Accidents and Cast(e)-aways

Earlier it was Raman Lamba, now it is Phillip Hughes. Two cricketers who died because of their fatal injuries incurred on the cricket field. May they attain eternal rest and peace. It is not just Formula One or sky-diving that have killed some sportspersons, cricket too. Unimaginable. Freaky accidents on the cricketing field. This can't be controlled. But what can be regulated is politics in sports: cricket and hockey seem to be the most corrupted sports in India. Recently I watched a Tamil movie "Jeeva" that talks about cricket. A simple but powerful movie how some succeed, and how some fail in this field. It shows how dirty politics not only ends the career of someone, but also leads to suicide. Concretely, the Tamil-nadu cricketers who have played for the Indian international side are all Brahmins (almost all - not sure of the West-Indian born Robin Singh). Even many other Indian cricketers are Brahmin. Is this to say that the others aren't as good as these? Shouldn't we openly talk of these dirty politics and casteist racism in Indian cricket?

Back in the Eternal City

Reached three days back (on 25th November 2014) here in Rome for my defence which is scheduled for 5th December, at 5 p.m. The doctoral journey has been an important one in my life. It has been a time to learn how to learn, to keep going the way in spite of darkness... it has been a time to learn that the lightning guides the way (Heraclitus). Flashes of light, here and there, opening up here and there, ... It has been a time to learn that the process, the method, is as important as the end result. (Method here is not to be understood as a set of rules or a recipe.) This is what Pope Francis has taken pains to show in the recent experience of the Synod on Family. (Though I have not followed the developments very closely, I can put together a few of my thoughts and feelings with regard to the Synod.) We express ourselves, we need to listen to others, as we expect others to listen to us, we respect others' opinions, we show patience. The Holy Father was against showing any restlessness in jumping the gun, in arriving at solutions immediately. He listened carefully to others. He has taken the risk of being misunderstood, he has taken the risk of getting into the bad books of both the liberals and the conservatives. Hats off to this man, to this man of God.

Hermeneutics Course for the M.Ph.

Today I completed the course on hermeneutics for the M.Ph. students (Divyadaan). This was my first course that I taught the Masters' level students - ten of them. I thoroughly enjoyed the course, though it was intensive - from 4th to 20th November. I used Fr Ivo Coelho's notes, wonderfully prepared notes - comprehensive and systematic. I liked the parts on Heidegger, Gadamer, the postmoderns (in a very special way) and, of course, Lonergan (especially the parts of Fred Lawrence's comments - including his comments on Heidegger). Perhaps I could add a bit of details to the notes on Ricoeur. Thanks to Fr Ivo for preparing such wonderful material. Thanks also to the active participation of the students in class, and thanks to them in  a special way for their daily presentation of timelines (summaries). Those posts can be found on mphdivyadaan.blogspot.in.