The Meanderings of a Disturbed Indian
The Meanderings of a Disturbed Indian, a personal memoir by Aloysius Prakash Fernandez, Padmashree awardee and founder of Myrada and Sanghamithra, was written between 2016 and 2018 while the author was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and processing the loss of his son. The narrative traces his unconventional journey from training and serving as a Catholic priest in Bangalore, through his work on the Bangladesh refugee program and with Caritas India, to his eventual departure from the priesthood and years with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) before co-founding Myrada. Structured around a set of questions he poses to himself in the opening chapter, the book reflects on the social role of religion, the influence of the Second Vatican Council (1963–1965) on his evolving beliefs, and the career and family choices that followed as he sought to reconcile inherited faith and tradition with the insights of his studies and experience. The later chapters cover his family life and the mission he ultimately chose from 1977 onward: supporting the aspirations of over a million of India’s rural poor, irrespective of religion. The volume closes with a section of personal reflections and photographs on contemporary social and moral questions.
