What gives

Today my neice who had come to be with her father for the last three months flies back to the US sans the assurance of having the earthly father,I cannot begin to understand her pain.Walking up the hill for the last rites,she was heard commenting 'appa is so mean!He is making us walk so much!'I could almost visualise my cousin winking. The other day there was an article in the newspaper sent all the way from the UN where an IPS officer from the backwater is posted .It was a tribute to a senior colleague who had been his district collector when he was posted afresh as a young police officer in the God's own country. I received another letter from a lovely lady from Bangalore who had been in school with him and had read his book.I thought it was a lovely gesture of grace ,especially since I did not know her. For the past two days the pastor has been blessing us with this lovely words-'The Lord remembers!'. What a beautiful assurance and what a beautiful truth!We,w...

Kumud,Sandhya,Pradhan and Ajay were here for a day.They had an extra day at hand.They were on their way to attend the MUC,they arrived a day earlier and they came away straight to Herbertpur.It gladdened my heart to see them. Spent a lovely evening with them.It was like having one's family visit. Prayed for Satbarwa together. It's two weeks exactly since I joined H'pur and the women's group met at my place today to get ready for the all night prayer at the church.We have the women leading the worship from ten to eleven.Lyn is leading us in worship and the lovely ladies are all supporting her in spirit.It's such a joy to meet up with a group of ladies who are ready and open for the lord to work in their lives.I am excited,I don't remember a time ever when I have waited on the lord for a whole night... The DNB students had their internal evaluation today.Geogy is here for the same.He spends his time diligently with the student,working on them so as to make sur...

Was reading from the epistles for the morning quiet time.Enjoyed Philipians .I had my chapel turn .Was looking to the Lord for some guidance .While praying,I was suddenly singing in the spirit...the leading was to speak about Christ's ministry...so I had to turn back to the Gospels...and it was the gospel of John that I turned to. Certain aspects of jesus' ministry came through. 1)He was 'sent'. 2)His purpose was clear and he moved with His head towards Jerusalem...towards the purpose. 3)His priorities were clear..as He teaches his disciples to pray.. Oh Lord our father, who ought in Heaven , Hallowed be thy name.., Thy Kingdom come... 4)He came to reconcile and restore men not to condemn them. 5)His most intimate burden which he shares with His father in His prayer were- -that they have eternal life and this is eternal life that they know you and jesus Christ whom you have sent. -that they may be one as we are one . -That they may be sanctified by truth an...

'As you do 'by Richard Hammond is a travel adventure narrative written by one of the crews of Top Gear-the BBC serial .It is a delightful read anyday with the author taking you on a trip to the Arctic on a dog sledge to a drive across the heart of Africa with all it's varied struggles and babboonry.Born in 1969,he has a hilarious take on the struggles and fiascos behind the scene of filming TV serials on adventure.Loved his language and found myself chuckling all tomyself even as I finished one half of the book on a saturday night.It's amazing how recording one's experiences through everything that happens in life can be such a fascinating read for another person.I liked the person that came through in the book.

My cousin PG who passed away recently was an exceptional person.Almost a decade older than I ,reckless as can be ,did everything one could possibly do in his lifetime.Was an achiever who broke rules every step of the way and always had the last laugh most times. I remember him being picked out in school for getting into a gang fight of sorts-I also remember him being a rebel in school and topping the boards-I remember him bearded and into martial arts.......hearing stories about his hindu days...he was once telling me how he burnt all his furnitures in the lawn of his college on the last but one day....he topped his college as well.I remember his father changing drivers gallore because he was found perpetually in their company 'guitaring' away and generally jamming around.I remember my uncle taking my two cousins in turn for sessions of lecture which lasted half an hour or so but both the boys were in complete awe of the father. He went on at the age of 22 to fields of the IA...

Difference in the way we understand and comprehend people was something I have ,I must confess, rarely entertained.I still remember once after an impassioned interpretation of some passage, one of my juniors softly reminded me,-'mam,we are men,we understand and comprehend things differently from the way women do'.I am still trying to comprehend what he meant! Working in a rural set-up of Jharkhand for better part of nine years,we take a lot of things for granted.I shifted to Herbertpur in the beginning of this month and thanked my stars that, for a change ,I wouldn't have to learn my alphabets from the scratch,it was Hindi in JKD and it remains hindi in Uttarakhand allright.I hadn't quite taken into consideration the local nuances that remain so much a part of India. For instance while examining the abdomen of a patient in JKD ,when we ask a patient to bend the leg to relax the abdomen,there is one and only one way it is understood and that is what they do .In Uttarak...

HCH feels hazy and like a dream.It is that time in my life when everything seems a little surreal.Have just lost a cousin who was such an important part of our lives,everything seems so temporary!Was driving through to the Himachal border to Ponta for dinner with friends,the scenery around was really quite out of the world.The river flowing ,the hills,the endless forests...and then ofcourse the man-made place of worship...hindu,sikh or muslims...,I wondered aloud..why does man immediately build a place of worship wherever they find an out of the world place?It is that deep longing to connect with the creator of the beauty I suppose!! I have not really settled down in Herbertpur the way I thought I would-the deep restlessness is still there.It is just the second week,I suppose there is enough time.I have a deep peace about what I have left behind,but oh lord,I still do need clarity about the steps ahead.

Chapters in life keep opening and closing-very often it is for a time and sometimes it is quite final.You learn each time but the learning comes with the reality which hits you off and on...even as you move on...a pain somewhere which hopefully time will heal.You watch,you live....God gives you an oppurtunity to see things from a point of view one may never have been sensitive about earlier.....we learn the hard way most times. Being in a medical profession ,we see death so often that we often shut ourselves to it.There comes a time when it hits you on the face....and then the very experience .....helps you grow. Loneliness of the dying has been very much a part of my meditation in the recent week.As I was sharing my experience a friend seemed to be very quiet and she suddenly asked me,if it was possible for believers to be lonely when they are dying?Difficult question to answer and when I asked her why?-she told me that her father breathed his last even as he asked her mother to pra...