Eucharist 6000 Miles Away

2020 will go down in the history as a defining year for mankind. After a gap of hundred years, human beings are forced to stay totally indoors with the fear of being annihilated by a microorganism, the likes of which the world has rarely seen from the time of inception. A similar incident was cited in 1920s in the form of Spanish Flu.

The day when I turned 39, I started working from home. Five months later, as I write this, sitting in Dubai, the practice still continues with the exception that I’ve started going to office once a week since the last couple of weeks.  

Covid-19 or Corona virus has redefined literally everything in our lives. Starting from grocery shopping to getting a car registration renewed is all done online. E-learning, from being an exceptional form of learning has become a norm for offices and more importantly schools. Business folks who vehemently insisted on the absolute necessity for face-to-face meetings happily conduct sessions online. The world has locked down itself within the perimeter of an electronic screen.

Spiritual wellbeing was equally impacted. Along with everything else, Churches and other places of worship were all shut down. Being a part of the Holy Mass and receiving Eucharist was no longer possible. The Holy Week also was not spared as it came in between the lockdown period. Churches across the world made arrangements for live streaming of Holy events so that people could be a part of it. We started following the routine of taking part in the Holy Mass on TV, something that was never practiced in our lives before. Even with all these, something was still missing.

While we tried to be a part of the Holy Mass on TV from various churches, we truly felt a gap in experiencing Christ. That’s when it happened. One day we chanced upon the Daily TV Mass from the historic Loretto Abbey Chapel in Toronto, Canada. Father Michael J Coutts celebrated the Holy Mass that day. It was magical! He took us to experience the divine feeling of being one with God in that short period of time we were in front of the TV. We didn’t even realize that we were not in a Church. Through his beautiful homily and the prayers that directly touched our hearts along with the lovely songs from the Church choir team, we truly celebrated the Holy Mass as though we were doing it right in the presence of Christ our Lord himself!

It is indeed a blessing to share the experience of having someone holding your hands while standing at an Altar more than 6000 Miles away and still elevate you to be one with the Spirit of the Lord. This we believe is indeed a God sent gift and we all look forward to the days when we could join Fr Michael and share the happiness of Eucharist with the Miles no longer separating us!

We also have a dream that one day when this crazy pandemic ends we would love to visit the chapel and share the bliss we experienced with Fr Michael himself and even celebrate a Holy Mass along with him engulfed in the holiness omnipresent in that historic chapel.

No Vs Know

We recently went on a vacation to a beach destination. The place we stayed was a lovely house situated right on top of a steep hill overlooking the lovely blue-green waters of Indian Ocean. After getting refreshed, we got out to explore the nearby places. Mia, our little one, was all excited that the steep slope down the hill was something she didn’t pay much attention to. She rushed to the slope and before we could even stop her, had a painful fall. It took a while for us to pacify her. But the fighter spirit in her didn’t let the fall drench the spirit of adventure and the trip went on to become a huge hit!

A few days later, we were back home from vacation and were walking to the parking lot to take the car out. There was a slope that led to the parking lot and Mia was running towards the car. Quite naturally I stopped her by saying, “Don’t you remember what happened during the trip? You’ll fall again”. She looked into my eyes and made a statement that literally left me with a profound thought. She said, “But Appa, I now know how to walk carefully on a slope.”

These are the times when your so-called wise brain gets a shock treatment from a tiny brain as little as a four year old one. It really sends an electrifying pulse to your brain that you have no choice but to sit and think about it. How many times have we stopped a dear one from doing something for the fear of them getting hurt? How many times have these resulted in them losing an opportunity to learn and overcome a fear factor? In fact our action of stopping someone from doing something due to our fear is in fact instilling fear in them as well. If they yield to our request, it is highly likely that they’ll never do that ever in their life, especially if this happens in their childhood.

I’m not generalising. I know quite a few people who have dared their loved ones to go beyond the comfort zones and get themselves experience what’s beyond usual. But if you are someone who set a limit to our dear ones, knowingly but at times unknowingly, we need to be aware that this results in them not getting moulded to overcome the challenges in life.

I remember a cousin brother of mine who was crazy about Navy that he got himself enrolled in a defence academy. One of the initial drills they had was being taken to the open sea on a naval ship. As soon as the ship reached the outer sea, they were asked to jump into the wild waters. Those who showed reluctance were mercilessly thrown into the sea and were left to experience how life will be for a Navy personnel.

While we do not necessarily have to be ruthless as the Navy, the question from my little one was a jolt for me to think differently. I realized the need to unlearn a few things I’ve been following. I really need to give my loved ones the space to learn and succeed than to stop them from doing something and be a perennial failure from not attempting the task.

The attitude becomes so positive when we let people ‘know’ something than saying ‘no’ to them which by nature is quite negative. Having said that, we need to make sure that we don’t cloud our common sense and let our loved ones go into dangers that are evident. The point is to realize the fact that we have a responsibility to make our dear ones experience certain aspects of life and not to deny them an opportunity to make their personalities better.

We all are what we are today, due to someone taking such decisions way back in the past. It could be our parents, teachers, siblings or friends who influenced us one way or other to either stop doing something or jump into and get the experience yourself.

Hence on this Valentines month, here is a warm wish to each one of us to extend our love to dear ones to let them experience what they rightfully should all the while keeping an eye on the boundary of risk by applying our common sense. 

The Purple Carrot

Mia, my four year old, called it a day and closed her colouring book. She was quite fond of the book and experienced the bliss of giving life to the black and white images by doing her magic with the bunch of colour pencils she has. The book she was colouring, had a lot of images with jungle theme including a few rabbits and carrots.

Keeping aside the book, she jumped on to the bed and snuggled under the blanket and hugged me tightly. Then came the default demand for a bed time story. Since she was colouring a few rabbits and carrots earlier, I decided to tell her a story of a rabbit searching for carrots through a jungle. Even before the story got over she slipped into a sweet dream where she found herself following a cute little rabbit in a jungle that was known for its bright orange carrots!

Eddie, just like any other rabbit loved carrots. He was out on a stroll searching for the sweetest of the carrots the jungle could offer. He searched and searched the various locations where he could possibly find carrots. Finally Eddie came across a large area where he saw countless carrot plants. He jumped up and down with joy!

Mia followed Eddie as he dashed across the garden of carrots. As soon as he found a plant that seems to carry ripe carrots he dug up the earth and promptly pulled out the carrot bunch from the soil. He gave out another cry! But this time it wasn’t a cry of joy. He cried in surprise to see a bunch of carrots which was purple in colour!

Mia saw the colour of carrots and was totally taken aback. She was equally confused as Eddie about the purple colour carrots. Carrots ought to be orange in colour and why are these purple?! That’s when it dawned on her. 

A while ago, before she closed her colouring book, the last picture she was colouring was a bunch of carrots. She looked for the bright orange colour pencil. Since she couldn’t find it, she made an announcement, “Dad, I can’t find my orange pencil and so I am going to colour the carrots purple!” I remember asking her to find the orange colour pencil since carrots cannot be purple. She didn’t bother to find the orange colour pencil, instead coloured the carrots purple as she said.

“Goodness! What did I do?” thought Mia. “I turned all the carrots in the world purple!” She had a very disturbed sleep and woke up the next day with a heavy heart. I had never seen her with so less energy levels in the morning. I asked her what was wrong. She said nothing except that she badly needs an orange colour pencil. She pestered me so much that I had to find the orange colour pencil for her and only then she let me head to my office.

As I was starting from home, she gave me a hurried kiss and saw her heading to the colouring book. Since I was getting late I didn’t ask any further.

It was evening soon and I returned home. I had a grocery bag in my hand. I placed the bag on the kitchen table and started taking out the groceries. As soon as I placed the carrots on the table I heard a gasp followed by a cry of joy behind me!

Mia was standing right behind with a beaming smile holding her colouring book and looking at the carrots on the table. She held the page open where I saw a bunch of bright orange coloured carrots!

Can you cry in the office?

I recently attended a farewell party of a colleague. To say it was quite an emotional event will be an understatement. Words of gratitude flowed, but what flowed even more were tears. A few women whom I’ve appreciated for their boldness and super strong personalities were crying like babies during the farewell. I could see empathy on a few faces that stood around whereas very few even scorned at them. Hugs and kisses were galore as tissue boxes were replaced one after the other. Emotions were doing a crazy roller coaster ride during the day.

A few people took efforts to pacify those who couldn’t stop their tears. But there were a couple of them who even went to the extent of asking those who cry to hold their tears and be brave. A bunch of questions came to my mind. Is it ok to cry in office? Are tears a sign of weakness? Do you really need to be stone faced when exposed to a barrage of emotions? If you are close to your colleague, is it ok to shed a few tears when he or she says goodbye to you as they move on in their career?

The answer is quite simple. Look at ourselves. Office or otherwise we are human beings made of flesh and blood. We have an extremely complicated mind that is subject to a wide variety of emotions, day in and day out. As part of a corporate culture, many a times we define a boundary for expressing our emotions while in office or among the colleagues. This leads to a situation for most of us where we contain our emotions deep down in our mind and do not let it go.

Blessed are those who could open up and expose themselves in front of their colleagues irrespective of the dictated norms of the corporate life. Tears in this case, I’ll say, are an absolute sign of strength, since you’ve been strong enough not to care about the eyes that scan you for your social behaviour in an office.

For those who choose not to cry, it isn’t a bad thing either. It could be your personality that do not let you go off your emotions when they truly start to build up in you. Where it goes wrong is when you are indeed overwhelmed with emotions and yet you build a dam in your mind to stop those tears from falling with a pseudo belief in the social norms.

Blessed are those who could let go off the rules that tie you down with social taboos and instead hug a colleague who is bidding adieu about whom you genuinely care. Being strong does not mean being mean. You could still be strong or stronger by expressing your genuine emotions whether you are with your family or with your colleagues.

Lend your ears to the human being within you and tell yourself that it is absolutely ok to cry, even if it is in office!

From Hail to Holy

Imagine yourself as a young girl from a small family in your neighbourhood who recently got engaged. All of a sudden, one day you are elevated to the highest pedestal a human can ever reach. This is the story of a young girl named Mary who was transformed from a least known mortal to the one who is empowered with the ability to salvage souls of lesser mortals!

The prayer Hail Mary starts with a salutation to a humble soul where the Archangel congratulates Mary for being the chosen one. The angel then appreciates her for the good life she led till then, knowing all the while that she was pre-destined by the Father to be the mother of His Son in Holy Spirit. A transformation is initiated next with the statement ‘Lord is with you’. It is quite natural for anyone, especially an unmarried woman who got recently engaged, to get a shock of her life to hear the kind of message that followed. Hence it was quite important to prepare her for the news by telling her that you are not alone. You are one with Lord now, literally and figuratively!

Millions of women were born before her. Many lived around her, far and near. Many more will be born after her. But she is the blessed one and that is what set her apart. Next came the biggest revelation in the history of mankind. A virgin who had never known a man gets told that she is carrying. From that moment onwards she realized that she is no longer just another girl. She is a mother! A mom who was lucky to carry God Himself in her womb and know the name of her baby exactly at the time the tiny life started growing in her.

The transformation is now complete. The young girl who was once hailed for her good life is now the holiest among the holy ones!

The title ‘Mother of God’ does not need any further detailing. The startled youngster in her previous life is now bestowed with tremendous powers to pray for those beings among whom she once shared her living moments. She, the one who was born without sin, is given the right to pray for all of us, who were born into and lives in a life surrounded with sins. This power of hers if we invoke daily, works wonders as it is a shield that protects us from the sins that are omnipresent. It is all the more important that we invoke this power of hers everyday as it provides the much needed support to our soul at the exact moment it departs from our body, the time of which is probably the greatest mystery for humans!

Mary is called by the Supreme Power to be the mother of Jesus. But her greater calling is being the mother of the whole universe where she is entrusted with a task of our redemption for generations that went by and many more that are yet to come.

This wonderful invocation perhaps is the shortest prayer that bridges BC with AD. The prayer transcends the boundary before Jesus was born and after he was crucified and died. Hence the bridge between these history dividing events.

Let us walk the path from hail to holy along with our mother.

God bless!

God’s Nightmare!

The noise of the crowd was so deafening that it even startled him in his mother’s womb where he was getting ready for an afternoon nap. He had sensed something wrong from the day he started taking shape in her. He could feel his mom quite tensed from day one, but couldn’t figure out why. He listened to the noise, everyone in the crowd was jeering at her. His mom was made to sit in the middle of a ground where convicts were brought in for punishment. A pile of rocks awaited their chance to rewrite her destiny.

A beautiful young woman she was and from a simple family in the neighbourhood. Belonging to a society where marital norms were strictly followed, getting pregnant before being married was considered an unpardonable offense, the price of which you pay with your life. The verdict for this was known to all. Stoned to death!

He forgot about his siesta and straightened up in the womb. He wanted to reach out and kiss his mother on her forehead and pacify her. While the punishment was imminent, a sweet smile crossed his face. He was seeing a scene from future. There was another woman this time, who incidentally shared the name with his mom, awaiting a similar sentence. He saw himself stooped down and writing in the dust with his finger while a crowd demanded an answer from him. He stood up and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” The accusers hearing this, slipped away one by one until only he and the woman were left.

Today, the scene was different. No one heard him. The crowd was getting violent with every minute passing. People started to pick the stones to hurl at the woman who brought shame to the community. Another minute went by and the first stone shot through the air aimed right at the young woman’s head. He could feel her mother all shaken up and resigned to her destiny. He felt himself being cringed inside the womb, where a baby is supposed to be safe from all danger.

The stone almost hit her right at the forehead. That’s when it happened! A man with powerful arms, typical of a carpenter, blocked her from the deadly stones with a cloak that carried the image of Gabriel, the archangel. He looked up from the womb and was so happy to see the loving face of the man who was chosen to save him not just once, but twice, while he was among the mortals. He screamed with happiness, “Dad”!

He woke up from his nightmare to see the smiling face of Joseph and Mary sitting right next to his bed. He reached out and hugged his dad and mom just the way he hugged them earlier in the evening at the Church where they thought they missed him!

Pappam or Papam?

One of the most recent debates that is taking rounds in the social media during March 2018 is attributed to a cover photo on a Malayalam magazine. Published from Kerala, the southernmost state in India, portrays a mother who is feeding her baby and has a tagline that says “Moms to Kerala: Don’t stare, we need to breastfeed”.

The girl in the picture is in fact a model who posed with the baby of a mother who was also present during the photoshoot. The big question that is trending now is, ‘Was she / magazine right in doing this’? There are quite a few supporters as well as critics for the assignment taken up by the young model.

The more I think about this debate, two words in Malayalam come to my mind. First one is ‘Pappam’ a term which babies use to denote the most natural feeding bottle available in the world. Second one is ‘Papam’ which means ‘sin’.

It is quite a strange situation that a simple organ in human body is looked at with such a wide spectrum of meanings. What is stranger is the fact that, sheer perception of human beings is what gives one the most innocent and an almost divine aspect whereas the other makes it an object that precipitates a state of a sin being committed that the society almost considers it a taboo!

A baby says ‘Pappam’ and look forward to the mother for quenching her hunger. The act by which the mother and baby becomes one again, is probably the only time after the umbilical cord gets severed. It is an experience something short of being one with God where you take part in sustenance of life on Earth!

The other side of debate borders around topics of sexuality and societal norms that demands women to cover their chest while feeding or otherwise. It is quite interesting to observe that not long ago, when caste system prevailed, there was a revolt in the state of Kerala among the lower castes fighting for their right to cover their chest!

Back to the big question, what is right? I doubt if we’ll ever get a single answer. What is the right thing to do when the same object is perceived by some as a symbol of selfless love and others as eternal icon of lust?

We’ve both sets of people around us and hence I think it is wise to leave it to the prudence of mothers to apply their judgement on what to do when they’ve to feed their little ones. You’ve a million pairs of eyes staring at your chest, of which some are of babies whereas others definitely not; both with an intention to satisfy hunger, with totally different perspectives!

Love your baby & stay safe!

The Other Side of Faith

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - Aug 2016

During a recent retreat I attended, one of the brothers shared an experience. One evening his 2 year old son developed a fever. They tried to give some medicines but the fever was not subsiding. He tried to call up one of his doctor friends, usually always available on call, but that day he never answered the phone. He then tried contacting a nearby hospital and for some strange reason even after multiple attempts the hospital staff also didn’t answer.

He got really worried about the situation and that’s when he suddenly felt someone talking to him from within. He very clearly heard a question being asked to him. “You’ve tried giving medicines, called the doctor twice and called the hospital multiple times. How many times did you call Me?” That’s when the brother realized that despite being a man of faith, God became the last resort for him in the event of an emergency instead of being the first one to have called for help. He apologized and the rest is history!

How many of you could really relate to this story? It is an interesting observation that I saw him making that day about many of us. Most of us, especially facing adverse situations in life, often tend to resolve the problem ourselves initially in many ways. At last when everything else fails, we turn to our good God for help. Our faith most often becomes the last thing to be taken out and applied in our lives. Ideally it should’ve been the very first weapon we should’ve wielded to fight against the negative forces that cast its shadows in our lives.

Faith plays a crucial role in every form of life, married or otherwise. The complexities increase in your life especially when you share your life with someone and later when you are blessed with children as well. This makes it all the more important to be aware of the fact that it is not just enough to practice your faith, but to live it. Going to a church on a weekly basis or remembering God during bad times are merely practicing your faith. It isn’t that easy to bring in the concept of living the faith in our lives though that’s what we are required to attempt.

One of the easiest things to do in life is to take people or things for granted. Look around and observe how many blessings that we’ve in our lives that we never bothered to be grateful for. Right from our childhood; think about all the good things that happened in your life. Starting from loving parents and siblings; getting good education, landing up in a good job, being blessed with a wonderful partner and kids, leading a healthy life and many more positive aspects in your life. How many of them are we really thankful to God for. We take many of them for granted as if we were supposed to get it!

There are many good things that happened to you in the past and there are many happening now and many more are bound to happen in future. They are all there, not because you worked for it, but because you are blessed to receive it. This blessing requires you to be constantly thankful and the only way to do that is to live in faith. It is quite easy to be complacent and ignore the source of these blessings. It is easier to question your faith especially when you go through bad times. But that’s when you need to remind yourself about the other side of your faith. It is the side where you go across your current boundary of faith and experience the love of your Creator.

Your bad times are similar to those days when you have a fight with your partner. The day when you hug each other and look in the eyes of your sweetheart and say a sorry, you feel the rush of happiness back in your life. The feeling is similar when you get back to your Creator and try to be one with Him in your faith. You won’t even realize how quickly bad times give way for good ones!

May you be blessed to experience the other side of faith and live in the love and peace of our good God! 

I had a dream…

Three decades back when I was a little kid, someone presented me with a tiny working model of an aircraft. Guess that sowed the seeds of this beautiful dream I’ve been carrying with me. The fascination for these flying wonders have been deeply embedded that I distinctly remember running out to my backyard every time to catch a glimpse of an aircraft that flew tens and thousands of miles above our small town.

Years went by and my career started with Mindtree as a Business Analyst with Staff Operations. The Emirates Group was a customer for Mindtree at that time. Even when I allocated people to Emirates account I’ve always wondered how interesting will it be to associate with that brand. It remained a dream.

Couple of years later I was fortunate to be part of the Travel & Transportation Industry Group in Mindtree. Airline domain became my area of interest. While I worked closely with the big names in the industry, Emirates still eluded me. Three more years later, it was time to move on from Mindtree. The big break came with Computer Sciences Corporation offering a dream job at Emirates, though as a consultant. It was half a dream come true!

With every passing day, I was inching closer to my dream or so I thought. There was tremendous learning where it was no longer a distant education; instead I was part of a larger plot that made this mammoth organization work like a-well-oiled machinery. Something was still missing. Being a consultant I felt like an adopted child even when you live in the same house. The connection was still missing though you could say a bond was getting formed.

A year went by and an opportunity presented itself to be a part of the Emirates family. Try I did, but destiny had other plans. Guess the fruit was not ripe yet to be plucked. My wait wasn’t over yet. Couple of more calendars got replaced. Renewed hopes were in the air. Another opportunity showed up, but it almost died as soon as it was born. Organizational level changes that were happening were to be blamed. My patience levels were now getting tested. Yet another possible opening came but it got shot down due to lack of budgets and hence no promises were made. I was fast losing it and almost decided to pack my bag of dreams.

That’s when it struck! Out of the blue, the long awaited invitation arrived, to be part of the family which I’ve been so longing to be with. I looked up and thanked Almighty. An Emirates flight with the UAE flag as the livery flew past reminding me that dreams do come true!

Today, the second day of August 2015, I’m officially part of The Emirates Group.

I live my dream. 

Tears of a Father

"Why do you tie my hands?" The son smiled at his dad's question. His dad exactly knew why he was doing this. Nevertheless it is quite characteristic of him to demand an answer. He replied, "Dad, I really need to do this. You are pretty infamous for your temper. Can't even imagine your reaction when you get see how they'll treat me. Not that you don't know already".

Father and son, both looked at each other. There was a deep sense of empathy in those pairs of eyes. Dad spoke again. The voice was filled with pain this time. "Son, do you really want to do this? How do I let you go through this agony knowing what's in store for you?" The question was greeted with the same disarming smile again. The reply he received was quite simple, "I asked for this dad. This is the only way to save them; their last chance!"

Memories flashed back to a day when they both met at the corridors of their home. There were a few others around as well. His dad seemed to be quite disturbed. The brows were creased. That wasn't a good sign at all. The last time anyone saw that was when he was deciding the destiny of Sodom and Gomorrah. The son got worried sensing his dad's mood. He asked his dad what's running in his mind and if there is anything which he could do to help.  

Dad said, "I've been giving these people enough warnings. I once flooded them all. Thought Noah's sons will learn from it, but their memory was short lived. Sodom and Gomorrah was next. Seems like no fire or brimstone will ever change anything. I'd sent some of my best men to these wretched set of people giving them enough time to repent. Nothing seems to have worked. I think I'm running out of options. If I could provide them, I can take back them as well, once and for all!"

Those words sent a shrill down the spine of those who were listening. The son was quick to speak, "Dad, isn't that quite harsh a decision? Why don't you give me an opportunity to set this straight this time? Probably they'll listen to a different voice. I've some new thoughts as well." He saw a smirk breaking on his dad's face. Words escaped his mouth, "Son, you don't even know these lot. They're worse than some of the lesser developed animals! You've no clue what you'll have to face there."

"That's a challenge worth taking!" Son replied.

Everyone looked eagerly at the father awaiting a response from him. He seemed to have lost himself in a deep thought. No one could even remotely conceive the intensity of the pain he was going through at the moment. He was fighting a train of thoughts. "I knew this is how it was written. I wrote this myself not knowing why I did it this way. My loving son, he has come of age. He is destined to take this up knowing the perils that await him ahead. How do I not let him take it? He knows this and so do I. The only way out is to go ahead as written."

The father finally spoke, "So be it!"

The time has now come. The garden of Gethsemane was filled with echoes of wailing. The trusted ones have turned traitors. Unfair trials, flesh piercing lashes, a crown of thorn and every possible torture followed which is humanly impossible to comprehend. The son was finally crucified on a heavy cross which he carried more than half an kilometer to the destined place known as 'place of skull', Golgotha!

He knew this was the only way of redemption for the desolate souls. The pain, the torture, the suffering, the blood and finally his life! He was reclaiming an entire humanity with these. But he knew very well that his dad was watching the whole ordeal, all the while with his hands tied. He knew his father's fury and hence there was one final thing to do before he breathed his last. He looked up and their eyes met again. He pleaded to his dad, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing".

He saw his dad's face for one last time. Those eyes were filled.

Tears of helplessness rolled down the cheeks of the Supreme Being! 

Season to Reason

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial May 2014

 

God! Why does this happen to us?! What have we done wrong to be treated like this?! Of all the people around, why is that it is only us who suffer?!

 

Sounds familiar? Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Before trying to find an answer for this, let me take you to the life of Mr.& Mrs. Alex. Just like you see in most of the middle class families with an employed couple, they lived their life from a fixed source of income. Family budgets were usually planned with an amount set aside as savings for future. Any unanticipated expense directly impacted their budget. They lived their life thus, strongly backed by their belief in God with regular visits to church and following the advices from the leaders thereof. 

Life was thus going on when something quite unpleasant happened which derailed a lot of plans Alex and wife had. The apartment in the metro city they stayed increased the rents exponentially. The rental increase was beyond their capability and they had no other option but to find a less expensive accommodation. The couple had recently become parents of a lovely baby girl and the little one had not even turned one. They were quite new to the city as well and a move will definitely burn a hole on their future plans. On top of all the expenses related to shifting,matters were more difficult with the baby being quite small.

Needless to say both Alex and wife were totally disappointed to have something like this happening to them. To them it was a moment when their caring Lord seems to have deserted them. Why on earth otherwise will this have to happen when they recently shifted to this city and had a baby as well? Why is God turning His eyes from them? They became quite rebellious in their thoughts and with each passing day the gap widened between the Creator and them.

Things became even worse with the new apartment offering lesser facilities. Everything appeared to be going wrong with this shift. They longed for their previous apartment where life was much better. Complaints rained down to create a tsunami of negative thoughts in their minds. Life took a very bad U turn with visits to church literally non-existent and all they did was to constantly complain about this unwelcome change in the life.

A few months went by; Alex and his wife became indifferent to their new life. It started raining one day and the days that followed saw one of the most torrential rains the city ever had in its history. One of these days, Alex woke up and fetched the newspaper as usual. He was taking a look at the front page news when his wife got him a cup of tea. She saw his face turning pale and watched with horror as his expression turned to the most dreadful one she had ever seen in their life. He showed her the paper and her eyes were greeted by the terrifying news about their old apartment.Standing like a haunted house, one third of the building was missing with the heavy rains that lashed the city taking down with it a part of the building including the side of the apartment where they stayed. The further details in the news said thirty people were killed including two babies; both were less than a year old!

Many times we feel things are going wrong in our lives. What we forget is the bigger truth that there is someone up there who has a better view on your lives. He knows what is best for you! Next time when you are faced with a difficult situation remember this famous quote, “Someday everything will all make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason”! Learn to season yourself to that thinking. God bless you!

A Mother’s Plight

He was lying down on his mom’s lap after a sumptuous lunch. It was one of those rare days off late when he got to spend some time with her. Last few days have been quite busy when he was away with a bunch of his friends visiting the suburbs of the holy city. He knew his mom will be annoyed for totally ignoring her. Though his other siblings were around he knew he had a special place in her heart. After all she suffered quite a lot while she was pregnant with him and even afterwards.

 

Her fragile long fingers found in roads into his dense locks of hair. He loved it when she pampered him with this beautiful experience of motherly affection. She could see him absorbed in bliss which reflected in his lovely face. Memories came back to her about the struggle she and her husband had to go through on the day when he was born. They had to manage with whatever facilities that were available. The long walk, the limited resources, a few helping hands from the local folks, everything seems to have happened long back. On hindsight everything was worth it.

While her thoughts drifted away she could see in his eyes that something had been bothering him. It was quite natural for her to enquire. His reply was not a total surprise for her though it stirred some unpleasant thoughts in her mind. “How long mom, do I get to experience this love of yours? You always wanted me to live for others. I never got to spend enough time with you at least after I grew up. I lived for them, the people. You always had this argument that they needed me more and that’s what I did. But I guess it is time.”

 

She knew what was coming next and stopped him. The words of the old man she met at the church came back to her. After her meeting with him there was hardly a night without that terrible dream. She saw her bleeding heart; the same sword was again cutting through her. She could handle this no longer.

 

Experience told her not to ask but the emotion of being a mom overruled that. She couldn’t resist but ask him. “Isn’t there anything you could do?” He looked up at her and gave that smile which had always melted her heart. She knew that smile and its meaning. He told her, “You know very well than me. Didn’t Gabriel tell you all this long back? So why this question now?”

 

She knew it and a silence engulfed them.

When God Delegates

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - Feb 2014

Do you remember the kind of needs you had during your school days? Did you ever want something very badly but was a bit hesitant to ask your father to buy that for you? The most logical step you would’ve taken at that time is to approach your mother with the request. In some cases it would’ve been one of your elder siblings instead.

 

You would’ve seen the result of such an indirect approach taking shape in many ways. In some cases your mother will get it done withouteven consulting the ‘traditional’ head of the family. At times you’ll get a response in negative from her, stating a reasonable excuse for not getting that for you. Many a times you’ll see her waiting for one of the most suitable time of the day to present the case in a tactical manner to your father. This auspicious moment may arrive on the same day of your request or in some cases a day or two later. The matter is taken for a discussion and a judgment is usually made within the same day.

Things are not too different up there in Heaven. A mere thought on the volume of requests that reaches the Supreme Power, will be mind boggling. Imagine the number of prayers that get churned out every other moment by those who are alive, asking for a variety of needs that are to be fulfilled. Add to that the belief of praying for those who left this mortal place so that these prayers will make their entry to Heaven easier. Things become even more interesting when we believe that these heavenly beings will be submitting their own set of prayers for the well-being of their dear ones back in the Earth. If the Creator has to be the single point of contact for answering all these prayers I am quite sure that He’ll go crazy with this avalanche of requests that reach Him!

That’s when God has successfully empowered a next-in-line operations team where He expects a considerable number of requests to be handled by them. We call them Saints. There are quite a few of them known by different names and instilled with specific responsibilities. Historically, people have learned that God has delegated some of His powers to these Saints and asked them to deal directly with people, very similar to how your mother dealt with your request.

They are the mediators for God. It is not necessary that all your requests need to be directed straight to the Father in Heaven. He has entrusted His beloved set of Saints to handle some of these requests so that they can be addressed, probably at a much faster pace than what would’ve been queued up at the pearly gates of Heaven awaiting the attention of the Mighty One.

Though I am afraid a few of the above statements may be perceived as bordering satire, the fact remains that a divine intervention need not always be direct in nature. What is important as God Himself said is to believe. He is the one who created us and knows for sure that there is an element of materialism in all of us. Each one of us who are born mortal will have needs and wants for which we look up to Him. All what He expects from us is to believe and ask. “Ask and it will be given to you”, is what He said. And He created different ways by which we could ask.

I used to be a strong believer of direct communication with God Himself. Over the last few years I’ve understood that He does work through others. Many a times your wishes get fulfilled even without you asking for it. For this He may choose one of your loved ones itself or maybe a total stranger too. Nevertheless a bigger part is being played by the Saints on creating this pathway to Him in a seemingly easier manner. The prayers, material or otherwise, can be directed through these Saints which is one of the biggest realizations I had in the recent past.

It gives a very special feeling of happiness to know that there is someone out there who is closer to God and ready to help you with your prayers. All what you are expected to do is, to talk to them, tell them your concerns and request them to take your prayers to the One whom you believe in. And trust me; it never fails when you have an extra pair of hands to knock and you’ll see the doors getting opened for you! Believe!

Do you touch wood?

Ever since I started to converse with people around me, there has been one phrase that I used to hear from many of them. It was natural to have conversations about someone related to you or some material possession you have. Good natured comments about these people or things will obviously find its place in between these chit chat.

I’ve observed with a strange phenomenon that each time a complimenting word is spoken about the subject in discussion it will be promptly followed by a frantic search for an article made out of wood so that they could touch it and say the magical phrase ‘touch wood’!

Recently I did some research and Wikipedia gave me some facts about this act. The practice comes from the Greek tradition in western folklore of literally touching/knocking on wood, or merely stating that you are doing or intend same, in order to avoid ‘tempting fate’ after making a favorable observation, a boast, or declaration concerning one's own death.

The bigger question that remains is how this tradition is an oxymoron in view of religious beliefs. Most of us belong to one or other religion that exists in this world. For all those who do not belong to any religion or do not practice a specific religion, this tradition could be an acceptable norm. For the rest of the humankind isn’t this practice anything but a sheer blasphemy?

Almost all religions teach to believe in the existence of a super natural power which guides the world and the events around us. Some people call that God and we have innumerable names given to the concept of ‘God’ across these religions. All these Gods have taught people to believe in them to have a good life. I’m sure no one prays to get a horrible life.

It has a historical aspect that people have been following rituals like these to ward off evil from casting its shadows on their lives. It is fascinating to see people being made to think that a natural grown piece of wood has celestial capabilities to do away with the unnatural being supposedly existing in this world awaiting its turn to strike on those who do not touch wood!

Being an ardent believer or not, there are situations that lead some people to start thinking in these lines. This is especially true when it comes to the little ones at home. Your baby could be all well, kicking and alive making your life one of the most envious to all those who are not that abundantly blessed. One fine day this relative or friend of yours come home, looks at your child and exclaims, “Look at her; she is such a cutie pie. I’m sure this little angel can never give you any trouble whatsoever”.

Soon after the person leaves all the while appreciating your hospitality, the little angel somehow turns into the most violent monster you’ve ever faced! The baby who was sleeping peacefully till that day refuses to sleep, develops some sort of uneasiness, does not take any food given including the forbidden sweets and totally becomes a moron with not even a shade of the angelic tranquility that was attributed a few moments earlier!

It takes all the effort in the world for you to bring back the cutie pie and you almost thought your life is back on track. There comes another friend who will have something similar to say as the previous one and life takes a full circle again.

You become paranoid to such an extent that you start believing in the apotropaic tradition and your hand will be auto programmed to reach a wood as soon as you hear or say something good about your baby!

The irony of life can go to such depths that God himself may start growing a forest to enable people to knock the wood. The heights of such an incident was when the other day a couple was seen reaching out to a blessed wooden rosary when something nice was spoken about their kid, since they could not find anything else made of wood and exclaimed to their heart’s content - touch wood!

How's Married Life?!!

Act 1 Scene 1 – Marriageable Age

You really could feel it when you truly want to have someone to tag along to make your life more meaningful, so they say. If you don't, in the truly Indian way your relatives have a distinct, almost patentable technique of making you feel so! It is remarkable, I must say, the manner with which even a completely disinterested person is made to say, "Yes, marriage is the most important thing I wanted to get into".

End of Act 1 Scene 1

Act 1 Scene 2 – My Decision

Fortunately, my decision to get married was not so dramatized, at least not with the involvement of family so much. But I must admit that the mission to get married definitely was, with them having a major say. Arranged marriage in my case was a concept where I subjected my decisions to objective analysis by my dear ones including parents, siblings and friends.
End of Act 1 Scene 2

Act 2 Scene 1 – Their Response

People who knew me were obviously happy about my decision. I believe my levels of enthusiasm was way up North that some of them even took an unprecedented step of trying to bring back to ground realities of marriage. Knew I did, but the wait was too long for me to accept those facts just like that. I loved all the attention and even secretly admired the fact that I could tell them that I don't have time since I'm busy chatting with my girl!
End of Act 2 Scene 1

Act 2 Scene 2 – Pre-marriage days

I sat and thoughts started flowing in. Here are a few of those educated snippets…

I really have not come across anyone in my life who has not given a thought about getting married. It is there in our blood as a need or want and the laws of Economics make all possible sense when thinking about it. Yes, I was no exception. I really wanted to and in fact was desperate to get married. I longed for a companion and did all possible things within the purview of the 'arranged marriage'. The search was on for a long time and finally I found a girl. I was all excited, naturally!

End of Act 2 Scene 2

Pseudo Act

The days got closer and we got married after two months and sixteen days from our first meeting.

End of Pseudo Act

Act 3 Scene 1 - Post-marriage

"How's married life?!" I could think of only two reasons, why this remained the only question that came our way post the D-Day. Either the world around us is so eager to hear an answer which they expect or they forgot that there are other words in Webster's that could be coined to make questions! You've only one choice of giving a socially accepted answer. You say anything other than, "fantastic" or "good" being the least, you are doomed! You cannot be realistic and have to accept the world of Utopia around you.

I felt it was pretty funny. Being married does not guarantee all these adjectives to be part of your life as a direct output of the act. The absolute irony about the whole show is the fact that, people who ask you the last-standing-question in the world and expecting the age old answer also knew this.

End of Act 3 Scene 1

Act 3 Scene 2 – My Response
 

"It’s a Roller Coaster Ride"! People who have experienced it get the point. Others who perceive that to be a mean machine will do a Jim Carrey act of eyes bulging and all. Then starts the most bizarre act in the world of being concerned about the budding relationship and major gyan sessions will follow. They'll start giving you tonnes of advices on what can be done to make life more meaningful, again!

It takes me two types of an effort to pacify these people. First, to explain what exactly is a Roller Coaster. Second to reiterate the fact that it is in fact the thrill that is the whole point! A few get convinced, rest will remain prejudiced. God bless them!

End of Act 3 Scene 2

Tail End

Shakespeare said, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players". Somehow he missed the part where a few among the audience climbing on top of the stage and trying their best to make you do some part which they missed on their own stage!

Life's a Roller Coaster, dare not miss the thrill!

The Drama Continues…