Wednesday, March 23, 2011

All the best !!!

My little one ( he doesn’t like being referred that though and he is taller than me now, 2 inches taller than me) went for his board exams today. And very strangely I felt so tensed. And today was Language Paper I. The Language he has chosen is French and it is not too tough to learn it nevertheless, my sunno, who is called Denno, Dennu, Denny by family and formally as George, finds French a little difficult. His complete nomenclature ( ooops the effect of his subjects is rubbing on me) is George Dennis Joseph.

I clearly remember Joe, my wonderful husband, walking into the room where I was at home, in my parents place and asking me as lightly as “ do you have change for Rs.100?” “ What shall we name our baby?” and I don’t remember who among us suggested it, I think it is him,  the name Dennis. The George and the Joseph part were permanent fixations to his name, for which as parents we didnt have much choice, as the former belongs to Joe’s father and Joseph was the sunno’s fathers’ name. So we wanted to break this vicious cycle of George and Joseph doing rounds in the coming generation and we thought we will make a suitable addition in the form of a middle name to ensure that our baby has a complete name (ie.,) First Name, Middle Name and Last Name. In the confusion we missed the house name which happens to be Mundakkattu, fortunately for the child. And Joe’s people were the non-fussy type who didn’t question us on why the family name was not added to Dennu’s name. That reminds me when our marriage bands were read out, the grooms name was read out as Joseph Mundakkattu, different people in the church heard it as different names – one hilarious one was Mundakannan Joseph, which roughly and quite decently translated as big-eyed Joseph.

Ha! There I go.. Yet another digression from the main topic of Dennu taking his board exams !

Coming back to our topic,

Dennu was quite cool even this morning, always a smug look on his face, which said what’s all this hungama you guys are creating around me? Good in one way. I went as usual for the Mass. Today’s mass was offered for all the children who are taking up boards from today and specially George Dennis Joseph, Rachel, Akansha, Tejus, Kevin, Nivetha, Frank, Richard, Ricky and Abdul. I don’t know why I was moved to tears when I was praying for him and the other kids today. ( I am making this an habit at church, need to cut this down!).

And Dennu was being smothered by calls from his grandparents, grandaunts, uncles, aunts, cousins and honestly he was getting tired of it. Last Saturday my parents were home and they prayed for him and “ Kurisu varachu “ ( making the sign of the cross on his forehead) and he gave them sthuthi, ( saying praise to the Lord) The ritual was done by Kuru Uncle and Mary Aunty on Sunday after mass. My Mom-in-law called and wished Dennu followed by shaju and Jincy. Viju, Supriya, jerry, Jeffrey, Vitty and Navneeth, Jancy Chechi, Anita and Anwin called and wished him on Sunday itself. There were also calls from my cousins and Aunts ( Dennu’s grand aunts)

Yesterday Petula called and reminded me to read Psalm 91 before going for the exams. Some repeat calls were also there. Jane, Pauline, Khan and Jigie had called – some wished me and others Dennu. This morning again, Mary Aunty, anita’s mom, Rachel and Leena had called. All of them wished Dennu and I was wondering if Dennu would have received so many calls even for his wedding :-)

The best was yet to come. When Leena called, BTW, Leena is my cousin and has three daughters Reshma, Sushma and Swetha, the kids could not wish him and they had booked their time with Dennu in the morning itself. Sushma gave a warning to Dennu – you better don’t score anything more than 80% - I got only 83% and I heard Dennu say Sorry to disappoint you. And that was the final wishing call. For Today.

I was jokingly telling Joe this morning, for the kind of wishes and prayers that are pouring in, Dennu should be getting 110 out of 100 in every subject. Ah, my parents will be in church until Dennu finishes his exams everyday. :-)

And hence, we left home after praying and Dennu reading the Psalm 91.

Dennu seemed to have done French Paper I well. After all these years, it’s a little difficult to assess what that “ Done Well” means. Shame on me. Anyway, Rachel and Frank told me that the kids in their school ( SBOA and DonBosco) found French a little difficult but Ms.Monica, Dennu’s French Teacher confirmed that the paper was pretty easy.
After the exams, much to the discomfort of Dennu, Joe and I were waiting for him outside the school, it was nice to meet his classmates and most children identified me as George's mom. Felt nice - a change is always good. Vincy Joseph transitioned into George's mom. Am I revelling at all the domesticity / domestication a couple of weeks of leave has brought in?

Its one down today and 10 more to go. My frayed nerves ( in the morning) seem to cool down a little and I hope each of these papers are easily tackled by these children.

Infact, I was wondering at the end of the day today, I have taken so many examinations in my life and never was I this tensed.

Is this called Trying Times? And I thought I will just add a picture that I clicked on Monday 21st March when Dennu decided to study outdoors, perched on a compund wall behind the house. He hates to pose for pictures, especially clicked by me, so I had to take this snap without his knowledge from the first floor balcony. Cute.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Sermon, Friends and all else

The day began very well.  The Lord again spoke to me quite directly through the Gospel and here it goes.

Matthew 7: 7 - 12

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7 "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

9 Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

What more assurance do I need?  I completely surrendered myself to God and let everything to his will?  The verses really touched me as last night there were so many doubts in my mind and the verse answered my doubts.  It was as though this verse was being read out just for my sake.

During the last five days, I had very few calls and as I said I had logged in very few times.  Today was different.  I had calls from some of my friends.  My favourites to some of my best buddies.  Some from Office and some outside of office.

Most of the friend calls were those that took a long time - almost everyone enquired about whats happening in my life, genuinely interested in whats going on with Dennu's studies and simple chats.  At the end of every call i felt so good, that these souls chose to call me and talk to me and find out about me, though I am on leave.

It was lovely to listen to some of their voices - like for example there was friend who just returned from Japan, the friend had  left the country on the day the twin catastrope of both earthquake and Tsunami struck the place and I was releived that this friend was able to make it back to India safely.  I remember going white with fear when I heard about it on Friday last while I was doing a session. The initial couple of moments in the call today, we called each other's names and just laughed. I felt the true bonds of friendship can be in silence too..  Just knowing that the other person is just there on the other end.

Or take for instance the last call from another friend - a cal that came after a very long time. As we were talking I was reminded of the Joy and Peace this friend brought into my life and I had actually missed speaking and hearing this voice. There are moments during these conversations, that tears well up, emotions choke and even when I am silent the other person knows exactly what I am doing. 

I dont know if any of these people know what they mean to me, or when I say it to them in not probably as many words, they understand the impact of their lives on mine.  Its pure joy listening to friends voices

So many times in life, when I am working I get so busy with my world of activities - like work and home and realise that the time that I spend for my friends is quite scarce.  I asked myself today how many opportunities did I miss in making a friend realise that I think  of them, pray for them or wish well for them.  I know it would make both them and me happy.  But how many times do I actually do it is the question here.  I resolved to spend some time for these 'true friends'

So I made up my mind to spend Quality time for Friend going forward.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Whats going on with me right now !!!


First things first…

I am on LEAVE !!! and guess what for a month. Can you believe that? For a whole month. Starting 12th March. First time in my tenure in Mahindra Satyam. First Time in 12 years.
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I am bonding, really bonding with my son. Probably after my maternity leave that I had taken for 3 months, way back in 1996, this is the longest that I am spending with him. And Ohhh.. I am loving it so much. I wonder if he likes it as much as me, but trust me I am really enjoying it. I love looking at his face and you know what he has a tiny moustache growing. The little sunno is growing !! There are times we disagree, there are times I get irritated with this indiscipline etc., but I am loving every minute of this.. The reason I have taken leave is to ensure he is studying !! I am also trying to feed him at regular intervals and am keeping him healthy.

I log in and check my mails very rarely. A couple of hours in last 5 days. Not that I do not have work, but my focus is Dennu now and nothing else.
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I heard from Petula today. In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned that it is a blessing to have a friend with whom I share great telepathy. I think of her and she calls. Been thinking of calling her and giving her Dennu’s exam schedule for prayers and she called. And guess what from Chennai !!. She is in Chennai for another 15 – 20 days. Rosanna’s exams are on and she has come in to help. And she told me something, that really made me quite happy. She will relocate to Chennai for an year as Rosanna is going to write the board exams next year and she will definitely need Pets around.

She spoke to me for a long time today and asked me not to get stressed out. Felt good speaking to her. It’s a true blessing to have a friend to whom I can open up and speak !!!
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I also accidently saw a mail from Jane, ( it landed in my junk email box) though a little late mentioning about Reshmi’s exams, Jane taking leave and wishing me and Pauline all the very best for our children’s exams. Jane, Pauline and me are friends from our Stella Maris days. Jane and I were thickest of friends when we were in college – we used to study together and were partners in all crimes of those days. We went on to do PGDCA together in Stella and only I got selected at Stella, Jane ended up in Aptech in Cathedral road and we continued travelling together for yet another year. Pauline was my schoolmate from Standard 6, but we were not great pals. We were classmates. In college we continued the same way – Pauline was the traditional types and didn’t fit into our scheme of things. Life has all three of us together at Yercaud at SHY and that’s when we really got close. We lived together in the the same place for an year and had so much fun. That’s where I met Pets too.

Jane was the first one to get married, then Pauline and finally it was me. We had children around the same time, I guess, and all three of our children Reshmi, Dennu and don’t remember Pauline’s son’s name are going for the boards at the same time. We are thrilled and praying for each other now. I remember we used to speak about meeting each other after 10 – 15 years with our hubby and children and used to blush at the very thought of that , then. I was the one who wanted to have most children and I am one who has just one. We all thought Pets would just have one and she is the one who has the most, three.
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Am continuing to go for Daily mass and these days I specially pray for the children who are taking the board exams especially Rachel, Jovin, Jayant, Reshmi, Pauline’s son, Nivetha, Thejus, Appu, Kevin, Akansha, Jennifers son, Kalpana and ofcourse Dennu. I sincerely pray that children who are really capable like Nivetha, Jayant and Kevin should be able to top the marklists, while children like Dennu should be able to score as much as they can. I am also praying that God should really guide these children to do well.
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I love being at home. I talk to my plants as long as I want. I gape at my darling fishes as long as I want. No hurrying, no panic. Life is so smooth. I get time to pack Joe’s lunch with love. I get time to give Dennu the food he wants and the way he wants. I get time to oil my hair whenever I want. I take showers at whatever time I want. I don’t have to run for the bus. I can read whatever I want. I am energetic at the end of the day and give a big smile and hug when Joe comes back home. I like this.
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Strangely I don’t miss office. I am at peace with myself.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Happy Birthday to you !!!

Family beside you.
Health, within you.
Love that never ends.
Dreams that come true.
Close and caring friends.
Serenity with each sunrise.
Happiness deep down within.
Success in each facet of your life.
Special memories of all yesterdays.
A path that leads to beautiful tomorrows.
A bright today with much to be thankful for.
May this Birthday fill your heart with new hopes,
& May the journey of your life be fragrant with opportunities
Open up new horizons and bring for you promises of brighter tomorrows.

Happy Birthday !!!
Love you So much
Vincy