Celebration of Palm Sunday in the Epiphany Church, Gurgaon

Palm Sunday was celebrated on the 28th. of March. The worship included a procession from the old Church building to the new church building.The Customary Palm Leaves were held aloft by those in the procession. Reverend Samuel reminded us about the significance of Palm Sunday.

Flickr Tags: Epiphany Church Celebrates Palm Sunday

 

Delhi Folk told to Mind Manners before Common Wealth Games

So the Delhi Folk have been told to mind their manners and welcome the guests who will be coming for the Common Wealth Games in October. Well rudeness seems to be a style statement for the people of Delhi! It is fashionable to mix a few  ‘gaalees’ and the choicest invectives because for Delhites, these match very well with the imitation Guccis and the third hand claptraps one drives with a swagger suggesting that one is a landed gentleman with a few crores to throw around!

Unfortunately in Delhi, the polite ones are ridiculed, taken for a ride and presented as the culprits! The ones with the loudest  voices  and the choicest repertoire of invectives would win a duel of arguments straight off! I wonder how Madam Chief Minister intends to rein in the handsome specimens of Delhi along with their talent in being rude!

Perhaps the road is where one witnesses the typical fiery manners of a Delhite! You will find the typical Delhite forcing himself into your lane, and when you protest, you are treated to a stream of invectives. There may be no space ahead of you and yet the biker or the driver of the cab keeps honking, suggesting that perhaps you have no right of being on the road! In frustration you try flapping your hands in the air thinking that perhaps for once you could fly away from that terrible horn!

The Blue Line bus, and the Metro are other areas where you are exposed to the typical manners of the Delhite! Here,  the adage, ‘might is right’ works very well! While boarding the bus or the Metro, you can just scramble aboard, crushing all those specimens of weakness, because you are strong! Protests by hapless victims crushed underneath your feet are dealt  the choicest invectives saved specially for such occasions! Rudeness among the young people is often blamed on the Garam Khoon or hot blood of youngsters!

Somehow or the other, parents and the schools are to blame for rude youth of Delhi. Bollywood films often lionise characters who are rude and can serve a choicest collection of invectives! Suffice it to say that we are born rude, and rude manners are our style and fashion statement, so, God save the worthy Guest from abroad, from my rude, ill-mannered brother in Delhi!

Gurgaon Dreams

I dream of a Gurgaon,

A Gurgaon where the water is

Unmixed with sewage, and

Sweet to drink.A Gurgaon,

Where, on New Railway Road

You can play Cricket and ,

Ride your bicycle, just for Fun!

I dream of a Gurgaon,

A Gurgaon full of trees n lakes,

And clear streams with fish

Sailing through. A Gurgaon,

Sleepy, peaceful, and easy-going,

A sleepy Hamlet said to have

Been the abode of Guru Dronacharya!

But, I wake to a Nightmare that is Gurgaon!

A Gurgaon, a nightmare!

Just when I turned on the T.V., to watch

The Grammy awards, the power went off!

Power-cuts are the gift of Progress, they say?

The super-highway brings you to Gurgaon in a jiffy,

But entering the town is impossible!

I felt thirsty and took a sip of water,

Only to spit it out, it tasted of sewage!

Is this Gurgaon, Millennium-City?

I.T. Hub, Cyber city, city of B.P.Os?

Is it a city where it takes ages to refurbish

New Railway Road, Old Railway Road?

Is it a city of of reckless three-wheelers,

Spewing poisonous gases, ferrying

Passengers to Kingdom Come? 

Is this a city where sewage is mixed in your

Drinking water, a City where power-cuts

Are a gift, trees are cut to make

Way for high-rises,

Roads, and what not?

Do you call this Progress?

No, I’d rather go back to my dream,

Of a Gurgaon, with trees,

And lakes and rivers and greenery,

and the song of birds,

And the clack-clack of

The tonga!

Give me back the Gurgaon of

My dreams, a Gurgaon sweet and fair,

The Abode of Guru Dronacharya!

Rev.Dr.Bruce Nicholls' visit to Epiphany Church, Gurgaon

Today, on the 14th. of March we were Honoured  with a visit by, Rev.Dr. Bruce Nicholls. He was the presbyter in charge of the Epiphany Church, Civil Lines, Gurgaon for five years till the year 1990. He had been instrumental in the construction of the vicarage. He had visited us after a gap of about eighteen years!Today Dr.Bruce resides in Auckland, New Zealand along with his wife, Mrs.Kathleen Nicholls. They have three children and nine grandchildren. Dr.Bruce Nicholls is today the General editor-Asia Bible Commentary Series, and Senior Advisor-Asia  Theological Association. Dr. Bruce delivered a wonderful Sermon with the theme of, ‘Hope.’

I have given below some photographs of the whole day:

Why don’t we use Blinkers while driving on the roads of India ?

There  is something about motorists not using blinkers in the National Capital region  of Delhi. While driving on any road in and around Delhi, you suddenly notice the car in front of you swerving to the left, or the right, without giving any sort of indication! I think the driver of the swerving vehicle believes that by not using blinkers he is perhaps saving battery power? Another peculiarity about drivers in the NCR of Delhi is  a total disregard for lane driving!  The vehicle at the extreme right can come careening all the way to the left at the last moment, cutting across all the other vehicles just because he has suddenly decided to take the left turn! Then you have those ubiquitous three wheelers! You can find the three wheelers racing with Hondas, Toyotas, and any other vehicle. They stick to the middle lane no matter what, and drive as if they are trying to flee from the demons of their previous birth! If you are hit by a vehicle from behind, then it was your fault, you shouldn’t have been on the road at that moment! Couldn’t you see, the driver of the vehicle behind yours was in a great hurry because he was in a great hurry, emergency, you know, call of Nature! By all rights, when you drive in Delhi, you are driving in a Grand Prix, re-living glorious moments of your win in that game, “Need for Speed”. You have so many Schumachers in Delhi, I wonder why we don’t have a Grand Prix circuit in Delhi! As for me, I try to mind my business and not get into the way of the Grand Prix drivers of Delhi. I maintain a respectable distance behind the Aces of Delhi, and let them overtake me even if we meet again at the red light ( what with him glaring at me for the affront of catching up with him, and me smiling at him apologetically!).

Celebration of Bible Sunday in Epiphany Church, Gurgaon

Bible Sunday was celebrated on 7th.March,2010 in the Epiphany Church, Gurgaon. We had as guests, some important members of the Bible Society of India, Mr.Richard Khan, and Mr.J.S.Rathore. They were accompanied by their wives. Mr.Richard Khan talked about the Mission and Ministry of the Bible Society of India, while Mr.J.S.Rathore delivered the sermon on the topic: “God’s Word is Still Alive!” On this day we were reminded about the amazing story of the Bible. I have given below some of the photographs taken by me on the occasion.