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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
In the latter part of 2006 I had the opportunity to visit India twice covering four of the nation’s twenty eight states. Unlike the states of America, the states of India are conspicuously unique. Every state is unique with its own specific language that is different from that of others states. In addition, such languages do not use the same type of script. They differ from each other same way as the Roman script, which is used in the USA, differs from the Greek, Arabic, Russian, and Korean scripts.
Enrichment in Education and Culture
Besides, all those educated in one state are expected to be fluent in English and Hindi as well. Hence, one may virtually conclude that Indians as a whole are tri-lingual. Besides, there are various different cultures and various different religions, even though Hinduism is viewed as predominant. Some of the other leading religions are Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In India there is freedom of worship, freedom of communication, freedom of movement, and freedom of virtually doing anything positive and constructive one may imagine.
Although India may have established a reputation of being a developing nation, it is quite surprising to notice the technology advance that is observed in many cities and in numerous schools. More and more students are giving themselves to business and become excellent entrepreneurs. They have great ideas and they move forward in life with hope, determination, and success. Although the food as a whole tends to be somewhat spicy, yet one may manage to find all kinds of food, oriental and western alike.
Of course, this was not my first visit to India. In fact the first time I went there was in 1968 to meet with several educators in New Delhi, India’s capital. Later, I had the opportunity to visit India again quite a few times. The first time I went back to India in 2006 was in May. The primary purpose was to visit Bangalore where I was scheduled to explore how students were doing in their business studies at the Alliance Business Academy where they had a branch of the SBS Swiss Business School with which I have been linked since 2001.
I was literally impressed with the rich culture I found in the State of Karnataka of which Bangalore happens to be the capital. This state has a population of almost 53 million and it ranks 9th in population size. What surprised me was to discover the many Catholic Churches that exist in Bangalore alone. Of course, the liturgical celebrations on week-ends are identical to those celebrated by Catholic Churches in the USA. Needless to say, such religious functions in India are found in various languages, including English. Also, what I found quite unique was the fact that all Catholic priests with no exception celebrate the Mass barefooted.
Bangalore and Trivandrum
In Bangalore there are numerous schools at all levels of education, one of which was Christ’s College, which is run by Catholic Indian priests. This college has 4,000 students and it is equipped with the most advanced technology one can possibly imagine. Besides, the campus was intentionally built to create a Garden of Eden atmosphere, which is very peaceful and where students can concentrate thoroughly on their studies with hardly any distraction at all. While in India, I had the opportunity to visit Trivandrum, the capital of the State of Kerala, located south of the State of Karnataka.
There I visited the University of Trivandrum and the State Office of Education. Kerala happens to be the state of Father Joy Chalissery, who is the pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Universe Church in Huntsville, Alabama. I learned that of the 28 Indian states, Kerala was the most advanced in education where the rate of illiteracy was near zero for all practical purposes. This may partly explain why the homilies and speeches of Father Joy Chalissery sound so good and look so impressive. After all, he seems to come from the most intellectual state of India. The State of Kerala has a population of almost 32 million and it ranks 12th in population size.
My second visit to India in 2006 took place four months later during the month of September. Needless to say, like the previous visit, this one started also with going to Bangalore first the purpose of which was to examine orally the theses of some 50 students who were seeking to graduate with a Master’s degree from the SBS Swiss Business School of Zurich. When this job was over, I went to Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat State, to participate in a national peace conference that was sponsored by the International Association of Educators for World Peace. It was well attended not only by professors and students but by others from various walks of life and profession. In fact, some of these were policemen, while others were lawyers and judges.
I was surprised to hear judges saying that their primary purpose was to take genuine interest in the promotion and preservation of peace. Probably one never hears easily judges in the USA making in the open similar statements. I found such statements to be greatly encouraging. With this kind of philosophy it is obvious that the future generations of Indians may be more prepared, as a whole, to promote and implement peace, than perhaps the future generations of several other countries, including the USA. Since Gandhinagar was close to the largest city in Gujarat State, Ahmedabad, I have also paid a visit there.
Gandhinagar and Bombay
By the way, Gandhinagar is known as the city of Gandhi where he spent several years. I was quite surprised to see that humble place of Mahatma Gandhi where he lived and how small it was. But the location and panorama must have generated in Gandhi plenty of inspiration because it is really beautiful from every aspect one can imagine. Needless to say, in Gandhinagar I met with several members of the International Association of Educators for World Peace that gathered there from various cities. This Association at the moment seems to be best organized in India where we have active chapters in virtually every single state. The population of Gujarat State is over 50 million and this state ranks 10th in population size.
Before I returned to the United States, I spent the last day in Bombay with the family of Dr. Leo Rebello who is the Vice President for Central Asia of the said organization. Among other things, Dr. Rebello has specialized in natural healing about which he wrote numerous books. Because of him I had the opportunity to visit well Bombay, the capital of the State of Maharashtra. It is perhaps the largest city in India. It is a city that has many rich and many poor people. In fact, millions live in slums, which I came to know became a spectacle for tourism. I personally wondered how such people survive from day to day. The southern part of Bombay seems to be more attractive and better developed than the northern part. This big city has a good public transportation. The population of Maharashtra is over 96 million and ranks 2nd in population size.
These four mentioned states that I visited happen to be all on the west coast of India and they are all adjacent with each other as follows from north to south: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala that occupies the lowest tip of India. This big nation of India, which is located in south central Asia, has a population of over one billion people, which makes it second in population size only to China. It is a nation with a very old history and a very old culture. Once you see it once, you may feel the urge to see it other times in the future especially that there are so many things to see and to discover.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
In the latter part of 2006 I had the opportunity to visit India twice covering four of the nation’s twenty eight states. Unlike the states of America, the states of India are conspicuously unique. Every state is unique with its own specific language that is different from that of others states. In addition, such languages do not use the same type of script. They differ from each other same way as the Roman script, which is used in the USA, differs from the Greek, Arabic, Russian, and Korean scripts.
Enrichment in Education and Culture
Besides, all those educated in one state are expected to be fluent in English and Hindi as well. Hence, one may virtually conclude that Indians as a whole are tri-lingual. Besides, there are various different cultures and various different religions, even though Hinduism is viewed as predominant. Some of the other leading religions are Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In India there is freedom of worship, freedom of communication, freedom of movement, and freedom of virtually doing anything positive and constructive one may imagine.
Although India may have established a reputation of being a developing nation, it is quite surprising to notice the technology advance that is observed in many cities and in numerous schools. More and more students are giving themselves to business and become excellent entrepreneurs. They have great ideas and they move forward in life with hope, determination, and success. Although the food as a whole tends to be somewhat spicy, yet one may manage to find all kinds of food, oriental and western alike.
Of course, this was not my first visit to India. In fact the first time I went there was in 1968 to meet with several educators in New Delhi, India’s capital. Later, I had the opportunity to visit India again quite a few times. The first time I went back to India in 2006 was in May. The primary purpose was to visit Bangalore where I was scheduled to explore how students were doing in their business studies at the Alliance Business Academy where they had a branch of the SBS Swiss Business School with which I have been linked since 2001.
I was literally impressed with the rich culture I found in the State of Karnataka of which Bangalore happens to be the capital. This state has a population of almost 53 million and it ranks 9th in population size. What surprised me was to discover the many Catholic Churches that exist in Bangalore alone. Of course, the liturgical celebrations on week-ends are identical to those celebrated by Catholic Churches in the USA. Needless to say, such religious functions in India are found in various languages, including English. Also, what I found quite unique was the fact that all Catholic priests with no exception celebrate the Mass barefooted.
Bangalore and Trivandrum
In Bangalore there are numerous schools at all levels of education, one of which was Christ’s College, which is run by Catholic Indian priests. This college has 4,000 students and it is equipped with the most advanced technology one can possibly imagine. Besides, the campus was intentionally built to create a Garden of Eden atmosphere, which is very peaceful and where students can concentrate thoroughly on their studies with hardly any distraction at all. While in India, I had the opportunity to visit Trivandrum, the capital of the State of Kerala, located south of the State of Karnataka.
There I visited the University of Trivandrum and the State Office of Education. Kerala happens to be the state of Father Joy Chalissery, who is the pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Universe Church in Huntsville, Alabama. I learned that of the 28 Indian states, Kerala was the most advanced in education where the rate of illiteracy was near zero for all practical purposes. This may partly explain why the homilies and speeches of Father Joy Chalissery sound so good and look so impressive. After all, he seems to come from the most intellectual state of India. The State of Kerala has a population of almost 32 million and it ranks 12th in population size.
My second visit to India in 2006 took place four months later during the month of September. Needless to say, like the previous visit, this one started also with going to Bangalore first the purpose of which was to examine orally the theses of some 50 students who were seeking to graduate with a Master’s degree from the SBS Swiss Business School of Zurich. When this job was over, I went to Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat State, to participate in a national peace conference that was sponsored by the International Association of Educators for World Peace. It was well attended not only by professors and students but by others from various walks of life and profession. In fact, some of these were policemen, while others were lawyers and judges.
I was surprised to hear judges saying that their primary purpose was to take genuine interest in the promotion and preservation of peace. Probably one never hears easily judges in the USA making in the open similar statements. I found such statements to be greatly encouraging. With this kind of philosophy it is obvious that the future generations of Indians may be more prepared, as a whole, to promote and implement peace, than perhaps the future generations of several other countries, including the USA. Since Gandhinagar was close to the largest city in Gujarat State, Ahmedabad, I have also paid a visit there.
Gandhinagar and Bombay
By the way, Gandhinagar is known as the city of Gandhi where he spent several years. I was quite surprised to see that humble place of Mahatma Gandhi where he lived and how small it was. But the location and panorama must have generated in Gandhi plenty of inspiration because it is really beautiful from every aspect one can imagine. Needless to say, in Gandhinagar I met with several members of the International Association of Educators for World Peace that gathered there from various cities. This Association at the moment seems to be best organized in India where we have active chapters in virtually every single state. The population of Gujarat State is over 50 million and this state ranks 10th in population size.
Before I returned to the United States, I spent the last day in Bombay with the family of Dr. Leo Rebello who is the Vice President for Central Asia of the said organization. Among other things, Dr. Rebello has specialized in natural healing about which he wrote numerous books. Because of him I had the opportunity to visit well Bombay, the capital of the State of Maharashtra. It is perhaps the largest city in India. It is a city that has many rich and many poor people. In fact, millions live in slums, which I came to know became a spectacle for tourism. I personally wondered how such people survive from day to day. The southern part of Bombay seems to be more attractive and better developed than the northern part. This big city has a good public transportation. The population of Maharashtra is over 96 million and ranks 2nd in population size.
These four mentioned states that I visited happen to be all on the west coast of India and they are all adjacent with each other as follows from north to south: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala that occupies the lowest tip of India. This big nation of India, which is located in south central Asia, has a population of over one billion people, which makes it second in population size only to China. It is a nation with a very old history and a very old culture. Once you see it once, you may feel the urge to see it other times in the future especially that there are so many things to see and to discover.