怀念M.R.范•默尔西

怀念 M.R. 范 · 默尔西

我刚从多伦多回来，便听到范教授病危的噩耗，脑内一片空白。一下班，我便直奔医院，他躺在病床上，昏迷不醒，形容枯槁。儿子和侄子枯坐两旁，无能为力。当晚，我失眠了，往事渐渐地涌现出来。

我与范教授的第一次会面是在他义务为中国人开办的英语口语班上。那是 2002 年 12 月一个周末的下午，地点在他办公室隔壁的小会议室里。参加者有约 20 人，英语水平参差不齐。范教授为大家提供机会练习口语。在我到来之前，他已办了一年的法语口语班和三年的英语班（应中国人要求改的）。我一去，见刘春生博士与教授并排坐在主席座上，大家谈笑自如。我立即为班上融洽的师生关系所感化，紧张感消失了，谈话便有条不紊。每次大家围绕一个主题，畅所欲言，主题无所不包。范教授主持讨论并纠正大家口语中的错误，有时也讲讲自己的经历或看法。每到这时，我们便听得格外认真。这个班持续了一年半，后来到春暖花开的时候，我认为这么好的天呆在室内浪费了，便建议休课，待冬季来临时再复课。可惜后来没有复课。这个教室，还被他借给中文班用，以便那些在魁省出生或长大的中国人的后代不忘自己的文化。

范教授自己也学习中文。他除了在英语课的结尾时练练中文外 ， 还特意请学生崔科 （ 以及前任 喻辉、谢宁等） 录音中文课本 ， 安装中文卫视，家中中文版影视也不少。他在美国时，曾设法以中文与 Motel 的中国老板沟通，因为老板不懂英语。初次见面的中国人往往被他的中文镇住，但几年以来并没有多少长进。

范教授不仅热爱中国文化 ， 更爱中国人。他认为中国人比印度人更值得信赖 ， 他更愿意与中国人交往。我与他认识之初 ， 便为他认识的中国人之多而折服。他曾数次访问中国 ， 其中一次是联合国教科文组织组织的大学代表团，我们曾看过其访问录像。他退休前的一批四位中国学生中，有两位便是他访问中国时的中方接待。他的豪华住房，随时对中国人开放，每逢圣诞节等重大节日，中国人便会被邀请去他家聚餐。范并不会做菜，但这不妨碍他出资买菜，由中国人做菜，然后大快朵姬。我初到他家时，吃惊于陈列品中中国物品多于其收藏的印度物品，它们主要是每个中国来访者留下的纪念品，包括一面中国国旗。

实际上中国人早已把此处当家了 ： 短期访问者可以无偿在此住上数日或数月 ， 那些离开魁市的中国人回访 ， 往往首选住在他家。他家是我们唯一可以不经预约随时拜访的家庭。我在他家常可见到或从电话中听到回访或问候的中国人，他们中有的还帮助带过童年的小儿子纳文恩 Naveen ，那是 1981 年那场灾难性车祸的幸存者。那场车祸，夺去了其法国籍妻子、大儿子和大侄子的生命。自那以后，他便没有再结婚。

他的中文卫视也帮了中国人的大忙：春节晚会、神舟六号发射、北京奥运会开幕式等，我们都看到了现场直播。他那极其复杂的家用电器系统是由刘春生安装的。

范教授为中国人做的事，包括他与刘国津教授促成了拉瓦尔大学与吉林大学结为友好大学，促进了两校医学院的学术交流，包括联合申请科研课题，包括他为中国人访魁提供邀请信和担保，包括校对研究论文的英文，包括写求职推荐信，包括介绍前后抵魁的中国人相互认识等。作为回报，中国人为他整理庭院、户外油漆 、在他外出时替他看家 等，也时常邀请他参加中国人的聚餐。 2006 年，他在家宴请吉大医院来访的 8 位医生。 2007 年，他为访魁的中国医生团体申请美国签证事奔走，不惜动用议员关系，使之成行。为此，锦州医学院和吉林大学聘请他为名誉教授，拉瓦尔大学校长也不时就中国问题向他咨询。他的关门弟子袁霞获得本大学优秀研究生称号，崔科获得麦吉尔大学继续深造的机会。

他的晚年生活极其简单 ： 我曾见过他的自带午餐是白米饭浇酸奶，他的鞋磨得变了形。我夫人曾送他布鞋一双，还曾于一个风雪交加的情人节送他一件羊毛衫。可惜他只在当天穿了一次，以后又穿破旧的了。但他对中国人是慷慨的，每有来访，他必破费请客。在我们眼里，范教授是一位令人尊敬的长者，但他却把我们看成自己的兄弟姐妹。他在魁北克引进了印度的兄妹节（ Rakhy ），赠萨利给我们。他堪称又一个柯棣华（ Dwarkanath Kotnis ， 1910-1942 ）。

他退休后并不清闲 ， 而是忙于写课题申请书 ， 拟用中国茶和印度的一种植物治疗癌症 ， 为此组织了印中美加的有关科学家 ， 可惜没获批准。他的晚年也是孤独的：他受到帕金森氏病、健忘症和忧郁的折磨。儿子去了蒙特利尔上学，只有一个弟弟有时来陪他住上一段时间。

其实他不光对中国人友好 ， 他与法国的关系也不错。他曾有一位法国太太 ， 曾在法国工作过 （ 他退休后法国还定期汇来养老金 ）， 本人拥有法国国籍 ， 他与法国同行的学术交流也很紧密。为此 ， 法国 Academie Clermont-Ferrand 科学院 大学联盟授予他荣誉博士学位（ 2001 ）。我曾亲见一法国来的访问教授在他家住了半年，每天同他一起上下班。

印度是他的祖国 ， 范教授经常访问印度 ， 联合加印同行申报课题。 2007 年 ， 他在国际教育年会上主持了加 - 印教育论谈。他退休后回印度访问时 ， 还受拉瓦尔大学校长委托 ， 与印度的十所大学建立了校际联系。他半个世纪前的移民魁北克，促进了后来印度移民的到来， 他的家也是印度人在魁北克的据点，在这里中国人与印度人发展了民间交流。

他所作的一切 ， 源于他的泛爱及国际主义 ， 他始终认为他是个世界公民。他晚年回顾人生时 ， 认为友情是人间最珍贵的东西。他是拉 · 甘地和马丁 · 路德 · 金的崇拜者 ， 是非暴力和世界无核化运动的支持者和力行者。 2 001 年他带着和平使命访问日本广岛和长崎，回国后广泛征集反战、无核化签名。这时的他是如此有名，以至于他的访日、访美在当地报纸均有报道。

他所取得的成就和受到的尊敬，是他一生勤奋、与人为善、普爱众生的结果。

In memory of M.R. Ven Murthy

Soon after I came back from a trip to Toronto, I received the tragic news of Dr. Ven Murthy¹s critical illness. My brain refused to process the thought. I went to the hospital as soon as I finished my work, to find him in a coma looking very haggard in bed. His son and nephew sat by his side, unable to do anything. That night, I could not sleep:  past stories kept going through my mind.

 

Prof. Murthy and I first met each other during his volunteer work giving an oral English course for speakers of Chinese. That was a weekend afternoon in December of 2002 in a small meeting room near his office. There were about 20 participants with different levels of English. Prof. Murthy offered us a chance to practice our oral English. Before my arrival, he had already conducted an oral French course for one year and later on, an oral English course for three years (the course alternated from French to English depending on the requests of the Chinese students). I saw Dr. Chunsheng Liu sitting on the Chair next to the professor. Everybody talked freely. I was immediately moved by the harmonious atmosphere of the class, and my adrenaline dropped, thus I spoke easily. For each class period, we focused on one topic, covering nearly all the aspects of life and the world. Prof. Murthy chaired the discussions and corrected our mistakes in expression, sometimes telling us his own opinions or experiences. We listened carefully when he spoke. The course lasted a year and half. Later, during the spring season, I thought that the good weather would be wasted if we continued indoors. I thus suggested we take a break for the course: we might make up the course during the following winter. Unfortunately, it was never made up. This meeting room was also lent for a Chinese class, for those CBCs (Canada-born Chinese) or to Chinese children immigrants so as not to forget their culture.

 

Prof. Murthy himself was also learning Chinese. He practiced Chinese at the end of the English course, he asked his student Ke Cui (and her predecessors Hui YU, Ning Xie, etc.) to record a tape of a Chinese textbook. He installed a Chinese TV satellite receiver. He also bought many Chinese movie DVDs. When he was in the USA with his brothers, he managed to communicate with the motel boss, because the boss did not understand English. The newly-arrived Chinese were always amazed by his command of the Chinese language. But he made nearly no progress during the last years.

 

Prof. Murthy loved not only the Chinese culture, but also the Chinese people. Maybe he even thought that the Chinese were more reliable than the Indians, that he would like to work more with the Chinese rather than with Indians. I was surprised that he knew so many Chinese. He had visited China several times, during which he was once a member of a university delegation organized by UNESCO. We watched the video of that visit. Among his last four students before his retirement, two were his guides when he visited China. His luxurious house was open to the Chinese at any time. During important festivals, Chinese people were invited to his house for a feast. Prof. Murthy himself could not cook well, but this did not prevent him from offering the foods needed for the parties; the Chinese would cook the foods, and then eat it all up. When I first visited his house, I was astonished by his collection of Chinese things: it was larger than even his Indian collection. They were presented to him by every Chinese visitor, and among the presents there was a Chinese flag.

 

Actually, the Chinese had thought of his house as their home for long time. Short-term visitors could stay here freely for days or even months. Those who left and re-visited Quebec would first choose his house as their place to stay. His house is the only one that we could visit at any time without an appointment. When I was at his place, I would always meet Chinese, or hear telephone calls from a Chinese person. Some of them even helped taking care of the younger son Naveen in his childhood, who was the survivor of the 1981 disastrous car accident, which deprived the lives of his French wife, his elder son and his elder nephew. He has not been married since then.

 

His Chinese satellite TV channel also helped the Chinese a lot. We watched live shows of many important events at his place: the national Spring-Festival spectacles, the launch of the Shenzhou VI spaceship, the opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, etc. His extraordinarily complicated system of electronic applications was installed by Dr. Chunsheng Liu.

 

Prof. Murthy did a lot for the Chinese. For example, he and Prof. Guojin Liu helped Université Laval and the University of Jilin become sister universities, thus improving  academic communication between the two schools of medicine so that both sides could jointly apply for funding of projects. As well, he also offered letters of invitation and guarantees for Chinese scholars to visit Quebec, he helped to polish the English of theses and research papers, and write recommendation letters for job applications, introduced Chinese people who had arrived at different times to each other, etc. In return, the Chinese helped manage his big garden, painting the exterior of his house, house-sitting when he was travelling, etc. They often invited him for Chinese parties. In 2006, he hosted a big family feast for eight doctors from Jilin University. In 2007, he helped a group of Chinese doctors apply for visas to visit the USA, taking advantage of a Senate. Jinzhou Medical School and Jilin University invited him as an honorary professor. The president of Université Laval often consulted him about Chinese affairs. As his last students, Xia Yuan received the prize for  Excellent Student upon graduation, Ke Cui continued her studies at McGill University.

 

His life during his last years was very simple: he prepared his own meals of rice mixed with yoghurt; his old shoes were deformed. My wife once presented him with a pair of new shoes, and she also presented him a wool sweater on a snowy and stormy St. Valentine¹s Day. But he wore them for only one day, after which, he continued to wear the old ones.  He was generous to the Chinese: he would pay for a dinner in a restaurant whenever a visitor arrived. In our eyes, Prof. Murthy was a respectful elder. He treated us as his brothers and sisters. He introduced the Indian Rakhy Festival to Quebec, presenting us saris etc. I think he is another Dwarkanath Kotnis (1910-1942) for us Chinese.

 

He did not stop working even after his retirement. He kept busy writing proposals. He planned to try Chinese tea and another Indian herb to cure cancer, with the cooperation of scientists from India, China, Canada and United States. Unfortunately, the proposal was not approved. His old age was also a lonely one: he suffered from Parkinson¹s disease, amnesia, and depression. After his son left for his university in Montreal, only Prof Murthy's younger brother could keep him company once in awhile.

 

He was kind to not only to the Chinese, but also to people of other nationalities. He had a good relationship with France. He had a French wife. He worked in France. He had French citizenship. His relationship with French colleagues was close. Universités clermontoises, Académie Clermont-Ferrand awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. I saw a French professor living at his house for half a year, going to and from work with him every day.

 

India was his motherland. Prof. Murthy often returned to India. He also applied for projects with Indian colleagues. In 2007, during the Congress of International Education, he hosted a forum on Canada-Indian education,. After his retirement, entrusted by the president of Université Laval, he helped set up connections between Universite Laval and ten Indian universities. His immigration to Quebec some half century ago promoted greatly the late-coming Indian immigrants. His house was also a base fore Indian immigrants to Quebec, where Chinese and Indians developed grassroot friendships.

 

He did all of this because of his international spirit. From the beginning he thought of himself a citizen of the world. When he recalled his life in his old age, he felt that friendship was the most important treasure in human society. He idolized Ghandi and Martin Luther King. He was a supporter and practiced non-violence and was for non proliferation of nuclear weapons. In 2001, he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a passion for peace, and called widely for signatures against war and nuclear weapons. He was so famous by the time that his visited Japan and the USA that he appeared in local newspapers.

 

All the achievements he did and all the respect he received from others, were the result of his life-long diligence, his kindness to human beings and his love for all.