This is the work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorised duplication is prohibited. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.
To those who fall on the way-side,
a prey to their vices/carnality…
…And to a son who missed his father
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Seema and Mahima for their invaluable input
&
to a dear friend for valuable assistance
Contents
Adolescence 7
Jaipur 9
College 13
Adult Pathways 19
On a Roller Coaster 25
Adios 29
Ivan 37
Brother Eric 40
Sushmita 46
Family 50
The Goodwins 57
The Call 60
Toddar Mall 63
Walk of Faith 67
Sunita Chandra 70
Raghunath Massey 74
Assembly Hall 80
Deepak Rastogi 84
The First Glance 87
Spirit & Flesh 93
Convention 100
Samantha Solomon 105
Food Eaten in Secret 110
Propinquity 116
Strategising the Exit 121
Showdown 125
How Can They? 136
Au Revoir 142
Transition 147
Across the Continents 152
An Opening 153
Quandary 156
New Horizons 157
The Bubble 164
Fate 170
Trap Dance 176
Earned the Wages 179
Tsunami 186
Consequences 188
The three R’s that Lead to the Fourth 190
Flee 195
Friends 199
Alas 202
Prologue
Naked I Came is the story of Justin, a young man who was transitioning from his adolescence years to adulthood and beyond. Growing in age and experience, he experiments as any normal person would, when sexual awareness unfolds before him at various stages of life in the land of India. After completing college education, he secures a much-coveted job in a bank and successfully scales to middle management level in the protocol of the bank. Well settled in life, he feels a nudge from God to join a church as a full-time pastor. Soon he is propelled from an ordinary person into a person who is revered by the congregants of his church.
Life brings him to another turn when after several years in the church, Justin, now a married man, gets involved in an extramarital affair with one of his congregants.
Principles of Bible come into play…
Justin rejects God and plans to settle in the land of America to start life afresh with his inamorata. God catches him again, and this time, the end-results are beyond Justin’s comprehension. The consequences of sin overtake Justin like a tsunami! Separation from his sons torments him constantly.
This is a narration of how ministers of solo churches even solo mega churches risk their entire ministry, life and career when they succumb to temptations and become an easy prey to the lustful desires of the flesh. Alas…Even after repentance, they fall repeatedly.
Is repentance good enough to stop one from sinning further?
What is ‘The mystery of three Rs’ that leads to the fourth?
Ian Kumar, much influenced by the style of Ernest Hemingway and King James Version of the Bible, has his own peculiar way of bringing alive the narratives. His explicit narration of the facts of life, graphic at times, will bring the reader face-to-face with the realities of life.
This book elicits the happenings that often beset even the most committed leaders at the helm of affairs, who may be at the apex of churches, organisations, institutions, etc. This book is not against ‘the system’, but it is an attempt to caution ‘the resilient yet the ignorant’ who may otherwise be trapped in the vices of this world and may end up in oblivion.