I got a tiff with the IPL

IPL, you’ve got it all. The cricketers, the movie stars, the high profile business men and you-can-love-them-you-can-hate-them-but-you-cannot-ignore-them cheerleaders (another excuse for men to keep them glued to their TV set, cricket plus scantily clad women! BONUS!), then there are the merchandise (that people would kill each other to lay their hands on) and I don’t even want to go near the controversies. It’s a powerful magnate, charged with entertainment that has every one captivated, from a 10 year old kid to 60 year old man, and women too have found out through IPL that all cricket matches are not boring. So you now have IPL, its matches and its catches, its star power and its controversies, being discussed by everyone in the offices, on the road side, by the vegetable vendors, at the kitty parties, by house maids. IPL is the talk of the town.

And why wouldn’t it be the talk of the town! IPL offers gossiping material for everyone. You can discuss the performance of your favorite team, you can share views over whether the latest change in some team’s uniform is favorable or not. You have individual team anthems to choose from and also the new avatars of their cheer leaders. Speaking of cheerleading, it has its own fan following, some shout out against the cheerleading squads for corrupting our culture, others ogle and drool over them, some carry around a smug face that they don’t care a thing about these pom-poms carrying girls while secretly grabbing every opportunity to see them dance and twirl. Then there are the appearances and disappearances, reactions and lack of it of the movie star/business tycoon team owners to look forward to.

Throw into this a few controversies and you have a circus!

 Now don’t get me wrong I really got nothing against the IPL. I have watched some of the matches too and enjoyed them. I just want IPL to know that it has everything.

So, IPL, you are cool, you got it all, so will you please let my brother go? He didn’t even look at his dinner while the match was on. 

Hey... whats the score????

God at the steering wheel

God was at the steering wheel, and I by His side. We were driving through the life road, and there came a steep descend, I said to Him,

“Oh come on God! We really don’t want to go down THAT road, I can’t even see where it ends. And its so steep…”

To which God replied,

“I am driving, you will be safe. It may look very steep, but I know exactly how to drive through this road, and besides you only said you don’t know where this steep road ends, wouldn’t it be fun to figure it out? Just sit back and relax! Let me drive you through it…”

Adamant as I was, I wasn’t going to let go that easily.

“But I just ate you know, I don’t think I am ready for a steep descent, how about we drive through a different way? I am surely gonna puke if we roll down this slope…”

“Why don’t you believe me when I say that it just ‘looks’ steep. You will be safe with me, and I promise that you will find a fantastic place at the end of the road…. And dear muffin, I am GOD, are you really threatening me with a bit of puke???”

He laughed after saying that, but I wasn’t remotely amused. There were so many other ways we could go, why go down that stupid steep road? I had to do something, could not let Him drive through that road.

I cried, I sobbed, I wailed. 

“I don’t want to go down that road! I just don’t, don’t, don’t! Why are you doing this to me? Why won’t you just let me drive through in peace? Why this road Lord, why this road?” 

He just smiled and promised me an amazing ride. So we began our journey, down the steep slope, the panic within me rising…

He began the journey, and I felt the g-force pull me down, I was very frightened, I tried to grab the steering wheel to steer away, the car swirled wildly. All the way down the road I tried to control the steering wheel and take charge, oh the stubborn God of mine wouldn't let me.

In the process I got mildly bruised too. And my anger was rising increasingly, when suddenly the car came to a halt and a beautiful place met my eyes. Oh there were fountains and trees with birds singing in them, the laughter of children playing around the rosemary bushes and the air had a mild fragrance in it.

I was mesmerized. I turned to God to thank Him, when I saw He was looking at my bruises, I realized at that moment that I had made my journey unnecessarily uncomfortable by trying to take control of the wheel.

When God is at the wheel, make sure He has the freedom to steer the way He wants to too, and do trust His driving skills!

Is India truly free?

I know it’s been a long time since the Republic Day and Independence Day is far away. But I did want to post this on a regular non-teaming-with-patriotic-sentiments day.

I boarded a bus to go to my college one day, it was mostly empty (an unusual thing), and so I chose a comfortable window seat, looking out the window. A few stops later a woman boarded the bus, with a child in her arms, inspite of many empty seats to choose from, she sat beside me. I gave her a smile and resumed my gazing out of the window exercise.

She opened the conversation after a few idle minutes. Asked me where I was going, in return told me the place she was headed to, she asked what I studied, in what year I was and so on. We chatted genially asking a few more general questions to and fro and then she dropped the bomb on me.

“You are a Patel?”

I told her I wasn’t; she was mildly surprised, told me I looked like one. Moments later she asked me again, “So what caste do you belong to?” With respect and the same genial manner I told her that I was a Christian.

She put her baby on her shoulder, grabbed her bag, and without a word got up from my seat and went to sit on another far away seat at the back of the bus. I was numbed with shock. Unable to believe what had happened. After a while I collected my thoughts, chose not to take it too personally and began gazing out of the window again!

The incident shook me to the core. The India about which I studied in a Social Studies class and the India I met in real life where stark opposites of each other.

Pebbles in the Pond

She was sitting under a tree, throwing pebbles into the pond, still brooding over the events that took place earlier that day. Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Went the pebbles into the pond, each time creating a ripple in the calm water, her thoughts echoing an entirely different chaos.

He should not have yelled at me like that! So what if he’s my elder brother. I’ve grown old too now, I am not a baby anymore…

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk…!

And how dare he call me an idiot? I am not an idiot! I am as intelligent as he is, may be more! And what happened was an accident…

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk…! 

I know he’s always had this hatred for me. Momma’s blue eyed boy! Why is he always trying to put me down!!! We are just a few years apart anyway. Why does he have to act so superior?

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Plonk…!!!

I was insulted. I am ALWAYS insulted by him. This time, he’s going to pay for it! This time I will make him regret yelling at me! I will show him I am equal in all respects to him. This time…

SSPLASHHHH!!!!

She was wet; the big splash brought her back to reality. Droplets had formed on her face; her hair and dress were wet too. For a while she was confused. She had no idea who made the splash. With anger in her eyes she looked here and there to locate the source of the splash. She found no one. Slowly her eyes fell on her own palm. The one which was throwing pebbles in the pond. It now held a big stone. SHE had made the splash!

While brooding over her brother, she never realized when her hand began picking and chucking larger stones in the pond. With each passing thought her hand was grabbing a bigger pebble, till it turned into grabbing stones.

How often do we let, small grudges, misgivings and self pity to take a big ugly form by brooding over it, by unnecessarily dwelling on it?

Anger, ego, jealousy, self pity, pride, malice, vengeance, vanity all begin at pebbles, and we only realize their hazardousness once we are drenched by a big splash. Do you want to curb it at pebbles? Or are you waiting to get wet?

Spiractuality

Spirituality. A word often used by many to convey different concepts. Right from following a specific religion or worshiping a certain god, to different precise practices within the same religion, spirituality encompasses these all and more.


But if I add another word to ‘spirituality’, it takes up a whole different meaning. The word I would like to add is ‘Catholic’.


Catholic Spirituality: The beautiful means of combining the inner search for God with our actions. The pathway to know, show and grow in Faith by, through and in union with the Holy Spirit.


Catholic Spirituality is a rich well to draw from. A search in Wikipedia will give you some 18 different forms of Catholic Spirituality. And I am sure there are more.


You as an individual may follow one or more of these spiritualities. Some may be Benedictine, others Carmelite, or Charismatic, Ignatian, Franciscan or a combination of these, whichever suits you the best! All of these forms aspire to achieve the same goal. A Faith bound union with God.


A week or so ago, I asked myself a question. Do I just use my ‘spirituality’ during the time of prayers and worship evenings? Does being a Charismatic mean only to shout ‘Hallelujah’s’ in prayer meetings?


Yes, spirituality does mean praying in a certain way, a specifically drawn path to reach out to the Higher Being during our hours of prayer and meditation. But that does not mean that the spirituality we follow is only restricted to our ‘prayer life’.


As St. James truly said:


“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17

Do you actually make your spirituality a way of your life? Is your Dominican /Benedictine /Francisan /Charismatic /Carmelite /Ignatian /Whatever spirituality reflected in your daily activities that you do in life? Do you drive like Charismatic, speak like a Carmelite, work like a Franciscan?

We, who are not suffering from bipolar disorder, should stop living a double life and let our faith inspire our action. Let your SPIRITUALITY be SPIR’ACTUALITY’.

So tell me, which spiractuality do you follow?

5 Benefits of Fasting

Fast

Fasting is what most will take up this season of Lent. Fast as a form of spiritual discipline has been a part of human history from times unknown. A general definition of a fast would be to abstain from any form of food during the day.

But why fast? How does it help us? What will change if we go on on a hungry stomach for an entire day?

As I pondered upon these questions, new avenues opened up in front of me, and slowly I grew in understanding the meaning of keeping a fast.

1) It shows your body who's the boss: So do you want to be under the flesh or under the spirit? If I act on my every physical urge, my soul is being controlled by my body. We are spiritual beings, our bodies are just an instrument for us to use while we live in this mortal world. Just as a mother withholds the candy from a wayward child, so do we have to withhold food from our bodies, to remind it, that our spirit is in charge.

2) Deferred Gratification: In this instant gratification world. we want to pitch ourselves as the center of the universe and want to work only to fulfill our own demands. Here fasting, builds a selfless, in-control character, where not answering to hunger pangs is a beautiful way to give our own selves a second seat and concentrate on other things.

3) It makes you more sensitive: How would I know the pain of the hungry, if I've never experienced hunger myself? Not only hunger, if practiced correctly fasting will also sensitize you to a lot of other forms of pains that people go through.

4) It frees up time: How often have you cried about the lack of time in your life? Well, fasting has a solution for you! It saves a lot of time during the day if we do not eat our daytime meals. So all the time saved from eating and planning breakfasts and lunches can now be used for a better purpose.

5) No big deal: It shows us that going without food for half a day isn't going to kill anyone. Fasting makes us realize that it is not a big deal to not have food, to remain hungry, to deny any treats offered to us. Yes, we can do it, we can say NO to food without any harm. Its no big deal.

Cannot resist saying:

Man does not live on bread alone!

The Champion

There was a Roman emperor, tall and smart and handsome, as any Roman emperor should be. The emperor had a champion. He was strong, wise and very powerful, he had never failed in any battle, whosever’s side he would be on, victory would be certain.

Now the emperor had a bitter enemy, many a times he had struck on the emperor’s kingdom and most of the time it had been without warning. The champion would always be sent to deal with the enemy’s army, and each time the champion returned victorious.

Time passed, and the victories over this enemy created a false pride and assurance in the emperor’s mind.  He now felt that his enemy was weak and could be easily thwarted. And so it once happened that the enemy struck again, in the middle of the night, and had set on fire half the emperor’s barns, the emperor in his fury set out to meet the enemy.

They fought, and the emperor realized that the enemy was stronger than he had expected him to be. The emperor lost the battle and half his kingdom, he barely just escaped death. The champion, so long had been in his chamber, waiting for the emperor to summon him. But the summons never came.

Bruised and tired, the emperor returned to his remaining territory. And as time went by, he again began ruling the kingdom with a faulty faith in himself, assuring his own heart that the last battle was won by the enemy just by sheer luck and the next time when the enemy would strike, the emperor would be ready to face him and defeat him.

Again one afternoon, the army of the enemy came marching upto the castle, challenging the emperor to an open battle. The emperor poured out every soldier from his castle and went into battle with the enemy. What a fierce battle it was! Blood and death, fire and destruction! The castle was looted, all the valuables stolen, this time too the emperor had to leave all behind and run for his life, this time too he had forgotten to call his champion.

He ran up the hills, with the horse-men of the enemy hot on his tail. All hope was lost, the kingdom had fallen into enemy hands, and his life too was at their mercy. Up the hill and into the thatch of bushes he went, and hid in the shadows beside the lake. The horse-men, still in wild search for their quarry. Then the emperor’s eye’s fell on someone at the other end of the lake, he drew a little closer to get a better look, and with a rush of gratitude recognized that standing at the other end was his champion!

He called out to his champion, and the champion answered. Within an hour the horse-men following the emperor were slaughtered, and in the coming 3 days the entire kingdom was won back.

The people rejoiced and so did the emperor, and he also realized that from now on he would let the champion face the enemy.

Are we like the emperor? Who goes out to meet the enemy without his champion? Do we too go out to meet the temptations without our Champion, Jesus Christ? Are you the one who has now lost all the battles against the temptations in life and are now running here and there to save your life? Jesus, the champion, won the biggest battle in 3 days. Let Him face your enemy each time he strikes.