7.2 million passengers per day on the Mumbai Suburban trains. I am one of this statistic! Every one busy, jostling with each other onward to  their destination. I travel from VT to Vikhroli and back. 

Reminds me of the song we learnt in Church when we were kids - C.S.I. Malayalam Congregation -St. Thomas Church, Free School Street, Calcutta:

I'm going on a journey
On the Happy Day Express
The letters on the engine
are J - E - S - U - S
The guard call - all for heaven?
We gladly answer 'yes'
THe letters on the engine
are J - E - S - U - S

Salt that brings savor, light that cannot be hidden!

I was going to our construction site the day before, and saw this beautiful Tyre (the Americans spell it as tire) hanging out on the almond sapling at the corner of Chandiwali Road and Saki Vihar Road - and immediately recognized it as the global Indian symbol of a tyre puncture repair shop.

Which brings to my mind a couple of our Lord Jesus' sayings - remember in Mathew's gospel, chapter 7, verse 16, he said 'you will know the tree by its fruit...'. He was referring to people who pretend to be what they are not, but at some point in time, their innate behavior and ingrained thought patterns creep in and expose their real self. (He used the term - they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves).

Just as we recognize a puncture repair shop by that tyre hanging outside, what do our friends and companions see in us that tell them who we are?

Do give it a thought. The Bible tells us that we are a lit candle that has to shine and give out light - a city that is set on top of a hill and cannot be hidden - it is visible to all, salt that brings savor to food! Are we???

People seem to have stopped believing in absolutes. Everything is relative. Situational ethics. Situational ethics takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. How you react depends on the situation at that moment. SO, a right may be wrong, or a wrong may be right, depending on the circumstances around you. Hence, drinking (alcohol) may be wrong if you are at home, but might be right if it is a business environment and your boss/client is around. Right? Wrong??

Each morning, I start off to work from VT - Victoria Terminus -  (now renamed the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), by suburban train. For this  I HAVE to go the beautiful building shown in this post. This is a non-negotiable absolute. Unfortunately for me, the train does not start from the YMCA on Mondays, the Gateway on other days, Juhu Beach on Tuesday etc. It is VT and only VT. Non negotiable.

Some of God's laws are also absolute. Not negotiable. So adultery is wrong, what ever the circumstances are. So is bribery,  theft, and a list of others.  Agree madi??? Your comments please!

 

P.S. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), formerly Victoria Terminus (VT), is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an historic railway station in Mumbai, India which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. Designed by Frederick William Stevens with influences from Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture and traditional Mughal buildings, the station was built in 1887 in the Bori Bunder area of Bombay to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The new railway station was built on the location of the Bori Bunder Station and is the busiest railway station in India, serving as a terminal for both long-distance trains and commuter trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. The station's name was changed to its present one in March 1996 and it is now known simply as CST (Source: Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhatrapati_Shivaji_Terminus)

God is a creator. The Bible teaches us that God made us in his image.  We as the created, have imbibed certain traits from our maker. We are also creators. I stay in the YMCA which is near the Gateway of India. Many a evening, when my head is heavy, - and my heart too, i sit here and watch life going by. And marvel at the grand ole lady - the Taj. Every time i look at it, i marvel at our creativity. Last week, i was walking by the Town Hall and i admired the ancient but beautiful buildings where people have lived their lives and gone on to meet their maker. Their creativity lives on!

With the Deepavali festival holidays coming up, the newspapers are full of advertisements for products available on discount sale. It seems that today's Times of India has more advertisements than news reports. Mobile phones, cameras, house hold products and the list is endless. The hype of the Apple iPhone 6 launch dominates. It is more fun to scan through the adverts rather than the news items. Phone proliferate.  The dual core has /was become/became quad-core, which has become octa-core. More RAM. More Apps. Lighter. Gorilla Glass. And so on!

 My friend at the YMCA bought a new iPhone, the 5S.  Though friends tried to persuade him to go in for the iPhone 6, he felt that 62,000 was beyond his target. We live in a world where it is imperative that we communicate. I find it difficult to reach my wife or daughter on the first try. Their phones are for ever busy. Every one is busy communicating with someone. I board my suburban train at VT station and it takes me 30 minutes to reach my destination. Gives me a lot of time to 'people watch'. Whether they are inside the compartment, or at the various stations, people seem so busy speaking, texting, etc.

Which brings us to an amazing fact: God is a communicator. And he is ever looking for an opportunity to communicate with his people. The only stumbling block is that we do not receive, respond! Our receiving units are turned off and our antennas are disoriented. I wish I/we could take time off to hear and communicate with him who is our maker.

Monday morning, and it's back to work! This week has a 4-day holiday stretch due to Deepavali festival and hence there is a perceptible joy across the floor!!!

I was in an auto-rickshaw returning to the office after a site visit. Signal after signal was green, and i was grateful that we did not have to wait under the blazing sun, with the buses belching out their diesel smoke into our rick! 

Wished that in life too, all signals would be green! Unfortunately, it is not. Often, for reasons not clear to us, the lights go red. But the Bible says, the Lord is in control. It is He who determines our direction and timing of motion.  As with traffic signals, if we jump the red light, we might get hit, or even hit someone else!! (The car in the below photograph jumped the light - and created quite a scare for those autos!)

Wait. Time spent waiting is well-spent time. The Bible says: '...They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength... they will run and not be weary, walk and not faint...'

Rains in Mumbai have come to an end. That 'essential' part of the morning gear - the humble umbrella - has been consigned to the back of the shelf. But, during the blinding constant rains that drenched us and filled our shoes with water while walking from Mumbai Chatrapathi Shivaji Railway Station to the YMCA at Colaba, me, and hundreds like me, made a bee-line for these magnificent covered walkways for the shelter they offered from the rain. 

Reminds me of the song we sing in church written in 1880 by Vernon John Charlesworth and was sung by the fish­er­man on the north coast of Eng­land, as they ap­proached their har­bors in the time of storm: 

The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;

Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

There are many verses in the Bible which talks of God being our refuge  - too many to be listed here. But thank God for those people who built such structures, who have lived their lives and gone on to their eternal rest.

P.S. Just a though - when we die, what do we leave behind that lasts and bring solace to others???

Little 'sins'

These magnificent banyan trees growing out of these buildings, unchallenged, reminds me of the verse in the Bible: Song of Solomon 2:15 - "...Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom...". 

So often it is these 'little sins' that are left unchecked in our life, that cause our downfall. These trees were once very small - now they have put out their roots and have threatened the very structure they live on. The tree grows out of the 3rd floor, and is so big that birds nest in it.  And the worst part is that no one notices while they put out their roots into the superstructure - deep, until one day, it becomes un-manageable, unfortunately, too late!

 

I challenge myself and you dear reader to examine whether there are any small 'foxes' that are nibbling away at our roots causing us to wither away, and not be what God intends us to grow up into.

Get going!

I have been inactive on this page for quite some time now. Possible, due a geographical transplant! Bhutan to Mumbai!! However, with a firm resolution to  post at least one picture a week, here it comes. 

On the way from my work place, to the new data centre which we are constructing, a journey by an auto-rickshaw costing around 80 rupees, is this old van. It is complete with its number plate, its tires, upholstery, and even its engine! But it goes no where. 

 
Aren't we folks sometimes like this? We have all that we need, yet are static. Lets get a mechanic over, and get some life into us. P.S. (God is often the best mechanic - after all, it is HE who has made us!!