This is about the climate, the political climate. After the recent Assembly elections in 5 States, there are many who have written the Congress’ epitaph, and also gone ga-ga (or should I say blah-blah) about AAP’s rising graph. In the midst of the media hype, especially the electronic variety, we need to sit back and…

The year 2014 began on 1st January as a happy augury, with the visit to my home of my new bishop, Raphy Manjaly. We have known each other for almost 40 years, so we joyously recalled some of the missionary journeys that we had embarked upon together in Lucknow and Bijnor dioceses. Exactly 5 days…

When our children were small they enjoyed regaling visitors to our home with this little story: There were four friends named SOMEBODY, NOBODY, MAD and EVERYBODY. One day Somebody killed Nobody, so Mad went to the Police and said “Somebody killed Nobody”! The infuriated policeman shouted, “Are you mad?”, to which the complainant replied, “Yes,…

This is not a cleverly googled piece on the evolution of Christmas trees, cards and Santa Claus. It is about how my own Christmases have evolved over the past 62 years of my existence. I am telling it as it was. My childhood in Kanpur was a privileged one, as was Christmas then. At the…

With his boyish looks, dimpled cheeks and darting eyes, he looks a cool customer that belies his 55 years. Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Varanasi diocese was transferred to the hot seat of Allahabad, and installed as its bishop on 3rd December, the feast of St Francis Xavier, as also World Disabled Day! The significance should…

Graft, or bribery, has been India’s bane. The graft that I am writing about is a boon to India’s suffering millions. It is called allograft, and its pioneer in India is Dr Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, the Head of the Tissue Bank at the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Mumbai. Simply put, allograft is a process by…