A BOOK THAT DISTURBED

 

It’s forty years since I read Anand’s “AALKKOOTTAM”. I don’t remember a word from the book now. But almost always I remember something special that happened to me in the aftermath of reading the book. I had felt mentally and physically exhausted by the time I read the last page. The devastating effect remained a mystery until I read a book by Prof Samuel Nellimukal (Former Head, Dept of Malayalam, CMS College, Kottayam), which narrates the history of CMS college since its inception. The book disturbed me no end such that its reading even changed some of my behavioural patterns for about a week, the time I took to complete it. It cemented my decades long belief that a book that does not disturb is not worth reading.

Here is the book “CMS COLLEGINTE CHARITHRAM”.

I was not very enthusiastic while beginning to read the book. But as I progressed through the book I realised that my perceptions are changing, many of my doubts are being cleared and most importantly I was getting honest and convincing answers for some of the questions haunting me for a very long time. Progressing through the pages a sort of reverence for the book started developing in me and I felt it difficult to keep it indiscriminately on the floor or even my study table. I felt as if I was reading the scriptures.

The incredible feats of the CMS missionaries are described in vivid details. I will not narrate any of those Godly acts here. But one or two things need special mention. How many of us can believe that slave trade was prevalent in Kerala during the nineteenth century? Yes, slavery was there in all its inhuman dimensions. Yet its abolition is not hailed the way Abraham Lincholn’s historic declaration is. The bizarre, uncivilised, inhuman dress code prescribed for the “lower cast (!) women” just  over a century ago was a crying shame. There are many more things like these.

I always had respect for the CMS missionaries for bringing out revolutionary social changes by imparting modern education to all without any discrimination. Yet I kept telling myself that after all these are the ones that committed the massacre at the Jallianwala Bhag. It was here that the book opened my eyes to a soothing reality that Gen (killer) Dyer and Rev Benjamin Bailey represented two mutually exclusive entities. The book contains a wealth of information of incidents and history spanning two centuries. At every stage one can feel the unbiased commitment of Prof Samuel, the pain he took, and the endurance against all odds. I sincerely believe that God specially chose him to write the book.

It is very unfortunate that the book did not receive the attention it deserved on the sheer strength of merit. That the CMS college ignored the book is nothing short of a crime. This book is for all. Yet may I make some humble suggestions.

All educational institutions of the CSI (schools and colleges) should have at least fifty copies each of this precious book in their libraries. Every parish (CSI) should have at least ten copies of the book. It certainly is worth including the book in the Sunday school syllabus.

I know that these are wishful thinking at this stage. Yet I am hopeful. If God selected Prof Samuel to write this book, certainly there should be a purpose. Let His purpose prevail.