From corporate to school

Ever since this transition happened 6 months ago, I had made several attempts to write about it.

From air conditioned workstations to wide open classrooms,
From staring at the computer all day to teaching and shouting at children,
From waiting for elevators to climbing the stairs,
From door step pick up by AC cabs to walking to the bus stop for the school bus,
From full fledged cafeterias to small canteens selling only samosas,
From taking a coffee break to getting coffee served to you at 10 45,
From big pay checks to small pay checks,
From quiet carpeted floors to noisy tiled ones,
From computer mouse to red pens,
From report submissions to lesson plan submissions,
From team huddles to teacher's meeting,
From timelines to meet SLAs to timelines for paper corrections,
From acting sophisticated and well mannered to being wild and full of life,
From handling data to handling children,
From clean dry restrooms to single attached ones,
From eating quiet lunches to noisy sharing ones,
From dreading Monday mornings to looking forward to them.

My list can go on. Teaching has been fun so far by God's grace. The people I work with are more than I could ever ask for. The love and laughter we share makes teaching life all the more fun. Children, no doubt add to it. They can get on your nerves, drive you crazy, make you bite your teeth and increase your blood pressure. But when the most irritating student wishes you and gives you a rose for Women's day, it really brings a smile on the face.
Children these days are so much different from what we were at that age. Handling them (40 at a time) and making sure they go in the right path is no easy task.
I thank God for where He has placed me today and ask Him for strength to do my job well.

Little Things

The joy of finding something that you have been hunting for a very long time is indescribable. Especially when it is something that was once a part of us.

My sis and I had a few favorite cassettes when we were small. Every morning we would take turns and listen to them. One such cassette was called Little Things. It was a collection of kid's songs sung by kids and among them we had our favorites. We listened to it so often that in no time we were singing along.(Though the words were not always correct).

As we grew up, our genre of music changed. But we would talk about those songs once in a while. As our nieces and nephews grew up, we thought they would enjoy the songs from Little Things. And so we began our hunt for the cassette. When there were no signs of it, we began looking for the album online. No luck there either. Then one day, we chanced upon it at nubeat.org.

Ha! The joy of finding Little Things

 

P.S.: I don't know if the children will enjoy it as much as we expect them to

Pilgrimage-Day8-Suez Canal-Cairo-Giza-Nile

Morning dawned. We packed and checked out. We had not unpacked actually!! We had breakfast looking at the Red Sea though we could not go to it. We drove down to Suez to cross the Suez canal and enter the African continent. Yea, all this while, we were still in the Asian continent. There was some kind of checking at the crossing and we were not allowed cameras. It was a 3-mins drive through a tunnel that goes below the canal. Just as we were entering and leaving the canal, we could see ships crossing on top of us.

Entrance to Suez Canal from Asia

We then drove through dry desert lands and soon our bus started to act a lil funny. It was only prayer power that helped us get to Cairo without losing much time. It was a 2.5 hr drive to Cairo city. We drove through the outskirts of Cairo and then entered the city. I felt that the place looked like India. The Nile flows through the city and is the main source of water for them. It was so exciting to see a portion of the longest river of the world. Dahlia continously enlightened us about the city. We saw Mubarak's office that was destroyed during the riots,got stuck in a good deal of traffic and finally reached Cairo museum. Absolutely nothing allowed inside the museum and so we left all our bags in the bus. This is behind Tahrir square where there were still some riots happening.

The Nile in Cairo

The parliament office that was burned during protests against Mubarak

We were all given a pouch with a transistor-like instrument and earphones.Dahlia would talk through a mike and each of us could hear it. Loud talks and explanations are not allowed in there. This is one of the largest and most ancient museums of the world with around 1,20,000 items on display and we saw only 0.5% of it.
King Tutankhamen's tomb was quite intact and a lot of items from there are displayed. Its interesting to see how much gold they used. There was even a mask of the king weighing about 13kg.
We spent nearly an hour there. After that we headed off to Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, to see the Pyramids. Its not very far from the heart of Cairo and we could see the Pyramids even before we actually got there. 1st the bus took us inside and right upto a place where we could see the 3 big pyramids and the 3 smaller ones from a distance. The whole place is like a desert and empty. We were told not to entertain people/vendors there cause we could be tricked easily. We then drove down and got closer to a pyramid. The 3 smaller ones were for the women. Among the 3 bigger ones, the one in the middle is called the Great Pyramids and thats the one we got to touch and a few of them climbed it too. It felt really cool. All the pyramids are empty and nobody knows the actual way into it. Those who stole their way in made openings in the stones. We also saw the famous Sphinx. It was close to the Pyramids but we did not get off to see it. It was under renovatin and so not very exciting.

 Cairo is actually a poor city and looks all muddy and dry. A lot of area is still undeveloped. Dahlia told us that during Mubarak's reign, the middle class was almost wiped off. It was the very rich or the very poor.


The smaller pyramids



Our lunch was at a restaurant near the Pyramids. Infact, I ate my meal looking at the pyramids. It was quite late by the time we were done. We tried to take pics of some women making bread at the restaurant and they tried to force us to pay them.



Our next stop was a perfume factory, rather a shop selling perfumes, jewels and other precious stuff. Before that we shopped at a cotton store. Egyptian cotton is known to be the best in the world. Since it was heavily priced, we got off the speed at which we got in. At the perfume factory, we were given an orientation about the different products they had and got samples to smell. They had bottles of different sizes and perfumes for different 'occassions'.

Finally it was time for our Cruise and dinner on the Nile. We had to bid Dahlia good bye as we were not going to meet her the next day. We headed off to Cairo and were dropped off the bus at the Memphis cruise. The ship was waiting for us and once we were all aboard, it took off. We went to the upper deck and breathed in the fresh cold air. We then had an entertainment programme on the middle deck. The first was a belly dance by a professional. I'm sure her costume would have scandalized a few and would have excited some others. Her performance was commendable though. I like the band that played different types of instruments and some lovely oriental music. Next was a Turkish dance that took our breath away. The dancer was going in circles for solid 15 mins. Our belly dancer and some others came over next and even invited a few of us to join them for some simple steps. It was fun 'trying' to dance like them and moving around. We were all seated around small tables for about 6. As soon as the programme was over, soup was served at the tables and a wide-spread buffet was spread. Some interesting desserts too, unlike what we got the previous days. Cause of all the excitement, I was not too hungry. After dinner, I went to upper deck and had some "me" time. Contemplated on the trip and the fact that it was actually drawing to an end.



Cairo at night



On the deck of the Memphis

We then took snaps and bid good bye to the crew and boarded the buses that were waiting for us at the same place we got off. The journey to the hotel (Zoser hotels) was a farewell session. The emotional side of me sprang up.People took turns giving their farewell speeches,vote of thanks,etc. This session was followed by instructions for the next day (day of departure). We reached the hotel and went to our respective rooms. The usual happened. Helping people with their rooms and luggages and finally a long chatting session. Had to pack for the flight.

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Pilgrimage-Day7-Eilat-Taba-Sinai Peninsula

After breakfast, we packed our bags into the bus, said goodbye to Nova hotels and set out for a tour around Eilat.

Eilat is the southern most city of Israel and a busy port. It is a small city with beaches on the northern most tip of the Red Sea. There are lot of hotels and tourist activities here. We saw King's city- a  Biblical theme park that looks like the Red Fort in Delhi. There is also a huge hotel named Herod's Residence. There is a small airport here but the harbour is quite big. Dead Sea products are exported from here (O!we saw a huge factory producing Dead Sea products on the way to Eilat the previous night. Its the biggest industry here). Cars from Japan, India and Korea are imported. When the Suez Canal was closed during the 6-days war, Eilat harbour was used.

Cars imported from India,Japan,Korea at Eilat harbour

Just beyond the harbour is the exit point for Israel and the Taba border crossing. We got off there, took our bags and bid goodbye to our drivers. Got our bags checked, exit stamp and said bye to Hakeem. We then walked for about 5-10 mins in order to reach the Taba border. This is the entrance to Egypt. In about an hour, we were done with all the formalities and boarded the buses from Egypt that were waiting on the other side of the Immigration office.

We were welcomed by our guide-Dahlia. She kept talking non-stop. Her knowledge, clarity and confidence was good and so she was well accepted. Our bus had a toilet in it. We drove down the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea coast. The view of the Red Sea was so beautiful that no camera could capture its actual beauty. The red corals (Trichodesmium) seen in the shallow wasters is what gives the red colour to the water. We were in the Sinai Peninsula. This part of Egypt is in the Asian continent. There are a lot of resorts in this area and still many more coming up. After about 30 mins, we turned off the coast and went through the desert and mountain regions towards the city of St.Catherine. The mountains looked really different from what we saw in Israel. The temperature was also warmer.

Finally we stopped at Morgenland village-a resort/hotel for lunch. We got stuck there for a very long time cause the buses had some problem and had to get repaired. we killed time clicking pics and walking in and out of the hotel shops. We were at the foothills of Mount Sinai. After a long wait, we set off for St. Catherine's monastry which was not very far from where we were.

There is a community of people called Bedouins. They are a tribe of Arabs generally living in the desert and tend camels or sheep.We got off the bus and had to trek a little to the monastry. there were cars and small vans for rent. A few bedouins were also renting camels and I got to ride on 1 for a part of the journey. It was the bumpiest ride I have ever ever had in my life. Getting off the camel was even worse.We walked into the monastry and had to wait till 5 pm for it to open. In the mean time, Dahlia gave us some insight on the place.

This monastry is on the foot of Mt.Sinai and is known to be the oldest Christian monastries in the world. The monastry was built enclosing the burning bush chapel which was built by Helena-the mother of Constantine. She built a lot of churches in the Holy Land including the Holy Sepulchure church in Jerusalem and the Church of nativity in Bethlehem. there was a time in Egypt when Christians were not accepted. So they would either remain secret about their faith or would just move away to some other place. Catherine was the daughter of a pagan governor. Her father brought a lot of scholars to teach her. One of them was a christian and she was inspired by his faith and converted. since her father did not want to condem her in public, he tried sending a lot of sorcerors to convert her. However, she converted them to Christianity. Finally he had no other go but to kill her. She died a peaceful death. Quite a few monks in the region had a similar dream at the same time. They saw angels carry Catherine's body to the mountains. They went in search of it and saw it just as they had dreamt. Thus the monastry , that contains her remains, was named after her. The muslims used the monastry for sometime. During Hitler's reign, he increased the height of the walls and used it as a fortress.



Finally they opened the doors for us. We were told that monks are quite moody and we had to remain silent. I badly wanted to see a monk but they would'nt come outside. There is quite a bit to see in there but all we got to see was an old well of Moses and a plant that was the burning bush.There is a stone there that has the design of the leaves of the burning bush on it. Even if you break it into many pieces, the design can still be found. There was a small chapel too with a lot of old paintings but we missed seeing it.

 





Burning Bush











The Burning bush design on the stone

I could somehow imagine the Isrealites walk through the deserts and mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. We drove back the way we came and proceeded towards the Red sea coast again. But this time we were headed for the Gulf of Suez. Dahlia enlightened us on the political scene in Egypt and about Mubarak and his acts. It was a slightly long drive to Ras Sudr where we were to spend the night (around 3.5 hrs). We stopped on the way at a place that looked like a typical Indian highway dhaba! We finally reached Green Sudr resorts and headed straight for dinner. The resort had 1-2 storeyed buildings spread across a vast land and we had great difficulty finding our rooms and getting our luggages to it. I somehow did not like the place. The place looked like these dry housing colonies. We were so tired and so we hit the bed soon.

Green Sudr resorts at Ras Sudr

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Death of a mall

My Travelogue is incomplete but I could'nt help not writing this down.

I had been wanting to go to Spencer Plaza for almost 2 years. Its weird, but somehow, I just have'nt been able to make the trip. Why Spencers? Go to EA (Express Avenue) na! Ever since EA opened, Spencers has been in a sad state is what I heard. I somehow and for some reason wanted to go there. Its human tendency to ignore the old when the new comes in. But in some cases, it does make sense to still respect the 'old'.
And so, and finally I went to Spencer Plaza on Mount Road with Anjana. It was more of an escapade actually. But what I saw there nearly brought tears to my eyes!

The bike parking lot was nearly empty. Where there used to be 2 neat rows of bikes closely parked and another row of them hap-hazardly parked, was now a single row of sparsely parked bikes. The temperature inside the mall was three times worse than outside. Till recently, going to Spencers was mainly cause of the air-conditioner there, especially during summer vacation. Now the ac is not switched on. Landmark had few pedestal fans at certain places.Most of the shops had shut down. Westside, Pantaloons and a host of other shops. What is worse is that there is no current most of the time. A good majority of shops are dark. Some have lit candles. Merchandise in existing shops are sparse. The only people in the shops are the shop-keepers and his assistants. But its not like the entire mall is empty. There are still people walking in and out of it. I'm actually "wowed" by that. But how?why? Are they people who have feelings similar to mine? A kind of nostalgia?! I wanted to ask but could'nt.

And then we went to the food court in Phase III-PATHETIC scene. Most of the vendors have closed. Most of the chairs have been stacked up and the vendors are buying food from their own stalls and consuming. This was once a place where finding some place to stand was a luxury during peak hours.
You may want to argue that what I saw is partially because I went there on a weekday evening. I've seen the mall on weekends and weekdays, mornings,afternoons and evenings. It was a livelier place.

Like Anjana said, "the mall is almost dying!!"Memories rushed through our minds as we walked down the dark corridors, sweating. I recollected the million times I've walked through those same corridors with so many people-friends and family.The first mall probably in South India.A landmark of Chennai. A mall that had not only the big brands, but also small shops where even college girls could pick up stuff from.(Thankfully,a few of those shops still exist)

I'm at a loss for words. I hope there would be a day when Spencer Plaza rises to its former glory.

Holy Land-Day 6-Jerusalem-Bethany-Jericho-Dead Sea

 Check out day from Grand Hotel, Bethlehem. We crossed the borders and drove to Ein Karem, a small village near Jerusalem. This place is believed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is said to be the place where John was born.



Birthplace of John the Baptist

Across the village, a good 15-20 mins walk from here is the Church of Visitation. On the way uphill is Mary's spring. The Bible says that Mary went to the hill country to visit Elizabeth. Must have been quite e trek for Mary. This is where she sang the Magnificat and it is inscribed in different languages on the outside walls of the church. There is also an upper part to the church(built by Antonio Berluzzi) that has beautiful paintings and a lovely pipe organ.

Church of Visitation

We came back to Jerusalem and went to the Garden of Gethsemene. We saw the Damascus gate of Jerusalem that is under renovation. We also saw the East gate which is sealed now and is opposite Gethsemene. Jesus had passed through this gate (aka Golden gate) many times.It is believed that when Jesus comes again, He will enter Jerusalem through this gate This is why this was sealed by the Muslims.(Ezekiel 44:1-3; Zechariah 14:4) Infront of it and opposite Gethsemene is the Kedron valley.

East gate

Read more on http://focusonjerusalem.com/easterngateinprophecy.html



We entered the Garden of Gethssemene and saw a lot of really old olive trees there. The church here is also known as the Basilica of Agony. The stone where Jesus wept and prayed before the night of His crucifixion is found at the altar.

Basilica of Agony

After that we visited the tomb of Virgin Mary nearby. The majority believe that she died a natural death but angels came and took her to heaven. The church where the 'tomb'is believed to be in looks like a dungeon and one has to descend 47 stairs inside the church. We were told not to buy anything from people in that area. Not only will we be cheated on quality but we will be stolen of our money too.

We then drove towards Bethany. The hometown of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. We went to the tomb of Lazarus. We were warned before hand that the way inside the tomb was a little steep with low levels of oxygen. So there were only a handful of people who went in. The entrance is from the road. We had to hold the railings and climb down narrow, slippery stone steps. There is a catholic church near the tomb and some people attended the mass there. We shopped at a souvenir store in Bethany.

We then headed towards Jericho. On either sides of the road was dry land and mountains. This was probably the road that the man in the Good Samaritan story took. We entered the dry lands of Jericho in about 45 mins. It did not look like a very exciting place though they say it is the oldest city.

Jericho mountains

Lunch was at Temptation Centre. They have a shopping complex on the ground floor and a restaurant on the next one. Lunch was a huge spread that ended with some exotic fruits. After lunch we went shopping (and window-shopping!!). There was a big section selling dead sea products-one of the major exports of Israel. Outside the restaurant, they were selling sycamores and they were also feeding some peacocks the same. We left from there and stopped at an old sycamore tree near by. Not the one that Zacheus climbed though. We got off for a few pictures and then drove through Jericho and then proceeded towards the Dead Sea.

Old Sycamore tree

 Soon we reached Kalia beach on the Dead Sea and went to change into "beach clothes". The Dead sea or Salt sea is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel to the west. It is 423m below sea level and is the lowest point on earth. because of its high salt content, living creatures find it difficult to survive in there.The density of the water is quite high and therefore one can float on the water surface. The mud and the salt of the sea is rich in minerals and are made into cosmetics and for used for other cosmetic purposes.

Dead Sea

Some people took to the water like fishes. I had my lens on and so was quite apprehensive. We applied the mud on our bodies and very soon it started to feel itchy all over. Changing clothes was a public affair and quite uncomfortable. Therefore, till we got to the hotel and had a proper decent bath, I was feeling very uneasy.

From there, it was a long drive to Eilat, where we were to spend the night. We stopped on the way for a short break. We finally reached Nova hotel in Eilat at 9 30 pm. All of us were dead tired and hungry. My 1st aim was a bath and so I had to skip dinner. Had a fun night helping uncles and aunties find their room,etc. Slept really late. I liked this hotel a lot but hardly got to see it.

View from our room in Nova hotel,Eilat

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Holy Land-Day 5-Jerusalem-Bethlehem

Thankfully no check out that morning. It was a Sunday and we were going to have communion service in Jerusalem. We left the hotel almost on time and proceeded towards the Palestine border.
We entered Old Jerusalem through the Lion's gate. This is also called Stephen's gate because St. Stephen's tomb is found in the Kedron valley near the gate. There is a carving of 4 panthers at the entrance. We walked towards Bethesda. Over here are the ruins of the old Byzantine church that was built near tge pool of Jesus' time. It is at this pool that Jesus had healed the crippled man on the Shabbath. Near this site is the present day church of St. Anne- an old Crusader church built during the 12th century.


Lion's gate-notice the panthers on the wall



Ruins of the old church built on top of Bethesda pool

From there we proceeded towards Via dolorosa- the way of grief that Jesus took from the prison to Calvary. There are 14 stations of the cross. We got to see most of them (not all). At the IInd station os the Church of Flagellation and it is closer to Lion's gate. Its the site where Jesus was whipped (there are different views for this). The Catholica and Orthodox have a book called 'the Stations pf the Cross'. So at every station, we stopped for those chants and prayers. We walked down to the next station singing and saying those prayers.

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Inside the Church of Flagellation

Googling up, I realise that there is so much more to see there than what we saw. A minimum of half day is required. We were so rushed and that itself took us almost 2 hrs to see just 50%.
Station III is where Jesus falls for the 1st time with the cross. There is an Armenian church there with a stone tablet showing Jesus falling with the cross. We did not enter the church. Also check http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Via%20Dolorosa.html.

Station III

Station IV is where Jesus met His mother and tells her, "Woman, behold your son"
At Station V, Simon the Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross.

Station V

As we walk down, there are shops selling practically everything on either side of the small stone roads.
XStation VI is based on Luke 23:27 and the 'Bible Walks"site talks about St. Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus here.

Station VI

At Station VII, Jesus falls the 2nd time. We did not go to the VIIIth station.

Station VII

Station IX

Station X

At the IXth station, Jesus falls for the 3rd time. We then walk through the courtyaed of the Holy Sepulchure church where Jesus is stripped off His clothes and this is station X. We did not see station XI. Jesus on the cross is station XII. By then we were inside the church and went to the mezzanine level. There was a long queue there and we stood for a long time though it is nothing to compared to other times. We finally got a second to see Golgotha. The wooden cross is now a golden one with lot of golden lamps and candles around it. But the whole place is not all that well lit.

Calvary

On the lower level of the church is Station XIII- the stone where Jesus was laid on while the cross was lowered. Everybody kisses the stone and I thought it had a nice smell. Must be the many hands that have touched it.

Station XIII

We then walked around and finally reached the queue that waited at Station XIV-the tomb. No photography allowed inside. This again is a dungeon like place-poorly lit- with a Holy stone in there. Later on I was told that the actual place of the tomb was else where and not the one we saw.

Entrance to the tomb

We then got out and walked through the narrow and busy streets of Jerusalem. After about 15-20 mins, we reached St. Mark's upper room. This is where the Holy Communion was institued and that is where we were having our communion service. A small little church/room that the 80 of us exactly fit into. but it was quite cold in there.The communion part of the service was by Thomas achen. It was different experience for me but I still enjoyed it. There were restrictions about photography in the room cause there is an old painting there of Mary and Joseph that they are trying to preserve. After service, we got black coffee and biscuits.

We then proceeded to the bus. It was a very windy walk. The bus was parked outside the old city and we walked out through the Jaffa gate that we walked in through the previous afternoon. We went back to our hotel in Bethlehem for lunch. We were not allowed to go to our rooms. After a lunch and a quick make-up session, we got onto the bus again. We were off to visit the churches in Bethlehem.

The 1st stop was at Milk Grotto church. We had to walk down a small street to get there and the shopkeepers in the street were calling out bargain deals to us. But we were adviced not to shop from there. The story behind this church is not biblical but interesting. When Mary was feeding Baby Jesus, a little milk spilt and the stone on which it fell turned white!

We went down to Manger Square and entered the Church of Nativity. We waited in yet another long queue(yet not so long!!). After a long wait, we entered David's star and got 2 seconds to see the 'Star". Its the spot of the manger.

David's Star

We then went to the upper portion of the Church of Nativity. That is where service is held during Christmas and the whole world watches it on TV. In one portion of the church is the altar of St. Jerome. He happens to be the person who translated the Bible from Hebrew to Latin. He fled from Rome and came to Bethlehem and dedicated his whole life for this. There is also a cave of Joseph where he is supposed to have had the dream where Gabriel tells him about Herod's plan.

We shopped at a store in Bethlehem and got back to the hotel. One of the appachens with us was celebrating his birthday that day. There was a cake for him and he shared his happy moment with all of us. Did some socialising during dinner and after that too. Had a really late nite but fun too.

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