One of the subjects of consultation of President Sarkosy with the German Chancellor was to compare and adjust their notes for an action on the holding company of EADS. The two countries main shareholders of EADS have to get their act right as their actions will have an impact on the work force of each country. Besides the fierce competition of the aircraft manufactures could well be fiercest of the many competitions between the US and the EU. China & Dubai will be investing in Airbus. Much is at stake.

There have been a couple of books written on the Boeing Airbus rivalry. Flight of the titans (2005), Boeing versus Airbus (2006) are the recent books. I read through the summary of the 2006 book written by John Newhouse, the prolific author and former columnist of a renowned American newspaper: The Newyorker.

Who will ultimately win the battle? And which battle are they fighting?

Is it the battle of the survival of the firms? Much has to be said about the financial structure of each company and the support given by the respective governments. On the one hand, the US had accused the Europeans to subsidize Airbus on the other technological break through researched and paid by the NASA are used by Boeing. Conveniently, Boeing is also a manufacturer of strategic aircraft for the military.

Will the battle then be about market share?

At this stage, it would appear that the strategic decisions taken by each company are different. Seattle-based Boeing didn’t want the super-jumbo jet to carry fewer than 600 passengers, so that it could preserve the market for any expanded version of its 747 jumbo jets, which have a current maximum capacity of 420 seats…Some Airbus members wanted any joint US-European line of super jumbo jets to begin with a 500-seat version to prevent Boeing from increasing its own overall share of all airliner markets.

The two firms also disagreed at a fundamental level about future demand dynamics. Boeing maintained that increased fragmentation in the form of point-to-point travel would solve the problem of congestion at major airports. Airbus, on the other hand,believed that hub-to-hub travel, particularly at the major airports in London, New York,Los Angeles, and Tokyo would continue to grow. While it agreed with Boeing that some increases in fragmentation and frequency would occur, it did not believe that theyrepresented long-term solutions to increasing travel, especially at major hubs in Asia. Asa result, Airbus saw the development of airplanes with greater capacity as essential.

At any rate, once their collaboration ended, both competitors reverted to independent efforts in this product space. Airbus quickly set up a Large Aircraft Decision to pursue the market opportunity in VLA. Thus in 2008 the Airbus 380 will be on stream. And for its part, Boeing considered two updated and “stretched” versions of its popular 747 jumbo jet, the 747-500X holding up to 490 passengers and the 747-600X holding up to 550 passengers, at a total cost of $5to $7 billion. Boeing is also pursuing its efforts and energies in a more efficient and ecology efficient aircraft, the dream liner 787 using new engines and new material for the aircraft body.

It looks like now and in the future Boeing is ahead in market share, and ahead in the game of the future which will be a more efficient and pollution friendlier technology. Whilst Airbus battle ground is still on today’s turf it looks as if Boeing is furrowing in the new rules of the Future, the fuel efficient aircraft and reduced pollution.

Do you know Yves Béhar? What a fantastic entrepreneur he is. In 1999 he created fuseproject an industrial design and branding firm and has collected a myriad of awards since.

The design studio works across a wide array of industries as diverse as beauty and fashion to furniture and technology. The studio takes a long-term strategic approach to developing and enhancing brands. Its concepts are visual expressions of brand attributes and the entire customer experience. It aims to help companies innovate through product design and branding.

I came to know of him through one of his project through an article published by wired called “The Laptop Crusade”. He made the news again this week as now the laptops will be powered with a mechanical generator which is actioned by hand pulling a pulley.

The mission: Create a $100 computer for millions of poor kids around the world.

“It’s like there’s this virus of cheap laptops,” Béhar says, laughing. “That’s what happens when you plant an idea.”

Wow! To think that a laptop will only cost 3300 rupees gives me immense joy. I cannot imagine the wealth of knowledge that will open up to the underprivileged, to our school children all over the world.

OLPC, one laptop per child is his vision!

And now thanks to Yves Béhar’s determination OLPC has become a reality.

It’s an education project, not a laptop project.

— Nicholas Negroponte

This is the wiki for the One Laptop per Child association. The mission of this non-profit association is to develop a low-cost laptop—the “$100 Laptop”—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world’s children. Our goal is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.

Why do children in developing nations need laptops? Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.

OLPC espouses five core principles: (1) child ownership; (2) low ages; (3) saturation; (4) connection; and (5) free and open source.

 

Trop souvent j’ai entendu la réflexion de mettre en opposition la façon d’agir de Marie contre celle de Marthe. Est-ce un procès de l’action contre la contemplation ?  Le fait que le Seigneur ait dit : « Une seule est nécessaire. Marie a choisi la meilleure part : elle ne lui sera pas enlevée. » semble indiquer que la contemplation est supérieure à l’action.

Ma réflexion ce dimanche m’oriente à penser que la contemplation du Seigneur est le but ultime de notre vie. Au fait, au terme de notre route terrestre, passer à l’éternel pourrait-il signifier être en contemplation permanente de Dieu? J’y crois. Ainsi, Marie serait déjà à l’éternel en se tenant assise aux pieds du Seigneur, écoutant Sa parole : vivre de la relation avec notre Dieu créateur.

L’action de Marthe, ne serait-elle pas l’illustration de notre vie terrestre ? Nos souçis et inquiètudes ne nous conduisent- ils pas à l’action? Pourquoi opposer les deux façons de faire? Considérons les comportements de Marthe et de Marie comme étant complémentaires. Et si l’action de Marthe, c’est-à-dire ‘servir’, nous mènerait vers l’ultime, qui est la contemplation? Et encore, les actions de Marthe et de Marie néccesiteraient-elles une alternance de notre part?  Ne nous faut-il pas allouer un temps pour l’action de service, et un temps de prière?

Pouvons nous être dans l’action tout en étant à l’écoute du Seigneur ?

“HIV aids” is a threat to the world. The extent of the possible damage to humanity, up to now cannot be measured. Whilst the cure for the disease has not been found, medicine to control the affliction on the patients exists. Prevention of the spread of the disease requires enormous amount of resources which the under developed and developing countries’ governments cannot afford to bear the costs of and do not have the know-how and will to cope with. The Global Business Coalition has been instituted by Businesses to fight the “HIV Aids” and help to contain this world plague.

We have been talking and discussing about the social responsibility of businesses in our country. How many of our firms in Mauritius have social responsibility programmes? Of the Mauritian firms who are reaping in annual profits of over hundreds of millions of rupees how many have an allocated annual budget to its social responsibility?

Fortunately some firms do take the issue seriously. For what I can glean from the press, Beach Comber group allocates substantial resources through the “Fondation Espoir et development” to put to action their social responsibility targets. Barclays Bank has a full time person looking into its social actions. What about the other firms?

Some would argue that you can only be philanthropic after you have collected enough wealth. I am of opinion that all businesses have a duty to have a social responsibility program what ever the size of the enterprise.

Is it possible to have a concerted effort to have a higher impact on the priority issues? In Mauritius we could well have a business coalition, along the line of the Global Business Coalition, to fight off the plagues that are rotting our society such as drug addition and HIV aids. Where are the leaders who would take up this challenge?

Interestingly enough, it may inspire you to visit the website of “The Leaders” of which Nelson Mandela is one of the figure head.

This week again, Newsweek in its issue, highlights the danger of consuming food imported from China. Newsweek is right in alerting the US population on the subject because of the increase dependence of the US on supply from China.

China became the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S. in 2004 – and amounts are rising fast. Chinese imports were up 14 percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 2006. This year, so far, they are up 34 percent over 2006.

“China’s imports of aquaculture products are increasing despite the country’s history of violations for veterinary drug residues,” says Food & Water Watch. “Between 2003 and 2006, 35 percent of all refusals for veterinary drug residues were found on shipments from China. In 2006, 62.4 percent of all refusals for veterinary drug residues came from there.”

The sanitary conditions in China, is being addressed by the authorities of China who have reproduced a report by Zhou Qing on the theme and distributed to the producers. It may take some time for china, to address the ecological issue. The rivers are polluted; there is no control on the fertilizers and pesticides used which find their way in the waters. How long will China take to produce acceptable quality?

The threat of Aquaculture in Mauritius is to be able to produce a proper product at a competitive price. The opportunities are by far larger provided we produce a clean product, a bio one, and target a niche market where the sanitary quality is the premium and price is second. Branding Mauritius as an ecological producer and living the label will be our biggest assets.Government authorities have to be very vigilant in making sure that the farms are within the norms of sanitation. The development of the sector will be long live if the very stringent environmental rules are followed. Let us take the benefits of learning from the mistakes other farms in the world to build our own. Much have to be learned.

The Food & Water website is worthwhile visiting.

Extract on the theme:
Concerns
Salmon farming
Dichlorvos is licensed as a veterinary medicine by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate for use against sea lice (Lepeophteirus salmonis and Caligus elongatus) that afflict salmon. The UK salmon farming industry is mainly based in the western coast and Islands of Scotland there are about 130 salmon farming companies on 280 sites. Production has increased from 600 tonnes in 1980 to 48,000 tonnes in 1993(10). There have been concerns about the discharge of dichlorvos as a result, and the possible effects of dichlorvos on wild salmon. There was an increase in the incidence of cataracts and blindness in wild salmon in the 1980s and this has been linked with exposure to dichlorvos(11).
Alternatives to dichlorvos are now being introduced including the use of sea wrasse as ‘cleaner fish’, and the use of hydrogen peroxide as an alternative disinfectant.

Developing country use
Because of its high acute oral and dermal toxicity, its availability in developing countries is a cause for concern. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Bank, GTZ (Germany) and ODA (UK) generally discourage the procurement of such products. The accepted international guide to best practice in the procurement of pesticides is set out in the FAO’s Provisional Guidelines on Tender Procedures for the Procurement of Pesticides(12) which state:
“Pesticide formulations that fall into Class IA or IB … usually have severe restrictions in developed countries; in general they can only be used by specially trained and certified applicators. Such pesticides should not be used by small farmers or untrained and unprotected workers in developing countries”.
Nevertheless research by the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] shows that dichlorvos is widely used in a number of countries where the conditions of use have raised concerns. Dichlorvos has caused poisonings in China, Costa Rica, Paraguay, India, Papua New Guinea and Egypt. It is also widely produced – there are facilities in India, Brazil and Mexico(13). For these reasons PAN groups have strongly urged that dichlorvos be included in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) process from the outset(14). One manufacturer, Ciba Geigy, has agreed to withdraw dichlorvos from sale in the Colombian flower industry (see p14).

Conclusions
It is accepted that dichlorvos is dangerous to a number of aquatic species and that the discharge of dichlorvos to water should be reduced. Dichlorvos can inhibit cholinesterase levels in humans which may lead to short or longer term neurotoxic effects. Although it has been used for some 40 years, considerable uncertainties remain about whether or not it is implicated in cancer, and the wider environmental consequences of its use. In general and specifically in developing countries and in UK fish farming less hazardous alternatives are available

My good friend Ahad made my day today. He sent me this story which I feel compelled to publish on my blog. Dear friend I am so grateful to you.Seed has a special connotation to me. A few years ago together with a group of social workers, we were brainstorming to find a name for our group. We together coined: Service Ecoute Et de Developpement. Today there are some twenty “SEED” cells operating on the island. The cells are run by trained benevolent women courageously listening to the pains of the underprivileged of the society and accompanying them in their state and together will them working out solutions to their problems. The Motto of the cells is: Empowerment through respect of human dignity.

The Seed

A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together

He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO.I have decided to choose one of you. “The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. “I am going to give each one of you a SEED today? one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company rought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the boardroom. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful — in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed – Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!

His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.

“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.

Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”

If I was asked what the word Deoband meant? My reply: Deo from my latin based drawer of my brain gives God and band means a gang. I would very ignorantly conclude: the gang of God. For fun, I curiously asked my wife last night the same question. Her reply was Deo for deodorant and band for a group of things. She thus concluded: ‘Is it a new deodorant brand?”

Having recently read some documents on Islam and the forces and influences of Islam in the present world, the word Deoband has now a new meaning to me. The annoucement of the future visit of Tariq Ramadan and the last conference I attended on the new faces of Islam are still working in my mind and giving a boost to my interest on the subject.

Why did I choose this word? Deoband. Well, it is because of my dear Muslim co-citizens of Mauritius.It is one of the school of Islam which has inspired the converted Muslim Indians. We can safely affirm that with a very few exception the totality of Muslims in Mauritius were Indian converts of Hanifi school of thought.

For having worked a number of years with many of my Muslim friends and for having over ten years work and dealt with the Haj & Umra pilgrimages, I owe it to myself and my Muslim friends a better understanding of the happenings in the world of Islam. I had the opportunity to attend talks with Haj organisers in Jeddah from different countries. I have to admit that converted Indian Muslims are not treated on the same footing as the Arab Muslims.

As the fastest growing population of 19% or over in Mauritius, Muslims mostly Sunnites, are most certainly a group that we have to be aware of. Besides, it is common knowledge that the influence of this section of the population in respect of the economy and society is far greater than its proportional number.

The comparison in the treatment of Muslims in India and in Mauritius is a very worthwhile exercise. Much has to be learnt as the majority of the population considers India as mother India for having originated there, and the secular governments are both democratic.

The Mauritian government has, in a way, been more generous or lenient to the Muslims by allowing foreign mullahs to work in the country whilst India has kept away from external sources. In the past, most of the mullahs were from India. Recently,for the last decade or so, there are a number of Islamic teachers from Pakistan or from Egypt working in Mauritius. Funding from other than Indian sources may well have helped the Muslim community to move away from the ties of Indian sources. Hence we have now a variety of Muslims with different schools of thoughts and following: Al Azhar from Egypt,Wahhabi from Saudi Arabia,Memons from Kutch,Hanifi from India…etc

All Muslims believe the Qur’an is error-free, but they differ on how to apply the Sunnah in order to interpret and understand the Qur’an.

The Aquatic Business Activities Bill has created waves in the Mauritian scene. Whilst La Ferme Marine de Mahebourg has been operating a fish Farm since 4-5 years under very stringent rules set up by the authorities, it would appear that the bill presented at the parliament is causing some war waged by Vassen Kaupaymoothoo. You may recall the blog I wrote earlier on the subject praising the initiative. You may want to refer back to the extract of the article published in Le Mauricien on the 14th July. Vassen Kaupaymoothoo, according to La Vie Catholique, is defending a civic and noble cause for the interest of the nation. The dance saga of Kalipso, which is the name of the organisation through which Vassen Kaupaymoothoo is crusading, has started. No doubt any development or change brings disturbance to the ecology. Did man displace forests to start cultivation many centuries ago? Did man removed vegetation and bushes to build roads? Does the gas produced by your car destroy the air you breathe? Will the setting up of a farm in the lagoons of Mauritius affect the ecology? The answers to all the questions are definitely affirmative. The relevant and pertinent question should be: “Against the other benefits sought by Aquatic Business, how much disturbances to the nature should be allowed?” Don’t you think that the tourism industry likewise bring in its load of pollution? What is required: is precisely to take advantage of nature without destroying it.

Building sustainable industry is the buzz word today. Non abuse of Nature is of essence. I do welcome the crusade of Vassen Kaupaymoothoo to protect nature. He might well be able to set up limits based on scientific studies which will not mar our ecology forever whilst making the most of it. Is waging against the bill the position to take? I would rather see that the ocean scholar proposing solutions and placing limits beyond which Mauritius should not go for fear of disrupting nature beyond repair. The role of Government is precisely to set up the rules.

All of us know the damage overfishing has done to our seas. Greed and abuse of nature in time always pop up. Does that mean we should then ban fishing? Should we fish just enough so that nature has the time to reproduce enough for man to consume and benefit of its gift? A mindful and just man has always a sense of balance. He balances short terms shortcomings against long term earnings and vice versa.

Quote from la Vie Catholique

Portrait Vassen Kaupaymoothoo L’homme en croisade Sorti de nulle part, comme un héros de bandes dessinées, Vassen Kaupaymoothoo livre une guerre sans merci contre les partisans de l’Aquatic Business Activities Bill. Océanologue de formation, il connaît la mer comme sa poche et ne cesse de clamer à qui veut l’entendre que la mer est du domaine public et que cette loi viendra non seulement priver la population d’un droit légitime, mais conduira à la mort de milliers de vies marines. Sa quête est apolitique, se défend-il, étant «surtout un acte civique». Chemise bleue, pantalon beige, coupe de cheveux impeccable, Vassen Kaupaymoothoo fait à la fois père de famille respectable et professionnel digne de confiance. Et son français impeccable ¬ probablement dû au fait que sa mère est française et qu’il a fait ses études en France – ne fait qu’ajouter plus de crédit au personnage. Voilà quelques semaines à peine depuis que Vassen Kaupaymoothoo est arrivé sur la scène publique et déjà sa notoriété est en pleine croissance. Dans l’affaire de l’Aquatic Business Activities Bill, il est l’homme à abattre. Car, au sein de son association Kalipso, qui a vu le jour le 4 juin dernier, l’homme milite pour que ce projet de loi ne se concrétise jamais. Rien de positif De l’Aquatic Business Activities Bill, Vassen Kaupaymoothoo n’en retient absolument rien de positif. Des malheurs liés à cette loi, il en cite à la pelle. D’abord, «dans l’aquaculture, les poissons seront nourris à la farine animale. Ils seront donc vulnérables à des maladies et on risque d’avoir des cas comme celui de la vache folle. Puis, une forte concentration de poissons résultera en une grande concentration de déjection, chose préjudiciable à l’équilibre marin. Ensuite, les prédateurs, tels que les requins, seront attirés. Puis, les odeurs. Ensuite, l’inesthétique, Enfin, le risque de voir un envahissement de poissons génétiquement modifiés dans le lagon,…».«L’aquaculture, affirme-t-ilinlassablement, est contraire au développement touristique.» Faisant fi des pressions, des propos dissuasifs, Vassen Kaupaymoothoo semble bien déterminé à mener son action à terme. L’homme ne pourra être comblé et dormir sur ses deux oreilles que si ce projet de loi finissait par être relégué aux oubliettes. En donnant vie à Kalipso, il avait d’ailleurs trois objectifs: a) Parler de ce problème au niveau national et sensibiliser le public ; b) Atteindre l’Etat ; et, c) Faire que ce projet de loi soit retiré. «J’ai atteint les deux premiers objectifs. Le public est au courant et nous avons rencontré le ministre. Le troisième reste à venir.» Accusé par certains d’être antipatriote et de vouloir faire barrière au développement du pays, suspecté par d’autres d’avoir un hidden agenda, l’océanologue essaie de ne pas en faire grand cas, mais avoue que ce sont des coups durs pour «une personne qui fait son devoir de citoyen». Un simple citoyen Vassen Kaupaymoothoo refuse qu’on parle de lui comme d’un militant, mais préfère se définir comme un simple citoyen touché par ce qui se passe. «Si je ne fais rien, j’aurai un gros problème de conscience vis-à-vis de mes enfants, de la population – car je n’aurais pas fait ce qu’il fallait, quand il le fallait. L’avenir est entre nos mains. Nous avons des responsabilités en tant que citoyens mauriciens. Personnellement, je ne pourrais pas vivre avec un cas de conscience pour n’avoir rien fait pour sauver notre patrimoine et celui de nos enfants.» Conscience citoyenne, patriotisme… ce sont quelque part ces convictions qui poussèrent Vassen Kaupaymoothoo à revenir au pays, il y a de cela une douzaine d’année. Ses études terminées (en France et au Canada) et après avoir parcouru plusieurs régions du globe (l’Europe, le pôle Nord, le Japon…) et travaillé pour diverses organisations, dont le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement (Pnud), le jeune homme rentre à Maurice pour travailler comme consultant, à son propre compte. «Je me suis dit que le futur du pays dépendait des gens qui travailleraient ici. J’ai refusé d’être égoïste. Et comme il n’y avait pas d’océanologue dans l’île…» La détermination Si notre interlocuteur dit n’avoir jamais regretté son choix, il avoue toutefois avoir souvent eu à l’assumer. «Les gens qui vous demandent qu’est ce que vous êtes venu faire ici, le refus de reconnaître vos compétences…» Qu’à cela ne tienne. S’il y a bien un mot que Vassen Kaupaymoothoo a fait sien, c’est détermination. Détermination dans son travail à Maurice. Détermination concernant la croisade qu’il mène au sein de Kalipso. «Je suis convaincu de ce que je fais. Je souffrirai beaucoup plus si je ne pouvais pas aller jusqu’au bout. Ma conviction est totale et désintéressée. Je continuerai à me battre jusqu’à ce que ce projet de loi soit retiré.» La Vie Catholique

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India
My friends Shabbir and ILA from Bombay offered me sometime ago the book written by Edward Luce. I am so grateful to them.

It is a very entertaining and yet very well documented book which I thoroughly enjoyed. Living in Mauritius in the country with the largest majority of Indians in the southern hemisphere, I was enthused with the writings of Edward Luce.

I am now clearer (I guess) or at least I could sense the source of some of the unexplained behaviour of some of our Indian origin brothers of Mauritius particularly some of the prominent politicians. Castes system: origin and practices are very well illustrated in the document. One only needs to transpose the basis concept of Caste system from the Vedic literature to the reality of present Mauritian Society.

I was interested to read Luce’s view on:

1.      The relationship of the between the majority community and the Indians of Muslim faith. How the situation will develop with the Islamic world’s expansion.

2.      The impact of Bollywood and the Cinema on the Indian Society and the world.

3.      The continuing threat of Hindu nationalism.

4.      The modern Global and Medieval co existing together.

5.      The future  issues of India in the face of the United States and China

 

The Guardian English newspaper produced a comment on the book:

While researching this book, Edward Luce visits the Cow Product Research Centre near the central Indian city of Nagpur. It is run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a right-wing militant organisation dedicated to, among other things, the ‘reform of the Hindu religion’.

Luce is shown around by a senior activist, who starts by taking him to the laboratories. ‘The first room hit me about 20 metres before we arrived. It contained hundreds of bottles of cow’s urine. Next we were shown cow-dung products. My favourite was cow-dung soap.’ ‘God lives in the cow dung,’ Luce’s guide said. ‘All of these recipes are contained in the holy texts.’

 

This anecdote raises the snigger it is calculated to raise and reinforces a stereotype about India. Luce, however, is no panderer to stereotypes. He shows us that with India, stereotypes exemplified by such anecdotes often turn out to be red herrings.

La parabole du bon samaritain, je ne sais combien de fois j’ai entendu et lu ce passage et combien de fois j’ai ecouté des sermons sur ce texte. Une fois encore, la lecture du texte me donne une orientation différente car je ne suis pas au même moment dans ma vie et je n’ai pas la même disposition d’âme et d’esprit que j’avais auparavant. Le texte est resté le même. Ecrit 2000 ans de cela, l’Evangile n’a certainement pas bougé. Le Seigneur, l’Immuable, cependant IL me parle à travers ce texte, au présent, ici et maintenant? Oh oui ! Comme le docteur de la loi je voudrai pratiquer le commandement de Dieu : « Tu aimeras le Seigneur ton Dieu de tout ton coeur, de toute ton âme, de toute ta force et de tout ton esprit, et ton prochain comme toi-même. »

A travers le sermon de ma messe, IL m’a demandé : « et qui donc est mon prochain ? » L’égard que j’ai envers mon entourage est–t-il de la même teneur que le bon samaritain ? Me suis-je égaré de la voie qu’IL m’a tracé ou de la voie que j’aurai aimé être ? Est-ce que je vis la compassion et la générosité du samaritain à l’égard même de mes proches ? Où s’étend mon amour inconditionnel ? Quelle preuve de bonté aura-i je fais, envers les pauvres abandonnés que je vois tous les jours ? Un prêtre et un lévite virent l’homme dépouillé et passèrent tous deux de l’autre côté, or le Samaritain vit et fut saisi de pitié.

Voilà la différence que je vois maintenant. Ne savons nous plus être saisis de pitié ? Notre cœur serait-il rempli d’autres préoccupations égoïstes et matérielles pour demeurer insensible à la misère qui nous saute aux yeux ? Refus d’assistance d’un homme en danger de mort n’est il pas un délit reprimable aux yeux de la loi ?

Ainsi ma prière de ce jour est de demander au Seigneur d’ouvrir ma sensibilité à la misère de mon prochain et de m’accorder une plus grande générosité pour être Son pourvoyeur ici et maintenant d’amour inconditionnel. Mon but n’est-il pas d’être Son instrument ?