Christmas is Family Time!

This Christmas was our first with our newly married daughter...and a joyous occasion it was for us.  December really started with the demonetization woes but quickly changed to having fun in spite of it!  Our girls in Chandigarh had their long awaited Sports Day.

Our Children getting ready to greet the chief guest

Welcoming the Chief Guest

Instructions for a competition on Sports Day

After the sports event, our children prepared a choir to sing over Christmas and they sang songs the music of which was composed by my aunt Joy way back in the 1940s.  They sang so well at the Chandigarh Bible Fellowship.

We had a wonderful Christmas time and it was great to be in Hyderabad, meeting our old friends and having good fellowship times.  Here is a clip of the group Gastroentritis & the Flu, who started their band over fifty years ago and now they met up again fifty years later!

It had been a satisfying year for us and the ending of it was super at the watchnight service in Hyderabad, meeting up with many of our old friends and preparing to return back after a haitus of almost five years.

Christmas was a family time for us with our daughter and son-in-law in Hyderabad and our girls at Shekinah in Chandigarh.

Goodbye 2016 and hello 2017!

The Colour of Money!

On November 8, quite casually I heard the news in the evening that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stopping by midnight the circulating of Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- notes and we were to give all these denomination notes to the bank in exchange for Rs.100/-, Rs.50/- or Rs.10/- notes. Having just withdrawn money a few days back and paid those who needed to be paid in cash, I was left with just a few five hundred rupee notes which the next morning were got exchanged in a scramble at the overcrowded bank.  It's funny how political parties change their tunes and do an about turn.  The ruling BJP had opposed demonetization just before the 2014 elections!  The Prime Minister now declared demonetization as the only way to save India from terrorism, black money and corruption.  Wow!  We have been prey to these for the last almost seventy years of Congress rule for the most part, and only the Prime Minister's surprise announcement and implementation of demonetization can save us!  We can change the old notes till December 30, 2016 and there is a limit to us withdrawing our own money from ATMs.  Well, the Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley has told us that demonetization would clean the complete economic system, increase the size of economy and revenue base.   There is chaos in most of the cities' banks and ATMs around the country with lack of sufficient cash and the stock market has come down too.  The RBI governor has praised the PM and promised new currency notes soon.

The Rs.2000 note that was launched seems quite sad with the colour fading with a water wash.  People who didn't have bank accounts or debit cards have really suffered when they are not black money hoarders.  People are asking that if this is a "game changer", why are they being harassed?  Pensioners and daily wage labourers are the worst sufferers. According to Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the I&B Minister, "The PM wants every citizen to be pure not only in thoughts but in action too, and this is why he has given the mantra of reform, perform and transform."  He added that the country is fighting corruption, terrorism, smuggling, drug menace and other social ills.  The queues at banks and ATMs are continuing and there is violence reported in some parts of the country and the harassment continues.  There simply is not enough cash and the banks are unable to provide the adequate amount.  Bank employees are facing the customers' ire to implement this game changing decree.  Even the bank staff seems inadquate and they do not have enough ways to verify all that they are asked to do.  Actor Mr. Anupam Kher says that this is like doing a house renovation!

Terror attacks continue, black money laundering is carrying on.  Business and economy has been adversely affected.  Donations at temples however have reached phenomenal proportions and bagful of torn notes are found floating in rivers.   Just when the Finance Minister had put a limit to money spent on marriages at two lakh rupees, there was the former BJP minister of Mining, G. Janardhan Reddy, whose daughter was married in Bangalore Palace Grounds in a five hundred crore expense limit.  We are skeptical and cynical about the government's ability to do what they claim will result with demonetization.  The price of everything has gone up but we can't withdraw our own money to purchase.....it's the limit!

The transformation towards a pure heart doesn't come with the government enforcing a set of rules over the people while having a different set of rules to govern their own selves!  It comes by recognizing that we need a Savior and His Name is Jesus, Who died to save all mankind from their sins.  Only the Holy God can do this for humanity and through faith in the finished work of the Cross is humanity redeemed.  May it be that Mr. Modi has an encounter with the Risen Christ that will transform him!

Silver Wedding Anniversary

Wedding anniversary celebrations go back to Europe around the eighth century of the Holy Roman Empire, the largest territory of which was Germany.  After twenty five years of being married to the same person, the husband crowned his wife with a silver wreath! For fifty years, it was a golden wreath that wives were crowned with. Later on in the twentieth century for commercial purposes named anniversaries were added like Tin for the tenth; Crystal for the fifteenth; China for the twentieth; Silver for the twenty fifth; Pearl for the thirtieth; Ruby for the fortieth; Gold for the fiftieth; Diamond for the sixtieth and Platinum for the seventieth.

This was my cousin Vimal's and Aruna's twenty fifth silver wedding anniversary and they had sent out invitations in July itself.  It seemed just a few years ago when I travelled up from Hyderabad to Delhi in 1991 for their wedding.  It was wonderful to meet up with several relatives who had not been able to come to Hyderabad for my daughter's wedding in June.  Always great to meet cousins even if it was after twenty-thirty years with some of them and then the nieces and nephews and the grand nieces and grand nephews.

Delhi is a great place for food and Vimal knows all the best places for such occasions and we salivated and we hogged!  The youngsters had done a Mehndi dance the evening before but we older ones just sat in a room and reminiscenced, telling the new sons-in-law of the legendary tales of Amal and Feroz! A great time was had by us.

The next day's event was at a function hall and all the cousins assembled with our families.  Vimal and Aruna looked like twenty five years was nothing - still the same dashing couple.  The reverend made them repeat the vows and we sang some lovely old hymns and after that Sahil and Rhea put up a song and dance skit of how their parents met and courted.  It was such fun.

Family events are enjoyable when we meet up with our relatives and communities and share a common heritage and build on relationships with the new generations in the family.

Serving

One of the activities of our charitable trust is doing free medical camps in rural areas.  We have been doing this twice a year for the last four years.  Those who benefit are mostly women and children.  We are grateful to the medical doctors and staff who volunteer so graciously but the results are great to build a relationship with the people in rural areas which reflects the compassion and loving kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Doctor prescribing to the woman.

Lining up to meet the doctor

Women & Children are the beneficiaries

Queueing up to go in and meet the doctor

Medicines stacked up to be given

Right through the Gospels, time and time again, Jesus had compassion on the multitudes who were needing Him being sick, physically, emotionally or mentally and He healed them all.  In whichever part of India, or even the world, people need compassion and care and we provide it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We take it as a privilege to be the Hands & Feet of the Lord Jesus Christ to serve others.  The need is too huge that only God can handle it, we do our bit in serving those we can!

Art & Crafts Exhibition

When young people know how to usefully employ their time, it brings joy to our heart!  Our girls at the home, ranging from 6 years to 14 years, spent their free time make rags and waste material into a beautiful arts and crafts exhibition.

Floor mat from rags, crochet Cross, designed cards

Newspaper glued & painted baskets & stitched on jute bottles!

Candle Stands & Pen Stands

Paper Glued colourful plates and Icecream stick designed art!

Art Talent in Sketching & Painting by the Boys' Home!

Boys' Home Artists

The Shekinah Girls'

The Whole Group of Artists

We had invited the boys' from the ICA Boys' Orphanage also to participate and really it was a great evening to see budding artists' talents.  Our desire is that many of them will find their niche in life as they learn new skills and try out their talents.  All of the artefacts were sold as the children priced their products to raise funds for themselves.  Very proud of them all!

Cousin & Aunt

I first met her and Cousin Rajiv, in the mid eighties. Cousin Rajiv and I had a common great grandfather. Then a few years later, she and her mother, Mrs. James visited my husband's father and us in Hyderabad.  It's only when we came to Bangalore after many decades that I met her in early 2013. Aruna or Aunt Aruna as she insisted to be called, was a large hearted personality whom you could never forget. Her warmth and engaging observations could keep you in splits! She invited us to her birthday party which overflowed with old world charm in her lovely apartment at Belvedere Court. She told us about the farm she had in the outskirts and we did an impromptu picnic there on Baisakhi!

It is a lovely farm with painted tiles on the roof.....handpainted by Aunt Aruna and her family. We had a relaxed time there. Lots of fruit trees and far from the madding crowd!

Being a family person, she loved to have family gatherings and once came to have dinner with us, armed with old family tree documents. We discovered that her father was the son of Sophy Hira Singh's brother. Sophy Hira Singh was my husband's great grandmother. Aunt Aruna came from a strong Punjabi heritage of the Christian families of Punjab in the 19th and 20th centuries! From her mother's side she was a Ralliaram and from her father's side, the Hira Singh family. So she was doubly related to me through her husband and then through my husband's family!

Our Christmas gatherings were incomplete without her and what a great time we would have with her and her rendition of "O Holy Night".

 

We had discovered that Aunt Aruna and I passed out from the same school albeit a generation apart! We planned to go for its 150 year celebrations in May 2016 but by January we knew that we couldn't make it, so we found other school mates and had an old school reunion at my place, with fun and laughter!

After her birthday this year, I met her again in end February and she was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. She seemed to recover in March, April and May but it was obvious she wasn't going to make it to Hyderabad for my daughter's wedding. When we left for Hyderabad, the very next day we heard that she had passed away.....how sad it was.

Aunt Aruna was a gracious, benevolent, caring, loving and a big-hearted lady and it will be hard to fill that gap!

My Daughter's Wedding

Yesterday my daughter got married.  I was waiting for the day for many years....and finally it did happen. The festivities started a few days before.  On the 26th, a Sunday, the Haldi ceremony was done for my daughter.  Haldi is turmeric and holds a special place in Indian homes because of its anti-inflammatory and healing properties.  A paste of Haldi along with sandalwood and rosewater is made and applied on the bride-to-be by the near and dear ones.  In the north of India, this is known as Ubtan.  This ceremony is accompanied by much laughter and singing, (in this case of a Christian north Indian bride marrying a Telugu groom) of hymns in Telugu.  In ancient days, when cosmetics and beauty parlours were not available, Indian women had their own ways of making the bride-to-be glow!  Haldi has purification properties and cleanses the skin being an excellent exfoliating agent.  It detoxifies the skin and has an ingredient known as Curcumin which is an antioxidant and also helps in soothing anxious nerves!  In the book of Esther in the Bible, it says in chapter 2 verse 12 - ".....according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women."  To watch the video click here.

The next day all the wedding guests started to arrive, actually some had arrived the night before.  What a gathering it was, meeting some relatives after thirty odd years....it was awesome!  Soon the evening set in and we made our way to the place where the engagement ceremony was to take place.  This was also an occasion for us, the bride's side relatives, to meet the groom's family and relatives.  It was a formal occasion with introductions from both sides of the families and then the engagement ceremony officiated by a senior family member - a retired clergy along with the sharing of the Word of God by a dear family friend.  To watch the video click here.

What a fun time we had the next night when the bride's family got together for Mehndi and dancing.  This is a colourful and lively celebration.  The bride-to-be and her female relatives have fun getting intricate Mehndi designs done on their hands joined by the bride-to-be's male relatives, with dancing and feasting.  Mehndi is actually henna, a medicinal herb, known to cool down fever and is also considered soothing for anxiety!  A joyous celebration was had by all, young and old.  To watch the video click here.

Finally the wedding day dawned and it was a rainy day but the weather was so pleasant. Soon it was time to get ready to go to church and the rain had stopped too!  It was a beautiful and meaningful service and wonderful to see my daughter as the radiant bride and the groom looking so happy on this their special day...no signs of nerves or awkward moments, thankfully!  To watch the video click here.

After the wedding ceremony was over, we had to move to the function hall about a kilometer away.  The bride and the groom came a little late but once the speeches were over, the line of guests began. A friend of the groom played the flute and another friend of the bride's had come over from Mumbai and sang a special song.  The bride's school music teacher and a professional saxophone player provided the live music for the entire evening.  The dinner was that typical Hyderabadi cuisine which you only get at weddings!  It was a treat to the palate.  To watch the video click here.

Seeing my daughter happily married was an answer to prayer, and going through all the days of festivities, my husband and I were humbled by the goodwill from all who came and the favour of God through all the occasions.  Our Lord Jesus Christ does more than we can ask or imagine - His Name is Wonderful!

Hyderabad in the Heat!

It was pretty hot in Hyderabad this year but not as we hear in the rest of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.  This video clip from ABP Live shows a woman making an omlette on the ground with the heat generated from it!

Please click on this link to watch.

Now the government needs to seriously consider solar energy in a major way in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.