Unfortunately many Christians do not read the bible

 We are essentially and comprehensively a family group who believe in God and who have journeyed this far affirming and deepening  our faith.

This morning as I was about to leave for KUTSeminary, our 6 year old granddaughter posed a question. She pointed at the picture - it's a pencil drawing of crucified Christ, Anoop had bidden at a Harvest Festival - on the wall and asked what was written on top of Jesus. I replied it was INRI. Then came the question. What was meant by it?

I was dumbstruck. I said it's King of Jews. I entrusted Ann to verify  and  give her the correct answer and came off.

I overheard Ann giving the correct answer and explaining to her it's Latin. Immediately the next question came. What's Latin. Ann explained it's a language like Hindi, English or Malayalam.

Yesterday an insurance agent - a non Christian  - visited us to collect an insurance premium. He was in a talking mood like all insurance agents. All of a sudden he popped a question. Sir, do you know how many books are their in the bible? He said he had put this to many Christians and had failed to obtain the correct answer from a large number. I gave the answer. He said you have given the correct answer because you read the bible. But unfortunately, many Christians do not read the bible and they couldn't give the right answer. 

The two incidents made me introspect.

Sharing the experience and leaving the rest to the reader

BABYKUTTY AMMAMMA

 Babykutty Ammamma, my cousin's wife wrote after reading my post on Professor.G.D.Gabriel, U C Collage, Aluva.

"I have fond memories of Gabriel sir. I worked as a junior lecturer for a year in the English Department in U C. College after I graduated. He joined the department that year, in 1964. He advised me on what books to read. He introduced me to A.J. Cronin. I got hooked after reading ‘The Judas Tree’. I remember his wife and baby girl. He was very well respected by everybody".

And I replied.

"That was wonderful. That you were an English teacher. That I never knew. That too at the UCCollege. That we both think highly of Gabriel Sir.  

Teachers like him inspire you. They nudge you unassumingly. You are transformed even without you ever knowing the transition.

What was unfortunate was, except for him and EN  - E Narayanan Nambiar the English Department at UCCollege was  devoid of merit in teaching. The rest had degrees and qualifications. But they never knew they were not really conveying. Even the pronunciation was rank bad for some of them. I don't blame anyone. They taught as they knew. But in the process they succeeded in ruining the prospects of a generation who reached out to them to garner knowledge.

It was the bane of Kerala. It still is. Everyone thinks he is the supremo, whereas he is nowhere when he competes with non Keralites.

I had stumbled upon AJ Cronin somehow as I ambled along without a care, without direction, without purpose. Just as you were hooked, I too had been. I think I have been through almost everything he created. May be I had a horror of Judas, I held off Judas Tree till the last. It was good. But enamoured by what I had read earlier, it did not arouse the feeling I had when I read titles like 'Keys of the Kingdom'. 

Ammachi here was an avid reader. Once I gave Keys of the Kingdom to her. Afterwards she told me she had read it several times and each time it had evoked tears

Happy we vibe"

LEANDER PAES

 I grew  up in a middle class family whose passion was sports. And it just shows that with hard work and belief, any body can become a champion"

Leander Paes

He won the Tennis singles bronze at 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was India's first individual Olympic medal since wrestler Khashaba Jadhav's medal at 1952 Helsinki 

Leander says, " Every Sunday after Church, I used to polish my father's Olympic Medal. My parents had hundreds  of trophies, but this one(the Olympic medal) attracted me. I wanted one of my own."

LIFE MOMENTUM CONFIDENCE

 LIFE MOMENTUM CONFIDENCE

As we go up from childhood through various stages in life, a certain momentum carries us forth. We reach nowhere without the inbuilt mechanism of momentum within us.

We need to execute the tasks we are on to with confidence. No doubt, the momentum referred to, is directly proportional to the confidence we have. 

When we succeed in our quests, the confidence level increases. We see that the confidence and the momentum are feeding off each other. 

We start our days setting goals. We yearn for attaining them. We make it when we do everything right with confidence, momentum in tow.

 We conclude the day achieving the goals we set for ourselves.

ESCALATION OF COST CLAUSE

 ESCALATION OF COST CLAUSE

You know why contracts awarded by Government or Government organisations are never completed in the time prescribed for completion. 

The contracts would have a built in clause, 'Escalation of Cost'.

According to this clause the contract  agreement would affirm  that in case the work could not be completed in time due to causes or reasons beyond the control of the contractor, he would be paid 10% or 20% or more as agreed upon taking into consideration the escalation in costs that may arise with the passage of time

Obviously no work would meet the deadline. 

The excess amount thus released would meet other expenses of the contractor that could not be a part of the contract

VARISU

 Varisu, is a recently released Tamil movie.

We watched it on the OTT. 

It seems its world-wide gross collection in 21 days is Rs.297 Crores

Two things struck me towards the end. 

1. Interaction between the father on his final hours with his son.

Father:

When I should have held your hand as a toddler, I haven't done any thing for you. 

But as soon as I asked, you came forsaking your plans and dreams to hold my hands. 

You gave me more than I asked.

Son:

I may not have walked the path you walked. 

But you were the one who taught me to walk. 

Whatever be the problem between a father and son

To a son, his father is the first hero.

DAISY

 Muhammad Ali or Cassius Clay was the greatest boxer of all times. The whole world liked him. Admired him. He won laurels after laurels. He danced like a bee in the ring.

But the everlasting image he left was the scene where he lighted the Olympic flame with the Olympic torch that had traversed the whole world. One could sense he was ill as he lifted the torch with great effort. But he very slowly did that with the will power that led to him to his stupendous achievements.

There was a lady who had attended the Cholakathu Family  meet on 26 January 2023. She was not well like Muhammed Ali. But she traversed approximately 150 kms with great effort to participate in the meet. Her people helped her accomplish her desire.

She had always been like a bee as I remember. Pleasant. The smile and laughter was making her out. Love and affection were explicit all the time. She was very happy to be among her people. She spoke at the meet with clarity. One could sense the distress she was experiencing. But she made us all sit back and ponder. Yes, the family holds us tight through an invisible bond.

The lady is no one else but our own Daisy. God bless her and carry on gamely, fighting the odds heavily loaded against her.