Time stands still

Yes it does.....i visited my college and first place of work after almost 30 yrs today....and believe me hardly anything has changed...it was just like yesterday i was there...i could see myself in the eyes of those new students and physiotherapists....to say i was appalled at seeing the poor conditions of the department is an understatement....though i know deep in my heart while the surroundings are dismal and dreary the work done there is uplifting and ennobling...it is the OPD of a free hospital where the poor and disadvantaged avail of treatment for a myriad of ailments...i know from my experience ,working there is most rewarding and gives a glimpse into the hardships and tragedies faced by so many....you can try and alleviate that with your sympathy and dedicated work...but you know you can do only a little and you desperately feel the weight of all that yet has to be done!!!!...
On and up to the wards...faces of those in pain and suffering....some facing the prospect of life without a limb....many with indefinable pain...it was as if i had never left..i still recall the faces of those with no one to care whether they lived or died....and some who despite their own plight were a beacon of hope to those around...smiling-cheerful-helpful....the heartache of hearing the cries of small children...
Why do i feel so powerless and helpless in our world of disparity between the haves and the have-nots.....faced with the enormity of the problem i am lost and don't know which way to turn...i go back to my daily life but know something inside me has changed once again...

Food for the poor

Usually we are only affected by events that happen in our own backyard or country....but i would like to be the kind of person who views the whole wide world as my backyard....
log on to this site before dec 31st and see if u can help in any way...
http://www.foodforthepoor.org/site/c.dnJGKNNsFmG/b.1425611/k.9BDA/Current_Appeal.htm

Of birds not bees

Early morning as I was going for a walk, in my path was this huge bird....a kite...lying dead with folded wings.....kites have always been my favourite birds...many are the childhood days I have watched them gliding gracefully high above the tumult of daily life....serene and unconcerned...set me thinking about the birds in my life..

Jonathan Livingston Seagull... "the gull sees farthest who flies highest"...the most amazing book which in many ways has shaped my thinking from my teenage days...If you haven't read it get your copy NOW..
The parrots who come outside my window every morning....their startling vivid green..and red-rimmed eyes...the birds who come to feed on the crumbs and seeds we keep for them outside our window in Doha...I personally can identify more than a dozen of the regulars..mynas, pigeons, bulbuls, sparrows...by their markings or missing toes or plucked out feathers...

The birds we had when we were in Abu Dhabi.....where we had a huge walk-in enclosure...as big as our hall in Bombay but with a higher ceiling....with trees and plants ....we had a canary that used to fly in our house all over....no points for guessing what he was named....i still remember the sad plight of the birds we used to buy and bring home....initially we would keep them in a cage so that they could find the seeds and be protected from the other birds...but even though the cage doors were always open....they were so used to being in a cage all their lives they would not realize they had the freedom to leave and sometimes take more than a week to emerge....a lesson for us who are so stuck with our problems in life we don't see how easy it is to be free of them...the way out is always there ...we just have to see it...
they would sometimes just drop down to the ground ...not enough strength to fly...and slowly within weeks get back to doing what they were always meant to do...

Where is the joy in a bird that cannot fly
Up,up, n up in the bright blue sky...

At night the birds would pair up on the branches...a lovely sight...few of the birds would escape through holes in the netting during the day but would faithfully come back home at night!!!!..was a bit like having your cake and eating it too..
saw first hand nests being made, eggs being laid and hatched...budgies being born, getting their colourful feathers and learning how to fly....nature is the best teacher...

If you have a caged bird....set it free...if it comes back to you it is yours ...if it doesn't it never was...

Gifts- the season of giving

"You give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
Kahlil Gibran

A kind word, a thoughtful deed, a beautiful smile, a helping hand.... .to me these are worth much more than any gifts I receive.

"Generosity is giving more than you can and pride is taking less than you need." Kahlil Gibran

Update...Trust

well ...the good news or the bad news whichever way u look at it is that i hope to add new posts to my blog every Friday.....the most significant thing that has made an impact on me or made me question or ponder...

TRUST....the feeling of being let down by someone you have trusted all along ....or even the feeling of being cheated by a complete stranger....leaves you wondering WHY???

How often must I knowingly or unknowingly have done the same thing??

TRUST is a beautiful word....animals trust us...but we kill them with nary a thought....

TRUST ME we say albeit casually...

One World

All roads led to the Khalifa Stadium in Doha....the most wonderful part of the Asian Games Opening Ceremony was that it brought people from all countries together with one spirit....our seats were between filipinos and qataris...in front were syrians and srilankans, behind americans and chinese....it was amazing...
No doubt the ceremony was spectacular...to use a much cliched word... but to me the games brought out the joy of living in a cosmopolitan city .....having lived outside my country has made me a better person..

one world .....one life...