The Sir Andrew Fraser Lodge

CHENNAI: In an impressive and grand installation ceremony steeped in ancient traditions and protocols, Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar took over as the14th Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of India here on Saturday.

Hundred of masons and non-masons, including women and children,witnessed the event that went on for two hours, the first such time thedoors were opened for women in the all-men society.

Right from welcoming the active officers of the Grand Lodges with amarch to taking the pledge before the five volumes of the sacred law,the proceedings showed the seriousness and sovereignty in the way theFreemasons have been conducting the ceremonies. The crowd looked in awewhen rituals where started by invoking the almighty, again showingtheir belief and faith.

The outgoing Grand Master Justice Devinder Gupta installed Dr. Biswakumar by handing over an apron, gauntlet, gold chain and gavel, standing for an emblem of power, authority and duties in the new job.

In his farewell speech, Mr. Gupta said though the Lodges have seen an increase of 16 percent in its membership in the last three years,the dropout rate is a matter of concern and adequate measures have tobe taken to address it.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Biswakumar, senior neurosurgeon, said,“Masonry gives an opportunity to mould people and become bettercitizens, thus becoming ornaments of the society.” On the society beingdescribed as a secret society, he said, “It’s not so but we do havesome secrets. It’s like getting access to someone else secret password.”

Amid the gathering, the rapt attention with which non-masons watchedthe proceeding could not go unnoticed. Eight-five-year-old RevathiBalaram, mother of the new Grand Master, said it was a proud moment tosit through the ceremony.

Others such as Reena Arora, whose husband and son are Freemasons,said they did not know how time flew. “It was spellbinding to see howtradition and values do not die and how a society can be instrumentalin giving character to an individual.”

Representatives of Grand Lodges from Mauritius, Switzerland, England, Gabon, Japan and Germany attended the ceremony.

Healing touch of Freemasonry

Rasheeda Bhagat - The Hindu Business Line

I love reading fiction… and if you find me laughing at midnight, then Imust be re-reading one of my favourite books from my collection of P.G.Wodehouse, who is my favourite writer.”

Aveteran neurologist of several decades, B. Biswakumar is a voraciousreader. Right from all the books of Dan Brown to professionalliterature on the Net; he pores through all of it. After about 10-11hours of seeing patients, he spends “at least one hour a day reading on the Net to upgrade my knowledge in myprofession. It’s an excellent tool; I can tell you what was publishedin the US yesterday.”

On November 21, he will be installed as Grand Master of the GrandLodge of India, an honour a Chennaite gets after 30 long years. This ishis 33rd year in Freemasonry and there’s an interesting story behindhow he joined it.

The son of a bank manager from Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, Biswakumardid his MBBS from the Madurai Medical College in 1962. But while anintern, patriotic fervour following the Indo-China war of 1962 drovehim to the Indian Army. Doctors were being recruited in the EmergencyCommission and he joined as a fresh MBBS graduate. After internship, hewas first posted to Pathankot in Punjab and then Jammu and Kashmir; “Iwas in the camps… field service where we were not in contact with anycity and I looked after the jawans. I saw the 1965 war at closequarters; it was a gruelling, gory, horrible experience of seeing deathat near hand. A shell fell on my bunker which was a dud and didn’tburst!”

He left the Army’s Medical Corps as a captain in 1967, but kept intouch with army friends. Once, dining with some of them, he “met a few‘brothers’ whose behaviour exhibited a lot of harmony and friendshipand I was impressed by the way they behaved with everybody. I asked ifthere was anything special about them and was told they belonged to anorganisation called Freemasons.” Would you like to join, he was asked.“So I joined, and took to it like fish to water,” he grins.

That was in 1977; but before that he completed his MD from JIPMER,Pondicherry, and joined the Institute of Neurology at the MadrasMedical College in 1970 as an honorary assistant. Here he worked withProf B. Ramamurthy, whom he remembers as an “excellent man, hardtaskmaster, great teacher, great clinician, wonderful surgeon and aboveall a wonderful human being.” He stayed at MMC till 1987 after which hejoined the Ramachandra Medical College as Professor of Neurology for ashort term.

Commercialisation, capitation About the changing trends in the medical profession, he admits that“the profession has become a little commercialised for various reasons.Corporate culture has come in; and patients’ demands are more becauseof better knowledge and ability to grasp things from the Internet.Their sources of information are more varied, so demands are more,sometimes even unreasonable.”

Biswakumar says that while “transparency from the doctor isabsolutely essential, there is always the need-to-know-basis. Beyond acertain point if you give details to a patient about his condition itonly scares him. There is no need for them to know everything, as isdone in the US. That is silly.”

He defines a patient as somebody who has “implicit faith in me andhence comes to me and I exhibit the same amount of loyalty in him. Mycaregiving should match his faith in me. That is a beautifulrelationship… a close bond between doctor and patient. If disturbed fora commercial reason, it becomes an unhealthy relationship, butunfortunately this is happening.”

He is, however, happy to have some old patients whom he cherishes.“They look up to me for advice – not necessarily medical. I’ve become akind of counsellor to them.”

Biswakumar sees capitation fees in medical education as an“unhealthy trend. I understand people have to invest a lot of money tobuild up quality institutions and they can charge reasonable fees, butnot through capitation.”

Of course, it would be ideal for the government to be inprofessional education, “but it can’t provide the required number ofseats to meet the demand. So there has to be provision for privatemedical and dental colleges, but there should be no capitation fees,which is like selling education.”

On a super-speciality like neurology not being available to amajority of Indians, Biswakumar, well known for his charitable work,says at a personal level he had served Melmaruvathur, about 100 km fromChennai, for over 10 years. “And in my OP, I used to get patients fromas far as Thanjavur district, and a large percentage of my patients getfree consultation even today.”

But on such compassion being displayed by younger professionals, hesays, “I really don’t know, so can’t comment on it. But just as Ifollowed the principles set down by my teacher, I can vouch that mostof my students have followed my example.”

On the quality of neurological services available, he says thanks tothe setting up of “corporate hospitals and availability of equipment,we are on par with any centre in the world. The clinical knowledge ofour doctors is quite good. First of all, when the patient talks to me,my diagnosis is made. But I then do the clinical examination only toconfirm what I have already found out. That is how a neurologist shouldwork. The machines are there only to prove or disprove a point and takeyou for further management. They are not there as a diagnostic tool inthe first instance. The most important diagnostic tool is your ownbrain.”

Of course, the CT scan, with all its modifications, is a great boonto the speciality. “To a large extent, even today our clinicaldiagnosis stands, but sometimes we are taken by surprise by thetechnological advancement.” As for the future, he would like thespeciality “to be patient- and not hospital- or lab-oriented. I wouldlike the one-to-one relationship between patient and doctor, but fromwhen I started that relationship is no longer the strong bond it usedto be.”

Freemasonry A passionate Freemason, his priority as Grandmaster will be to makethe Indian Grand Lodge a more cohesive unit and expand its base. “InIndia we have only 20,000 Masons which is a poor number. But Masonryhas to grow not merely through numbers but by maintaining quality. Wewould like people of high moral stature who believe in God, to joinus.” To the exclamation of surprise he says, “Oh yes, that’s a primaryqualification; we don’t take agnostics or atheists. The first questionasked of a candidate is, ‘Do you believe in a supreme being?’; we don’tname the God. We are religious people but we don’t practise religion.Each member is encouraged to follow his faith, we don’t interfere inthat.”

He says that though the country is sadly getting polarised alongcommunal lines, Freemasonry is the “most secular organisation. Beforewe start our meetings, we have the sacred books from five religionsincluding Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, placed on the altar. ”

But he wants the organisation to become a little more transparent,and the November 21 event has been opened to non-Masons. “Of course, wecan’t throw open our meetings to everyone. But such events can tellpeople we’re not a secret society, even though we do have secrets, likeany other organisation.”

Dan Brown and masonry So, what does he think of the Dan Brown books?

An avid reader, he has read all his books. “It is all fiction; hehas used a lot of imagination and Masonry as a nuclear point anddeveloped on it. The previous books were not very favourably disposedtowards Masonry, and made people look at it with suspicions. But therecent book, The Last Symbol, has projected Masonry in a good way. On page 99 he says masons are the most honest, virtuous, trustworthy people in society!”

Biswakumar adds that while Freemasons do a lot of charity, theydon’t publicise it. “The Masons of America do charity worth $1.5million a day; it is mindboggling, but nobody talks of Masonic charity.We have established institutions such as polyclinics and schools inDelhi, a paediatric hospital in Coimbatore, run free clinics inChennai, give scholarships, help old-age homes, war widows. But wedon’t talk about it.”

Asked about the gender barrier, he smiles and says, “I expected thisquestion! This institution comes from Europe from the 18th century. Weare in India from 1729, and not many things have changed, at least inour parent organisation, the United Grand Lodge of England. Now, all ofa sudden, we can’t do something different.”

But a beginning has been made in many parallel organisations beingset up for women; women’s Lodges have come up in England “with theirown grandmasters. For instance, the Theosophical Society is only anoffshoot of the Masonic Lodge; their rituals are practically the sameas ours. Who knows, one day this might happen in India.”

The 49th Annual Grand Festival of the Grand Lodge of Antient, Free and Accepted Masons of India will be held on the 21st and 22nd November, 2009 at Chennai. Most Worshipful Bro. Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the Grand Master will Install R.W. Bro. Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar, OSM, the Grand Master-Elect as the next Most Worshipful the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of India.

Brethren may retreive registration information from Bro. Secretary or download the form directly from http://masonindia.org/meeting_chennai_1.htm .

Lodge Good Fellowship No. 71 GLI, The Sir AndrewFraser Lodge No. 72 GLI and The St. Mary Lodge No. 75 celebrated theirCentenary at Calcutta on 27th and 28th December, 2008 organised by a Joint Organising Committee which had W.Bro.Raja Mookerjee as it’s Chairman and W.Bro. Ambarish Singh Roy as it’s Convenor.

These celebrations were presided over by M.W. Bro.Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster. R.W. Bro. Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar, OSM, Deputy Grand Master andthe Grand Master –Elect, R.W. Bro. Ashok Mehrotra, Assistant Grand Master, R.W.Bro. Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Right Worshipful the Regional Grand Master of EasternIndia, R.W. Bro. Krishna Kumar Gautam, M.E. the Third Grand Principal, R.W.Bro. Dr. John Reginald, Grand Senior Warden, R.W. Bro. K.K. Gaur, GrandDirector of Ceremonies and a host of other Masonic dignitaries and Brethrenfrom far and near graced the two-day celebrations with their presence.

The celebrations commenced on the morning of 27thDecember, 2008 with the Inauguration of the new Dental Clinic at the MasonicPolyclinic Association of Eastern India dedicated to the memory of Late RaiBahadur Lalit Mohan Singh Roy CIE, JP by W.Bro. Ambarish Singh Roy. The DentalClinic was inaugurated by M.W. Bro. Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster in the presence of R.W. Bro. Sisir Kumar Ghosh, the dignitaries and theinauguration was attended by an overwhelming number of Brethren and theirfamilies. Most Worshipful the Grand Master inspected the Dental Clinic’sfacilities and hoped that it would run successfully in the near future. He alsopraised the brethren for taking this initiative in the right direction. Theinauguration was followed by a lunch jointly hosted by the three Lodges inhonour of the dignitaries, guests and members of the Masonic PolyclinicAssociation of Eastern India and their families.

The ceremony of re-dedication began the sameevening at 5.30 PM. The Officiating Centenary Officers asnominated jointly by the three participating Lodges were - Worshipful Master:W.Bro. Bharat V. Epur, I.P.M: R.W. Bro. K.P. David, Senior Warden: V.W. Bro.Banshi Badan Dutt, Junior Warden: W.Bro. Prakash Khanna Senior Deacon: W.Bro.Pervez Kaikobad, Junior Deacon: Bro. Prakash Sipani, Inner Guard: W.Bro. NurulHasan, Tyler: W.Bro. Anil Khullar, DOC: W.Bro. Asish Kr. Ghosh,Chaplain: W.Bro. Dr. C.B. Nanjappa, Secretary: W.Bro. Ambarish Singh Roy,Treasurer: W.Bro. D. N. Banerjee. The Lodge received, welcomed and greeted R.W.Bro. Sisir kr. Ghosh, Right Worshipful the Regional Grand Master, Eastern India along with the members ofhis deputation. The Lodge then received, welcomed and greeted M.W. Bro. JusticeDevinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster, Grand Lodge of India, along with the members of his deputation of GrandOfficers. The officiating Worshipful Master, W.Bro Bharat V. Epur thendelivered the welcome address which was followed by a reading of the briefhistory of each of the three Lodges by the Secretary. Most Worshipful the GrandMaster then took charge of the Lodge on request of the Worshipful Master. Afterthe reading of a prayer by the Acting Grand Chaplain, the Centenary Warrants wereread out by V.W. Bro. Shantanu Mazumdar, Acting Grand Secretary. Various PastMasters read out select portions of the Volumes of Sacred Law and theirtranslations. W.Bro. D.N. Banerjee read a portion from the Bhagvad Gita, W.Bro.Nurul Hasan recited a portion from the Holy Quran; R.W. Bro. K.P. David read aportion from the Holy Bible, W.Bro. Indu Chatrath recited a portion from TheGranth Sahib and W.Bro. Pervez S. Kaikobad recited a portion from the ZendAvesta. Thereafter the Worshipful Masters, Senior Wardens, Junior Wardens,I.P.M’s, Past Masters and Brethren of the 3 Lodges lined up in three separatelines to take the Oath of Re-dedication. After this Oath, Most Worshipful theGrand Master addressed the Brethren present at the Joint Meeting and handedover the Lodge to the officiating Worshipful Master. The Three Secretaries ofthe Lodges then read their individual Roll of Past Masters. Thereafter, theWorshipful Master called on the Brethren present to pass by acclamation theproposal of Honorary Membership for M.W. Bro. Chief Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster. This being done, Most Worshipful the Grand Master rose to address theBrethren and thanked the Three Lodges for bestowing the honour of HonoraryMembership on him. On a request from the officiating Worshipful Master, MostWorshipful the Grand Master then released the Centenary Jewels of all the threeLodges. The Worshipful Master then presented one jewel of each of the threelodges to M.W. Bro. Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster, R.W. Bro. Sisir Kr. Ghosh, Right Worshipful the Regional Grand Masterand one set each to the Central Masonic Library and Museum. Thereafter, on arequest from the Worshipful Master, Most Worshipful the Grand Master distributedthe Centenary Jewels of all three Lodges to all members who were present.

The Director of Ceremonies then presented V.W. Bro.Banshi Badan Dutt to Most Worshipful the Grand Master. W.Bro. Ambarish SinghRoy, Secretary, gave a compendious description of V.W. Bro. Banshi Badan Dutt’seminent career as a Mason over the past 50 years. Most Worshipful the GrandMaster was then pleased to bestow upon V.W. Bro. Banshi Badan Dutt the 50 YearsLong Term Service Jewel and the citation thereof. He also congratulated V.W.Bro. Dutt and commended him on his estimable masonic journey of over half acentury. V.W. Bro. Dutt then addressed Most Worshipful the Grand Master, R.W.the Regional Grand Master and members of their respective deputations as wellas the Brethren of the Lodge. He expressed his deep gratitude for the honourthe Most Worshipful the Grand Master had been kind enough to bestow upon him.He also thanked the Brethren of his own lodge The Sir Andrew Fraser Lodge No.72 GLI (one of the three participating lodges), for their unstinting supportand encouragement.

The Worshipful Master, W.Bro. Bharat V. Epur thendelivered his thanks giving address. He thanked Most Worshipful the GrandMaster, Right Worshipful the Regional Grand Master, and the distinguishedmembers of their respective deputations for honouring us by gracing this uniquejoint lodge centenary meeting with their presence. He also thanked brethren whohad travelled from different parts of India, especially from theSouthern Region and one V.W. Bro. Roger Hansel who had travelled from the GrandLodge of Canada and made it convenient to attend our Centenary Celebrations. Healso praised the work of the organising committee which had worked sincerely tobring the dreams of their Brethren to fruition.

Thereafter a collection was made in the aid ofcharity. Most Worshipful the Grand Master then retired from the Lodge alongwith members of his deputation of Grand Officers. The Regional Grand Masterthen retired along with members of his deputation of Regional Grand Officers.The Lodge was thereafter closed in due form.

The fellowship started along with the strains of aString Quartet hired from the Calcutta School of Music http://www.csm.org.in/ . A brochure onCalcutta School of Music, a charitable organisation which helps financiallychallenged but talented musicians, was distributed by members of the Lodge. Themembers of the three lodges added a fillip to the evening by un-corkingnumerous bottles of champagne and used the contents to fill wine glasses to beused for toasting.

A formal banquet was laid out at the NorthamptonHall and after all the dignitaries and members were seated, the Grand DOC called out a list oftoasts which were taken with due solemnity and grace. Over 100 brethren satalong the dignitaries at the banquet and a five course meal was enjoyed by thebrethren amidst the continuing performance of the Calcutta School of MusicString Quartet.

A Free Eye Camp which was sponsored and organisedjointly by the three Centenary Lodges at the Masonic Polyclinic Association ofEastern India was then inaugurated by M.W. Bro. Justice Devinder Gupta, OSM, Most Worshipful the GrandMaster. Over 200 patients from the general public who had registered earlierwere treated and diagnosed for their eye-related ailments and free spectacleswere given to those in need of them. A few cases were found serious enough towarrant surgery. They were given appointments for such surgery to take placefree of cost at an eye hospital under the supervision of W.Bro. Dr. Amit Paul.Many family members and wives of the Brethren of these three lodgesparticipated in the eye camp. Food packets were also distributed to all thepatients who had participated in the eye-camp. The eye camp which was under thedirect supervision of W.Bro Prakash Khanna was a resounding success.

The Worshipful Master and Brethren of The Sir Andrew Fraser Lodge No. 72 GLI heartily congratulate R.W. Bro. Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar, OSM on being selected as the Grand Master - Elect of the Grand Lodge of India inMumbai on 21st November, 2008