Blood donation camp held at UTC

 The Social Engagement Wing of the Carey Society organized a life-saving Blood donation camp on 20.1.2012 at the Charles Ranson Hall in the UTC. The blood donation camp was initiated by the Lions blood bank, Bangalore. Mr. Deepak Suman , the coordinator of Lions blood bank and Dr. Athoshi Sinha, the medical officer along with their support staff Mr. Anil, Mr.Swamy, Mr.Kumar, Mrs. Diana, Mr. Vishwa, and Mr. Natraj co-ordinated and helped the donors in the blood donation drive.

The programme started at 2 pm with a short official gathering, led by the social engagement coordinator Mr. Rohan. The UTC Communication department lecturer Fr. Jerry Kurian shared a few important thoughts to motivate the donars and the medical officer Dr. Athoshi Sinha encouraged the gathering to save lives. After that the guests were honored by the organizers and then the donors started donating blood. Around 50 students, maintenance staff and others donated blood through this special blood donation camp. The success of the programme was largely due to the awareness created and the number of first time donors who came forward to donate blood.

(Vincilo, Abu, JK)

Pongal celebration

 
The festival of Pongal was celebrated in the UTC on January 18, 2012 on the lawn in front of the library. The Tamil fellowship took the lead in celebrating the festival and included other members in the community celebration. Pongal signifies the end of the traditional farming season, giving farmers a break from their monotonous routine. The morning worship was colourful and mixed with song and dance. The Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadas preached on the occassion. The worship was followed by the sharing of the sweet pongal dish and sugarcane. A lunch for the entire community was also organized.

UTC community sitting for the worship

Bhajan

Dance

Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadas

Pongal is not complete without the sweet dish

The UTC staff joined in the celebration

Breaking the pot

The Tamil fellowship members

The pot for boiling milk

The toil of the land in the form of sugarcane

UTC staff, students and community members queuing up for lunch

Rev. J. Jeyakumar and family contributed towards the lunch for the marriage of his daughter

UTC alumnus consecrated as bishop

 
Jomy Joseph, an alumnus of the United Theological College was ordained as a bishop of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church on Sunday January 15, 2012 in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Damascus, Syria,  by His Holiness the Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. Jomy Joseph is now Mathews Mor Antheemos and the church will decide his engagements and responsibilities later. Mathews Mor Antheemos did his doctorate in Salsburg and his thesis was on "Integrity of Creation in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian. A Patristic Eco Theology."

(Pictures courtesy of SOCM and Malankara Syriac Voice)

UTC Library

The UTC library from outside

The UTC Library is one of the biggest theological libraries in Asia and the biggest in India. The well furnished library building has a built-in area of over 43,000 sq. ft with bright, spacious and airy reading rooms on one side and stacks on the other. 

Entrance

Book cards and stairs leading to two floors

Book check out section at the entrance

 

The library has reference sections, reading rooms, stacks with books for reference, new books arrival section, shelves containing dictionaries, encyclopedias, journals and magazines, a photocopying room, a computer room for students offering internet and online access to resources and archives containing documented materials, theses and rare manuscripts. 

Book stacks

Archives

Reference section including dictionaries and encyclopedias

The library not only offers substantial resources primarily for theological study and research at all levels, but also serves other disciplines such as literature, history, anthropology, sociology, etc. Research scholars from various universities in India and abroad continue to make use of the invaluable resources of the library. Books and journals can be searched manually and through the computers on offer for that purpose.

Computer room

New arrivals

Reading hall

The library has more than 75,000 books, 672 periodical titles, 420 microfilms of historical record and 23,023 microfiches which includes the Indian census from 1872. The archives which preserves the original records and periodicals on the history of missions, churches, microfilm / microfiche etc. is an invaluable source of information about the life and conditions during the last two centuries. Efforts are also being made to collect books published by the Indian Language Theological Literature Committees. Some of the treasures in the Archives are Martin Luther's Commentary on the Galatians in Latin, printed in Basel in 1523; Bartholomew Ziegenbalg's Grammatica Damulica, Hale, 1716 and the Biblia Damulica by Zie genbalg and Benjamin Schultze, Tranquebar, 1725-28. The Palm Leaf Collection dating back to about 600 years are in Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam on subjects such as history, poetry, stotras, puranas, astrology etc.

Mrs. Tabitha Shamsunder, Librarian

People in Bangalore with proper recommendation can avail membership facilities for reading and checking out books from the library. The librarian can be contacted through phone or e mail or can be contacted in person during office hours. The library is open on Monday to Friday 9 AM- 1 PM and 2 PM- 7 PM and 8 PM to 11 PM. Books can be checked out from 9-4. On Saturdays the library is open 9 AM - 12 noon and 2 PM- 5 PM. Sunday is a holiday.

Contact address:

The Librarian
United Theological College
P.O.Box 4613,
63, Millers Road,
Benson Town
Bangalore - 560046. India.
Telephone : 0091-80-23333438/23330502 Fax: 0091-80-23330015
E-mail: librarian@utcbangalore.org