Timelessness of time

Wisdom is timeless, I often surprise myself at how my thoughts towards a particular subject change over time. Anyone who knows me really well would categorize me as a hopeless romantic, love conquers all, love is the foundation. I love "chick flicks",I am nostalgic and I believe that love is the answer for everything.

From a non bitter perspective I can honestly say that love is not a good enough reason to get married. I am sure you think I am going to list must have qualities like trust, honesty/transparent communication, purpose and similar goals as recipes for marital success.Far from my thought process...

Marriage is a contract, to sound less harsh, lets call it a covenant. It starts in the church and sadly, ends in court. The institution of marriage was not designed to trigger butterflies in the stomach or speed up your heart beat. Marriage is a covenant designed to enhance and enrich people's lives. Lets put away the little love goosebumps and think logically.

You want to start a graphic design business but you know you lack the accounting skills to keep the finances in order. Your best friend whom you love dearly is more of a creative asset, not someone you would trust with your bookkeeping. As a result, you start your partnership with someone who has the skills you are lacking and you hone in on the creative design. The company hits the ground running and becomes a success.

You dont love your friend any less, you just know that it is in your best interest to find someone who upgrades, benefits and adds value to your business relationship. Marriage should be no different. I bet you will think differently about arranged marriages now. The majority of Hollywood marries for love and within weeks, divorce. What happened to the all conquering love? They say nothing lasts forever, what makes love the exception? Think about it....

Is this the thought of a cynic or is it just merely truth too hard to swallow?

When I say love, I am referring to a fleeting feeling based on circumstances, not a decision to love, action or God. Now to you my friend who may be concerned by this blog, allow me to renumerate a few things that havent changed:

* I am still in love with love and want to be loved and intend to love and will get married to someone I love. Its just that the priority is a bit lower
* As a follower of Christ, I still believe that love is the most powerful force on earth. We just need to accept that love doesnt play bills, increase your quality/standard of life or build your alliance
* I still get excited and emotional when I enter Grand Central Terminal, Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge!

* I still love you *

Balance is the key to life

There are certain words associated with Christianity and most often, they do not include strong, bold or fearless.
As a Christian, I often have to remind myself that being a Christian does not mean that you allow people to take advantage of you or treat you in a way you would never treat yourself. It does however mean that you forgive people for their faults and offences against you. Lets be clear, that does NOT mean that you have to keep them in your inner circle and give them more opportunities to hurt or offend you. You can love from a distance.
While this may come as a shock to many who perceive me as a social butterfly, I  have been flirting with the concept of friendship as a luxury not a necessity. I am blessed to have some of the most amazing friends, I will not deny that. Nevertheless,I am learning to understand that I need to explore the concept of permanent interests not permanent relationships.

India: Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) to Delhi

Ladi and I woke up at 3:15am to make our 6:05am flight. Our taxi driver was racing the streets like he owned it and though we were running late, he managed to get us to the airport on time. The only issue was that it was the wrong airport. I asked Ladi to stay in the taxi while I checked our flight details. Our flight info stated that we were flying out of Trivandrum International but we should have actually been in the domestic airport!

Ten minutes later we raced over to the domestic airport and confirmed that we were in the right airport. At this time its 535am, our flight is boarding so we race to the check in counter

Ro: I am so sorry we are late, we went to the wrong airport. Sorry
Attendant: Miss, I'm sorry the counter is closed

My eyes grew bigger in shock/despair
Attendant (laughs) : Please put your luggage here

Not funny! I started laughing eventually, run to the security gate, five people ahead of us, as soon as we exit, we are at the boarding gate.

A few rows in, we find our seats and I say to Ladi, these people better hurry up, we have been waiting!

India: Delhi ~ Day One

Ladi and I checked in the hotel, that was very seamless. We ordered delicious biryani and aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower).

Time to go sightseeing

India ~ Repost "I Saw The Real India!"

Ten months later, I saw the real India lol, read post from Sooraj's blog

"I Saw The Real India!"

Dedicated to a friend, who insisted

Perhaps it is borne out of the need to see something very different from their own surroundings and the world they grew up in, but whatever the reason, many travellers use the word "real" to denote something negative - like poverty or corruption. Some travellers aren't satisfied that they have seen the "real" people until they have seen someone dying of hunger. Maybe I should not read too much into this, because when we say that we have seen the "real" face of a person, more often than not, it means we have seen their less than good side. But I still cannot shake off my belief that the word "real", in connection with travel, has been blatantly misused. Why should you go to a one room mud hut to meet a "real" person? What about the rest of the people? I concede that sometimes a tourist is so insulated by the machinations designed by the tourism industry for the comfort, and exploitation, of its guests, that they often come away with a very different perspective of the daily realities of the natives. But it has been my long standing view that true understanding of "real" can never be achieved without using true scales and measures whatever be the experiences you have - insulated or otherwise. I believe understanding comes from within. Here, allow me to quote The Doors, "People are strange when you're a stranger". As I'd mentioned before we will always judge others using our own standards not theirs. Wherever we go, our sense of reality is determined by the yardstick that we carry within ourselves at all times. "Real" is all around you - you just have to see it.
Oh, let me just come to the point. Don't come up to me and tell me that you want to see the real India unless you have a very good answer to, "Oh, so you think I am a fake Indian from fake India?"

Where did Friday go?

Left London Thursday November 8th at 10:35 for an 8 hour flight to Mumbai. Arrived at 110am on Saturday, what happened to Friday? I missed it

Spa Bliss

Ladi and I took a break from the hustle and bustle and signed up for a spa package including mani, pedi, facial and massage.