The Voice In My Head…

Yesterday, 29th June 2005 was my Nana’s 82nd birthday. Nana is my mum’s mother and someone whom I love beyond words.

Growing up was a different question though. I remember the many times my parents would go overseas on some trip or the other & my sister & I were at the mercy of my ruthless Nana. “Ruthless”, because she was a perfectionist. You could see it in her wardrobe, perfectly matched dress, earrings, belt, shoes & bag. Any time. Every time. Even to go to a store.

You could see it in her immaculately clean house. We were never allowed to lounge on the sofas, we couldn’t even dream of putting our feet up! I was always the tomboy & inevitably ended up breaking all sorts of stuff - and dreading the outcome…

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Don’t know why… but these reminded me of someone…

On Sunday during 10am Mass, Fr. Larry (our Parish Priest) announced after Mass that our Sacristan Nelson had laid out all the Mass things and then suddenly taken very ill.

He was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital.

Just before Holy Communion, another priest, Fr. Byron, came in and told Fr. Larry something… That Nelson had died of a heart attack.

Today, I came home a little early & played for his funeral Mass. It was con-celebrated by all the priests of the parish (except one, who’s at Tabor on a retreat) and by several other priests who were in the parish over the last few years.

Nelson was a young man, his hair was black, his children younger than I. The packed church was proof enough about how well he was loved and how much he impacted the people of our parish.

The year started with dear Colin (who never let me call him uncle) passing away very suddenly, shocking us all. There have been deaths since. And there will be more deaths to come. I pray that these sudden deaths, the ones that touch us at our very core remind us of one thing - that ultimately the only thing that matters is our relationship with God…

Fr. Larry thanked God for Nelson, for giving him to our parish, for who he was and for what he did with his life. May he enjoy in death that which he prepared for daily in life, eternal supper with the lamb.

Eternal rest give unto him oh Lord. And may his soul rest in peace.
May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of Christ Jesus rest in peace. Amen.

Started off with the usual 10am Mass (though Jan played this Sunday). Next Sunday starts Confirmation Classes - and Andy gave me the amazing news that I’m to be with him Can’t wait to start classes - am sooo buzzed about it.

Afterwards went to visit Grandma, who’s back from a long trip to Atlanta. Got to see my cousin Tammy’s wedding pics finally - she really looked pretty!

Evening went to see “Beauty, Brains & Personality” at St. Andrew’s Auditorium. Tried not to have too high expectations (as I’ve been disappointed the last couple of plays) and it turned out pretty nice.

The play had a few good laughs - here’s an excerpt:
Beauty (on phone with Doctor): “Who’s the father? There is no father… she was insulted”
Brains: “That’s Inseminated”

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Praise God! Had a mightily annointed day - and I can still feel His hand of protection upon me. Led Worship at the TBC Disciple Formation Class at St. Peters (Nadia led Praise).

Ian (who gave the teaching) had a wonderful prophecy from Isaiah 61 - about how the Lord was taking our heavy hearts and giving us garments of praise! (Amen!)

Isaiah 61:
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.

Yes sir, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation.

Met up with Priya after ages… she’s ever busy, just having come back from the IIFA Awards & having Dhi’s wedding to take care of, so we decided to just do coffee. Went to Mocha & were joined by D & his now 2 french girlies!!

(Partial view of the huge club Squeeze, waterfalls at the back)

Garthu joined us as well & from there it was off to Squeeze - which was rocking beyond belief! It wasn’t as crowded as the last time we went (which was great) but I met tons of people I knew, literally everyone seemed to have left every other club & landed at Squeeze!

We didn’t go to the VIP Lounge this time.. The Reason: Salman Khan was having a private party there. The Result: Lots of celebrities everywhere. Bobby Deol was busy dancing just next to us & seems quite down to earth & ‘bindaas’. Bipasha Basu also made her appearance very felt when she came to shake her very sexy self on the dance floor.

Salman Khan’s bodyguards have become notorious for the improper behaviour & I got a little taste of it when at the end (after 3am - which is great for a Friday night) I was at the entrance waiting for the valet. The entourage came by (like the King of England on speed) & one dude (yes, would like to use some French here) half shoved me out of the way so that Mr. Khan could pass.

Gave him the look (accompanied with the hand out questioning) but he didn’t care.

The things we non-celebrities have to endure.

Aju had seen “Batman Begins” last Saturday & he didn’t like the movie very much and told me it was very “boring” but I still wanted to go as I’ve been a Batman fan for a long time. I’ve seen all the Batman movies - in fact I used to collect Batman memorabilia back in the late 80s (don’t anymore though I still have a cool towel with the Bat logo on it )

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Have been having problems with my ISP, so haven’t been able to blog for a bit. Here’s a tad abt the past three days:

Tuesday:

Had dinner with Arthur, Trevor & Andrew. Had Indian Food, which is not my choice of outside dining cuisine, but since the boys are into Indian I obliged Did end up enjoying the “Kulcha Rotis” which are truly amazing. Andy left us after dinner but since it was raining cats & dogs & the remaining three of us were having a fabulous conversation, we rounds & rounds of coffee until closing time

Wednesday:

A. Alice’s mum Augusta passed away peacefully. Funeral details were a bit sketchy as a lot of the family are overseas. Ended up having the Mass & Burial on Thursday morning. Played the keyboards for the Mass. It was still pouring down & it was very difficult to move around the cemetry with muck & puddles everywhere. Still all things said & done, it was very peaceful. A nice way to go I think.

Thursday:
Saw “Batman Begins” with Simone & Garth at Globus (review to follow, as always). Afterwards had dinner at “Five“, Santacruz. It was my first time at the place & I quite liked it. It’s rather small, but has great food & the prices are very decent. Besides the prawns & the stuffed mushrooms appetizers we had, I had a Harissa Lamb with Couscous. I later searched & found a great recipe online for it (click on pic below for link). Had coffee & dessert at Mocha, debated about going out further & eventually called it a night.

Dear Alex decided to do a tag on me…. been a quiet week thus far & nothing happening to blog, so might as well give it a go:

Total number of books I own - Waaaay too many to count. Each room has a library at home… all book freaks

The last book I bought - “From The Angel’s Blackboard - The Best of Fulton Sheen”, in fact I blogged about on June 9th, 2005

Last book I read - Also bought the entire Malory Towers set that day… and have finished 2 out of 6 so far, so I guess the answer to this would be: “Second Form in Malory Towers” (yeah, now I sound like a goonk).

Five Books that mean a lot to me…
(01) The Bible - For obvious reasons (Read Jn 1:1 if not so obvious)
(02) The Life of Christ - by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
(03) Power in Praise - by Merlin Carothers
(04) Pride & Prejudice - by Jane Austen (my favorite fiction Author, love all her work)
(05) The Secret Garden - by Frances Hodgson Burnett (my favorite book when I was growing up, still something I read from time to time to remind me that impossible is not a word)

And now to pass it on…..

Here you go Ajay

Rishi

& Lothario

June 17th: Added links everywhere, so that you’re free to browse through / check reviews. Recommend every one of the books listed here (except Malory Towers, if you’re more grown up than I) Must reads

Went for a Fashion Show at Seven, a club above Shopper’s Stop on Linking Road, Mumbai. There were four different designers & the show was choreographed (& pretty much put together completely) by Khush’s friend Mohammed. Seemed quite the family affair - Simone did all the hair & make-up, Garth was official gofer & Khush compered a bit