Contemplations and Ruminations

(August 19th, 2020) What started out as a school assignment to involve family members in a group activity has now become a favourite lockdown activity. I have two left feet when it comes to dancing, but Caleb Marshall, our (lockdown) fitness dance guru makes it look quite easy and dancing to his fitness videos has become a fun ritual every evening. He has brought a lot of joy during this quarantine phase; his energy and enthusiasm is infectious and we’re grateful to Fitness Marshall and his team for all the fun memories we’ve made dancing through a pandemic year.

(July 22nd 2020) So this happened two years ago during the long Republic Day weekend when the choir girls had decided to meet up in Madras. We were lunching in Pumpkin Tales on Republic day and Jen and Teenu who used to sit together in class were discussing their school days and how they were always upto no good… they were reminiscing about school and all the mischief they did. So anyway, we ate our food, sang a little birthday ditty for Jen (it was her birthday week) and then we went to a mall to hang out. So while we were trying on clothes, Jen takes a stole and she’s admiring it and since we were just talking about the shenanigans they did in school, I said why don’t you girls flick it. I usually joke like this, and it usually ends in more banter and boisterous laughter. This time, a naughty spark went off in Teen’s eyes and she was like yeah, let’s do it. After that there was no backing down, everybody got into it, like a top level secret mission. We checked if there were camer...

Another year, 2020, how fast the years roll by... the transition from 2019 to 2020 was fun enough, surrounded by family, friends and  an influx of angels. I saw a paper doily angel online and since then this is what I have been making in December, an army of paper doily angels... To be placed in the crib, a t last count there were about 23 angels in the crib in my hometown... Ah, Christmas is fun even though I couldn't get into the whole giddy Christmas mood this year. I don't know why, I kept listening to Winter Song by Fernando Ortega and My Favourite Time of the Year by The Florin Street Band , to get into the high spirited mood of Christmas... and though that helped a bit, everything was kinda subdued and serene. I guess Christmas as a festival just isn't appealing anymore, but Christmas as a time where love comes to stay in the form of family and friends who travel home for the holidays is more meaningful. Christmas is more than the lights on the tree, ...

Can't believe I haven't posted here in a long long long time, but that's how busy the year end/beginning transition always is. There are decorations to think about, cards to make, cakes to bake, tickets to book, friends to meet, family to see and shopping that has to be done... one can never get enough of this time of the year. Christmas was fun in Chennai with friends, family and all the Christmas shopping/outings and diy's. This year Tiana (my baby niece) had just started walking, so the Christmas crib was kept in an enclosed tiny space above her reach. It looked quite pretty with all the cut out stars and lights... The wreath I made ages ago A small video leading upto Christmas... all the diy's and stuff. A small video depicting Christmas fun at both my homes with family and friends. Christmas becomes more meaningful and poignant each year in Madras as we (me and Jen) discover new Christmassy things to do in Chennai. The caroling in MCC gr...

And when the earth fades Falls from my eyes And you stand before me I know You love me I was in church with Jen yesterday when they started singing this song and immediately we glanced at each other and smiled. It is one of the songs we sang when we were in the choir and whenever I hear this song, this stanza makes time stop for a few minutes. Nothing that is happening around seems to register as I am suddenly transported to a moment between two worlds. That moment when the earth fades, you wonder how it will be... you wonder what comes next. There are a number of books we can read, stuff we can research to try to know what happens after we breathe our last breath... but I don't think anything can prepare us for the final event. It will be good, of course, no doubt there... life gets transformed, but still, that point, that exact moment when the earth fades... it's just too big to put into words, it always leaves me pondering, hoping that it will be as beautiful as my hu...

Celebrated Holi yesterday and it was pure madness... random people coming upto you and rubbing colour on your cheeks was a little disconcerting at first, but after a few minutes you get the hang of it and it's crazy fun after that. I've always wanted to be part of the colourful Holi celebrations, like the ones we see in movies and pictures of India... that look so captivating and brimming with energy. This was exactly like that, and despite the rainbow hued aftermath that followed, I know I want to do it all over again next year with better protection, now that I know what to expect. Play mostly with kids and people who give you the good vibe, ignore the rest and go with a bigger crowd. Here's a slideshow of the pictures we took (use the link if the above video doesn't seem to play)...

Have you noticed how some things never change, how time seems to stand still when you are with some people. For instance, with the siblings and cousins there's a timeless ease... we have grown up, got married, changed over the years, yet, at the same time we haven't. It was the same recently when friends from home had come to the city. All those years spent under a clear blue sky practicing for the choir... the natural high that comes after singing, laughing, hanging out together... that simple feeling of being alive and in love with the world, that's how it was the past few weeks roaming around with homegrown friends ( a Zac Brown Band pun ). The Saturday choir practice sessions, ganging up after Sunday mass and the caroling craziness: those are some of the best memories of home. Those days are always shrouded in warm hues of sunshine, I still remember the gentle evening breeze with its warm summer scents seamlessly mingling with the notes of As the Deer , You are my Al...

The last few months of 2016 were crazy in so many ways. First there was the money issue (when the higher denomination notes lost their value overnight) which created a mess of economic proportions. The insane queues at banks and ATM's and all the scrambling that was happening to make sense of it all, made November quite memorable.  Around the same time, Trump came out victorious which I thought was pretty hilarious... a sort of validation that people are the same everywhere, based on who we elected here.  Anyway, after the chaos of November, December came with her own brand of drama. I heard of Cyclone Nada, but I was busy in Nagercoil then  enjoying a birthday party... Even that was fun, surprising the birthday girl who did not know that I was at the airport with dad. She walks up and down and I'm hiding behind the newspaper pretending to read it, then I see Manoj by her side, and they finally come out and she is hugging my dad and after that I walk up behind h...

Just got back from a madcap road trip across five countries in Europe and I am still reeling from the effects of the past two weeks. There were about seventy of us on this pilgrimage trip (thirty from my parish) and I was wondering how it would be... We landed in Madrid and traversed through Spain, to reach Fatima in Portugal, then went on to Lourdes and Paris in France, stopped in the mountains in Switzerland for a day, then on to Turin, Padua, Venice, Assisi, Rome and Milan in Italy. Stayed in eleven hotels and received wake up calls at insane hours like 4:30 am... the wake up call from our hotel in Rome was quite amusing. I answered the phone to hear Michael Bublé crooning to  'I want to go home...', those people at the hotel have a nice sense of humour. So we arrived in Madrid, roamed around for a bit, then reached the hotel and I started updating the family on whatsapp about our day. They asked for my room number to call on the hotel line, so anyway I'm still che...

Every year, setting up the crib is an experience... when we were kids, the crib was made with this sweet smelling wild reed that dotted the landscape back home. I don't know what they call it, but the scent of the freshly built crib wafting through the house spiked the excitement levels. The reed though it smelled nice and looked great, was a time consuming project that involved dexterity, planning and patience.  So over the years, buying the reed gave way to other forms of constructing the Nativity scene... it became much easier to form a basic structure in the shape of a hut and then put a different spin on it every year. like the one in 2013   and  2012 ... Here is this year's crèche, named it the Interstellar crib... cause of those floating specks of light wafting through the time space continuum. You can't see it here, but it sort of looks surreal with only these specks lighting up the nativity scene.  And with a little bit of light, it become...