In Vacant or in Pensive Mood

After an all-night worship session, everyone had decided to rest for a while in their tents. But you know, in this place, it is seldom that one needed to rest because of fatigue or exhaustion. Perhaps that was why he was able to go back out to the Garden after spending just a few brief minutes in the tent. Here, he didn't really feel the need to sleep. Sometimes, when he thought about his old home, he laughed at how much he loved to sleep there! Here, he just liked to spend as much time as possible singing, or playing the swanky guitar they gave him sometimes. During other times, he liked to walk in the Garden, as he was doing now, or just sit and watch the fountain as its gleaming water gushed out in different directions. It was a beautiful place, no doubt, much better than the people back home described it. Someone touched him on his shoulder and he turned to see who it was. It was a man wearing a beautiful white tux, holding a letter in his hand. Alan's eyes brimmed wit

It was a hot summer afternoon in the early 1990’s. A little girl, about five years old, was playing in her grandparents’ drawing room with her imaginary friends. As she sat playing, she heard the sound of a car stop at the front gate. A few seconds later, she was interrupted by a large beast that came charging into the room! It was black, with shades of grey around its face, and had a long pink tongue that was hanging out of its mouth. It pounced at her, and she fell to the ground in a mixture of shock and surprise. Then, quickly recovering, she got up and climbed up the on the couch, screaming and jumping in utter fear. Her screams brought both her grandparents running into the room with panicked faces. On seeing her jumping and running on the couch, trying to escape being bitten or scratched by the dreadful beast at her feet, her grandmother’s face softened. Her grandfather’s face, on the other hand, became stern. He let out a grunt, and then firmly ordered her to get off the couch

Growing up is a huge responsibility. When we were children, we were just waiting to grow up and go to work! We thought that life was easier for our parents and the other adults we knew because they had no homework to worry about when they got back from work. We associated school to torture when we compared them with our childish imaginations of adult life. And, although some of us did say that we wanted to become doctors or teachers when we grew up, the span of our imaginations could not be limited to those few words put into our heads by adults. Take, for example, what my little sister used to say she wanted to be when she grew up; “Haaayah” , her version of Aayah , a name we use for maids who clean, and help the teachers in the kindergarten. She also used to claim that her Haayah was her best friend! My little cousin once said he wanted to be a lorry (truck) driver. What simple, uncomplicated wishes they were, very unlike the clichéd aspirations we were expected to possess.

This is some information I compiled during the Rabies Awareness Campaign we conducted at Madras Christian College, Chennai. This page is an extension to the previous post: A Memoir , dedicated to my friend, Alan. Rabies   is a zoonosis caused by the virus Lyssavirus rabies , which attacks the central nervous system. Rabies can be transmitted to humans from infected dogs, cats, bats, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, etc. may transmit the disease. A person is exposed to rabies either due to a bite from a rabid animal, or from exposure to its saliva on an open wound/cut. People who have been bitten by a stray/non-vaccinated animal, or licked by one over broken skin, should be treated within 12-48 hours. People exposed to rabies need to be treated with rabies immunoglobulin and rabies vaccine initially. They must also get additional vaccine injections on the 3 rd , 7 th , 14 th  and 28 th  day after the first treatment. Rabies is 100% preventable if the treatment is started on

Two months ago, on 20 th February 2014, Alan Joash Samuel, our dear friend and classmate, passed away due to Rabies. The weeks that preceded it, and those that followed, have been the toughest phase of my life, emotionally. I tried to write, but I wasn’t in a state of mind to blog about it. Now that I am back here after a long break from blogging, I feel that it would be unjust if I don’t record the event that impacted my life in such a big way. So, I’m putting together here what I wrote at different points during the last two months. It’s been over a week from that dismal day, yet our hearts refuse to be comforted. His sudden and unexpected death has left us all shattered. We didn't get a chance to tell him how much he meant to us, how precious his role in influencing our lives. W e didn’t have the time to bid him goodbye. Even though my mind is still fogged by the sorrow weighing my heart down, I now recollect the events of the past few months. In late October 2013,

There was a phase in my life when I had been fascinated by the idea of having a big brother. I didn't have one myself, but just hearing people talk of their big brothers and the sweet things they did made me wish I had one too. Soon enough, my wish was granted. A second cousin I had hardly spoken to before, but had met many times during my vacations in Kerala, landed in my city to study engineering. Although I was wary of it in the beginning, I was able to accept him as my brother and enjoy the sisterly pampering he offered. I realised that you don't necessarily have to be siblings to be a big brother and a baby sister! Wonderfully enough, this realisation brought me some more big brothers. They pampered me, and filled my life with a certain happiness that compared to nothing I had felt before. I fed my hunger for affection with all the chocolates they bought me. Well, I LOVED it! I started looking up to my brothers for almost everything. When it came to some important deci