Mr. M.N. Holla

My first memories are of living at my grandpa's house. I remember he was always the first to get up in the morning making tea and chapatis, I remember walking with him some afternoons to Rajanna's milk farm across the parallel road to get fresh cow's milk for tea, playing "who talks last" in the passenger's seat while he drove his old blue left-hand drive around, and listening wide-eyed to his anecdotes about his childhood in the village at Mangalore and of the Arabs and Europeans he worked with in Kuwait. I remember him helping me learn Kannada for school exams, praying at all our family lunches and most recently celebrating my birthday with me along with my Grandma and Aunty Joyce. He was a very friendly and generous man, always giving others and helping everybody he could. He would smile even at strangers and the number of people in just our neighbourhood who knew Mr. Holla and considered him a friend outnumbers my list of so-called "friends" from across the world on facebook. I can vouch for the fact that he made the best chicken biryani, and while I used to grumble about eating his chicken curry as a child, I now miss it and can't imagine growing up without it. 

I remember him always coming for every school event, be it sports day, my prize distribution days, my graduation, always reminding us that he built the Flack auditorium at school and always being so very proud to say he was our grandfather. And today, I am proud to say that I am his granddaughter. Proverbs 13:22 says that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children and I believe that my life is so blessed because of the way grandpa lived. He left an inheritance of the richest blessings for Rachel and I and for Joshua, Jonathan, David, Lia and Gil. There were many hardships he faced and sacrifices he made looking after my grandmom and his six children and he took a difficult stand when he chose to follow Christ as a young man, but God was a father to him and took care of all his needs, gave him a long life, good health for most of it, and provided for every member of this family. God used him to reach others as well, be it through his work with the Gideon Ministry, the Brethren church in Kuwait which first started in my grandma and his home, his work on the board at Elim in Whitefield and the numbers of people he gave lifts to in his car.  It amazes me how the choices made by one man to serve God have had such a cascading effect not just on his own family but also on so many others.

A passage which had a profound effect on his life and led him to God as a young man is found in both Mark 8:36 and Matthew 16:26 - "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" I am sad that he is no longer with us and wish I could be there at his funeral, but it is a great encouragement to know that even if my grandpa is no longer in this world his soul is safe with Jesus and I will meet him again someday.

Is there a holiday in sight?

The first exam hurdle has been attempted, and now I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers flowing that it has actually been crossed. I'm tired now though. There's been a headache on since last Wednesday which isn't going and I have to admit I'm quite annoyed with it! Maybe I should get my eyes checked...hmmm...possibility.

It's good to be back to the real world, and the best feeling in a week and a half was walking home the night after the exam, and seeing the night sky and the boats and feeling the cold night breeze. It's good to be alive.

I still feel like I'm on autopilot though. My brain got fried sometime over the last week and there's a robot going through the motions now.

I can't wait to get away. A holiday is definitely the way to go!

Thank you to all those who prayed for my study and the exam, and those who messaged in providing a human lifeline, and to NWD, MNP, and RAP2 for bearing with all my stressed out shenanigans.

Have a good week all. ;-)

"Down the only road I've ever been down"

I haven't blogged in a long time. I think that's partly because the angsty college bit of me disappeared since the end of university....no matter what people say about college being the best years of your life, I think I like the grown-up world a whole lot better! Or maybe it's just London. :o)

On the whole, despite the rain, I've been happy. I think a lot of this has to do with my church community (at the barge - check it out here - http://www.stpetersbarge.org/ ).  It's been encouraging to see the level of support people give to one another, in practical matters (could I borrow a single fork for my dinner party please?), emotional ones (so and so and I aren't talking, I'm not handling this well, what do I do??) and of course spiritual (how's your quiet time going?). And the warmth extended to newcomers (like me, ten months ago). Despite the diversity reflected in church, I've never had so many like-minded friends all at one go, and this has been such a strong reminder that no matter where we are and what our background/age/race/nationality, there is one person uniting all of us in a more powerful way than I ever imagined before. I'm so glad to be part of this family.

I love my work. I seriously sincerely do. And I like seeing how I've grown over the last 10 months...my confidence, my skills. It's great to be able to wake up in the morning (most days...sometimes that's when I'm going to bed) and know that I have the rest of the day to do something I actually enjoy!

At the moment, though, I'm very very tired. Working all day and studying most of the night is beginning to tell. Fingers crossed this exam gets done in the first attempt. I don't think I could stand to study this mountain of paper yet again!!!

I live in the hope of an exam-free tomorrow (read post-September into that....there are two more to go once this is done)! Until then, shalom, and as my granddad says, smile those clouds away! ;-)

(I had pictures to add, but blogspot/the internet/my computer) isn't letting me upload at the moment