How to get a doctorate in humanity
CHENNAI: Why are you writing about me?”asks 90-year-old Paul Siromoni, who is dressed in crisp formals. Well, this nonagenarian has the distinction of having studied all his life.Starting with a degree in Zoology from the Madras Christian College more than half a century ago, Paul is a B Com grad from Kolkata and and also has a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Serampore University.
He also recently completed his thesis on theology from Serampore University, and is all set to be conferred a doctorate at the convocation to be held in Nagaland in February next year. “The church is called on by god to join in transforming the world into the kingdom of god, which means the kingdom of love. This is what my thesis deals with,” he explains. He went to three congregations and gave out 120 questionnaires for his thesis — he got back 70, which were useful for his research.
He has also done a bunch of courses in the US and the UK. But Paul didn’t merely study degrees, but humanity as well. “I’ve been to all sorts of places. In 1967, when I was in the US, they asked us to do a ‘plunge’— they gave us $2 and asked us to spend the night outside. I found an open door somewhere — it turned out to be a Pentecostal Church. I spent the night on a chair,” he recalls. About 50 years later, in an initiative by The Banyan, an NGO, he spent a night at the Lighthouse Railway Station along with 50 others, to know how tough it was for the poor to survive.
For Paul, it’s all about love. “Just consider Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Abraham Lincoln. They believed that all people are equal. They believed that God created them in his own image, which is love,” he explains.
And you have to do this by not being selfish. “You have to be like salt — it changes the taste of your food, but you cannot see it,” he smiles.
And this is exactly what he’s been doing all these years, serving the rural and urban poor in states like Karnataka, Odisha, and Bihar. “I believe that I’m a servant of God, and therefore a servant of people. The world requires change. One person cannot do this, we have to do it as a community,” he says.