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Our Guru: Father Eugene L. Watrin, S.J As We Saw Him By SB Pun Father Eugene L. Watrin, the senior most of
the few remaining American Jesuits in Nepal, passed away peacefully due to pancreatic
cancer on February 29, 2004 at age 84. Like many of his other missionary colleagues here
in Nepal, he hailed from Ohio/Dayton, close to the “beautiful city of
Cincinnati”. At the young age of 27, he came to India as a novitiate in 1947. Nepal
then had the distinction of being a “forbidden country” still in the clutches of
the gasping autocratic Rana regime. He was ordained a priest at Kurseong in 1952 and he
taught at Saint Xavier’s Schools of both Jaipur and Patna. It was only when he hopped over to Nepal in
1955 that we saw him at Saint Xavier’s Godavari School. He taught us the King’s
English and not his American English, as Godavari then prepared its students for the
Cambridge O level examinations. When writing essays he advised that, to generate interest
in the readers/examiners, the personal flavour, as far as practicable, has to be curried.
It is exactly in that personal spirit that we will try to remember him. Though we
literally slept through his classes of Wren and Martin grammar book, he introduced us to
the beauty of playing with the English words: “eat to live or live to eat; the
ambassador is one who LIES abroad for the good of his country”. Of course, however
hard we tried, none of us could reach the literary heights of Samrat Upadhyay. He also
took our Moral classes where he taught us the universal virtues of “Do unto others as
you would want others do unto you”. It was, perhaps, with this spirit he shared the
students’ “humble” food with us in the general dining hall and not join the
teachers’ “exclusive” mess. However, many of us still remember his moral
classes telling us, “In a human being, the desire to have sex is the greatest urge
next only to the desire to live and not die.” This came from the Roman Catholic
priest who had taken the vows of chastity. Father Watrin donned many avatars and some of
them were definitely not so popular with us. He was a strict disciplinarian keeping such
surveillance over us as to who exactly went to the toilet, and when, to smoke. Yet he
never believed in the use of the “usual school cane”. This was not necessary at
all for he used to make good use of his sharp shooting tongue. As the games-in-charge, he ensured that we
sweated out in the hot sun on Saturdays and Sundays learning the intricacies of English
cricket: leg byes, mid-on, bouncers etc. We naturally preferred to take the
“walk” around the hills and dales of Panch Dhara, Nau Dhara, Kitni etc. So when
the senior class of 1958 did revolt against the imposition of colonial English cricket
playing, he, despite his Americanness, coolly expounded the virtues of cricket: that it
would help us at colleges and universities and that great men like Pandit Nehru also
played cricket. But it was the redoubtable Professor Prem Raman Upretti of Tribhuvan
University who without batting his eyes rebutted, “But Father, our Prime Minister
Tanka Prasad never played cricket!” Anyway, whenever the England-Australia ashes or
Indo-Pak Pandav/Kaurav cricket duels do take place, many of us are ironically grateful to
Father Watrin for initiating us into this lazy game. He was also our scoutmaster who
taught his cub scouts: how to make a square knot, how to give first Aid and above all to
Always Do One Good Turn a Day. He demonstrated his first aid practical skill when an
epileptic American boy, Gersun, drowned in the school swimming pool. Despite the other
Fathers’ remark that the boy can not be resuscitated, Father Watrin continued to give
his first aid application until the boy happily did revive, vomiting blood and water from
his lungs. One avatar that his “vocal chord” sorely prevented him from donning
was that of the sonorous Father Murphy’s Glee club, the school’s singing team to
cultivate future Narayan Gopals! After finishing school, we lost regular
contacts with our Guru. This was simply because, as ordained, we had our own various
karmas to perform: getting a job so that the family can “eat to live”, doing the
job responsibly so that “your conscience does not bother you”, getting married
not only to fulfill the urge that our Guru talks of but more so to fulfill the wishes of
your parents to “continue the progeny” and “serving to the best of
one’s ability” both our motherland and God. We bumped into him now and then,
invariably on his trademark bicycle, his only mode of transportation around Kathmandu. He
related a story of his trip to America where a doctor, after examining his chest x-ray
report, remarked, “Both your lungs are totally blackened. You must be a chain
smoker.” Father Watrin, a non-smoker, then realized the consequence of his cycling
exercises in Kathmandu behind the infamous Vikram tempos and the black-smoke-belching
buses and mini-buses. We believe that it was in his later avatars
that he really flowered and fruited: director of the Godavari Alumni Association (GAA),
member of Fulbright Education Committee, local representative of the Ryder-Cheshire
Foundation that caters to the handicapped and disabled, chairman of the Ashoka Foundation
for Nepal public service entrepreneurs, founding member and Chairman of Saint
Xavier’s Campus and above all, the founder and patron of the Social Action Volunteers
in Nepal (SAV). SAV is the fruit of his vision and labour dedicated to the development of
the less privileged Nepalese through such activities as weekly mobile health clinics,
school management support, scholarships to poor children, skill development programs and
rural micro-credit schemes. At a time when the rich/poor, rural/urban, high/low caste etc.
divides are unfortunately spilling precious Nepalese blood throughout the country,
SAV’s activities are truly delivering the badly needed “healing touch”.
Over 125 poor children in various schools are presently getting financial support to
complete their secondary level education. In fact, 7 students at college levels are also
availing this financial support. SAV right now is working on one of his last wishes to
include the “children of the conflict” in his educational support programs.
These activities are all supported by Father Watrin’s Endowment Fund. Those who are
interested in SAV or the Endowment Fund can please contact it at the GAA, Thamel, phone:
4-420597 or email: savn@mail.com.np. When the doctor diagnosed pancreatic cancer
and gave him only six more months to live, he continued to live in Nepal, working till his
last days to uplift the quality of life of our less privileged brothers and sisters. He
knew exactly when he had to leave this earthly abode. He requested his colleague priests
to perform his last rites on his last night at the B&B Hospital. Like all true
Nepalese, he preferred to die here in Nepal and be cremated, like any Nepalese, on the
banks of the Bagmati river. In the true spirit of the GAA motto, he lived to serve God and
Nepal! Father Eugene L. Watrin, S.J (Mr. Pun was a former student of Father
Watrin) |
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