Paul Siromoni, a 90-year-old man from Chennai recently earned his PhD and proved that you’re never too old to go back to school.
Ninety-year-old Paul Siromoni from Chennai recently earned his PhD and proved that no-one is ever too old to go back to school.
Siromoni started working on his thesis after his retirement and was awarded his doctorate after a three-year period, last week. The topic of his research was ‘God’s call to the church to join in transforming the world into a kingdom of love’. Siromoni mentions he had a lot of time to complete his theses after his retirement. He had to write six papers, attend several seminars and give three long exams.
Who is Dr Paul Siromoni?
Dr Paul Siromoni was initially the General Secretary of the YMCA and later joined St. Mark’s Cathedral as the Head of the Industrial Team Service. He is also one of the founding members of the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science.
We view people according to their professions: This is a problem
He catered to the productivity and process industry which made him realise that people are generally known by their role. Some of them are seen as supervisors, some as managers and some as executives, while others were seen as students, patients or clients. He noticed that people failed to see each other as human beings. After working with a number of large, small and public sector industries, he realised that the industries have a problem.
Establishing Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science (ISABS)
Dr Siromoni saw that a large number of people were suffering from stress and depression. That is when he decided on establishing the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science (ISABS) and conducting human process conventions to teach people discipline and the ability of working together with harmony.
“ISABS is a value based institution dedicated to the dignity and autonomy of human beings as individuals in groups, organisations and society at large. ISABS is dedicated to understanding, developing and applying human process competencies through continuous experimentation, research and learning related to Applied Behavioural Science.”
Working at the slums of Bangalore: Siromoni’s inspiration
Dr Siromoni has made a number of other contributions for the society. He left the comfort of his home and stepped into the slums of Bangalore to teach them small skills for making a living, also helping them with basic necessities such as health care and education.
In 2013, Siromoni and a group of 50 other Chennaiites– students to businessmen– signed up with NGO Banyan to spend a night on the platform of Light House Railway Station with homeless people as part of the Joy of Giving week, in the hopes that the night will be a wake-up call. All of this inspired him to pursue his PhD in the chosen subject.
Dr Joyce Siromoni: Partner in crime for life
His wife is a legend herself. Despite her age, Dr Joyce Siromoni continues to work towards bettering the lives of others. She started at the age of 34 and is now 87, and is working to rehabilitate and integrate people suffering from mental illnesses. A medical graduate (1954) with a medical license in Gynaecology, she has worked in various hospitals in India and in the United Kingdom. She set new goals in 1964 when she noticed that the Indian prisons housed inmates solely because of their mental illnesses.
People suffering from depression and other mental disturbances were either sent to prisons and mental hospitals or left homeless. She worked at creating a place of their own where they could recover and made capable of earning a living. Paripurnata or Halfway Home is the rehabilitation centre that she runs in Kolkata, West Bengal. Dr Joyce Siromoni, Founder of Medico-Pastoral Association, has also earned the CNN-IBN Real Heroes Awards in 2010.
Battling the commercial world which only knows monetary profit
The couple believes that the society is influenced too much by the commercial world and that profit and money has become their sole purpose in life. They believe that god made human beings to propagate love and to relate to each other as people. Dr Paul Siromoni mentions that God works through his people and they are merely the vector of God’s work.
He states that some people have come to the conclusion that the Church’s mission is to convert other religions into Christianity but he clarifies that the mission is to convert people into beings that love fellow beings, and make the world a kingdom of love.
“Unfortunately we are conditioned by our culture and our culture is dominated by the economy”. Paul Siromoni believes that half the population is depressed, stressed or addicted to drugs because the world is inhuman. The husband and wife are working at bringing justice, peace and love to the world.
