Dear Friends,

 

By the time you read this, I shall be in India. On the day after Ash Wednesday, I shall begin my Lent as I fly off to Delhi to meet up with my daughter, Felicity (known as Effie), who has been in India since early October. We shall be doing a good deal of travelling around, with some long rail journeys, before flying south for a few more leisurely days in Kerala, where we shall celebrate her 24^th birthday.

 

To be honest, I’m feeling somewhat apprehensive. I’m not a natural back-packer, I’ve decided, as I try to minimise the pile of things I would have liked to pack. My daughter took the bare minimum, when she left in October, and has been living very simply ever since, surviving on 100 rupees every day (just over £1 in our money). She has spent time teaching in an orphanage in Tamil Nadu (where, as I told you in a previous letter, there are absolutely no luxuries – the main daily meal is a bowl of rice with a little thin gruel. Thanks to all who have generously donated gifts of pens, crayons etc. for these children. They will be much appreciated.) She moved on from there after Christmas, and spent a week in a Trappist monastery up in the hills (‘a small community of twenty monks, with nothing for miles but rugged, rolling hills…a place where ordinary people lived out extraordinary lives of quietude, method, patience, and constant prayer’), then a week at the Sevagram ashram, living in the hut once inhabited by Gandhi (‘now inhabited primarily by a family of friendly rats’. Here she settled herself ‘ into the daily routine of prayer, labour (preparing organic vegetables for the communal meal), weeding, cleaning grain, talking to the other guests, walking in the countryside… ‘For the last few weeks, she has been working at the hospice for the dying in Calcutta, run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity; the sisters believe that, for them, washing machines would be an unnecessary luxury, so the washing of absolutely filthy clothes and bedding has to be done by hand, and it’s done by the volunteers. I’ve included, later in this magazine, a description of the daily routine, taken from one of Effie’s e-mails.

 

I’m wondering what will have been the effect of all these experiences, and how she will react to our staying in hotels, which, though not luxurious, will contrast sharply with the experiences she has been having. Her reflections on what she has seen in India, recorded with great honesty on her ‘blog’ on the internet (http://rustedsatellites.blogspot.com) have challenged the usual presumption that a comfortable life is not only to be desired, but also, in our ‘soft’ western culture, taken for granted.

She has had more than a taste of the wilderness experience in the past few months; I haven’t even begun. One of the readings for Ash Wednesday (also, significantly, used at funerals) reminds us that ‘we brought nothing into the world, and can take nothing from it’, but how many of us live as though this were true? I hope I shall come back from India with a little more wisdom and humility, with a little more insight into the reality of poverty faced by so many in the world, as well as a greater appreciation of the rich spiritual heritage of India.

 

As we all begin Lent, perhaps we could try to make our lives, even in small ways, a bit less comfortable –we could try to indulge ourselves a little less. Perhaps our Lent lunches, which in the past have been quite a treat, should be much more frugal affairs, as we identify, in just a small way, with those in the world who have so little – and, of course, as we think of Jesus, who went into the wilderness to prepare himself for his life’s work, which would end in his giving up – literally – everything, for us.

It’s not so much about giving things up, but concentrating on what are the really important things in our lives, that really should claim our attention, but so often get swamped by the pre-occupations of ‘doing’, rather than ‘being’. And if we find that we perhaps save a little money as a result – by living more simply, shopping less, eating more frugally – then there are plenty of charities who can pass on our ‘spare’ money to those for whom such simplicity is not an option, but an enforced way of life.

 

Have a good Lent!

 

With love,

 

Rosey

 

 

 PS. Despite the solemn tone of all this, I ought to re-assure you that we do intend to have some fun and relaxation in India, as well as penitential Lent!