Christmas Postcards

There is no Christmas star outside Cletus Fernandezs sea-facing house. There hasnt been once ever since 2004,when a day after Christmas,a tsunami rolled over Azheekkal village in Keralas Kollam district. The waves knocked down Fernandezs house and took away with them four lives. Fernandez lost his wife Julie,daughters Ancy and Annie and mother Reetha. Of the 168 tsunami victims from Kerala,131 were from KollamAzheekkal was the worst hit,accounting for 105 deaths.

As villagers came together to rebuild their village after the tsunami,Fernandez too decided to start afresh. A year later,his friend arranged a match for him and he married Molly. It is our sixth Christmas after our wedding. I stopped putting up a Christmas star outside our house after the tsunami, says Fernandez.

His wife has a few plans lined up,among them attending the midnight mass at the local church,three km away from their home. Babychayan her husband has stopped attending church after the tragedy. So,I always go with women from our neighbourhood.

This year,Fernandezs elder brother,a small-time trader in Kochi,has given Molly Rs 500 for Christmas. Every year he would give sarees to all six of his sisters-in-law but this time he has given us money. I will go to Ochira town to get a new shirt for my husband. It will be a surprise for him. Ever since our wedding,I have not given him anything.

Before that,she has to visit her brother to collect some of the wine and plum cakes he makes at home. On Christmas day,she plans to make sweet appams for breakfast. While Molly is busy preparing for Christmas,Fernandez has other things on his mind. It is the fourth week that I have been going out fishing. The sea is empty,the boats are returning without any catch.

Raipur,Chhattisgarh
Oraon songs are almost forgotten,our carols are in Hindi

Ashutosh Bhardwaj

Apurva Minj watches a pair of love birds rubbing their yellow feathers against the bars of their cage and the silver fish swimming in the aquarium in her living room. Her brother has just returned home from Dongargarh,a town in Chhattisgarhs Rajnandgaon district,and has quickly made a star out of coiled wire. Her sister is coming home tomorrow,her mother is in a hurry to join women in the neighbourhood for carols and her father is just back from the market with his shopping.

The Minj family belongs to the Oraon tribe and moved to St Joseph Town,a Catholic hamlet on the outskirts of Raipur,two years ago after Peter Minj retired from the government. Peter,who originally belongs to the tribal-dominated Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh,is disappointed that his children have forgotten their language and customs. But what the family has not forgotten is how much fun they had celebrating Christmas in their village. In our village,Christmas used to be great fun. As children,we would wait for it for a whole month. Now Christmas is just an excuse to be back home, says Peters son Amit,a Railways guard at Dongargarh.

There are other Christmas memories. Every family in my village would brew rice beer,we would visit each others homes and drink a lot. Nowadays many in our community probably dont even know the taste of that rice beer, says Peter.

In this tribal colony in Raipur,carols are now sung in Hindi and Oraon songs are almost forgotten. Where is the space for tribal customs in a city? asks Peter.

Peters wife has been preparing for Christmas for nearly a month. Today,she is waiting for her daughter to come home and for the carol singers to visit them. From her corner,her daughter Apurva watches everything quietly. She cannot speak or hear. But she rarely forgets a face. She sees someone and it remains imprinted in her mind, says Amit.

As the family prepares for Christmas,Peter and his wife have only one Christmas wish: seeing their children married.

Baramulla,Jammu amp; Kashmir
We bake cakes for Christmas,otherwise,its only Kashmiri cuisine for us

Bashaarat Masood

At the Raths family house in Baramullaa 100-year-old hunting lodge converted into a housethe Christmas tree was ready,the cakes and cookies were in the oven and festivities were in the air. The only thing missing,says Charles Rath,is the presence of their children.

In Europe,families come together on Christmas come what may. But our children are not here to celebrate with us. Most of them are either studying or working outside Jamp;K, he says. Rath,who runs a chemist shop,and his two sisters Primla and Jennifer,live together in Baramulla. While Charless elder son Robbin is home these days after completing his graduation in graphic animation from Chandigarh,his younger son Regenald is away in Bangalore and Jennifers son is in the US. Rath says the last they all got together was in 1984 when they travelled to Pakistan to celebrate Christmas with some of their family who live there. A photograph of the reunion hangs on the wall next to the Christmas tree.

In the Muslim neighbourhood of Kanli Bagh in Baramulla,the Raths are the only Christian family. There are 11 other Christian families in Baramulla but they all have their homes at Rangwar,a neighbourhood that is about a kilometre-and-a-half away from where the Raths live.

Even as tensions between religious leaders simmer over the issue of conversions in the Valley,the Raths say they have no reason to fear. After all,Raths father,the late Dr Francis Rath,had helped many in the area and was popular in the neighbourhood.

As the Rath family prepares for Christmas,the kitchen is where the action is. We make cakes and biscuits,especially for Christmas. Otherwise,its only Kashmiri cuisine for us, says Rath.

In a Christmas ritual,all Christian families of Baramulla meet over lunch but this year,the custom takes a break. We have a new parish priest here. He doesnt know about this custom and since he is busy sorting out some important issues,we thought we wont tell him this year, says Rath.

So,instead of lunch,this year they have all decided to have a tea party after the midnight service at St Josephs Churchthe only church in Baramulla.

Jammu,Jamp;K
How can we celebrate when we are not home?

Arun Sharma

How can we celebrate Christmas when we have left behind our Church and our people in the Valley? How can we celebrate without the carols, asks Kanta Khanna.

Kanta was forced to move out of the Valley after her husband Chander Mani Khanna,a pastor at All Saints Church in Srinagar,was arrested on November 19 for his alleged role in forced conversions. After he was released on bail,Khanna joined Kanta in Jammu earlier this month but the couple,fearing for their lives,has been staying separately. While Khanna could not be contacted,The Sunday Express met Kanta at a church in Jammu where she had come for evening prayers.

This Christmas will be unlike any she has known. In Srinagar,we used to go for door-to-door carol singing on Christmas eve and host lunch for friends. Even our Muslim friends would greet us on Christmas.

Every year,before the start of the Gulmarg winter sports,Khanna would lead the Christmas prayers at the Saint Marys Church in the town. But this Christmas,the churches in Srinagar and Gulmarg will be without a pastor.

My husband has has been living under constant fear and stress. His haemoglobin level has fallen too, says Kanta.

Khanna,who belongs to a well-known Hindu family from Jalandhar,converted to Christianity in 1969. In 1988,the couple moved to Jammu,where Khanna became a priest at Saint Pauls Church and later went to Srinagars All Saints Church. On November 19,he was arrested after a CD,showing pastor Khanna baptising a group of young Muslim boys,surfaced.

Kandhamal,Orissa
I will thank God and pray for safety

Debabrata Mohanty

There are no Christmas trees, balloons or Christmas stars here at the newly-built Roman Catholic church at the Nandagiri rehabilitation colony. The tell-tale signs of Christmas are largely absent in this colony thats spread over two acres near G Udaygiri block in Orissas Kandhamal district. About 70 Dalit Christian families have been living here since August 2008 when riots broke out in the aftermath of the murder of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

Outside a one-room house that doubles as a school,Lalita Nayak is busy cooking egg curry and rice for the school children. Nayaks husband died long before the riots and two of her sons live separately in the rehabilitation colony. The 2008 riots,which led to the killing of 38 Christians in Kandhamal,forced Nayak and 68 other families from Betikala village to flee to nearby jungles for safety.

I was saved as a Hindu neighbour told me that the rioters were coming to burn my house. For three days,we stayed in a jungle to escape the mob, says Nayak,an assistant cook in the primary school of Nandagiri colony where she cooks mid-day meals for school children.

Much has changed since. The forested patch at Nandagiri is now a new colony with rows of tin-roofed,one-room houses. A new overhead water tank has been installed and a new church,also with a tin roofing,has been built in the colony.

We have had no regular incomes ever since we were forced to flee our villages. We are planning to contribute Rs 60 each for a Christmas lunch and dinner, says Krishanta Mallik,another resident of the colony.

But Nayaks plans for Christmas are modest. All she wants to is thank God for having saved her. Though she found employment as an assistant cook at a salary of Rs 400 a month,she is yet to be paid ever since she joined six months ago. We havent had any celebrations ever since our homes were burnt. Had it been our home in Betikala,we would have some celebrations. Besides,followers of the local BJP MLA have been making open threats that they would cause trouble during Christmas. I just want to stay safe during Christmas, she says.

Imphal,Manipur
We always ask Jesus for protection

Esha Roy

For 27-year-old Renu Hangzo,a church worker in Imphal,this is the busiest time of the year. Hangzo is an evangelist missionary and a counsellor for the Kwaikeithel Church in a colony thats home to members of the Paitei tribe. Christmas here is more of a colony affair with all activities centering around the church. My favourite part,of course,is the gifts, says Renu.

A Meitei Hindu,Renu converted to Christianity after marrying her Paitei husband Thangkhenmung Hangzo. But she was accepted by the Church only after her husband was killed in 2007. Now,Renu is also president of EEVFAM Extrajudicial Execution Victims Families Association of Manipur.

I met my husband when we were both working in the same building complex. We eloped in 2005, says Renu. On their third wedding anniversary,Hangzoi,then 35,was killed. My husband and two of his friends passed a checkpost and were asked to stop. One of the friends was carrying some tablets that are often used for intoxication. I dont know why but they didnt stop when they were asked to. The friend got scared and threw down the tablets. The police thought he was lobbing a bomb and they shot him and my husband, says Renu.

The first two Christmases without her husband were tough. Christmas in the Hangzoi household,which includes her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law,now centres around her five-year-old son Jason. Christmas is less about celebration and more about asking Jesus for protection and to not let the bad happenings carry on to the next year.