I was watching a movie about Austria around the time of second world war made from the point of view of a Jewish girl and the feeling seemed familiar.The same strife goes on today in veneers of sophistication ,coated in different colours.Ask me ,I know what it feels like to be a minority.
I am a woman from India,single,belong to a tribe of people from a state of Sikkim,who were the original inhabitants and yet have become the 'vanishing tribe' as one author puts it and to top it I am a mixed breed or as one of my friends often used to tease me half breed with my root in three main comunities of Sikkim.Even to a Sikkimese we present a strange picture.I am a christian to boot.That confuses a person from Sikkim even more.How come ?They inadvertantly ask,in a state, where we number 0.6% of the already scanty population.I think I might be one of the two people from my organisation to come from my state and perhaps the only doctor.
At the moment in UK everywhere I go people have never heard of Sikkim but for some senior consultants educated in the premier institutions who might have been friends with the crown prince long before I was born,otherwise I have a great time explaining my origin.I try my best but I am never quite there.To make things easier I tell them I am from India and they look even more confused.
Now to let you know how I identify with the little girl who wrote about Nazi Germany from her perspective.
I get the same sinking feeling every day of my life when I read the papers or follow the news because the world is full of the same rabid people barely on the leash,majority.I think next to the Jews ,the christians are the most persecuted people in the world and if you ask me now as to which is the most abused profession ,it has to be a doctor,atleast nearer home in India ,it is a reality everyday.
When I choose to go back to India and serve in some remote corner I am also saying yes to the possibility of being one of the statistics in the morning paper.If I am to become a statistic then I would like to do so fruitfully,ethically ,effectively in a fellowship of saints who honour the Lord.Otherwise one is kept fighting with the shadows within,without good fellowship ,which is not only dangerous but also makes for a very poor withness.I am no Christ,I am just a vulnerable human being,a sinner,loved by Christ inspite of all my inadequacies,trying to live out His mandate for my life.
In God,I trust.
I am a woman from India,single,belong to a tribe of people from a state of Sikkim,who were the original inhabitants and yet have become the 'vanishing tribe' as one author puts it and to top it I am a mixed breed or as one of my friends often used to tease me half breed with my root in three main comunities of Sikkim.Even to a Sikkimese we present a strange picture.I am a christian to boot.That confuses a person from Sikkim even more.How come ?They inadvertantly ask,in a state, where we number 0.6% of the already scanty population.I think I might be one of the two people from my organisation to come from my state and perhaps the only doctor.
At the moment in UK everywhere I go people have never heard of Sikkim but for some senior consultants educated in the premier institutions who might have been friends with the crown prince long before I was born,otherwise I have a great time explaining my origin.I try my best but I am never quite there.To make things easier I tell them I am from India and they look even more confused.
Now to let you know how I identify with the little girl who wrote about Nazi Germany from her perspective.
I get the same sinking feeling every day of my life when I read the papers or follow the news because the world is full of the same rabid people barely on the leash,majority.I think next to the Jews ,the christians are the most persecuted people in the world and if you ask me now as to which is the most abused profession ,it has to be a doctor,atleast nearer home in India ,it is a reality everyday.
When I choose to go back to India and serve in some remote corner I am also saying yes to the possibility of being one of the statistics in the morning paper.If I am to become a statistic then I would like to do so fruitfully,ethically ,effectively in a fellowship of saints who honour the Lord.Otherwise one is kept fighting with the shadows within,without good fellowship ,which is not only dangerous but also makes for a very poor withness.I am no Christ,I am just a vulnerable human being,a sinner,loved by Christ inspite of all my inadequacies,trying to live out His mandate for my life.
In God,I trust.
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