Have you ever been in a situation when you are undecided in a matter.
How did you feel ?
In this situation, I was very disturbed. My mind would go swirling around.
Why do you ask? And why would that happen.
Indecision is the worst . I would be in a state of inertia.. It’s either say yes or no.
But for me it is a struggle .
I realised how bad it can be.
My life changed when I became bold.
I would take bold decisions.
How did I do it? I owe it to my conversion experience. I prayed and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me . His help was sufficient as he gives grace and wisdom.
Gone are the days of indecision.
You will notice that a person who takes decisions can be very effective at work.
This morning I met an old friend of mine, he is more like a brother.
Conversation just flowed. There was no hesitation in sharing our deepest thoughts. It’s been a long time since I have had a decent conversation . I think we could have gone on and on, but soon, it was time for him to return home.
Why is it that when I meet people of a younger age group, such deep conversations are not possible?
This may be because our levels of thinking – or experience – are different.
Don’t you think it is a matter of concern? The more one gets isolated when not meeting one’s peers, other problems arise. Slowly, your peers pass away. One becomes forgetful or is not able to keep up with the latest news and trends.
Is there a solution to this?
Yes. You can pick up the phone and chat with a friend. Or better still, meet in person. As your peers pass away, make it a point to chat with your family members.
Now I know why an aging person wants to talk to you. He needs companionship and spend time talking . He just needs a listening ear.
When I was younger and an older person wanted to talk to me, I would feel restless, even irritated. I would avoid such conversations.
Don’t you think that one day we will all reach that age. I’m beginning to experience this to some extent.
We know about multiple choices which leave us wondering, which to choose.
Here I’m writing about only two choices. Either to be positive or negative in my thinking.
I have a choice to either rejoice for each day as a gift from God or be forgetful and think of only the negative things .
These days I’ve experienced a gradual decline in health and being negative in my thinking . Is that ok ? Surely not!
Each day when I wake up I need to thank God for another day of life. Everyone is born with an expiry date which is unknown .
How then do I live ?
If I realize he walks with me and talks with me , provided I am silent and listen .
There is so much to thank him for .
A roof over my head, food on the table , finances to live and manage my expenses , and a family….
My loving wife , children all grown up settled and grandchildren too .
I am at peace despite ongoing trouble in the world .
Therefore I need to thank God for these blessings and rejoice . The Lord knows everything. He grants our hearts desires but also refrains from granting some if he knows it’s not good for me
What about my sufferings . I have neuralgia , dystonia , and digestive problems.
At the same time he has healed my cancer , gout and lung problem.
I can share these with Jesus on the cross and pray for others with similar ailments or pray for the departed souls and even for world peace and leaders of nations ,
I have a choice to make ; either to rejoice at this moment even if things go wrong knowing God can even make saplings sprout in the desert .
The reverse would be to drown in sorrow .
Do I believe , trust , and obey our loving God ?
Am I repentant for sinning and going the wrong way ?
Then I ask for forgiveness and move on with hope for the new day
Some good people die unfulfilled; others find length of days to be more of a punishment than a privilege.
Do you really think that when a good person dies young his life was unfulfilled. What about those who live a long life ?
Is that a punishment?
Old people are faced with many types of illnesses . There are persons who fail to recognise , or physically disabled . .
But yet there are elders who are blessed with wisdom and rise to be leaders. Some are blessed with an astuteness for politics. Others can be famous writers, musicians, actors and painters wherein age is not a barrier.
Some examples are :
Jimmy Carter
Jawaharlal Nehru
Mahatma Gandhi
Nelson Mandela
Gandalf from Lord of the Rings
Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter
Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars
Will a young person be considered unfulfilled if he dies young?
There are many young people who have died young and have been successful.
Percy Shelley (poet)at 29 years
John Keats(poet) at 25 years
Ramanujam (mathematician)at 32 years
The essence of this is that the call can come at an any age . Are we ready to face our Heavenly Father.
Jesus Christ died at the age of 33 yrs. As Christian we believe that he fulfilled his mission of saving man from sin, by his death and resurrection and an outpouring of his Holy Spirit. At the right hand of God our Father he is our final judge according to the life we live, whether good or bad .
It does not matter that when a man dies young, we think he is unfulfilled, or if he dies when old it’s a punishment. Rather he can make his contribution to those around him at any age and importantly the life that he has lived
At Dalmally on my second trip, I met a few others who were also having a quiet stay at the Lodge. Among them , Jim’s sense of humour was very interesting. In relating a joke, he would appear to be serious. He was immersed in painting sceneries with an array of water colours . My curiosity led me to peek into his work . “Jim your paintings are wonderful. ” said I, thinking it was his hobby . This was more than that.
His talent in art progressed from high school to his work life. Even though he was in an engineering company he joined night classes in art, 6 days a week. At this stage, he could draw faces from memory. He met Jean who worked in the company office and eventually married her. Their interest in drama and singing, led them to join a drama and dancing club. Soon they participated in public performances.
He later joined the railways . With the arrival of their son Mark they moved from Glasgow to Arbroath . He honed his skill, specially in drawing profiles and was greatly encouraged by a renowned artist.
Since there was less time for art and drama he moved to Elgin. Here he began painting sceneries. The time of Covid was a blessing in disguise. He began an art class called Cant,draw,want to draw . Currently he has 29 students.
An interesting part of his life is his spiritual life . “Jim you are a hard wire” said his pastor meaning his closeness to God through knowledge of the bible. He was a regular church goer. He drew pictures of the children’s Bible when young. He always thought God was too busy. But his life changed when he heard the Word from Isaiah 49:13 ‘ I have carved you in the palm of my hand’ at a charismatic prayer group on invitation from his catholic wife. He thus became Catholic from being a Protestant.
What brought us to Craig Lodge ? It is the peace and quiet; a time of prayer and just to have a break from the busy city life. For Jim , the opportunity to paint sceneries was an added bonus . At the end I saw him paint the Kilchurn castle, which he had visited during this time. The biggest surprise was when I was told that ‘Jim is an amazing cartoonist’ Here are some of his past works. You will understand why I liked his sense of humour
This was a time when I went for babysitting, or should I say , little boy sitting .
Daniel is young boy of 5years waiting to reach 6years. He got me to play a board game , which he did not know the rules. As instructions were lost , neither did I know the game. So we innovated our type of game with it . We had two men on the board and cards on the side. You rolled the dice which was coloured in different sides and you moved the man to the colour shown . Cards were on the side . As each one took a card you had to act it out.
On another occasion , he was in the midst of drawing randomly .
I asked him to draw my face . I was amazed at the result . It seemed to resemble me a bit. On his own he then drew my wife’s face from memory which also looked good . They were like caricatures of us .
He is very fond of us , his grandparents, specially his ‘Avo’ his grandmother.
On his visits to our place , he has literally adopted one of the couches . He loves jumping on it like a trampoline. When his parents and siblings join us , he makes quite a fuss if others sit on this couch .
His favourite snacks are biscuits , homemade chocolate buns and Chappaties. Other than that he gives a lot of trouble to eat anything else.
He is very fond of football and loves to score goals with his left foot. He supports Celtic like his father and Liverpool because of me.
I’ve grown to love him a lot . I often wonder how his relationship will be when he grows up. Surely it will change.
Daniel loves watching ‘Mario’ episodes and star wars on tv
However, I will always treasure these memories of my’ Daniel boy’.
His forte was sprints and he excelled in100m and 200m
In due time he was spotted by his coach who saw a potential talent of coaching in him
So he introduced him to learn coaching.
Then Jermaine moved into coaching a school team and then joined the national coaching team in Jamaica.
A few young athletes from India travelled to Jamaica to improve their style of running their specific event. There they met Jermaine and invited him to continue training them in India.
Subsequently he travelled to India and is now coaching budding athletes.
One of his pupils, Aryana Kadam, is a national gold medalist of India in the 200m
I was watching Aryana Kadam during the training of his athletes
They had multiple excercises for building up their bodies for athletics besides actual running
He says “it’s not only running , but also looking after and development of the bodies . In a week I give them two days only for the excercises, and remaining days for running .”
His athletes have a good style for running . They specialise in the sprints .
I asked him “why do only a few Indian athletes win at the International level ?”
“It’s because they train only to win medals initially without an overall development as I recommend . As a result they fade away when it really matters . It’s not only training to win against other international athletes but to strive to do even better every time, against stronger and faster athletes .
He has been training Aryana from the age of 12 years . He has now grown up to be a strong athletes. He has competed at an international meet in France .
He recommends “ as youngsters being trained for athletics, they need to be nurtured until they grow up and continue to develop.”
Sponsorship for such athletes goes a long way .
Let’s hope there are more coaches like Jermaine to take our young athletes to the next level.
At mid morning he will do the rounds of our quaint village as he calls out
‘Nari….i…..Yaaal .( Nariyal which means coconut in Hindi)
If he misses out on his regular customers , another hawker also selling coconuts will take a round . Obviously there is competition between the two of them to get more business.
Our man is very pleasant . He actually posed for these pictures .
He offers you a choice of coconuts; either the ‘malai’ one i.e with more coconut flesh and less water or the ‘pani’ one i.e more of coconut water.
He carries a sharp knife which can even slice off someone’s neck. Ha, ha …
With a swipe or two, he proceeds to cut a small piece at the top of the coconut and with that piece he uses it to scrape off the ‘malai’ (from inside), which is delicious to eat and pours out the coconut water into your vessel . He can pour it out even into a plastic sachet he carries.
This is my favourite mid morning drink
I was away for a long time and wondered whether he would still be on his coconut rounds when I returned .
Yes he was …..and he gave me a huge smile. Instead of giving me a welcome drink , he had increased his price to Rs 70/- ………After reminding him that I was his old and faithful customer, he did reduce his price to Rs 60/-
I will always look forward to our ‘coconut man’ .
Coconut water is a good alternative for those who are lactose intolerant. It is hydrating, low in calories and rich in potassium which is an essential electrolyte .
The flesh of coconut is rich in antioxidants, has powerful antibacterial properties, and may support better blood sugar control.
It is a source of many minerals . Its fibre content helps in gut health .
So coconut is good for heart health , weight loss and digestion . However because it is high in calories and saturated fats , it needs to be eaten in moderation.
So , cheers to you when in India, for the sweet coconut water, and the rich ‘malai’.
Have you heard of Goa’s Paowala also called Poder ?
I’m sure you will come to know him when you visit Goa or are a Goan resident.
He is the man who delivers bread every morning at your doorstep .
Pao is the konkani word which means ‘bread’ in engish . It’s the local language in Goa. Portuguese, English, Marathi and even Hindi is spoken
There is a typical characteristic of this man. He makes his presence felt with a horn on his cycle
The baker’s horn
. At the rear of his cycle he has a huge basket with a variety of breads .
I love the Poiee the best .
The others are
Katriche Pao : with a scissor cut shape
Paozine: mini stuffed round roll ( with a
sausage filling ) also called Choris Pao.
Unde : hard crusted bread and soft inside
Pao: a soft square of bread
Kankon : bangle shaped bread
The Poiee is a whole wheat bread with a large round shape and hollow inside . It has a little bran at the top
Poiee
Today the Paowala even comes on a motorcycle. Generally the round basket has a blue cover .
I’ve waited anxiously for the sound of his horn to collect the Poiee or the standard Pao if I’m late for the Poiee.
The Poiee is so famous that one can order it at some restaurants .
However all POIES are not authentic. Some don’t have the typical round and hollow shape.
Besides seeing the real Paowala , I happened to see a huge model of one at Chimbel . It was made for an event, and literally out-standing . Since it was being de-constructed the model was headless.
A model of the Paowala
If you have lived in Mumbai ( formerly known as Bombay) then you may have heard of the ‘Maka Pao’ . Without any offence to anyone , a Goan was jokingly called a Maka Pao which simply means Maka Pao Zai translated in English as ‘I want bread’. I’m one , for your information. …and a proud Goan😉
viewvin 