SINGING AT THE THALASHERRY CHURCH FOR SOLI DEO GLORIA

There were lots of good food that we got to share, banter right through the late hours and some solo singing that I could not stop doing. I think I would have bored the young ones with my old bunch of songs.

The onward journey to Kerala took off well. We were at the Chennai railway station pretty early and had enough time to settle down into our seats.

When sleeping time came we had some snoring music from fellow passengers. As it has always happened in the past, I could not sleep after belting out many solo numbers.

My mates would have thought that I was putting up a stunt when I had opened my laptop and books in the train, to study my course material. It was a serious attempt though it seriously flopped :) because singing and studies never go hand in hand for me. I always tend to make that mistake. We reached Tiruvalla station and then the place of stay and were put through a good stint of hospitality. The food was simple and good. A few of us went to the Parimala Church that was close by and offered our prayers.

Soli Deo Gloria was the name of this occasion of music on September 1st, 2019 at the CSI St.Thomas Church at Thalasherry, Tiruvalla. It's a Latin term meaning 'Glory to God alone'. This church has Anglican roots. It's notable that Ambalacatta, Quilon and Thalassery were the places where Tamil Christian books were printed by European missionaries in large numbers for more than 300 years. The CSI churches have always been on top when it came to choir singing and four part harmony and we could see it in the way their choir was organized and in the arrangements that were made. It was really heartening, whenever that feeling that we had finally made it to this place, kept touching our hearts. We had had an invitation last year for the same occasion, but it had got washed out due to the very severe flood situations in Kerala.

The base group where I belong to, had some challenges to iron out during our mock singing sessions but the final show went through really well. We pulled it off really well. This was not a competition. A few others teams that I got to hear also performed really well.

A bunch of us were to return the same day as we had to report for work the next day. And so we had planned early all the logistics to reach the railway station so as to not miss the train. Once our singing was done, we slipped out of the church, collected our luggage and food packets and got into a van that was kept ready for us. We just had twenty minutes with us to make it to the station and then scramble on to the right platform. A few in the returning bunch constantly kept tracking the train approaching the station.

After the van had moved fifty metres from the church, we had a beautiful twist as one of the members had left her mobile phone back at the church with another person in our team :) So we stopped and waited for her to run and get back. This tremendously added more thumping to our already pounding heart beat :) What was supposed to be a small regional TV show was now taking the dimensions of a Bollywood thriller.

She got back and we were soon on our way. We reached the station and lost a few minutes trying to understand which platform our train would come in. We got the information and validated it with a few vendors at the station and had to take the over-bridge to get to the right platform. Once we were there we heard the announcement that the train was waiting at a distant spot for the signal. Two other trains went by and we had spent a good thirty minutes there waiting and chatting. Meanwhile, a powerful shower of rain had also come down.

We couldn't change to some casual clothes before we had left the church as we were hard pressed for time. Once the train came, we got in and did that first. The return journey was pretty good. We had long hours to sleep as the train was to hit Chennai only around 10.30 am. Our talented keyboardist treated us with a big bag of food that his parents had brought to the Kottayam station. That served both for dinner and the next day's breakfast. We also had the food packed by the church for dinner. So, we all went to bed with a full belly.

It was a sad to get back to Chennai from God's Own Country but when duty calls, we have to.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Poetry book 'INDELIBLE ETERNAL ETCHINGS':

https://www.amazon.in/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428166&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428402&sr=8-1

STORIES

Short Story book 'A PEARL FROM EVERY OYSTER':

https://notionpress.com/read/a-pearl-from-every-oyster

https://www.amazon.in/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GI23X9JIKQGK&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428674&sprefix=A+Pearl+from%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter-ebook/dp/B07948GRVC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9GU3Q8JNH29&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428722&sprefix=a+pearl+from+ev%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

For other countries, please visit the respective Amazon sites.

ON MY BIRTHDAY -OCT 1

After a long stretch of working out of home, I had to be at office today although I would have preferred to remain at home. One of the factors that drove me was the day long power cut in our locality that was communicated to us the previous evening. Running the air condition with an inverter is never a good idea.  

Another reason why I wanted to be at office, was to complete a bunch of activities that had to be done out of that location, but literally nothing got completed. The return journey was even more eventful with quite a number of road blocks and traffic diversions and it took about two and half hours by the time I reached home.  But once home it was something else.

My daughter had come in from her college hostel for my birthday although she was in the middle of her exams. Seeing her compensated for all the bumps that I had gone through the day. There were no cakes or candles, but nice gifts from my sister, long chats and some different food that my wife got ready. It was a well spent time.

I had hidden my birthday from my Facebook page about a week back as my previous experiences of cleaning up my timeline after a birthday had been humungous. Birthday wishes would normally keep pouring right through the day and it's akin to how a human body responds to an enema procedure before an operation. Facebook wishes have now become like an involuntary response. Even if someone wrongly types 'Happy Birthday' on our timeline i.e wishing us on a day other than the birthday, the inundation, if at all it stops, has to stop by itself and that too, only at the close of day probably. Earlier days, wishes used to come like ten or fifteen solid single crackers. Now, it's more like a 5000 wallah cracker taking off. We cannot stop it even if we want to :)
So this time, it was absolute silence.

Many entities within which I operate like my professional circle, service circles, study circles, church and singing circles, college circles and other social circles went quiet. But still some relatives and friends especially school classmates messaged me and amongst these, some even called to wish me. All of them successfully touched my stone heart.

MY SHORT STORY BOOK ' A PEARL FROM EVERY OYSTER' @ THE WCC CHENNAI LIBRARY

It gives me great happiness to share the news that my short story book 'A Pearl From Every Oyster' has been absorbed into the Women's Christian College Library at Chennai.

My sincere thanks to Ranjini for making this happen. Buying a book is one thing, reading it is the next level, giving one's reactions post reading is the third level and talking about it and sharing it with others is the ultimate level. I am happy to see that this sharing is happening here.

The book is available on the Amazon and Notion Press sites.

INDIA
https://notionpress.com/read/a-pearl-from-every-oyster
https://www.amazon.in/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1550905048&sr=8-2&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster

USA
https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516536401&sr=8-2&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster+roy

For other countries, kindly visit the appropriate Amazon sites and search with the title.

THE CHETPET ECOLOGICAL PARK -CHENNAI

It was a pleasant surprise for me when I saw large amounts of greenery, bodies of water and well designed walk areas in this ecological park at Chetpet, Chennai. More such parks are coming up in different parts of the city.

This is a very good initiative by the government to revive and maintain water bodies and to bring human connect with nature.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Poetry book 'INDELIBLE ETERNAL ETCHINGS':

https://www.amazon.in/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428166&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428402&sr=8-1

STORIES

Short Story book 'A PEARL FROM EVERY OYSTER':

https://notionpress.com/read/a-pearl-from-every-oyster

https://www.amazon.in/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GI23X9JIKQGK&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428674&sprefix=A+Pearl+from%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter-ebook/dp/B07948GRVC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9GU3Q8JNH29&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428722&sprefix=a+pearl+from+ev%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

For other countries, please visit the respective Amazon sites.

KILLERS OF MY CONFIDENCE

What I am about to share has been happening much more after my father's demise:) I am not sure if this is a coincidence, but am seeing a much higher intensity now than anytime before.

When I stand just outside our kitchen work area near the grill, a bunch of crows spot me and get closer to me. They keep cawing till they drive me mad. We have developed a great animosity for each other over the last two years. It shows up more when I go to the terrace to spread clothes for drying. Some of the crows take a low flight, so as to give a brush to my head leaving me in fits of anger. 

I think they have nests somewhere on the tree branches that lie adjacent to the parapet wall, close to which I put my clothes for drying. They seem to get the feeling that I am after those nests. So when this bunch try to thwart me whenever they see me, my confidence that am the owner of this house takes a real blow :)

Another hero who drives me crazy is this cat. This is a stray cat but it finds several areas in my house really cozy to take rest. Although it does not disturb me in anyway, I try to show my domineering nature but trying to chase it away whenever I see it. But other than opening its half closed eyes, it does not move even an inch unless I get pretty close to it. This cat is a silent killer of my confidence :)

Sometimes I really doubt if these crows and the cat have got some hold on my property in some way, after my father's demise. But jokes apart, they exhibit more authority here than me.

THE STUNNING ST.ANDREW'S KIRK AT CHENNAI

I had been to this kirk several times to attend marriages, but this was the first time I got to see the minute details of its beautiful architecture. The band 'Dhwani' of which am a part, was shooting one of its songs here.

This beautiful piece of architecture was built by the British. The pipe organ that is several years old is still in full cry and is being used during their services. It's wonderful to see sunlight creeping through the glass painting.

The ceiling looks heavenly as it's painted with dark shade of blue while the while colour of the surrounding border and the pillars give it a royal sheen.

What's more royal than a beautiful view of royal white through natural green. You can see that from many angles here.

And that view of the church steeple piercing the air towards the sky gives me goosebumps.

A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - WAVING TO A PASSING UNFINISHED TRAIN

This is a picture of an unfinished train carriage that I shot around late evening time at a spot in Chennai. On my return from work, I get down from the company shuttle at a spot that is about two kilometres away from home and walk the stretch. This is to have a walking stint in my daily routine, even though the routine is not big enough, time-wise. And what I love most about this stretch is this railroad that lies within twenty metres from where the shuttle drops me.

On most of the days in the year, I don't get to see any trains plying on this railroad. One reason for the same is that there is no regular train plying through this track as whatever service that had been planned earlier, did not materialize. The only activity that goes on on this railroad is the movement of unfinished carriages from the Shell division of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) to its Furnishing division and vice versa. And this happening at the time when I return from work, is probably that rare. ICF at Perambur is where the carriages get manufactured. 

Every day, I wait near the track and have a look on either side to see if there is any unfinished train appearing in the distance. And when I spot one, I patiently wait for it to pass by, even though it could take a good ten minutes. I always very happily wave to the driver and the person on the last carriage and they smile and wave back. Am not sure if it's the same people that I get to see each time but I always get a response and that makes me happy.

There is something very special about this train unlike the fully finished ones filled with people that I normally got to see every day during my school days. It's like the driver and the other person, possibly the guard, being all alone with a kind of ghost ridden train full of unfinished, empty and dark carriages. But still they are happy and full of bubbling spirit. I think that way, they are mentally stronger humans than me because I would probably sulk driving a unfinished train, when there are better trains being driven all over the world. It takes lot of character to be able to do a dirty job and wrap it with a happy heart and a warm smile.

I have a connection with the Indian Railways as my parents were Railway employees and the first twenty years of my life were spent in the Railway quarters and its surroundings. I studied at the Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School, Perambur and there were just very few days when I missed out seeing a train pass by. I would spot one of them either when I was on my way to school or while returning back. This view though, would be from the top of the over bridge running over the tracks and I would not be able to connect with the driver or the guard this way. These trains were fully finished ones carrying full of passengers. These days, every time I see an unfinished train, beautiful memories of watching the trains whiz past under the bridge, flash through my mind.

But whether the train is a fully finished one with passengers or an unfinished one, a train driver is on a different journey always when compared to those drivers on vehicles on a road. On a road, drivers get to see much more human activity and they always have the possibilities of quick proximity with other humans while on their journeys. A bus driver for example has all the passengers behind him that he can see anytime, a car driver if not alone, will have passengers inside and both these drivers can view human activity outside or stop and interact with humans, while they drive on a road. But a train driver's state is different. His journey is most of the time a lonely ride barring the person accompanying him in his cabin, as he can neither meet the passengers in the carriages behind him nor is he seeing human activity outside while he drives. He has to reach a station to see it or that could happen while plying adjacent to roads or places of human activity, that comes by once a while. His journey is mostly filled with loneliness irrespective of whether it's a ride through the daytime or the night.

But sometimes on the flip side, his tryst with nature is more intimate. He sometimes takes a path that is carved through the mountains and he gets to see and feel that pristine greenery and develops a much closer connect with Mother Earth. Many rail routes in India give this feel and that's what makes train journeys unique. One can never get this feel while on a car or a bus. So while the train driver goes through that patch of loneliness, nature gives him intimate company.

I always keep looking forward to taking up journeys by train and my love for the unfinished trains is still the same.

You may read the related pieces at:

Journeys to Home
https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

The Gypsies

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

Lighter Moments

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

The Anglo Indian Flavour

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-school-bag-for-of-reminiscences-anglo.html