Christmas

Christmas time was the busiest time all through in my life. There are a lot to do during these days.

It was a time for me to write Christmas wishes with my own hand and send it to my friends and relatives. I do that without fail till now. It was then the exam time also. It is no different here in Switzerland as the exams at the university fall before and after Christmas. As an eternal student, never in my life I had a Christmas free of all books.

Then it was the time making cribs. It was particular in our home to make a crib and we as a family really spent a lot of time doing everything. The most important part I loved to do was not placing the little baby Jesus but to decorate the crib with cotton pieces depicting snow. It was a wonder for me as I never experienced snow in South India. At that time without any internet, it was also not possible to google and find it. So I never believed that there was snow or even when there was snow or there is snow that comes from heaven and has nothing to do with earth. It was for me a visible sign of God’s blessing.

That was the reason as I reached Switzerland in 2010; I went extra to Engelberg to have a snow-experience. That day I rolled on the snow, played with snow balls, made different shapes out of snow, lay down over snow, etc. thinking that I am having a visible experience of heavenly Christmas. Needless to say that, without a winter shoe and winter jerking, I came back home wet and shivering only to get a new pair of shoes and Jerking bought the very next day.

Now when I sit and look out through my window, I see snow falling and I still believe it comes from heaven. It is time for the showers of blessing and baby Jesus will be soon here. I continue to hear the Bing Crosby’s 1942 song White Christmas.

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the tree tops glisten and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I'm Dreaming of a white christmas
With ev'ry christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your christmas's be white"

Protest with a difference

The state of Kerala, from where I hail, witnessed a very different innovative style of protest last December 1st. the protest was against the government’s decision to reduce the number of subsidized LPG cylinders and against the price rise of the food items.

The protest was by cooking food along the highways in the state. The Communist Party of India-Marxist activists set up about 7.75 lakh temporary ovens on the highways and women were asked to join the 775-km-long 'fire chain' protest in all the districts of the state.

They cooked rice, tapioca, Bulls eye, noodles and so many other south Indian dishes. The cooked food was later distributed among all those present and also taken to the homes of others who could not participate in the protest. 

An amazing experience it was when the food was cooked in an hour and shared among themselves reminding of the biblical koinonia feelings which means of the participation of people sharing food and their belongingness among themselves. The communist party lived up to the community goals of the early Christians. 

Meaningful advent fast.

I happened to read in some newspapers texts about staying in shape during Advent and about advent’s diet, recommendations for advents food and so on. Yes it was just interest generating from my side also, since I am in search of a diet plan which will help to stay fit.

Whatever it is after reading all these I just went thinking. Advent and advent fast are all something to do with religious preparation before the coming of Christ and people started commercializing it also. In this world everything has a business face.

But I was just impressed and attracted to a fasting plan put forward by a lover of Jesus, a lady who is very ecumenical in thinking and an owner of a heart filled with compassion and love. She just needs a glance at the crucifix to let her beautiful eyes well up.

Her plan runs so. She set a goal as per her body mass, a body weight which is set to achieve in these fasting days. She measures her bodyweight every 5 days and for each kilogram above her set goal, she donates 30 Francs for an African mission station where every day hundreds of children queue up for a cup of maize. She donates 30 francs for every extra kilogram fat in her body for those poor homeless children who struggle to find a little food only to stretch their life to the next day.

Very impressive. And she is not the only one who does that by now; there are a few in this chain. In case, if anyone wants to know more about her, I would personally give the details.