Contemplations and Ruminations

I posted something new.... Gifts have started pouring in, mostly from fathers and sisters though. Mother (Sr. Magdalene) gave me Rabindranth Tagore's 'Gitanjali' and two rosaries. Fr. Emmanuel (one of the few fathers I really like) gave me this Holy Family Statue/lamp and its incredibly beautiful.

Wouldn't you say so... Nam and me were in this huge clothing store and we were making fun of all the models on display (there was one of hrithik in which he looked kinda gayish) when we came across this one. Seriously, dark people are more better looking....

Visited a few churches on Good Friday to see how the Blessed Sacrament was displayed and adored. Infant Jesus Church, Ponnappa Nadar Nagar Church of Our Lady of Snow, Maravankudi St. Joseph's Church, Vattakarai St. Antony's Church, Kurusady Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Punnai Nagar Holy Family Church, Mela Ramanputhoor St. Xavier's Cathedral, Kottar Holy Family Church, Ramanputhoor

Santhi Nilayam celebrated its 13th annual day on Sunday the 1st of April, 2007. The day started off pretty good with the kids in church trying to fool the priest and anybody that passed by. It turned out to be a very entertaining evening too. The kids all performed well. I sure was glad to be there... to be part of the entire event, to watch the whole thing unfolding after days of arduous practice sessions and countless funny moments in between. It was a close to perfect day... Here are a few pictures....

A recent conference with the cousins somehow got centered on literature and everybody kept spewing forth shakespearean dialogues. (At the end of it all Ryan came to the conclusion that Shakespeare probably didn't get laid much, what with nobody being able to understand his dialogues.) That aside, I remembered this poem by Rudyard Kipling, IF . Read it somewhere a few years back and thought it was beautiful... (no, it isn't about flowers or rainbows or birds). If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disa...

This kid in school was absent, so after I reached home from work I rang up his mom to find out what happened. He did not sleep whole night because of a very congested chest, it was difficult for him to breathe. This is very common for that kid, and for many other down's syndrome children... they have perpetual colds. After speaking a few minutes, I told the mom that since its a Friday I have to go to church now for the way of the cross . She said oh yeah... it's Friday. Then she said somethin that put everythin else out of my mind. She said, " Here it happens every day at home... the way of the cross. " This is true, when her son was born, they weren't sure if he was going to survive... his immune system was very weak, used to fall sick often, catch infections so easily. From the moment he was born, he became her life.... took over her life. She lives for him now and its not an easy job. She has to keep rushing back and forth between hospitals and spending so m...

Went to Central Institute on Mental Retardation, Trivandrum yesterday and saw these older students performing a classical dance and playing the sitar. It was amazingly synchronous and so beautiful, everybody was blown away. One of the kids (name's Arun) playing the Sitar, is non verbal and he can't hear. He learnt the sitar through observation of the hand movement.They played 'Raghupati Ravan Raja ram' and another church song, it was one of the most amazing moments ever. Visited the vocational units too and saw the children learning all sorts of vocational activity like tailoring, book binding, making files, craft unit, chalk candle and soap unit.... many other things. They made this cup up here out of coconut shell, how neat is that.... Through dedicated and patient training anythin is possible.....

My folks are after me to buy jewellery.... so went to this place and found a few nice stuff. The others were just too ugly, I can't seem to understand how people can actually pay money for them and wear them in public. Well, to each his own... Went to a shop to buy some things and met these 10th standard boys there. They had come to buy a chair (the one the boy is sitting on) for their class teacher after the teacher kicked them out of his classroom for breaking his chair. And they bought this really really old faded chair for him. I told them to get something nice since they were paying for it. They said, "For that school, this chair is more than enough." That's Priyanka and Sally making mango rasam, mango juice, mango chutney with the one mango they managed to get from somewhere.

That's monica and harihara the new kid in school. While everybody was upstairs practicing for the school day, this guy enters the office room and starts fiddling with everythin there.... finally got him to sit in that chair. And then he started fiddling with the keyboard, the mouse and accidently switched off the computer two or three times. That's when I removed my camera and tried to keep him out of trouble by making him pose for a number of pictures. He's a kid with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and he's always falling down and scrambling up again and hitting somethin else on his way. (Cerebral palsy refers to any one of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination.) He was crying in school one day and I asked him why... asked him if he was hungry, he shook his head yes. So I took him to the convent and the sister gave him a packet of biscuits. He brought it to me and gestured to...

A snippet of conversation from last night's conference.... Me: So megh's did you see the Timberlake video? Megh's: Yeah.. he is so hot! I think I am half in love with him. Ryan : Which half of him? Megh's : Wait, let me watch the video again.

Wanted to write this down before I forget it... Ryan: We're having a gig on thursday, trying out somethin new, the jazz and the blues. Me: If you guys were here, you could play at my wedding..... 'The blues' , nice theme for a weddin... huh? Ryan: Yeah. Then it would be 'somethin new, somethin old, somethin borrowed and somethin ryan's band . ' Another friend, Jude was tellin me about a beautiful sunday morning he spent in church... btw i went to a baptism this morning, poor kid was bawling his heart out, while the priest was busy banishing original sin from his psyche.

Unto dust you shall return... Ash Wednesday just passed by and as it always does, it makes everythin seem so unreal. All the people you admire, respect, despise, love, hate... everybody eventually ends up as dust. Anyway talking about dust reminds me of this joke I read somewhere... A few scientists had finally after years of research found out how to create life. So they approach God and say, " We found out how to create life, we don't need to worship you anymore. We are now equal." So God says, "That's very interesting, let's see you perform this feat." The scientists bend down to pick up some dirt and start the process of forming a life when God says, "Not so fast, use your own soil...."

A few sisters from the congregation I work with had gone to their convent in Madhya Pradesh once. They wanted to buy chicken and the shopkeeper couldn't understand what they were trying to tell him. One sister finally said "Aanda ki ma..." (mother of an egg). Mother told us this incident and I couldn't stop laughing, I found it really funny. This happened a few months back while I was preparing a list of the board members to get somethin registered. The sisters are telling me the names of the other sisters on the board one by one and I am typing them up, when they read somethin like Sr. Geeree Goree and I was like, 'what was that?' So they read it again the same way and I was like 'what kind of a name is that?' I looked into the registration file and finally found her... Sr. Gregory.

that girl carried a beautfiul box, with hieroglyphics engraved on its side and a sphinx on the cover.... with a bottle of Bailey's original Irish cream inside. Just when you are fed up with stuff or dealing with utter madening chaos, she comes along like an angel with somethin to drink.... so I can go, "You can kiss my glass..." Shil reminds me of the saying.... " A good friend helps you move, a real friend helps you move bodies." P.S: I love the carved box too...

Just thought of listing out a few jokes by ryan (rj), megh' s (mj) & sheena (sj). Fr. Tony had come over and he started talking about marriages. He said there are 3 categories of marriages. The first 5 % are based on carnal pleasure, they live like animals. The next 90% are marriages of convenience, this is also the problematic group, they have the most number of problems. The next 5% comprises the responsible marriages, these are the marriages that last. Anyway, so ryan and meghs were discussin this... and they came to a conclusion. If you are not playing the game, then you can't go about setting the rules (or categorising). Here's an rj me: "Be good, don't do anythin I wouldn't do." ryan: "I can't promise you that, I am too used to peeing standing up." This is an mj Tanya : He's (some guy) not used to people Tanya's mom: Then introduce him to animals. Megh's: Better yet, give him a Nokia phone, it connect's ...

Was just surfing through channels, when I came across this movie . I was hooked... its got a wise-cracking Billy Crystal & I knew exactly how Debra could fall for him... who wouldn't! He's really funny here.... every sentence he says makes you laugh. Billy loses his father's casket at the Paris airport, that's where he meets Debra, anyway so the body has been quarantined for health reasons and Billy screams, "He's dead! He has no health!" Just watch the movie... its great.

Read this amazing book at Tina's place, Night by Elie Wiesel. It's an 'Oprah Book club' book and it's really something. Guaranteed to make you hate the Nazis, its about Elie's life at Hitler's death camps. Reading the book will make you wonder about God, just like Elie did... how could a God sit back and watch so many people being tortured.... parents seeing their babies being used as target practice, children watching their parents being beaten to death, everybody lying in constant fear of the chimneys, the smell of burnt flesh.... goes beyond me. Here are a few excerpts from the book... Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my fa...

Took this picture while I was stuck in traffic for an unbearably long time, on the way to Megh’s place. This is a nice picture, a picture of rotund bliss. This is Mom's school, she showed me where she used to study, play, eat and do exercise. We visited the school chapel too and mom was reminiscing about the past. Charlie's angels.... Everybody has grown up so much.... two are getting hitched this year, the other three are enjoying life in college... or rather just enjoying life, they hardly attend college. yeah its always good going back... some things don't change.

Was in bombay the past few days... I really like that place (except for the traffic jams) . Did a lot of shopping and a lot of watching (especially Lincoln in Prison Break) . The girls thought the younger brother Michael was more cuter, he IS kinda cute like a girl.. .. but the elder brother is better looking... nice jaw line. Anyway, the show was okay... nothing great, it had its stupid moments. I don't understand how people do not sense danger in these serials. There is this lawyer girl who goes to meet a guy at this deserted place, cause he has information that might set lincoln free. And she sets off to meet this guy alone!!!! Obviously she being one of the main characters does not die... maybe that's why all these main characters are so brave, they know they cannot die now , just when the show has started. Went to this Jeans factory while at Megh's place, they manufacture jeans for Spykar . Its a nice place, started by this young boy who must be about 20. At hi...

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...