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Random Access Memory: Reminiscing the Regency Experience

Br. Anthony Joseph Archer

It is said that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments take our breath away. And the best thing about those moments or memories is about making them. Such has been my journey in my regency in the North-East. One can have vivid experiences that can teach us to shape our life. And therefore, it is rightly said that life experience and memories is the best teacher. I would like to share my rich experiences of my regency in the North-East from the beginning to its culmination.

My regency started with a wait due to covid. After my holidays, I was asked to join the community at Mysore with friars Nicholas D’souza and Arokia Raj, as I was unable to travel to my regency place, and I was gladly welcomed by them. With lockdown measures in place and not much work to do at the friary was indeed frustrating at times. However, as scriptures say, “search and you will find” likewise I searched and there was some or the other work that had to be done in the friary. I could imagine the frustration that people are undergoing with no jobs in hand, and responsibility of taking care of the family; how frustrating it would be for them. I was frustrated just for a few days without any concrete physical or intellectual labour.

Robin Sharma in his book ‘The Monk who sold his Ferrari’ puts it quite beautifully, “always remember that what lies behind you and what lies in front of you is nothing compared to what lies within you.” There is always something that needs to be discovered. I discovered solitude of the soul in the beauty of silence and nature. Where I could discover my true being, asking this basic question – what is the meaning of my life? What would I do if today was my last with death looming all around me? Immersed in these questions, there arouse an answer, “Be still and know that I am God”. As the wait to begin my regency far at sight, this wait was a lesson like the prophets and kings and Jesus himself was to wait for the day of salvation.

The day of salvation arrived on 22nd July where I could finally make my travel to North-east for the first time. I was anxious as am going to an unknown land, culture, people, food etc. I was not sure whether I could handle it. I was travelling with Father Roshan Lobo. After we land in Guwahati, we were asked to undergo the RTPCR and RAT test which was mandatory for all passengers arriving at the airport. I must say that it was a grilling and painstaking process of one and half an hour wait just to get a RAT and RTPCR test done. However, we were warmly welcomed by the President Friar Wilson and Friar Brian who picked us up from the airport and from there we began our journey to Salbari my regency place.

With lush green fields and mountains surrounding the horizon, was breath taking indeed. After completing my quarantine, I was given the responsibility to teach in St. Clare of Assisi school, Salbari as a moral science teacher for the high school students. I must say, teaching in the present time is really challenging. I had to prepare my class, presentations, assignments and notes. It is really challenging. Now I know how difficult it is to teach online or even offline for that matter. As a custom of the region, new members have to be introduced to the nearby religious communities. I had the opportunity to visit the FCC sisters, FSM sisters (who are our immediate neighbours), Chapuchins, Monfort brothers, Franciscan Brothers and MSFS Fathers. On the feast of the St. Thomas, the Apostle, which happened to be the feast day of the Bishop of the Bongaigoan; we visited the bishop and wished him tidings. The most interesting part is the language Assamese and Garo which are challenging languages to learn. However, in the past few days I was able to understand a little bit of Assamese. That’s a beacon of light.

It is said that life is not measured by the breath we take we but by moments that take our breath away. Indeed, with the interactions with the locals and the nature around me is indeed moments that take our breath away. That best and one of my first moments that I experienced, was the tremors that occurred a week after our arrival. I felt that the ground below me is going to give way. Thanks be to God it was a minor one. No one told me that was going to happen. There is always a first for everything. A discovery to be a child again.

There was another responsibility fell upon my shoulders as the new batch of aspirants began to arrive. And that was formation. I had the opportunity to train the brothers in their English, catechism, general knowledge, basic etiquettes and of course to inspire them to be Franciscan and to accompany help them in their day to day activities from prayer to work. I must say that I brought back the memories of the aspirancy year of the laughter, games, fun, and struggles to learning English and dealing with ourselves. Within a month or so, the school reopened and I was able to finally take offline classes. Thereby, the hostel students began arriving and another responsibility fell on me. This was indeed the tough experience to handle children. So much so I had the first child under my care running away from the hostel. The tensions, the search, sweat dripping down your brow, your heart beating faster and your mind thinking of the probable dangers and outcomes, frustrations, classes, tuitions, anger outbursts etc. and the list goes on. In all there were classes in the school, classes for the brothers, total care of hostel boys, their studies and home-works; and time just passes by like the wind.

The parish of St. Clare of Assisi, Salbari organized a three day youth convention for the youth of the parish from 15th October to 17th October, 2021. We had around 100 youth present for the youth conventions for three days. There various cultural programs such as dancing competition, singing competition and drama competitions held in each of these days. There were many encouraging and informative resource persons who encouraged and motivated the youth on how to animate, grow and sustain Christian values and how they could be a vibrant force in the parish and the church at large. I had the opportunity of conducting games for the youth convention on 16th of October. The games included both individual and group categories such as lemon and spoon, sack race, musical chair, eating fest and many more. The convention came to end with a festive mass on the 17th October and friars from North Guwahati joined us for the celebration. After the celebration, there was a festive and fellowship meal and a football match between the brothers of the apirancy and the youth. I had also the privilege to visit few villages for BCC program organized in various villages of the parish. My First visit was to a village named Fulguri. Had the opportunity to mingle with the children there and taught them one action song. After which all the catholic families joined together for the rosary and prayer. After the prayer there was a fellowship snacks and sharing. My visit to other villages like Bedbari and Salbari mainly included bible sharing where all the families come together, both young and old, participate in the bible sharing.

There goes a saying that life brings tears, smiles, and memories. The tears dry, the smile fades, but the memories last forever. And time had come for my departure from Salbari to Guwahati as part of the exchange programme. We had Eucharistic Celebration celebrated by Friar Ignatius. It was followed by the fellowship breakfast. There were various competitions conducted for the parishners from sports to bible quiz for children. Later that evening there was a short cultural program given by the parishers. It was indeed a warm and lovely welcome on my arrival at Guwahati. This set the tone for the preparation for Christmas. I joined the brothers in helping them to prepare some Christmas sweets such as kulkuls, sweet puffs and ginger wine. I also had the opportunity in participating and leading the Christmas novena. On Christmas Eve we had the festive mass in the evening of 8:30 PM, followed by sharing of sweets, cake and tea. There was also a bonfire made and we all joined together in dancing and rejoicing in a festive mood.

The main objective of my stay in Guwahati was the artistic painting work for the children’s park at our school in Guwahati. This was the first time that I have undertaken such a project and more specifically a wall painting. I had the opportunity to explore my creativity and at the same time keeping in mind the requirement of the children’s park: fun and learning. Therefore it was challenge and a learning too, to chart out my strategy and drawings for each of these walls. With cartoons and alphabets and numbers everything was forming to be one big masterpiece.

Another memory in Guwahati was again formation of the college going brothers. It was challenge and a learning to gain their confidence and help them in their growth and formation. I had opportunity to take tutoring classes for their college subjects like economics, history, and political science. It was like a revision for me of the subjects that I studied few years ago. It was fun. The challenge was to make the teaching simple and easy to understand. Another vivid experience was the work effort to create a vegetable garden. Their enthusiasm and hard-work yield a lot of vegetables for the community and you could see their joy on their faces.

It is said that it is amazing how differently you can see something after leaving it alone for a while and then revisiting it later. Again time had come to revisit Salbari for the final time. It was entirely different experience. And this final stay was filled with play of colours. I had few painting projects: pre-nursery classroom, repainting the statues of Jesus, St. Clare and Our Lady of Lourdes. Painting of statues was a first time specially working with oil paint. And I believe that I did a fair job with it. And the outcome was splendid. I did all of this in a limited period of time, as the day of my departure for holidays was fast approaching and that of the brothers as well. The brothers prepared a beautiful farewell for the brothers and for me. I was also felicitated by the friars and the school staff for the services rendered to them. These are moments one can never forget.

Winston Churchill rightly says, “to improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often.” and I believe it that it has brought a positive change. One must learn to let go of life that we have planned for ourselves so that we can get best of life that is waiting for us. At the end of this journey I feel fulfilled as from the impact that I had with others, the deep relationships that I built and the sacrifices that I made for others. Now I sometimes wish that I could back in life. Not to change anything but only to feel things twice. And I think life is about living, living it to the full and making those memories lasting not for ourselves but for those who we leave behind.

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