THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP 😊❤️

Two of my friends got married today. I’ve known them both, since the time I was in school. Over the years they got to know one another, liked each other and that fondness eventually turned into love, which then led them to the altar. It was a real joy to be a part of their wedding celebration today. Seeing the happiness on their faces, made me happy as well. I’d always known they would one day tie the knot, but to see it actually happen is quite awesome.💕

To add to that, this wedding has been like a coming together of friends, that I’ve grown up with, many of who are now out of the country. So, seeing all of them together in one place, filled me with so much of nostalgia. It was so amazing, to be in the company of old friends from school and college. Friends who I only keep in touch with through the Internet, were now once again in front of me, in person. 

So much has changed and altered over the years. Some of them look a little different from what they used to as kids. Some of them are married now, and were there with their spouses. Many of them now work and live in different parts of the world.

Despite all that has changed over time, one thing has stood the test of time, and that is the 'Friendship' that we share with one another and the love we have for one another. We may not see each other for months; and yet, when we meet, it’s like 'Coming Home'. 

Coming Home to the memories of our childhood, 

Coming Home to the times we spent together as we grew up, 

Coming Home to the feeling of being 'Friends Forever'.

I wouldn’t call them my 'Best Friends', because over time I’ve made a lot of other New Friends as well; but they definitely are among my Oldest Friends, and that’s what makes them 'Special' to me.

What a Joy it is, to be blest with Friends! If only the time we got to spend in their company, wasn’t so momentary and fleeting...

...How much more beautiful life would be.✨️😊

VIRTUE AT WHAT PRICE??? 🤔

Patience is a virtue, is what I’ve often heard; and thankfully I’ve been blest with lots of it. Of course, occasionally I do flare up and lose my temper; but I guess, on an average I could be classified as being a pretty patient individual.

I’ve often heard my friends and my students say, “She hardly ever gets angry”, which is mostly true; although there have been moments when I have been known to vent out my frustration and irritation, very vocally and audibly. 

Of course, such instances are few and far between, and therefore don’t register on the radar. That mostly happens at home and only my parents get a taste of my fury, when I occasionally turn on the heat and let out all that pent up anger.

It may be a good thing to be a patient person, but I think all we do when we call ourselves patient, is lie; because I doubt there is anyone on this planet, who is really so patient. I’m sure Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa or even Jesus Christ himself for that matter, would have definitely lost their patience, at some time or the other.🤔

In fact, I think that 'pretending to be patient', is what most of us do. I’m sure there would be many, who have perfected the art of exercising restraint, when they actually want to give someone a thorough verbal lashing. 

While it is definitely considered 'good manners' to do so, I think an over-dose of appropriate conduct, could lead a person’s mental and emotional health, to be adversely affected; and although patience is supposed to be a virtue, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in 'losing it', once in a way. 

If anything, I think it would actually make us better human beings, as we wouldn’t be bottling up so many negative emotions, that we would definitely have as human beings. In the process, we would end up developing into more stable individuals.

So, I guess the next time I call myself a patient person, I think I would first have to go and see who I need to give a very serious dressing down to; and for those who’ve always known me to be a very calm and gentle soul, that would indeed be a true sight to behold.😄

YEARNING FOR LOST INNOCENCE ✍️

Happy and carefree, with not a care in the world,
As little kids, how unperturbed we used to be,
Life was so uncomplicated and simple and secure,
The untainted joy and pure felicity, was there for all to see.

The world was one big roller-coaster ride
And we were having the time of our life;
The ups and downs, and twists and turns on it,
Were just part of the ride and caused little strife.

But as the years flew by, we slowly grew up
And we began to see the world in a different light;
The shades of gray began presenting themselves,
Things were no longer simply black or white.

As the different facets of life presented themselves to us
The confusion and the uncertainty grew as well,
The crossroads in life provided us with such a variety of choices,
Of the resulting anguish it caused, anyone could tell.

Life was no longer an open book,
So clear and unobstructed from people’s gaze;
It had now become a closely guarded secret
It had turned into an actual maze.

That same untroubled life had turned into a real puzzle
And cracking the code was no easy task,
The web we’d woven for ourselves had left us in tangles,
We had concealed ourselves behind a mask.

Why had we let life get so complicated?
Why had our errors in judgement taken control of us?
Why had we given up the reins of our own lives?
Why had we let things so drastically alter thus?

There may have been times when we had hidden the truth,
There may have also been times we’d betrayed those who care,
To lose the trust of people so loving and so dear,
To be so heartless, how could we even dare?

Life – How perplexing it can be sometimes!
How difficult to comprehend and understand!
At times it puts us on top of the world,
At other times, we feel we’re standing on quicksand.

Jolly little creatures, with a look of wonder in their eyes,
As we grow, why do we let that spark die down?
Sometimes I wish I could have been a child forever,
How wonderful, if I never had a reason to frown!!! ✍️

SALAMAT DATANG TO A NEW WORLD 😊💕

Along with all the love and respect that I have received as a Teacher in the past 4 years; and apart from all the joy it brings to me, my job has also given me an opportunity to Travel. 

I have visited a number of places within India, on our 'Annual School Educational Tours' with the boys; and every experience has given me an opportunity, to broaden my horizons. It has exposed me to the immense variety and brought me face to face with the amazing diversity, that exists in our beloved nation.

India is such a wonderful assortment of cultures, language, cuisines, dress, and landscape; and yet despite the multiplicity, there is an underlying oneness that unifies us.

Every trip around India therefore, has been a learning experience for me, and has helped to make the textbooks come alive, right before my eyes. It has given me first hand experience and thereby, made me a more well-informed and knowledgeable teacher, than I was before. 

Now, when I share some information with my boys in class, it’s not merely head knowledge or something I just got off the internet; but it’s a sharing of actual experiences, and that definitely makes the whole teaching-learning experience, more believable and enjoyable.😊

Just over a week ago, my school once again presented me with an opportunity, to take my 'Voyage of Discovery' a step further. It literally took me off my feet and whisked me off high into the clouds, to a place I’d never been to before. 

‘Salamat Datang’- that was the greeting this new world extended to me, as it welcomed me with open arms. Once again I was going to be exposed to a new kind of diversity and was about to be a part of a whole new set of experiences. Only this time, it was beyond Indian shores, in a foreign land, as I visited two of the most sought after tourist destinations in South East Asia - Singapore and Malaysia.💕

CLEAN and GREEN - Those are just two words we keep hearing over and over again, here in India. In those two places however, those are not merely words, but they’ve been actualized and made a reality. Visible dirt is a concept that’s probably unheard of, by the citizens of these two nations; and surprisingly, a large percentage of the population, is made up of people, who are Indians by descent. 

It made me wonder about how, Indians living in a foreign land had learnt to systematically and diligently follow the very rules, that they happily chose to disregard, in their own land.

Malaysia-Truly Asia - How many times, I had seen that ad for Malaysia Airlines on the television; and one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind, as I walked around in Genting Highlands and in Kuala Lumpur, was how true that tag-line actually was. 

There were people from almost every corner of Asia there. It was as if the whole of Asia, in every form, shape and size, had descended upon this country. I never really felt home sick at any point of time, during my short trip. 

Of course, one of the reasons was probably because, I was travelling in a group of 30 people; and we were almost like one big family for those eight days. 

However, the other reason for that was, that we kept bumping into Indians, almost everywhere we went. We heard people around us conversing in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi and of course Tamil, which incidentally is one of the official languages in those countries, a fact which came as quite a surprise to most of us. 

We also ate things like paneer, dosas, naan and aloo mutter in the Indian restaurants there. Who would have thought, that one would be able to find authentic Indian cuisine, in a totally foreign land. Of course, in the bargain, we did miss out on sampling some of the local street food and delicacies, which is something I did regret to a small extent; but the Tour Operator had strangely preferred to book us mostly Indian meals, during our stay there.😒

Singapore and particularly Sentosa Island, was absolutely beautiful; and took us right into the warm embrace of Mother Nature herself. Birds, animals, and aquatic life - we were literally face to face, with all of them. The rainforest settings had been painstakingly created, over a number of years; and provided the animals, birds and the fish with such a wonderful home, where they were well looked after and taken care of.

One of the thoughts that was uppermost in all our minds, was that we in India have almost as much beauty and natural diversity in our country, if not more. What we need most of all, is to chanelise all those wonderful resources and develop it, just as the governments of these two countries have done. They have turned their countries into amazing tourist spots, simply by going back to nature and harnessing the resources they have, in the best possible ways.👍

This trip brought with it, a host of first time experiences for me. There were so many times when I found myself, looking around at things around me, with absolute wonder. I was completely awestruck by some of the experiences, and at so many times behaved like a little kid, who was seeing some of the things for the very first time in her life. 

The long 20 minute cable car rides to and from Genting Highlands, over the forests and mountains of Malaysia; which started off on a slightly nervous note, soon turned into absolute delight and scenic splendour. It made the shorter cable car ride to Sentosa Island, seem like a cake-walk. 

The large number of escalators and elevators that we went up and down in, took some getting used to initially, for those of us who had always been used to stairs; but eventually, we got used to them, so much so that someone suggested that Fr.Bosco, our Principal, should convert all our staircases in school to escalators.😄

I was also dealing in foreign currency for the first time ever; and it was not so much fun realizing, how expensive things were there, when we converted it into Indian Rupees. For the sake of tourists, let's hope the value of the Indian Rupee goes up soon.

The high point of the entire trip however, was a show on the beach at Sentosa Island, called ‘Songs of the Sea’. It was a mix of music, smoke, water, fire, lights, computer animation, laser projection and a host of things, all rolled into one; making it an absolutely spectacular show. It was so beautifully co-ordinated and flawlessly executed, that it left us completely speechless. 

Everything was perfectly orchestrated as we moved towards the magnificent fireworks display, which marked the finale of the show. Words would be insufficient to describe, what that experience was like. One has to only see it to believe it; but that one show, made the whole trip so worthwhile, and was a fitting end to a fantastic trip.❤️

I’d like to end this section of my blog, with a word of Thanks to my Principal, Fr. Bosco, for organizing this entire trip, and for going a step further and thinking of an 'International Tour' this year. 

I will always remember that my first ever 'foreign trip' was made a reality, because of him. Of course, our Tour Operator Alpesh, from ‘Ashish Holidays’ and his contacts in Malaysia and Singapore, ‘Tourland’, for providing us with the best facilities, hotels, transportation, food, etc. 

This tour almost did not happen for me, as I got my visa in hand, just half an hour before stepping on the plane. I guess I have to Thank God and Aadam and Sunder from Ashish Holidays who went all out, to see that my visa was ready just in the nick of time. 

My 29 co-travellers also made the trip very lively and enjoyable, with their enthusiasm and friendly banter. 

Of course, there are also two people who will be etched in our memories for a long time, Mr.Sundarajan and Ms.Bee Choo who were our guides in Malaysia and Singapore, respectively. They were two very colourful personalities, that we encountered; and both of them made our trip memorable. I also learnt a lot about the history and culture of the region from the two of them.

I thank God for making this trip a reality for me and for keeping his mantle of protection over us at all times.✍️

THE ENDLESS WAIT ✍️

Some years ago, when I was in my Final Year of college, I remember reading a play by Samuel Beckett called ‘Waiting for Godot’. It was a text that we had to study, as part of the English Literature course, in the Third Year. 

The play was a tragicomedy, because it was 'about everything and about absolutely nothing', at the same time. It had two central characters Estragon and Vladimir, who were simply waiting endlessly, for someone called Godot, and it presented, everything that goes on between them, during that long wait.

It just made me wonder about, how we spend so much of our life 'Waiting', just like Vladimir and Estragon:

- waiting for a bus or a train

- waiting to see the result of something, that we’ve started out doing or attempted

- waiting to see the reactions of people, to something we’ve said or done

- waiting for the arrival of loved ones

- waiting for certain sad or troublesome people or situations, to pass.

Living in a country like ours, with a population that’s just bubbling over, we can’t help but 'wait our turn', for just about everything. We’re always standing in queues, and there’re always some impatient ones, who try to jump those queues; much to the exasperation, of all those who are braving the heat and the sweat, as they hold on, to their last strand of patience. 

We grumble and complain, about having to wait; and still, we can’t really do very much about it. It is a fact of life, that we just learn to accept.

While 'waiting' is mostly thought of, as being rather painful, there are also times when waiting for something, can fill a person with a blend of feelings like joy, longing, apprehension, expectation, and so on. 

On the one hand, you have the nervousness and anxiety among students, as they wait for the outcome of an examination; and on the other hand, you have the exhilarating feelings of a pregnant woman, waiting patiently for nine long months, to give birth to her little bundle of joy. 

While a child, is always longing to grow up; a person who has lived a long life, awaits the day, when he or she will pass from this world.

 
Life itself, has been turned into 'One Endless Waiting Room'.🤷 

'Waiting' is certainly a part and parcel of life itself. It is something we can’t do without; and yet sometimes, I feel that in this whole process of 'waiting for what is to come', we kind of 'miss out on the present'. We miss out on the beauty and ecstasy of the moment, because we’re always preoccupied, with what is going to happen in the future. 

So, I just wonder at times, whether it would ever be possible for us, to live our lives, enjoying every moment as it comes; without bothering about what the future holds in store for us, without concentrating on what lies ahead. ✍️