Some citizens in our country are moving away from the path of democracy and secularism. They are a big threat to Mother India’s unity in diversity. But there are many sons and daughters of Mother India who have been holding the fort of unity in diversity. We have all seen film stars like Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan doing dangerous stunts in their reel life but I am happy to share with you a dangerous stunt by my friend Mr Khan in his real life. A few years ago, a house in the port town of Vasco caught fire. There was a one year old child inside the house. My friend Mr Khan entered the house on fire risking his own life and saved the little child. After handing over the child to the mother, he quickly vanished to avoid human glorification. I was sad as he suffered burn injuries but was happy as the little child was unhurt. I wanted to facilitate him in a big way. But tears rolled down my eyes when my friend quoted the beautiful lines from the Holy Bible, Mathew Chapter 6 verse 3, “But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it.”
In the year 2006, I was operated for a vocal cord nodule. Training is my first love but no organization was ready to hire my services as a trainer after the vocal cord nodule surgery. My friend from Ranchi, Mayur who was working as a Zonal Training Manager for MetLife India was kind enough to offer me the position of a training manager at MetLife. He supported me and ensured that within a few months, I was the top training manager in the organisation. When, I expressed my gratitude to my friend Mayur, he quoted the beautiful lines from the Holy Bible Mathew Chapter 25 verse 35, “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your home” and said, “Tennyson, I have done it for Jesus Christ”.
A few days back, I had invited Mr Venkatesh Betigiri a mechanical engineer and faculty at the Government Polytechnic Institute to conduct a rhythmic breathing session for the business associates of our company at the Maruti Temple hall in Panjim. In his training programme on rhythmic breathing, Venkatesh was explaining the importance of breathing like a child for the attainment of good health. He started by quoting the soothing lines from the Holy Bible, Mathew Chapter 18 verse 3 “I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Today, many Christians preach the Gospel, but do not practice the commandments of Jesus Christ. Even Mahatma Gandhi said, “I love Jesus Christ but not Christians”. I thank God for blessing me with brand ambassadors of unity in diversity like my friends Mr Khan, Mayur and Venkatesh Betigiri in my life who have encouraged me to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ not by their words but by their noble deeds. I am proud to be a citizen of India. It is important to protect our country’s unity in diversity. The festival of Diwali signifies the victory of light over darkness. This year, let us celebrate Diwali in true spirit by defeating darkness in the form of intolerance in our country. Let all Indians see the light and experience joy and peace during Diwali and always in their life. Long live our unity in diversity.
(The writer of this article is a teacher, trainer, poet, writer and a Konkani tiatrist)
