TOGGLEFREE

What If?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 08:44:00 +0530

What if, it’s the truth? What if we have heard the truth so many times that we have grown numb to it? What if we are ignoring the truth unconsciously and still seeking it everywhere as if it's not revealed yet.

I am talking about the Truth of the Gospel that Christ has revealed. Is whatever written in the Gospel the Truth? Or is it a fictitious attempt to cheat the human race? for a while let’s play the devil’s advocate and assume everything in the Gospel is a lie and either the person of Jesus never existed or his words are not true or just a big cover-up or an afterthought by few of his close aides. What does that mean to the entire human race? What about the thousands of faithful followers and saints who gave up their lives for this Gospel; What about the hundreds who gave up their life and its pleasures to uplift others, the marginalized, the poor, the orphan, the sick just because Christ said so. What do we call them? victims? fools? failures?

Let’s do a reality check. Is clothing a naked person, a failure? Is giving water to the thirsty, a failure? Is visiting a person in prison an act of a fool? Is burying the dead an act of a victim? If the fruits are so good then what shall we call the tree? And for these people who faithfully hang on to this tree of life, every such act is/was not of suffering but of joy and of living the life in its fullness and as the best version of themselves.

What’s our best version? Is having an expensive car our best version? Is having a million dollar savings in the bank account our best version? Is having authority over others our best version? Is having our picture as a celebrity on social media our best version? When do we become the best version?

Imagine you are an inventor and you invented something - let’s say an amazing new tool that changes the way we live ( say the machine that can capture your spouse’s thought the moment he/she thinks something in his/her inner mind - let's call this machine STC - Spouse Thought Catcher). Who would best know the use of STC? the inventor or the user? we all know the inventor/creator for sure and that’s why User Manuals are absolutely essential especially if the machine needs assembly and operating guidance. And this guide will have the absolute truth about operating this machine along with the warning message and all possible troubleshooting steps. And yes even the toll-free number to call the customer care in case no troubleshooting steps work.

So what about us? Are we the inventor or the invention? Clearly looking at the lack of control we ourselves have over our life we possibly cant be its inventor but only an invention, a creation by a supreme wisdom who sees much more than we can ever imagine or fathom. And the original user guide is the Gospel which has steps for making us the best versions of ourselves and a version closer to how our Heavenly Father is.

Christ in the Gospel of Matthew Says “ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy burden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and burden is light.”

I am constantly challenged by the words of Jesus Christ who says me to store treasures in heaven and not on earth. Who challenges me to live a life of mercy, to love my enemy and to follow him now leaving behind everything that I thought belonged to me. To be honest I am at the same constancy failing to respond to this call. I see that the grace is ever ready & near but am I willing to heed it? Or am I living in the room of excuse assuming its God’s will but while it's His Mercy that's holding my foundation when it should have been swept by the Hurricane of evil. I may be confusing Father’s Will with His Mercy. Father’s Will is for me to be the best version of myself here on earth and to ultimately reach him in Order so that I can forever contemplate the Glory of the Holy Trinity. Father’s Mercy helps me to get back up when I fall from following His Will. How great it would be to just follow Father’s Will without the need to call upon his Mercy but as a creation that’s next to impossible for us ( but possible for God as Gospel reminds us). I guess our call is to live this possibility and to explore it!

Ultimately Will I reach in Order when all is said and done? that's the big if? but we also know in faith that the price is already been paid.

Jesus I trust in you - reflection during Year of Mercy

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 01:57:00 +0530

Gods mercy is beyond measure no wonder the world still continues to move forward in spite of the collective wounds we have caused to his tender heart. We continue to strike him, to beat him, to pierce him yet still he rains his blessing on both saints and sinners and people in between.

The message of mercy has not been so loud in recent times than now. God speaks to people of every generation in a unique way. He seeks to draw every people and nation to him in a unique way.

Do we deserve it? What's our Merit to deserve it? Nothing absolutely nothing! We came from mud and will soon return to it. And in this little time in between what all we seek and fight for - luxury, pleasure, more money, more friends and more power. Why should we accumulate so much when we don't take anything with us at all - not even our valuable relationships. While the only relationship that will matter is what we have with whom we return to.

Maybe in this time of mercy, I need to focus and value the relationship with my creator and Lord! Jesus, I trust in you!

WYD 2016 Personal Excitement Tracker

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 23:01:00 +0530

Day 1 to Day +1 :
My original plan was to update the blog everyday with the latest and greatest from the pilgrimage and WYD but as you can already figure out I did none of it. May be that's the difference between a pilgrimage versus tourism. Pilgrimage presents new surprises and priorities that go against all previous planning and desires. One such desire was to see Pope Francis at close quarters but guess what I wasn't prepared for this bigger surprise. I will let the below picture talk more about it. History & a moment for life!

Pope Francis Kisses Gianna

Pope Francis & Gianna

This moment with Pope Francis was the key highlight of our journey especially for a young family like ours on our first WYD pilgrimage but there were tons of other moments that inspired and propelled us towards mercy; it may be the long walk to the 'field of mercy' where the final vigil mass was held in Krakow,Poland; it may be the generosity that youth and young adults in our group showed to us especially with baby care , help with transportation and other heavy lifting ( think of an heavy baby stroller being pushed through a muddy slushy road on a rainy day); it may be the amazing zeal of many of the young polish volunteers and residents; it may be the commitment of Jesus Youth organizers who beautifully planned every leg of the pilgrimage; it may be those moments when we saw a bishop or cardinal either in a program hall or on the streets to receive our share of random blessings ( just like how our blessed Lord always does even when we don't really ask or deserve it).

When I came back to office many people asked me about the best part of the pilgrimage and most often I shared my experiences from Assisi and Lourdes; simply because I felt the power of prayer and mercy more in these two places than anywhere else.

Apart from all the personal experiences words of Pope Francis during the vigil mass in Krakow still rings a bell in my ears especially when he specifically spoke about 'Sofa-Happiness' and about being the 'Protagonist' of tomorrow. Here are few quotes from Pope Francis for your personal reflection :

“The times we live in do not call for young ‘couch potatoes’ but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced. It only takes players on the first string, and it has no room for bench-warmers,”

“Today’s world demands that you be a protagonist of history because life is always beautiful when we choose to live it fully when we choose to leave a mark,”

Here is the full text - link; it's beautiful; I beg you to read it!

Day 0: Although this is a vacation from office but in reality, this is a pilgrimage for life . What distinguishes a pilgrimage from vacation ? Vacation might be all fun while pilgrimage is about sacrifice ( fun included ) . Vacation is a getaway from daily busy life while pilgrimage is a journey into the real meaning of life and our existence . Vacationers might want peace and tranquility but pilgrims in addition to it also want a personal encounter with the divine and the human . Pilgrimage is a call for a deeper experience which enables pilgrim to come back to daily life and share the same joy and life to oneself and everyone around . I want to be a pilgrim, not a vacationer or a backpacker !!

Day -1 : I can't wait but go! Only 1 day left for our onward WYD journey to Poland and Post Pilgrimage to Italy and France. WYD stands for World Youth Day - the largest gathering of Catholic Youth in the World ( may of any faith or any group or any other similarity) . Backs are packed and we are ready to join the 2+ million youth from all across the globe. We(my family too is coming ..hurray!!) are part of the 140+ Jesus Youth from the United States who are making this pilgrim journey.

Not on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:57:00 +0530

It gives me immense joy to say that I am not active on Facebook any longer. Gone are the days when I had to check the latest shares on FB or the number of likes my previous nights post received , as soon as I woke up . Gone is the graving to be visible & seen awesome among FB friends and it feels really good. Not that friendships don't matter any more but now it isn't technology or platform driven. I still need technologies like WhatsApp or emails to connect with my friends but they are not driving my decisions or need but instead I am driving them. Isn't it always good to be on the drivers seat?

True friendships always stand the test of time and the raise & fall of technologies. So even if I am not in constant touch with my good old friend it almost only takes a few moments to reconnect & to regain all the lost times/memories. I think this is the basic nature of true friendships, it simply graves for few moments of real presence not just frequent status updates. This lack of real presence might be the real reason why we have so many friends and so many connections on social media yet not many who know our deepest thoughts or who know what we really feel or whom we can call in time of difficulty or trouble or when we need some personalized counsel. We may not want to give up the little pleasures of Facebook or any other social media yet but at least find someone with whom you can share your thoughts , your worries , your dreams etcetera [ but please don't post all this on your FB wall - you are tempting others to lose their control and that's a reciprocal trap].

I am not promising to myself that i wont ever log into Facebook or claiming that i wont even look at it ever again but my only promise is that i wont let it control me again. My terms and conditions will apply.

I wrote something on similar lines in 2012 and it still seems valid to me - here

Change India/World - one diaper at a time!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 20:52:00 +0530

Is this the debacle of one of the greatest civilization in the world? Is this the India we want? 

Where: 

Poor (ignored)

Woman ( disrespected/raped)

Dalit ( stripped naked)

Beef Eater ( killed)

Minority ( politicized)

Majority ( non reserved general quota - last in line )

Honest ( at the mercy of corrupt )

Child ( abused/ tortured)

Voter ( shut up & vote but don't except any change )

Middle class ( trapped)

Whistleblower ( non patriot)

Media ( paid for lies)

Tolerant ( victimized)

Where also:

Rich ( respected/honored)

Political ( on the stage )

Corrupt ( things get done at their pace )

Celebrity ( idolized/followed)

Economic Development (Hyped)

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”It's impossible to change the past , and difficult to change the present mindset but future is certainly ours to change. What are we teaching our kids today in our family through our presence , words & actions ? Love or Hate? This is a call to all Parents of goodwill to change the World one Diaper at a time. 

Jagao Mere Des Ko

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:03:00 +0530

Daughter : “ Pappa please tell me a new story today”.

Father: “ Yes baby I have a new story to tell and this is a very interesting one. Long long ago there was peaceful tolerant prosperous country by name India where lived a righteous person by name.. “

This could very well be an extract from a future book. A future which is not very distant - long long ago but not so long ago. It is alarming to see the pace at which the idea of India is decelerating much beyond point of no return. One day someone might describe India as a land which loves its own mother but then objectifies every other woman, a land which justifies rape over provocation or revenge, a land which patronizes murder for honor , a land where people are most patriotic during cricket world cup , a land which immortalizes its soldiers only once they are dead , where legislators behave like hooligans and hooligans behave like VIP’s , where the idea of beauty is only white , where a baby boy is still as an asset and baby girl a liability , where everyone is either a northie,madrasi, chinki & pardesi while no Indian. The contradictions are endless but is this the India we want to build?

The idea of a better place needs to built in our heart first before it can be preached or enforced on others. Can i respect every woman, man & child around me? Can i stop watching porn ? Can i dress appropriately ? Can i speak up & react when i see evil around? Can i respect a person’s faith or lack of it and help him or her know & achieve goodness through charity which is not forced? Can i not pay that bribe but rather plan things better to get work done on time? Can i follow the rules that are aimed towards a better society? Can i be the better version of myself ? Can i change? Can i be the righteous person in the above story? If only I can , if only you can will the below poem of Tagore be a reality.

Tagore wrote "Chitto Jetha Bhoyshunnyo" (Where the mind is without fear) in his collection of poems, "Gitanjali":

Where the mind is without fear

and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been

broken up into fragments by

narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from

the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches

its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason

has not lost its way into the dreary

desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is lead forward by thee

into ever-widening thought and action-

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,

let my country awake.

Growing Down

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:40:00 +0530

I am looking at all the gifts my 4 month old baby girl received since her birth. They tell me a simple yet profound story. A story about the colors of this universe - bright & happy , about nature in all its imaginative genius , about animals - the wild and the domestic , about all soothing sounds this world has to offer - from melodious lullabies to calming ocean waves. They tell me how we humans in our most innocent , vulnerable , dependable state are meant to be attracted to nature in all its glory. With physical , emotional growth it seems we lose not only our original innocence but also our original attraction to nature & our surroundings. A simple light from the vent or a rotating ceiling fan or a dotted dress is capable enough to engage a child for hours - her eyes are able to capture the beauty of even the smallest creation.

While a child enjoys such simplicity we adults ignore and laugh at it as a childish fantasy. Indeed its childish and we need to grow to that original childishness. Growing Up many times means also to ‘Grow Down’ - down to our roots , down to our beginning , down to the narrow lanes we ran by , down to the basics of being dependent , down to be loved , down to be picked up & swung around in air , down to be in our Father’s arm with no worry of falling down , down to smiling at strangers - yes that very social smile which is a milestone in growing up.

Yes it becomes very difficult to ‘Grow Down’ when we have accumulated so much sophistication over years of so called growing. Its worthwhile to acknowledge that the only fashion we were born with was called ‘nakedness’ in its true sense, the only communication we needed was our cry , the only food we needed came only in one flavor & color and the only housing we had was our mothers womb & later her loving arms. And finally to realize that when our life on earth ends we go back to the original state of communicating silence while other’s cry , we go six feet under while others struggle to buy yet another property, we go back with one pair of dress while others stand in a long queue for another such pair. And a question arises in my mind is all this sophistication worthy of my time , energy and presence? And then I awake and go back to that simple smile which gives me more Joy than anything more sophisticated can…

Let’s seek that courage to Grow Down and thus Grow Up!

Caught in Goodness?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 22:38:00 +0530

How does it feel to be caught in the trap of goodness? An holy trap that the world cant comprehend and a goodness the world has not experienced fully. Possibly good acts can be classified into two categories- one in which 'means' don't matter but just the 'end' and the other in which both the 'means' and 'end' matter. The first case being the most common - like a man cheating his customers in business through one hand and then throwing a bucket of ice bucket through the other; like an organization making $100 million for a good cause from ice cold benefactors but ending up spending most of its charity on fat pay checks to its directors and only a small portion going into actual research/cure or like a smart politician who completes people friendly projects on time while getting in return many personal/family friendly benefits. Can we justify such kind of goodness just by its end? Does this goodness satisfy the demands of Justice and Truth?

do you know my shoe size?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 5 Feb 2014 08:38:00 +0530

Once again going through a bloggers dry phase. Last time I wrote something on this blog was in June 2013. Feels like eternity already. Bloggers passion not dead yet but life has changed quite a bit since last June , in fact it has changed completely . No longer a bachelor . Married and Happy ( Not just happy but rather filled with Joy and afcouse along with its small 'Cross(+)'es)!

Marriage not only makes one a husband but also one a man. A man for a wo-man! A man with a mission to feed his family, to take care of someone special , to be accountable , to be really a grown up. Marriage seems to be much more than an honeymoon - not just being on vacation , not just going out together but much more. Much about dreaming something special together. About sowing a desire; watering a thought; planting love and bearing fruits! In a world which wants to plant but not bear , in a world which wants to enjoy the fruits without bearing the pain - all this seems challenging and intriguing to many out there. The least I can do is to form my conscience towards good and the righteous possesions and follow it even when the world is taking a different path - and thats the narrow path I prefer! not just in words or on this blog but in life - in flesh, in reality and in my soul!
In an already noisy world it seems that I have to shout at the top of my voice just to be heard , to be seen , to be counted and to be recognized . But is that the essence of life ? to be in the limelight , grab attention and gain maximum TRP, I seriously wonder. Or is it more subtle , more quietier , more genuine?

One instance that pains me a little these days is that I couldnt invite many of my acquantainces or old friends for my wedding or atleast invite them in a more appropriate way. I had my own excuses like lack of time due to travel and other activities , a set number of people for the wedding event and a greater burden of managing everything alone at home. I so badly wish I could explain this to them and rewind the clock , I wish I could explain why I couldnt call them or visit them in person or the reason why I could only drop them a facebook invite or email message but I guess it doesnt matter to many. Not many want to put themselves in other person's shoes to feel what he/she is going through , to empathasize and to understand their tough situation or constraints. No regrets - I am getting in return what I planted for nor do I in many cases - It somehow becomes all about me. Am i invited? Am i recognized ? Am i counted in? Am in the elite group? Am i in the 'A' team? Am i loved more than others? Am I getting more likes than others? Am i getting more comments? Am i getting more limelight? Am i remembered? Am i appreciated? Am i the hero? Am I and Am I only!

On given a second chance I would like to invite everyone I know, I mean everyone! But with marriage I am not looking for a second chance anyway. May be at my Child's Baptism :) (but again remember my shoe size in case you dont see a personal invite :) )

So glad that i got this oppurtunity to pour some cold water on my dry thoughts! Hope we all get to know soon the shoe size of our friends , family members and colleagues for they are just like us - people with limited shoe size! How about appreciating these genuine limitations?

We Catholics party too...

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 06:05:00 +0530

We just witnessed the glorious ending of the World Youth Day (WYD) Rio 2013 event. Not sure how many of us closely followed it? How I wish that each of us could closely follow it even if not in person but at least through any of the media alternatives. It’s sometimes very sad to see that many in our circles especially our young/families are ignorant of the most powerful Catholic spiritual gathering that is happening in our times. Sometimes we live in Jerusalem like many of the Jews at the time of Jesus who being there yet missed out on the most important events of passion, crucifixion, resurrection & ascension that changed the history of humanity, our history , our present and our future – mine & yours. My grandfather in his late 80’s living in Kottayam (Kerala) knows more about WYD and its happenings than many of my friends in my own parish/youth circles who have an iPhone/S4 with a FB/twitter account minus any information that matters. Talk about generation-gap ha?

Few months back my supervisor walked into my office cube and saw the image of Pope Francis kissing a baby that was hanging on my wall and she proclaimed – “I like this man”. And she continued, “Whatever little I have heard or seen of Him he is good”. It meant a lot to me and told lot about the persona of the current successor of Peter especially when it came from the mouth of a person who has never entered any Church. Also looking by the response he gets at each of his public audience in St.Peter’s Square and the one he got in Rio , I can clearly visualize what the event mentioned in Acts of the Apostles 5:15 would have been like – “Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.” Truly people are craving to see him, touch him , kiss him , hug him , feel his embrace , feel his love and go back a changed person. What a great ambassador for Jesus Christ we have in Pope Francis, truly the modern day John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord through his humility, simplicity, intimacy, smile and fatherhood.

This WYD in Rio was special in many ways. If you are into statistics then you will be amazed by the gigantic nature of this event. More people participated /witnessed WYD than will ever will in a football world cup event (even if in Brazil) or Olympics event – not even considering the million + hearts that was spiritually in Rio but far away physically in different parts of the world. Largest flash mob dance too – ain’t no party like a catholic party!

But above all WYD 2013 in Rio was a spiritual feast which no thirsty soul should miss. 3 million + youth attending a solemn Holy Eucharist in Copacabana beach must have been one heavenly experience that earth could ever see. And some of what Pope Francis said through the WYD days still echoes in my heart – “Careful, though! Jesus did not say: “if you would like to, if you have the time”, but: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Below is the some of my favorite spiritual catechesis that I heard in this WYD (Get complete text/details on http://wydcentral.org/ ) :

Pope Francis before angelus- WYD - The Immaculate Virgin intercedes for us in heaven as a good mother who watches over her children. May Mary teach us by her life what it means to be a missionary disciple. Every time we pray the Angelus, we recall the event that changed the history of mankind for ever. When the Angel Gabriel proclaimed to Mary that she would become the Mother of Jesus the Saviour, even without understanding the full significance of thatcall, she trusted God and replied: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk1:38). But what did she do immediately afterwards? On receiving the grace of being the Mother of the Incarnate Word, she did not keep that gift to herself; she set off, she left her home and went in haste to help her kinswoman Elizabeth, who was in need of assistance (cf. Lk1:38-39); she carried out an act of love, of charity,of practical service, bringing Jesus who was in her womb. And she did all this in haste!

There, my dear friends, we have our model. She who received the most precious gift from God, as her immediate response sets off to be of service and to bring Jesus. Let us ask Our Lady to help us too to give Christ’s joy to our families, our companions, our friends, to everyone. Never be afraid to be generous with Christ. It is worth it! Go out and set off with courage and generosity, so that everyman and every woman may meet the Lord.

Pope Francis’ meeting with Volunteers - God calls you to make definitive choices, and he has a plan for each of you: to discover that plan and to respond to your vocation is to move toward personal fulfilment. God callseach of us to be holy, to live his life, but he has a particular path for each one of us. Some are called to holiness through family life in the sacrament of Marriage. Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion; in a culture of relativism and the ephemeral, many preach the importance of “enjoying” the moment. They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, “for ever”, because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that seeseverything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage “to swim against the tide”. Have the courage to be happy.

Pope Francis’ meeting with the Coordinating Committee of CELAM (Bishops)- If we remain within the parameters of our “traditional culture”, which was essentially rural, we will end up nullifying the power of the Holy Spirit. God is everywhere: we have to know how to find him in order to be able to proclaim him in the language of each and every culture; every reality, every language, has its own rhythm.

The Church is an institution, but when she makes herself a “centre”, she becomes merely functional, and slowly but surely turns into a kind of NGO. The Church then claims to have a light of her own, and she stops being that “mysterium lunae” of which the Church Fathers spoke. She becomes increasingly self-referential and loses her need to be missionary. From an “institution” she becomes a “enterprise”. She stops being a bride and ends up being an administrator; from being a servant, she becomes an “inspector”. Aparecida wanted a Church which is bride, mother and servant, a facilitator of faith and not an inspector of faith.

Bishops must be pastors, close to people, fathers and brothers, and gentle, patient and merciful. Men who love poverty, both interior poverty, as freedom before the Lord, and exterior poverty, as simplicity and austerity of life. Men who do not think and behave like “princes”. Men who are not ambitious, who are married to one church without having their eyes on another. Men capable of watching over the flock entrusted to them and protecting everything that keeps it together: guarding their people out of concern for the dangers which could threaten them, but above all instilling hope: so that light will shine in people’s hearts. Men capable of supporting with love and patience God’s dealings with his people. The Bishop has to be among his people in three ways: in front of them, pointing the way; among them, keeping them together and preventing them from being scattered; and behind them, ensuring that no one is left behind, but also, and primarily, so that the flock itself can sniff out new paths.

I thank you for your patience in listening to me. Pardon me if my remarks have been somewhat disjointed and please, I beg that we take seriously our calling as servants of the holy and faithful people of God, for this is where authority is exercised and demonstrated: in the ability to serve. Many thanks.

World Youth Day Final Mass with Pope Francis - Faith is a flame that grows stronger the more it is shared and passed on, so that everyone may know, love and confess Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and history (cf. Rom10:9).

Careful, though! Jesus did not say: “if you would like to, if you have the time”, but: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Sharing the experience of faith, bearing witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, and that includes you; but it is a command that is born not from a desire for domination or power but from the force of love, from the fact that Jesus first came into our midst and gave us, not a part of himself, but the whole of himself, he gave his life in order to save us and to show us the love and mercy of God. Jesus does not treat us as slaves, but as free men, as friends, as brothers and sisters; and he not only sends us, he accompanies us, he is always beside us in our mission of love.

Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders, no limits: he sends us to everyone. The Gospel is for everyone, not just for some. It is not only for those who seem closer to us, more receptive, more welcoming. It is for everyone. Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent. The Lord seeks all, he wants everyone to feel the warmth of his mercy and his love.

Do you know what the best tool is for evangelizing the young? Another young person. This is the path to follow!

***

I always wonder what my response would have been had I been in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus Christ - may be remain a hypocrite like today. But the right question I need to ask myself today is what will be my response today when Jesus Christ is shouting his good news through his apostles , from roof tops , from churches , from movements , from WYD’s ? Will I stay back and say some other time or not for me or I am too old to do this now? Or will I be like Mother Mary or St. John at the foot of His Cross. We have many opportunities, possibilities and one such is coming up in Krakow 2016 when we will all meet for WYD 2016 with St. John Paul II. Where will you be?

***

Watch the videos of WYD here: http://wydcentral.org/

History of WYD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9unuP24IX0

Why only TGIF – Why not TGIM?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 8 Jun 2013 01:35:00 +0530

Most people including atheist Thank God when It’s Friday. And most people including believers curse when it’s Monday. Why?

Friday is thankful for the fact that few people don’t turn up to office since they have a rare condition of back pain and mild headache when weekend beckons .Friday is thankful for a weekend when one can shop and enjoy the money that one earned from Monday-Thursday(for some people Friday too). So in reality weekends reap the benefits of weekdays yet no weekend wants to be a weekday and every weekday wants to be a weekend. A daily critic could conclude that weekend is selfish, manipulative and only cares about itself, a self-obsessed narcissist while weekdays suffer from low self esteem & objective.

Is it so?

Sun neither rises in the east nor sets in the west. It’s what we think it does. As far as Sun is considered (which none of us have bothered to ask) it is in a steady state doing what it does best – shine! So is it with our days – none too feeble than the other. All equal, profitable, enjoyable and honorable. It’s up to us what we make out of each day.

Mondays can be enjoyable if we love our work. Tuesdays more enjoyable if we love what we did on Monday and we look forward for Wednesday. Wednesday is adorable because it’s in the middle of everything and deserves all attention. Thursday is the best man/woman. Friday because it’s Friday – period. Saturday – well I guess because I was born on that day. Sunday – if you care now, it belongs to the Sun. So shine on Sunday. And may that Sunshine in your life that started on Sunday spread out to M-T-W-T-F-S.

Hungry for love?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 3 May 2013 00:37:00 +0530

***A beautiful poem composed by Katie with a good mix of poetic lines and popular songs(highlighted in blue). It was a great treat to hear it @ JY NOW program. ***

Hunger. What is it?

We feel it, we need it; we strive to beat it

We fear it, we feed it, we claim

Hungry, I am so hungry…

Who’s hungry here? What do you seek?

Hungry for truth? Hungry for meaning?

Hungry for love?

Me? I’m hungry for the real.

The only problem is, I’m too full of the fake to admit that I’m starving.

I want the meal, but I settle for the snack

My body craves nutrients but it’s stuffed with empty crap

I know I need broccoli

But all I can think is

I want candy!

Or maybe we’re stuffed with desire for sin.

Temptations and desires makes our needs clear, our lust appear, the “holy ones” fear.

Maybe we’re tempted by the fruit of another

Or can’t get over how my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

But in the end, do I want to eat the snack? Steal the fruit? Use my milkshake?

Am I too weak to say no?

Because so many times I try to tell you no, but my body keeps on telling me yes

And I’m locked up, it won’t let me out

Sad and lonely, I am so lonely left lamenting: nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrow

Left broken, still hungry and sick of this cycle

I need a way out, I need a real answer

My belly can be emptied, my mind can be cleared

The love that I crave may just be near…

I see them up there, singing worshiping dancing

It seems that their hearts are on fire

Their lives have deep meaning

But that can’t be me, because I’m just a beautiful liar

Does it matter where I’ve been?

Is it about what I’ve done or about what I’m doing?

Could the God I’ve so rejected and hurt be hungry for me

to LIVE with Him forever?

Forgiven?

What is this amazing love?

The real meal? The real deal?

If it is true, I’d like to have a taste

Just to feel for a minute, to feel the warmth of God’s embrace

To be loved beyond my sin,

So a new life can begin

He loves me oh how, he loves me

He loves me.

I want that love, I crave to see

Lord give me the faith, help me believe

Help me to cry: Hungry, I come to you, for I know you satisfy.

I know that you satisfy, Lord.

Like a nutritious meal for a malnourished child,

you enter our bodies and fulfill our desires.

You proclaim “I am the Bread of Life, you who come to me shall not hunger, and who believe in me shall not thirst”

Lord, I want true life, I want this food

Nourish my soul, make me holy and good

Nourish every part of my being, every part of my soul

I’m open to you, Lord,

Take full control.

Courtesy - Katie Heitwomann

Marriage no longer a Straight forward thingy...

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:30:00 +0530

A case is being fought in the supreme court of a nation considered supreme in the world, over just one good old word – ‘Marriage’. When King Henry VIII of England last tried to redefine marriage for his own convenience what resulted was a division of the Church and now what might result is a greater division of the world across all boundaries, faith practices, cultures into those who are gay to hold onto the traditional morally accepted definition of marriage and those who are gay to change the definition based on the wave of modern realities.

A modern reality that has been existing for a long time ever since human civilization came into being – but never was marriage thought of as between same sex couples as it is being excessively demanded now. Sex is not just an action as is but it is what we are – Man & Woman. And there should be a definite purpose for Man being created Vs Woman and Woman Vs Man. And this purpose is undeniably shown off through our body– one to give & protect and another to receive & conceive. This body language can be conveniently ignored but never can be denied. Even though this reality existed from a long time what now seems to be pushing this redefinition of marriage is the need for man and his leaders to take everything under his/her control even if it means bringing something divine down to human level. A level adamant on saving money (tax saving), recognitions and humanly perceived levels of equality. Divine nature never created man and woman same – they were different, opposite yet complementing each other – not necessarily equal in the eyes of a human modernist. Men are physically strong and woman emotionally. No wonder divine nature only allowed emotionally stronger woman to bear children and physically stronger men to toil in the ground. No amount of scientific advancement has got a man to bear a child through normal sexual relations – I thank God for it!

None of us who support gay marriage or are not in favor of it are a result of a homosexual union. We all are a result of interaction between man’s and woman’s chromosomes – again you can ignore it but can’t deny it. Procreation is thus an important element for sexual union, for furthering our generation & for marriage with its divine element– again you can ignore it but can’t deny it – for which we need a man & woman and nothing more or less or equal would do. As for marriage, Chesterton says: “Marriage is a fact, an actual human relation like that of motherhood, which has certain habits and loyalties, except for a few monstrous cases where it is turned to torture by insanity or sin.” “Marriage is a fact.” You cannot change its definition, just as you cannot change the definition of motherhood.

Human beings with homosexual tendencies need from us our human consideration and not social snub. But any such compassion doesn’t mean placing the truth and purpose of our creation hidden in at a convenient place for our own private interpretation only. That’s why we need married husbands and wives to speak up on the mystery of marriage and sex and what it really means and the joy of living the same. But unfortunately they all are caught up in their personal daily chores and letting the world slip by in front of their own eyes and for their own children to suffer in the coming days. No wonder few bachelors/spinsters like me are left with all the talking on behalf all the married and those that fear to speak up on what they perceive , believe and live.

The state, the court may redefine marriage and may make the abnormal normal but they can’t and they will not be able to change an iota of truth – that which is written on our hearts and shown through our bodies and that which we are made from and made for. A popular banner shown up as the profile picture of the learned in facebook shows an equality sign supporting gay marriage but incidentally when I look at the equality sign I only see two parallel lines which will never meet or are never expected to.

For all those who echo my thoughts and words - lets carry this sweet perpendicular cross ( where two lines completely opposite, intersect) wherever we go from now on. And for those who disagree let the Infinite One from all infinity(where supposedly even the parallels hypothetically meet) answer us and convince us.

References:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/g-k-chesterton-its-not-gay-and-its-not-marriage

http://lifeteen.com/gay-catholic-and-doing-fine/

In the shadow of the Almighty

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:15:00 +0530

In the shadow of the Almighty

I realized that the interview was in Bangalore only when I was in the Taxi heading for the interview in LIBA – Chennai. Was reading out the address to the driver, when I noticed that the last line of the address was “Bangalore”.

It was disappointing & sorrowful.

I had spotted a good shop to get baking items in Chennai- found it out from FB. So took my cousin sister’s scooter and started my expedition towards the “Passionate Baking” outlet in Anna Nagar.

This was in the midday Chennai heat.

Around 2 kms from their house, the tyre of my scooter got punctured!!! I was totally lost and at the verge of tears. Then somehow one of my Jesus Youth friend happened to call, and he said if such a twist should happen after so much preparation, GOD must be having something better in mind. That gave me a mild dose of hope..

But my scooter and I were abandoned in the unknown territories of Hot Chennai. Though in the middle of Chennai traffic, this was a somewhat deserted section. One fellow came up, pointed in a direction & told me that there was a puncture shop there. Where he pointed , amongst the clutter of buildings, I could see the Cross of a church.

While I was waiting clueless, an auto came by, but the fellow was not ready to go on such a short trip.

However, compassionate at my helpless state he consented and took me to the puncture shop. He himself explained the issue in Tamil to the workshop people, brought them to the scooter, took the tyre, went back, fixed the puncture , brought me back to the scooter. All this while, although I was made to sit like a princess in the auto and they toiled in the sun, I was sorrowful – thinking of the missed opportunity, my irresponsibility etc. Suddenly I noticed the picture of JESUS kept in the auto. I sort of felt that He was the one who sent this amiable auto-walla to my aid.

Getting calmer, I noticed that the name of the auto was “GOD ALMIGHTY”. It was written in bold at the top of the windshield.

It was only then that I realized that the WORD I read in the morning - Psalms 91 - was becoming flesh in me.

I was clearly sitting in the “Shadow of the Almighty” J

It got reconfirmed in my mind that God ‘was’, ‘is’ and ‘will be’ sheltering me.

I was carried by "GOD ALMIGHTY" Literally.

Courtesy - Linda Chandy

Justice As Is

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:12:00 +0530

A very honest social worker once said while receiving a prestigious award - ‘We can know the character/humanity of any nation just by seeing the way it treats its prisoners’. I wonder how many nations would stand up to this test – not many for sure. Be it a very liberal America or a bribable India, all have their hands bloodied by the suffering and pain of those behind bars with some privileged exceptions. Yes you heard it right – may be this didn’t come up in the breaking news of your favorite new channel that these criminals who committed such heinous & atrocious crimes are human beings, that they carry one of our blood groups and belong to our race; A race which is as utterly wicked as they are just that we don’t get caught. Why are we utterly wicked one may ask and comparable to those criminals - well look at the general response of most people when 9/11 attack occurred in America or 26/11 attack in Mumbai or the recent gang rape in India, everyone was gunning for the head of the terrorists and dirty hands behind it; It’s very much reasonable to have them caught and justice done as per the law of the land however insufficient it is but we wanted them caught, beaten and killed point blank in an open street so that everyone’s bloody thirst for revenge is satisfied. Sounds more like the nation at one voice wanted the law of the Taliban implemented quick and fast – no wonder why some of my acquaintances had already reasoned out a convincing conspiracy theory that would have killed the terrorists rather than feeding them to our notorious Law & Order and powerless Judiciary(applicable to India mainly). We all may have different notions of Justice but then what it is, it is, no matter what we think, wish or assume at our personal narrow capacity. Lady Justice always is visualized in three symbols one a sword symbolizing the court's coercive power; then a human scale weighing competing claims in each hand; and a blindfold indicating impartiality. Now with this standard at hand we need to really ask if the abuse of the prisoners at Guantanamo bay was justice done? If the ignorance of Ram Singh the prime accused in Delhi Rape case who supposedly committed suicide in Tihar jail, was justice done? If the Christmas/Voting vacation for Italian Marines, who killed Indian fishermen at a disputable territory, was justice done? If the easy exit for high profile politicians, who are supposed to be in jail but seen spending luxurious time in five star hospitals calling upon their so called severe heart condition, is/was justice done? If the son of a politician seen touring the country while a rape case is hanging by the ceiling in his own name elsewhere, justice done?

In short the wicked must be punished according to the law of the land but the law of the land must be based on real justice with respect to human dignity, impartiality and without internal/external pressure. If that has to happen then we the people of this country must stop our cry & shout to authorities saying – “Kill Him; Crucify Him”. Bad news everywhere has left a great scar on our hearts – a scar for revenge and immediate justice at all cost. An eye for an eye will make our nation blind very soon and we learn these first lessons at our home; for which we need real homes – not just built with bricks but on a strong foundation of love. We need to simply fix our own families. In good old days first response was to join broken pieces but now we just Use & Throw– thus a new trend of week - long marriages(between man & woman – I don’t even want to talk about other sacrileges and abuse of marriage done in various countries in the name of equality & freedom). From good families come good children and good citizens – thus less people wanting to do crime for the sake of lust, power, misplaced faith or money. Exceptions do exist but it’s like finding a mustard seed in a tea bag.

Once again as always it’s time to listen to a social revolutionary who said – “I was in prison and you visited me” Matthew 25:36. Lets visit the root cause that made them land there.

What will help me?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:15:00 +0530

Few lines that I jotted down just before the Christmas celebration last year. Inspired by the greatest Valentine who died for me. Dedicated to all valentines who love thy neighbor.

What will help me?

What will help me is not pomp n glory,

Nor time spent on worthless folly.

What will help me is not coated roll gold without any worth,

Nor meaningless show of love without any depth.

Not the want to be judged smarter than the other ,

Nor to be called greater than my brother.

What will help me is not thy smile wanting something from me,

Nor your crocodile tears bearing my name on its sleeve.

So what will help me?

What will help me is your real Love;

With all your thousand words expressed as none.

What will help me is your presence,

With all your million absences engraved in one.

What will help me is your very thought,

In the midst of trillion worries that life has brought.

That’s what will help me. So what will help you?

Hair Loss?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 23:22:00 +0530

Of all the ads that are forced upon us in various internet forums after weight loss I feel hair loss is one of the most prominent one. I can perfectly understand the thrust on weight loss since it is also associated with the general health of an individual but why prevention of hair loss? Before we ask why not, let’s ask why?

In some quarters men joke around saying that hair is a myth. Indeed it’s a myth to many who have lost it completely on their head or are on the verge of a clean sweep very soon. Whatever be it hair loss among men mainly is so common that very very few escape without zero loss. Heredity or Water or Climate or Lifestyle whatever be it, it’s a reality that most men have to face one day or other. And it’s not a new phenomenon of this age it’s what we are ever since our creation but what’s new is the excessive thrust to cover up what we don’t have , what we are not.

Well it may all boil down to the fact that we all want to be accepted in the society, community and most to self. And we would go to any extreme to get this acceptance and this demands many cover up’s – many times it starts with our hair, then face and a long list of etcetera’s. Time to ask ourselves, is this cover up necessary? Can’t men be men being bald? Or do we need to wait for Brad Pitt or George Clooney or Daniel Craig to make it a trend?

What’s bothering us – our hair loss or what people think about it? We have enough to worry and think about these days and worrying about our hair loss is only going to increase our fall. Let’s look at a bigger sign this is leading us to, if we are so obsessed about protecting something which are bound to lose what about protecting those stuff which we are bound to protect? Hair is only a small part of our body so what about protecting the whole from harm? What about protection of dignity of our own body and not just our hair? Nobody seems to be asking these questions these days – it seems it’s easier to lose virginity these days than hair when it should be the other way around. Have we all become zombies?

Author Mathew Kelly talks about three catch phrases that are governing our culture and world today - ‘What’s in for me? ‘, ‘If it feels good, do it!’, ‘What is the least I can do to get big?’ And these sequentially explain why our universal culture is a breeding ground for Individualism (only me), Hedonism (pleasure is the ultimate goal of life) & Minimalism (least investment for maximum ROI). Each of us intake these worldly contradictions day in and day out along with our oxygen. May be its time to breathe out our present confused convictions and beliefs and to prepare ourselves to breathe in the truth about our life, body and afcouse our hair.

P.S – I have no expertise on how hair loss affects women. I am sure this is a very big deal for women since this is one of the prime attribute defining their beauty. I wouldn’t say women will be women without hair but men certainly can be.

Fighting the new drug

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 01:37:00 +0530

Lance beat Cancer. Lies beat him. Lance Armstrong the once glorified sportsperson who defeated cancer to win many ‘tour-de-France’ cycling events, an inspiration to millions is seeing himself now at the end of a tunnel and the only light he is seeing now is of an incoming train. Well a drug brought him down. The same downfall is imminent on billions of strong men/women who have been encapsulated by yet another secret drug today. Actually no longer secret but rather widely accepted /seen yet fully ignored. Drug called porn – something that thrives when real meaning of sex is abused and commercialized; A billion dollar baby ready to eat up its faultfinder.

When good men do nothing guess what evil thrives. This is exactly what’s happening with this big lie called porn. We have for so long pushed under the carpet all conversations on this basic human drive to belong to another person , our basic identity , what we are – our sex – man & woman. And this has created such mess in our own lives that we today find ourselves in the midst of this abused form of sexual activity called Porn. This is so rampant. I am not writing this on any authoritative ground but as a victim, as a want to be survivor. It’s time we differentiate the real and the virtual. This is not a game but a real war zone where casualties bleed.

We are hardwired to learn things from what we see around and collectively we call it culture. Guess what when we intake the drug of porn every day we start to believe that, that’s what sex is .And when we take this abused version of sex into our own relationships what results is a yet another abused relationship – and the subsequent fruits contaminated. And then an avalanche of abuses and finally a culture which doesn't know the real but only it’s counterfeit. First let’s get the facts - http://www.fightthenewdrug.org/Get-The-Facts/ and then you decide for yourself if you need help to quit this drug. Battle is half won when we know/we admit we have a problem. Well it ain't easy to quit this addiction but we surely have good things around to help us overcome this and live a healthy life.

Seek out help - http://www.fightthenewdrug.org/Resources/ or Google out you surely will find some good resources and people who are willing to help.

If you are from Catholic faith regular confession can help you understand the gravity of this sin in God’s eye. Adoration & Rosary are powerful weapons to overcome this thorn.

Rest assured you are not fighting a lonely battle. It’s time we get real – real Men & Women. Let’s kick the counterfeit out and bring the original back as it was in the beginning.

Gulaabi aankhen jo teri dekhi sharaabi yeh dil ho gaya...

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 2 Oct 2012 07:51:00 +0530

The adventure that was ...

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:29:00 +0530

“Bye Uncle” The excited voices of three girls from the car added to the hustle bustle of the city.

“Bye girls, go home and spend some time watching TV or go for a walk nearby. You girls say you like the fields, take a walk around. But see that you are back home at least by 7pm and please call me when you reach home.” “Pankaj please drop them back home and you can carry on, be there at 8am tomorrow.” Were uncle’s instructions to the driver. “I didn’t expect this work would come up suddenly, I had reserved the entire day to take you girls around the city. I hope you liked the places that we’ve covered, the palaces, the fort and the Jal bhawan. Hawa mahal is just something that we could see from the outside” Said uncle in a convincing yet worried tone. His effort of convincing was more for himself than the girls. He really wished this work wouldn’t come up all of a sudden and he didn’t have to leave the girls alone to get back home with the driver. They had come to the city for the first time, he thought. “Don’t worry uncle, we will be fine, Pankaj bhaiyya will take us home safely” yelled the anxious girls through the window.

Liz, Hilda and Sushmitha better known as Sush, were on a three days holiday to Jaipur at Liz’s uncle, Stan’s place. “Don’t wait for me for dinner girls; I might be a little late” said uncle, trying to convey as many instructions to the girls, to make sure they have a comfortable time until he is back. The girls weren’t kids anymore at the age of 23, but to him they would always be his small girls who would come over to his place during vacations when they were small. But this time they had come after a long time, and the first time since he had moved to Jaipur. After winding up his business, he was actively involved in working with NGO’s for youth development programs. This program the coming weekend was an important event, he had instructed the others what had to be done, but they hadn’t done it according to his instructions and he had to go to set it right. The girls knew how passionate he was about the youth development activities he was involved with and they would definitely understand.

“Bye uncle, have a nice time and please don’t worry about us. We will be fine!!.” yelled Sush at the top of her voice, trying to reach Uncle Stan, as he walked away waving bye. Sush was the eldest among the three, at least that’s what she considered, three months older than both the other girls gave her a feeling of responsibility of both of them. And Liz and Hilda loved the loving and caring attention Sush would pay to them.

“Pankajji, please take us to the bazaar” said Hilda, she was the lesser talker among the three. But she had a mind of her own and a very bindaas attitude towards life. Sush and Liz were more of the talkers, they could go on talking for hours leaving poor Hilda to wait patiently for them to finish before she could give in her word on any topic. Sush was more responsible and yet very bubbly and lively. She had a wonderful balance to her character that could charm many. Liz was more of a scared and held back person. She couldn’t make her decisions on her own and usually needed someone all the time to make decisions for her. In all, they were a wonderful group of friends who complemented each other in their good and bad.

“But bitiyaji, Uncle has asked me to take you girls home directly” hesitated Pankajji. “Yes Pankajji, but it’s just 4pm now. Even when we are at home in Bangalore, we don’t go back so early.” “Isn’t it girls?” Hilda looked towards the girls for a nod or any kind of positive response to convince Pankajji. “Yes Pankajji, even uncle said we could get back by 7pm” added in Sush. “We could go out and get back soon Pankajji” Liz added in, still contemplating what she’d said. “Pleaaaaaaase Pankajji!!!” yelled the girls in unison. Young girls always have their way with old men of their dad’s age, the girls somehow remind them of their own daughters or nieces back home. And Pankajji had his own daughter Pinky, of a similar age who would have acted similarly in such a situation. Giving in to their ways, Pankajji drove towards the bazaar. “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” screamed the girls in excitement. Girls never get enough of shopping, thought Pankajji.

“I want to buy a bandhani suit” “I want to look at the precious stones; my aunt says u get good ones here in Jaipur” “I am still wondering what to buy for my mom, I’m so confused” were the voices heard from the back seat of the car. They were so excited to get another chance to go shopping. They would choose to go for shopping any day at any time compared to sitting at home watching TV. Uncle Stan’s house was a little away from Jaipur city. It was a little in the outskirts, amidst beautiful fields and narrow village roads. He wanted to get away from the hustle bustle and pollution of the city. The cool fields and the kids running around his lavish house were a wonderful sight for him to sit back and enjoy on days when he was a little free from his activities. He had plans to open up a small center for youth to live with him so that he could guide them and also provide a shelter for them. Most at the youth center were homeless.

“Bitiyaji, we are at the bazaar.” The twenty minutes drive to the bazaar just flew away as the girls chatted away about their huge shopping list and discussed about what others suggested they could buy when they came here. “Please come back by six. I will be waiting here in this parking area.” “Sure Pankajji, We will be back soon” assured Liz. “Bye Pankajji, see you…” the others screamed and dragged Liz away, they couldn’t spare a single minute from the one and half hour allotted for shopping. “I wanted to carry my glares” protested Liz with a puppy face. “You wouldn’t need it now” snapped back Hilda. “It is safe in the car Liz, nobody will take it and run away. Relax!” Sush assured her. And they walked away happily, all set for an exciting time of shopping in this new city.

“Let’s go to the clothes shop” “No, Lets go to the jewellery store first, they might close early” “I need to look around, to decide what I need to get for my mom.” They all laughed at each other. That’s the kind of bond they shared, when everything seemed confusing, they found strange happiness in just laughing out loud and let the confusion pass. Though it wasn’t their solution, it calmed their mind and helped them think of a solution. And especially today when they didn’t have the time, coming up with a quick solution was very crucial. Their shopping time was ticking away.

“Why don’t we split up and meet here again at six” suggested Hilda. “That’s a great idea, we could all look for what we wanted and get back. This way we wouldn’t loose out on time either” Sush supported. “But what if we don’t find our way back, it might get dark by six and we don’t even know the way back to this place” Liz voiced out, tensed. “Just remember we need to meet at…..” as Sush looked around “Café Coffee Day!!” Hilda exclaimed in excitement. “Let’s hurry up and get back here on time”

It was nearing six and Pankajji was walking back to his vehicle expecting the girls to be here any moment. In front of Café Coffee day, Liz was patiently waiting for the others to return, two bags of clothes in hand. At a distance she could see Sush walking towards her, juggling between talking over the phone and four bags in the other hand. Liz winked at her as she reached near; she knew whom Sush would be talking to. Sush flashed a very cute blush as she confirmed that Liz’s guess was right.

“I’ll call you back when I reach home” she spoke into the phone before she hung up. “He just called; he was busy all day so he wanted to know where I was” Blushed Sush. “Oh really!!! But I didn’t ask you anything” Said Liz teasingly. Sush just blushed and turned away. “Where is Hilda?” Sush said, immediately changing the topic. “She should be on her way here soon, after all, she also must might got a cal, just like you to check where she is now” Teased Liz. They loved to watch Sush blush. Her cheeks would go pink when she did so. “We will wait for some time. She will be here soon” said Sush.

Pankajji got into the car, his phone began to ring in a few minutes. It was his wife. His daughter had high fever and needed to be taken to the doctor and his ill wife couldn’t take her alone. He had to rush back home. But the girls hadn’t returned and he didn’t know where to look for them. It was getting dark and it was post six. He waited for 10 more minutes and decided to walk on the main road towards the market and spotted Liz at a distance. He ran towards her and narrated the incident to her. Sush had been trying to reach Hilda but her phone was switched off. Probably the battery charge in her phone had died down. She had mentioned less charge in the afternoon. Where could they look for her now?

“Bitiyaji, Is it ok if I send my friend Gopal to take you girls back home? requested Pankajji. “Don’t worry Pankajji, we will be fine. We don’t mind him dropping us home” assured Liz positively. He works nearby and will be here soon. I will rush home. The car will be parked at the same place. Don’t worry he is a nice man, he will take you back home safely.” Pankajji left in a hurry. After ten more minutes of waiting Hilda was running towards them in a hurry. “Sorry girls, I forgot one of my bags in the shop so I had to rush back to the place to find my bag. And I had forgotten where exactly the shop was and which shop it is.” “At least u finally decided what to get for your mom” said Liz. And they all started laughing. As they walked towards the car, Sush narrated the incident about Pankajji and his daughter.

When they reached the car, they saw an old man whom they recognized to be Gopalji. “Gopalji?” asked Liz. “Yes Bitiyaji, Pankaj sent me here. He is off to see his daughter. “Yes Gopalji, he told us about it” said Sush. “We will head home now Gopalji” Hilda added in. “We need to be home by seven, uncle has asked us to call him when we reach home.” “Bitiyaji, what is the name of the village. I know the way till the main road but I don’t the exact place where Stanji lives” All three girls looked at each other blankly. “Gopalji, I think it is Saralpur, we know the direction from the main road we will guide you from there.” said Sush. They reached the main road from where they had to take a deviation to the village. The main road had several roads going down left. And the girls were confused which way down they had to go. “I think it is further left Gopalji, I remember a sign board where we need to take the left.” said Hilda. “No, it’s not this one. There should be a board for the name of a Convent school, I remember clearly. Though I don’t remember the name of the school.” Sush added. “Ok Bitiyaji, we will go down this way”

They went down the road and drove in for three kms and realized that this isn’t the correct road. Meanwhile Liz kept trying to contact Uncle’s phone. They didn’t have Pankajji’s number and Gopalji didn’t have a phone. Uncle’s phone kept ringing but no answer. They asked people for the village Saralpur. A couple walking down the road guided them back to the main road and take the third left down. Back to the main road and down this road they realized after a few kms that this wasn’t the correct place either. People here said this was indeed Saralpur and they didn’t know of any convent school the girls were talking about. They kept taking deviations based on people telling them routes to different schools in the locality. I was pitch dark outside, hardly any street lights in the village roads and it was 7:45 pm. Liz was very scared now, and Sush was trying to console her saying everything will be fine. Hilda was very brave and helped Gopalji ask directions. After 45 mins of asking directions. Someone suggested a place Sarlapur instead of Saralpur. “Yes! This is the place!!” yelled the girls in excitement. Their spirits rising a little!

After another 10 minutes they were home by 8 pm. Once they got to the village road they knew their way back to the cottage. They thanked Gopalji immensely and rushed into the cottage asking him not to narrate the incident to anyone. They were just hoping uncle wasn’t back home yet. Within 10 minutes uncle was back home. “Hey I saw your missed calls; my phone was on silent mode, so I saw your calls just now. Everything is fine?” The girls had worried looks on their face. “Yes uncle, Just wanted to know how long before you reach home, we were a little bored” Added Hilda. And others heaved a sigh of relief.

Courtesy - Steffi Lobo

Pace سلام שלום Hasîtî शान्ति Barış 和平 Мир

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 01:57:00 +0530

Peace – A phenomenon something the entire human world today is looking and hoping for. We have heard so much about the need to give peace a chance but where does this peace start? Where is its source? Is peace only applicable to regional or communal borders? Or does it really extend to the boundaries of our families and above all to our own personhood. A question we need to ask ourselves time and again - am I at peace with myself to start off with. In Catholic/Islamic/Judaic traditions we have the general practice of wishing peace to each other when we meet in a religious ceremony/ritual through a sign of peace or hug or handshake or a kiss – so these symbols indicate the possibility of peace being passed on from one person to another. Peace has its gestures and sources too. Peace between different faiths , different cultures or regions can’t be defined from a single point of view but has to be seen from a common ground – the ground of humanity , our personhood.

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here but rather guide your attention to a wise holy professor of faith & humanity Pope Benedict XVI (Head of Catholic Church). In his recent visit to Lebanon in the midst of the unrest in Middle East he said: “"If we want peace, let us defend life!" he exclaimed.”This approach leads us to reject not only war and terrorism, but every assault on innocent human life, on men and women as creatures willed by God." The Pope reflected that God chose the regions of the Middle East, "to be an example, to bear witness before the world that every man and woman has the possibility of concretely realizing his or her longing for peace and reconciliation! This aspiration is part of God’s eternal plan and he has impressed it deep within the human heart." The Holy Father said that a constant returning "to the wellsprings of our humanity" is necessary to find the energy to work for peace. "Our human dignity is inseparable from the sacredness of life as the gift of the Creator. In God’s plan, each person is unique and irreplaceable. A person comes into this world in a family, which is the first locus of humanization, and above all the first school of peace. To build peace, we need to look to the family, supporting it and facilitating its task, and in this way promoting an overall culture of life." He added that wherever the truth of human nature is ignored, "it becomes impossible to respect that grammar which is the natural law inscribed in the human heart."

The Pontiff spoke of various assaults on human life, including unemployment, poverty, corruption, a variety of addictions, exploitation, different forms of trafficking, and terrorism, adding that "we run the risk of being enslaved by an economic and financial mindset which would subordinate 'being' to 'having'!"

"The destruction of a single human life is a loss for humanity as a whole," he said. "Mankind is one great family for which all of us are responsible. By questioning, directly or indirectly, or even before the law, the inalienable value of each person and the natural foundation of the family, some ideologies undermine the foundations of society." [Source: www.zenit.org ]

After hearing this speech supposedly the president of Lebanon's Parliament said that "all the people and the politicians of the Middle East should hear, read and meditate on this speech of the Pope." I would say the entire world should reflect on the essence of what this humanitarian is saying whether he is your pope or not.

Second Life in the land of Zuckerberg!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 07:53:00 +0530

Tell me who doesn’t want to be loved or liked? Yes afcouse we all crave for it all the time – always, don’t we? This craving is etched in every action of ours especially the way we behave in a crowd or with strangers or on our social profiles. They highlight this desire to be visible, attended to, cared for and loved most. What all haven’t we put on our facebook wall to create impressions and get more likes. What all haven’t we tried on our facebook wall – inspiring quotes borrowed from Gandhi to Obama, scenic photographs starting from Gold’s (‘l’ is silent) own country to Wall Street, tales of all our global adventures, snaps with hundreds of our friends in front of restaurant parking, around dining table, on bike, in car, across pool tables, within a frame, top of a mountain, above the ocean waves, beneath the sky and under the bridge. What all haven’t we shared about ourselves to our facebook friend who happens to be our friends friend’s unknown friend. What all, what not and still on.

What not? From the fact that you like sugar in your coffee to the fact that you are not happy about closing your eyes while sleeping. From the fact that your favorite color is white to the fact that you love black eyed peas. From the fact that you promote peace to the fact that you want to bomb all the terrorists. From the fact that you follow ‘The Hindu’ to the fact that you want to stay ahead with ‘Times’. And so on…

Of all the facebook statuses I have read recently this particular statement on a friend’s wall made the most sense to me– “Hope your life is as good as you pretend it to be on FB!” Haven’t we visited places just to post few snaps on facebook so that the world can see how great our lifestyle is– not you dear but I am talking about our mutual friend who does this you see. Haven’t we posted some glorious sky shattering words of wisdom when the ground beneath us was crumbling? Don’t many of our pics talk less about us and more about our narcissistic shades? Doesn’t our facebook page talk less about whom we really are and more about what we want people to believe we are? Oh yea need proof – look at my facebook wall and then also yours J

Solution– live the real you, always everywhere or take a mini vacation daily from facebook for life truly sucks when we live only in the world of z(s)uckerberg!

My new look

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 8 Sep 2012 02:38:00 +0530

The only way to make ourselves better is to change with the needs of time without compromising on the core values you believe or you live with. That's something I struggle and endeavor always not to miss out on and this blog is no exception. Speaking of change I think this blog needed a makeover. So here is the change. Hope you like the flip-over style of presenting the posts. You have the power to customize your view too by choosing appropriate style of viewing from the drop-down. Hope you will enjoy your reading. And please don't forget to leave your suggestions , thoughts etc as blog comments.

A Cheesy Call

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:17:00 +0530

Last Friday we organized a movie night event at our parish. We watched a movie called ‘Facing the Giants’. Story was very simple like many other similar inspirational movies - a struggling American football coach trying to find meaning in his life, in his team, in his relationships; And when everything seemed to fail God intervenes in his life rather mysteriously each time to turn things around for him, his wife , his football team and so on. Now that I was watching this movie for the third or fourth time as part of various youth movie nights this time somehow I found many of the scenes very cheesy and artificial. Like in the last scene when the wind changes direction all of a sudden and David kicks the ball almost twice the distance than he has every hit in his life and thus leading Eagles to an unlikely state championship win or in the case of the coach who gets a truck for free parked by an anonymous well wisher. For a moment I did wonder who on earth these days would give such an expensive gift for no obvious gains or hidden agenda. I am sure many of my friends who were watching the movie that day found many more things more cheesy and unreal and I won’t judge them for feeling so. But here’s my real point – we all could well be wrong with our perception. The screenplay of the movie might have led us to this perception and might not have given full justice to the truth. The truth being that miracles are not things of the past and that cheesiness as we perceive is not unreal to nature. Let’s start with this simple event of our own birth. Although we didn’t plan our own birth have you ever wondered the probability of our own birth? A nice article I found hypothesis the Probability of you being born to be one in 10^2,685,000

Now not sure if this powers of 10 makes any sense to you; well it would make some sense when you realize that the approximate number of atoms in the known universe is 10⁸⁰ .So what's the probability of you being born? It's the probability of 2.5 million people getting together -- about the population of San Diego -- each to play a game of dice with trillion-sided dice. They each roll the dice -- and they all come up the exact same number -- say, 550,343,279,001 (source - Dr. Ali Benazir) . Yeah now the wind changing direction on someone’s prayer sounds less cheesy than before right? What about you discovering a new car tomorrow morning on your driveway – more probable than your own birth? Now that you are born, now that you are reading this article believe me more miracles are awaiting you in your life and all that you think are impossible in your life could well be a piece of cake or I must say piece of cheese. Interestingly just before the movie night that day I had to lead adoration for the youth. Week before this I had broken ‘E’ string on my guitar so I took some pain and time that day to drive some distance to get a new ‘E’ string just in nick of time before adoration. And on putting this new one I again happened to break it thanks to my bad tuning ability. What great misfortune I shouted. Without the ‘E’ string I can never think of playing a guitar more so because the few chords that I know revolve around this string. Now that it’s broken I could have kept my guitar aside but somehow I decided to play on with what I have – that’s 5 other strings. At the end of the day it may not have sounded all that sweet but served its purpose of assisting in singing songs for adoration and of course the listeners had no clue about the broken string either. Yeah you can still play guitar without the ‘E’ string – believe me! Well a real musician may find playing guitar in such a way – a cheesy symphony!

Whatever it is, facing the giants or dwarfs of our life is not at all impossible – not when we have a mighty Lord with us.

Every little prison & my unworthy attempt

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 09:46:00 +0530

One of my favorite songs these days. It's composed by Matt Meher inspired

by the Litany of Humility. Mine is just an unworthy attempt here .

Not-To-Exit

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 7 Aug 2012 08:25:00 +0530

After nearly 3 months I finally have mustered some courage to publish an accident that almost never took place in my life. The language of the write up is raw and as I feel now its bit emotional but I think that’s expected considering the fact that I wrote this the very night after the incident.

May 13 Sunday 2012, 10:32pm EST - A rather uncomfortable thought goes through my mind as I am writing these words at this hour of the night. A thought reminding me how I could have been not writing these words ever, how I could have been in either a hospital or mortuary now. These very thoughts pierce my heart like a double edge sword reminding me of how fragile life is and on how soon we could be so gone with the wind. Rewinding my day…

830am EST – woke up to a rather usual morning in Westborough. Well yes woke up late since it was Sunday and had no plans to do anything until 10:00am.Sunday Holy Mass was at 11:15 am in nearby Framingham thus I had quite some time to finish my morning rituals, get a good shave and get ready, rather well now that I was going to wear my new Puma shoe for the first time in public (At the age of 26 too one can be just like a child). I was never a brand guy be it Puma, Nike etc and well as a matter of fact I was kind of agitated against people who are crazy about buying branded stuff. Well this was my first taste of such a brand on my legs, what made me buy it could be passed on to circumstances. Anyway here I was rather all glad that I finally got a good pair of shoes considering last week I did a 20mile Boston hunger walk with an ordinary pair of shoe(ordinary because it was not meant for a walk but for office wear :) ) and badly hurt my leg in the long 6 plus hour walk across Boston city. The consequence of this painful walk and the unintentional entry into Massachusetts biggest Mall in Natick yesterday gave me this gift of my first illusive branded pair of shoes. And obviously in silence I forgave all those who are behind branded wears for these shoes were actually very comfortable & cozy for my legs:)

1030am EST – Got into my car and headed to Framingham. Even the accelerator of my car felt good about its new touch. Let’s say I zoomed without breaking any laws. On reaching Church guilt of past few weeks kept on reminding me that I need to go for confession. I am used to these kind of moments very often were sin has held my soul so softly that I feel so lukewarm-ish about life but for the outer world I may be all that holy and already a priest/pope for few non-catholic friends of mine. I believe sinner is a sinner no matter how small/great his sins are and sometimes my smallest sin seems such grave offense as I walk gently closer to the Holy mountain of Lord. Lord’s Holiness & standards seem to increase as I get closer to Him. Anyway, that in a nut shell and rather practically summarizes my need for confession before receiving the Holy Eucharist.

11:00am EST – Just few minutes before the Holy Mass the priest agrees to listen to my confession. I say my sins (Lord must be bored of hearing the same stuff again and again for sure) and receive absolution for my sins as my faith teaches me. So here I am so eager to receive the Lord in the Eucharist considering that the Sunday before this I didn’t receive (yes the holy mountain phenomenon struck again and I sat back from receiving the Lord). So far it’s been a perfect day, isn’t it? , I remind myself after receiving the Holy Lord.

1:00pm EST – After Holy Mass, I munch on my parish’s standard classic lunch time offering – Kanji & Payyar (Rice Soup & Beans). After infinite rounds of gossip with friends & parishioners I finally decide to head to Nashua to attend the farewell gathering planned for my friend who is heading back to India after his yearlong stay in New Hampshire. One of my known family friend asks if I can wait for some time more in Church and take her elder daughter & younger son along with me so that she can go home quickly and clean up her house , since I was heading to her own house for the supposedly secret/surprise farewell gathering. I somehow seem to resist that offer and she decides to stay on and I enthusiastically board my car for the hour long drive to Nashua, NH.

2:30pm EST - I surprisingly feel prompted to call my mom for the second time today to wish her Mother’s day once again. Mind you its midnight in India right now and I usually don’t call her so late. I quickly speak to her, wish her again and ask her to get back to her sleep as I am going on a farewell trip.

3:00pm EST – All is well so far. Very less traffic on the roads. Mind is calm. Music in the car is very soothing. Some 20 minutes into the drive I pass through the tougher narrow by lanes and am some few hundred meters away from the I-95 North freeway. I have been through these freeway many times on my visit to Nashua and seem to know exactly where to take the exit. But I don’t know what happened to me this time – complete blindness; I seem to miss the exit road for a split second even though the patient GPS lady was shouting at the top of her voice to take the exit. By the time I realized that something was wrong my hands which knew the direction had steered the wheel left. So in that time & space I am neither on the exit road nor on the main road but heading straight to the exit board itself. 1-2-3 I take two of the sign boards along with me and the car comes to complete stop on the green meadows bordering the exit road. I don’t know what happened. I still don’t. Shattered windshield, broken right side view mirror, dents to the front of the car, completely flat/dismantled front passenger side tire , grounded exit sign are all the after effects of this rather uncalled for , non-provoked incident. And here I am sitting in the car wondering if I am dreaming or is it for real? The Rosary originally on the view mirror now residing on my front passenger seat thrown due to impact a gentle reminder that miracles do still happen in this day and age. And yes it has happened in my life. The strong steel sign boards could have easily pierced the glass or what about me slamming into one of the huge truck parked for weekend just few meters away in the grass meadow , what about me losing my control on the main road or exit itself - a gross timely reminder that I have witnessed something special in my life. At the end of the day it could be a trivial accident with loss of few thousand dollars for me or my insurance in comparison to many other fatal one’s that occur in this country but for me just like this was a split second accident so was my survival to life a split second miracle. Few kind passing cars stop by to ask if I am alright, and so was I. Sorry not cars but kind people in the cars. Cars obey our instruction after all – stop where it is asked to stop, slam where it is asked to slam :)

4:00pm EST – Help arrives in the form of a Waltham cop who came in as a response to my 911 call. Few well wishers who belong to my parish also head to the accident site for help and to tow me back home.

5:00pm EST - I am at home in Westborough now. Car is in one of the auto tow center in Waltham. Am I broken – yes for sure but something in me says that something that was meant to be a mountain turned out to be mole. Tough situations make you depend on Lord more.

May 14 Monday 2012, 12:00am EST – Took me about an hour to write this incident that is so fresh in my mind and invisible wounds still not healed. All that I am left to say now is this that it’s a new day, a new beginning and a new journey. I am so thankful to Lord for His mercy. Prayers of my mom – Happy mother’s day mom. Kindness of my friends/brethren. I could write more metaphors and theories but my little frightened heart simply says – “I just want to thank You Lord!”…..

P.S – I would be publishing this incident on my blog only on a later date when the dust settles. No mother’s heart would take this easily.

A beautiful Psalm that made my prayer today – Psalm 39: For the leader, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David. I said, "I will watch my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will set a curb on my mouth." Dumb and silent before the wicked, I refrained from any speech. But my sorrow increased; my heart smoldered within me. In my thoughts a fire blazed up, and I broke into speech: LORD, let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am. You have given my days a very short span; my life is as nothing before you. All mortals are but a breath. Mere phantoms, we go our way; mere vapor, our restless pursuits; we heap up stores without knowing for whom. And now, Lord, what future do I have? You are my only hope. From all my sins deliver me; let me not be the taunt of fools. I was silent and did not open my mouth because you were the one who did this. Take your plague away from me; I am ravaged by the touch of your hand. You rebuke our guilt and chasten us; you dissolve all we prize like a cobweb. All mortals are but a breath. Listen to my prayer, LORD, hear my cry; do not be deaf to my weeping! I sojourn with you like a passing stranger, a guest, like all my ancestors. Turn your gaze from me, that I may find peace before I depart to be no more.

Aug 6, 2012 – Close to 3 months down the line Lord’s mercy is ever new & refreshing. And I don’t see it as an accident but rather as an opportunity to live. To live and to be happy about the gift of life I have received much beyond money/car/material goods or anything else. Isn’t it interesting that to live few happy seconds on earth we just need Oxygen and nothing else especially nothing else we call our own. Wishing you all a blessed journey without any exit to your ultimate destination of peace & joy :)

backtowhereiBeLOnG

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 4 Aug 2012 00:36:00 +0530

It’s been more than two months since I blogged something here and I would like to attribute this lack of activity to absolutely nothing! Yes absolutely nothing not even to my laziness. In other words I would just say that the time was not right for me to blog yet. I did draft one sometime in June but it never had the guts to make it to the blog. Now too I don’t have anything specific to blog about and the problem is not that I don’t have thoughts or ideas to blog on but the real problem is which one to write about or where to begin with. What can we call it – the problem of plenty? plenty of thoughts, plenty of information online, plenty of questions, plenty of ideas and so on – all collectively contributing to result in nothing! In one way the path of the world – we all have time for everything else but just don’t have the time to do what we Love nor the grid to do it.

Where shall I begin – Yes Olympics! I don’t have a Cable connection at home and in the day and age of live streaming and YouTube you can really get away without cable, I thought so until now. Olympics one of the world’s prominent events is hardly available online. I searched and searched just to find few videos and highlights here and there not yet not the real thing. Now in USA it’s under the control of NBC and even if you need to watch it online you need the credentials of a cable operator. I do have internet connection from Charter cable but not the Charter TV connection and that’s the catch. And I am not a lonely grumbler, here’s a good read – GreekGeek

I will leave it here. Chew on!

Mother Mine...

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:57:00 +0530

Reading all the emotional mother’s day messages on social media today, an incident which I faintly remember comes to my mind. This must have been when I was in 5th/6th standard/grade I assume. Probably this incident might have happened during a weekend or on one of the holidays. I was heading to the nearby small ground to play a game of cricket. Now these are not really well defined grounds but rather empty plots of land which young folks in that locality have converted into make shift ground. Now this locality that I stayed in was famous for its street dog menace (almost every locality in my place has this problem to be honest). As I was heading close to the play ground I seem to walk across a pack of wild dogs and one of them from nowhere for no provocative reason came running towards me. A small frail kid that I was the dog might have been almost as big as me itself. The dog ran in and was so close to me and about to pounce on me that I closed my eyes and shouted at the top of my voice – “Mamaaaaa…..” Now that I opened my eyes slowly I see the dog quietly taking steps backwards politely as if it respected the word I shouted.

I remember kind of rushing back home and telling my mom about this incident firmly believing that calling her name saved me. But then politely she smiles and says “Yes mama saved you but not this mama but mama of all – Mother Mary!”

I moved on after the incident but those words still resonate in my mind even to this day when I am in trouble or need help. I know that I can call upon my heavenly mama to help me when I need her no matter how neck deep I am in danger. Mothers never abandon their children however spoilt the child is. As mysterious as women seem to be here on earth they all have one thing in common when they become mothers – they give themselves completely to the well being of their kids. And if our earthly mothers are so loving then we can easily imagine how loving and caring a truly divine heavenly mother would be. No wonder when the world celebrates Mothers day we also celebrate feast of our Lady of Fatima – a coincidence of truth when heaven meets earth!

A poem by an Irish poet Ann Murray:

Mother of the Son of God
Mother of the Eternal Word
Mother of the child divine
Mother Mary, Mother mine.

Mother of Immanuel
Mother of the child of light
Mother of the sun and stars
Mother of the day and night.

Mother chaste and Mother pure
Mother meek and Mother mild
Listen to my prayer and pleading
As a mother heeds her child.

Listen to a world that’s weeping
Bring to Jesus all our sighs
Change hard hearts to glad hearts beating
As our many voices rise.

We who are your earthly children
Look to you in heaven above
Ask of you a Mother’s blessing
Find in you a Mothers love.

Whom shall I blame?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:09:00 +0530

An angry four-year-old Saudi boy shot and killed his father for refusing to buy him a PlayStation, Saudi media reported on Monday. The Asharq Daily, citing police in the southern Jizan area, said the child grabbed his father's pistol and shot him in the head. According to the newspaper, the child had asked his father to buy him a PlayStation and the shooting took place after the man returned home without it. While changing the dress, the man put the weapon down, which the child grabbed and fired at him from close range. (Source : The Hindu)

A four year old killing his own father for not buying a playstation makes an interesting headline in which ever part of the world you read this news. Nobody would justify it considering we still have some collective humanity left in us, but certainly many wouldn’t stop pointing fingers at one person or the other. Who do (whom) we (can we) blame for this? Father? Son? Playstation? Media? Saudi Government? Pistol Manufacturer? Consumerism ? Whole World? System? Hollywood? Or like in India – foreign hand?
Can we blame the child for asking a playstation – certainly not!
Can we blame the father for not buying it – No!
Can we blame the father for carelessly placing the weapon down such that child got access to it –?
Can we blame the child for firing a shot as they harmlessly seem to do often in playstation mafia games , without any real life consequence , until now - ?
Can we blame the child for expecting instant gratification of his demand assuming all his previous demands were promptly met beating all known best SLA’s ( Service Level Agreements) popular among customer service representatives – I wouldn’t.

We can continue with this blame-game till the sun dies down but will it bring about any solution, I wonder? Such incidents don’t appear to be isolated. The anger, frustration of the culture is spreading fast & furious to the innocent one’s as well. Some grow up with this frustration deepened inside through collective negative experiences in life until it blows up one day to proportions we can’t imagine causing collateral damage to humanity – like in the case of Anders Behring Breivik.

Now changing this culture which is on a non-reversible path seems to be a nearly impossible task but we have little hope still left. What’s the fun of being human without hope? And the hope for me is in the new families. Families which can be cocoons of real love (don’t confuse with sex & porn – which are way below what we are talking here). I am ever so grateful to my parents for providing me whatever I needed at that day & age but more because they had the courage to say ‘No’ to my rather childish yet intrinsically selfish needs. I am thankful to my parents for showing me & instructing me on how to respect elders be they of my own family or someone who is a completely a stranger, for correcting me gently and as well with authority when I did inappropriate things. Yes I hated them for doing or saying things that showed I was wrong with my words, choices or actions especially in front of others but with time and few lost hairs I can’t but stop thanking them!

Our kids need to be taught to ask with love , with freedom , to share ,to be part of someone’s sharing, to accept good with humility , to accept rejection with hope for better . It’s always easy to start a revolution at home than on the streets! And this silent revolution is awaiting your response.

Attach-Detach-Attach

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:57:00 +0530

Ever since our birth we are attached to one thing or the other. We begin this saga with our own mom’s - umbilical cord. And this natural attraction to attachments has continued ever since that point of time. Parents to their own blood. Kids to their own games. Young to their own love. Rich to their own money. Poor to their own misery. Corrupt to their own denial. Governments to their own survival. Artists to their own creation. Engineer to their own inventions. Aged to their own savings. Dead to their own tomb. Thus from birth to death, our life seems to be a continuous saga of attachments some bringing great joy and others more than a cup of tear!

As important as these attachments are in our life so is the pain and misery associated with sticking on with some of them for a long time. Attachments can captivate, illuminate our life but also can make us a captive of our own cocoon. I remember one the famous quotes from my good old school teacher – “When God closes one door, he opens many more”. I feel attachments in our life are somewhat like this, when one is gone many more come in. Life seems to define its purpose when we can shift lanes between these attachments until we reach the ultimate attachment. I would simply like to call these matured attachments – Union, where one is attached yet so freely independent to seek one’s own course. Conjugal union of man & women in marriage is a classic human example– “Two get married, yet they are one”.

Is non-denial of some of our attachments necessarily a bad thing? Well if we can prove that denial to certain extent is good then it goes on to prove that non-denial could well be bad to certain extent. As an analogy, bandages on our body are meant to heal our wounds but allowing it to stay there for a long time can result in excruciating pain one day when we have to remove it. The very purpose of this bandage is to bring healing for the acceptable duration until a fresher one is dressed on. One can be too much attached to our parents, friends, work, community or lifestyle – losing out on greener pastures life may be offering us. I simply feel that we are blessed with the ultimate power of shedding our attachments and getting into real unions. Unions which can last beyond seven seas, beyond facebook, beyond skype, beyond constant need to generic talk, beyond constant need to cosmetic visit , beyond constant need of artificial pleasing - a union of heart , of spirit , of soul and of Love.

Every great saint who lived upon the face of the earth had a gallery of things to detach themselves from such that they attach to what they really wanted to. Every great achiever had to deny many fears of their heart to achieve that one dream that didn’t let him/her sleep.

So looking at my own my life and those of others around a question arises in my mind always, do I really need all these attachments? Can I live my life with the least number of strings attached? In other words what’s the least number of strings I need to attach in my life to produce a better harmony? I feel a six stringed guitar in all probability would produce better harmony than an 100 stringed one, even if this statement is not exactly provable at least the six string one is easy to carry around and for all practical purposes is what musicians would prefer to use day in and day out.

What can we detach from ourselves today? What fear prevents us from this kind of detachment? Not necessarily bad things alone but also some things which are harmless on the surface – fear of moving away from family , fear of staying away from close friends, fear of exploring a new place, fear of moving out of our comfort zones , fear of quitting our job for a better cause , fear of saying ‘No’ to work on Sunday , fear of taking a bigger responsibility , fear of appreciating people , fear of thanking people , fear of saying ‘I don’t know’ , fear of ‘accepting’ that the other point of view is better than mine, fear of building bridges than walls, fear of believing that I need to change first then others , fear of respecting our juniors, fear of saying ‘it’s yours’, fear of choosing the more difficult task, fear of giving in on arguments, fear of giving up, fear of gently correcting others mistakes, fear of raising a valid opinion , fear of resistance to flattery, fear of keeping quiet when needed, fear of sharing our faith, fear of upholding our values under intense peer pressure.

Yes this is going to be a painful exercise but worth a try since our life is really worth it! Water evaporates under sunlight but comes in later on in the form of fresh showers bringing new life, new hope and a new spring such that no drop of water is ever lost it just transforms from one form to another. The more we Give Up the more is given to us below from Above and thus we are constantly transformed, renewed and refreshed.

I Love You

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:06:00 +0530

You are so far yet so near

You are so old yet so new

You are so common yet so unique

You are invisible yet among us

You are beyond gravity yet You came down to earth

You are so divine yet You chose to be fully man

You are all powerful yet You chose a manger.

You divided the history yet You continue to be a mystery

You don’t count my mistakes yet You chose 3 Nails and 1 Cross to forgive me

You are a perfect judge yet You show great partiality towards Me – so that I can live

You have thousands of angels and saints around You yet You only have me in your mind

So I ask who You are ? And You have already answered it – “I am who I am”

I Love You!

Gravity of Death!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:20:00 +0530

When will I die? when will you die?

Have you thought about it?

Have you realized that it can come knocking any moment?

It can come in the heat of a fire or in the chill of the cold,

It can come in the fall of the roof or in the kill of a car.

It can come on an expected bed or on an unexpected walk,

It can come fast or take its time to sink.

What will happen of me when it comes?

What possessions can I carry from this world along with this sweet assassin?

What will be of me & my strength when I am six feet under?

What will I be proud of when the undertaker is all over me?

What dream will awaken me from that sleep?

Which snour or bed beg will disturb me from that sleep?

Who from the dead can come and answer that?

Is death the end of everything or the beginning of something new?

If death were the end of my life , then why fight, compete & struggle to prolong it?

If death were the end of everything then why I bother it be a peaceful one?

Yet every man desires for a peaceful death .....I wonder why?

Is death a passover to something new, something which no eyes has ever seen nor no ears has ever heard?

Is death the gateway to either a new morning or an old night?

I wonder whats hidden in the black hole of death which the gravity of human mind never understands.

Even if I am not sure isnt the hope of a better morning more comforting than to think of the darker night?

So isnt it better to put our faith on the Sun rise than the Sun set?

Isnt it better to live the moment always aware of our death but hopeful of an eternal joyful life after that?

Isnt it better to be ready on the pit lanes when the earthly flag waves & eternal race begins , sometimes even without we realizing it!

For we know not which direction the wind blows nor we see it ,until it just touches our skin. So will be our last breath!

So isnt it better to breathe the one lesser breath to the final one more joyfully?

( below is a meaningful funeral song in malayalam)

America...Dreams...Me?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 02:09:00 +0530

Well the most confronted question with my presence here in America – how do you like it? How is the American dream? How long are you going to stay here? And irrespective of my answer the logical conclusion in the minds of the questioner, he likes it here and he is going to do everything to stay back here. And I don’t judge the questioner here in a negative way either, since he/she himself was questioned on the same lines few years back, and now that they have settled in with their family and have a house or material baggage that can’t be left behind here, it’s now their turn to deflect those questions onto newbie’s like me. And my answer to all these questions as on February 6, 2012 – I don’t know!

‘I don’t knows’ are dangerous answers historically and tend to be more ending up in a future Yes and that’s the catch I am trying to escape in all honesty. Now, what I don’t know is why I am really here. Once I figure that out or am enlightened on it then I would have better clarity in shaping up my answers. Now let me try this elimination method of deriving upon an answer and that’s by answering what I know. I know that I am here for a work and I will get some more dollars for the same but somehow those were never my priorities and to be honest are still not! So I won’t be staying back here just for that! I know that I am not here just to see a new country – if that were the case then I should have seen at least some part of the country by now, that I have been 3 months here but in reality have hardly stepped out my small town apart for Work or Sunday Mass or a certain place called Nashua (rather certain homes in Nashua). These are things I know but still don’t convince me on why I am really here. I always believe that God has certain plans and mission for you in every place where you are called to or asked to go. I can’t be here in Boston just for client value creation unless the client is the creator of the world himself. A mystery which only time will reveal and relieve me of.

Yeah I know I am kind of boring in terms of worldly standards – with no car, no iphone or smart phones or ipad or ipod or an SLR or a personal laptop , here I am living in America – land of dreams for many! Yes for many, things missing on my list could be their dream and they coming here and getting them could be the fulfillment of same but then I don’t want to mislead myself, I too would like to have them but then it’s more like an add on feature than a necessity in my life, never a dream! Yes with all these big claims my path to hypocrisy has become even wider and clearer.

The former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam is quoted to have said – “"The dream is not what you see in sleep. Dream is which does not let you sleep”. Now what’s it that doesn’t let me sleep – My roommates snores? Or bed bugs? J Poor Jokes yeah! Now again calling upon the graces of the little deposits of honesty, I dream of living a disciplined life with a beautiful big family with sufficient resources from the abundance of Lords prosperity. That’s asking too much I know since I am not associated with discipline anyway and that I come from a single son family, which means that I need start one for myself with a peaceful wife and many lovely kids: D … Period! And all this to experience God’s love in my life and share the same with others! Now it can be in any part of the Universe – rich country, poor country, an isolated island, Mars or in International space station! I really want to be judged based upon my internal movements than exterior outcomes. Please bring it on Lord!

Missing Christ in Christmas?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:43:00 +0530

I feel - our first composition!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 3 Dec 2011 06:34:00 +0530

Christmas or X'mas?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 2 Dec 2011 23:00:00 +0530

What does Christmas mean to us? – For many from where I currently stay it means holidays, for many it could be Santa Claus coming in his reindeer and giving free gifts or for others time for snow fall when snowman creates history. With time the concept of Christmas has been changed and not only has it been commercialized but also mis-represented and stripped off its original purpose and meaning. Christmas is not about holidays alone. It’s not about the snow as well– for fact Christ might not have been born exactly on December 25th, it is something which evolved overtime and traditions so the chances of it snowing during the time of birth of Christ are real less. Not that it matters if we celebrate with or without snow but we can’t celebrate Christmas only with it. So these exterior signs of our celebrations – snow, star, Santa Claus , Christmas tree , Cake etcetera can’t take the central place in our celebration . It’s like hosting a wedding party with all pomp and glory but without the bridegroom and bride.

What’s its original purpose? – Well we can’t answer this in a secular fashion like many like to do. The core of understanding Christmas is to understand Christ - who He is and why he had to come among us – to be the Immanuel! As the popular song goes ‘Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room…’ Christmas is all about what we profess in this song than about Jingle bells or Rudolf the red nose reindeer! The second coming of Christ is happening every time we welcome him into our hearts. The second coming of Christ is an ongoing phenomenon in our life if we were to understand the mystery of Christmas. We are called to celebrate Christmas everyday in our life, to allow Lord to be with us and among us everyday – Immanuel! Are we alert to this fact as scriptures remind us time and time, again and again?

Well simply saying it’s time we put Christ back at the centre of Christmas as it was always meant to be. Time to celebrate ‘Christ’mas than ‘X’mas. Time to celebrate the ‘Holy’days than just holidays!

To Walk or To Talk

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:49:00 +0530

I always wonder what it means to be good. Whatever it is, isn’t it what we are than what we say or project we are. If that’s the case who is a better person – is it one who says/acts good but falls at key moments of one’s life or a person who doesn’t put an effort to be good in general but does the right thing at the right time. We always encourage people to ‘Walk the Talk’ but I somehow feel broadly speaking one can either Walk or one can Talk – doing both somehow doesn’t seem to work out on the long run but we do have lot of exceptions – legends or saints or real people whatever we call them.

If we are the ‘Talk’ kind I feel we become very judgmental about others on the very things which we ourselves can’t resist easily in our own life. If we are the ‘Walk’ kind we certainly do have the credibility to judge or advise others but more often than not it ends up in few comforting words or gentle suggestions – coz it appears that these people who really live good lives according to their call also understand the real struggle and sacrifices it takes to actually get there – never a cake walk!

People who only ‘Talk’ actually end up shouting while the ‘Walking’ one’s end up whispering or take up the path of silence. Now am I talking some philosophical crap – hmm I don’t want to actually. Taking some real life scenarios – If you were in a position to promote one of your junior colleagues in office - will it be someone who talks a lot about his/her achievement without any factual evidences or will it be someone who may show you little facts but has something to show for. Yes in the professional world we are trained to ‘Sell’ our achievements but does it mean to ‘Sell’ without reality – I would like to believe that’s not the case. Or taking a spiritual context – who would you follow a powerful preacher or a practicing teacher? Or in our family – Isn’t it so easy to follow the footsteps of dad or mom who lead a good life and then ask you to follow it rather than asking you to do something which they never do it themselves; yet another classic example of blind leading the blind – no wonder the world is going nowhere apart into dark alleys.

So I think its lot better off if not best to just do it and then if needed talk about the good things one does! An ancient proverb says it all – when you do charity your left hand shouldn’t know what your right did J

Hope I can start this trend and stop just ‘Talking’. Lord let me walk your way!

“Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he shows sinners the way, He guides the humble in righteousness, and teaches the humble his way.” – Psalms 25

Iway to heaven?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:48:00 +0530

I wish I could have started this blog post with a bang!!! But I guess the mood I am writing this post is more meditative and reflective not that ‘bang here I come on the red bull wings’. Now that I have arrived here on a slightly sober note – guess what I am going to write about! Yah yah you can guess that – the same old purpose of Life and why we are here and where are we heading question which very much was what my first post on this blog. So what’s new – I have an experience now. Experience of staying away from home sweet home for last few weeks and with the forecast of the same state till almost end of next year. Now as I stay away and knowing that the stay will be long, the longing to go back, the nostalgia of where I really belong are all hitting me like a snow storm. The new place is like a house and the place I come from is like home. The key ingredient at home will always be missed – we could always find replacements but the real thing is the real thing. Houses are made of bricks, stones and rock solid people whereas Home means a lot different - over and above it includes loved one’s and their Love. I long to go to this home where I am accepted as I am – with all my abilities and disabilities, where I am reprimanded yet deeply loved, where I am accepted as a son not as a slave or economic means, where I am corrected yet given opportunities to make mistakes, where I am a hot topic for jokes yet equally respected. Now extrapolating this scenario to further diagnosis it’s quite evident that many of us consider Earth our home. Well I may strongly differ to that point. I don’t find earth to be the real home – there’s gotta be something much more concrete and tangible than this earthly experience something that is more close to the real Home not like the earth (house) we supposedly like to call home. Since Home for me is all that I described above, personally Earth we live in is way below that benchmark - think about all those babies who are aborted on this earth and in the safest place he/she is meant to be ‘The Womb’, think about the millions who are trafficked for money, think about the thousands who are killed in the name of freedom, religion, language and so on. May be that’s why someone said that Men are from mars and Women from Venus – there we go I just drastically proved that we don’t belong to earth permanently nor are we from here. There’s gotta be a place then we can head to – you can call it heaven if you want to. Until we believe that there’s place like that we will never long to go back to that place after our temporary stay (read it as death). And some wise people have advised us that to go there we need to be good. So our actions here at our house must be worth enough to lead us to our true home else we will be jailed or dead in eternal immortality of pain. Since many are making life on earth, hell for themselves and for others around them, I wish not to talk about hell here since already we have a personal experience of that in one way or the other.

If you don’t believe in this eternity concept – then good conscience and laws are meaningless. One can ask what for I need to be good? What merit does it hold me? What do I do with all that money/possessions/contacts/relationships and all that, which makes me, ‘Me’ – since no human being has ever taken anything along with him/her after death; not even Steve Jobs could carry his slim thin custom I-phone – can you believe that!! May be these very questions can bring in some conviction to those who wish to be convinced!

After this heavy reading you may want to refresh your mind by listening to this song on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2UI25sayXk.

Lifeu Ishtena?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:47:00 +0530

A new Kannada movie released this week called ‘Lifeu Ishtene’ ….. Walking through the streets of Koramanagala (in Bangalore) I could see many posters of this movie stuck at various vantage points and anonymous walls. Kannada movies may have lost their past glory but the current makers are not willing to concede the same and with all pomp and glory promote it as if this is the next Oscar winning movie nevertheless two catch phrases on this movie poster caught my attention. One goes this way ‘Food, Clothes & Girlfriends’ and other says ‘Move on Sucker’. And the synopsis of this movie on one of the review site is this – “Lifu Ishtene is a romantic comedy about how young boys express their love to so many girls. True love happens again and again to them.”

I pity on the movie watchers who are fed with such total crap in the name of entertainment. Having one or two good songs doesn’t make it worth a watch and what really hurts the society is the message that is hardwired into the hearts and minds of people through such movies. A message of desperation, which says that it is perfectly fine to be disloyal to people whom you love in your life for the sake of the other – and as they say that’s how you will experience ‘true love again and again’.
What is true love? And if it’s really true how we can have more truer one in some one else? So what do we do if we really find the true one; turn to the truer one then the truthest one? Just like those words don’t exist so too this rubbish concept. True love is true and that’s it. It works very well in movies since the hero supposedly locks down finally to the girl who is supposedly his real true love (while other guinea pigs are lost in various intervals of the movie) and they lived happily ever after. Oh did they? We don’t know? They don’t make many movies for that phase which involves sacrifices and adjustments… which involves the trueness of love in which self denial is a must… which involves the trueness of sacrifice for your true love ( if you could relate to what Jack did in movie Titanic…he layed down his life for his only beloved one).

Now coming back to the phrase itself – ‘Food, Clothes & Girlfriends’, what an apathy that we have reached this level of cheap thinking. If you don’t find it cheap or close to it then I guess you have been already silently brainwashed. Food and Clothes are commodities which can be bought from our nearby super market at our own will with our own money. So when did they start selling girlfriends as commodities and when did it become a necessity for boys that which we cant live without? Now to make this more insane will any forward looking political party put it in their electoral manifesto – Roti, kapdaa or ladkiya? Gosh – where are we heading? Not only such brainwashings attract people but also entice people to look for the same on the streets and may be in every women they see….Don’t blame the eve teasers – we live in an hypocritical society where eve teasing done by an hero is perfectly acceptable since she is supposedly going to fall in love with him anyway – wah! The end just justified the means ….

Now we need to ask ‘is this all to life? Lifeu Ishtena? (in Kannada – and yes that’s the movie title!!!) ….Absolutely No! Life is much more than these.....may be as I see life is in finding one’s true love even at the cost of losing one’s own life. And some find it totally in God and some in their spouse or in a good friend and in poor & so on…but certainly if we can’t find it in one I doubt we will ever find it in many…. .

If you like what you read above or totally disagree then please click here else you click here so that you can come here again.

No want I

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:46:00 +0530

No want I a pretty frock

Nor want I matching socks

No want I pinkie shoes

But only Mama's daily "I Love You-s".

I don't want pop-star back-packs
Nor a surprise win at slap-jack
I don't want pizza for dinner
Only in the eyes of my Daddy a winner.

I don't want today any pocket-money
Nor a day in the park when it's sunny
I don't want a fancy phone
Just the best time I'd have never known.

I don't want no compliments
Nor my favorite branded scent
I want no matching purse
Just your wishes to be the first.

I don't want honey-filled notes from you
Nor attention like other couples do
Maybe you can ruffle my hair
And only smile to show you care.

I don't want a car, a dress,or an expensive ring
Ma, Pa, you don't have to bribe me with anything

I just want lots of Love and Trust

To keep me happy, that's not a must.

I do not want constant care

Only a few peaceful minutes a day

And I want to hear you say

"Mum, with you our lives we share."

Good God, I do not want a long life. Just a Beautiful heart to keep going.

Author & Courtesy : Lih Pao Veronica Chang
Photo Courtesy : Mighael Dino

Crests & Troughs

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:33:00 +0530

Context: I wrote these few below lines when I heard about a major set back in my career aspirations. It’s been one year from that incident now and now I realize how much of goodness it brought in my life, mainly crushed my ego although plenty still left to be crushed. That incident shocked my aspirations but made me think about the larger purpose of life. The below cluttered lines are the immediate responses of my mind when I heard this news from my boss. On hearing this news I was lost to be frank and my mind was saying – what’s going on? Why this is happening – and almost as a spontaneous response out came a notepad and these few unorganized clumsy raw thoughts.

All of us go through up’s and down’s in life. The real courage is not in staying up always but rather it’s in coming up as quickly as possible when down – what one of my close friend calls –recovery time! If we understand our purpose of life and get in touch with its author – we more or less understand that out life is like an analog radio wave (sine, cosine etc…) with many crests and troughs but always moving ahead to accomplish it purpose and thus communicate the message. These up’s and down’s take a radio signal forward & so does our life too….

********

Why is this happening?

I seem to be doing well all the way yet I fail miserably at the end. It’s like my sad end doesn’t justify my happy means. I can’t seem to figure out why this is happening.What is it that is different in the way I go about with things? It seems quite beyond me.Why does surprises, surprise me so much. Yes surprises are meant to surprise but still their is always a point of reference or tolerance level in terms of being surprised.The things I touch seem to turn to Gold for a while then it becomes cold for ever. Why I ask?

(after some time..... I continued)

Hold on my mind…..let’s sit back and think. Am I expecting too much by the means, am I so concerned about how things will appear at the end? Am I over expecting my end? Or is it simply that I am not ready to accept what the author of Life has to offer me.Are my plans superior to the author of Life? Which brings in this sense of inferior complexity when my plans fail? Can I just sit back give the means and end to the author of life? The Just one who knows the best-end can take care of the means as well.
If I could just live the way the author wants then would I be ever sad? Not at all – simply because I am not expecting anything and more so because I know that the end what ever it is is the best for me as designed by the author of my Life.

********

Janta hai mera baap kuan hai – Lokpal!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:17:00 +0530

Everybody in India now-a-days wants to be ‘Anna’ and as they say ‘I am Anna’. Almost everyone who appears in the television or in the print media to be more precise. So my first question is this – is the entire nation behind Anna Hazare? I can’t say for sure if the entire nation is behind him since even my visibility is as far as the television is or the newspapers are or my own friend’s circles or office colleagues and not more than that. Well lets take my visibility aside and for a while assume that the televisions and newspaper are echoing the voice of the people – and the entire nation as they say are with ‘Anna’ in his fight against corruption. So what’s the big deal about this we can ask – can’t an ex-army man exercise his freedom to fight corruption which our country is struggling against from time immemorial. Before answering this question we should ask ourselves are we struggling with corruption; a stupid question to even ask in the heat of all this I suppose but honestly are we suffering and groaning about it or have we accepted corruption as part and parcel of the fabric of the nation. If we have accepted it like the standard ‘Chaltha Hai’ kind of attitude then that’s more the root of the problem and that’s were our campaign must be directed towards. A strong lokpal is good but then it still doesn’t solve the root problem many ways since these very people will make this lokpal’s ‘Chaltha Hai’ very soon or may be like in a typical bollywood dialogue they will say– “Janta hai mera baap kuan hai (Do you know who my dad is?)– Lokpal! ‘

Law of the land can keep only a certain check on the proceedings. We have already certain laws in place to curb corruption yet the many who are expected to minimum follow it are accused of overlooking it and we have the ex chief justice of the nation, chief minister of a state, many bureaucrats as living witnesses to this reality. Certainly a stronger law on paper (Ethics) is needed but what we really need this hour is a clearer law written in the heart of the people (Ethos). This Ethos is needed at every walk of life and at every level.

As you read this – if you are employed , ask yourselves if you have shown fake rent receipts to save some tax – then you are corrupt on the first place! If you have got a land or a certificate or anything from any government office by bribing 100 or 200 INR or higher to any official or third party then you are corrupt! If you have violated the traffic rules and have paid 100 INR to be let off by the police since you had to rush in to go to the Temple or Church or Mosque to pray - then you are also corrupt and even God cant deny it ! So as per Jan Lokpal what shall we do with the corrupt – minimum 5 years or life imprisonment? I think these must be first applied to all those who are sitting and calling the politicians corrupt no doubt most are but how can you point to the dirt in some one ‘s eye when you have a big log in yours? And as a nation we need to ask these questions ourselves how corrupt are we and are we ready to take on ourselves this big dictorial and almost larger than life Jan Lokpal law.

I don’t know if which Lokpal will come – Lokpal of the people’s representatives or the Jan Lokpal of the so called people’s representatives but Lokpal or Jan Lokpal – we need to build a generation which writes this law of integrity on to their hearts. How will the coming generation learn it until the present generation teaches it? How can we teach it if we don’t practice it? How can we practice it if we don’t believe that we can do it? Believe yourselves; don’t be in hurry to get things done for yourselves, don’t encourage the corrupt, and resist them with your patience. A patient man’s curry is far better than the fury of the impatient!

For Japan we pray!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:23:00 +0530

Japan needs our prayers. Eathquakes,Tsunami,Volcanic activities, Nuclear fall outs all have shocked this nation at once, big time. A nation so progressive in its technological advancements is on its knees now when it comes to nature's natural responses. It may have built buildings to withstand strong quakes but nothing is full proof and we the human race are always at the mercy of the nature which sustains us and God who created the nature.

These catastrophic incidents remind me how small we are in spite of our so called intelligence, how vulnerable we are in spite of our precautions, how fragile we are in spite of our wisdom and strength, how inhuman we are without God in our life.

God's foolishness ( if that even exists) is far wiser than all the wisdom of the human race. Lets get back to basics lets get back to God.

Prayers for all in Japan. May all the departed soul's rest in peace.

Hail Mary pray for Japan & its people......

Diwali, Halloween & Onam Connection

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 3 Nov 2010 17:22:00 +0530

Two interesting festivals are being celebrated enthusiastically at two different corners of the world. Halloween in U.S and Diwali in India. The only connection I can sense between them is that they are celebrated at the same period of time. Halloween, festival of darkness & evil celebrated in a developed, complex ,technologically advanced & progressive land. Diwali, festival of lights celebrated in a developing, corrupt, highly populated but aspiring nation. Simply putting, a world leader celebrates Satan’s festival and an aspiring world leader celebrates festival of victory over evil.

India can be proud of the fact that although it is behind US in terms of development and innovation but at least it’s got its heart where it matters. Our celebrations are for victory over evil not goodness. Now we know why we are not fighting wars in Iraq & Afghanistan and why we are patient with our immediate neighbors, fundamentally our fabric is made up of good material.

Now interiorizing this case, India which aspires to in many ways to become a super power like United States must watch out this hidden US trend. In the name of freedom and development we already have compromised on the values that have laid foundation to our culture which we inherited? When KFC’s and MacDonald’s are fast replacing our MTR’s and eat outs can we still say that in coming years our generation will be less American than Indian, can we? Recently an American friend of mine came to visit India for a cultural experience and yes he was absolutely disappointed with the Americanization of our culture. What America suffers is what we are trying to copy from them….their family system, their culture, their junk food, their lifestyle, their movies, their what-not, making us what all.

Further interiorizing and looking at our own festival of light, each citizen must ask himself are we really spreading light and goodness around to all irrespective of cultural, linguistic, political, regional & religious differences. Looking at the historical background of Diwali it is celebrated has the victory of Vamana (God/Goodness) over Mahabali (Rakshas/Evil/Darkness). Interestingly people in Kerala celebrate Onam in remembrance of Mahabali so equating it in mathematical terms Onam is opposite of Diwali in terms historical evidence. But hold on are we missing a point here…Onam is celebrated in Kerala and even by ‘malayalis’ in which ever part of the world they are in, without differentiation of religion,caste and political views. So essentially Onam lives out the true spirit of unity and togetherness which is what Diwali supposedly should have meant to achieve. Onam brings out the divinity of the so called ‘Rakshas’.Practically summarizing, Onam lives out the purpose for which ‘Diwali’ originated.

So what are you lighting today…fear, a cracker, a gossip or a smile?

Writing that has no agenda!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:59:00 +0530

Has my passion for writing gone down just wondering? Their were times when I could close my eyes think about a topic in mind and write long and elaborate stuff about them , but over last few months amazing thoughts have been running across my mind but just cant seem to put them down on a word document. Interesting isn’t it that years ago people used to think of penning down their thoughts on a piece of paper but over years that phrase has lost its significance and has changed may be to posting a blog or drafting a word document or tweeting or scrapping. Well that was a sidelined reference; point is that I have lost the old sharpness to write I guess or have I really.

On a closer look well certain talents bear fruits only when exercised like what I am doing now. I may feel that I have lost that same old sharpness but as I start writing these thoughts somewhere somehow old sharpness is slowly but surely creeping in. Free thoughts are taking shape into meaningful words, how meaningful is not an area of concern for me as this is what I call ‘Freestyle Writing’; No definite objective in mind , no end conclusions in mind but only idea is to keep writing till the thought process flow stops.

Writing is a great skill to possess. In comparison to talking about a topic if you can write it down you will certainly be more convinced about it. Heard the phrase ‘ Walk the Talk’ … People generally speak a lot but don’t walk it or live by it whereas the art of writing involves expressing something which you are deeply convinced about and is more in your control rather than words which more often are controlled by our uncontrollable tongue. Tongue has its own fancies and has its own ways of creating chaos in our own and others life. Bible says in book of Sirach “He that can rule his tongue shall live without strife (Sirach 19)” and further “To slip upon a pavement is better than to slip with the tongue (Sirach 20)”.

I prefer to be a wise writer than an extravagant speaker. I have tried my luck in both these aspects quite successfully. Speaker in me is relatively more popular but I know that the writer in me is more true and genuine and without inhibition. The speaker in me is more diplomatic and uses the circumstances to convey a thought whereas the writer in me is unaffected about what others think, what others will say…The writer in me is really free than the speaker in me.

Well starting from what to write here I am talking about writing skills, tongue and true freedom etcetera …. That’s the power of freestyle writing it can take you places in matter of few minutes.

My thought process has almost stopped in about 500 words. What about you? Have you had your freestyle experience?

Why did you help me?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 1 Mar 2010 21:54:00 +0530

Every day is new and experience of life each day teaches us/me something ( realize it when the experience is strong). Yes today I had an interesting experience one which turned a so called kind act to an eventful situation. I was walking back home after the evening mass and suddenly saw few middle aged women(who also were coming out from the same mass) pointing to some thing or someone across the street. I for a second thought that they were gossiping about someone passing by or something of that sought. I turned to the direction they were pointing and saw a man lying down on the pavement by the side of the road absolutely motionless. My immediate reaction was to rush towards Him while those women joined in to support.
We saw this well dressed middle aged man lying absolutely motionless(and it was absolute).My first set of thoughts was which hospital to take this person to, a natural response to visible stimuli.
We gently shook him up and called out to this person and in a matter of few seconds his eyes opened up for our relief... He was not dead. He stayed there on the ground for few seconds with his eyes wide open. We asked him his name etcetera and lifted him up. And his first question was this - "Who are you? Why did u lift me?" ....Hmmm interesting question....We didn't say anything much but he continued asking this question to us in Kannada and also in English. And now he was on his feet while those women seeing his life back and hearing his weird question quickly left that place, leaving me stranded with Him.

I too thought its better I leave him and go as he is safe now and headed towards my original direction.But to my surprise he started following me. He was drunk it appeared but certainly not to the brink at least not by the measure of his walking speed. He was matching me step to step in terms of speed and spoke quite a flawless English as well.Well I thought few meters down the line he will leave me alone due to my silence.But to my surprise he came beside me and starting walking with me shoulder to shoulder(still asking me the same question but in a different tone - "Why did you search me? What do you want from me ? "). I told him - " Sir I don't want anything was just trying to help you out", and thus took my mobile phone and casually locked and unlocked the keypad. He replied - "You call anyone you want , I don't care everyone knows about me".... Hmmm the way he was talking I could see people walking by us in the opposite direction giving me a weird look. I felt like just doing a quick 100 meter sprite and head home.I was almost reaching my place and he was still beside me.

Now remember those middle aged women who initially moved away from the scene, they were slowly moving ahead of us discussing to all my guess about me getting stuck with this man.I was looking for a reason to run or get rid of him. I knew that their is no point in shouting at him or doing anything with him as he was full of spirit(the haywards 5000 version I guess). So I turned out to my counter part the stronger spirit the real one - HS. Wow, HS was fast. I suddenly saw a friend of mine rushing for the next mass which was about to start. I held him by hand and started talking to him and told him - "hey listen , this man is behind my back.. ha ha ..what to do ? "......suddenly our weird man spots those women few meters ahead of us and runs towards them saying - "who are you all , why did you search me?".. I was relieved that I escaped from his trap :) . Poor women I wonder if they can blog in to share the remaining part of the incident, for all I saw were few of them running away when he called out to them from behind.

He followed the remaining non-survivors.

We all in general don't help much and when we do sometimes end up with nasty ( in this case was harmless) experiences. But these kind of folks are few in between but I am sure their are many who genuinely need our help.

Moral of the story -- Help always, don't expect anything in return. In case they follow you questioning your logic , run away as fast as possible.... ha ha!

Falling Cyclestand or the Wall ( Lent Special)

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:41:00 +0530

"Temptations are for everyone but to fall for it, its one's own choice".This statement for me almost summarizes my own struggle with temptations. Does anyone of us want to do things which we dont like, definetly not but the thing with sin preceeded by its temptation is kind of interesting. I find game of cricket as a great illustration of temptation and sin especially after today's India's win against SouthAfrica at eden gardens, Kolkatta.Wondering how? Well I would see temptation like harbhajan's singh's tossed up ball appearing to the runs hungry batsmen like a nice gift which deserves to be behind the boundary lines.So here comes temptation like a nice juicy tossed up delivery and our eyes lights up although back of our mind after our intense bowling analysis previous night we may well know that it could be the wrong one (doosra) which could deceive you after pitching on the 22 yard track yet for the moments glory we go for it and all that we see after that is a happy harbhajan dancing with his team members and a person in white stading in the background lifting his index finger.This illustration readily strikes my mind. We all dont want to sin or like any batsmen get out. One may like it or not , one may or may not be religious , one may or may not be God fearing but somehow our inherent nature feels bad when we do something wrong especially in our own sights and least to say in the sight of God definitely.
So we know the consequence we know the lure, but God has beautifully given us the choice.Only true love can give us the choice to choose not choose from the choice.Now I know why disciple John after all his experience with God just defined - God is Love.So the choice to be away from Sin is with us , temptations are almost constant and can our resistance be in the same measure.As i read somewhere today - "Temptations Correspond to Our Vulnerabilities........Good habits result from resisting these temptations".... So i feel lent is great blessing to convert our vulnerabilities to good habits through persistant resistance to temptations.
Life is a long test match with such lure's and vulnerabilities either be a falling cyclestand or the wall. Choice is with us, with me.

a day in my life without my cell

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:53:00 +0530

This might be the most controversial(although self proclaimed) post I am writing on this blog but I dont think I will create any sensation or euphoria like the fake IPL blogger since I have only few trusted visitors who more less absorb all the controversies from this blog and make it a point to dispose it out before they leave the togglefree html pages. So this gives me an absolute sense of freedom to blog my mind.I am on the big wide world visible to anyone and everyone and ready to take on anyone with my mouse yet so visibly invisible to most of them like walking on a crowded street yet not noticed by anyone.As a popular wrestler John Cena would say - "You cant see me... ". So what am I obsessed with today? Well its our very own cell mate ....The hottest addiction in town and topping the chart for quite some time... welcome to the mobile world.

My first time machine : Around a decade or so back or may be slightly more than that when I was a child(not that I dont act childish now) but when I on records was a child used to wonder if I could ever hold a mobile in my hand.Coming from a middle class family,mobile or in technical terms wireless communication or for that matter wired phone communication was a luxury more than anything else and afcouse the same must have been a great middle class dream for many,to hold a phone and pretend talking to some one as if you are the most important person in town.I have acted out many such hair raising and nation saving phone scenes.

My second time machine : In the present day & age , when people can skip a meal in the name of diet , where one can wear less or very little clothes(hardly any) in the name of fashion,where one can be on the roads in the name of travel thus throwing the basic necessities of man ( food,clothing,shelther) out of the window there comes in a new entry the most fundamental necessity for human existence these days - our very own cell mate. What a drastic change from my journey in the first time machine.The world has truly changed indeed everyone now has a mobile phone even though he/she may find it difficult to eat meals three times a day with or without one's own choice. Picture this,a garbage collector calling another garbage collector and asking him if he needs to come to the other street to collect the garbage or a beggar calling another in the next street to check if the finance collection market is up or down;Well all this show how mobile communication has caught the imagination of a nation and man kind alike;According to me the most important invention all time shearly based on how it has caught the human attention.

I feel that I am praising this invention more than its share of credit, why so? It has caught the attention of man so much that they have so quickly within a decade or so forgotten taking to people, meeting people face to face.Human communicaton has weakened and mobile communication has increased.In future if this trend continues people will easily recognize voices than faces...well a clue to the security agencies to bring out their voice recognition systems(wow another business oppurtunity in the making). Just like one has 400 plus friends on facebook or orkut but know only a countable few personally we are heading to a state where we talk to lot of people and assumingly know many yet dont know them face to face,the best communication till date.Nothing can beat knowing a person as he/she is, meeting a person,visiting a friend, not even a mobile connection with life time free calls( hmmm tempting) .....Think about it! I can keep writing about this but then that would mean I am stuck with another addiction - 'Excessive Blogging '..... saving my thoughts for future posts.

Cheers!

Being Pro-Life

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 3 Nov 2009 22:26:00 +0530

An unborn baby crying for an opportunity to live in his/her own mother’s womb, a small child craving for love from his/her separated parents, a teen deciding to commit suicide due to exam failure, an young adult sad and frustrated due to betrayal of the loved one, a husband seeking for love from his wife, a wife expecting her husband’s loyalty, an overburdened employee, a grandpa/grandma desiring his/her child’s care in old age…Yes from birth to death the opportunities to be Pro-life are plenty and countless in nature.
We all know that God created us in His own image and likeness (Gen 1:26) and this is a privilege we still enjoy today. Every human being created in the image and likeness of God deserves respect that which honor’s God’s decision to create us. The very moment we disrespect human life we disrespect God’s choice. So I feel being pro-life is not only about respecting life but also about acknowledging the fact that God’s creation is good and His decision the best.
As an young software professional I many times in the past felt that being pro-life is not my cup of tea and it is primarily meant only for people in the healthcare industry or in religious fraternity. It took many years of experiential learning to realize that being pro-life definitely is even my cup of tea.
Generally in professional world I/We meet all kinds of people from different walks of life, speaking different languages, having different attitude, of different faith and so on but sometimes we fail to see the mask worn by many, a mask of deceived joy and unassuming ‘I am fine ‘ with life attitude. The silver lining in this is that this presents us an opportunity to be Pro-Life.
Wherever one is whatever one does he/she must not miss this opportunity to be Pro-life. As the world becomes more and more sophisticated with chips that can’t be seen and communication that is endless more and more people are looking out for ways to kill loneliness. The more seamlessly integrated our technology becomes so much greater is the amount of loneliness one experiences. This loneliness in life can many times lead an human being to unhealthy life situations developing a negative attitude towards life; But as a disciple of Christ we all are called to a life of positive living. And like in the life of the good Samaritan this positive attitude in our life must not be limited to our own mental boundaries but must overflow and influence our brethren sitting in the adjacent office cube or on the bench next to us in our class, or a floor above our house.

Just like an unborn deserves all right to live on earth so does every human creation of God living on earth. In the words of St.Dominic “I am not capable of doing big things, but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God “; Even if we can bring a smile on the sad face of our brethren around us I feel we have added more than few drops of Love to the might ocean of His/His life. Every small act of love takes us in the steps of a Pro-lifer and it’s a good beginning indeed.

Little by little lets be a Pro-Lifer!

Colours from Neezhoor my home town

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:21:00 +0530

God's Own Country - I am loving it! ...... Feel free to post your comments,your suggestions inspire me to Blog On!
Wanna follow my blog?- click the side bar 'Follow My Blog' link

Chenda Mellam

Christmas - i dont need anymore gifts, i got one!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 21:33:00 +0530

Well i am glad that i am blogging after a long time.The last time i wrote , well i clearly remember was on my birthday.This time i am writing also on a birthday , a belated b'day of soughts a globally celebrated b'day called Christmas.Many kids may assume that Christmas is the B'day of one mister Santa Claus who loves giving gifts than taking , what a noble fellow;How rare to find people who like to give than take on such wonderful occasions. The world today is one which prefers the equation (amount received > amount paid).I clearly remember parties(bday,marriage..etc) where the host are busy looking at the gifts we bring and inwardly calculating the profit they acquired by inviting us to the party ,not a noble thought i must say.Well coming back to Santa - this question arised in my mind, who is He? .In my search for the truth I went through few books and the santa story was quite simple.'Myra' christians hid gifts under the pillows of their kids on the night before the feast of one holy person called St.Nicholas and this person through centuries became the saw called 'Santa Claus'.Look how time has changed our perception, now we know who Santa Claus is but not the real person behind him thats Bishop St.Nicholas .Whats up with few saints they are always given different shades , do u remember one mister St.Valentine, poor chap who is a victim of Hallmark & Archies marketing.
The bottom line is this , u may believe Santa exists(like millions of children around the world) or you may not (few like me) but the hope he brings is amazing.Hope of giving to the needy,hope of feeding the hungry,hope of clothing the naked - very much what Christ Jesus himself proclamied during his walk on earth(Jesus Said : "The least you do to a brother of yours ,you do it to me").Every one receives during Christmas, even if Mr.Santa has not given you anything in person you have received so much during this Christmas, remember the song we sang "Joy to the world the Lord has born let earth recieve thy King" .We have recieved the king of peace during this Christmas and having received the greatest gift called Peace from God we must be more than ever willing to share this across with the needy, i mean people who need peace.
Next question -who are the needy ? well almost everyone, the muslim brothers on the street who wish each other peace (asallam vallikum....vallikum asallam) , the hindu brother who prays 'asathoma sadh gamaya tamasoma jyothir gamaya ...om shanthi shanthi..shanthi...., the christian brethren who wish the peace of christ with each other, or the rest in the world who unfortunately spell peace wrongly and call it world 'Piece' .Look everyone needs it some spell it correctly others dont.
Christmas is more about giving than receiving.
Christmas is more about peace than piece.
Christmas is more about Christ than Santa.
Christmas is more about YOU than me.

99 Ballons !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 21:15:00 +0530

Just a week before my 23rd birthday here I am standing at the end of the 22nd mile of my life.A mile with well planned dividers,beautiful trees on the road side,potholes & muddy stretches.As I stand at the crossroads looking at the 23rd mile,here I am looking back and looking ahead.If you would ask me If I see a narrow 23rd mile or wider mile ,my answer would be that I dont know!I prefer a narrow road since it gives me only one option - concentrate and focus on the road ahead where a small lapse of concentration can be crucial whereas wider roads can be quite misleading,they seem to be easy but are not !Well 22nd or 23rd their will be no end on my philosophies ,they are like Navjot Singh Sidhu's laughter factory -keeps on coming,nonstop!
I am one of those kinds who hate celebrating Birthdays.Donno why I feel slightly embarrassed when people wish me on my birthday ! Cant seem to recollect from where/when I picked up this feeling of discomfort.But lately I have come to realize the importance of birthdays.I have an identity, I have a name ,I am a person and I was born on a particular day few years back.The beauty of birthday stems from the fact that it is the day of remembrance when Life was given to me as a gift by my God.Just imagining I could have been killed by my Parents on that day or even before that, as many parents across the world do ,which we call abortion .The number of Lives lost on a single day due to abortion is quite scary.I am thankful to my parents who loved me and gave me life as a symbol of their love.I am thankful to God for giving me my parents.Thank you dad &mom. I at this moment wish to thank the unseen,unknown Doctors & nurses who were instrumental in bringing me into this place called - Earth !
I would like you all to watch this video called '99 Balloons'- my tribute to mom & dad !

Armstrong.Nadia.Carl Lewis.Kapil.Sergei Bubka.Schumi.Pele.and YOU?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 21:26:00 +0530

A Truly inspiring video indeed.Gives goosebumps sometimes.What does it take to be inspiring like them ? Passion.Practice.What all ,I dont know.What I know is that inorder be like them is not impossible provided I/We do whats possible !

who is singing a lullaby for me ?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 22:05:00 +0530

Hi all,
I just donno who I am referring this to..coz I know that i have lost out on some readers due to my extreme sense of nostalgia and anesthetic panacea (In Human terms - Laziness).Being lazy is not an option for me its a vital part of me (some scientists popularly have termed it as DNA),well its in my DNA.
Having woken up from my silence(in more alien terms anesthetic indolence),I am here once again (to doze off again I guess!).Last few months have been exciting and challenging with many great experiences to share with you all.
One on the top my list would be the experience I had in Mumbai.I have not heard of any city living on it's railway system.Rail seems to be the popular mode of transport - the rich,the upper middle class,the poor, and the super consumer-the middle class all seem to come under a single platform - the local suburban train.One dream that came true was when i got an opportunity to travel in a local super fast train from kalyan to kurla(according to me dream need to be the best thing in life,it could also be the simple/humble low profile thing in life).I was expecting it to be crowded but luckily for me i managed to squeeze myself into the train(one cool advantage of being thin physically).
One other key experience I had recently was when I spent a day without my mobile phone.Well good news ,its possible .Wish we had a 'No Mobile' day coz we seem to have a day for everything else across the year , so why not a 'No Mobile' day(I hope the government is reading my blog!)I will elaborate on my 'No Mobile' day in my next post.Until then sing a lullaby for me !

why am i blogging?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 5 Apr 2008 21:58:00 +0530

Well ,I was wondering what to write in today,not that I am out of idea but things tend to get sometimes quite repetitive with me( you know the same old philosophical bashing!).Eureka...(whoever she is, I found a subject).Well it basically is a continuation of my previous post on the big word "I".
I must admit as a frequent user of the above word ,I have been forcing my friends to read my blog (literally forcing them,although some dont want to..not at least till they are settled in life ..you know !).Sometimes forcing people is painful, but common what do you expect me to do,I need some readers badly , otherwise whats my motivation.
For all the selfish reason of mine ,I love people commenting on my blog.Wish i was not so selfish on such trivial things.When I started of with my blog my motivation was just the need to write in and express myself in a new medium called blog,with time things have changed too(wish it hadn't).I have been munching on some fresh ideas to build on my writing habits ...what about a web page?Blog is best for writing in but own web page gives you all the creative designer freedom(just love working with pictures and backgrounds).
So you know what you must do after reading this blog...Yes click the RED Cross on the extreme top right....I know you will say that..what else can I can expect from you...Oh sorry I was wrong this time, a Big Thank You for the Comment !

I me myself - new recipe for disaster !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:43:00 +0530

yo i am back...wazzup!(some of my friends are surprised that i have started using the 'wazzup' word quite a lot these days ...ya i never was a 'wazzup' guy,my theory book had the impression that folks who use such words were 'wanna be' freaks ...look what I have become...after all,its not a freakish word any longer for me...changing times you see !)
In my previous blog-post I was talking about stuff that bugs me.I have mentioned one that is telling 'straight lies' and now i will munch on the second one which is word " I "itself.
"I" is the single most destructive letter/word that can destroy relationships, destroy trust,faith and what not !look at my previous post ,the number of 'I's are infinitely huge.Its always a struggle having the right balance between 'I' (my needs) and 'WE'(other's needs) at least in my case.When "I" becomes the most important thing in my life I lose out on the 'WE' fact then only my career is visible ,then only my life is visible not the ones of my dear and near one's ,then only I exist in this world among the other 'I's .People may call it ego,self centered life etcetera whatever be it ,this phobia starts from "I".The world has changed a lot we all have been brought up in this so called "I culture" .Look now is the time of 'self marketing/advertising'.Believe me if you want to succeed/gain promotion in your job,you may work hard or not is not the question ,can you market the "I" in you is the big question.How well can you market your achievements ...I have done this...I have brought this invention/innovation...I have dont that...I have helped me/them...I have worked hard...sadly self praise has become an asset these days in corporate world.I can be an extremely honest,hard working employee but if I fail to run that self advertising campaign I am deemed a loser in sense and victim of corporate lingo-ism such as 'lack of ownership' to authenticate your inability of self praise ;may be thats why we have a process called 'self appraisal' in most organizations these days,I wonder.
Success is truly redefined with the word "I" , and for worse it feels.Do you think you have a take on this ?

What Bugs Me ?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 2 Mar 2008 19:11:00 +0530

I read this message on my friends Gtalk profile - ' Frogs have it easy they can eat what bugs them'.Currently I am figuring out whether I can eat what bugs me;now you may wonder how I am related to a frog .Well ....you wont ask if you were to know my old forgotten nick name by which my best school(forever) friends preferred calling me.If I were to use a JAM terminology this is what we call TWT (Time Wasting Tactic).
Coming back to tell what bugs me, well the answer would be infinite or at least close to it.But all that bugs me have a common origin some related to the nature of an individual other to the attitude of an entire society.Top on the bugging list would be 'Lies ' . As I have written on my side pane I hate lie not liars. Telling lies somehow bugs me or rather I prefer telling a truth.Now looking into my life , have I not told lies before .Well the truth is that I have lied ample number of times before and I have my own justifications for the same but whatsoever may be the reason for my lies I still regret the fact that I lied so many times in life.I dont have a time machine currently with me to go back into my life and convert my lies into truth , so dare not to make an attempt to change them either.
Hey have you observed the number of times I have used the letter "I" in my entire paragraphs , quite large isn't it , well thats one more thing that bugs me a lot;Clarifications will follow after telling about the "lie" bug.Lie is sometimes such a lucrative phenomenon that the cost one pays to tell it is much lesser than telling an expensive truth.So can you live your life without telling lies ..need to ask Bapu(Munnabhai effect ....just watched Munnabhai part II few hours back on television).This lie bug is more painful when I know that someone has lied to me and I cant do anything about it.I have a classic exam , well it dates little back to my college days when I remember few of my friends who have prepared very well for exams hesitate to admit the same , they prefer telling that they dont know anything about the subject and they are really worried about their under preparation;Does telling the truth cause knowledge leak , still wondering.Well I too belong to the same system , wonder what I told my friends before my exams. This is one simple example that came into my mind when I thought about the Lie bug .

Next on the bug list , will be shared in the next post.kinda tired writing so much, people hardly write these days.Do they?;even excessive blogging can be dangerous so have decided to reduce my blog hit ratio.So expect some time-spaced blog posts !

Say What You Need To Say

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 1 Mar 2008 21:10:00 +0530

Inspiring short film with music by John Mayer sang by Boyce Avenue.
I loved this song and video when I first saw it.I understand that if we dont say what's in our heart we most certainly have lost that precious chance.This is what I am experiencing currently in my life , Just cant say what I need to say to my loving near & dear ones.

Hopefully this song inspires me and You !

cooperate.collaborate.concentrate.

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:58:00 +0530

Let me upfront make clear the purpose of this blog.This blog is not only to express my own feelings hidden deep within me but also to get in touch with the thoughts of You- the reader of this blog.You may have accidently come here or intentionally whatsoever be the reason , the greatest joy for any writer is when the reader responds or reacts to the His/Her writings .So as unworthy writer as I am I expect your comments and suggestions.Unleash the reader in You . Blog On - May the force be with You !

Valentines day - Where is the Love?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:01:00 +0530

Black Eyed Peas sing : " Father , Father , Father ..send some guidance from above...............
Where is the Love ? Where is the Love ? "
Another Valentine's day has just gone by.I am extremely happy at the end of the day cause my purse is still as heavy(or as light) as it was on Feb 13th.Please dont brand me as a stingy chap ( although I am to some extent ).I wish some of my other friends had a similar experience but not all have got the big picture still.
Let me clarify.Valentine's day so called feast of St.Valentine of Turin is officially removed from the Church calender on Feb14 instead celebrated as the feast of St.Cyril & St.Methodius (both happen to be blood brothers ).So whats the fuss about valentines day .Who is driving this all thing ?Well dont go too far, look onto the back of your greeting cards ;Yes these corporate giants run them , perfectly disguised in the supreme sacrifice of Love.Hallmark statistics themselves show that Valentines day happens to be the second most greeting cards sold occasion and if trends have to be believed they will reach the top position soon.
I dont question the celebration of a particular day as a symbol of Love or Relationships , rather I question the commercialization of these entire occasion and valentines day is not the only victim the same holds good for Christmas, Diwali etc...And moreover do real lovers need any particular day to express their pure,sincere love.Love, the most mis-represented word in History.If I were to measure love My Mom would Love me more than anyone else on earth so ain't she a better valentine then anyone known / unknown.Moreover a simple survey shows that young people who are sincerely and honestly in love for a certain period dont even care if valentines day come or not but its the newly entered players ( or rookies as these greeting giants would like to term them) who are really playing into the hands of this rip off.
Its a challenge to all young people to understand the meaning of real love and to stand by the same throughout the year and above all , all through their life.

Sing Along !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 15:51:00 +0530

I have travelled a lot on local buses or intercity transport buses;I dont mind long travel as long as people in the bus aren't that irritating.When I say irritating I dont expect group of people singing songs loud,jumping around in the bus etc...Few days back I was on a trip to a nearby town,a comfortable journey in an volvo expecting a good sleep & quick travel but what I experienced was a loving fellow passenger family with a great love to radio songs(only loudspeaker mode) with some snack passing activity to supplement,not a big menace if you love the same stuff !
Things got out of hand when the music started getting louder , the journey from a comfortable one turned into a noisy one ,quite literally.I almost showed signs of fustrations but thankfully another fellow passenger pressed the panic button before I could find mine.He asked that family to stop the loud music now and for all and they did that immediately.One thing I appreciate about that family is that they 'Listen' either to radio or other people's order.
Now what i intend to say is actually coming ahead.My volvo journey ended and I got down at my destination.In typical Bollywood style --> Two days Later !
Now the scene is another bus not an volvo though but an ordinary inter city express ( I wonder who named it an express coz if my tongue were the tires of the bus it would have reached few hours faster than scheduled).And ya I am on the return journey to my own place but this time I am joined by about seven of my friends .Born back benchers as we are ,we took the back seats of the bus with a couple of grey haired gentlemen to give us company.
After about 30 minutes of journey ,one of our gang members started singing aloud.I immediately got into action asking the lata mangeshkar in her to keep quiet.She infact did keep quiet but the Asha Bhosle's , Chitra's, Kishore Kumars , Bryan Adams of other friends started waking up from their sleep resulting an a mini orchestra.Now my group is in the singing mode and other fellow passengers are in the listening mode .They were feeling the same way as I felt in the to(one in volvo ) journey( I am sure).Although I hesistated from singing for some while but as they say 'When in Rome be a Roman' , so graudaully even by barren vocal chords started producing some numbers.I donno what happened to me I have never been a big fan of antakshari/group singing(atleast not in a public bus) but hey I changed for sometime.I was singing and shouting in the bus but yes I sounded the most feeble in comparison to my colleagues.Yet I was happy singing that way , a different and unique way of getting your energy out of your system.Now I didnt even care on how the fellow passengers felt, was someone in them searching His/Her panic button that remains a mystery till this day(I am sure that few of the good singers in my group saved us from being shouted upon)
Well all that I feel now after thinking about this incident is that a small incident like this or a small occasion like this is good enough to get all your ego,restrictions, reservations go out of your system.You feel like a free person when You are able to express yourself completely without hesitation, this is the real freedom of expression and is far from public nuissance if taken care of sensibily.
Such incidents are like salt in food , without them food is tasteless and excess is bad too.
I wish such joyful moments do come in more often .

I Love Kitty !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 16:27:00 +0530

Recently saw a program on history channel on the life of 'Anne Frank', a girl who is associated with the human side of the concentration camp atrocities.I was literally shocked when I saw that episode,shocked coz I never knew the degree of pain these people add to suffer under the nazi regime until I saw a glimpse of the pain & suffering all had to suffer.I believe that the life of Anne frank was nothing short of saintly.I was thinking what makes a saint and the root cause I found was the simple ability to Love God's creation,Human or otherwise.Anne showed a tremendous saintly nature ;She loved Kitty-her favourite dairy which speaks on her behalf even after her departure.
Is it anything less saintly to say after all suffering :“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” I am so thrilled to see the courage of this young girl.I imagine if I were to remain in a dark room unknown to the world without making any sound , I would have died of speechlessness ( if thr's one) and afcouse forget about me writing a dairy.I know how much I stuggle to write a article in this blog !
To build a great relationship one needs the basic ingredient of love; if one has that you can even start loving a Diary! Knowing anne thrills me ,gives me confidence that I too can be so positive about life even when I am cornered in Life with my stuggles & sufferings.
Anne said:
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.” what more can I say?
I believe that we all are called to be saints ;saints who know only to love !

state of being loved !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:34:00 +0530

I was recently thinking why do we feel sad/disappointed when someone criticizes us .Its obvious that people feel sad when people criticize for no fault of theirs but what when the criticism is genuine and necessary.I have experienced many such situations in day today life.I wonder why my memory lasts longer for such incidents.After pondering on this ( which itself is a great effort by itself) for some while I feel that it boils down to our basic nature.Our basic nature is to Love and to feel Love ,in essence 'Share Love'.But hey In love Criticism shouldnt be a problem! exactly ,in love even if someone criticizes you for a completely ridiculous reason we wouldnt take it to heart.Thats why I ask to myself why I feel sad on someone expressing their opinion...to be a sad for a moment is fine(response to external stimulus) but to hold that sadness in heart for a long time is one way or other pointing to my lack of complete love to that person.
I want to be happy always ,in all circumstances, all walks of life.I want to love Unconditionally.If people say that God loves you unconditionally then by nature God must not be disappointed with you for all your mistakes and criticisms you commit against Him & Yourself/Others. What a great relief to know that!
God's mercy is so great that he forgives us immediately.He loves you unconditionally.If you are created in Gods image and likeness then the chances of we too loving others more unconditionally is more practical.To hate is not our nature.To be sad is not Our nature.To criticize is not our nature.Our Nature is the same as that of God .To Just Love.
Love the most mis-represented word in history.As someone once rightly said:"I get sacred to tell an young boy "I love you",who ones what he gets out it".
I always wanted people to know me, appreciate my effort, sit with me and talk, talk about me.......all many more .....all indicate to one thing 'feelin of being loved', so I guess everyone in the world wants to be loved even the deadliest terrorist looks for the same !
So i guess even God wants to be loved by His people.
I feel like singing the song : " Love is the sweetest thing, that makes every broken heart sing,....."

"simply stupid"

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:31:00 +0530

"Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it(Late JPII)"
I was shocked to find this thought on wikipedia,coz i feel it justifies some of my words & actions.I must admit that I have been quite stupid in tha past few months. (some say from the time they know me).Stupidity is an inborn talent they say thats why i guess pope told that it was a 'Gift of GOD'.
Sometimes i feel being stupid is not that bad as one assumes it to be atleast I feel so, coz i am one.You may ask how was I stupid , and believe me its very difficult for me to tell not coz i dont have many but coz I am not able to determine which one to tell among the infinte one's. Classifying stupidity into classes such as severe,normal & mild is a task that i enjoy doing coz all belong only to the second category 'normal';I mean every stupid act is very much part of my normal life ;Now you can guess what it means to be normal.
For instance , I wonder why I get angry with people when I have a lot of respect to that particular person.I am an expressionist by birth which means that you can infer a lot of things from my face than my speech, thats why i guess people(rather my best pals)call me 'Audio-Visual'.So as I was saying I show a different face than what I actually think.Thats why I show angry face when I am not.Sounds stupid-thats what I meant all along.Now you feel how I feel, being stupid(reading all this).

change

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:43:00 +0530

Have you heard this before,

"Without change there is no present"

"Without present there is no past"
"Without past there is no future"
"Without future there is no life"

"so for life , CHANGE "

keeping in line with this idea.I have decided to change.Hey hold on ..dont be so glad hearing it ( I know people are trying to change me .Hold on).I meant I am going to change the way this blog is functioning.

Boys zone ! what say ?

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 13:44:00 +0530

Q. Exactly how far is too far to go with a girl? Be specific.

A. I will give some specifics, but before I do, we should lay down a foundation. If we are asking how close to sin we can get girls, we are asking the wrong question. We need a change of heart. We need to start asking, "How close to God can I get her? How far can I go to lead this girl to holiness and guard her innocence?" Until we have this transformation of our heart and will, it will be difficult to determine where to set the physical boundaries in a relationship. Also, whenever we operate with the "how far is too far" mentality, where do we usually end up? More often than not, we end up going right up to that boundary, and inching it forward each time we visit it.We need to remind ourselves that purity is not simply a matter of staying on one side of a line that we have drawn. It is a battle for our hearts and minds as well as our bodies. Just because a guy has not crossed a line, it does not mean that he is pure. It may mean that he has never had the opportunity to cross it.Anyway, here are a few guidelines for how you can know how far is too far. Whenever you are considering doing something with a girl, ask yourself if you would do that if God were in the room. In our hearts, we all know what is pleasing to God. Also, consider how you would want a guy to treat your future daughter or future bride and treat women accordingly. Let this sink in. Often, we get so involved in intense relationships that it is hard to sit back and really look into our hearts.Some people assume, "As long as I'm being a virgin, I'm being good." They compare themselves with others who are sleeping around on a regular basis, and as long as they see the world from that perspective, they feel like they're right on track. Meanwhile, they give away bits of themselves in passing relationships, all under the pretense that their friends are worse.Do yourself a favor: Do not get technical about drawing a line at virginity and saying that all else goes. If you can't decide if a particular action is "too far," imagine what the look on your future bride's or groom's face would be if you ever told her or him that you shared that act with another person. Make decisions now that would bless the heart of your future spouse, not wound it. (And do not be quick to discuss the specifics of your prior experience with potential spouses; a lot of that information could do far more harm than good.)So where does the line go? For starters, know that the line begins in your mind. As soon as you begin to lust after a girl, stop. In regards to physical lines, an easy guideline to remember is, "Don't touch what you don't got." Also, I recommend no passionate kissing, kissing below the chin, or lying down together. That may seem extreme to some, but the more you become sensual and physical in a relationship, the more the relationship begins to revolve around that.I will admit that this sounds a lot like "no," "no," "no," and "no," but think of it like this. There is a highway in California that runs up the coast. It is a gorgeous ride that takes you along the side of a sheer cliff that drops hundreds of feet to the ocean. Imagine that you were cruising along in your priceless sports car, and the passenger with you remarked, "Man, there's another one of those stupid guardrails. And look, another sign saying there's a sharp turn ahead. I hate how the California highway system inhibits your freedom, and tells you what to do." Odds are, you wouldn't let the guy drive your car.When we hear different moral laws about our sexuality, they are there for the same reason that guardrails and signposts mark a person's drive along the Coast Highway. If you want to express your freedom as you drive off the cliff, you're free to do so. But the purity of your soul is worth much more than a car. The Church's moral laws are there for our sake, so that we don't fall for counterfeit versions of love.If you have tried everything else for years, try purity. Imagine you were dating a beautiful young woman who you hoped to marry, and she had never kissed anyone because she wanted only her husband to know her love. What man would not be flattered by her integrity and purity? What man would send her away to go a little further with the other guys? If we would be so honored by her, why wouldn't we want to honor our future brides in the same way?

Source: http://www.chastity.com/

our story !

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Mon, 2 Jul 2007 23:56:00 +0530

anyway

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Fri, 8 Jun 2007 22:31:00 +0530

People are often unreasonable ,illogical and self-centered Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish , ulterior motives ;Be kind anyway.

If you are succesful , you will win some false friends and true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank , they may cheat you;

Be forthright anyway.

What you spent years building , they may destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness ,they may be jealous and scorn;

Be joyous anyway.

The good you do today , they often will forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it will never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis , it is between you and God;

It is never between you and them.

ANYWAY.

dream on

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:46:00 +0530

A 50 year-old lady had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While the doctors were operating on her, God appeared to her in a dream. She asked God if she was going to die. God said, "No you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." When she heard this, she decided to stay in hospital and asked the doctor to make her look younger. She even changed her hair colour. She then left the hospital, but while crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by a car. Arriving in front of God, she asked, "I thought you said I had another 43 years! How come I died so soon?

God replied,"I didn't recognize you."

my creation song

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 5 Apr 2007 21:32:00 +0530

There is sun in the day
Moon in the night,
Lily in the water
and water in the sky !!

There is river in the valley,
Mountain by the stream.
Everything you made, is nothing but your grace,
nothing but your grace is everything I see, Everything I see, is everything you made.

I feel the air I breathe
I feel the water flow,
I feel your love for me
Coz you died on the tree for me.

The tune of my song is set with the chord
My duty is just to praise the lord …

Halleluiahhhhhh..

Chord: g-c-d (repeat –fast)

what's the question ??

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 3 Apr 2007 00:21:00 +0530

Q. WHY DOES GOD GIVE US ALL THOSE PAINS IN LIFE ?WHY CANT WE BE WITHOUT PROBLEMS ALL THE TIME, AND STILL LOVE GOD ??

A. I would prefer illustrating the answer with a real life incident .Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Whydoes GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over -- 5 crore children startplaying tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professionaltennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reachWimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup Inever asked GOD "Why me?". And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"

Happiness keeps u Sweet, Trials keep u Strong, Sorrow keeps u Human,Failure Keeps u Humble, Success keeps u Glowing, But only God Keeps u Going.....