for you to double the money.For instance, if the rate of interestis 9%, simply divide the number72 by 9% and the answer is eight.This is the number of years it willtake to double your money if youinvest it at 9% rate of interest.

* Interest:*This rule works in re-verse order as well. Lets say, youknow the number of years youwant to double your money inand want to know the minimumrate of interest which you need toachieve that goal. So let's say,you have Rs 2.5 lakh today andneed to fund your son's collegeeducation with Rs 5 lakh in fiveyears. Just divide the number 72by 5 and the answer is 14.41%.This shows that you will need toinvest your money in an instru-ment where you earn at least14.4% as rate of interest, if youwant to double the funds in fiveyears.

* Inflation:* This rule also helpsyou understand a thing or twoabout inflation. It helps you calcu-late the amount of time it will takefor inflation to make the real valueof money half. So, let’s say thatthe average inflation is 7%. Whenyou divide 72 by 7, the answer is10.28. So, if you have Rs 1 lakh inyour kitty today, it would takearound 10.28 year for the value ofthe money to be halved.

Also note the heart beats 72 times ina minute.

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The Longest StreetIn The World

The distinction of the longest streetin the world belongs to Yonge Streetin the Province of Ontario, Canada.Yonge Street starts at Lake Ontarioand runs north through central andnorthen Ontario to the Ontario-Min-nesota border, a distance of over1896 kilometers. The Guinness Bookof World Records recognized thislaim, in 1998. Most of Yonge Streettoday exists as Highway 11, north ofthe Grater Toronto Area. Due to thedevelopment of the GTA, the oldhighway lives on as side roads, dead-end roads or overgrown woodedtrails.

Page 9: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

93 February 2014

Most of you reading this articlemay have read or heard before, that during his days

Jesus Christ was called an 'ANAR-CHIST'. He was arrested, stripped,beaten up, spat upon, crowned withthorns, and finally crucified. The Jewsaccused him of wrongly claiming to bethe 'King of the Jews'. Most peoplewere aware then, that this was a falseaccusation. What was the real cause ofthe anger, was his teachings and ac-tions, which were against the well es-tablished practices, that were followedby the Jewish Synagogue priests andtheir followers. Here was a rebel whowas born in a stable, worked as acarpenter, had poor fisherman as hisdisciples and was walking along withthe poor,the sick and the proclaimedsinners. He was a totally disruptiveinfluence, on the way of life that waspracticed for centuries by the Jewishpeople. He went about not only healingbut cleansing up the system.

Nearer to our times, the Britishers whoruled us for centuries, called MahatmaGandhi a 'Naked fakir', an 'ANARCHIST'.They jailed him for many years forcarrying out unconventional dharnasand hartals. He stated to the discomfortof his Christian rulers, that he admiredthe teachings of 'Jesus Christ' and his'ahimsa' movement was based on in-spiration from this great religiousteacher. He was killed by some of ourown people of this country, who claimedthat the Mahatma was working againsttheir core religious and long term cul-tural values.

Now people who are against the AAP,see it as a threat to their way of life andare calling Arvind Kejrival an 'ANAR-CHIST'. He has agreed publicly on T.V.,that if his thinking and actions are con-sidered by the vested interest to bedisruptive and that of an anarchist, sobe it. Just because he has become aChief Minister of a State, does not re-quire him to become a chameleon andchange from what he stands for. APPstands for the middle class, youth and

the poor and if you gauge their reactionof what Kejrival has done so far as aChief Minister, they will overwhelm-ingly confirm that he has done a goodjob and kept to his promises made tothem.

His crusade is against corruption, whichlike cancer has spread through out theadministration, lower Judiciary and thepolice force all over the country. Manymay disagree with the unconventionalthings the Team Kejrival is doing, butthey can not accuse them of doublestandards. He has forced power com-panies to face audits of CAG as statedhe would do, he has temporarily cut thepower rates for the poor, he has pro-vided 20,000 liters of free fresh water toevery household per month. This is aspart of AAP promises made to the Delhivotes and Kejrival is acting on it - goodor bad. He has also as promised, with-drawn FDI in retail until the party has afresh look at the repercussion on smalltraders. He has set up a help line toreport corruption, and action has startedagainst a few bureaucrats who werecaught on camera taking bribes. Assoon as AAP won a large number ofseats in Delhi Assembly, Congress andBJP panicked and passed in the Lokpalbill, the only work they did during thelast winter session. Kejrival has prom-ised to bring in a strong Lok Yukta billwithin a weak or two. Many are sur-prised of the number of rapid actionsand decisions that are being taken byAAP, as soon as it has come to power.Kejrival has as promised stayed awayfrom a lavish bungalow, the red lightcar, and personal protection from doz-ens of AK 47 wielding gun men.

The neo- critics are telling Kejriwal thatthe agitation methods being used afterhe became Chief Minister are bad poli-tics. The two day dharna is being por-trayed as unbecoming of a Chief Minis-ter. Both the BJP and Congress areaccusing him of beingunresponsible,immature and actingwithout refrain. He has been even calleda 'mad chief minister'. They are rattled

by the fact thatpeople of Indiahave in ArvindKejrival, a fu-ture Prime Min-ister candidate,who is milesahead in hisa c a d e m i cachievements,mad or not. Hehas passedboth IIT andcivil service ex-ams in flying colors. He has given up alucrative job, to work in the socialservice field. He is a megasay awardwinner. Put him against the other twocandidates and they pale.

It is not easy to take on the corrupt inthis country - most of the politicians,bureaucracy, lower judiciary, and po-lice force are now enmeshed in corrup-tion. They have the support of cronycapitalists who have thrived in this at-mosphere. Even the fourth estate needsto come out open to the public, with thedetails of the yearly income from ad-vertisements received from the politi-cal parties, Governments controlled bythese parties and corny capitalists. Thiswill show who pulls the strings. A smallDavid is taking on a number of Goliath'sat the same time! He may fail to changethe rules, but he is trying. Time will tell!

May be the country does now requirean 'Anarchist' to clean up the mess weare in.

Arvind Kejriwal An Alleged Anarchist?

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Page 10: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

10 3 February 2014

Following your passion ismore important thanmoney. You don’t need todo something you hate inorder to be successful or togain enough money to sup-port yourself or your family.Just stay true to yourselfand always follow your pas-sion

It Won’t Feel like WorkOne of the reasons

why following your passionis more important thanmoney is the fact that youwon’t even feel like you’reworking, since you really enjoy what you are doing. Whilemost people can’t wait to get home from work and relax, youwon’t even notice how fast the time flies since you will befocused on what you are doing and not on the fact that youare stuck in a dead-end job.

Nothing Will Help You Overcome The Feeling ofDoing Something You Hate

No matter how much money you make at your job, itwon’t make you feel happy if you don’t enjoy what you aredoing. You will only feel miserable and stressed out and Ireally think that none of the benefits you might obtain therewill not help you overcome that awful feeling of doingsomething you hate. Most of the time, you won’t even havethe opportunity to spend all that money you gain or to enjoythe benefits you‘ve earned, since you will be too busy doingsomething that doesn’t suit you.

You Will Be More Inclined to Work Late HoursIf you follow your passion, you will definitely be more

inclined to work late hours since it won’t even feel like workto you. When you’re really passionate about something, youwant it to be just perfect, so you won’t feel like you’re making

any sacrifice in order to get thingsdone. The late hours you’ll have toput in won’t seem such a burdenanymore because you are notforced to do them. It’s your choiceand this makes it even more en-joyable.

Nothing Will Prevent Youfrom Reaching Your Goals

When you’re really pas-sionate about something, noth-ing will prevent you from reachingyour goals. You will always findthe strength you need to over-

come all the obstacles thatmight appear in your pathand you won’t feel ex-hausted doing it. Just likeEddie Cuffin said: “Yourpassion ignites your work,and like a rocket, it acceler-ates you past road blocksthat may come about. Anyobstacle that comes yourway is accepted and foughtoff with a creative solution.”.

You Will Be More Pas-sionate about The WorkYou Are DoingSince work won’t seem like

a burden to you anymore, you won’t feel like you are forcedto go to work. You will be one of those lucky people who donot understand the meaning of the famous expression:“having a bad case of the Mondays” since you can’t wait toget back to work after the weekend. You don’t understandwhy all those people fuss about this and why they eagerlywait for the weekend so they could enjoy themselves, sinceyou do it all the time, whether you are working or not.

You Can Come up with Better IdeasSince you love your job so much, you will be able to

dedicate yourself 100% to take care of all the issues that youmight come across and you could come up with even betterideas, because you will be able to relate more to your work.You do realize that not everything will go as smoothly as youplanned it but with a bit of effort, you will manage toovercome all the obstacles that might appear in your pathand you will be more inclined to come up with creative ideaswhich will help you look past those dull days that you’llencounter every now and then.

You Will Feel Even Happier When You Finally Make ItWhen you will finally make it and you are successful,

you will feel even happier and fulfilled because you are

Follow Your Passion

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doing somethingthat you enjoy,something thatyou really love andthat will help youlive a meaningfullife. Remember:your working ca-reer will consumemost of your life,so do somethingthat you’ll enjoy.

Page 11: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

113 February 2014 113 February 2014

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Page 12: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

12 3 February 201412 3 February 2014

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133 February 2014 133 February 2014

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14 3 February 201414 3 February 2014

Our Good BishopsThe year 2014 began on 1st Janu

ary as a happy augury, with thevisit to my home of my new

bishop, Raphy Manjaly. We haveknown each other for almost 40 years,so we joyously recalled some of themissionary journeys that we had em-barked upon together in Lucknow andBijnor dioceses.

Exactly 5 days later I receivedtwo open letters addressed to bish-ops. The first was by the redoubtableDr James Kottoor, former editor of TheNew Leader. It was addressed to thefour bishops of Ernakalum, Kerala. Hewas drawing a parallel be-tween the Indian political es-tablishment and the hierarchy;implying that the hierarchyshould also be shaken out ofits stupor by an AAP-like stormin the church. He was appeal-ing to the bishops to come outof their cocoons, to engage inan open dialogue with the la-ity; lest the church be left inthe lurch, become redundantand its teachings infructuous.

Was it coincidence, ordivine intervention, that I si-multaneously received anopen letter from the indomi-table Rev Subash Anand, aformer professor of the PapalSeminary, Pune, now serving in a re-mote mission station in Udaipur dio-cese, Rajasthan? I will briefly touch onsome of the issues raised bySubashbhai. Though the letter is ad-dressed to the bishops of the U.P.Rajasthan region, copies were sent toall the bishops of India; so this is nowan open forum.

Subashbhai avers that RupeesTwenty Lakhs were spent on the con-secration of a bishop in the region;eventhough the diocese has hardly10,000 Catholics. Similarly RupeesFourteen Lakhs were spent on theinstallation, not consecration, of an-other bishop in the region. The ques-tions that he raises are – What is theneed of such ostentatious spending?

Was the laity involved in the decisionmaking process? What was the need of

a political figure (diplomat) like thePapal Nuncio, to attend such func-tions? What was the need for dozens ofbishops and hundreds of priests, toattend such elaborate celebrations?

It gave the impression that bish-ops, priests and religious have a lot ofspare time and extra money to blow upin this way. If the church has so muchmoney there is no need to seek foreignfunding. The church can verily takecare of the needs of the Dalit Christiansin our ranks. He asks why we continueto establish more and more prestigiousEnglish medium schools that aresources of power and pelf. Yet suchinstitutions resist social legislation likethe RTI and RTE. Why? He too, likeKottoor, draws a parallel with AAP. He

wants the Aam Admi Pas-tors who have “the smell ofthe sheep” a la PopeFrancis. Both letter writerssee him as a true Christianleader, whose qualities ofhead and heart merit emu-lation. I cannot but agreewith both of them.

Along came another“divine intervention”, again

thanks to AAP! On 15th Januarymattersindia.com carried a report on

Bp Thomas Dabre of Pune,praising Arvind Kejriwal on hisFacebook wall. Here’s whathe said. “They wish to teachus Indians that the nation be-longs to us citizens and not tothe politicians, Ministers andGovt officials”. He further said.“The VIP culture and five starlifestyle of politicians must berestrained. It is the people whoelect the politicians, and theymust be involved in all deci-sions. Politicians must notmake decisions FOR thepeople but WITH THEPEOPLE”. What noble senti-ments. They enraged me be-

cause of their apparent double stan-dards! I am now juxtaposing the goodbishop’s words on the church sce-nario. This is how it would read:

“Kottoor and Subash wish toteach us Christians that the churchbelongs to us, all the faithful, and not tothe bishops, priests and religious …The VIP culture and five-star lifestyle ofbishops must be restrained. It is thepeople who should elect the bishopsand they must be involved in all deci-sions. The hierarchy should not makedecisions for the people, but with thepeople”. Such a statement would bemusic to the ears of the AAM Chris-tians – the laity. I don’t have a FacebookWall, but I do hope that our KHAAShierarchy will read the writing on the

BY CHHOTEBHAI

(Contd.. on p. 15)

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153 February 2014

(Contd.. on p. 16)

wall, like Nebuchanezer did, and facethe truth.

The “divine interventions” have notceased. The next one was an article byRev Michael Kelly, Executive Editor ofucanews.com. He was reporting onPope Francis’ “warning” to the 19 newcardinals appointed by him. I wouldrather call it an advisory. Here are someextracts:

“The cardinalship does not implypromotion … It is neither an honour nora decoration. It is simply a service thatrequires you to broaden your gaze andopen your hearts … Receive this des-ignation with a simple and humble heart… ensure that this sentiment is far fromany expression of worldliness or fromany form of celebration contrary to theevangelical spirit of austerity, sobrietyand poverty”. Kelly says that the Pope’sadvisory uses the simple salutation“Dear Brother”, devoid of any honorif-ics like “Your Eminence”. Isn’t it timethat we also addressed our good bish-ops as brothers? Shouldn’t our goodbishops stop having a “Coat of Arms”,a flashback to medieval European no-bility? What about those rings that evenour womenfolk stoop to kiss? Isn’t thisservile practice anathema to Indianculture?

I have had many wonderful inter-actions and relationships with a host ofbishops, beginning with Abp AngeloPoli Ofm Cap way back in 1960. Mygrandfather, as President of theCawnpore (now Kanpur) Catholic As-sociation, had presented him his epis-copal ring on his election as the bishopof Allahabad in 1917. We have hadclose family bonds with many bishops.In 1949 Bp Leonard Raymond ofAllahabad blessed my parents’ mar-riage. In 1974 Bp Cecil D’sa of Lucknowblessed my sister’s marriage, and in1983 Cardinal Lawrence Picachy ofKolkata blessed my brother’s marriage.Bp Fredrick D’souza of Jhansi waspresent at my marriage in 1984; andAbp Albert D’souza (Agra), Bp RaphyManjaly (then of Varanasi) and BpFrancis Kallist (Meerut) concelebratedat the 25th jubilee mass of our marriagein 2009. Bp Patrick D’souza of Varanasiwrote an inspiring Foreword to my book

“Beyond 2000 – The Other Side” in2000, and released it at Kanpur. BpBosco Penha did likewise in Mumbai,as did Abp Vincent Concessao in Agra.At an AICU meet in Mumbai in 2004,one of the auxiliary bishops actuallykissed my hand, when we were intro-duced. A rare reversal of roles! It wasBp Raymond D’mello of Allahabad whoensured that my parents received pa-pal awards – my father with the Knight-hood of St Gregory, and my motherwith the “Pro Ecclesiae et Pontifice”. BpBaptist Mudartha, the retired bishop ofAllahabad, had graced my father’s BirthCentenary Celebrations in 1997. So Ishould have every reason to say thatwe have good bishops, with whom myfamily and I have had very pleasantrelationships.

Other than the “ceremonial” as-pect, there are a few more episodes, ofa different nature that warrant attention.The first dates back to 1976, a few daysafter I had joined Jyotiniketan Ashram,Bareilly. Fr Augustine DeenabandhuOfm Cap was away, and I was alone,when the parish priest drove up with anolder person, who was dressed in anordinary kurta pyjama. It was Bp GeorgeSaupin SJ, of Daltonganj. I was thresh-ing grain at the time. Without ado thebishop joined me in that “menial task”,and later helped me in making rotis onthe wood fire. He was an inspiration tome. Today’s readers may not know thatit was the time of the Emergency., andBp Saupin had stood up for the rights ofthe poor tribals in his diocese. Becauseof his blue eyes and French name,Indira Gandhi thought that he was aforeigner, and tried to expel him theway she had treated Fr Zeitler SVD ofPune, and some others. Since he wasan Indian national, she neverthelessprevailed upon the CBCI to get himtransferred out to Bhagalpur diocese.During the Emergency Indira wanted tocontrol even the appointment of Catho-lic bishops.

Another interesting episcopal en-counter was with Abp Antony Padiyaraof Changanacherry, while he was stay-ing at St Fidelis’ Ashram, Lucknow. Hehad sent one of his “theologically er-rant” priests to Jyotiniketan for correc-tional guidance. I just walked into thearchbishop’s room, and pleaded the

cause of his priest, as Fr Deenabandhuhad not found any “wrong” in the man.The archbishop graciously accepted totake his priest back. Sometimes bish-ops do listen!

Shortly after I was elected Na-tional President of the All India CatholicUnion in 1990 I had visited New Delhi.Abp Angelo Fernandes invited me to afarewell party for the Nuncio, AbpCacciavillan. The Nuncio called measide to say that he had read my mani-festo, and had only one word of advicefor me, “Stay out of the rites issue”. Hewas infact the architect of the division ofBombay archdiocese, and the erectionof the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Kalyan.

Two weeks later he invited me tohis own farewell party at the AshokaHotel. I had just returned from a fact-finding mission to Gajraula, where twonuns had been raped. The CBCI Cen-tre, where I was staying, was locked.Everybody was partying at the Ashoka.So dirty and sweaty as I was, I took asmelly auto to the hotel. There theywere – bishops, priests and nuns –wining and dining. Never mind the vic-tims in Gajraula. The Nuncio was thenthe Dean of the Diplomats in Delhi, byvirtue of being the senior most servingdiplomat. So the entire diplomatic corpswas there. What did they think of thewining-dining Catholic Church?

This takes me back to a similarincident in 1967. My mother was a go-getter. She could get people like Presi-dent Dr S. Radhakrishnan, Prime Minis-ter Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa toaccept her invitations to Kanpur. Cardi-nal Valerian Gracias of Bombay wasnow on her guest list. Among otherfunctions, she had organised a dinnerat our home. The top brass of the ad-ministration, Army and Airforce werepresent. In my album there is a photo-graph of the Cardinal sitting with myparents at the dinner. He is holding aglass of whisky and a cigarette. I thoughtnothing of it at that time, as I was just ateenager. But when I look at that photo-graph today I am horrified. As with theNuncio in the previous episode, I askmyself “What kind of witness were wegiving?” Wasn’t that just what MahatmaGandhi had in mind when he said thathe liked Christ but he disliked Chris-

(Contd.. from p. 14)

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16 3 February 2014

tians? Perhaps that is also what Dr Ambedkar saw when hetoyed with the idea of leading his “untouchables” to Chris-tianity, but opted for egalitarian Buddhism instead.

It is time that we “listened to what the Spirit is saying tothe churches” (cf Rev 3:22). He speaks through the scrip-tures, Vat II documents, the events of everyday life, and thewritings of inspired writers like Dr Kottoor and Subashbhaiaforesaid. Permit me some brief quotes from the “DogmaticConstitution of the Church”. It says, “Those who are en-dowed with sacred power are the servants of their brethren”(LG 18). “Among the principal duties of bishops, the preach-ing of the gospel occupies an eminent place” (LG 25). Itdoesn’t ask bishops to erect English medium schools, or cutribbons and be chief guests at jubilees. “A bishop must keepbefore his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, whocame not to be ministered unto, but to minister (cf Mat 20:28)and to lay down his life for his sheep (cf Jn 10:11)” (LG 27).The “Decree on the Bishops Pastoral Office in the Church”also reiterates “A bishop should stand in the midst of hispeople as one who serves” (CD 16). Many may also notknow that the abbreviation DD that some bishops use, is notfor “Doctor of Divinity”, but for “Doulous Douli”, which isGreek for “servant of the servants”.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have many goodfriends among my brother bishops. I have no personalgrouse or expectation from any of them. My expectation isregarding the mission and credibility of the church in themodern world. It is here that I now dare to say that the goodis the enemy of the perfect. A bishop may be a “good man”– he loves the orphans, visits the convents, builds institu-tions, cuts ribbons, attends jubilees and funerals, and doesnot have tangible vices. But that is not good enough. Jesushad to contend with many “good” people. Those whoattentively listened to his path-breaking Sermon on theMount must have been good people. But he told them thatit was just not enough. They would now have to walk thatextra mile (cf Mat 5:41). It is only then that they could “Beperfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mat 5:48).To the good woman Martha Jesus said that she needed totake one more step to listen attentively to God’s word, whichwas the better part (cf Lk 10:42). To the good man NicodemusJesus said that he too needed to take one more step, to beborn again of the liberating Spirit (cf Jn 3:7). To the richyoung man who had kept all the commandments, so hemust have been a good guy, he again asked for one morestep, “If you wish to be perfect go and sell all your posses-sions … then follow me” (Mat 19:21).

Christian discipleship is the path of perfection, notmediocrity. I hope and pray that, inspired by Pope Francis,the good bishops of India will rise beyond mediocrity, to takethat extra step on the path of perfection. Infact every one ofus is invited to discern God’s will from time to time, todetermine what extra step now needs to be taken. 2013augured well for the universal church with the election ofPope Francis. May 2014 augur equally well for the church inIndia too.* The writer is the author of four books, including one on the Trinityand another on Christology. He is an avid student of ecclesiology.

(Contd.. from p. 15)

Oh that common man – who is he ?There he is, oh yes here he is !I see him there somewhere,Well, he is everywhereDoes anybody care for him ?

That common man – highlighted byR.K. Laxman In the print mediaMade fun of – people laughed at himWith his daily troublesOh that common man !

He continues to live – struggling,To make ends meetStruggling to have a decent mealStruggling to have some decent clothesStruggling to have some roof over his headStruggling to educate his childrenStruggling to live – Struggling, Struggling, Struggling ….That is the common man !

That common man – is he powerless ?So they say, he isWhat can he do ? – Nothing !There he is – used, misused, abused by allBy politicians, by those in authorityBy anybody who sees himself as superiorOh that weakling - the common man !

The common man – he is at his bestWhen he is driven to the wallBy politicians, by others in societyWhat does he possess – uneducated, illiterate;He has Nothing ! That common man –What can he do ?

Never underestimate the power of the common man –Goes a dialogue in a movie.But yes, He has that one powerful weapon –The power of his VOTETaken for a ride for long, he weilds his weaponTo throw out governments in powerThat is his victory !Today, they call him the ‘AAM AADMI’ !

Oh, That Common Man !

—Melville X. D’Souza

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173 February 2014

We live in an “I, Me, Myself”society. Open the newspapers and what do you see?

The first page is full of news on scams,various political parties jockeying forpolitical and monetary gain and newsof rapes which violate the victims’ dig-nity and cause lifelong trauma, andgory murders. We live in a materialworld surrounded by material girls andguys. Advertisements only increase theindividual’s craving for more and cre-ate ‘needs’ where none existed before.It’s all about the money, honey! Justlike two thousand years ago when Jesuswalked the earth!

Jesus preached a doctrine con-trary to this sordid culture of exploita-tion, of self-aggrandizement at the ex-pense of others, of insatiable greed. Hepreached the gospel of LOVE. An un-conditional love bestowed gratis froma munificent God on everyone on eartheven though no one really deserved it.He preached of caring for one’s fellow-men as in the parable ofthe Good Samaritan.Jesus’ love was so greatthat even as he hung dy-ing on the cross, he wasfilled with compassion forthe good thief and for-gave him. He went fur-ther: he forgave his mur-derers, pleading “Forgivethem, Father, for theyknow not what they aredoing!”

And what does God expect inreturn from us? He would like us to lovehim and one another – not for himselfbut for our own sakes. The strangething about this love that Jesuspreached is that the more we expend it,the more the deposit of love growswithin us. If we keep God’s love toourselves like Scrooge, we will get nonein return and we will be increasinglyunhappy. When we want to increaseour savings, we don’t dig our moneyinto the ground but we invest it wiselyso that the capital grows.

The LateStephen R.Covey, a man-agement guruof repute, wroteabout ourcircles of con-cern and of in-fluence. We areall concernedabout thegrowing cul-ture of corrup-tion. The so-called ‘master’of the house sit-ting in a rock-ing chair andwaxing elo-quent to hiscaptive audi-ence (his petdog) aboutwhat the worldis coming to

serves no purpose otherthan pandering his ego.However, if he goes outand votes he is makinga difference. Our con-cerns may be many. Wemay want to erase theinequalities that exist insociety and the gap be-tween the rich and the

poor. But kitty party chit-chat serves nopurpose at all.

Jesus’ concept of love“Love one another as I have loved

you,” said Jesus. And he practicedwhat he preached as he tirelessly criss-crossed the countryside healing thesick of mind and body illnesses. Rightlythen does Covey further say that themore we reach out to others, the morewill our circle of influence increase,making Jesus’ practice of what hepreached our own. Our first step in theright direction would be to sit down and

list our God-given talents. Then wecould ponder awhile as to how wecould use these talents. We could alsowrite down our weaknesses and thesteps we could take to improve.

“Too often we underestimate thepower of a touch, a smile, a kind word,a listening ear, an honest compliment,or the smallest act of caring, all of whichhave the potential to turn a life around,”opines Leo F. Buscaglia, the notedAmerican motivational speaker andwriter of the last century.

The familial circle of loveThe family is the smallest and

most important unit of society. If we goon a change-the-world spree and ne-glect our own children, we are doingthem—and in effect, society in gen-eral—a great disservice. A family thatprays and plays together stays together.We need to spend quality time with ourchildren and our better halves in goodtimes and bad. We need to give each

The Circle of Love

by Monica Fernandes

(Contd.. on p. 22)

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18 3 February 2014

His disciples came to Him andhe began to teach them.” (Mt.5: 1- 2). One of the most pow-

erful and deeply profound passages inScripture, ‘The Beatitudes’ form thefirst part of the Lord’s teaching and arecommonly referred to as, “The sermonon the Mount”. Mannheim, a famousscientist says that we normally useabout 1/8th of our physical reserves andthat these are called upon only whenwe employ the right attitudes. Oftenthese very attitudes are so inconsistentwith the life and teachings of Jesus,who preached not a new religion but anew life, by calling all to repentance. Ifour attitudes can help tap hidden physi-cal reserves, then an experiential un-derstanding of the Be-attitudes can ef-fectively maximize ourpotential, not only in thephysical area of ourbeings, but in our mental and emo-tional areas as well. How true that, inthem we hold the blue print for healthy,fulfilled living. Good news indeed! fordepressed Christians who run from pil-lar to post, seeking help from the men-tal experts of the world.

“Blessed are the Peace Makersfor they will be called Sons of God.” Ofthe 8 Be- attitudes this one seems tohave a special relevance to the presenttimes. If there is one thing that the worldneeds desperately right now, it is ‘PeaceMakers’. The painful knowledge thatwhile we are scaling peaks in scientificenlightenment, we have also gainedthe power to annihilate ourselves withglobal destruction, has created an alert-ness and awareness in people all overthe world, to the need for peace, amongsocieties, nations – the world. Strangebut true, though we often sing ‘All gloryto God on high and peace to people onearth’ today there seems to be neitherglory to God, nor peace on earth. Aslong as it remains an unfulfilled hunger,we will continue to yearn for it. Whenreal peace is established there will beno need for demonstrations, for it willecho not only in our individual lives, butall around us too! Many activists whowork for peace may find it difficult to

accept but the fact remains that as longas we are not at peace within our-selves, we will create situations on whichwe will project our insecure feelings. Itis always easier to blame politiciansand world leaders for problems bothbig and small, rather than to look intoone’s own heart and accept individualresponsibility. If Jesus was here livingamongst us now, He, I think, wouldbless the lives of those people (Chris-tian and others) who embody today,the virtues of which He, was a livingexample on earth, virtues of loving one’sneighbour as oneself, of doing goodand charitable work among one’s fel-low men and above all, forgiving sin-cerely someone who has hurt you. Suchpeople are in harmony with God, and

with themselves and thatharmony is reflected intheir dealings with oth-

ers.Let me take this opportunity to

explain my understanding of what theword ‘Peace Maker” is not. Peacemak-ing is not just keeping the peace. Somestrive to keep peace because they donot want to rock the boat, and enter intoany unpleasantness that might arise,when trying to put matters right. Theywould prefer to avoid a conflict bysmoothing things over the surface, ormeekly giving in, only to rave and rantlater. Seeing a blatant injustice andsaying, “I’d do something about it, butI don’t want to cause a fuss” is notpeace. The virtues of mercy, non-vio-lence, love and truth are tested onlywhen they are pitted against ruthless-ness, violence, hate and untruth. Hencea true peacemaker may be called to bea fighter. Paradoxically s/he is callednot to lead a passive life, but an activeone. Peace making is not about patch-ing up things, but about getting to theroot of the problem. Remember Jesusand his attitude towards the moneylenders in the temple? Prince of Peaceand Prince of agitation when neededas well!!! A peace maker may some-times have to stir up trouble, before asituation can be resolved.

A little girl, who a few weeks ear-

lier had become aChristian, came downfrom the bedroom onemorning and said toher mother, “What abeautiful day.” Thesurprised mothersaid, “What do youmean? It is raining likeI’ve never seen it rainbefore, and theweather forecast isthat we are going tohave several more days of this. Howcan you call such weather beautiful?”“But mother” the little girl replied, “abeautiful day has got nothing to do withthe weather.” With these simple yetpowerful words the little girl had recon-ciled her mother not just to the weather,but also to the nature of the peace ofChrist. Those of us who have acceptedChrist’s sacrifice on the Cross have butone mission, to share the peace wehave received from Christ, with others.The little girl had in her own innocentway, understood who a peace makeris. S/He is one who makes a new worldaround and within oneself, one who isinwardly reconciled to a loving God,and seeks to reconcile others to Himand to each other. Such people I guessare the healthiest and happiest peopleon earth. “Those who are peace mak-ers will plant seeds of peace and reapa harvest of goodness.” James 3:18.

A peace researcher like BishopKlaus Hemmerle has translated the Be-atitudes into the language of everydaylife as follows.“Blest are those who pay much atten-

tion to others’ interest and concernas their own: They shall foster peaceand unity.

Blest are those who take the first step tomeet others: they shall discover theother is more open than it seemed.

Blest are those who never lose pa-tience: They shall always find a newbeginning.

Blest are those who first listen and onlythen speak: they shall be listened to.

Blest those who first always discover

The Need Of The Hour

(Contd.. on p. 19)

Ninette D'Souza

Page 19: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

193 February 2014

Did you know?* Eggs just have a bad rep: Eating

foods rich in saturated and transfats can increase cholesterol morethan eggs?

* Sugar is not so sweet: Eating sug-ary foods raises blood cholesterollevels and heart disease risk. Socut down on soft drinks, colas,sherbets, sweetened teas andcoffees (especially those madewith powdered milk and non-dairycreamers), pudding, candies andmithai.

* Potatoes can be a vehicle for badcholesterol: Hash browns andmashed potatoes that you order atrestaurants can raise cholesterollevels as they are mashed with alarge portion of butter, cream,whole milk and/or cheese.

* Chocolates are not always goodfor you: Eating chocolates (theones that are commercially manu-factured) in excess can increasethe risk of heart disease as theyare made with hydrogenated fats,milk fats and sugar.

* Movie-theatre popcorn can ruinyour heart: Cinema hall popcornis not only rich in hydrogenatedfats (more than 25 gm fats in amedium-size tub), but also haveexcess salt, sugar and cheese pow-der that can wreak havoc with yourcholesterol levels.

* Your favourite snacks are high insalt: The snacks and salty biscuitsthat you love to eat contain transfats that can raise cholesterol lev-els and destroy your heart’s health.

Here's How ToStay Away FromBad Cholesterol

what is right in the contribution ofthe other: They shall be able tointegrate and mediate.

Blest are those who never use theirposition egoistically: They shall bemet with respect.

Blest are those who never are of-fended or disappointed; they shallcreate a good climate for others.

On the 64th death anniversary of theFather of the Nation,(also cel-ebrated as Martyrs’ Day) I wish toshare his thoughts taken from hisown writings.

“…….. Non- violence is my first ar-ticle of faith; it is also the last articleof my creed. Complete non-vio-lence under its active form, is agood will for all that lives. It is per-fect love. Non-violence has de-scended among men and it willstay there. It is the harbinger ofpeace in the world”.

Were the Mahatma alive today wouldhe still make this claim, I wonder?

(Contd.. from p. 18)

Importance of Laughter'Laughter is the best medicine': we'realways being told that, but there'sactually more to a good giggle thanjust raising our spirits for a couple ofminutes. Although a good laugh won'tcure a serious disease, it can havecountless health benefits and is oneof the best forms of natural medicine.

Have you ever wondered whyclass clowns are virtually always male?In a research conducted by psychol-ogy professor Robert R. Provine at theUniversity of Maryland found thatwomen who posted personal adssought a partner who could makethem laugh twice as frequently asthey offered to be the source of hu-mor.

Though there are many ways tolaugh, from giggles to guffaws andfrom chuckles to cackles, it turns outthat we humans laugh at the strangestthings.

Etiquette LaughterAt the end of a long day, you findyourself in the elevator with your boss.Instead of talking up your latest ac-

complishments, though, you find your-self laughing at everything he says. Wetend to laugh with anyone who canhelp us out, which is why a group ofundergraduate students may guffaw ata professor's bad joke, while a jobapplicant's attempts at humor may fallflat with those who are already gainfullyemployed.

Contagious LaughterImagine you're out for dinner with agroup of friends. Someone tells a jokeand gets one person laughing, whichgets a second person laughing, and soon. Is catching laughter like catching acold? It's very likely.

Nervous LaughterThere are times when we need to projectdignity and control, like during presen-tations to the CEO or during a funeral.Unfortunately, these are the times whenuncontrollable nervous laughter is likelyto strike. During times of anxiety, weoften laugh in a subconscious attemptto reduce stress and calm down. How-ever, nervous laughter usually justheightens the awkwardness of the situ-ation.

Belly LaughterBelly laughter is considered the mosthonest type of laughter. It may also bethe hardest type to experience, be-cause we have to find something trulyhilarious before we'll let go with thekind of laughter that has us clutchingour bellies and gasping for air.

Silent LaughterThose of us who work in cubicles maythink that silent laughter is a skill we'veperfected so that we can look at funnyWeb sites and videos at work. This typeof laughter is also practiced in laughteryoga and laughter therapy, where it'soften called joker's laughter. To try it onyour own, freeze your face into a smilelike the Joker of Batman fame, then letyour belly do the work of pushing air inand out as if you were laughing outloud.

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20 3 February 2014

MATRIMONIALSMUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Divorcee, age 31 years, Ht.5’ 10”, Wt. 82 kgs, Fair Complexion,Edn. HSC., working as a Cargo han-dling assistant in Airline in Dubai. Con-tact email :[email protected] OR9819452164 (Regd. No. 5957)MUMBAI : Karware Goan RomanCatholic Bachelor, age 38 years, Ht.5’ 5”, Wt. 54 kgs, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. 10th Std., working on Rigsas a Cruise Member. Contact Mob.8879137735 (Regd. No. 5952)MUMBAI : Parents of Goan RomanCatholic Bachelor, DOB 1974, 5’ 9”,P.hD (U.S.A.), working in US, seeksalliance from R.C. spinster. Send de-tails and recent full size photographto : [email protected](Regd. No. 5950)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, age 39 years, Ht. 5’ 7”, Wt.75 kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.XII Std., Working as a Gen. Stewardin Ship. Seeks a Goan girl below 32years. Contact email :[email protected] OR26671289 / 9969488673 (Regd. No.5949)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 30 years, Ht. 5’ 9”, Wt.75 kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.B.Sc., working as a Manager. Con-tact email : [email protected] OR9850044561 (Regd. No. 5921)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 34 years, Ht.6’, fair complexion, Edn. B.Com.,working as a Sr. Officer. Seeks a goodcatholic family background girl. Con-tact Email :[email protected] OR9819420120 (Regd. No. 5920)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 27 years. Ht. 5’ 10”,Wt. 55 kgs., Fair Complexion, Edn.T.Y. B.Com., Working as a Sr. Collec-tion Advisor. Contact Email :[email protected] OR9821302840 (Regd. No. 5919)MUMBAI : Tamilian Roman Catholic

Address your replies to :

Regd. No.ROYAL CHRISTIAN FAMILY,99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st

Floor, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.

To Place Your MatrimonialAdvertisement Call:

2269 3578 OR 2265 4924

Divorcee, aged 48 years. Ht. 5’ 4”, Wt.66 kgs., Fair Complexion, Edn.B.Com., BBA., MBA (Finance), work-ing as a Finance Manager. Seeks asuitable Match. Contact Email :[email protected] 9819939479 / 9930559783(Regd. No. 5914)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 33 years, Ht.5’ 8”, Wt. 70 kgs, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. B.Com., working as aMicrosoft Engineer in Bangalore. Wellsettled, having own house in Banga-lore. Seeks a educated Mangaloreangirl from good family background. Con-tact Email : [email protected] OR9323949129 / 9867848489 (Regd.No. 5880)MUMBAI : Tamilian Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 53 years, Ht. 5’ 3”, Wt.75 kgs, Tan Complexion, Edn. Elect.Engg., Self Employed. Contact :9619784992 / 9833560643 (Regd No.5869)MUMBAI : Marathi Converted RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 46 years Ht.6’, Wt. 76 kgs, Wheatsih Complexion,Edn. H.S.C., working in Kuwait as aPublic Relation. Contact Email:[email protected] OR9619344291 (Regd. No. 5863)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicWidower, aged 45 years, Ht. 5’ 6”, Wt.65 kgs, Wheatish Complexion , Edn.Diploma in Mechanical Engineering,working aborad as a Mechanic. Seeksa simple, loving, well mannered be-low 38 years preferably working girl.Contact Email :[email protected] OR9702148869 (Regd. No. 5861)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Divorcee, aged 34 years, Ht.6’, Wt. 75 kgs, Wheatish Complexion,Edn. BDS (Mum), Doctor by

profession. Seeks a good looking,below 29 years Mangalorean girl.Contact email:[email protected] OR9920059033. (Regd. No. 6008)MUMBAI : “I am a fun loving 38 yearsGoan R.C. Ht. 5’ 8”, Wt. 80 kgs,Wheatish Complexion, Edn. B.Com.,C.A., who believes in having a bal-ance between work and personal life.Fond of music, travelling and the bestway for me to unwind is throughdance (Latin Style). I am currentlyworking for a reputed MNC for last 5years. Though I drink socially andoccasionally, smoking is a strict-no.Seeking alliance with a simple, god-fearing girl with a good family back-ground. Eventually, I hope to seemyself not just as my partner’ partnerbut my partner’s Best Friend forever!”Contact email :[email protected] OR9833761339 (Regd. No. 5994)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 32 years, Ht. 5’ 11”,Wheatish Complexion, Edn. B.Sc.,I.T., & Dip.in Elect. Engg., workingas an Assistant Manager (Technical)Only Child. Contact email :[email protected] OR9820561856 (Regd. No. 5983)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 26 years, Ht.5’ 11”, Fair Complexion, Edn. B.Com.,MBA, Seeks a Sales Director, OnlyChild. Seeks a humble, god fearing,kind, Ht. above 5’ 2”, age below 26years. Contact email :[email protected] OR9820092761 (Regd. No. 5981)

Members are requested toinform us when they are settled,so that publication of theirdetails can be discontinued.

Page 21: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

213 February 2014

MATRIMONIALSMUMBAI : Roman Catholic Divorcee,aged 49 years. Ht. 5’ 7”, Wt. 65 kgs,Wheatish Complexion, Edn. B.Sc.,working as a Sr. Govt. Officer. Con-tact Email :[email protected] OR9323552662 (Regd. No. 6023)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster, aged 27 years, Ht. 5’ 1”, Wt.54 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn. MA(Sociology), working as an Asst. Man-ager Recruitment. Good looking,smart. Seeks a suitable match. Con-tact email : [email protected]/ [email protected] OR9022929041 / 9167514382 (Regd.No. 5953)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 30 years, Ht.5’ 2”, Fair Complexion, beautiful, Edn.MBA Finance working in Private Lim-ited Company. Seeks a suitablematch. Contact email :[email protected] OR 9930936622(Regd. No. 5942)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster aged 24 years, Ht. 5’ 5”, Wt.55 kgs, Wheatsish Complexion, Edn.M.Sc., good looking and smart, work-ing as a Maths Analyst. Contact email: [email protected] (Regd.No. 5941)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 27 years, Ht.5’ 6”, Wt. 69 kgs, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. MBA in Marketing, workingas a F & B Executive. Seeks a suit-able match. Contact email :[email protected] OR28816294 (Regd. No. 5939)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster aged 30 years, Ht. 5’ 5”, Wt.68 kgs, Wheatsish Complexion, Edn.MBA (Finance) working as a ResearchAssistant in Pvt. Sector. Contact email

Address your replies to :

Regd. No.ROYAL CHRISTIAN FAMILY,99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st

Floor, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.Royal Christian Family

Helps In ChoosingThe Right Life-Partner

Serving Since 32 Years

: [email protected] OR9167140184 (Regd. No. 5938)MUMBAI : Goan Roman Catholic Spin-ster aged 29 years, Ht. 5’ 3”, Fair Com-plexion, Edn. B.E. (Mumbai) MBA(USA), working in Reputed IT Companyas Business Analyst in USA. Contactemail : [email protected] OR9833099037 / 9821373880 /9222380052 (Regd. No. 5934)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 25 years, Ht. 5’8”, Wt. 60 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn.BMS in Marketing, MBA in Retail Man-agement, Working in Retail Sector.Contact email :[email protected] OR9930672317 (Regd. No. 5933)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 33 years, Ht. 5’,Wt. 62 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn. B.A.,PGDBM, Working as a HR Manager.Contact email:[email protected] OR9819352481 (Regd. No. 5932)MUMBAI : Anglo Indian Roman Catho-lic Spinster aged 39 years, Ht. 5’ 3”,Wt. 68 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn.B.Sc., MBA (HR) working as a AGM(HR) Contact email :[email protected] OR26771992 (Regd. No. 5929)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 30 years, Ht. 5’2”, Wheatish Complexion, Edn. MBA(Marketing) working as a Manager.Contact email:[email protected] OR25923985 (Regd. No. 5927)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster aged 32 years, Ht. 5’,Wt. 50 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn. M.A.B.Ed., Teacher by profession. Contactemail : [email protected] OR9769775073 / 9819442577 (Regd. No.5926)MUMBAI : Tamilian Roman CatholicSpinster, 39 years, Toll, slim, Fair, Edn.EMBR HR, working as a Sr. Execu-tive. Contact Email :[email protected] /

Please renew your membershipat lease a month in advancebefore its expiration date.

[email protected] OR9820076082 (Regd. No. 5917)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster, 28 years, Ht. 5’, Wt. 56 kgs,Wheatish Complexion, Edn. B.Com.,MBA (Finance) working as a Jr. Man-ager in Bank. Seeks a suitable match.Contact Email :[email protected] OR9869765169 (Regd. No. 5916)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Divorcee, aged 44 years, Ht.5’, Wt. 42 kgs, Wheatsih Complexion,Edn. B.Com., working as a Office As-sistant. Seeks a suitable match. Con-tact : 25948048 (Red. No. 5899)MUMBAI : Goan Roman Catholic Spin-ster, aged 30 years, Ht. 4’ 11”, Wt. 49kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.BHMS., Doctor by profession. Contact: [email protected] OR9869000687 (Regd. No. 5733)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic parents of spinster daughter1973 born, 5’ 4 1/2” tall, fair complex-ion with qualifications of B.Com (Mum),two Post Graduate Degrees in Man-agement, and two diplomas in I.T. andComputer, working in good position.Looking out for a qualified and profes-sional well settled bachelor with goodfamily background in Mumbai orabroad upto 45 years. Kindly applywith recent photo and full details ei-ther to Email :[email protected] or callmobile No. 9892700617. (Regd. No.5441)

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22 3 February 2014

other unconditional love. If our childrendo not become rocket scientists, doesit really matter?

We teach our children aboutreaching out to others with love anddoing their bit to make the world abetter place through our example. Sev-eral years ago I enlisted the help of mydaughter Minal who was then aroundeight years old in making greeting cardsfor an NGO for the mentally challengedin order to raise funds. This exercisenot only helped the NGO but also re-sulted in better bonding betweenmother and daughter. And we had fun.

The circle of love initiated bythe home-maker

The housewife has ample oppor-tunities of expanding her circle of lovenot only with her family, but with otherstoo. Perhaps the part-time maid mayneed some guidance and financial as-sistance to educate her children. Theelderly in homes for the aged needsomeone to read to them.

The circle of love at ourworkplace

Pope Francis is an excellent ex-ample of someone who spreads loveduring his work day. He eschews thetrappings the Papacy has come to beassociated with – the pomp, splendourand glory! His Christ-like behaviourhas brought many younger people intothe Church’s fold.

Jesus and the art of givingWhenever Jesus performed his

many miracles, whenever he reachedout to the downtrodden with compas-sion and love, he boosted them withself-belief as well. He left their dignityintact. A social relationship where oneperson is dependent on the generosityof the other is an unequal one-up-one-down transaction. The giver is per-ceived to be superior to the receiver. Itis for this reason that Jesus said that weshould give without making a show ofour generosity.

Many are the rich and powerfulwho are so busy making money as to

have no time to empathize with the lessfortunate. So they indulge in chequebook generosity. But there are alsosome go beyond this narrow perspec-tive and try to make a difference, byfinding time for the furtherance of so-cial causes. In the acting profession,Angelina Jolie, Aamir Khan andShabana Azmi are examples of suchpeople.

My little grandson, Ahaan, lives inCalifornia with his parents. When hereturns home after a vacation, he leavesbehind some of the toys we have boughthim. I make a parcel of these toys andgive them away to an underprivilegedkid of his age. My daughter Minal saidthat I would make this little girl happierif I bought something for her as well – atoy or sweets or colour crayons.

I clearly remember a birthday partywe once had for my son Aloke when hewas in school. One of his classmates,Vijay (not his real name), was sufferingfrom severe diabetes and was givenonly a few months to live. He wasphysically underdeveloped due to hisillness. The boys pampered Vijay noend. They played sitting games at ourhouse where he could join in and tookturns carrying him while playing run-ning games in the garden.

My friend Indu Rao tries to reachout and help others in whatever waypossible. For instance, she visits andbrings food for a sick friend. She doesrandom acts of kindness. In reachingout to others, we make the world abetter place and our reward is a feelingof satisfaction in doing the right thing.

The thorny pathSpreading the circle of love could

sometimes come at great personalsacrifice as in the case of the fifteen-year old Pakistani schoolboy, AitazazHassan Bangesh. He saw a suicidebomber about to enter his school andtackled the bomber, thus triggering thebomb. This teenaged hero died alongwith the bomber and thus saved fivehundred lives.

The circle of love sketch isasymmetrical…

And rightly so! We are not allequal in terms of how we give and what

we give. A lot of giving depends on howwe use our talents and the opportuni-ties that come our way. My form ofgiving is writing whilst my friend ValeriePinto, a psychologist, counsels young-sters in slums through an NGO. MarizaPaes coaches children with learningabilities on a voluntary basis.

While expanding the circle of love,we must take care not to be taken for aride. In the workplace particularly, it isquite common to hear others appeal toour softer side and shove their work onus with a sob story. If we fall for thesemanipulations, what hampers the wid-ening of the circle of love is our folly.We sometimes get a raw deal fromthose who are meant to protect us – ourimmediate family. For instance a sib-ling may be trying to deprive us of ourrightful share of ancestral property. Weshould not take such behaviour lyingdown yet we should not make revengethe be-all and end-all of our lives. Whileseeking justice, we would do well tofocus on those who reach out andsupport us during difficult times. Orelse, what will further hamper the wid-ening of the circle of love is revengerides roughshod on hatred. In the pro-cess, we make ourselves putty in thehands of the devil. There’s no gainsay-ing the fact that as we sow, so shall wereap.

We are not all destined for fame.Whatever our walk of life or age, we cancontribute our bit towards widening theCircle of Love. Sometimes we may goout of our way to help someone and getlittle or no thanks for our efforts. Andthen out of the blue a person we leastexpect extends a helping hand to us.This is the power of the Circle of Love.Hats off to those who have gone throughgreat personal loss, to those who aregoing through a rough time and yetfind it within themselves to sympathize,to do a good deed!

In conclusion we recall what MacAnderson, one time New Zealand Testcricketer, wrote: “You have been giventhis day to use as you will. You canwaste it or use it for good. What you dotoday is important because you areexchanging a day of your life for it.When tomorrow comes, this day will begone forever; in its place is somethingthat you have left behind... let it besomething good.”

(Contd.. from p. 17)

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233 February 2014 233 February 2014

Creating future leaders in the community through the project:

‘Leaders in the Making andReaching to the Top’

Youth are the pillars upon which a nation’s future is built. It is true that in this challenging era of globalisation, our youthmust be nurtured, educated and guided towards the right path. There is a need for the youth of our community tostrengthen their faith by adopting the right mindset and acquiring a wealth of knowledge.

With this objectives in mind we have been conducting special youth seminars entitled ‘Leaders in the Making andReaching to the Top’ since 10 years. So far over 8000 youth have participated and benefited in the 12 seminars whichhave been guided by expert resource persons. Guiding our youth as effective future leaders and shine in top positionswithin and outside the country is our dream which we want to turn it into reality, The Entire project is conducted absolutelyFree for the participants.

This appeal is an invitation specially for people who are concerned about our youth and their bright future to be a partof this project :

THE SECULAR CITIZEN99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel.: 22693578, 22654924

Emails: [email protected] / [email protected]

After the successful visit to Holy Land (Jordan, Israel, Palestineand Egypt) with 128 members group in May 2013,

The Secular Citizen and DIVO readers are getting ready tovisit Western Europe in 2014

The countries includePortugal, Spain, France, Germany,

Switzerland, Vatican, Italy, etc.

The tour is organised in association with an expert tour operator

Those interested to join this group are requested to contact :

The Secular Citizen / Divo99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor,

Fort, Mumbai 400001

Tel.: 022-22693578, 22654924

Page 24: Secular Citizen Vol.23 No.5 Dated 3rd February 2014

24 3 February 2014

Published on every Monday & Posted on Monday & Tuesday of every weekPosted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai - 400001.RNI No. 56987/92 Registered No. MH/MR/South-139/2012-14

24 3 February 2014

Printed and Published by Lawrence Coelho at The Secular Citizen, 99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor, Harihar Nivas, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001. Tel.: 2269 3578, 2265 4924Printers: The Secular Citizen, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Editor : Philip Myaboo