Dear Friends,
We are in Sacred Times Indeed: Holy Week; Ramadan, Ramnawami, Buddha Purnima and probably other sacred times of others not yet in our frame across the world. As our mentor Anthropologist, Prof Subba has recently noted, we have no right to relegate some beliefs and practices as minor, lesser, primitive, animistic etc. Every form of worship whether categorised or not, whether in prime locations of privilege or happening in the obscurities of village enclaves, speak for the aspiration to connect with the supreme, the infinite, the absolute.
May our endeavour be it in organising an event like the blood donation, or a medical camp, the food distribution or waste management – as individuals in our own locality or in the banner of Salesian Alumni, be for the promotion of the genuine welfare of the other. We are living through times when the crunch on opportunity and resources are telling on most.
The minuscule who have it all seems to be having a field day, as it were. Let us not dishearten, nor stop working to reach out to the lesser fortunate – a Dushyanta who reaches out to a
Shakuntala than the one who forgets the memory of her – in the poetic fancy of a Kalidasa. It after all might have well had a historical basis as the relegation of those at the periphery in the forest communities, wanting to nurture and preserve their pristine purity and beauty are ever under the threat be it in Amazon, or closer home in the forest belt of North Bengal. May the AlumNews and its simple waves contained in the descriptions, photos, narratives and more be fluttering in our consciousness to make lives better and more meaningful.
Happy Easter to One and All,
Yours in Don Bosco,
Fr George Thadathil sdb
Rector SALESIAN COLLEGE Siliguri and Principal (Sonada-Siliguri)
