Category Archives: Life

When the shoe is on the other foot

Life, ,

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.

Now the shoe is on the other foot !

Choices

Life, ,

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

Does Age Really Matter 

Life, ,

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 

The Biscuit Man

Life, ,
Khara buiscuit & Tea Toast

Many years ago we had the biscuit man calling out his wares near our home while on his rounds. Oooooo biscuuit wala. 

  He would ring our door bell and this announced his presence. 

Most  often he came at about 4 pm . 

He then opened his Aluminium trunk ….’Peti’ in Hindi, which had several compartments. In each was a different variety of biscuits:

There were 

Khari biscuits ….. flaky pastry

Ginger biscuits 

Almond and cashew biscuits

Pistachio 

Jeera 

Nankatai 

Tea toast 

I loved the almond, Khari biscuits & Tea Toast.

In the evening, I would dip these biscuits while sipping my tea .

Oh this was so delicious .

I think of my biscuit man often. 

With the passage of time the biscuit man has disappeared.

Today  biscuits are available in shops and well packaged. 

Even if I want the earlier variety of biscuits , they are not easily available. 

Other vendors  still come like the fish ( Machiwalla)  and bread man ( Paowala) .

We do miss our biscuit man . 

  

Jim Cameron: An artist who surprised me

#Art, Profiles, , ,

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

Fun with my grandson

Profiles, ,

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’.

An Encounter

Athletics, Profiles, Sport, Uncategorized, , , ,

Jermaine Shand

Jermaine hails from Jamaica.

He was an athlete until university.

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.

Our Coconut Man

Health, Life, ,

Here is our Coconut Man :

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’.

Goa’s Paowala (Poder)

Profiles, ,

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😉

The Mayor : my most famous person I have ever met

Profiles, , , , ,

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

The most famous person I’ve ever met is my granduncle Dr M U Mascarenhas. He was more like my grandfather, as my father lost both his parents at the age of 8years old and was cared for by him.

Dr M U Mascarenhas on the left
and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1st Prime Minister of India)on the right

I say famous about my granduncle because he had become mayor of Bombay (now Mumbai).

He was part of the freedom movement when India got its independence from Great Britain. He took an active part in the political life of India . He was elected as an Independent and later as a Congress candidate.

My memories went back to my childhood when I was about 8-9 years of age. He stayed in ‘Marian Villa’ , while we had our home opposite him. We would visit him every evening . At that time he was quite old , in his 70’s .

I cherish those interactions with him. He knew my brothers and I liked lozenges. The moment we said “Good evening Granduncle’ , he would respond lovingly and point to a jar of lozenges he kept on top of a cupboard. He would then give us some .

He also kept Dell Comics featuring Superman, Batman Sadsack and even Archie, which we loved reading. Sadly you don’t get Dell comics anymore.

Once a year from end August to end September there would be a kite flying season . We thought we were quite smart. When we met him , we would hint “ Granduncle there are many kites in the skies nowadays “ wondering what his reaction would be . Surely he guessed about our hint . Then he would call the housekeeper “ Marie , please get them some kites .” We were overjoyed to receive our kites .

I remember accompanying him at this late age to cast his vote during the electoral process. It amazed me that people still remembered him , as they welcomed him ‘Please make way for our former mayor’

I was greatly saddened when his end was near . My brothers and I were at a scout and cub camp out of Bombay ( in Khandala)

We were called urgently home. We then visited the hospital to see him, by which time he was semiconscious. As I wished him, he turned to see us and that was the last .

Condolences followed , to acknowledge him even at public meetings and in the newspapers.

This one thing I learned ….one has to move on in in life , no matter how famous a person is, loving memories stay with us .Acceptance of our state of life at the changing seasons help one to go a long way .