Lunches at Madhu's

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to go to my friend and pastors’ apartment after church. It is really always quite fun. I come over for lunch and talk until it is served. (Although it shows some more traditional gender roles in that the men sit around and talk while the women prepare the food... it can be so much easier being a man in this country at times.) This time it was particularly interesting.

I am possibly doing one of my papers for class on Caste and Conversion. One of the things I am going to do is interview several of my church members who are Dalit or from designated tribal zones (which in many ways is even more difficult than being a Dalit) about how they became Christian and what that is like. As kind of a test run, I did an informal questioning time with Madhu. He is very forgiving and open so he is a good person to start with.

We talked for maybe 3 hours about all kinds of issues about Christianity, concepts of caste, his conversion experience, and many other things like media portrayal, perceptions he has encountered (he is from a place considered somewhat backward, is a Dalit, and a Christian), and experiences he has had. It was so interesting. I love having lunch there because I always learn so much. He always tells me fascinating, albeit sometimes very sad, vignettes of the life of Christians, Dalits, tribals, etc. I think more than most things, I will miss his and Marang’s company (Marang being the man with whom I volunteer) when I leave India.