JONATHAN TINAT PASSED AWAY
This morning K.S.Chandramouli smsed me by saying that he got sms from Lucy Upah of Nigeria informing him that Jonathan L Tinat ( President of Nigeria National Association of the Deaf (HQ) fell into coma on Saturday and passed away yesterday ( 12th March ). I could hardly believe this shocking news. Jonathan is one of my good friends.
How did I meet him for 1st time? In the 2nd week of November 2006 at IRYLA event, Ichalakaranji Rotarian Dr.Dilip Deshmukh, who had arranged a double hotel room for me to stay, asked me whether a deaf male delegate from Nigeria who would come soon could share the same room with me. I nodded. Jonathan, Lucy and Antonia introduced themselves to many delegates including myself. At the very first meeting I and Jonathan became good acquaintances.
I saw that his Bible book was lying near his bed in the hotel room. This showed that he was a believer of God. In order to clear his misconception of Hare Krishna he became curious about Hare Krishna philosophy and learnt a lot from me about it. Jonathan remarked that this philosophy was very beautiful.
I invited him and two friends of his to stay in my place in Bangalore. They was greatly impressed by the colourful city of Bangalore and wanted to extend their stay for more days. Being comfortable with my and other deaf friends’ goodwill they spent about one week here. Jonathan endeared himself to everyone.
He loved India, her food, culture and people. He came to India for the first time and conquered people here by his friendship but were also conquered by great goodwill of people here. He presented me a Nigerian cap. Since he said it cost around Rs.1800/=, I am still keeping it as a token of memorial friendship.
He was a supporter of SDD. He said that he would welcome me to establish SDD center in Nigeria. This shows that he believes firmly in communal harmony and peace. He felt strongly that my lecture on proverbs and spiritual values would be of great use to the deaf in Nigeria if I come there.
He had a good sense of humour. He shared jokes with me. He sometimes burst into laughter whenever I joked. He said he loved my jokes, wits and humours. He was full of enthusiasm to serve the deaf. He was one of the gifted leaders for the deaf. He was the President of Nigeria National Association of the Deaf (HQ). He was popular among the deaf communities in Africa. He aspired to represent the deaf community of Africa in the World Federation of the Deaf in July 2007. But his death embraced him leaving this aspiration unfulfilled. It is God’s will which is more important than everything. My prayer to Him is to let Jonathan’s soul be in peace.
When Jonathan heard from me that India Deaf Expo was expected to be held in Bangalore in 2009, he got very excited about taking part in this expo with his Nigerian members. But death unexpectedly took him away. Bhagavad-Gita taught us not to lament too much over our dear relatives/friends’ death. So uncontrollable lament was unnecessary. But of course! we miss our great friend Jonathan. It will be great if he is with God in His abode. We are His instruments so we cannot thwart untimely death. Death is inevitable whether it is timely or untimely.
Rtn Dr.Dilip Deshmukh described him as a genius and considered his death as a great loss.
May Jonathan’s soul be in peace.
Hare Krishna!
Anantadev
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