31 16, Club Road

We played cricket in the evenings, on the ample grounds of our Colony. Many of us were from the Colony itself but there were also some friends from the neighbourhood. One such person was my friend, Richard Samuel – we called him Richie. Richie used to also visit our home often and came to know my parents and siblings well. Interestingly, my Brother and Sister were classmates of Richie’s in the School just around the block from our Colony.

One day Richie invited me to attend a lecture at the Church that he attended, across the road. My first impulse was to say no, as I was not very comfortable going to a Church, as I considered it to be an alien place of a different religion. I feared I would feel out of place – but Richie persisted, and finally I agreed to attend the lecture! I distinctly recall looking over my shoulder when I entered the Church, to check if anyone from our Colony was observing me!

Analyzing my reaction to the above incident today, I realized that we had a very different impression of Christianity in India. My reluctance and discomfort was due to a prejudiced mind based on the stereotypes of Christian characters in Hindi movies, who were typically shown as drunkards, revelers and merry makers. This rebelled against my sensibilities and my upbringing of a strictly vegetarian, teetotal and orthodox way of life.

Once I entered the Church building, I was in for a surprise – I had expected to find all the Christian emblems including statues of Mother Mary, Baby Jesus, Candle Sticks with an elaborate interior having stained glass windows along with Priests in cassocks, but instead I found a plain hall with a seating arrangement in front of a podium! My expectation was based on the fact that I had all along studied in Catholic Schools and seen Catholic Churches having all the above religious paraphernalia – apart from this plain room, I could not even find a Cross!

As I attended the lecture, I found there was no religious liturgy being recited and instead all the prayers were impromptu which were interspersed with hymns sung from the Hymnals provided to the Members. There were no priests officiating and all those who took part and led in the lectures were ordinary Members of the Church. I also learnt as I kept attending these lectures that this Church advocated abstinence from alcohol and tobacco and also preferred a vegetarian diet for its Members – this was truly amazing, and very much in synch with our lifestyle.

This was my first glimpse of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which I learnt was a Protestant denomination that believed in Bible Christianity and also Jesus. Another distinguishing part of this group was that they worshipped on Saturdays, like the Jewish people, and called it the Sabbath unlike other Christians that went to Church on Sundays. The address of the Church was 16 Club Road and the year was late 1963 or early 1964 which made me just about 13 years old and this was my first introduction to Christianity!