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Committed couple
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SOMA BASU meets an interesting American couple whose love for India is unbound.
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IF YOU were at the Race Course these past few weeks, you would have surely spotted a lady in white salwar-kurta and dupatta doing the laps early in the morning. All of 77 years wrapped in a thin frame and yet so very young on feet.
Few steps behind trying to keep pace would be her husband, exasperating: "ah, well, she is fitter than me!" They are the Munsons - Fred, a retired Economics professor from University of Michigan and also a specialist in hospital administration. And his wife, Mary, a physical educationist and health recreationist.
So what is this aged American couple doing here when they own 30 acres back home where Fred loves to do farming, gardening and keep in touch with nature and Mary's hands are full with voluntary work? Broach the topic and the duo simply gush out their love for India. Their love for anything that is Indian - from the landscape to the people, culture and hospitality, food, fabric, dresses, books, art forms and art works...They find it difficult to contain their excitement and emotions talking about India and the people they have befriended ever since the 50s.
Fred and Mary believe their association with India was destined. Or else how could the two pursuing different streams as Graduates at Cornell University, New York, make Kolkata their wedding venue?
Fred, who had just graduated in Labour Relations and was interested in working overseas, found himself a job with Stanvac Oil Company that took him to the eastern shores of India in 1952. Mary, who was waiting for an opportunity to visit India, says with a teasing smile, "I got hooked to him."
`Affectionate city'
When they first met few months before graduating, their hearts sang the same song and they arrived in Kolkata, a city which they like to describe as one with "more spirit, warmth and affection than any other city in the world." "People are very artistic, they sing wonderfully, they find joy in doing simple things, they take just 30 seconds to turn strangers into bosom friends, their culture is to do your best for your guest..." for Fred and Mary the thrill of recalling their maiden visit to India is as fresh as dew.
Barely a year later, both took their nuptial vows at the Thoburn Methodist Church and a nearby orphanage, which they visited often, hosted their wedding reception. As they became life partners, their lifetime association with India took a flight.
They moved to Mumbai and then Delhi, where Fred worked for the Ford Foundation till the Indo-Pak war in 1965. In between were born their three sons and a daughter. Though the family returned to the U.S as Fred wanted to do a Ph.D in Economics India calling continued.
In 1980, Fred ran into Dr.Govindappa Venkataswamy, who was then setting up the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai. "Both of us are farm boys and there was an instant affinity," says Fred.
Dr. V-Fred chord
The chord that struck between Dr.V and Fred fast-forwarded them into a deep personal bond that remains as strong and trusted as ever 25 years later. With Dr.V looking for expertise in hospital administration, Fred became the automatic choice with his knowledge in organistaion theory and work experience in India. But the couple was more excited about revisiting India.
Ever since 1981, they have been annually coming to Madurai. Though they render professional guidance to the Aravind family on matters related to hospital management, organizational behaviour and interior decoration, the relationship has extended much beyond. "They are all a part of our extended family now," Mary asserts happily.
So strong and mutual is the love and respect that the couple's youngest son was married in the Railway Church in Railway Colony here in 1993. One of their grandsons is named Mathew Ian Govinda after Dr.V. Two years ago, Fred and Mary went back to Kolkata to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in the same church. Their daughter wants to be reincarnated as a Bengali born in Kolkata!
With an unsatiated love for India, there is no dearth of funny or emotional, wild or routine stories in their profile. "My favourite stories are all about India, all my children love India and someday I will bring all my grandchildren too," says Mary ardently, whose assignments at Aravind require her to redesign areas aesthetically.
For this she has to locally shop around. She reveals how adept she is now at playing the "game of the near-miss" while crossing roads here.
Equal is her flair in bargaining with shopkeepers now.
But there are moments when she gets carried away and tips a cycle-rickshaw puller with a 100 rupee note because she is so enchanted by the ride from Gandhi Museum to Aravind Hospital on a Sunday morning. Fred likes to leave his job description "abstract."
"I am a very patient listener. I hear out all problems and given the trust placed in me, I endorse suggestions which I feel will help in the growth of the institution," he says, shy of divulging how he was behind the introduction of Aravind as an "Eye Care System" rather than being just an eye hospital.
There are many changes that the couple has subtly introduced without willing to take credit.
Reluctant that they are to talk about their services to Aravind, quiz them on India and out it flows: "I have never seen an ugly Indian man, all Indian women are so beautiful...I love mulligatawny soup, I relish any spicy Indian dish..."
Both are avid readers and enjoy Rohinton Mistry and Chitra Banerjee Devakaruna. They enjoy watching Hindi films "Baiju Bawra" and "Boot Polish" of Black and White era. They enjoy shopping terracotta items, cane stuff, curtain cloth and durries, wood inlay works, paintings and much more. Their ideal evening back home is to cook an Indian meal and enjoy it with friends while watching "Gandhi".
As they fly out today (February 5), this much Indianised American couple can't wait to return, probably early next year.
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