Wordsmith at work

  A picture  is worth a thousand words. When the above picture,went viral, it received brickbats and bouquets.   At face value the picture is nothing but heartwarming. The children are happy as happy can be.  The real smartphone eludes them, but they make the best use of and find happiness in whatever comes their way even if it is a slipper. We adults spend our lives hankering for more...bigger, better, fancier...it goes on and on.  Making the most of what you have is what happiness is really about.   This post is part of BlogchatterBlogHop link.

I was born to middle-class parents who were raised by hard-working and God-fearing ladies and gentlemen. Here, I pay tribute to Mom's side of the family. Mom was the third of nine siblings. Two were taken in their youth. The oldest was a boy and the only son of his parents. Two of the sisters joined the convent, and two remained unmarried. Nana Dorothy and Papa Joseph raised their nine children in a four-room house in suburban Mumbai, which must not have been quite enough for them. Nana reared pigs and kept poultry in her backyard. Papa worked at the Port Trust and did voluntary work in the church. The church was close to his heart as it was to his home. The family saw some very difficult days but coursed through.  As adults, every one of them was able to fend for themselves. My uncle, Berchmans also my Godfather bought a pressure cooker for his mother with his initial earnings. He stood by the family in thick and thin. Gen...

Today's Times of India carried a piece by journalist Jug Suraiya titled Unpaid COOs and here's a page from one such unpaid Coo's diary...read on.  As a regular homemaker, my day begins pretty early. The 'cheerful' buzz of the alarm awakens me to the sights and sounds of the day. it is 7am and ever so cold these days. I reluctantly drag myself out of bed. My youngest has already left for college at the unearthly hour of 5.45am.Being quite adept in the kitchen, he rustles up breakfast for himself. I have much to be thankful for.   I remind myself to practice my breathing exercises and then trudge to the kitchen. My 'ginger -infused' warm water is all ready for me to glug down. (Thanks to my significant other)While tea happily brews on the stove, my significant other is busy pottering around in the kitchen, preparing his starters as in a smoothie. Now that water and tea both have been drunk, it is time to get down to the business of takin...