Contemplations and Ruminations

In memory of Mehemei Kumar , an 18 year old with Down's Syndrome, who left us on January 19th, 2007 to enter the Kingdom of God. Dance was his passion, it was through dance, we could get him to do his work. He was a big brother to all the other kids, he used to take care of them. He wanted to work and earn for his mother, but he had no idea how to. We placed him in a company once, but they had to send him back... instead of working, he would dance. He was a naughty guy who loved his mother and the sisters (in school) above anythin else on this planet. When the Tsunami struck his district, he somehow escaped the killer waves and headed straight to school. He was a boy struggling to be understood... to be accepted for what he is. Sometimes when he didn't feel like going home, he would stay in the convent with the sisters and they would take care of him. The sisters taught him to pray and he learnt to pray beautifully in his own characteristic language... we wouldn't understa...

Just thought of listing out a few people and the roles they play in my world.... Nameeta * My TV guide : She reminds me to watch Tv.... she knows when the reruns are and I started watching Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, American Idol, etc. because of her. (She used to watch that irritating alien serial too Roswell, that was one silly show) * My sider : She's on my side, while arguing with the parents. Manoj and Vinod * My laughter generators : There's nobody on this world, who can make me laugh like they do. * My extravagant Genie's : All I have to do is say the word, and the next thing you know its on its way to me. (I have asked for chocolates and books... and they bring them in excess.) Shilpa and Anju * My very own Reality tv/Sitcom shows : Their lives are very entertaining. Shil turns everything into an event, while Anju is a magnet that attracts all weirdos out there. * My psychiatrists : Yeah, they listen and give good advice. At the end of it all, Shil,...

Rev. Bishop Leon Tharmaraj, passed away early this morning. He's an amazing person with a strong will and a compassionate soul. We sure are going to miss him..... May his soul find everlasting peace with You Lord. "He who believes in Me shall not die but have eternal life ." Eternal life , that's what we all should strive for.

Mother, getting it started. Overflowing.... this is the most important part, they start shouting pongaloooooo, pongal. You can see Raja there, his hands on his cheeks, he could hardly control his excitement. Jasper, helping out with the cooking..... that's coconut by the way. Monica trying to stir and pose at the same time... Cashewnut, spices and currents, frying in fresh homemade ghee... it sure smelt good. I know, a whole lot of pictures..... but this looks nice. My plate, at my work place.... had to finish some work before the long pongal holidays. The food was really good, that's sugarcane and banana on the plate. P.S: This post is dedicated to Sajeeve, cause he wanted to see some pongally pictures.

The Altar... well, we managed to make it look Christmasy The Crib in church... I was wonderstruck when they switched on the lights, it was beautiful. Cousins & friends.... everybody happy that things turned out well. The children wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and great year ahead.

That's the card all the catechism children made for Father, and he really liked it. You can see they have scribbled their names all over it.... with different versions of christmas greetings, like Marry Christmas, Merry Crismas, Father you rock... As Andrew one of the shepherd boys put it, "Father, all the Kaieluthu". (Meaning all the signatures) The caroling gang, it was fun hanging out with them. Jehu's missing in the picture... Another fun gang, its been a year now since I joined this school..... and its like a second home. It's gonna be hard when the time comes to leave this place.... Vivek and Nagarajan are missing in this picture. That's Mazhalai , the person who got me into the whole blogging sphere. I got anju into it and... that's another story, a never ending story.

Went Caroling to many houses and took pictures of the cribs... here are a few.

Yeah been caroling and practising for the Nativity plays... (one for the school and the other in church). Both came out pretty good.The play in school was funny cause the Down's were dressed as shepherds and Jenson (the smallest shepherd) kept turning behind and asking the teacher "adatha enna... adatha enna..." after each step. Mid way through the dance, Little Rose's head gear fell down and Hansel looked at it for a minute then picked it up and placed it on her head. The autistic kids were angels and as soon as the music started Nadeem covered his ears and ran off stage, Brindha started crying and Venkata kept running into the shepherds... Santa Claus was fun, Raja slowly led him off stage and up to the chief guests. Everybody loved the play in church, the Father was impressed. The little shepherds who ate my head during practice were wonderful today. I'm gonna miss those shepherd boys... practicing with these boys was an event, they used to torture Mary, thr...

Constructing the crib... was a lot of fun. The final product looks great. More pictures later, after the entire thing is set up. Carol Practice at home... those body guards near Santa Claus, wouldn't leave his side. I mean they saw Varun (Santa Claus) entering my home in his usual normal attire.... and he changed into the santa outfit and came out a few minutes later and they were wonderstruck!!! They wanted to shake his hand and when he obliged, they couldn't get over it.... The title here, is the song we are singing in church tomorrow... Dear Savior haste: Come, come to earth Dispel the night and show Thy face, And bid us hail the dawn of grace. O come, divine Messiah! The world in silence waits the day When hope shall sing its triumph, And sadness flee away.

That's the new kid in school, Monica. She's smart for her age... Baked this last night and when I returned from school today, half of it was missing...

Today we went to these hills nearby, to pick that particular type of grass used to build a crib. Here are a few pictures... The boys did most of the work.... While we just played around in the water (in the picture we are looking at fishes and trying to catch a few) and took a lot of pictures.... Yeah, this is how we start the most wonderful time of the year... immersed in nature and surrounded by friends.