It appears that St Peter has run out of good men beyond the Pearly Gates. Why else would there be such an almighty rush to pick up three Masons in such quick succession? First, it was the Rev Father Victor Yardi, on 12^th September. A priest with the Church of North India, he had variously been Father Superior of Oxford Mission, the first Indian to hold that post, Vicar of St Paul’s Cathedral and St John’s Church, a lecturer of history at Bishop’s College, and the Port Chaplain of Calcutta Diocese. A Mason of many years, this man of the cloth, of the rags to be more precise witness his heavily darned cassocks and scuffed soles, this unassuming man was the personification of humility and kindness. A role model for all, especially his brethren in The Federation Lodge. In recognition of his selfless service, the Lodge had conferred on him honorary membership.

 A month and a half later, on the 30^th of October, it was Brother Dr Jamshed J. Irani. Having led  a distinguished career at Tata Steel, where he retired as the Managing Director, he was the awardee of, among others, Padma Bhusan, Lifetime Achievement Award by the Government of India, and Honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth.  The antonomasia, Man of Steel, was the measure of the height of his success and breadth of his accomplishments. Though not a member of Lodge TISCO, he belonged to Lodge Tata of the Indian Constitution, Bro Irani was an inspiration to all the brethren, across Constitutions, at the Steel City.

Next to be so summoned was Bro Surajit Sanyal . On the 15^th of this month. Bro Anil Vaswani had this to say about this member of St John’s Lodge, “He was a gentleman and a bhadralok and a very dedicated Mason who took charity as a serious obligation. We will miss him tremendously. May he be remembered long and may he find peace in the Grand Lodge Above with the GAOTU.”

This epitaph from a man even as he was blinking away tears at his own inconsolable disaster only five days earlier: Anil had just lost his younger sister. A more fitting instance of the Masonic tenet, “to seek the solace of your own distress by extending relief and consolation to your fellow creatures in the hour of their affliction,” is hard to come by. These columns express the deepest condolences and wishes everlasting peace to the departed souls and pray for the fortitude of the families in this their trying hour.

Not sated, The Almighty rang the death knell yet again, this time loud and clear and insistent; took away from us ever-parched Masons our watering hole. BMRA has not paid the license fees for the last three years. Add to that the accrued penalty and it tots up to an astronomical sum. Would one be far off the mark to venture that mismanagement of egregious proportions, coupled with malversation, has played a not-too-insignificant role in reducing it to such a pass that the excise department had perforce to pull the shutters down? While members certainly do not indulge in what might be looked askance at as bacchanal intemperance, it would be according candour a wide berth to assume the pretence that Freemasonry and its lofty ideals are years, — removes  that can only be measured by the speed of light — distant from such petty sensual allures. In the net, the casualty has been the unfortunate caterer: Iqbal, reeling under two years of COVID closure, has been dealt another lethal blow: Lodges are opting for festive boards at clubs, restaurants and members’ houses. Spare a thought for the wretch, dear brethren. Or else, talk of the standards of emulation alluded to a couple of lines above above rings of arrant cynicism.

This long necrology apart, The 19 has scarsely anything to report on the Silly Season. October. Hardly a Lodge meeting or Masonic activity in this month replete with Hindu festivals. And festivities. If the frenzy of activities at the District secretariat leading up to the Quarterly Communication scheduled for the 4^th of November at TISCO Lodge can be termed inconsequential, that is.

And the Navzar Dotivala Ritual Competition which had been billed for the 23^rd of October. The rolling trophy  has veritably turned into a volution, the second phase of the contest slated for the next month on the 5th at Jamshedpur and, as it there transpired, cartrwheeled back to 19 for the third, and presumably the final, phase of the agonistic exercise. Stradling two months, a more detailed account of this contest comes in the next issue.

Till then, adieu, brethren.