It irks me endlessly when people wish me a “Merry Christmas”. It’s worse when it gets corrupted in the Hindi heartland to “Marry” or even “Mary Christmas”! Despite the goodwill in the greeting, it annoys me. It indicates that such a person doesn’t have any inkling of the meaning of Christmas or is just mindlessly following a British custom, a spillover of the Raj.

I don’t blame them because we have failed to depict the real meaning of this blessed occasion. At the Christmas Eve service in my parish, the preacher waxed eloquently on how most people associate Christmas with Santa Claus, Trees and Stars. The irony was that the church itself had a lit-up tree in the sanctuary. It also had holly decorations, stockings, etc., alien to our culture. An enormous tree was in the parking lot, and the Crib, which should have been the centre of attraction, was overshadowed by a gaudy life-sized Santa. So, who is responsible for the “merriment”?

I opened the papers on Christmas morning, hoping to see the President or Prime Minister’s “Merry Christmas” greeting. There weren’t any, though there were messages from the Governor and Chief Minister of UP, Some consolation. Later in the day, it emerged that the Prime Minister (PM) had hosted a Christmas lunch for some Christian leaders. 

Quite sickeningly, Cardinal Gracias and other Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant bishops were fawning over the PM. Several top businessmen, all from Kerala, as was Anju George, gushed over the PM and criticised earlier regimes for not promoting sports. But Anju should know better that Indira Gandhi brought the Asian Games to India in 1982 and established the Sports Authority of India under Margaret Alva.

It’s pathetic when our so-called leaders wag their tails at the sight of a bone. Remember that a dog with a bone in its mouth cannot bark. I, therefore, have my doubts if any of our leaders dared to raise the issue of increasing attacks on Christians and their institutions from the time that the BJP came to power ten years ago. 

The choir seemed to be from the North East. Knowing how the PM and the BJP look at everything through an election prism, his targets become apparent – the North East and Kerala.

The media lapped up the event as though it was the first of its kind. Nothing could be further from the truth. A Christmas Carol service in Rashtrapati Bhawan was a hoary tradition till it was dispensed with by the previous President, Ram Nath Kovind. 

I recall an incident in 2010. I was in Gurgaon just before Christmas. Sri S.Y. Quraishi, the Chief Election Commissioner, loved my brother-in-law’s guitar playing. He left the Rashtrapati Bhawan programme midway to listen to the carols led by my brother-in-law. We sat together during the programme. That evening, I also met Gen Sunith Rodrigues, former Chief of Army Staff, which is why I vividly remember the event. The difference is that these gentlemen were not camera-hungry. 

Another irritant at Christmas time is when, on the 26th morning, anglicised Christians start wishing each other “Compliments of the season” as though Christmas was done and dusted by midnight of the 25th! Interestingly, the Catholic liturgy has a Christmas Octave that concludes on 1st January. It will be time to wish each other a Happy New Year. So, no “compliments”, please. 

I have just read a report that Abp Peter Machado of Bangalore has allegedly raised some disconcerting questions about how his fellow prelates wagged their tails in front of the PM. We need more spirited prelates that can stand up. I recall that he took them on when the earlier BJP Government in Karnataka brought in anti-conversion laws. He had also opened the doors of his institutions to students from Manipur who had nowhere to go. 

Tail wagging was not restricted to New Delhi. The Lucknow edition of the Hindustan Times (HT) carried an ad for a prestigious Catholic inter-college in Prayagraj. Together with the usual “Merry Christmas,” it included “Good Governance Day” with an image of former BJP PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose birthday it was also. 

These worthies should recall that in 2000, when we were celebrating the third millennium of Christianity, the BJP Government introduced “Good Governance Day” to deflect attention from the 2000th birth anniversary of Jesus. How naïve and suppliant can we get?

That same day, HT reported, “On Christmas Eve, Bethlehem resembles a ghost town”. There were no celebrations, no pilgrims and no tourists. NDTV carried a similar headline: “No Christmas tree, no joy in Bethlehem”. How could the people of Bethlehem, very much in Palestine, celebrate when 2 million people from Gaza are displaced, over 20,000 dead and several more wounded, with starvation staring them in the face? All that the UN, the USA, and its followers do is make a hypocritical “Tut, tut”. It’s like applying a bandaid to a fractured skull. 

In contrast, the only world leader who has come out strongly against Israel’s war crimes is Pope Francis. A report in La Croix International from Rome by Loup Besmond de Senneville is headlined “Pope Francis: war in Gaza is an inexcusable folly”. While on the one hand, he “condemns the abominable attack of 7th October by Hamas on Israel”, he reiterates his appeal for the release of those still being held hostage. He pleads “for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims”. He pleads that “the Palestinian question be resolved through dialogue between the parties”. He had earlier said that the two-nation theory was the only solution to the conflict.

This year, I, too, made our Crib depicting Jesus buried under rubble, with blood splattered everywhere, including on the star. Our parish priest alluded to this at the Christmas Eve service without taking my name. We had about 50 visitors to our home on Christmas day, all non-Christians. They were fascinated with the Crib, with several taking photos of it.

Despite asking friends not to bring gifts, some of them did. My most precious gift was a thumb-sized Bible in a locket. It was from St Paul’s Church in Diu. I recognised some of the “Good News Bible” illustrations, though the text itself was too fine to read with the naked eye.

I checked my latest Catholic Directory; it is from 2013. Purportedly, there is no St Paul’s Church built in the 18th century. The Immaculate Conception Church is the only Catholic Church, built in 1601. After a 400-year presence, there are just 202 Catholics, so much for forced conversions or Portuguese patronage. 

I also received some interesting messages over Christmas besides the usual ones. In Kolkata’s New Market, Hindus were queuing up outside a Jewish bakery with Muslim workers to commemorate a Christian festival. The Belur Math of the Ramakrishna Mission in Karnataka was singing “Silent Night” before an icon of the Madonna with Child, using candelabra for the aarti. A retired Major General and his wife in Mysore sat at their dining table while their son, an Indian Navy officer, strummed his guitar while singing “Silent Night”.

My twin sister, who has been happily married to a Hindu Meitei in Imphal, Manipur, for the last 50 years, informed me that there were no Christmas celebrations in Manipur. Instead of carol singing in the Cathedral parish, the priests lit candles and presented Bibles in each home. My married daughter in Goa told me that the sermon on Christmas morning was given by a young Jesuit, and it “made sense”! Was that an exception to the rule?

In contrast, a friend who attended the Christmas Eve mass in Bengaluru said that the preacher spoke about 6 types of kisses – cheating, reverence, reconciliation, acceptance, repentance and betrayal. But he did not reference the kiss (sign) of peace that is part of the liturgy. Neither was there any prayer for peace in Manipur or Palestine. Consequently, he felt like walking out of the church but held back because of his wife and daughter. 

I am writing this while still in the Christmas Octave. I pray that we may not be like the people of Bethlehem, who said there was no room for Jesus. I am reminded of a Hindi witticism: “No matter how crowded the bus is, there is always room for the conductor”! 

As we enter the New Year, may we adjust our time, space and thoughts to actively pursue the path of peace and harmony. That will indeed be lasting “merriment” (joy).