Merry Christmas

With a special talent that did not confine itself to the boundaries of tempo, tune, beat and anything remotely musical, I was spared the task of joining the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, choir.
This was the first chapter of the book titled. 'Lack of talent can be a blessing. For you and others.'

This meant that Bruce and I had to play other roles. And there is no better time than December to put your kid through these testing times. Honestly, I loved it. At least back then, I did.

And for once I knew something by heart. The flow of events during the Christmas Eve celebrations.

1. Carols in English by the choir.
2. Carols in Malayalam by the choir.
3. Sermon
4. Carols in English by little ones.
5. Carols in Malayalam by the little ones.
6. Enactment of the Nativity scene.
7. Carols in English by the elders.
8. Carols in Malayalam by the elders.
9. Cake distribution.

For 1-5, 7-9, the odds of me and Bruce making it were quite similar to the ones Dravid had of making it to the one-day team.

No. 6 could surely accommodate us.

Joseph - Possible.
Mary - Not Possible. There were pretty girls and that too many in number.
Baby Jesus - Not possible. Too heavy for one of the pretty girls to lift.
A doll from one of them would be more apt. And they know their dolls.
Animals in the manger - Possible.
3 wise men - Quite Possible.


Really did not know or was bothered to find out how these roles were assigned.
Had to get through it, quick and easy.

Joseph was chosen, excited kid smiled.
Mary was chosen, excited girl smiles, some twitch their lips, as only little girls can, some boys who could pass of as the former breathed a sigh of relief.
Mary got the doll, quite right I would say, mother brings her kid.
The animals were chosen - was still not there.
One wise man -some kid
Two wise man - bruce.
Third wise man - brijesh

See Papa, 'wise man'

Action.
Start walking the entire length of the church till you reach the front.
The rest are already there, in their positions playing a game of 'mental statue'
Join in, offer the gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Say 'statue' in your head and pose.

Choir sings.
Some enthusiastic uncle and aunty join in.
They sing better than some in the choir, who glare at them from behind song sheets.

Some more songs. Ends with a Jingle Bell... each bell jingling in a different manner, depending on who is rendering it.

The uncle who has to rush out for a smoke has already reached the , " ... in a one horse open sleigh..."

The Malayalam speaking ones did not proceed beyond, "jingle bells..."

The boyfriend in the choir or the girlfriend in the congregation or vice versa, while standing on their toes and arching their necks, emphasised on, " oh what fun it is to ride..."

While fools like us, wanted to get out of our sarees that was deftly modified into a robe. Get home quickly and have the awesome palappam and chicken stew.

Merry Christmas!

yeh school hai kya?

Class 6A - Mrs. Kallur

Class 5A - Mrs. Wesley

Class 4A - Mrs. Pinto

Class 3A - Mrs. Rozario

Class 2A - Mrs. Lobo

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Happened to be at Bombay Central railway station. Been so long since I've been to one. Nikunj, aka Chotu, my childhood friend from from the 'area' was down and after a week was heading to Delhi. Rajdhani jaane ke liye, Rajdhani Express.
LED displays, McDonald's, fast food counters but yet nothing had changed.
The mad rush to check the reservation charts, even though, unlike us, most had confirmed tickets. The, "where's A4?" "B8 aage hai?" "Excuse me, yeh Dilli jayegi?"
I kind of liked it. Reminded me of summer vacation. Calcutta to Kerala. Checking on lists to see where, if any, the girls are. How far away was that F15 or F17. And also how far away was the M45 and F43 that accompanied these F15's and 17's were.
The Wheeler & Co. book stall was still there. Paid my tribute, bought some magazines.

But the most disturbing factor was the security or rather the lack of it. Have we already forgotten? Settled back into our miserable lives?

Yes, as soon as you walk in through the main gate you meet the men and a woman in khaki. Seated on red coloured benches lest you miss them.
They watch you, give you a look-over, make some assessments in their heads and then either summon you for a check or let you be.

Held one of chotu's black bags (do most of also feel that bombs are placed in black bags, or is it only me?) and strutted past them. Could see one of them checking me out, waited for him to call me and get on with his routine. But no such luck.

As we had some time to kill, decided to stand near the security desk. And saw one act which made my blood boil. Just wish I had the power to go and sack the policeman.

He had called out to an individual who came and placed his bag on the table in front of the policeman or CRPF personnel. The fool doesn't even bother getting up, painfully stretches out his arm and place it on top of the bag. He then begins to feel it from top. Donno whether he was fantasizing, and for once, even if he were, would like to know. Just that i want to know what are these guys thinking.
He gives it a quick 360 degree feel-up and waves and 'ok'.

I was just standing there watching this in disbelief.

But not all's lost.

there were others to his right who had asked the passengers to open their luggage. They then either took a peek inside, or shoved their hands in and played the 'let-me-guess-if-I-am- touching-a-bomb' game.
No metal detectors. No sniffers dogs. No frisking. No whatever it is that we do in this country in the name of security measures.

Of course there was a black Labrador, who was being taken on a stroll by his handler along one of the platforms. But the only thing he was asked to sniff were the wheels of carts and light poles.

I've always wanted to ask a few questions to every security personnel I have come across, in offices, residential buildings, airports, hotels etc...

a) what is it that you are 'looking' or 'feeling' for?
b) since you are only taking a look, how does a bomb look like?
c) why do I have to not take my bag along with me under the metal detector and then have it opened and checked once again after I have passed the detector?

Probably the dumbest question ever asked...

Its late at night.

A day or two after the attacks.

Set in front of the Gateway, with the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai or whatever remains as background.

Scene opens on Barkha Dutt talking about the death of Sabina Sehgal Saikia, senior journalist of The TOI.

She's on the phone with one of Sabina's closest friend who along with her husband and couple of freinds had dinner with Sabina the previous night and was in her room at the Taj till about 6:30 pm on the day of the attacks.

At first Barkha asks the routine questions before letting go of the big one...

Barkha: "... so, did you at any point think, when you left her room at 6:30 pm, that you would be seeing Sabina for the last time?"

Ms. Dutt, pray tell me, if she or any other sane human being, did know that they would meet someone for the last time, wouldn't they, unless ofcourse they were Judas or did feel what our forces felt for you during Kargil, try and get them out of the situation? OR IS IT JUST ME???

 Yeh School Hai Kya?