Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

We've moved!

Its been quite a while since I posted anything, and so there is a lot to talk about!

Our big news, of course, is that we have moved into a house! Quite unexpectedly, we were allotted a flat in a 9-story block of one-bedroom apartments called the 'New PG Quarters'. My cousin Vinod stays on the second floor, and we have been given a house on the sixth floor.

We moved over the last week. In addition to moving all our stuff from the previous room, we had to take out the stuff we had kept in storage. We then went through the good process of deciding what was important to keep, and got rid of some stuff, so that we could fit everything nicely into this new house.

Anand was a great help and we were so grateful for this grace. While we were packing up the previous room, with boxes and stuff lying around everywhere, Anand kept himself out of the way, playing quietly with his toys in a corner. He kept generating imaginary friends, and situations, and we were able to keep working. Sweets packed everything well into boxes, and we hired a few men to come and help us move. Everything went off very smoothly and well.

We are quite pleased with our new home. It is well situated and is not too hot. We have a good view from most of the windows, and a pleasant breeze goes through the house. Before we moved in, the hospital got the house nicely painted, and done up. We have good neighbours, and Anand has found a number of children on our floor to be friends with.

The house has a sitting room-dining room, one bedroom, a study, kitchen and two toilets. Sweets has been very happy to be able to do something she has wanted to do for a long time.....give Anand a room for himself. We have given him the study. He has his own book shelves with all his books, boxes with all his toys, his own bed, and other belongings.

Unfortunately, he has not started sleeping in his room yet. Both he and his parents will find that difficult to do...!

The chickens were another story though. We kept them on the ground floor of the building we are staying in, in what, we thought, was an ideal place. Unfortunately, the oldest of them, a rooster, began crowing the next morning. This infuriated our neighbour's dog, who began competing with his own musical contribution. By the time we came down for the day, our chickens had been summarily relocated some distance away, beside the basketball court.

We have now found another uncontroversial place for them. We are happy to report that there are a number of children who are excited about these chickens, and are happily sneaking away their food from their houses under their parents' noses and feeding it to the chickens.

On a sadder note, we are disappointed that all four chickens are beginning to show signs that they are 'definitely male'. It does not look like we will be able to get any eggs from them. I foresee a good chicken soup in our future...

In between all this excitement, we travelled to Bangalore for my brother Prem's engagement. Anand, as usual, managed to make himself the star in the compartment, rapidly surrounding himself with his admirers and fans.



We would love to have you over in our new home. Now that we have a bigger home, we hope many of you will be able to visit us. A good time to start would be Anand's second birthday coming up on Nov 23rd.

Our first guest will be my sister Preethi, visiting us tomorrow for a few days.

Here are some videos from the last month:

The next Bob Dylan....I especially like the flourish with which he ends his performance!



Helping his mother make an omelette



Helping us shift his cardboard house to the new home. Anand held on to the stretcher all the way, and kept pushing with all his might.



Here's some stuff from last week's reading:

The remarkable story of Brawn GP. I like these fairytale sort of stories, where the underdog comes from behind to pull off a famous victory. I also found these comments of Brawn's leadership style thought-provoking.

"Brawn has now won nine F1 drivers' titles and eight constructors' championships with three different teams - adding his own to Benetton and Ferrari. Button is the first driver other than Michael Schumacher to be crowned under his guidance. But pinning down exactly what makes the softly spoken 54-year-old Englishman the best technical manager in F1 is surprisingly difficult.

"It's amazing - it's all very subtle," says the Brawn insider. "It's almost like you don't know he's doing it.

"He has meetings, and he talks about how he thinks things should be done in the future and so on, and because his reputation is second to none, you don't question where it's coming from. But he doesn't come into the drawing office very much.

"He doesn't tell everyone what to do, he just leaves us to get on with it. He's not autocratic by any stretch of the imagination. He just gives people the confidence to do what they can do, and removes their concerns as they come up.

"The big thing is having the technical organisation he wants and letting them get on with it. It's a strange thing, because it's the same bunch of people who last year designed a dog." "

Here is another good cartoon from my favourite strip Calvin and Hobbes explaining the state of the present economy



(Please click on the cartoon to read it better)

And some wise words from John Piper, that make me think I should stop right here and go on to more important things.

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Elinor Ostrom checks in

Elinor Ostrom, whose work provided much of the theoretical basis for the Chhattisgarh project became the first woman to win the Nobel prize in economics last week. Ashish do you remember that book you bought for me on Institutional Design a while back?
Well heres a podcast that throws some light on her work.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Servant Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wMO5KxeAI

We sing this song occasionally at our church and it's one of my favorites. So, I thought I'd share it will all of you! I always think of it in the context of marriage, but I think it's intended for all of human kind.

I had a nice birthday. Thank you for all of your birthday blessings!

Now, I'm getting ready for Safina's birthday. She's really excited about it this year. I think she is starting to understand the meaning behind her special day. She has even got specific about what kind of cake she wants. At first she just wanted an ice cream cake, then she wanted a monkey ice cream cake, then she wanted a red, monkey ice cream cake. And, now hopefully she's settled on a red and pink monkey ice cream cake. it gets more elaborate as her birthday nears.

We'll have a fun celebration for her with all of her friends. She LOVES to paint. So, I was planning on having a painting party. I've asked parents to dress their kids in already stained clothes, even though the paint is washable. Since it's autumn I thought we could be creative with the hundreds of leaves that are falling all around our house. And, 3 seems to be the age when kids start to draw more realistic drawings. So, I plan to outline each child's body on paper and then they can paint with brushes, their fingers or use leaves to stamp on their outline. I hope it goes over well with all of her friends.

So, I've been preparing for that, cooking and freezing food so that I won't be so rushed next week.

Both Serena and Safina have colds this week. Serena was just miserable last night, but I'm hoping that was the worst of it. She's such a sweetheart, both of the girls are. Serena has reached the social anxiety stage already and it is very strong. She doesn't like being held by others, even those she sees on a regular basis. The crying starts softly and then continues to escalate until she's in my arms again. It's really the only time this girl ever cries.

Safina has a way with Serena too. And, it's been wonderful to see the bond between them develop. And, Safina seems to be adjusting to her new role as 'big sister' quite well. I took both the girls to an animal petting farm last week with some other friends of ours. And, her little friend Rebekah wasn't listening to her mom, so Safina would run over to Rebekah, take her by the hand and pull her in the direction her mom was calling her.

Ashish and I got our flu shots yesterday. Safina will get hers in a few weeks and Serena is too young to get the flu shot this year. So, hopefully she will be protected as a result of my body creating antibodies. Are you all getting the H1N1 vaccine? There's a lot of debate here about whether to get vaccinated or not for the H1N1 virus.

Anyway, Safina had a fun time talking with Granny a few days ago.

I hope this post finds you all well. The girls are up, so I've gotta run.

Love,
juliana

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

An update from 24 rr

I am visiting the blog after a while. Good to see the posts from Pradeep and Ashita.

Belated happy birthday, Juliana, from those here who missed your birthday. Hope you had a great day. We thank God for you.

It has been quite hectic here at 24 rr. Mummy has been busy preapring for her track at AICOCIM in Hyderabad, from the 13th Oct. Both of us will be attending it. This is an event that is held every 10 years. I had some speaking engagements and got busy with that, apart from my work at JKT, Bible Study, etc. Anugrah made a trip to some villages in the interior Maharashtra last week. Cheryl stayed back at Seelamapur alone for the first time. Very brave!!

Supriya from Hyderanad has been here for a few days. Today Lavanya also came. They will go back to Hyderabad tomorrow.

I was quite sick for a few days and am much better now. Vipin Clement (St Stephen's college) is getting married on Monday the 12th Oct. A lot of preparartions for that.

That's all for now

'The American Dream' and other ramblings

Here's some interesting stuff from today's reading.....

Will California become America's first failed state? The question caught my attention, and I went to this article. I found it worrying, because in India today, we are trying to imitate the American Dream, which seems basically: Earn all the money you can, as fast as you can. Anticipating all that you will be earning, start spending as fast as you can, and live as 'well' as you can... I was reminded of this line from the song "The American Dream" by Casting Crowns.....

'his "American Dream"
is beginning to seem,
more and more like a nightmare!'.

It's worrying to see where this spending on credit inevitably ends....

Then I came across this interesting contrast of a lady who managed to pile up, over the years, more than $100,000 in debt. She tells her story of the road back over 13 years, and it was good to read about the actual practical ways her family managed to clear the debts...the sound principles and her observations of the results.

Then I found this video of a family who decided to move into a poor neighborhood, and 'live life on the front porch' and the results. I was reminded of Anugrah and Cheryl. (HT: Vitamin Z who calls it a powerful example of living out the implications of the Gospel)



I also came across this great quote.

"The gospel is a door with a sign overhead that reads, Abandon all despair ye who enter here." (Jared Wilson via Vitamin Z).

This is so true, isn't it.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Random notes

Here are some things I have been reading over the last few days, that I thought you might find interesting.......

Some Pictures that make you say "Wow!" from the British Wildlife Photography Awards. My own favourite is the one of the deer in the morning light.

The interesting story of how 74-year-old Jessie Dean is spending her retired years.....

Confessions of a Home-schooler, a well written article that brings out nicely, in my opinion, the passionate views of people on both sides of the Great Home-schooling Divide.

The unfortunate story of somebody who realised, too late, that all the world is not a toilet....

A beautiful video of one of my favourite worship songs. This week, I had to teach my department to sing this song, so that we could do it as a special number in our Sunday Hospital Chapel service.



Finally, a prayer I have just read a few minutes ago, that seemed to sum up my longings for myself and for Anand, especially, and also for each of you who are dear to me. (HT: Tim Challies who has this to say about this prayer:

"This is one of my favorite prayers in The Valley of Vision. It is a prayer for family, asking God not only for grace in raising a family in a way that brings him glory but also asking God for grace in the lives of other family members. I think it is notable that a prayer for family first begins with soul-searching prayer about self. In fact it moves seamlessly from adoration of God to confession of sin to petition that God will grant grace to overcome sin (and especially sin related to ones ability to effectively relate to family) and finally to prayer for those family members. It is a beautiful, powerful prayer.

*****

O SOVEREIGN LORD,
Thou art the Creator-Father of all men, for thou hast made and dost support them;
Thou art the special Father of those who know, love and honour thee,
who find thy yoke easy, and thy burden light,
thy work honourable,
thy commandments glorious.
But how little thy undeserved goodness has affected me!
how imperfectly have I improved my religious privileges!
how negligent have I been in doing good to others!
I am before thee in my trespasses and sins,
have mercy on me,
and may thy goodness bring me to repentance.
Help me to hate and forsake every false way,
to be attentive to my condition and character,
to bridle my tongue,
to keep my heart with all diligence,
to watch and pray against temptation,
to mortify sin,
to be concerned for the salvation of others.
O God, I cannot endure to see the destruction of my kindred.
Let those that are united to me in tender ties
be precious in thy sight and devoted to thy glory.
Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion,
instruction, discipline, example,
that my house may be a nursery for heaven,
my church the garden of the Lord,
enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting,
for thy glory;
Let not those of my family who are amiable, moral, attractive,
fall short of heaven at last;
Grant that the promising appearances of a tender conscience,
soft heart, the alarms and delights of thy Word,
be not finally blotted out,
but bring forth judgment unto victory in all whom I love."

Friday, October 2, 2009

Gandhi Jayanti

Happy Gandhi Jayanti!

If I have my dates right, its Happy Birthday to you too Juliana?!! Hope you have a lovely day and a great year ahead.

Did you know you shared a birthday with the great soul (maha atma)?

Tonight at prayers we had a picture of Gandhi in our prayer corner, and had some flowers in front of the picture and lit a candle, that stayed lit through supper and after. and SHyam sang Gandhi's favorite bajan about five times ...

From have just been a "holiday' all these years, it was nice to pause and be reminded about the little (too little) I know about Gandhi. And to thank God for him, and what he achieved in our country and the worlds in general, and the people he has inspired and continues to inspire.

Am re reading his autobiography (a birthday gift from Dharmendra, an assistant here) Its not so easy a read. i find it easier to pick up quotations of his and be inspired by those. Actually one of the best books I've read about Gandhi has been by E. Stanley Jones " Gandhi an interpretation".
(strongly recommended)

So yes, life here in Asha Niketan is good. Yesterday was Theresa's B'day.. she was so happy. Also had to take in Kanna ( a 54 yr ol man with down syndrome, whose name for me is Tu tu tu ) to get all his teeth pulled out. It was a traumatic expereince for both of us - he was crying and fighting and so sad after that. I was sure he would never forgive me for putting him through that. But he was all hugs after that. It was so lovely.

I continue to read a lot. I had a break back to Delhi last month, which was great, but despite that the last month was difficult. Living in community is not easy. And I'm confronted again with my reluctance in really knowing (and accepting) myself and being known....

the internet cafe is closing... so thus ends my ramblings...

Hey I'm going to see a Naseeuddin Shah pay tomorrow with Neema. Looking forward to that. ALl for now...