The Balloon Seller...

In the heart of the Al Yarmouk church neighbourhood, there is a man selling inflatable balloons on the side walk. With a broad smile on his face - he is a true beacon of hope, always spreading joy to all the passersby as they make their way for the weekly Sunday service.

Surviving on meagre income from the sale of balloons, he often greets us as we make our way for the service. He never fails to enquire as to our health as he greets us though we never purchase any of his balloons.

Days and months have gone by as we have kept meeting him every Sunday evening before mass. One day, as we entered the church gate - I was as usual on the lookout out for him. The spot was completely empty - a blank pavement with passersby coming to and fro from the church.

At that moment, I was in a state of thoughtfulness. I wondered where this individual could be or where he may have gone. Weeks and months passed, and we could still not see him. We then decided to keep him in our prayers - hoping that he would be safe if he may have gone back to his hometown.

After a couple of weeks - we heard a very familiar voice. A voice saying - " Hello sir - how are you doing? Alls well by God's grace". At that moment, I jumped with joy. I knew it was the balloon seller. I greeted him - feeling elated and beyond grateful that he was alive and back in town. He stood there with a hand on his heart, exclaiming with great joy on seeing my happy face.

From this experience, I learnt that it is entirely upto you on how you choose to keep yourself happy despite your circumstances. Just like the balloon seller- despite his meagre earnings chose to greet the passerbys with a smile as he was selling his balloons to keep going, in the same way - there are numerous possibilities on how we can keep ourselves content and happy with the limited means we have.

The Pulao in the Making

It was a Sunday afternoon of another weekend in Goa. Coming home from the long ardous journey, I spent a few minutes sifting through the pages of the local daily. All of a sudden, I was taken aback by the sumptuous aroma of a Goan dish that filled the entire household as my mum set off to prepare it as part of a huge spread for the feast day. I have no words to describe my love and fascination towards this dish that I now proudly consider on such days as T.G.I.P.D - Thank God It's Pulao Days. With its strong aroma - a culmination of the spices of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves - 'pulao' is but one of the dishes that has grown to occupy a prominence in many Goan households on feast days. Driven by the aroma it brings in, everytime my mum has prepared it, I also drew a liking towards this delicacy. After a lot of convincing with my grandmother, I was finally granted my spot in the vast expansive kitchen. As it is customary in most households, men are not accustomed to be in the...

Uncertainty - The New Certainty?

A couple of weeks back, I was deeply reflecting over some of the key happenings and events that shook the world in the last six months. As I spent my time, in mere introspection of these events right from the last straws of the pandemic, to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, the growing stagflation worldwide and the recent FTX scandal along with the massive layoffs at Meta and Twitter, it suddenly occurred to me that in all these scenarios, there was but one thing they all had in common - the never-ending 'uncertainty'. Uncertainty or as I would put it 'an anxiety over what lies ahead in the future' is usually something that we encounter in our day to day lives and circumstances. Whether it is in our lives as students, as freshers, as working professionals or even as bachelors or spinsters - there are no dearth of examples to explain these small or minute instances of uncertainty that we encounter on a daily basis. This so-called 'uncertainty' forms a unique ch...

The Perceptionist.....

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