God sent Angels to NZ for me

Some lovely things and experiences need to be drafted. A call does not do justice to it. Some God felt moments, need to be cherished. A few years down the line or sometime soon, when I am in the ditch or at my worst end, I would read up this email and re-live this experience and say -  "So what If I cannot feel the Lords presence right now. Time back, he was with me and he did guide me. This not so nice moment that I am currently experiencing is a phase and God is doing his work and will show me the way soon".
  I had a lovely day today. I never imagined it to be so lovely. Not even a month in NZ and I have had my moments of highs and lows. Get irritated not seeing any known faces around, get even more annoyed that certain things I want to go or attend are not easy due to the annoying and not-so-easy transportation. Miss people back home and a not so nice roomie, just adds to it to all. Moments of joy are when people like T walk into your life or sweet gestures shared by N. I say it time and again, I do not know how they would be tomorrow, might get better or worst, but at times when I needed some comfort to make me feel good, God sent them into my life. So let be grateful about such instances.

         From the time I reached NZ and heard about the Divine Retreat Priest Fr Michael coming to NZ for a one day retreat on 18th Sept 2016, I have been wanting to attend it real bad. The day was Today. The venue like every venue was Faaaarrr.. What is close is also distance away by Auckland Transport. So ye, this was a 45-minute travel distance for me. I googled all the maps, figured out which buses I need to take this morning, what time I should take bus 1 and from where I should take bus 2 and where I should get down and then walk, etc etc. All set was I. The time for the retreat was from 1pm to 7pm. Again, not very pleasant either. I decided to not attend the full retreat and the plan was I would leave the church by 5.15pm itself and take the 5.45 bus to the transport station and then walk the 25minute walk home. So it doesn't get too dark in the evening while I walked the street and it seemed a good plan to me.

The morning came. I looked out. It was a bad morning. It had been pouring the whole night and I could literally see the rains + the heavy breeze from the window. Least expected, I gave up on this retreat. Tomorrow is first day at work and I couldn't stand a chance of falling sick by getting wet. So disheartened, I said, Its Ok. Some other time and came to my room. It was pouring. I then realised my landlord and Aunty were going to the hospital. I wanted to ask if they could drop me but I kept thinking of the rain and sat back as coming back would be painful. After some time, it stopped raining and without thinking I just walked out and asked my landlord if he could  end of the road and I would walk it to the train station. He said Ok. It was the holy spirit that guided me to ask. Because I do not recal, how all of a sudden I just went and asked him as I had given up going completely and wanted to just snuggle in my bed. Anyways. I got ready and he dropped me to the bus station itself. So it saved me a 25minute walk. It means a big thing to me. I waited for the bus. I boarded the bus and since I am so new to the place, I count the stops as per the map, I keep ticking every stop as we pass by in the map. After 20 minutes, I walked to the driver at one stop and said -  "Is this Three kings" (the name of the stop). So a gentleman said, "No not this. Are you going to the church?" I said "Yes. St Terese". He said,  "I am going there too. It is the next stop". And we got off at the next stop.
Now we get down. I notice he's an old man.Fair, bearded and spoke with an accent. Must be a 70+ man, thin, lanky.. So I told him, thank you so much and introduced myself and informed him I was new to the country. Just three week old. So he spoke to me nicely and then he removed a lunch  box nicely packed  from his bag and offered to me. Initially, I felt weird to accept it, but people here are very courteous. I did not know how to say a No. So I asked him, "Oh is everyone going to be getting a lunch pack too". He said, "No. This one's for you. Keep it in your bag" I accepted and said thank you so much. Yes, I had not eaten my meal either. So I did feel good about it. And it did look nice with a chicken tandoori leg, two mini sandwiches, a muffin. And we kept walking the church lane. And I went ahead and sat and he managed to come and sit next to me. He asked me about my course and guided me on certain things on where I could search for my part time. I asked him about his family and stuff. So he said he was from India and came here in the year 1986 and thus knew NZ really well and so was guiding me.  He told me how I should be a part of church groups, make my contacts, as networking is important . I realised, along with Nana T, I found Papa T. He was a nice man. Later, he told me he was a retired Chef with an leading airlines and he packed these meals as he made for himself for a few others. :-) I felt so nice. An old man, sharing his joys with others. Imagine the void in him with no wife, kids settled in other places. He prayed well too. Maybe that was his comfort. Isn't it the reason why, he travelled by bus, so old and managed to be there for the retreat.The session was good and Fr preached so well. I was feeling so blest to have got a chance to attend. Fr's talks were so funny and I laughed so much. I met a guardian angel who advised me on where I should search for part time jobs, etc etc
         It was 4 and I had deiced by 5.20 I need to walk out too. We had a break at 4.30 and I went to the main hall to have some tea and cookies. As I was waiting in the cue, I happened to meet a White Lady. We were initially discussing  about our tea that took so much time and I asked her -  Are you enjoying the retreat. And she said Yes. It's great and she happened to introduce herself to me and vice-versa. E was her name.She was from England, came 4 yrs back to NZ and stayed with her  kid and husband. She stayed the other side from where the retreat was and from where I travelled. So she travelled a distance. We exchanged no's and spoke about our families, etc. I was informing her,that I need to leave at 5.20 to catch a bus. But she said she could drop me home and I should wait for the entire service. Apprehensive, i kept telling her driving back to the north shore would be a long drive. She was reluctant and said No, she would be fine and I should just wait. In our chat, she said I should come over to the north shore for my weekends and stay with them. They live on the beach. As I have no family here, she said plan and I will pick you. She works with an NGO as a refugee support volunteer. I thought she did a noble job. She was so warm and comforting as she felt sad about me being all alone in NZ.
 And the break ended and we back to the church. It was the inner healing. It would have been the part I would be missing out on, had I not met E. So yes, she was my guardian angel 2. The inner healing is the best part of the retreat. I was praying and just thanking God for these two wonderful people in my life, for changing my mind and bringing me to the retreat and so many other things. I claimed the blessing for a small baby that was sick, who would be healed for Natasha's kid. After some time, Fr Michael during the inner healing called out and said -  Arlene, You are healed. And yes, my heart did skip a beat. But I felt just so awesome.
          I so believe this first retreat in NZ was a purpose driven retreat for me. and was meant for me. Before coming to NZ, I wanted to attend retreats and I could not. And I had a chance here. Fr preached about getting to see the glimpse of the kingdom of God in various way where God reveals himself to us in different ways. He reiterated the fact-it is only a glimpse. Take note of those moments, when you feel his presence and do not forget them. Remember the fact, he works in varied ways. You might not feel his presence during tough times, but recall the moments when he did show you a glimpse of his kingdom through Love, Forgiveness and other ways.

I have connected this mail to just his theme of today's retreat. Where I actually experienced the kingdom of God, in the form of two lovely individuals who I met today when I felt all low and down -  T and E. They were God sent angels in my life. When I do not know where the church is, I find an angel leading me to it. When I felt lost and worried about how would I travel back home, I find an angel ready to drop me home. When I think about all the worries of being here and people back home and other things,   I hear my name at the healing service by Fr Michael, an angel sent to New Zealand and realise -  God is true to his promises. Have faith

A wonderful day this was. God bless E and T and thank you Jesus, for giving me a chance to attend a retreat that I had given up hope on.

*Names have not been disclosed and kept confidential.

Into a new world

“It is important to love what you do. It is important to find the career you will truly enjoy. You find something that excites you, and that’s half the battle won”.

An advertising professional helping in building brands by providing creative solutions and strategies. This is what I currently do.  In everything that I do, my creativity has kept flowing. Thanks to advertising. Creative, expressive, innovative, passionate, story teller, an ideator, etc. are few words that people around have associated with me.  I realized that my advertising and communication skills required a better platform. The fact that interactions pertaining to advertising did not seem to be meaningful or relevant to me. Brand conversations did not really interest me over a period of time.

Since a while now, I have been trying to discern where my interest lies? What would make me happy? Which phase of my life have I enjoyed the most? School, College, Work life, etc. As I think, I begin to re-collect memories flash before my eyes. Crying and being carried into the class as a toddler, painting the walls of my house which were my never ending canvas, role-playing as a teacher with friends, reading out Goldilocks and the three bears and questioning myself as to how could bears sit on tables, singing nursery rhymes and not being able to understand who exactly where Jack and Jill and many such incidents. The flash back is indeed beautiful and memorable…. As I muse over these joys, a smile draws upon my face. After constant ponderings, the answer is – My Childhood, the best phase of life. Where dealing with broken dolls and bruised knees were one of the best experiences ever felt. Not only have I loved and cherished my childhood, but each time I see a child I have been amazed by his/her deeds and actions.
“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million”-Waltz Streightff
          Innocence and curiosity are the two things I have always associated with kids. In pursuit of this interest, I committed myself to teach religion studies (Catechism) in my Parish for nearly 7 years. I was a music teacher for kids in my neighbourhood area. I was a part-time college lecturer to students of Mass Media at Sophia College, Mumbai. In all these myriad ways, I learnt that there is a different world inside the classrooms and a different kind of bonding that culminates between a student and a teacher. The time spent within those four walls of the room is indeed precious. And with toddlers, that precious time should be put to the best use possible. The first formative years of the child has a lot to do with how he would spend most of his life later.  A process of engaging, to make the subject more relevant and interesting than just providing them with any theory knowledge which they would never recall in their life.  The time when the mind is raw, and they’ve hardly been exposed to the world outside, and imagination is at the peak. With kids, there is so much energy to do so many things, so many questions that need answers too. Channelizing that energy in the best way possible to help them learn, understand and grow is the best investment. It is a journey that one walks with the child - A parent or a teacher, in a way that makes them feel comfortable. It is a partnership, of doing things together.

I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity of experiencing this for a brief period of time, and I am excited to turn my passion into my career. The time spent with kids has always transported me into a new world... I consider child learning and development during the early years the most critical and informative learning ever and want to immensely contribute to the same. Taking my advertising and communication skills of being a creative thinker and planner, I would like to make this a part of me. Talk to them in the language they understand the best.  Encourage the child to question, imagine, and to self-learn than feeding him with do’s & don’ts etc. There are no limits to learning during early education. It is said, Play is the only expression of human development in childhood. It is a free expression of what is in a child’s soul.

 I need the required guidance, training to pursue this passion further. I no longer would want to describe this just as an interest that lies within me, but fuel that same interest and passion by creating a difference in the life of children by being an early childhood educator.

“Away from client meetings and conference board rooms, market strategies and brand stories, ready to enter a world that excites me. With building blocks and crayons, shapes and songs, picture books and stories, getting set to explore a new world”.

Welcome Home Little Ones

The hands that rocked the cradle

When you watch their gentle angelic face,
You cannot wait but embrace
The wrinkled skin, yet the gleaming teary eyes
Reminds you of the times they’ve struggled in life.

The happiness they feel on seeing you near,
Just reflects how they miss their loved ones so dear.
Your presence for a while, fills them with so much joy
How double would that be, if that were their very own boy.

The rickety legs and the rough skin of their hands,
Brings to mind, the reason why they have been banned.
As they age and turn pale, like a withering flower
A plea that God bless and give them some extra power.

Old age with its ill health brings sufferings and sorrow
but not as much as being alone and living hollow.
When there is no one to stand by, not much can you do
but, among many, is the only hope of living with someone you knew.

Amidst all the pain and deep filled sadness,
Is still the desire to live long in that loneliness.
“Why here, what did we do”? Is a question they seek answers for
they go all unheard and unanswered, but life moves on for sure.

The love of a mother towards her child,
So unconditional and so very kind
They still call out to them with a heavy but generous heart
But whose listening and will play their part .

Life then teaches to pause and look back at the days,
at the many moments when you've not lived the right way.
Come time, when you start to age looking all old and grey
May you just be lucky and not experience this, is what I pray.

Life gives back at what you do, that we all know
May we fear a little, be wise and with humility grow.
The old hands that took care of thee
Are the reason of your living so free.
They are not objects to be sold for a penny
they are the hands that rocked your cradle, giving up desires and dreams, oh so many...

The Joy in anything that has life within

Be it a baby just born, or a new born pup, or an eagle

Be it the flower that just bloomed

Anything that has life within is beautiful.

Watch the baby move, the baby twaddle and babble

The joy it fills you is indeed immense

The syllable sounds, the da-ba-da-ba and the la-la-

though you wouldn't understnad, still make you smile

I see the same joy in my baby turtles

I watch them move, I watch them eat

I watch them crawl, I watch them sleep

But they seem to still look inanimate to me

Yet I smile.

And for long I wondered, if I could expect a little more out of them

And it’s today, when I realized growth is captivating

From a tiny speck in the bucket for a time so long

that Left with me just no hopes, of them growing

To the reality I see now

When I stopped to expect, is when they surprised me

Those little petty things with life within

They never fail to amaze me. They know me well by now,

They know how I hidingly watch them

With time, I watched them swim and climb the rock

I watched them make some rapid moments

In all that I gave my hopes on, they taught me with time every little thing learns

Oh what a Joy..Oh what a beautiful thing

Only if they could talk, they 'd tell me a million things

Since they don’t, they just look at me

A look that makes my heart melt..

It now sinks into me,

The Joy of any mother watch its child grow

And yes...so would the muma turtle of my little babies watch them with pride

As they learn to bloom into what they meant to be.

Indeed, anything that breathes is beautiful

And my heart is filled with joy.

A New friend for life

Life with its unpredictable nature at its best

gives you what you least expect.

I unknowingly happened to stalk a friend

And watch him around

Many things I knew about him, his where about ,just like any other talked about stranger.

I knew not them all, but yes I knew a little and thats one reason I feel proud to boast about:-p

I must have bumped into him a couple of times and never looked or thought about it again

I happened to knock at his door many a times for reasons other than him

Down the line, I never knew life would make us friends

Such good friends now and ever (For the hope, we would not let it perish)

Time back, I thought of him as just another acquaintance

a Stranger, I was least interested in even being friends with or even giving it a thought about

But life is uncertain and so are the things it shoots back to you.

 And the little ones like these that amaze you

To me, It now feels like hes that person who I met long long time ago, whose door I knocked

.Its not that stranger anymore....Its a friend who I know so much about..

Who knows so much about me

a friend who I have learnt to trust and respect

A friend who I am glad to have met

Who thought we'd be such good friends?

And now that we are, I wanna let it grow

Oh No...Not like the ones I meet and easily let go

But I am gonna cherish having met you and let this not end.

Dedicated to Patrick Diaz

Monsoon Madness!

So it initially began with making a bucket list of things I wanted to do in my life. Had I not penned them down, I wouldn’t not have ever known about TrekOPhy and my adventure would never have been possible.

Thus treking with an organized safe group was my highest priority and I wanted to begin it asap. I did not know about any such groups till I came across Trekophy while I was doing my R&D on various trekking groups. Having called many other groups, I finally made up my mind that Its Trekophy that I would like to begin my life's 1st adventure with. Having interacted with one of the instructors - Gaurav Kelkar, I was given a clear fair idea of how things were. Thus the day was 16th June 2013 and weeks prior I made up my mind that I will make this happen.

I was easily able to convince around 15 of my friends to be a part of this, and thanks to them none of these backed out and all of them seemed as excited as me and were game.
Thus, the night before the trek I hardly slept thinking of all the excitement that was to come my way. And Trust me...It was much much much more then what I anticipated.

Thus it began with the pouring rains itself. 16 June 2013 was a crazy day with heavy rains. Being a Sunday we thought that the mega block would create some problem. But where there's a will, there indeed is a way. And weren’t we out on an adventure? Yes we were, and there certainly would be some road blocks that we would have to come to terms with. But nothing went wrong. And all of us friends made it to Dadar having met Trekophy for the 1st time and began our exciting journey.

With a lovely breakfast served to us at Panvel station, we met some new friends there and began the Joy trip. Having stuffed ourselves in the Tuk tuk to reach the village base, the 45 minute journey was an awesome ride too. The rural set up to the village already got us excited and we knew we were in for a lot of fun. The rains were just adding to the beauty of the place.

After having reached the base village, we started our trek. Crossing streams of water, walking on puddles of mucky water, stepping on rolling stones, every step we took was just so much fun. The trek instructors made sure we were guided well.

The beauty of the place with the lush green dense mountains, the rain drops, and the gushing stream of water kept our sprits high. This could be one of those right decisions of my life to have finalized on this trek, the Trekophy group, the destination..Because everything just seemed so right! Not to forget, the waterfalls on our ways that we did not miss. All of us, around 56 made sure we got our selves wet, played in the water falls and had the best time there too.

As we walked, the trek seemed to challenge us at every level. The climbs became difficult. I wondered if I would be able to do it, but a task taken cannot be just left incomplete. Moreover, I was very passionate that I wanted to achieve it. The slippery climbs got difficult, the rocks bruised our skin, and the rains did not seem to stop and the heavy breeze. Nature was at it’s best that day. Nothing dampened our spirits. At times when we lost hopes, the instructors kept us motivated and we kept going.

There came a point, where we reached the 2nd base and I stopped and was spellbound by the beauty of nature. It seemed so heavenly. The mist was so heavy, that we could hardly see anything. We were at a great height above sea level where not much was visible below because of the mist and the little that we saw seemed like a tiny speck...Scary yet Awesome!

 Trying our best, we had trekked more than 2hours and I already started to feel proud of myself. I kept telling myself-I can, I will and I must and that kept me just going without stopping. We crossed streams, rolled over in muck, hurt ourselves, but trust me each of this was worth it.

The joy of reaching the pinnacle point was great. To reach that pinnacle, indeed took a lot.. A lot of efforts  a lot of energy, a few peoples kinds words to keep me going, lots of self motivation to do it, but once having reached the place the feeling was something I still can't explain

Like everything in life has a first time, this was my first time. I was 2500 feet above sea level. I could see the mesmerizing beauty of nature. I was at The TOP. And the feeling was awesome.

This might sound like me climbing my Everest and making it sound so big, but to me this indeed was a big accomplishment.

Thanks to the Trekophy group. At every step of our climb, they were just so patient, so calm and so understanding with us.

Reaching the pinnacle isn’t enough right… There are folks waiting back at home…And you got to get back in safe and sound in one single piece. The walk back down was not easy. The rains did not stop and the way got muckier than before...Rolling down the muck and tying to hold our grip, we did manage…

All in all this was one of the bestest adventures of my life… And I am sure I am going to be a part of much much more with trekophy.

If you’re a first timer, no hesitations…trek with this group, for they really guide you well and are great instructors too..

Still excited for the next one to come.

"I've realized everyone wants to reach the top of the summit, but all the happiness and joy occurs when  you walk the hard way and try being there"
Life is fun, with such adventures"