Merriol and the Lord Hycarbox

About the Book

How does the Lord of the Environment react when he hears of school children turning to extortion, or of wilful neglect of animals or people, or of children sick as a result of industrial waste? In these stories he gets involved! Merriol is kept very busy in the work of restoring the balance. 

"Lord Hycarbox is the Lord of the Environment, responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Earth. Merriol, his energetic helper, travels down to the people below and records their deeds. These stories begin with a wrong being done to them or their community. The morals that arise as a result are simple to understand and possible for all people young or old to incorporate into their lives This book is well suited for parents to read to a young audience as well as for older children to enjoy on their own." 

-US Review of Books 

"This is a work instilled with important teachings and valuable life lessons. Hashmi has woven the elemental themes of spirituality, nature, and humanity into an intricate and thought-provoking tapestry of engaging children's literature." 

-Pacific Book Review

About the Author

I was born in Bradford, England in 1938. After qualifying as a speech therapist and practising for three years, I did a two-year theological course in Selly Oak, Birmingham. In 1964 I sailed to India to work in the Anglican Diocese of Delhi. There I joined St. Stephen's Community which offered membership to women workers in the Church. After eleven years in Delhi, during which for a period I ran a Christian holiday home in Shimla, commuting between Delhi and Simla, I went to work in Ajmer in Rajasthan. During all these years I had been associated with the Abhishiktananda Society in Delhi. Swami Abhishiktananda was a French Benedictine monk who worked in India. He wished to explore the spirituality of the Hindu sanyasi, or mendicant holy man. He adopted their saffron robe and tramped the Himalayas, spending many hours in meditation in pursuit of the supreme spiritual experience of advaita, or non-duality. The Upanishads which is part of the body of Hindu scripture called the Vedanta, teaches the one-ness of God and creation. These are not two entities, and a realisation of this truth can be attained through a life of strict austerity and meditation. Swami Abhishiktanada wrote several books on the subject and kept a journal. From time to time he stayed in Delhi and met Christians there, so the Society was founded to promote Hindu-Christian dialogue. At the same time I was associated with the women's enclosed Convent of the Incarnation in Fairacres, Oxford. In 1970 I stayed with them on the inside for a few days. I met there the wonderful Mother Mary Clare. She and the Sisters talked about reparation as their work to restore the heal the breach between God and Man. They internalised and universalised their own experiences to encompass the sufferings of the world. In their life of contemplation and contemplative prayer they held, and offered up, the world in union with Christ. I did not find any conflict between advaita and reparation. I accepted advaita without in any way compromising my faith in Christ. In 1977 I married Salman Hashmi of the Muslim community in Delhi. We had a son and a daughter. He passed away in 2004 and in 2005 I moved back to Britain with my daughter. From the mid 1990s I had been reading books on New Age spirituality and had started to practise modes of visualisation meditation prescribed by them, particularly those of Sylvia Browne. Out of the belief in One-ness and the teaching on reparation came my four stories about Merriol and the Lord Hycarbox!