In Conversation With: Mr. John Jacob, Ex-General Secretary of Scripture Union India
Imagine a 95-year-old elderly gentleman emailing your dad, commenting on the divine nature of your dad’s mother after reading the obituary that her son had written after her demise. This especially when you too have a really unique and positive vibe when discussing your paternal grandmother. Well, that’s exactly what happened early last year when I had heard about Mr. John Jacob (dearly known as Uncle John), the Ex-General Secretary of Scripture Union India, who was my Dad’s spiritual teacher at his Alma mater, Madras Christian College, Chennai.
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Needless to say, besides such an event, my Dad has always told me wonderful things about Uncle John that have enticed my ear so much so that I decided meeting him in person was one important activity that I had to take part in, sooner than later, which eventually happened in the month of July this year.
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In case you are wondering from the groupfie above, the one with the spectacles is Uncle John Jacob since it is easy for people to mistake my age owing to my height and the bearded demeanor. His smile should say a lot of things about his personality, tranquility of spirit, graciousness of heart and soundness of mind, to name a few.
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The reader of this article must remember that we had not known each other much prior to this meeting because though he knew my name, the only occasions when I remember meeting him was as a very young child when I traveled to his place in Bangalore (Bengaluru now), which I don’t remember much though I do very well recollect having seen many glassed jars of chocolates or toffees or some kind of food articles placed in shelves at a height. This memory too is a very vague one though I remember another occasion when we met him which was his 85th birthday celebration about 10 years ago when I was a school student.
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So this time around, I was in the middle of a busy schedule and getting a break was very hard at that time and despite that, I decided that this weekend was for some alone time for me as meeting Uncle John at Bengaluru and a very close classmate of mine from college at Coimbatore were two agendas I had planned to complete, both of which I had wanted to do for a long time.
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My Dad, of course with good intentions to ensure that I don’t trouble Uncle John during his senility, had discouraged me from traveling to meet him like before but of course, I did know that one day or the other, I was going to break it, because that is how much he had struck a chord with what I had understood of the world. That’s how much my heart had yearned to meet a soul that has traveled across the world, especially this foreign nation, with a noble intention of spreading the Word of God. India is foreign to him as he is an immigrant from Armenia who had come to this motherland of mine during his childhood.
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Besides being a spiritual teacher, and leader through Scripture Union, he has taught subjects like Chemistry and Mathematics at various schools. There indeed is one part of my heart that yearns for ‘self to have been born in his time as I believe, I would have taken a similar path as his, which interests me and I do believe that I shouldn’t shy away from taking a shot at such a lifestyle even today. All I meant from the initial part of the previous sentence is that in his time and any time before today’s age, such a lifestyle was easier to be achieved and had fewer blockades en route to it. Of course, it is a subjective view that I have taken to owing to my observation and I could be wrong, though I’d like to stick to it as long as my observations prove otherwise.
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So once I reached CSI Dhivya Shanthi Church with a bouquet of flowers and some other gifts that I had wanted to share with him, it just started drizzling a little though it didn’t rain. Since the place was closeby from the Church though I didn’t know where he stayed exactly, I gave him a ring though I was all along hesitant to do it because I wanted to bother him as little as possible. My Dad too had just hinted at him through a texted communication a few days ago that I’d be dropping by his place sometime soon. Eventually, he did pick up the call and indeed his foreign accent wasn’t something I was prepared for though I knew he was a foreigner – I am sure you get it, it’s a kind of overlooking of certain things that many people like me do. I still remember his mention of terms like ‘then you take a right and then an immediate left onto so-and-so road’ which I didn’t follow accurately though I reached his place which was inside the compound of Divya Shanthi School.
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We discussed on many fronts and I must admit, at his age, boy, I can’t believe he is so sharp and it indeed must definitely be presumed to be a gift from God – to be able to take care of yourself to a huge extent, to be calm, to be fully in your senses and to think so clearly as he had especially when he was talking to me. I am really blown away though I know this grandeur feeling that I try to describe may very easily be overlooked because ultimately you have to experience, observe and think deeply to understand what I had experienced especially I myself have had many personal experiences of breakdown at such a young age, despite being fully-able. I indeed did leave that compound with a prayer to my mighty God with two things in mind –
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A) That Uncle John may live and travel aboard through to heaven in peace
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B) That I may follow his footsteps and have the grace to be so cheerful and lively at his age. More importantly, I did pray to God that I may do God’s will by not forgetting the footsteps that Jesus Christ left for us to follow
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He told me about his childhood, his school days in Darjeeling with an image hung on the wall of the school’s compound. He was mentioning about meeting people from Scripture Union India before his time at the Christian Fellowship.
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We discussed many spiritual leaders, both in the modern world and in history, in the likes of Evangelists like Billy Graham and Apologists like Ravi Zacharias. While discussing Ravi, I was talking about how I was a little skeptical of his approach owing to my ideology that Christian Apologism is a reckless effort in trying to convince people whom you know have chosen a hedonistic path and instead gave him a few names of pastors like Timothy Keller and writers like C.S Lewis, whom he too knew of, who had more convincing ways of God through their faithful living and understanding of God. Uncle John indeed had a different way of looking at it and pleasantly told me that God had a different path for many such people so we should ultimately allow the almighty to judge their ways especially if their ultimate intentions are benevolent. I too chose not to debate in this regard as it was just an opinion that I had about Ravi and people like him.
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He was telling me about how he knew my Dad and how he felt that my Dad was a ‘no-nonsense-character’. There were times in the discussion when I was feeling like it wasn’t happening for real because just imagine, there I was meeting a person as old as my grandfather whom I hadn’t known much but had met because my Dad knew him and because I have heard so much good about him. We were discussing certain aspects about my mother’s early demise when I was a child and I was pretty surprised when he told me that one of his parents too (I don’t remember who exactly) passed away when he was young and that by that time he reached his teenage, he had lost both his parents if I remember right. It all gave me an insight into the great soul’s way of approaching his life after such circumstances and how I too must muster courage and energy to keep pushing forward to influence change, though I must be cautious and patient in my approach at all times. Above all, we had to depend on a wonderful creator above us to aid us on our path.
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I was a little unprepared though I responded coolly when he asked me if I was giving thought to find a girl for myself, despite not accurately knowing my age by saying that the modern society just didn’t give me the base or confidence for me to enter into such a commitment and that I was not taking that question very seriously now though even if I am doing so and saying a ‘No’ to it, I will hope to leave it into the hands of God to finally decide for me. Though I didn’t let him know through words, deep within my mind, what was running through was to live a nomadic lifestyle perhaps with parts that mimicked the ways of the person sitting in front of me at that time.
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Before we parted ways for the day after catching up for a couple of hours or so, I shared with him a few writings which he willingly accepted, though his question and quick wit in asking me if I was a journalist was an enjoyable moment that I’d remember all throughout my life especially when I think about him and when I hear the word journalism, which I have been considering quite seriously for some time, though like I said, modern society has corrupted most entities.
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He told me about the multitude of books he had read by starting off with a twisting shelf of biographies and Christian excerpts and soon we saw ourselves walking through his 1BHK home, each room of which was small yet sweet and adorable, which was exclusively provided for his peaceful stay by a person he had known at the Divya Shanthi Trust. He was being taken care of by a few people who were a call away from help. I had taken note of the books he had specifically asked me to read though I believe I will take to reading them one by one slowly, not necessarily at the pace he had done it.
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Before I departed from his sweet home, one of the very few which I had truly considered being sweet, he asked me to join him in prayer and we had each prayed thereby concluding on a really good yet emotional note because my prayer was earnest and I believe God was being gracious and kind to allow me to meet such an elderly gentleman, one whom I can admire and look up to in the future. Ain’t it miles to go for a young chap like me? It indeed is and let me hope to make it where God wants me to set my flag.
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You will be surprised to know that I had emailed him a few months later about the launch of my website and blog, as part of the subscription list of people whom I have contacted in the past and he was one of the very few people who got back to me with words of encouragement. All these things indeed inspire me like nothing else and I do believe that such souls are an exception to have graced the earth and more of them in places like India would make a mammoth of a difference to the society, I can guarantee that.
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I remember casually commenting to my dad and elder brother how I believe that Uncle John was a divine substitute to the utterly disappointing three Johns of our family (members on my paternal side).
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I did leave his home eventually after giving him a well-felt hug and the image of me leaving his home with the setting sun shining over me and flowers along the soil path is something I believe is the start of a journey that I’d hope to finish well, with God’s grace and care. It’s just the beginning.