Sunday, January 13, 2019
Chennai
Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of San Thome in Chennai and Persian Lunch at Shiraz by Tryst.
Namaste from Chennai!
Like all my days here in Tamil Nadu, this one was busy too and filled with the kind of activity that was on my Must-Do List. I am waking at 6.00 am, regardless of the fact that I am traveling and away from home. I tend to spend at least a half hour checkingTwitter and catching up with email correspondence before I get out of bed to take my pill, wash and get a coffee. Blossom is also an early riser—she is up by 5.00 am daily but lazes in bed till 6.00–so I do have company for an early coffee as Menaka gets her beauty sleep.
We had breakfast at home today (once all three of us were up)—muesli with yogurt and a bit of milk and my decaf coffee that I carry with me everywhere I go. When everyone had eaten, we got dressed for church, called an Uber and left for the 11.30 am Mass in Central Madras (about a twenty minute ride away).
Anglo-Indian Reunion Thanksgiving Mass at San Thome Cathedral:
I was very excited to attend Mass at the Cathedral of San Thome (St. Thomas) which takes its Portuguese name from the fact that they were in Madras long before the British got here. The San Thome referred to here is the Doubting Thomas of the Bible who arrived in India soon after the death of Christ and began the first series of conversions in South India that would bring a large number quickly to the Christian fold. He is reputed to be the saint who brought Christianity to the Syrian Christians—the denomination of Christianity that is based essentially in Kerala—they call themselves the Mar Thomites (after St. Thomas) as opposed to the Jacobites (another denomination). Saint Thomas is said to have died in the Madras region and his remains are in the crypt of this Cathedral—in fact, the Cathedral is constructed over his remains.
Forty years ago, I had been to this cathedral as a tourist and I do remember that we could see his tomb through the glass panel in the floor All that has changed as I would discover once Mass ended.
We were in the church by 11.15 as I was afraid we would not find room as it happened to be the Thanksgiving Mass that was offered by the Anglo-Indians who had gathered for the Reunion—it would end the week-long festivities and activities that were part of the event. But, I was mistaken. Although by 11.30 am, the church was full, there was not much of a rush to get seats in the front. The chief celebrant of the Mass was the Bishop of Wichita, Kansas, whose name I did not get. There were the two local priests attached to the church as well as my friend, a scholar of Anglo-Indian Studies, Brent Otto of the University of California at Berkeley, who also happens to be a Jesuit priest—all concelebrating the Mass. It is a beautiful Cathedral—the stained glass window above the altar piece depicts the moment when Thomas is brought before Jesus to express his remorse at having doubted his return by uttering the words, “My Lord and My God!” The choir was just superb—possibly a group of musically-inclined young Anglo-Indians who got together to form a special choir with a bunch of talented musicians from the community. They jazzed up the entire Mass with their verve and gusto. The homily was also very good indeed and the Mass turned out to be a very worthwhile celebration of the Eucharist among a group of people who had spent the week renewing old friendships and making new ones.
The Crypt and Museum of St. Thomas:
When Mass ended, there was a bee-line for the back of the Cathedral where a separate one-storeyed building has been constructed that leads down to the crypt. Having returned from Italy in the summer when I had visited the crypts of a few saints (St. Francis and St. Clare in Assisi and St. Catherine in Sienna), I had become quite familiar with the drill and I found that this space has been designed exactly on the lines of the Italian crypts that lead to the remains of the saints. We were asked to remove our footwear (which was stored in a cupboard) and to descend one flight of stairs. Once we got downstairs, we were greeted by a spectacular painting by my favorite artist of all time, Caravaggio, and his portrayal of Thomas at the moment when he encountered the Risen Christ. It is a very moving portrayal—done with just the right expression of ashamed consternation that only Caravaggio could achieve. I asked for a postcard but was told that they were out of stock. I ended up taking a photograph of it. There was a glass showcase with life-size clay models of Jesus and Thomas also captured at the same moment.
We then went through a very narrow passage and arrived at a chapel where the altar consisted of another clay effigy of St. Thomas above the very spot where he has been interred. Little wonder that this space has become an important center of pilgrimage—although the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni, about 300 miles away, is far more popular with median Catholics and certainly with Anglo-Indians. In fact, my friend Brent Otto, SJ, made a fine presentation on this subject at the Conference.
We did not spend too long here as Blossom was waiting outside for Menaka and myself who had headed into the church. Blossom is dealing with very painful knees and is in the process of going through preparation of knee replacement surgery. Hence, she sits out a lot of the time and leaves the sightseeing to us. At any rate, having lived in Madras for so long, she has seen so many of these sites several times over.
Menaka and I then made our way to the small Museum on the ground floor where there are a few relics of the saint, archeological finds from below the Cathedral’s foundations, Papal Bulls that declared the church a cathedral, etc. I did not spend too long here although a student of religious studies would probably find a great deal of interest and could well linger here a while.
I did meet a few friends to whom I was able to say Goodbye (until we meet again)—Brent, Robyn Andrews of New Zealand, Cecil and Mary Wilson of the UK and Harry McLure, Editor of the Anglo-Indian periodical called Anglos In The Wind who promptly asked me to submit a report on the conference consisting of my impressions of my time in Chennai. I told him that I would.
With the Anglo-Indian Reunion coming to a very grateful end with a Thanksgiving Mass to the Lord for bringing us all together regardless of our areas of interest (renewal of friendship or scholarly discourse), I was sorry to be leaving the place. We had the exciting prospect of lunch stretching ahead of us; so I was quite happy to go forward with the day.
Fabulous Persian Lunch at Shiraz by Tryst:
Blossom had told us that she would treat us to lunch today and she chose a place that she knows well and where the food is unusual and excellent. It is a Persian restaurant called Shiraz by a company called Tryst that has other eateries in the city. Blossom says that they used to do an excellent Sunday buffet lunch which offered such a wide range of Persian dishes that there were at least four types of rice alone. Sadly, their move to newer premises where the kitchen is much smaller has made it necessary for them to scrap the buffet lunch. However, a la carte items were enticing enough.
We ended up having starters of ground lamb kebabs with mint chutney and a dip of eggplant and herbs served with toasted pita triangles. Both were superb. Washing them down were lemonades for us all. We decided to share two main dishes—chunks of lamb with dried lemon and potato sali that was served with Orange Rice that is called Shireen Polo, fried onions and a small salad. This Shireen Polo has to be one of my favorite things to eat on this planet. I became familiar with it several years ago when my Persian colleague at NYU Shouleh invited me to her home for Navroze (the Iranian or Persian New Year) and served it. It is made special by the addition of candied orange peel which brings flavor and sweetness to the rice to which lentils and fried onions are also added. The second main we chose was chicken marinated in pomegranate juice and served in a gravy containing pomegranate seeds. This was served with Saffron Rice which was like a flavorful pullao. Here too there were fried onions and salad. You can be sure we had a fine meal and enjoyed every last morsel of it. Indeed we had made very good choices and had not over-ordered. We glanced at the desserts but not only were we really full but nothing really caught our fancy.
Deciding to get something sweet to eat later, we left the restaurant after thanking the wonderfully genial host who was very chatty as he explained the cuisine to us. Just next door was a bakery with wonderful bread and pastries. After our hearty rice-based lunch, we decided to have a very light dinner of good bread and cheese and deciding to make this my treat, I picked up a baguette and a wedge of Danish Blue cheese together with a slab of really amazing Amul butter with garlic and herbs. I asked the salesman to slice the baguette for us which he willingly did. It really is amazing to me what a long way India has come in terms of its foodie offerings. It is true that everything is indeed available here now and I am left with few food cravings.
After lunch, we were all so replete, that all we could think of was a nice long nap. In an Uber back home we went to arrive there a half hour later. And, of course, we all promptly hit the sack, awaking only for tea with biscuits. We spent the entire evening chatting away and catching up on so many things. Finally, at 9. 15 pm, we stirred again to get our dinner organized. We toasted the baguette rounds to make crisp crostini which we ate with garlic-herb butter and fabulous blue cheese. There were idlis that Menaka had brought home and each of us had one with sambhar and finally there were the pastries we had bought from Amethyst—but we could only manage one—the Carrot Cake! I sipped lovely hot lemony tea to get it all down. Not long after we decided to call it a night and went into our rooms to get a nice hot shower and a good night’s sleep.
Until tomorrow...
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