October 2001

Dear Saints and Aints.

Shalom.

With Afghanistan and Moslem fundamentalists or fanatics (fanatic=somebody with a fan in the attic) in the news all the time and living within a stone-throw of Afghanistan, you might wonder what is happening here. Well, nothing! Life goes on as normal as ever. With the exception of Hyderabad (400 km south of here, which has a large Moslem segment, Kashmere (some 1500 km north of here) which has an even larger one and Calcutta (1100 km east of here) home to a large Communist cadre, India has had no riots, marches or anything else for that matter. Even in those places it was all noise with the exception of Kashmere.

The way people are acting and reacting one wonders if they are not crediting Bin Laden with the invention of sudden death, disaster and destruction. Humanity has fallen prey to those for as long as the world has been inhabited. Surely the last several severe earthquakes do not go to his credit nor the massive floods that ravaged India and others nor indeed the typhoons and cyclones that hit Taiwan and other places nor the tsunamis that periodically hit our shores. What about destructive storms and blizzards that kill yearly many and the cold waves and the heat-waves? Also 99.99% of road accidents cannot be laid at his feet not the same percentage of plane crashes. neither for that matter, though guilty of much in that country, can the three year draught in Afghanistan be laid at his door. Neither is the bed, the most dangerous place on earth where more people die daily than anywhere else, his invention. Has he invented the plagues, aids and cancer? In the light of the above, he is small fry and insignificance should be his middle name.

What he did, something which any disaster that hits us from time to time does, is to make us again aware of the fragility and uncertainty of life; again we become acutely aware of how sudden death can terminate our dreams and take us away. What we should be concerned with is that -- at any time -- we should be prepared for that sudden unheralded departure. Let not fear deprive us of the things we want to do, the things we would enjoy. Our times are not in the hands of Bin Laden nor anybody but - God.

The preparations for the marriage are in full swing both in Nagpur and in the village. I am busy cleaning up our compound, putting the finishing touches on the guest house facilities and repairing other things which badly need looking after.

The kids are looking forward to their holidays which will start November 10th till November 25th - so do I ... Yohan and Priya are busy with their own preparation and somehow he already discovered that women think different from men ...

I enjoy life. It sot of wonderful to be able to do what you like to do and call it your job ... I feel relaxed and in good health. God is good.

Thanx for your wonderful friendship.

In His great love.   Frank.