I have observed that everyone achieves a peak of popularity, stay there for a while and then slides to a solitary place. Remember boy in your high school who every girl wanted to date but as life went on his charm lost its meaning and his high school girlfriend married a decent man who is now enjoying his peak of popularity. Some people sustain this position longer than the others but, sooner or later, everyone falls. Every generation sets its standards and races to comply and then next generation changes the standards. If long hair were cool 50 years ago then having short hair is considered better today. Standards keep on changing, sometimes in a cycle, but the purpose remains the same, i.e. to be noticed, loved, respected and appreciated by people.

Recently, I heard testimony of a Christian brother and it was all about how God has miraculously raised him socially. Now all his superiors know him personally and appreciate him while before knowing Jesus he was not known at all as if he didn’t even exist. He worked hard day and night to impress the girl he loved for several years but his unpopularity stood in the way, she never recognized him as a possible future life partner.  Young college students start smoking and consuming alcohol to gain attention, some go one step further and try to sleep around with as many different partners as possible. The more you can deviate from the routine life more attention you can get. Now this can be done in both directions :-

We usually live our lives in the middle boring range which is comprised of normal routine activities like getting up in the morning 6 o’clock, going to office at 9 and coming back home at 5 and spending two hours with family then going back to bed and then repeat the cycle. To get attention one has to cross this range of normal activities and head into either of the extremities. One obvious choice is to do things which are hush-hush in the society.

According to Holy Bible, by our nature we are sinful and hence tend to do things which disturb the harmony in God’s perfect creation. Gary Chapman, a popular relationship counsellor, in his book ‘Five Love Languages’ explores different ways in which humans express their love for each other.  After years of research Mr Chapman writes that there are following five ways in which we express and understand love:

1. Words of affirmation
2. Quality time
3. Receiving gifts
4. Acts of service
5. Physical touch.

If we look at the creation theory advocated by Biblical scholars, it says God created man in his own image and He shown his unfailing love by sending his only son to die for the sins of mankind. Since we are created in His own image we are also supposed to show such deep love towards one another, which, Jesus said is also the most important commandment of God.

The true sense of being special comes from being loved and it’s different from just being noticed or recognized. Most of the time we get confused between being special and being recognized and in our attempt to be special we do things to get recognition. And this is the source of all the problems in the society. If we do all sort of crazy things we will immediately get recognition but being loved is in no way related to the extremely good or bad things we can do. True love is sheer choice of an individual it is not a result of one’s actions.

Our creator has made us as a masterpiece and has given each one of us unique abilities and we all are sufficiently equipped to do great in our earthly life but we will not feel special until we receive unconditional love. So , love others and be loved in return.

 

As a child I always imagined what it would be like to be ‘Superman’ or having one of those powers as ‘Spiderman’. I thought of all the childish things I could have accomplished which being an ordinary child I wouldn’t even dare to. I wasn’t much into social work and all but my desires were more like having fun with people around. Many times I imagined taking off my class teacher’s pant in front of the whole class or put something really smelly on this girl’s head who I hated for some personal reasons, though I could never find something with such a terrible smell. I wondered if some superpower could enable me to watch television channel of my own choice and unlimited supply of coke!

Living in the Lord’s presence and knowing Him personally is nothing less than having a superpower. Sometimes I do get crazy with power and tend to use my powers for my personal benefits in a selfish manner and do things which I know that I shouldn’t be doing. With power comes control and that is the root cause of all the problems I face in my life every day. I do good things like ‘Spiderman’ but then before I even know I start to take control in my hands and then things become really messed up. Usually a prayer to God for his forgiveness solves the problem and I feel blessed. But it’s not a onetime event, it repeats itself, happens again and again. This is how we humans are; sinful, arrogant & stubborn.

I wonder sometimes that if I am not in God’s presence then whose presence am I in. Who is controlling my actions? Why do some people want to believe that there is no God? What do corrupt ministers do? They fulfill their materialistic desires without worrying about right or wrong and then make sure that they can escape judgment with the help of political power. So basically we all are trying to escape judgment and so we seek power but God is not going to help us in doing sinful evil. This makes me a very strong believer in the existence of some evil power which constantly tries to drive us away from our loving God. So if we are not in God’s presence we are certainly in the presence of evil and that can’t be good.

Jesus is my strength, my ‘superpower’ and He is the only one who has the real control. The amazing thing is that He doesn’t take this control from us by himself but instead He wants us to give him this control. He takes away our shame, misery and pain and gives us the power of his spirit. He does make us ‘superhuman’ but we need to be facing His way not our own. Even if I sin He never abandon me like my father on earth and whenever I cry He does put his hand on my head saying, “I AM with you my child”.

Lord Jesus said to Peter, “this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And so it happened. He who actually walked with the Lord walked away from righteousness and we all tend to do it at times but it’s never too late to come back on path of righteousness.

What God wants us to do is relatively simple:

Mark 12: 29-31

The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. Second most important thing is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Just few minutes ago these stairs were loaded with numerous living weights and now it felt there as if these steps were lonely for ages. I sensed the calmness of graveyard after their Aarti to Ganges.

looking at these dogs sleeping so peacefully gave me a relaxing feel because they are not lonely and they also don’t have to do any Aarti for peace..In other words Dogs are in better condition than most people in this world.

These ladies sell bangles and ‘Dhaga‘ every morning. I went to witness sunrise at 5:30 am and I found whole lot of life going on ghats so early in the morning. They probably do this every morning and see it looks as if they have been sitting there forever.

These guys sit here every morning like this looking for customers. They are guides, boatman, chai wallah..and probably everyone that you may need at Ganga Ghat in Varanasi. Not only them but their ‘chappals’ also wait with them with probably same anxiety as them.

When someone you love takes your picture when you take a dip in river ganges you see turn back and see your picture as if it were your wedding picture. The girl silently asks for guys appreciation and guy simply adores the passion with which girl takes the picture.

It’s 8 ‘o clock of a sunday morning.. nothing better than a cup of tea for a tourist with a smiling tea wallah with a good sense of humor…

This little girl wakes up as early as 7am even on a sunday morning and bathes in Ganges river, not only that but also wahses her own clothes. Her father was also bathing beside her but she washed her own clothes. I was startled to see that..

This picture shows this under nutrition guy who works at this Nepali temple near Dasaswamedha Ghat. In this temple one can see idols depicting sexual act which is strange for a Hindu temple. This guy told us that old people must be crazy to build something like this but they made such temples to increase population!

I found this door close to above Nepali temple and it was strange because it had nothing on the other side. It felt as if this door was feeling left alone because no one uses it. Doors usually like having power to open up a new world to a person who choose to enter through it. But it had nothing to offer so felt like a sad door.

Just look at this wall.. each brick is calling out loud. It feels like these bricks together form The Wall and they boast of strength but somehow they are also so naked and open to be seen by anyone…

At certain age we tend to stop looking at the future but look back at the past to search out for something good that we did when the time was right. A thinking mind is better than a planning mind.

Sunset in Varanasi

Sun sets everyday marking few additions in our lives, leaving behind new memories and very soon darkness surrounds us. Rejoice for we have also been given eternal Light which never sets.

It’s 2:30pm at Dasaswamedh Ghat and this man is returning home for lunch after a day’s work. Fresh vegetables available right along the street.

Evening sky after a short rainfall, auto rikshaw is rushing to reach home before it rains again because roads will be all mudy.

Groom holding bride's hand for the first time

Few days ago I was coming from Ghaziabad railway station to Delhi, ISBT in a hired auto rickshaw. A van hit our auto from behind and then this auto driver was so mad at this other driver for his careless driving that I could almost feel the rise in temperature. He proceeded after a small session of verbal showdown of power. In Muzaffarnagar a son killed his father on April 19 supposedly over land dispute. Following is an extract from Indian Express dated Aug 30, 2008

“Angry at not being served the usually ready meal when he returned home, a farmer pushed his wife, son and daughter before a running train resulting in their deaths, police said. He then threw himself in the path of the same train, ending his life.”

164 thousand results on Google for “father kills son” as against 21 thousand results for “wife kills husband” or “husband kills wife” (pages from India). Seems like the most stable relationship is between husband and wife or more simply ‘between opposite gender’. One of the results read “Frustrated Wife kills husband for forcing her into prostitution”.

I was sitting on my thought chair pondering over what could be the reason behind such happenings. Some relationships we make after we fall into this world and some are not for us to choose. Is a relationship just interdependence or probably more than that? Do we carry relationships only to meet our demands? But wait a minute; isn’t ‘Love’ supposed to be the most important ingredient of any relationship? What is the ultimate example of Love ever being shown on this earth? Undoubtedly I could think of only one incident. Yes, Jesus dying on the cross for us.

God exists between any two people holding our hands and asking us to hold each other’s hands and then he binds us like glue. All we need to do is to love Him with all our hearts and he will give us perfect relationships. True Love comes from Him alone. Keep your faith in him and then your hearts will overflow with unfailing love which you can give to others and it will result in bonds stronger than you can ever imagine. Instead of trying hard to receive and achieve one should try to give and provide as much as he can. We worry about feeding our bodies with better food but feeding right food to our spirits is even more important and that food is nothing but Jesus himself.

John 6:51

 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

I heard Him whispering in my ear, “I’ve already planned it, I’m going to Love you and you are going to fall in Love with me.”

Amen

Strike in Mussourie

I was in mussoorie this summer in late june when noons were almost as hot as Delhi. I was trying to escape Delhi’s heat but unfortunately I couldn’t. While I was there I found out that sweepers and water supply people were on strike..Splendid! So what was supposed to be a treat for the eyes was now also a treat for my nose.  I stayed in a cheap guest house in Landour Market and paid only Rs. 150 a night. Everyday people would wake up early to be the first ones to get water from government water tanks and stand in long ques with human size buckets.  I once noticed a teenage girl standing with a really big bucket full of water wondering how she would carry it back home. 

All this reminded me of John 4:14

“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

I stayed in a cheap hotel and I never had to wait in any que for water,  few other friends from Varanasi were also well provided by the Lord. There was also this guy ‘Lucky’ who lives in an old church building with his family and runs a taxi service and somehow he also had sufficient water for his daily needs. This amazed me that how loving God is and how true his each word is. It’s one thing to read in The Scripture but totally different experience to see it happening in our lives. This thought filled my heart with joy and made my eyes watery. He recognize us among thousands other people and never abandon us. He did make us righteous with Father and His blood marks our houses.

All we need to do is keep our faith strong and put all our hopes in Him alone.