In Vacant or in Pensive Mood

Three-year-old* me had a bed-wetting issue. She prayed specifically about it, almost every night before going to bed. The nights she prayed before going to sleep, she would wake up to a dry bed in the morning. She didn't think, even for a minute, that her nightly accidents may have stopped due to any other changes in her routine. Her mother made her go to the washroom every night before bed, but the difference between a wet bed and a dry bed in the morning depended on whether or not she remembered to pray. That's what she believed, anyway! Five-year-old* me would have nightmares of thieves breaking into her house and cutting off her arm when she attempted to fight them off and protect her parents. She prayed about it and the nightmares disappeared. If she forgot to pray, they sometimes returned. Without a question, she prayed again. Until the nightmares stopped, until she became a dreamer of good, beautiful and awe-inspiring dreams. Six-year-old* me wanted sunglasses; large one...

I didn't fear my parents growing up, but I did have reverent fear for Valiadaddy, my maternal grandfather. He was the official "hand-holder" at all my birthday celebrations that involved a cake. He is the one who taught me, by example, to love dogs. When my myna bird - Mittoo - died, I cried a lot. Valiadaddy brought me a parrot - Kuttoo - to make me happy again. I've been a picky eater all my life. I've had a phase where I would only eat a specific type of fish, a phase where I would only eat dry fish, a phase where I ate a minimum of 6 Marie gold biscuits (and no other biscuit) with my evening tea. Valiadaddy has always made sure that he made these available to me. What's more, whenever he and Valiamummy would return from a visit to Kerala, they would bring the brown halwa for the rest of the family and red-coloured halwa, exclusively for me. He loved birds and fish and he devoted several hours a day to take care of them, settin...

Every morning, we wake up and do things in a hurry. We might find time to spend a while in prayer, where we quickly make a to-do list of things for God. Then we promptly proceed with our day because there is so much of living to do. I don't know about you, but sometimes I worry. I worry that I don't exactly feel a connection with God like I used to when I was a child. I worry that I am not able to hear His voice when I pray. Today, though, He spoke to me loud and clear as I was travelling to work and singing to myself a song that seemed to pop into my head out of the blue. The song goes like this: "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord..." "Do you allow me to speak?", God asked. "How do you expect to hear my voice when you are so busy doling out tasks for me to do, soon after which you are rushing to other unimportant things? It’s very simple, I speak if you listen! Spend time with me, wait upon me."

ALWAYS 26/03/16 -  Saturday One weekend, I was riding up to a nearby restaurant to meet a few friends. While crossing a bus stop, where a bus halted right in front of my two-wheeler, I swerved the bike right and overtook it. What I did not expect at that point was for a large cow to emerge from the other side, jumping in front of my bike. Taken completely by shock and surprise, my conscious mind froze for a split second! Luckily, the adrenaline rush to my brain alerted my reflexes and I hit the brakes with all my might. The speed at which the vehicle was moving made the brakes ineffective, and I quickly planted both my feet on the road, firmly pulling back the handlebars to avoid ramming right into the cow. The vehicle stopped just in time, about half an inch away from the now confused cow. She was considering turning around and going back to wherever she had come from! I let out a sigh of relief, but my heart didn’t stop pounding at my rib cage for the next 2...