Commonwealth Games 2010- Opening Ceremony- For the Honor and Glory of Sports

Enjoy the spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Oct 3rd.

(L-R) Prince Charles and Camilla, President Patil with her husband, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his wife.

The Indian delegation led by Olympic gold medalist (shooting) Abhinav Bindra.

20,000 dancers moved gracefully center stage.

The Canadian contingent

Here is a news report from NDTV.

New Delhi:
The spectacular opening ceremony for the XIXth Commonwealth Games on Sunday put the spotlight back on to the Games. And for a change, the media that had largely been critical of Delhi's efforts in the build up to the Games, showered praise for the wonderful show.
The Guardian said, "Concerns of recent weeks forgotten as dazzling event launches games amid atmosphere of national pride and celebrations.

"The Telegraph, also published from London, described the event as, "The biggest sporting spectacle India has ever hosted kicked off in typically colourful fashion... And there we were thinking it might never happen.

"The Herald Sun that comes out from Melbourne went a step ahead comparing the opening ceremony to that of the Beijing Olympics stating, "Indian Games officials should feel proud of the opening ceremony, classy and showy but somehow warmer and less contrived than the Beijing experience." (The helium filled aerostat ballon suspended above the stadium)
The Australian, published from New South Wales, wrote, "After weeks dominated by the old India of corruption, poverty and chaos the new "Incredible India" of diversity and cultural pride showed its face."The opening ceremony took place at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium that was dressed like a newly wed bride with Henna on her hands. And just so that the athletes don't miss out on all the action, the teams marched into the stadium right at the beginning of the programme, a first for the Commonwealth Games.The most beautiful moment of the night though was the huge roar for the Pakistani contingent. The 620-member strong Indian contingent led by Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra got a stand ovation from the crowd.While Prince Charles declared the Games open, President Pratibha Patil said, "The Games are now open. Let the Games begin."The cultural show took the audience on a journey of the country showcasing the diversity that is India featuring everyday life of the common man. In the end, all the negativity and criticism was forgotten as "Jiyo Utho Badho jeeto" becomes the mantra for the next 11days.

The Tree of Knowledge suspended from the balloon.

Dancers from Manipur (NE India)

Shera enjoying his moment

The South African brought their vuvuzelas along

Dancing with the performers

Strict security is in place

International friendships being chiseled.
Here are videos which you must watch of you want to see the rich diversity and culture of India.
The firs t one is the percussion performance with drummers from across the length and breadth of India. Right in the midst of them is a 7 year old child prodigy, Keshav who is displays such magnificence on the drums.


In this video is a yoga display and an explanation of what yoga is. Yoga are exercises to unveil or attain the hidden god or Brahma in you, according to Hindu philosophy. This is done by activating the 7 chakras which arouses the kundalini at the base of the spine which is believed to be in the form of a serpent or sarp. One does yoga to arouse the kundalini or serpent.
After the yoga you can see The Great Indian Train Journey, which is a pageant of everyday Indian life seen while travelling on an Indian train.

The photographs have been taken from The Indian Express and IBN7 websites

John Wanamaker and India

Mary Wanamaker Girl 's School was established more than 100 years ago by a generous gift from a leading American businessman John Wanamaker.
Women education was almost unknown in India at that time. There were very few schools for girls . They were taught the skills of housekeeping and married off at an early age. Mission schools tutored Christian girls and those from progressive homes.
Now after more than a 100 years this school can boast of cultivating , rearing and training thousands of women of all religions, castes and economic backgrounds. Many of them are highly placed in society and have caused changes in their own spheres of life.
My mother graduated from this school and went on to pursue her Bachelor 's degree in the Isabella Thoborne College in Lucknow ( our state capital) IT College as it is known is a renowned Methodist institution of old. Princesses from royal estates studied with my mother. My mother finished her Master 's from the Allahabad University and returned to her Alma mater to teach for 37 years.

The above photograph is from the 1978-79 yearbook.In the front row my mother is seated 5th from the left. Aunt Sybil is seated 2nd , Aunt Marjorie 8th ,Aunt Virginia is seated 10th. And Aunt Maya is standing 6th in the first row. All these ladies mentioned belong to my family.Aunt Marjorie was the Headmistress of the Primary section , she was a dedicated and selfless social worker too.

This is a staff photo . The lower grade employees, clerks, cleaners, watchmen and ayahs are also included in the picture. I remember most of them from my childhood. The school was a big part of our lives although we studied in the Convent School.

Here are some pictures of the old part of the school.

My mother tells us that the Wanamaker stores used to send pencils to the students as Christmas gifts but not anymore.

It looks like an enchanted castle.

John (Nelson) Wanamaker (July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922) was a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising. Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wanamaker's "Grand Depot" at 13th & Market Sts.
He opened his first store in 1861, called "Oak Hall", at Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, on the site of George Washington's Presidential home. Oak Hall grew substantially based on Wanamaker's then-revolutionary principle: "One price and goods returnable". In 1869, he opened his second store at 818 Chestnut Street and capitalizing on his own name (the untimely death of his brother-in-law), and growing reputation, renamed the company John Wanamaker & Co. In 1875 he purchased an abandoned railroad depot and converted it into a large store, called John Wanamaker & Co. "The Grand Depot". Wanamaker's is considered the first department store in Philadelphia.
In 1860 John Wanamaker married Mary Erringer Brown (1839–1920). They had six children (two of them died in childhood):

John Wanamaker an outstanding American businessman of the 19th century put together one of the most successful careers of his time. Whe asked what he considered the best investment he ever made, he replied"I have made large purchases of property in my lifetime involving millions of dollars. But when I was only 11 years old, I made my biggest purchase of all. From my teacher in a little mission Sunday school, I bought a small red leather Bible. It cost me $ 2.75. I paid in small installment

from my own money that I earned." John Wanamaker knew the value of the Bible and he lived by it.

The seed he sowed in India has become a large tree. You never know what great fruit your smallest act of kindness may yield.

Indian Champissage and Spas

.
What is a massage? An online dictionary defines it as

1. the act of kneading, rubbing, etc., parts of the body to promote circulation, suppleness, or relaxation
2. (Medicine) to treat (stiffness, aches, etc.) by a massage
3. to manipulate (statistics, data, etc.) so that they appear to support a particular interpretation or to be better than they are; doctor
massage (someone's) ego to boost (someone's) sense of self-esteem by flattery .

In India various massage therapies and treatments are available. One can choose a common barber shop masseur or a sophisticated, elegant , and expensive massage parlour or spa. In Kerala (South India) there are special ayurvedic or herbal massage centers.
Here is some more info from the web.

History of Indian Champissage (Head Massage)
Massage has always played an important part in Indian life. It features in the earliest Ayurvedic texts, which date back nearly 4000 years. These ancient texts describe that, when used in conjunction with herbs, spices and aromatic oils, massage had an important medical function and could not only “strengthen muscles and firm skin”, but also encourage the body’s innate healing energy.
Today, Indian infants often receive a daily massage from birth until they are three years old to keep them supple and in good health. From three to six years of age, they are massaged once or twice a week. After six years of age, they are taught to share a massage with family members. Massage occurs across the generations in India as an integral part of family life. Indian Champissage™ springs from this rich tradition of family grooming.
Head massage has been practised for over a thousand years. The concept was originally developed by women who used different oils according to the season (coconut, sesame, almond, olive oil, herbal oils, buttermilk, mustard oil and henna) and individual needs to keep their long hair strong, lustrous and in beautiful condition.
Barbers practised many of the same skills with their male clients. They used to visit individual homes, cutting hair and often offering champi (head massage) as part of the treatment. It was customary for most people from the king down to have someone attend to them in this manner.
Treatments offered by barbers differed from the massages performed by women. A champiwas an invigorating scalp massage designed to stimulate and refresh the individual and was not considered part of a beauty regime. The word ‘shampoo’ comes from the Hindi word 'champi,’ meaning ‘massage of the head.’ Regular head massage, as practised by woman to beautify their hair, was soothing and relaxing. They would use natural oils to keep their long hair strong and healthy.
The barbers’ skills evolved through the ages. They were handed down from father to son in much the same way that women kept alive the tradition of hair massage and grooming by passing the techniques from mother to daughter.
Nowadays, it is very common to go to a barber’s shop, receive a wet shave and have a head massage thrown in as part of the treatment. Head massage can be seen in many locations in India from Calcutta to Bombay: on street corners, in markets and, of course, on the beach.
Like most of his compatriots, Narendra Mehta had grown up with head massage as an integral part of his daily life. It was something to be automatically experienced every time he visited a barber.
However, when Narendra came to England in the 1973 to train as a Physical Therapist, he was dismayed to find that head massage was not generally available. He was also disappointed to discover that the head seemed to be completely neglected even in a full body massage.
Narendra began to miss the therapeutic value of regular head massage. In 1978, he decided to return to India to research the ancient art of head massage. He studied it wherever it was practised: in barber’s shops, on street corners, at the beach and in family homes. He enjoyed being worked on but he couldn’t help feeling that there was something missing.
Although he experienced a slight improvement in well being, the effects were too short lived to be of any therapeutic benefit. Barbers focused on the scalp and women focused on the hair. In addition, everyone who worked with Narendra had his or her own individual technique, which had been handed down and developed through the generations. He decided that he would begin to formalise what he was experiencing and apply his heightened sensitivity as a blind person to discover which part of his body reacted most positively to specific moves.
Soon he arrived at two conclusions:
1. The therapy could benefit by being extended to include the face, neck, upper arms and shoulders ­ areas that accumulate high levels of stress and tension.
2. By introducing an Ayurvedic element into the massage to include work on the three higher Chakras (energy vortices) ­ Visuddha, Ajna and Sahasrara ­ the body’s entire energy system could be rebalanced.
When these two elements were added to traditional head massage, Narendra found he had a holistic therapy, which could be used effectively to treat the whole person. Experience had shown him that working on the head brings tremendous relaxation and relief from stress-related symptoms. In addition, he knew that head massage with oil serves as an excellent hair conditioner. Thus, Indian Champissage™ was developed from an ancient practice to become an excellent contemporary therapy.
This new therapy was introduced at the 1981 ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’ exhibition at Olympia, England, where a total of 179 clients came to Narendra’s stand suffering from headaches and many other stress-related symptoms. They left recharged and relaxed. Exposure to these and countless other clients during the next few years at his clinic and at various exhibitions allowed Narendra to study the effects of his techniques in depth and to revise and expand them.
Indian Head Massage (Indian Champissage™) has received a lot of positive exposure through numerous articles, magazine features, and radio and television interviews since its introduction in the UK. This, together with the obvious efficacy of the treatment, has undoubtedly led to its current popularity amongst health practitioners and the general public as one of the leading complementary therapies in Great Britain. The future of traditional Head Massage (Indian Champissage) is bright.

Kerala massage

Here are 2 videos. The second one is very funny - a tourist get a head massage in a barbershop.







Just as a body massage helps to relax the mind and body, a spiritual massage rejuvenates us spiritually. Having a daily Quiet Time with the Lord and corporate worship with other believers give us a spiritual massage.

And your sweet , encouraging comments give me a ego massage, I must add.

I have made a posting on Indian lunches on the SS blog with recipes for KITCHREE AND CHICKPEA CHOLE they are easy. Click on the link.


UPDATE:

Later on in the evening 3 disasters took place with the time period of 15 mins.

1. My mini swamp cooler stopped working

2. My washing machine busted. I had to do the washing by hand. A back breaking task. I have a backache now.

3. The stray dog Naughty trie d to dig up our newly planted potatoes.

4. Later on as I opened the fridge an egg fell out an d broke- hate that as they are so expensive.

I feel like humpty dumpty and badly in need of a massage myself.

Homage to Mother Teresa and Irena Sendler

2010 is the 100th birth anniversary year for two heroic women. One from Albania and the other from Poland. Mother Teresa we all know and revere greatly, her 100th birth anniversary is being celebrated today- Aug 26th.

But I read about Irena Sendler just an hour ago and was so impressed by her inspirational story that I want to pay homage to this remarkable little known woman along with Mother Teresa. We can call Irena, the Corrie Ten Boom of Poland.

MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA (now KOLKATA)

Read this CNN report.

A solemn Mass at the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India, marked the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth on Thursday.
People from all walks of life gathered at the global headquarters of the order of nuns, which Mother Teresa founded 60 years ago.
"It's a great day of joy for all of us to celebrate the gift of Mother's life," said Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa's immediate successor. "Mother who allowed God to live in her has put a bright light in the world, enlightening the hearts and minds of so many people."
Sister Prema, the current head of the order, said, "Mother is a person who till today -- and also for time to come -- will bring people of all walks of life together to serve, to laugh and to be united."
A message from Pope Benedict XVI was read out at the Mass.
"I am confident that this year will be for the church and the world an occasion of joyful gratitude to God for the inestimable gift that Mother Teresa was in her lifetime and continues to be through the affectionate and tireless work of you, her spiritual children," the pontiff's statement said.
Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Boiaxhiu to ethnic Albanian parents in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910.
She arrived in India in 1929 and dedicated her life to help those in need. She received a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 1979.
She died in India in 1997 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October 2003.

IRENA SENDLER

Irena Sendler. An unfamiliar name to most people, but this remarkable woman defied the Nazis and saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. As a health worker, she sneaked the children out between 1942 and 1943 to safe hiding places and found non-Jewish families to adopt them.For many years Irena Sendler - white-haired, gentle and courageous - was living a modest existence in her Warsaw apartment. This unsung heroine passed away on Monday May 12th, 2008.

May we be inspired and blessed by the lives of these two torch bearers.

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

Yugratna - Child of the Future

Yugratna a 13 year old girl from our state capital Lucknow addressed the UN on issues about climate change. Yugratna has attended conferences in Norway and Kenya.
She studies in Grade 9 in a Catholic school. Her parents are college professors. She received a rousing welcome when she returned home.

Here is a report from Times of India
A young girl from India’s Gangetic plain, where climate change issues affect everyday life and quotidian tasks such as burning the
chulah ( open air wood or coal stove) affect the climate, made a plea for the ages at the United Nations on Tuesday, asking world leaders to show vision and leadership in stopping “those who make mother earth cry.”

Thirteen-year old Lucknow girl Yugratna Srivatsava, whose first name loosely translates as a precious stone for all times, spoke eloquently about the need for the world to stop pillaging the earth in a speech that was cheered by world leaders, including the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

“Environmental problems do not recognize political boundaries,” the young girl, wearing a green and white jacket, told a packed UN audience that included India’s external affairs minister S M Krishna, environment minister Jairam Ramesh, and senior diplomats Shyam Saran and Nirupama Rao. “We have one mother earth, let us share it.” She wanted world leaders to make environmental education compulsory in schools.

But beyond the United Nations decision to invite Yugratna to speak as a representative of the world’s youth simmered serious concerns that the climate change issue is heading for a deadlock ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December.
Wealthy nations are reluctant to cut enough emissions to take the world out of the danger zone, while poor and developing countries such as India are refusing to commit to binding caps, saying this would prevent them from growing their economies speedily. There was no indicate of any significant change in the positions on Tuesday.

Opening the summit, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said it would “morally inexcusable” not to act, a scolding that prompted both President Obama and China’s Hu Jintao to acknowledge that reaching an agreement is an important goal, although neither committed to any precise numbers. The US and China are the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas.

India has been persistently clubbed with China, although its emissions are less than one-fourth of China, and in a subtle effort to put things in perspective, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given the UN session a miss, instead having ministers Krishna and Jairam Ramesh – who has very firmly stated that New Delhi will not agree to mandatory emissions target — do the batting.

Tears of the Saints

Let this video stir your heart

I live in the middle of the world featured in this video.
My heart bleeds for it

Rapped on the Fingers

I was rapped on the fingers by God last Sunday and I want to share

this"blessing" with you.

Our Pastor is away on vacation for 3 Sundays

and he told us that had arranged

Mr SJ to come and take our services.

I turned up my pseudo-intellectual nose

at the mention of that name.

Because in my estimate Mr SJ was a

poorly educated non sophisticated preacher

ministering to semi-literate and

dalit people.

I wondered what would he have to say to highly evolved

mind and spirit like mine.

So I trudged to church under spiritual duress

just to make a good impression on God and people.

But the Master put me into place (in a corner).

Mr SJ preached a simple but good message.

The music was lively.

And he asked us to write our

prayers requests and give them to him next

Sunday so he can have a

prayer group in Korea to pray for us

and contact us by phone too.

I was further put to shame for my

bad attitude when dear Mr SJ

gifted me George Verwer 's book Someone had given it to him and since

he doesn 't read English books, he passed it to me.

I started reading this book and have not been

able to put it down. The message is really

challenging and reviving me.

George Verwer is Founder and former International Director

of OM or Operation Mobilization which is a ministry of

evangelism,discipleship, training and church planting.

The book narrates and assesses how, in spite of the amazing mixture of victory and defeat, success and failure, joy and pain, peace and battles, happiness and brokenness, lives that are committed to Jesus can move forward.The content of the book reveals George Verwers knowledge of 50 years ministry.This is an exposition of the most revolutionary message of God in the latter half of 20th century and the present days.It motivates us to embrace the pain and hurt and allows them to make us better people for his glory

ACCEPT YOUR BROKENNESS AND

EXPERIENCE THE TOUCH OF GOD

says the back cover.

Verwer says

- Our choice to walk with the Lord and to serve Him

will bring us good as well a unpleasant experiences.

- God answers prayers,but not all prayers will be answered

the way we want them.

- Victory is our privilege,but not all seeming defeats

can be erased from our history.

- Obstacles are sure to come into our lives, yet His

all sufficiency will help us

overcome them all.

**********

The good news is that you can go to his website

http://www.georgeverwer.com/

and download this book free.

You can email George

george@verwer.om.org

and request free copies of a bunch of books

and he will send them to you anywhere in the world

and maybe in your own language too.

I wrote to him and he has directed his co-worker to send

me some of books.

I strongly recommend this for you.
God blessed me miraculously and I want

share this with you.

FLY BOY FLY

This is my nephew Ash

getting ready for skydiving

Hi Ash, you just became

our family hero.

First one in the clan

to jump off a plane!

Girl Power

Rosaline Cutting our local lass has done our

city, our community and my Alma mater proud

by going on a research expedition to the South Pole.

She studied in the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun,

a premier institution I have visited.

At the FRI she took part in a workshop on Antarctic studies and was selected for a study tour.

She is on her way again down under

to study global warming and the level of pollution in Antarctica.

Well done Rosaline.

(We may know her family)
________________

Following video is an interview of Priyanka Gandhi,

grand daughter of Indra Gandhi ,

daughter of Rajiv Gandhi both Prime Ministers who were assassinated.

Her mother Sonia who is of Italian descent is a leading

politician of India.

Her brother Rahul is contesting Parliament elections for

the second time.They are very popular

in our state and we support them.

Tomorrow is the 3rd phase of voting.

______________

Just heard on the BBC that there has been a swine flu death in TX

My dear fellow bloggers I am very concerned for you.

Please take the necessary precautions.

Praying for God 's protection.

Just pray the virus doesn 't creep into poor or underdeveloped countries.

It would wreak havoc there.

Young Brooke

I am currently reading a book called 'Crazy love ' by Francis Chan.
"Chan writes with infectious exuberance challenging Christians to take the Bible seriously.He describes at length the sorry state of 'lukewarm" Christians who strive for a life characterized by control, safely , and an absence of suffering.In stark contrast ,the book offers real life accounts of believers who have given time ,money,health, even their lives- in obedience to Christ 's call.Chan also recounts his own attempts to live 'crazy ' by significantly downsizing his home and giving away his resources to the poor.Earnest Christians will find valuable take-home lessons from Chan 's excellent book "-Publisher 's Weekly.
I was specially challenged by the story of Brooke Bronkowski.

"Brooke Bronkowski was a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them to her unsaved friends. Youth pastors who heard about this bought her boxes of Bibles to give away. Brooke wrote the following essay when she was twelve years old it will give you an idea what kind of a girl she was.

SINCE I HAVE MY LIFE BEFORE ME

By Brooke Bronkowski

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.
You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I’ll wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.
I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!

During her freshman year in high school, Brooke was in a car accident while driving to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly fifteen hundred people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and joy. I shared the gospel and invited those who wanted to know Jesus to come up and give their lives to Him. There must have been at least two hundred students on their knees at the front of the church praying for salvation. Ushers gave a Bible to each one of them. They were Bibles that Brooke had kept in her garage, hoping to give out to all of her unsaved friends. In one day, Brooke led more people to the Lord than most ever will. In her brief fourteen years on earth, Brooke was faithful to Christ. Her life was not wasted. The words from her essay seem prophetic: “You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age.” Sadly, many people die while living selfishly…. The truth is, some people waste their lives…. I think it’s easy to hear a story like Brooke’s and just move on, without acknowledging that it could just as easily be you or me or my wife or your brother whose life ends suddenly. You could be the next person in your family to die. I could be the next person at my church to die. We have to realize it. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. A friend of mine has a particularly wise perspective on this subject. He was asked if he weren’t spending too much of his time serving and giving too much away. His gentle but honest response was, “I wonder if you’ll say that after we’re dead.” (taken from Crazy Love)

Brooke has joined the great cloud of witnesses in heaven but her life still challenges me and you to live the kind of life which will impact eternity.

I recommend this book to all my reader 's. You can also visit CrazyLoveBook.com. Watch some of Chan 's videos where he talks about his book.

Cheryl on The Perch has read this book and is celebrating her blog anniversary in a very innovative way. You can also contribute to a worthy cause by visiting her blog and dropping a comment.

Watch This

To me this performance is very symbolic.
Many of us have suffered losses in the area of our health, finances,family
emotions etc but with God 's enable-ment we can dance a dance choreographed by the Chief Musician.
Also most of us in the body of Christ (God 's family) have lost an "arm or a leg" - nobody is perfect. Let us reach out to support and strengthen one another.

December 3rd - World Disability Day

WE ARE NOT DISABLED JUST DIFFERENTLY ABLED

My disabilities have aroused many negative emotions in me and I still have to fight them. but I have started to look at myself as a differently abled person.

I want to spread this message around and help others to look at themselves in this new light.

Here is what I found on a website

World Disability Day
Ensuring equal opportunities for Disabled Individuals Thomas Alva Edison was born on Feb 11, 1847 in a middle class family. Edison has an unusually large head and skull other developmental disabilities such as hearing loss and speech difficulties. Infact, he did not start speaking until age 4. He was even suspended from school for a poor academic performance after his teacher lost hope to train him. He developed a keen interest for science and literature. At the age of 15, he was offered the position of a telegraph operator that allowed him to improve his working efficiency. His greatest invention, the incandescent electric light bulb stands unparalleled in the path of human civilization. Edison’s recollection about his mother: “ was the making of me... she was always so true and so sure of me and always made me feel I had someone to live for and must not disappoint "The above paragraph is just to sensitize you the importance of disabled individuals to the society, not to underestimate the contributions of many others who have left their unique mark behind for others to understand. It is also equally important to provide support and rehabilitation service to such individuals to help them realize their potential. A more than 600 people live with various forms of disability worldwide according to estimates by the World Health Organization. A majority of these live in under developed conditions where educational, health care and economic condition are sub optimal. Population explosion, the increasing proportion of aged individuals, chronic diseases such as diabetes and osteoarthritis, malnutrition, injuries due to war and violence, occupational injuries, sports injuries, large-scale environmental pollution, increasing road traffic in the industrialized areas are some of the factors known to contribute to disability. Persons with disabilities should be ensured that they have the equal right to access opportunities as a normal person. It is high time that we learn that allocation of resources to such disabled persons is an investment rather than a mere medical expense.
________________________

In India disabled people are either abandoned by their families , marginalized or left to fend for themselves.

Very few are able to take advantage

of the government sponsored help. There is no

disability pension or support.Schools are desperately needed

for physically, mentally and educationally challenenged children.

Disabled people should be integrated into society.

There is a small movement towards it, hope it grows

at a faster rate.

Red Tuesday

Baby Karan, taken a year ago.
His grandparents lived for free on our church campus and did odd jobs for the church in return.
------------
Throughout this week there will be revival meetings at the Christian University. A Pastor Uncle took me yesterday on his motorcycle.
The ride was OK but you have to have nerves of steel to maneuver through the heavy and careless downtown traffic.
Rev G was wearing a helmet , but I was not. Ladies usually don 't.
But as my two friends (see comments) cautioned me I should have been wearing one.
And you don 't know what our traffic is like.
It has a Japanese video game effect on you.
How many points can you score dodging
your attackers.Have I frightened you?
Bro. PC who is the speaker is a family friend, spiritual mentor
and teacher to us all. They lived here to 24 years. His wife was the Director of the Home Economics College and he worked with a sister organization of IVF, sharing the gospel with university students and intellectuals.Now they have retired in Chennai. But Uncle PC (note that in India the word Uncle is a term of respect and endearment, one doesn 't have to be related) has not slowed down at all.
He preaches with the same fire and gusto as he used to, a modern day Spurgeon.His messages pierce the marrow and the bone and really make one sit up.He has ushered hundreds into God 's kingdom specially from among the thinking, intellectual community.
Tonight I could not go as there was no one to take me across the river where the University is located.
Maybe tomorrow Rev G will go, he had an engagement today.
You can read about Brother P C 's ministry HERE