Petshop Boys & Girls

"The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,but he will make a fool of himself too." SAMUEL BUTLER
A blogfriend emailed me these cute puppy photos. I wish everyone of them could leap out of my laptop right into my lap.

Today was a bright sunny day temperature was about 18-15*C. So we enjoyed the warm sun. I served lunch - rajma (red kidney beans) and rice on the veranda I also boiled some (garden harvested) sweet potatoes which I like with salt and pepper.

God is good all the time...in sunshine and in the fog.

Santa' s Pet

Hello Sheeba & A Short Note on India 's Caste System

Sheeba and Chandi saying Hi to each other.Chandi is the youngest member of our church

She also has a dog named Jacky. Her family takes good care of him, I see that when I visit them.

Sheeba is doing better. Her food intake increased today. She needs a bath , with all the dust flying around.

Today, on Day 7 the workmen gave the living room its first coat of paint and scrubbed the walls of the veranda and filled the cracks and fissures with putty , then smoothed the rough patches. It is a time consuming and laborious job. That 's another reason why people in India prefer to hire men to paint their homes. Painters belong to the lower economic class, and they are either ill-literate , semi literate., or school drop outs. Its good they find employment this way.These kind of people form a large part of our work force - people who perform daily mundane tasks, jobs which according to the caste system is reserved for the lower classes.. Sounds very bourgeoisie but its practical.This is a way the poorly educated people find means of livelihood.

I got interesting reactions from some of my readers about India 's caste system.

The caste system is an ancient Hindu legacy which has caused a lot of inequality, injustice and suffering over the centuries. There i s more on this Wikipedia LINK

It is completely banned and declared illegal by law. In fact the government has made considerable efforts to raise the status of the lower castes by providing job reservation, subsidised education ,health care, scholarships , cheaper food etc. Although this aid is riddled with faults ,controversies and corruption. At present the upliftment of Dalits ( underprivileged , backward classes)is a major issue politically. The Governor (Chief Minister) of my state is a Dalit woman, democratically elected.

The caste system is deeply embedded in the psyche and social milieu of our nation and it will take ages to completely get rid of it. But the Dalits are progressing and are taking pride in their identity. In fact if you can prove you are a Dalit, Scheduled Caste or Tribe or Backward Caste you can get special privileges.

On the other hand anyone who becomes a Christian loses his Caste status , although they retain their tribal identity.(A very controversial and complicated subject.) Christians don 't condone or practice the caste system. In fact the Christian world view and teaching acceptance of all men equal in the sight of God played a major role in the abolition of this degrading practice since colonial times.

Christians themselves were ( still are) considered low castes - worshiping a 'western god ' and eating meat etc. It was an anti colonial mindset too. Christians were clumped together with the British rulers.

Now after more than 60 years of Independence things have improved vastly but there is plenty of room for more.

With unemployment rampant, well educated or high caste Hindus etc. are vying for jobs which the lower class people used to do

In Ephesians chapter 2 , Paul likens believers to a building which God is constructing, whose cornerstone is Christ .

Ephesians 2

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

I wonder how the Master Builder is cementing us all together,cleaning, polishing and smoothing us applying pressure and heat to make us worthy bricks for His temple.

You will love this video

Dog named Django saying grace before breakfast

Vet Day

Yesterday Sheeba showed signs of being unwell.
Everyday at 3pm she comes to me and demands to be petted and fed. If I pretend to ignore her, she nudges me and barks at me.
Yesterday none of that and she refused food.
By this morning she was doing rather badly, she could hardly walk ,felt warm and drooled heavy saliva. All this made me very nervous an d anxious.


Without wasting any time we got on a rickshaw to see the vet. She got 3 shots and 2 kinds of pills to take morning - evening. She needs 2 more sessions of shots.
But she was feeling better within a short time. Had some biscuits and chapati with lentil soup. In the evening I gave her more bread and soup and milk and a bit of chicken.
She is going to be OK. I am so relieved. She is going to be 9 years old in December.



On the way to the vet I took some snaps with my mobile camera.

School is out - the boys are cycling home.

Allahabad is an academic city with a number of premium schools, colleges and university .

Student and professional classes and tutorials are big business here. On almost every prominent street you can see buildings big and small housing these educational centers.

A traffic policeman directing vehicles on a busy intersection. The traffic scares me. It s survival of the fittest.

Some more buildings housing coaching classes and businesses.

There was violence in Kashmir yesterday after a TV station (based in Iran) aired a video showing the Quran being desecrated in the US.

14 people including a policeman were killed, 40 were injured. Several government buildings and Christian schools , Tyndale Biscoe and Good Shepherd were torched. HERERead a news report

It doesn 't take long for evil to spread its tentacles.

Good news - today the lights did not go out at all and we had a good rain shower.
Let me end with an anonymous saying by a tribal elder of Ghana cited in the New York Times Feb 12, 1993

What I know ,that you ought to know, but do not know makes me powerful.

How not to treat your cat

A MAN from Buffalo in the US allegedly marinated his live cat in a mixture of crushed red peppers and chili - but was arrested before he could eat the pet, the Buffalo News reports.
Police rescued the cat after finding it in the Cheektowaga man's car trunk when he was pulled over for allegedly passing a stop sign on Sunday night.Ferry-Fillmore District officers said they heard the cat crying from inside the trunk and found it in a cage marinating in a mixture of crushed red peppers, chili pepper, salt and oil.Gary L. Korkuc, 51, told police his black and white cat named Navarro had been "mean" to him and he was planning to make a meal out of the animal because it was ill-tempered.He was arrested on one count of cruelty to animals and was also charged with passing a stop sign and failure to signal.Navarro, a four-year-old male, was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where he is being put up for adoption.

What ever was Gary thinking of?. Why couldn 't he put it up for adoption in the first place? Planning to eat a pet is just un-thinkable. I mean this man was living in Buffalo- not Katsville. And now HE is marinating in Prisonville I suppose.

I read recently that a family in Varanasi (North India) has adopted 100 stray cats. They are not rich they say but they manage to feed then rice, milk and fish. They are a Bengali family.

When Sheeba was a puppy she was very playful and annoyed Jimmy our very sober and serious dog. Jimmy was Mama 's favourite and it irked her to see Sheeba irritate him. So she got Papa and me to take Sheeba back to the pet shop and get another dog in exchange.

We were heart broken, but we took her and left her with the pet shop owner. They did not have another puppy in the shop at that time, so they asked us to check the next day.

When we went to the shop the next day the helper ran out and begged take our dog back." She 's been crying ever since you left her here and had nothing to eat or drink, she is upsetting our other animals".he moaned. He said he would give us another puppy for free too.

When Sheeba saw us, she set off such a heart breaking cry that my almost teary Papa picked her up and held her close to his heart vowing never to leave her.

We took her home and trained her. Mama also accepted her. She became the darling of our hearts. My Papa used to call her"My bitia"-my daughter. She wouldn 't let him out of her sight. I am glad she is ours... forever.

I made made a post called An Indian Food Scrapbook on the SS blog. Have a look HERE

Horse Sense

Had a peaceful day today. No major upheavals LOL. Its not raining as much as we want it too. Electricity has been playing truant since the past 2 days. But since this morning my Internet connection has improved.




Do watch this darling video. You will love it

Better Red Than Dead

A few days ago my poor Sheeba wa s caught in the heat of the battle.

A stray dog was found wandering behind the house and Sheeba did a 'charge of the Light Brigade" unisol (Universal Soldier) type of thing. The feral dog was no Miss Tootsie, he charged back . Sheeba was taken aback as she is a very gentle peaceful animal. The wild dog got a mouthful of her fur before she rushed indoors encouraged by my frantic screaming.

Later on I gave her a sanctifying shampoo bath.

Sorry for the blurry cell phone photos.

This is Mr Naughty Wilde. The wandering packs of stray dogs have chewed him up quite a bit.

PRAYER REQUEST

I need your prayers. I have a nasty pustular boil on my back. It is very sore and painful and burns.

Trips to the hospital usually get me infected.

It was just a tiny thing and I thought it would heal, but last night it developed into a big hard lump. It hurts so much I feel feverish. I am taking antibiotics for it. Started today.

Lord have mercy.

Rock-a-bye Baby

Hello friends, here are some cute baby pictures sent in an email.

This entry was meant for Wed. 30th, but just as I was composing it the

lights went out and I was unable to continue. I was too tired by the time normalcy was restored. A man who had been to the power supply center (sub station) said in the heat the instruments and system gets very hot and they have to switch it off to cool it. Gotta believe them.

A Quote-

"I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions

and big success. I am for those tiny invisible loving human forces

that work from individual to individual,

creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets

or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if given time,

will rend the hardest monuments of pride."

-William James

Yes friends, humour lightens the load at times and you can see diamonds in the raindrops.

All day yesterday, after our expected 3 hour power cut we had frequent interruptions. In the afternoon when I tried to rest there was a untimely phone call and visitor which gave me a throbbing headache. I took a painkiller which I normally try to avoid. I felt better after that and a strong cup of coffee.

Aunt V was supposed to be discharged from hospital yesterday but the docs extended her confinement by 2 more days.She has a potassium deficit - she 's 84 years old. No one to care of her, but us and church folk.

Please pray for my Pastor Shailendra , he has swelling in his kidneys and even after a whole battery of tests and scans the doctors don 't know what is causing it.All his tests came out clear. The doctors may hospitalize him for closer monitoring.

God teaches us such lessons. I am amazed. A few days ago a couple came to us all ornery and agitated like an angry thunder cloud ready to burst and flash.

But we handled the situation with restraint and self control and the man said ;We came here to say something else , but find things are different. Later on he asked me to pray for them. Two days later he said he felt tremendous peace since the prayer. Glory be to God.

This morning the sky is dark with heavy clouds and we 've had a light shower. Maybe there will be more rain later on.

But I hope it doesn 't rain too hard in the morning because I have to go to the district courthouse to represent my church.