Saturday Evening Post
Making of the Encyclopaedia
From the Horse’s own Mouth
George Menachery
Eleven
So
far we have met four of the members of the Encyclopaedia’s Board of Editorial
Consultants: Dr. E. R. Hambye, Dr. Xavier Koodappuzha, Dr. Paul Varghese, and
Dr. A. M. Mundadan. Now we shall meet another. Dr. Joseph Kannath invited me to
a two day workshop being conducted at the Pastoral Orientation Centre of the
KCBC at Palarivattam, Ernakulam. At the end of the first day, after supper, I
decided to take a stroll in the beautiful campus. I saw that Fr. Dr. Albert
Nambiapparambil was already taking a walk there. I joined him and he greeted me
with great joy. He was a Deputy Secretary of the National Seminar Committee of
1969 and had played a part in inviting me to the National Seminar.
This
is how it came about. We had started the Institute for Lay Leadership Training
in 1967. At first the managing director Prof. P. P. Peter wanted to start a
model boarding house to train young students. He was thinking that if he were
appointed warden of the St. Thomas’ College Hostel he could run it like a model
boarding house where formation of youngsters could be carried out. But that
appointment did not come through. Then I suggested that an Institute for Lay
Leadership Training could be set up to give training to all sections of lay
people. To begin with we decided to conduct
a ninety day residential course for post S. S. L. C. students. We
announced a Rs. Hundred per plate dinner at which Bishop George Alappat would
be present and participants will be able to converse with the Bishop. This was
a novel programme and we were able to rope in one hundred participants, mostly
businessmen of Trichur. Of the ten thousand rupees thus collected we spent less
than a thousand rupees for the dinner and with the nine thousand rupees saved
we were able to finance the residential course. For this training course I was
asked to prepare a detailed syllabus. In addition to classes connected with the
Church there were classes in public speaking, short story writing, making a
wall magazine, running a weekly newspaper, and even clay modeling and cooking.
Afterwards when the POC was started its founder director Dr. Kannath visited
our Institute and was highly impressed. He took copies of our syllabus and said
that some of these items could be implemented at the POC. When the Kerala
Regional Seminar as one of the preparatory seminars of the Church in India
Today National Seminar was organized with Dr. Kannath heading the organizing
committee, at the St. Joseph’s
Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye in December 1968 I was invited as a participant of
the Leadership Training Group. My
interventions in my own group and in the plenary sessions were noticed by many,
Fr. Dr. Adappur, s.j. among them, who was planning to shift the Head Quarters
of the Newman Association of India from Bombay to Kochi with himself as the
National Director. The then National Director of the Newman Association was Fr.
Blaeguer s. j. who was now also in charge of organizing the National Seminar. I
was the National vice-president of the Newman Association of India from 1964 to
1972. One day when I was chatting with Dr. Adappur in one of the seminary
verandahs Dr. Albert Nambiapparambil, one of the seminar deputy secretaries,
joined us. Fr. Adappur told Fr. Albert that it was people like me who should
participate in the National Seminar. Dr. Nambiapparambil said that he would
look into the matter. I think it was Fr. Nambiapparambil’s suggestion to Fr.
Balaeguer that got me invited to the National Seminar. After the National
Seminar Fr. Albert congratulated me on my interventions and especially for the
effective manner in which I had presented the historic resolution and later he
wrote a whole article on me wherein he recalled the events of that last
‘fateful’ night at Dharmaram.
When
we were walking together at the POC campus I broached the topic of the
Encyclopaedia and gave him an outline of what I was trying to do. He
wholeheartedly appreciated my efforts. Then I asked him to contribute an
article. He said that history was not his field and that he was mainly
interested in conducting philosophy conferences and promoting dialogue with
other religions. At the time he was the secretary of the Dialogue Commission of
the CBCI. I said that dialogue was a major field being covered in the
Encyclopaedia. He then agreed to write
an exhaustive article on the development in the field after the Second Vatican
Council. I sought the names of scholars who could contribute to the Indology
section of the Encyclopaedia. He
suggested the name of Swami Siddinadananda for the major article on Hinduism.
He also agreed to be on the Board of Editorial Consultants of the
Encyclopaedia.
Let
me quote a few sentences from the article mentioned above:
“A motion was before the board that managed the
affairs of the “Church in India seminar of 1969” being held in Dharmaram
College, Bangalore to the effect that there be only one rite in a place, i.e.
that there be one jurisdiction. I recall the efforts made by Mr. George
Menachery to gather enough signatures from among the participants to bring in a
motion demanding the expansion of the jurisdiction of the Oriental Churches to
the entire nation. It was great that his, our, efforts succeeded. Both the
motions were discussed in the meet. There was much tension among the
participants. A reconciliation formula was brought in; the other two motions
were withdrawn. The reconciliation formula was moved and accepted. Let me not
go into the details. I admire the courage of a young George Menachery who stood
firmly his ground amidst strong opposition.
“A Pioneer With a Vision: I recall Mr.
Menachery moving around with his vision for an “Encyclopedia of Thomas
Christians”. I am not a historian. My interest, if any, was that of cultural
integration, that of Interfaith Dialogue, philosophers’ meet. Because of his
friendly pressure, I recall putting down a few pages for his great work. He
masterminded that great work, A Gift to this Church. It is a matter of joy and
pride for me that I could on many occasions point to this work of Menachery,
the Encyclopedia as something precious for us all.”
……………………………………………….
“I remember Mr. Menachery going around collecting,
preserving the precious symbols, candle-sticks, oil-lamps, stones of the
Syro-Malabar heritage from different churches and spots. He organized
exhibitions of these reminding members of his own community and the outsiders
not to forget the past. Rather his attempts gave a new boost to the self-esteem
of the community. Here is someone who raised warning signals against certain
hidden dangers of the fast changing society. There is this danger in our fast
changing societies, that of losing one’s own self-identity.
“The Syro-Malabar Community had gone through a
process of Latinization in the past. This community had the difficult and
delicate task of returning to and regaining the identity while going through
the process of inculturisation that was the call of the day, of the post 2nd
Vatican Council period. In Mr. George Menachery this Church, that traces her
origin to the Apostle St. Thomas, found an eloquent leader for this genuine
cause of returning to the roots. While remaining a defender of our cultural
roots, Menachery was open to the changes affecting us all, to authentic
openness.”
Dr.
Mundadan in his article quoted earlier says that after the release of the
Kerala Volume of the Encyclopaedia both the work and its creator became
celebrities overnight. The reality is that I did not feel like a celebrity at
all. All the financial and other troubles were staring in my face. The
publicity given for the Cardinal House function where His Eminence Joseph
Cardinal Parecattil and His Holiness
Catholicos Baselios Augen I were present by the Media was indeed
heartening. But that was more or less all.
Hence
I was happy when my colleagues in the college held a reception to congratulate
me. At that meeting Chummar Choondal described the Encyclopaedia as the most
remarkable publication of the century. This made some of my colleagues who were
not keen about historical and cultural matters to take note of the book.
Thereafter
three incidents took place which made me realize how the public at large,
especially outside my district, had assessed the Encyclopaedia.
The
rector of the Mangalappuzha seminary Fr. Dr. Dominic OCD invited me as the
chief guest for the July 3rd celebrations in the Pontifical
Seminary. In fact he wanted me to be the chief guest in the celebrations at
Mangalappuzha in the morning and in the afternoon to be the chief guest at the
Carmelgiri function. For a mere lecturer in a college, that too a comparatively
young one, with no ecclesiastical background, this was honour of the first
degree. At the Carmelgiri function Fr. Joseph Kavalakkatt, the vice rector was
the president. At that function attended by all the philosophy candidates of
the Institute I made the suggestion that the candidates could be given the B.
A. Degree in Philosophy of the Kerala University if the authorities make such a
request to the University. I had already discussed the matter with some of the
top people in the University and they were quite favorable. This meant that
when the candidates completed their
Philosophy programme they will be having a University Degree. But my suggestion
did not find favour with Fr. Kavalakkatt for reasons best known to himself.
After
tea Fr. Dominic took me in the seminary car to Ernakulam to attend the function
where the Cardinal was to present the Encyclopaedia along with the St. Thomas
19th Death Centenary Postal stamp to the Governor of Kerala Sri N.
N. Wanchoo. I was not aware of this function until Dr. Dominic told me. At the
town hall we were given good seats. At the end of the function Dr. Dominic
purchased for me three full sheets of the stamp. The respect and consideration
with which the rector and staff of the Pontifical Institute behaved brought
home to me for the first time the meaning of Fr. Mundadan’s words. This
function also received huge media coverage.
Then
one day Sri V. T. Induchoodan visited me in the college. He was an executive
committee member of the Kerala History Association, Ernakulam. Prof. P. S.
Velayudhan was then its president and Sri P. A. Said Muhammad its secretary.
Induchoodan asked me to become a member of the Association. At the next General
Body meeting Induchoodan said that he wanted me to be an executive committee
member and I was duly elected to the Committee. Thereafter I was elected to the
Executive Committee for many terms till today.
The
third incident was thus: I was sitting in the Eiffel Book stall when my friend
and classmate Sri P. A. Antony came there. He was the Thrissur M. L. A. then.
Afterwards he became the M. P. for Thrissur. He asked me to come with him the
next day to the Thrissur Rama Nilayam to meet the Minister for Culture Paul P.
Mani and to present him a copy of the Encyclopaedia. Sri Mani was very much
interested in matters cultural and was called the Gentleman Minister of Kerala.
I accompanied my friend to the Rama Nilayam and presented the Minister a copy
of the Encyclopaedia which he was very happy to receive.
Soon
afterwards I went on a four-month research cum lecture tour of Europe. When I
returned I saw a Government envelope on my table. Opening it I found that I had
been appointed to the Archaeology Advisory Board of the Government of Kerala.
The envelope also contained an invitation to attend the first meeting of the
new Board at Trivandrum. My father’s uncle’s son Sri K. V. Thomas was a
secretary or something in the Government Secretariat. So before I went to the
meeting I visited Sri Thomas in his house at Udarasiromani Road, Trivandrum. He
told me that he was the Government Private Secretary to Minister Paul P. Mani.
So I thanked him for nominating me to the Archaeology Advisory Board. A very
honest and straight forward person he informed me that he had nothing to do
with that appointment. This is what happened:
The Minister was returning to Trivandrum after my meeting with him. He
had the Encyclopaedia in his car. On the way he got down at his
brother-in-law’s house. That relative, Mr. Paily was his name I think, kept the
book for himself as he was very much interested in history and culture. Two
days later he telephoned his
brother-in-law the minister and told him why the editor of the book could not
be a member of the advisory board of archaeology as he seems to know more about
Kerala’s history and archaeology than many persons in the department. The
Minister Sri Mani immediately marked a note asking the Director of Archaeology
Sri Unnithan to include my name in the list. When I entered the conference hall
I found that the other members of the four member Board were very eminent
persons: Dr. T. K. Ravindran, HOD of the History Department of the University
of Kerala; Dr. M. G. S. Narayanan; Dr. K. V. Raman the distinguished scholar
and archaeologist from Madras. Sri
Unnithan was the member secretary. This shows how coincidence or fate as some
would call it plays an important role in all our life. I am tempted to believe
more and more in the Paulo Coelo quotations from the Alchemist.
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