Going to the Boundaries! - All it takes is Surrender......

The Village Visits.............Experience which will stay......

Arkali – The Jesuit Centre, Paramankheni, Chennai.

Here we met Fr. Philip SJ, the director of the place. There we were sent to interact with the fisher folks and the people fighting for their rights in STs and SCs. Though we did not know Tamil, still we were able to understand them, as the language of love surpasses every boundary. He gave us a talk — his main point: “Don’t remove them from their place. Find balance.” Sounds wise enough, though I wondered if “balance” could be sold in the market.

We interacted with people from four houses. At 4:45 pm, the houses looked deserted. Why? Because the men were sleeping. They wake at 3:00 am, go fishing, and return only at 7:30 am. A rhythm of life completely alien to us.

Fishing is life. Government funds help in death, not in work. Transition from fishing to IT is a fantasy. Women aren’t allowed into the sea (for their “safety,” of course), but they are changing their streams to support the family. One thing is for sure: they are respected in the village.

Here Singaravelar’s name popped up — their revolutionary figure, giving them a purpose and role model with whose help they can fight for their freedom. And Jesuit initiatives: youth groups, tailoring centers, pickle training, widow support, legal village Sangams (officially registered) are helping the villagers in a greater way. Economic independence is the buzzword. Women finding voice is the background music.

As I was going through all these experiences, I felt at peace. I understood what I was doing, what I was experiencing. I felt the Spirit working and keeping my inner self at peace.

Nellur Village Visit....

Nellur runs on coconuts and mangoes. Life is woven out of palm leaves, both for roof and for livelihood. Roofs leak during rains, floods visit uninvited, and the government’s only consistent delivery is empty promises. During elections, they appear with freebies, but disappear once the votes are in.

Children go to Chennai to study. Families struggle with electricity and water. One year, electricity was free; then the government started charging. So the people pooled money to keep it going.

Food is mostly fish, with dry fish as the daily staple. Without dry fish, they say, there is no food. Simple as that.

But amidst all this, there is joy — togetherness, dancing, tailoring, tuition classes, community learning. What the Jesuits taught them is this: dignity matters more than development. Love and acceptance for simple people will bring us closer to them.

Why Only Aristotle and Plato?

Here’s the thing. Every culture has its own philosophy. Every person, even the one frying fish in the sun, has a philosophy. Then why should we only cram Aristotle and Plato into our poor heads? Why not the philosophy of the fishermen, the mothers, the tribals, the widows?

The village itself felt self-ruling, and people had stories and songs about social change. Narratives give meaning. Villages follow their own panchayat system — seven members, of course (because lucky numbers). No women, naturally. But the Jesuits are trying to negotiate women into the council. If they succeed, that would be bigger than the French Revolution.

Today in class, Fr. Joel SJ, our professor, raised many philosophical questions which were really to the point. For the villagers — or the men in particular — the sea was God. When they are dead in this quest of fishing, the family is left behind. It can even be related to the calling of Peter in the Gospel.

When we look at the seashore, we see that the shore changes every time. Narratives are narrations where stories, experiences, and events are retold. For example: who were they? They were villagers — fishermen, then women who were old, some teenage girls, and at last belonging to a certain caste. The major function here is identity. When we consider the whole of India, we forget certain narratives of people and take them for granted.

When we connected this, we saw how local elections impact the power of the country because the context and narrative are different. In today’s generation, speed matters. Many factors are controlled without our knowing.

Our Experience: Talking, Listening, and Becoming to Be Wise

People were happy listening to us. Or maybe they were just being polite. Either way, there was a flow: we talked, they talked, everyone was trying their best to understand each other.

For them, the sea is God. Birth and death - Just part of life. If the sea takes someone away, it’s accepted — no drama. Meanwhile, many are moving to the cities for “better lives.” Fair enough, but is uprooting them from their roots into some bigger picture really fair?

Women don’t fish. They study. They migrate. They settle in towns. Meanwhile, men are tied to the sea — “ready to die for it,” as they put it, with frightening sincerity.

Marakana Vodhai: Village Visit, Mystics, and My Confusion

Fr. Philip told us: “Learn to listen. Do not be rational. The world is emotional and mystical. Do not look for questions and answers — surrender.”

Easier said than done. But fine, I surrendered. At least for a few days.

This visit was to Marakana Vodhai, with Lady Laxmi — the head of the village — guiding us. We (Jesuits) are working with the youth. All of us wandered into Paramankheni, even staring at God’s Well (because of course, God also has real estate here).

Social Action, Saints, and the Jesuit Circus

If there’s one thing villages need, it’s a historical leader to rally around. Enter Singaravelar — revolutionary, people’s man, remembered with pride.

Then there are the Jesuits. Oh, the Jesuits. Running classes for children, youth centers, women’s social centers, study centers. Training women, giving scholarships, building leadership, uplifting forty-plus villages. Education, financial aid, tailoring, pickle-making, tuition classes, dancing, dignity — the works. Basically, a one-stop NGO disguised as a religious order.

Yet dropouts remain. Girls surprisingly outnumber boys in education, but many eventually return to the villages. The South Tamil Nadu coastal belt is mostly Christian. North Tamil Nadu? Not so much. Still, St. Francis Xavier’s ghost lingers — his well is here, sacred and salty.

And yes, tsunamis are the biggest enemy. Fifty people gone, just like that. Still, people stay. Because where else will they go?

Comic Reality Check

It’s all mystical, poetic, almost romantic… until you notice the cracks. Houses leaking in the rain. Government half-building homes and abandoning them mid-construction. Women banned from fishing but trying to go to the cities to study. Men willing to die for the sea, as though martyrdom earns extra credit in heaven.

The sea provides, the sea takes away. The people accept. We outsiders intellectualize.

But maybe, just maybe, their philosophy — surrender, acceptance, balance — makes more sense than our endless search for Aristotle, Plato, and Ontological Proofs.

At last, I was happy to venture out to be with them. I felt my perspectives were way sharper than before. I learnt to be humble, I learnt to be a man of the people and came to know the real meaning of "smelling like the sheep", I learnt to sense and connect emotionally and spiritually, I learnt to do works without giving any preference to myself because that is my vocation. Above all I learnt to surrender to the flow of Life. All this becomes easy when you follow a person who makes life easy and every day you get though you have weaknesses, you just know one thing that I have to follow Him!
                                                                                     
                                                                            Student of Philosophy - Sch Rohan Brahmane SJ