Making of the Encyclopaedia | Prof. George Menachery | Part 19

  Saturday Evening Post

Making of the Encyclopaedia

From the Horse’s own Mouth

George Menachery

Nineteen

In the Atlanta Sheraton where the Bishops were meeting I felt that things were done in a simple open manner as opposed to some of the practices I had noted in the conduct of Bishops’ Conferences and even other conferences in India. The General Secretary Msgr. Rauch received me with gladness and even great respect. When I showed him the letter from the Cardinal he treated me with even greater respect. He promised to distribute my brochures on the Encyclopaedia at the official press conference at the end of the Conference. That he did it with a short laudatory talk I came to know later from the various national media representatives I met later. Though I failed to ask for or get any monetary help from the USCC, my visit to Atlanta helped the Encyclopaedia project to obtain national exposure of the best kind imaginable. This was the high-water mark of my US visit of 1972. 

The Director of New York Archdiocese’s DioMedia was so impressed by our brochure and the USCC General Sectretary’s “pep talk” that she wanted to make the Encyclopaedia the topic of the Mission Sunday national broadcast.  She asked me to send her from India as soon as possible some colour matter as without colour pictures and videos no TV broadcast would be a success. I introduced a Syro-Malabar priest in New York to her as my liaison. I could not send the colour material she had asked for till the end of September and finally she broadcast a Syro-Malabar Mass by the priest  for the Mission Sunday national programme.

There were many other interesting and novel experiences during my two-month  stay there. I will recall only just one or two things here as many of those experiences do not have any great direct bearing on the making of the Encyclopaedia.

I had mentioned earlier how I took with me to the US the letter of invitation I had received from the US PaxRomana as the National Vice-President of the Newman Association of India (PaxRomana) to attendant the Bogota International Eucharistic Congress of 1968. The US Director of the PaxRomana who was in New York kindly arranged residence for me at the Leo House. When the Leo House people had asked the Director whether there would be any problem with the payments for the room he replied that if there were any problem he would settle the bill. I stayed at the Leo House for more than a week and when I left they did not ask for any money and I did not pay any.

At that time the Director told me that he was arranging a meeting of all the PaxRomana Ministers of the New York area to meet me for a talk. The talk would be followed by a banquet dinner at the Dunwoodie St. Joseph’s Seminary.

The talk I gave was a success, to judge by the fact that during the drinks and dinner session that followed three ministers approached me to visit their institutions to attend similar conferences. I accepted the invitation of the Maryknoll HQ and Seminary to give a talk. After my talk at Dunwoodie there was drinks session which was novel for me. All were walking about or sitting in conversation with glasses in their hand. As I was a teetotaler I felt a little out of place. I asked the steward to give me a coco-cola. He said that there was no coco-cola available. But he was kind enough to get one for me from the Seminary refectory and I went about carrying my coco-cola glass among the participants.

It was at that dinner that I first ate a beefsteak the size of the huge plate on which it was served accompanied by all the trimmings. And I was served a similar steak at the hotel where my father’s pen-friend took me with her husband for a dinner. The third time I had a similar steak was at the parish priests’ house at Greenfield, Ann Arbor, Detroit where I was given hospitality by the parish priest  at the recommendation of my Jesuit brother’s friend Fr. Stephen, sj of Cannanore,  who had stayed there as an assistant vicar during the days of his studies. As a result of these dinners I became an admirer of such steaks and I have been pestering Maggie to make such steaks. She now makes Swiss steaks often but is unsuccessful at making the type of steaks I enjoyed in the US. For that matter not many restaurants in India give good steaks even now though I constantly order beef steak at the best hotels out of my greed for the tasty item I had enjoyed in my days of starvation in the States!

Once a priest in New York gave me a check for US $ 15 for the Encyclopaedia. That was a crossed check and no bank in New York cashed it for me. They said that that check should come through the Encyclopaedia’s account in India. But when I presented the check at a bank in Atlanta the officer told the teller to cash it and I got fifteen dollars in cash, which was a heaven-send at the time.

The Maryknoll Father who drove me to their HQ in New York stopped on the way for a car wash. The machine car wash was a new experience for me. The huge brushes which were rolling all around the car even frightened me, as there were no such car washes in India at that time. The Fathers at Maryknoll arranged for a special dinner at a hotel for me. The Editor of their magazine was my companion at that dinner. He had ordered a number of dishes for me. But I could eat only a small part of it. He told the waiter to pack the remainder for his wife. This packing of items which could not be consumed by the customer was a new experience for me though it is a common practice with Maggy now.

Overall my stay in the US was a help in many ways to broaden my horizons but it did not bring me any money – although to get some funds for the printing of the Encyclopaedia was the primary objective of my US visit. 

I think it is high time that I returned to the printing of the Encyclopaedia at the BNK Press, Madras.

 

 

 

Making of the Encyclopaedia | Prof. George Menachery | Part 18

 

 Saturday Evening Post

Making of the Encyclopaedia

From the Horse’s own Mouth

George Menachery

Eighteen

 

I stayed in that room for four or five days and utilized my time to visit the New York Public Library. The two marble lions in front of it attracted me much; also the beautiful systems in the reference room. There was an half hour film shown every half hour in a cosy little room on the history of the Library which was very enjoyable. Whether I attended all these on my first visit or on a later trip I cannot say. The boat trip to the Statue of Liberty about which I had heard much and the climb up the statue will always remain in my memory. The obelisk like Washington Monument fascinated me for more than one reason. But I must be careful to prevent this narrative from slipping into a travelogue. May be I should write a book on my travels in the US and the other thirty odd countries I have visited. Some articles I have written in various periodicals on my experiences in those countries giving importance to the attractions and explaining how I could travel in Europe, especially, on $5 and $10 a day! But let that go for the moment. It was to Washington DC that I wanted to go as Washington was the HQ of the USCC and as I mentioned earlier I had a very good recommendation letter to its General Secretary Msgr. Rauch from the Cardinal. So I had purchased a ticket from New York to that city though I got down in Philadelphia and Baltimore on the way. At Washington D. C. I directly went to the United States Catholic Council. But I was told that all important persons in the office, including Msgr. (later Bishop) Rauch were in Atlanta, Georgia where the Bishops’ Conference was taking place. But the sole official left at Washington promised me to publish a detailed account of the Encyclopaedia project after discussing with Msgr. Rauch the General Secretary. And next when I visited Washington he gave me a copy of the USCC Bulletin where the Encyclopaedia was featured prominently.

The United States Catholic Council Bishops’ Conference at Atlanta would go on for a week or so. I thought it would be a good opportunity to give an exposure to the Encyclopaedia if I could go there and meet Msgr. Rauch for whom I had a very good letter from Cardinal Parecattil. The price of a flight ticket from New York to Atlanta was rather high, and I did not know how I could reach Atlanta before the Conference closed. Then I saw an advertisement which offered a cheap ticket to Atlanta at just US$ 100. The only disadvantage was that the flight was at midnight. But for an Indian this is no problem at all. I took that flight and landed in Atlanta very early in the morning when nothing was stirring. But as the sun rose I found a taxicab. I asked the driver to take me to the Sheraton Hotel where the Bishops’ Conference was going on. When I reached the hotel the meter read one dollar and fifty cents only.  On the way the driver had asked me why I am going to the Sheraton. Probably he guessed, and rightly so, that my type could not afford that. When he knew that I was a Catholic he was very happy because he was also a Catholic. And in the South I had read Catholics are not generally welcome, I had read stories of Catholics even being lynched there, and something about the proceedings of the Ku Klux Kan. When I gave the driver two dollars (including a tip of fifty cents) he refused to accept the money and said that the trip was free for a fellow Catholic. But I put the money into his pocket and thanked him for his goodwill.  

 

 

 

Making of the Encyclopaedia | Prof. George Menachery | Part 17

 Saturday Evening Post

Making of the Encyclopaedia

From the Horse’s own Mouth

George Menachery

Seventeen

It was 8 a. m. That meant that there were only some eight hours left for me to get my baggage out of the parish office. And still I did not know what I could do. I proceeded to the Sub-way station. On the way a coloured person asked me where I was going. He was very tall, dressed as a dude or dandy, with a tall silk hat. Together we entered the station. While I was taking out my wallet for the 35 cents to buy the token he had purchased a bunch of tokens. He pressed me to accept two. I have often noticed how many coloured persons are generous out of the way and present you with gifts, unasked for, probably because I am brown. Inside the compartment I took out my passport holder and the addresses of my father’s pen friends and the two recommendation letters given by His Eminence. The only place that I could visit was the National Office of the Propagation of Faith which was on 5^th Ave. I got down at the 42^nd street and began to walk towards that office. It was on the first floor. I entered the antechamber of the office and after explaining my plight I handed over the recommendation letter to the Fr. Director. He looked at the letter with some suspicion. Then he went inside the office. When he came back he was having a smile. Probably he had checked the signature on the letter  from his file and found it genuine. Or the Cardinal might have sent a coy to him. Any way he said that he is buying two copies of the Encyclopaedia and again went inside and came back with a cheque (check) for $ 65X2 = $ 130. It was on the Chase Manhatten Bank. That cheque could be changed only through the Encyclopaedia’s  account in India. Understanding my perplexity he said, “Just go down the steps and somebody will give you the money”. I did not comprehend but I obeyed. When I came down the steps and turned left to the branch of the bank which was on the ground floor of the same building  a young lady came out and asked me, “Do you need $ 130?” The director must have telephoned her from above. She took the check from me, had me sign it and gave me $130 which she was carrying with her. My astonishment knew no bounds. With the 130 dollars in my wallet I stood erect and breathed a sigh of relief. Now I was a very rich man!

The first thing I wanted to do was to purchase some warm cloth. As I was standing in a nearby junction a man came along wearing a colourful sweater. I asked him where he had purchased it. At first he looked angry but when I explained that I felt very cold and therefore I would like to buy a sweater like the one he was wearing he pointed to a building a little distance away and informed, “ Korvette’s”. I went to the multi-storeybuilding indicated. I told the attendant that I would like to buy a sweater. He pointed upwards and said that all winter clothes are now on the 2^nd and 3rd floors. As summer advances winter clothes travel upwards in the store.  I went up to the 2^nd floor and approached the coloured floor-boy (floor-man rather) and pointing to a jacket asked what it cost. He looked at me in a disparaging way and remarked, “You are not going to buy it Mister”. But I told him that I was serious and wanted to purchase some warm clothing. Then he changed his attitude and showed me the overcoat and said its cost was $ 120 but as the winter is over it is now priced at a mere $ 39.00. He went on to say that it would be a very good buy as it was quite fashionable with huge strong buttons and had also a removable woolen zip-lining inside. I purchased it straight away. It was one of the best things I ever bought and used it in many journeys for the next many years till a priest in Germany enamored of it made me exchange it for a heavy woolen blue winter Russian- looking overall. After my purchase at New York, at any assembly I appeared wearing it I was a noted person and women looked at the jacket with envious eyes. It acted as a sort of open sesame. When I appeared at the Parish office wearing it the Rev. Sr.’s attitude was very different. She telephoned the nearby YMCA and booked a room for me ($ 7 per day) and called a taxi to take me there. I was grateful and went to the YMCA hotel a changed man, with my pocket full of dollar notes! Or so I felt. The Sister’s call was very useful because the receptionist at the Y was reluctant to give me a room until I reminded him of the call made by the Sister on my behalf.