Wildlife Whisperer

Well not actually a blast, more like a tornado which wrecked my house the last two days. Just finished cleaning :P But the tornado called NiNi calmed my soul and I feel so very grateful to have had her around when I needed a friend the most :D NiNi happens to be one of the most amazing, crazy, brave, chattery (informed :P), blunt and disorganized friends that I have. And she is also one of the best elder sister to have. I am the oldest and so have the habit of bossing people around, but she bossed me. The first thing she said to me when I picked her up at the airport was “ you look too serious and academic” (!!!), which got converted to “you were smarter at ND, you look wiser now”. And I have no idea whether to take it as a compliment or a wake-up call ;) Meeting NiNi reinforced the fact that our year at Kroc was one of the best years of my life and the relationships made there are for a lifetime. Never before, or after, have I met so many friends, from different parts of the wor...

While chatting with my ever loving and ever critically insightful sister yesterday we were reflecting what the past year has meant to me. And the conclusion we reached was that it was God sent – like everything else in life ofcourse – but a bit more special J By this time last year I had reached the pinnacle (there are many peaks in life) of my professional career and had started to get a nagging feeling that I was becoming redundant. It was my own self-evaluation though, as the others in my organization did not necessarily feel the same way. But I am a water sign and I need movement and change for survival. The love and support of my group had held me for more than 5 years, my single largest commitment to date, and I do not regret one day in that long period. That phase of my life nurtured me like nothing else in life had or ever will. But move on I had to. This was coupled with my desire for further learning and it felt that the next logical step would be to pursue a PhD. To begi...

Moses and the Shepherd Moses saw a shepherd on the way, who was saying, “O God who choosest as Thou wilt, Where art Thou, that I may become Thy servant and sew Thy shoes and comb Thy head? That I may wash Thy clothes and kill Thy lice and bring milk to Thee, O worshipful One; That I may kiss Thy little hand and rub Thy little feet and sweep Thy little room at bedtime.” On hearing these foolish words, Moses said, “Man, to whom are you speaking!” He answered, “To Him who created us and brought this earth and heaven to sight.” “Hark!” said Moses, “you are a very wicked man: indeed you are no true believer, you have become an infidel. What babble is this? What blasphemy and raving? Stuff some cotton into your mouth! The stench of your blasphemy hath made the whole world stink: your blasphemy hath torn the mantle of religion to rags. Shoes and socks are fitting for you, but how are such things right for the Lord of glory? Truly the friendship of a fool is enmity: the h...

My most recent adventure has conferred on me two titles – ‘Miss-Adventuress’ given by my brother and ‘One-woman bollywood movie’ by my housemate and PhD batchmate. I had read somewhere that each one of us lives a novel, very few write them. So I thought it was time I actually wrote the story. My tryst with destiny started exactly a week ago - last Friday. This second semester of my PhD had been exacting, both professionally and personally and as soon as we finished on Thursday I was tempted to go away from it all, from School, from College Green (where I live) and from Singapore. All three could be achieved by a simple 45 minute trip to Johar Baru (Malaysia)! So the very next day Maneka (my friend from Srilanka) and I embarked on a simple journey, oblivious to the fact that it would turn into an adventure. Both of us left early on Friday, wanting to make the most of the day. Sharing confidences, doing girl-talk we excitedly crossed the border remarking how easy and effortless it w...