Singing and Dancing Little Angels...

No not us, the little kids at the school for special kids that Jo and I have been volunteering at over the past couple of months... 

Anyway, so yesterday was their 'Annual Day' which went off really well. There was a lot of dancing and entertainment and 'Jugate' which is supposed to be some unique fusion of Judo+Yoga AND Karate = Jugate! Yeah. Umm, that was a little... Long. But nonetheless, nice to see all the kids on stage for something or the other...

Jo and I had a good time. I got to see most of the program even though we'd already seen the whole thing several times during the rehearsals. 

Anyway, just thought I'd post some pictures. Unfortunately didn't manage to get any pictures at the program because we forgot to take our cameras. We took these after we got back to Jo's place at night. 

That's it for now,

Toodles!

Seven Things...

You probably don't really want to know...

I am currently reading (and loving) Persuasion by Jane Austen.

I’m all “Oooooooh, I want to read more classics” right now. Which is a very very strange thing for me.

I’m addicted to reading blogs!

I got a letter from Meg today! Thankyouthankyouthankyouverymuch

I (hopefully) will be meeting with two other Hebronites on the 1^st of Feb. I told this to Grace yesterday on the phone (she called me from Ooty) and she said, “Tina attracts Hebronites.” Mmm, that made me happy :P

I’m so excited that it’s going to be February next week! Eeps!

I want to open a bakery. And I want to make the best damn Blueberry Cheesecake you have ever eaten. :P

I'd Watch It Again.

Slumdog Millionaire.

I watched this film finally yesterday after what seemed like a very long wait - especially after reading about it almost everyday in the paper for the last two weeks. BAFTA, Golden Globes, now the Oscars. Wow.

I’m very happy for A.R. Rahman – he’s finally getting the global acclaim for his music that he deserves but this is definitely not his finest. But it’s still understandable – the world hasn’t heard his really good stuff. It’s a start. I truly hope he wins at the Oscars as well.

The movie was stuff of brilliance. The irony, the technical aspects, the plot (credit for this of course goes to Vikas Swarup who wrote the book on which the movie is based – Q & A), great performances – especially the young actors, good music, etc. To people like Amitabh Bachan who have a problem with the movie saying that the film is “Portraying India as a third world dirty under belly developing nation,” well, easy for you to say Amitabh ‘ji’, sitting in your plush little ostentatious bungalow in Juhu or wherever.

These things unfortunately do happen in India. It’s the ugly truth, a truth that will not go away if we simply turn a blind eye to it and concentrate on how “India is going to be a superpower in X years” and enjoy watching half-naked men and women from Bollywood dancing around on the screen for no good reason instead. You pick your own cup of chaii – yes, but why are we scared of watching serious films on issues based on the REAL events!? I was quite surprised by how easily we got tickets at the movies on the first and second days of the release of the film in India. I hope that’s because more people are watching the Hindi version or because they’ve already watched it on DVD.

This movie may not be completely new to Indians familiar with Bollywood because we’ve seen the vibrant colours, the social issues, VT station in all its glory and all that before so we may not understand why the Western World is going ga-ga over this movie but how can you blame them? They don’t get to see what we see... Not enough good movies get sent to the Oscars from India and many of them don't even manage to make enough in India so how can they possibly market them abroad? Movies like Dor, Iqbal, and so many of Madhur Bhandarkar’s? But that's a whole 'nother story... Hopefully, things will change and people will see more of the good stuff of Bollywood in the near future.

As for Slumdog Millionaire - watch the film. I'd watch it again.

Book-Worm 2009. (Updated with Strikes!)

I don't make much of New Year Resolutions mainly because I'm pretty bad at keeping them... I don't think I had any last year, except that I wanted to read at least 30 books in 2008. Now, I have no idea if I achieved that because I never bothered to keep count. I could probably find out through Goodreads (which is a very cool networking site where you can record all the books that you've read, want to read and are currently-reading and get recommendations and read the general public's views on various books. If you love to read, do jump on the Goodreads bandwagon, its not like your usual social networking site and you'll find it useful.) Of course there's always the "Lose Weight" resolution which I make and break every year. Nothing new about that.

Anyway, this year I'm going to keep count and aim at 40 books for 2009. Here's a few for my list so far. I'd love to get some recommendations too.

1. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
2. Tramp For The Lord by Corrie Ten Boom
3. Persuasion by Jane Austen: Currently-reading.
4. The NIV Bible: Currently-reading.
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: To-Read.
6. Five Quarters Of The Orange by Joanne Harris: Finish Reading.
7. Brida by Paulo Coelho: To-Read.
8. The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho: To-Read.
9. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: To-Read.
10. Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins: To-Read.
11. Doctrines That Divide by Erwin Lutzer: Finish Reading.
12. The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur: To-Read.
13. The Famished Road by Ben Okri: To-Read.
14. Candide by Voltaire: Finish Reading.
15. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: To-Read.
16. What's So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey: To-Read.
17. The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis: Finish Reading.
18. The Swans Are Not Silent by John Piper: To-Read.
19. The Hidden Smile Of God by John Piper: Currently Reading.
20. Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: To-Read.
21. Night by Elie Wiesel: To-Read.

Recommendations??

P.s. How do you strike words? You know like putting a line THROUGH the word??

Update: Thanks Kari, I took your suggestion and googled it and now I know how to strike out words! Yay! Here's the link to the online tutorial if you want to know how.

Experience With Me.

AlLast week my friend Grace who studied with me for five years in school at Hebron came to visit me in Bombay. She brought along her friend Onyou who studies in Bangalore and we had a whole lot of fun. I showed them around South Bombay a little - which is where all these old and beautiful buildings from the time of the British Raj stand and of course there is also the Taj Palace Hotel. We ate a delicious breakfast at Leopold's Cafe at Colaba Causeway. It was quite strange because almost everywhere I took them was one of the places that had been attacked during the 26/11 terrorist strike. The Taj palace is still closed but from the outside it is still as magnificent as ever. Leopold's has, perhaps deliberately, still left the mirrors and the display glass with the bullet holes the way they are.

We also went to Juhu beach the evening they arrived and strolled around trying to be inconspicuous but didn't really achieve that. When you're a foreigner in India you attract vendors, perverts, transvestites and beggars like a magnet. I suppose you attract attention as a foreigner in any country really.

Also if you come from any south-east Asian country, you MUST BE Chinese! Many vendors in Bandra made that presumption. First of all there was that annoying brat of boy who constantly kept singing "From Chandni Chowk To Chinaaaaa..." every time we passed by which is a) the worst song I have heard in a long time b) belongs to one of those terrible movies out of a thousand that Bollywood churns out every year and c) just plain grate-on-your-nerves ANNOYING! I had every mind to go punch him in the nose or worse but Onyou saw me grinding my teeth and getting ready to hurt him and sternly led me away...

Anyway, we all cooled down on some good old 'Mineral Water Gola' from the Gogola stand!

Onyou's first reaction was "It's salty!". Lol. It is, a little.

Grace LOVED it!

Well, so far I've got two visitors to try out Gola. When are YOU coming to visit me!? :)

Mumbai, on the run...

Today was the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2009. One of my favourite events of the year in Bombay - it didn't fail to amaze... I thoroughly enjoyed my day of walking, walking, walking till my feet began to protest and clicking pictures like no body's business! These are just the sepia ones... Plenty more to come!

Grace like rain...

... falls down on me. (lyrics from the "Grace Like Rain" by Todd Agnew)

I feel really blessed.

After school (Hebron), I tried really hard to get out of India. I wanted to study anywhere but here mainly because I had many stereotypical notions about the education system here and frankly I was terrified of living here and never getting out. I don't feel the same way anymore (well, most of the time, I have a good dose of "I-hate-living-in-India" days but doesn't everybody?) I feel like I have a purpose in this country. Heck, I know there is a purpose. Nevertheless, it was difficult, especially because practically ALL my friends live/study abroad and I wanted to be closer to them (although that's barely possible since they live in all the corners of the world and therefore there would have to be atleast 10 of me to be close to my closest friends.) But God, in His infinite wisdom had other plans. He literally closed all doors, windows, cracks, holes, etc of my leaving India. I'm serious. I think He hinted at it many times - like complications with my passport, but I wouldn't listen and I pushed and tirelessly fought for it so finally to get through my thick skull He had to make it pretty obvious where He wanted me (In India, more specifically in Bombay living with my grand-mom) and honestly, today I could not be more thankful.

I don’t know how to explain it but when you’re in the centre of His will, everything falls into place and because He loves you He will provide and ‘make up’ for all the things that you think you are missing out on in ways that you could never have imagined, in ways that are so much more meaningful…

Friends. The friends I made at Hebron are so so precious to me and it kills me that I have to be so far from them but over the last two-and-a-half years I have had the chance to meet
- Orville, two times.
- Niru, two times.
- Taryn, three or four times.
- Grace, many times because we both lived in Bangalore for a while after school.
- Jonny, two times.
- Sakshi, once.
- Tashu, once.
…amongst other Hebronites. I’ve been able to have great phone conversations with so many others. I get letters :)

And to top it all off, I’ve also made the most special bunch of friends in Bombay too. You know who you are! Honestly, I wouldn’t have survived without you :)

The last few years out of school have been bumpy learning curves and living in Bombay with my granny - well, it ain't easy by any stretch of the word - but I wouldn’t exchange this for anything because I know that I am where I am meant to be and there’s no better knowledge than that.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, its just sort of been a recurring theme in my life at the moment. And this verse keeps coming back to me: “For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” (Jer 29:11) and I thought I’d share that with you…

I’ve had the most special one-and-a-half days with Grace and her friend, Onyou. They’re both South Koreans and live in Bangalore. Grace and I have been friends for almost 8 years; we started our journey at Hebron together in 2000. She studies in S. Korea and came back to India for a short holiday with her family and paid me a short and extremely sweet visit in Bombay. Oh, and she brought Kim Chi, LOTS of it :) But more on all that later. For now, a few pictures…

computer-time.Shopping in Bandra.Mitzi (Orville's younger sister) and Grace at home.Grace, telling us about a Korean book she read.All of us just before they headed out to the train station. Onyou, Mitzi, Grace and Tina.

Grace like rain falls down on me. Have a great weekend!

And the list goes on...

The good things in life consist of these:

• An hour-long conversation with my bum-chum from Zambia yesterday. We (literally) grew up together and we always have such great conversation! Thanks for calling, Shaon!
• Letters, letters, letters! The ones that come in snail-mail. They make my day!
• Indian food. (mmm, paneer makhani, dal fry and jeera rice with a little pickle on the side in college canteen!)
  
• Knowing that love is alive and kicking. I see it all around me, even in the direst of situations.
• Good books. I'm reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom at the moment.
• Hoping in a God who keeps His promises.
• Blogs. (Sonu has joined us!)
• Just being in college.
• Weddings - the kind that are just brimming over with love, everlasting love!
• Grace - coming to visit me and this big old crazy city in two days! (More on that later)
• Fun Movies. I think I'm going to go watch Enchanted now - again! - and write my movie review on it, while I'm at it.
  

Toodles!

A Wedding to Remember!

So I attended a beautiful wedding yesterday at Christ Church in Byculla (which I found out was built in 1833!). My friend, Lydia from the Bombay Baptist Church (BBC) in Colaba was the beautiful and ecstatic bride!
The ceremony was really beautiful and the love that this God-made couple felt for each other was just so palpable. Unfortunately I didn't reach in time to see Lydia walk down the aisle and I didn't manage to a get a good seat so there aren't many good photos of what happened during the ceremony... The church band was playing some rocking worship songs when I entered and then after that was over, Pastor Jo from BBC who was conducting the ceremony called upon Lydia's parents to give her away and then Johann (the bridegroom's parents) also came up and prayed for the couple.
Lydia and Johann sang a beautiful song for each other:
I cherish the treasure
The treasure of you
Lifelong companion
I give myself to you
God has enabled me
To walk with you faithfully
And cherish the treasure
The treasure of you

Pastor Jo asked them if they would take each other as husband and wife and they said: "I will, with God's help" and then they exchanged their own personalised vows and gave each other rings as token of these vows and then they were married!We then moved on to the reception ground which was just next to the church building. Lydia's brother-in-law and Johann's sister were the MCs for the night and they were quite funny! The night was filled with song! Both families are very musical apparently and it was just so great! The first song was sung by two guys from BBC to the newly-weds and then the newly-weds and their respective siblings together sang "Because you loved me" by Celine Dion dedicating it to their parents.
Then there was the toast...
And then, my personal favourite bit of the evening - Lydia, who sings beautifully - sang "You light up my life" to Johann! Can you see the smile on his face? He had no idea she was going to do that and it was just to-die-for-beautiful.
After that, Smriti and I went and met the couple and gave them their gift, ate some delicious food hurriedly and ran out because Smriti had to get back to the hostel by 8:30pm by hook or by crook and I didn't want to delay too much cause I had to head back home in a SAREE and HEELS by the local trains alone...
Of course, I made it and let me blow my trumpet a little and say that I am proud of myself! :P I wore my heels after a whole year and while women travel by local train in sarees everyday like its second nature to them, I can count the number of times I have worn a saree on my fingers, so this was quite an accomplishment!

Vote of Thanks:
Sonu: For lending me her gorgeous saree!
Jo's Mommy: For draping the saree for me!
My Granny: For finding me a kind old tailor who stitched my blouse in a day for 40 bucks!
Jo: For doing my make-up and setting my hair - I'm hopelessly inexperienced at such things!
Lydia: For inviting me to the wedding and allowing me to join in their joy and seeing how God works things out so marvelously in His perfect time! Check out their website.

I am so grateful for the people in my life and that includes you, dear reader!

P.s. Learn how to drape a saree here! (I love the internet!)

Only In India (Part 3)

Would you believe that I haven't FELT like blogging for the past couple of days! I am like a compulsive blogger type person, so this is strange. I have actually been spending a LOT of time on the net, though. Half of it was to research for a project so that doesn't count. The other half? Well, when I'm not writing a blog, I'm reading blogs. Nothing new. :)

Anyway, so I thought I'd tell you about Golas today. I know that half of you who might be reading my blog already know about golas but personally I find it quite fascinating. I had my first gola with my parents at Juhu beach two years ago when I came to Bombay for college admissions. So I went ahead and googled it and it turns out there's not really much information on it (Sonu, Vini, Sharan, maybe you could write a paper on this! hee hee! :P) but here's what I found on the great Wikipedia that has random information on EVERYTHING.

The vendor places a big lump of ice on a machine, churns it into crushed ice and gathers it into an oval ball with his hand. A proficient poke with the wooden gola stick, a dash of the purplish-black syrup (known as the Kala khatta syrup) from one of the colourful bottles, a squeeze of some lime and a pinch of masala (a mixture of black salt, pepper and common salt) and there you are all ready to slurp the Kala Khatta. The Kala Khatta syrup is made from a fruit, called Jamun or Jambul. Its scientific name is syzygium cumini and is also called the Indian blackberry or the Java plum.

...a pretty comprehensive description, I would say. Except it doesn't tell you what you have to do with it so here's a picture of us to illustrate!

Sonu and Tina at the Gogola stand in Bandra

SLLLLLLUUUUUUUURRRRRRPPPPPPPP!

And there are many many more flavours besides kalakhatta (which is actually the best!). We ordered one kalakhatta and one watermelon. You get the idea. Basically its a desi version of ice-lollies except its highly unhygienic - they use their hands to compact the ice, you have no idea what water the ice is made up of, they stick a piece of wood in to hold it together (you don't know where that's come from either!) and even the syrups look highly questionable. But in India, the dirtier the cheaper and the tastier! And honestly after a while you just get immune to the bugs!

I still highly recommend gola to any of you that decide to come visit me from abroad (*hint hint*) and I'll take you to the Gogola stand on linking road in Bandra - they (profess to) use mineral water ice! And they use gloves and uber hygienic (but not eco-friendly) plastic 'sticks' and while you get a gola for 10 bucks on Juhu beach, they'll charge you 30 here but hey, you can't have everything!!

Sonu and me outside the salon/parlour in Dadar last Friday. I cut my hair, she dyed hers!

Out with the old...

So, I'm back in Bombay. It was difficult coming back, it always is but then once I get back and get settled, I'm OK... and looking forward to the next holiday :)
Anyway, here are blurry photos from when I went out to dinner with Orville. Wish he had stayed a little longer but am glad I got to meet him anyway...
AND... I cut my hair! I gave up on trying to grow it long cause it just started looking a little lifeless and I just couldn't handle it anymore, so its... gone! Its short(er) at the back and gradually gets longer at the front. Its new and its a change. YAY!
That's it for now. To bed, to bed.