Touch Me

Touch, the largest sensory reception was not always given its dignity as a word, and that beautiful feel usually gets over shadowed by TouchMate, Touch SCreen and other Touch applications of this techi era, or with the mask of sexuality.

Parents touch  on the womb, they feel the baby, where the sense of  first touch are exchanged between the foetus and its folks, and what is more beautiful than that and upon birth, how beautiful is their growth with parents stroking, cuddling, rocking, which nurtures their growth than a wholesome baby protein diet.

How many of us return those touch to our parents, and we look among the statistics for the causes for old age death- denial stands top.

Some times we say, certain things touched my heart and that is a remembrance for life and I would say it is not necessary to be pain or sadness which can move your heart, it can be a physical touch which was never given by someone. It reminds me of a specimen experiment done with a few puppies divided in to two groups- a group of isolated puppies provided with delicious dog feed and the other group with a little cuddling and food merely for sustaining its life. A 6 months experiment witnessed the death of the first group puppies.

Holding hands, hugging,  a back rub, a kiss on forehead, a gentle shoulder massage or even a shake hand brings a great deal of antidote to the anxieties of the world.

Remembering those days where the blindfolded games were played. To say it scientifically I must say those times, the sensory nerves, reflex arc and its impulse were highly activated- where Anup, Latha, Swapna or Poornima were recognized just with a touch. Does my skin still sense them?

Take a pen & paper and jot down the most memorable touches you have received, which you still value as a deep heal (which could be even a  beat from your mathematics teacher too :)

Ensure that you have some sort of physical contact every day other than your Laptop Keyboard, Blackberry Messenger, Car steering or TV remote, you may be surprised by the positive results you will see from this type of change. 

There is a life dying since it was not touched, reach out, touch the world, and it will be called as the Divine Touch

I Confess

My last blog, which is the first blog of the year was a story of loss and miss, and as days go on with the waves of Random Emotions, I have got a new topic to reflect on- Confessing Sins- A strong catholic by birth and growth, me, has something to convince myself.
In a catholic's life, the sacrament of confession/ reconciliation is taught in her/his early 10's, before her First Holy Communion and then she gets a crash course from her parish in that sacrament, its do's and dont's and the modus operandis.

As she grows from that 10's to 20's her knowledge gets widened, and so as sins. Often a person, who keeps away from church gets no other platform to get the revised knowledge about the Sins and Battling it. And such a person always find God as a comfortable person (a planned escape) to confess with than a priest, after all we are all that chosen children, and this made me to explore more on CONFESSION, and a beautiful topic to study in this lent season.

Baptism is a single time act of forgiveness where as confession, a repeated act makes you purer and whiter than snow. As Pope Benedict XVI cites" We need forgiveness over and over again and that forgiveness brings responsibility. Again and again my soul is tarnished by the downward gravitational pull that is present with in me. Therefore we need the humility that constantly asks God for forgiveness, that seeks purification and awakens in us the counterforce, the positive force of the creator, to draw us upwards"- and we are at peace with God again.
Hence frequent confession, refines my soul and body and uplifts it to the hands of God.

Q. Then I wonder, I do any harm and then confess turn me to a pure spirit??

Before confessing our sins we should recognize the seriousness of our wrong doings by conducting a genuine interior act of contrition. At the same time we should have the COURAGE to name our sins properly without concealing anything and to confess them honestly. Well that is hard, and hence it requires a lot of strength, and don't generalize your sins. Generalizing nullify your repentance.

Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. One must do what ever possible inorder  to repair the harm.


Q. I rather prefer waiting for a general absolution, than confronting the priest.


But that is not so easy to get one except some emergency situations, even if once that situation is over, the first priority is to reach to the priest and  confess. Then why not in the first place?

Q. Why to go to a priest, when I am so spiritual?
No man can forgive sins except the authorized representatives, from God, which initiated from St. Peter through the Bishops and the ordained priests. What ever they shall bind be bound in heaven, and what ever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And when I confess, I confess to You, Lord.

Trust in God "who pardons all your sins, and heals all your ills, who redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with mercy and compassion, who fills your days with good things, so your youth is renewed like the eagles" Psalms 103:3-5.

Sundari

Random Emotions: and this is truly a single emotion which is PAIN & ONLY PAIN. Heart does not cry, it weeps by sinking. For many I have Sundu is a cat, and for me she was an honest pet. She, the only one left out in the first generation of Kittu (mother cat) and happened to be a mother of two ( i said so, bcoz she was a gentle cat in terms of going around! ). A fair soft cat with  a red collar belt, she was beautiful and clean. This is not an intro made in search of a foster home, but a sob for her lost time memory

Pride, is her attire as she hates messing with other cats, she keeps them all outside LoC. A crying cat when Dad sends her out at night, an escort cat on our way to church or work, a wake-up alarm cat when its the usual time for Dad to Jog- she was always there pampering self and attracting us to her with her naughty dolly nature.
Her name was Sundari, and when love became deep, we petted her more by calling her Sundu

Ash wednesday, starting from home to church, when I reached near the car where a gang of school leaving kids, as they hang out usually there), they asked me Are all these kitten yours? I did not like the counting question, still i said Yes.
Again " Is the dead cat too yours"? I said " No"
"The White One"-  I replied in anger slightly irritated "No"

" The White one with the red collar belt"? - That stopped my breath.
I ran to the other side of the road, to which the kids pointed, laid down along the pavement on the road, bleeding/ watering from its ear lobes ( which i used to always play with the fur in it, she gets a special tickle when i do that) and backside.
So soft like a cotton ball on the road, i tried to wake her up, longing for a light move or a gaze- A simple sign of life,  I would have taken her to anywhere to get her back to us.

As Dad says, Sundu was loved much, and she had to take away a harm from us by hurting self!!

Deep Sea Treasure

Recently, me and my colleague were free and lucky enough to go to an agriculture and trade exhibition. '"Lucky" is not because, the exhibit was something which cannot be missed for my knowledge or been given invitation only to the VVips of the town, and we were 2 among them. Lucky, because these days to get a day away from work was harder.

If animal welfare applies only when we care for the beings which are domesticated, then what would you do to care for the animals which are going to extinct, due to the over-consumption by human race- Then it has the very usual naming "preserve it".For me who has much to do with food microbiology, smoking, salting, vacuuming etc. make the preservation techniques. But one of the stalls at the exhibition caught my eyes with a new phrasing for the conservation of edible resources - " Choose Wisely- The solution is in your hands"

Yes, the solution is in our hands to conserve the resources and keep the tastier dishes still as it is for our kids  and grand kids. A simple yet convincing initiative by Emirates Wild Life Society (EWS) and WWF Dubai in promoting the sustainability of flora and fauna through tailoring our lifestyle eco-friendly.

UAE ians are fond of fishes, and this ..ians comprises the expatriates too. I, not so -philic to fish, used to wonder during my market visits, is this frequent taste to taste the fishes is because it is geographically gulf or is it because the classic tradition of fisher men and trade still in their lifestyle? The yield and the fullness seen in the market always reflect the nation's richness and prosperity.
The wide array of catch from the net normally gets in to the loading bay of hotels, caterers and not-so- much- yet in to the domestic kitchens as well. Among which top the fishes- hamour, kingfish, shari, yemah etc. - the regular hotcakes in the fisherman's net resulting in overfishing than the seas can sustain, depleting their populations.
WWF identified  the gulf fish trends based on the stock availability, seasons, demand in the market etc and classified it in to three main categories.
The beautiful awareness venture to protect the future and biodiversity of UAE fisheries by a non-profit environmental organisation. They say that  the overall number of commercial fish in the conutry has declined to 80% in the last 30 years- a shocking and unbelievable stat., and that made environmentalists to commence this project of making the  consumer public aware of and promoting them to choose wisely and buy only the sustainable deep sea treasures.

Back to the 3 categories mentioned in the consumer guide:
Red:       Think Again! (Stock is heavily overfished)

Orange:   Good choice, but there is better (stock exploited within sustainable levels)

Green:      Go for it! (stock is not experiencing heavy fishing pressure)

This categorization is a simple identification of what to and what not to buy, so that your today's act protect our resources for tomorrows generation.

Let your taste buds not get upset, there's good news too for the foodies, there I was given a fish recipe book to prepare the dish - the same taste with different piscian species, which are available in plenty. An appetizer for your cravings with no cost to the environment. Let this be your convincing statement to the clients, guests, customers and of course yes to your kids too.


Would you like to support the campaign? Click here: http://www.choosewisely.ae/page/support-campaign


Demand catalyzes supply and hence I appreciate and welcome this consumer awareness, but, cant we do the other way too by imparting these awareness among producers, -Because "You Supply, I Buy"

Dad, Is it True or False?

As the celebrations for National day of UAE fuels up, I was excited about the holidays and to turn it into study leaves for the forthcoming exam. Inspite of this exam fever and the not-yet-met time lines for the studies, i told Dad, come on Dad, let's go atleast to fish market, the least time i could spare; one hour.

Dad, i know you care for me :)

i didn ask Dad, his availability or his plans for the day! Is this called a PRIVILEGE. An authority factor, which a wife does not have to her husband, a father not have to his son, or even a daughter not have to her mother. Why Dad's are so tender and soft to his daughters, much beyond all the scientific explanations, there is something which ligate  the pericardium- a divine touch. My tears turn precious only when i cry to him. His heart beats faster, when i panic. His prayer's 45 minutes condenses his anxieties for his daughter.

I recollected all these out of a phone call which interrupted my business talk with my colleague. Here it goes:

" A stressful development review of the year, where i was totally anxious on my future with the company, the upcoming projects  will launch by February and then on my allocation will be challenging.........

He interrupted " I get another call from home, sorry, i guess its something serious, Can i call you back?"

A disappointed me: " Sure".

...a few seconds later he called me back for the discussion to proceed.

I asked him " What happened at home? Is evrything alright?"

He laughed, as soon as he answered the call, his daughter: " Uppa, Fax is a faster mode of commnication, True or False?

Father:  (Strangely, yet not understanding the scenario ) True.

Daughter again: " Fax communicates faster than e-mail, True or False?

Father: With confidence, and understanding partially, that this is her studies) " False"

Daughter: Bye...and she hangs up.

Laughter sparked amidst my tensed mood.

I told my friend " Man, this is a daughter's privilege". 

She doesnot care, where my dad is? or with whom he is busy with, all she needs is to re-instate her authority over her dad.

Even if she is married, it remains. that's why a dad with daughters are the blessed.

Terrific Times

When the brother gave a print out for the weekly exercise, it was never in my mind that i would ever land in writing a lot about the sweet times of my simple life. As i understand, a simple man's simplicity has deeper thoughts in his own language, may be he pens down with his EQ, and here am i, girl of moderately high EQ. A commuter to work and back home, there is no much to share - a daily task for the bread, what normally matters is at work and at home. Does the journey or "on the way" factor has something to d with my simple life?


It did, and one of those days experiences is what i jotted as my terrific times of this week. i could still inhale the cold breeze it brought in to my nostrils and to my nose tip. Night falls early these days, and i feel at 6:30, that i am too late to go back home. Glass panes down, a normal FM music, as i rush out to the high streets, the light chain along the horizon and the west blower always pulls my hand out to wave and feel the flow of the path i travel or the wind travel. it takes to somewhere of my past, not knowing where exactly i went to, that it brings such a special feel and flavor to my life. 
it wipes away the days hardships and tiredness and i still is a rich source of energy for anything more to do. it leaves me with no destination, no time lines and no accountabilities.
 A beautiful flying soul.