Pamela Q. Fernandes's Blog, page 44

A little cup of Christmas

Its Advent.
I just watched the movie Oh My God yesterday albeit rather late. And what I found strange was that while they kept saying we must practice and not preach, the Catholic community has been doing that for eons. We go to villages, leprosy colonies, Aids victims, orphaned children, Africa where no one else will go. Yet we do it silently, with no credit, with no praise for that is the true meaning of giving.
I have met so many people, who give till it hurts, offer meals from the little that they have, make time for causes even when pressed, generous people whom only God knows of various religions.

The only reason we go to church is because week after week and for some people day after day is because the flesh and blood of Christ edifies us through the week. That is the significance of the Eucharist and India is rightfully celebrating this year as the Year of the Eucharist. How little do people know about Christ in the flesh? It is the only place where God himself feeds his own people. I love this verse of St Teresa of Avila, 1515
Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.


And so even as we get agitated that the onions have become expensive, the sweets turned out bad or haven't been made at all, or the Christmas lights fused out, the star is not ready, decorations have to be put, the meats have to be brined, all that food has to be made... let us sit ourselves down and simply be thankful for waking up every morning. Imagine what went through Mary's heart. And if you need a little help turn on some music.

I have a list of Christmas music albums that you should listen to- will put that up in a post very soon.
Till then happy preparations. And don't forget 'all is calm, all is bright.'

Dubai - Emirates terminal

The wonder that is Dubai. Well I have been planning this post for two years. Yeah two years since I last was there. But didn't think it would be a fair post. Now after having transited through Bahrain's Manama, Qatar's Doha and Dubai's rival, Abu Dhabi I think I have the research required to post. And I'm not the standard traveller that just looks for the gates and shuttles from one flight to the other. When I travel I eat at the restaurants, drink at the cafe's, shop for perfumes, chocolates and well keep shopping some more. I walk through the entire lengths of terminals no matter how tired I am. That's because airport transits are now like mini cities especially in the Middle east. And I probably won't transit through anywhere else unless its Singapore or Hong Kong.
I have been on long haul and short haul flights through here. Just for the record, if you're on a long haul flight do pick Qatar airways and Etihad for in- flight services. I have been on twelve and sixteen hour routes and these two give you the best service. Emirates is good on the short haul.
 Dubai fountain with live fish
The terminal- has the wow factor
Dubai has a train that runs between A and B. B and C gates are clubbed together. The restaurants are largely the same all over, but the fast food joints are different across the terminals. Basically the shopping that is available at the C gates is the same for B gates. So if you have walked the length at one end don't bother at the other end.
Seating dubaiAlso at Dubai if you are changing planes make sure you have a transit time of 3 hours minimum to ensure your baggage gets transferred and so do you, in time. There's staff at peak hours to direct you to your gate and routinely you will find people running to catch their connections. Its fun to watch especially if they're wearing a national costume.
The shopping I would say in Dubai is expensive and has no offers unlike other places. They usually charge MRP and you swipe your boarding pass before you pay. They accept card and they have currency exchangers, but USD works best especially if you want to make change.
Dubai's dedicated Emirates terminal is visually appealing and its like a piece of architecture, with its lovely elevators and giant wall waterfall, fountains and live fish. Plus you will be entertained, make new friends and the wifi is free + fast. They also have clean toilets if you're smart enough to find the less crowded ones like on the ground floor at A or just after transfers. Don't fall asleep here, gates change all the time. Keep your ears open while you stuff yourself. Somehow my other pics of the waterfall and musical lifts won't upload. Shame

Abu dhabiAbu Dhabi has centralized shopping for all its terminals. That means that wherever you are you have to go down to the central portion under the beautiful green dome and shop there. Its got greater variety than Dubai according to me. However its long walking to get to the shopping from the terminals and they have very limited seating. Its like you better not sit while you catch your flight. Also Etihad transfers are crazy long. It took me like an hour long in a very shoddy queue to transfer, what would be better is that you insist on collecting all boarding cards for onward flights from your primary destination. The toilets are always crowded and we could do with more. The food is just meh with McDonald's but you don't have a choice of dining like you would at Dubai. Their wifi is super duper slow.

Doha busyDoha is the best if you want to shop. They have offers on everything and I'm not talking about the car.On popular stuff they have deep discounts and its good stuff. Most of it is made in UK(also at the other duty free in Dubai ad Abu dhabi). If I was buying stuff anywhere else it would be made in China or somewhere else(I don't have anything against them but people think I was a fraud and could get that at my superstore in Mumbai.) They have a centralized shopping area which is packed. You now know why.  The toilets are crowded. Since I was too busy shopping, I didn't have time for wifi. But they don't have much eating choices. More cafes though. Seating is ample. Also you can get to your flights in time since nothing here is too far. So even shorter transits are great.

Its been over ten years since I got through Manama and will not comment because they are not long distance carriers but for short flights, service is great in flight for Gulf air.

So depending on what you like make your choice as you transit, it can be great fun if you allow yourself to enjoy the brief go through.

Song on my playlist: Nos Couleurs by Cheb mami
Movie I recommend: The company we keep





 

My novella is now on amazon..yay

I don't want to toot my own horn, but my novella 'Seoul-mates' is now on Amazon. For Kindle readers its at a discounted price. Just wanted to share this with you. Happy reading all. Yay...Thanks Naheed and Indireads team.

Check it out - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFEVO5K



Movie I recommend: Rockin on heaven's door (this is a bittersweet Korean movie- I cried and cried while watching this)

Song on my playlist: If I die young by the band Perry

Beating the Mumbai heat

Back in aamchi Mumbai the only way to beat the sweltering heat is to either be at the mall, dine out and rather expensively I might add or stay indoors. I can't believe it's November and so damn hot. I honestly hope winter is coming to this part of the country.

I've been debating what to post this week. But my grey matter isn't responding to my hazelnut flavoured cuppa yet and so my otherwise fruitful mind is in disarray. So today I will just leave you with a few words of thanks.

My immense gratitude to Vic and Reg, Mark and fly for the prayers and best wishes through this time. I can truly tell you that through those prayers I have experienced God's continual presence.

Also a shoutout to Fr Michael Gribbon at St. Therese of Lisieux, parish, Avenue D. Congrats on your installation as pastor of a warm and vibrant parish. All the best to you, Fr Delva and your team for the future.








 

Books I'm reading: The 7 most powerful prayers by Adam Houge

Song on my playlist: Walk right back to me by the Everly brothers

Movie I recommend: Skytten (Danish political movie)

Have a great November people. 2013 seems to be stopping for no one.

Han river at night

Greetings from New York folks,



I have just been crazy busy to create a post even though there's so much to share. Like I said will be continuing the series of pics of scenes from novella 'Seoulmates' which is being featured this week on Indireads.com.



And right from the chapter, 'In Good times and bad,' is the scene where Jihan drives Katia after the meeting with his family. The Nam San bridge runs across the Han river and has some spectacular sights in the evening with the light show.





pic from myseoulsearching.com



Another link of the view from the river bank where they talk is here. Samik Ghosh has some lovely pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonaks/5109605285/



Thanks for the emails. I'm doing fine and the weather is chilly in NYC. I wish I had more time and more friends out here to go and see everything. But alas.... Take care, stay warm. Hope to post some pic of the Big Apple soon.

 

Bukchon Hanok village

I'm asked sometimes if the places in my novella 'Seoul-mates' are fictional. And while I have never been to Seoul, none of the places in my book are made up. Its all factual.








 
Like take the Bukchon Hanok village in the chapter 'To have and to hold.' Basically its the chapter where Katia and Jihan climb up all the way, only to have Jihan engage in his first heart to heart conversation with her. You can see the steep downhill and the narrow lanes going up. Just to give you a sense of the scenery in that book I have attached a few pics. Will do a series of these for all the imagery of the book if possible.  And no this is not a Korean tourism blog. :)



Credit to Tim Thumb & Mark Wiens



Movie I recommend: Julie and Julia

Song on my plalist now: Rachel Diggs Hands of time



 

Where is my voice?

Thousands of innocents die in Syria,

where is my voice?



Gunmen open fire in a busy mall on Children's day,

where is my voice?



Women are harassed on the streets of Mumbai,

where is my voice?



Religious missionaries are persecuted in far flung regions of the world,

where is my voice?



Female babies are killed for being just that, female

where is my voice?



Bribery and corruption are rampant around us,

where is my voice?



Injustice occurs right before our eyes,

where is my voice?



Where am I?

what am I doing?

where is my voice?

why have I become immune to a bruised and hurting world?





I am not a poet by any means, but these are just thoughts.

If we can do nothing we can certainly offer up a prayer and stand in the gap even if it's just a line. There's tremendous power in that line.

After all a world united in prayer is a world that cares.

Today is also the first day of The Novena of St Therese of Liseaux, a Carmelite nun. While this novena is especially to pray for other 'roses' in the making namely other nuns, you can also use it to pray for the world at large. A simple way would be use praymorenovenas.com.

John Paul and Annie work really hard to make sure these prayers get to your inbox every morning for free. So sign up with them and end this month with the feast of the little flower.

She has these beautiful words, 'the world's thy ship and not thy home.'



http://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-therese-novena/



Movie I recommend: One day in Europe (this is fun esp if you watch football, the backdrop is the Deportive vs Galatasary match and four robberies that take place in different parts of Europe)

I am not reading now ;)

Song on my playlist now: Timeless love by Kelly Clarkson and Justin

 

Published in the Literary Yard Journal

This came as a complete surprise, my short story was published in the online Literary Yard Journal yesterday.

The story, 'the weeping wall' is not my usual writing. The voice, tense and person are very new to me. If you've read my novella, you would know I like writing third person and my voice isn't that calm. It is usually quite caustic with sarcasm. Here it was a bit different. I may have fumbled with the tense. So it's not a perfect story, but it's a short that was simple.

Do let me know what you think of it either at the website link below or here at the blog. I would like some feedback on the story.



http://literaryyard.com/2013/09/16/story-the-weeping-wall/

Who is your favorite character?

So drafting character sketches made me think why do people like some people in books and hate others?

I fall in love with some and some others absolutely disgust me.

What is it for people that makes us endear these imaginary people in imagined worlds?

For me Maggie from the Mill on the Floss is the character I love most.

I first read about her in my English high school textbook. After the reading the excerpt in class, for our next library day period I picked up the book. And frankly I cried when I finished that book. Plus I didn't want to give the book back when our library period came next week. Maggie remains with me even today, when I think of open fields, ,mills, haircuts, she is still on my mind.

So who is it for you and why. It can be anything novel, short story, anime, manga, manhwa

I'll give you what I like.

Novel - Maggie from the Mill on the floss. because she's so expressive.

Manga- Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango because she's gutsy

Comic- Supandi, yeah I still read or reread this time & again - because stupidity has new heights for him every single time.



So post your favourite characters, the more the better. Some of you are great book lovers, and voracious readers...





And:

Book I'm reading: Tess Gerritesen's Bloodstream

Movie I recommend: Veronica Geurin (Based on a true story I absolutely love her- if only I had half her guts)

Song I'm listening to: Going crazy by Song Jieun (absolutely love this - if you don't follow Hangul read the subs, its about a stalker/victim's conversation & I can relate)



That's all for this week. Look forward to hearing from you.



 

Of herons and kingfishers..

First up a big shoutout to Pratiksha.

Secondly Reg I hope these pictures turn out as expected.



I am not a birdwatcher. Even the movie 'the Big Year' failed to capture my attention. But my morning view of birds opposite my window have made me change my mind. Their poetry as they sing, their coloured wings just so bright and the easy pace of life - so lovely. How nature is just so vivid and yet peaceful.

I could have clicked this with a better camera. God knows I have several at home, but then I would have to charge the batteries and for that I would have to find the batteries. By then these little ones would have flown away. My night herons are now flying away as the season changes. On a given day there used to be at least eleven of them, but they're leaving and it does make me sad. The other herons and kingfisher make the occasional appearance but its so sudden that snapping them is extremely difficult.



 This is the night black crowned heron identified by its plume. The other one is in the right lower corner behind the trees. Shy one.




I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.  ~George Washington Carver







 





 You can the plume on this one. I believe they sleep in the day after they clean themselves.




With innovation and technology, seems we have forgotten to cherish the true beauty the world has to offer.  ~A.C. Van Cherub


Ok so the next dude is a heron though I'm not sure which. By the time I searched for all brown birds on whatbird.com, everything seemed to blend in and I didn't know if they were any different. All I know is that its not a sparrow.



 

Finally a conference of my big three. Well the yellow one is a kingfisher, though I cannot really tell which.


He/she is cute.


 

Well so much for bird-watching. I know I might seem loony, but I could actually waste some time getting carried away, trying to whistle or watch them. Its just relaxing. In my next life I'd like to be a bird.  Have you seen any exotic birds of late?

 

Movies I recommend: Mother of Mine ( Watched it 3 times with subtitles, the lil boy with mama Signe just wonderful)

I'm listening to : Touch the sky by Julia Fowlis                                                                               

I'm reading: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (again)                                                                        

 Games I'm playing: Mystery Case Files Prime Suspects