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Showing posts from April, 2015

TEA NEWS DEBATE

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Tea news debate There is a tea stall next store to us and every morning there are men, mostly, drinking tea while reading the news from various newspapers supplied by the tea stall vendor which usually leads to a healthy debate.  The debates have not thus far led to a knocked out drag out fight as many debates can. There is this sense of  comradely , laughter and the enjoyment of this moment in time.  Those walking their cows to pasture hitch them to a tree while enjoying their tea.  The tea stall opens at 6 a.m and closes at 7 p.m.  There is a low period around lunch time and then business picks up with workers going home,  travelers , and field workers getting their tea before going home by the truck load.  This tea stall is very active and there are cookies and homemade vada for those who have the munchies.  Some of the  neighboring  families send their child with a flask to bring tea back home.   Life is simple with a sense of continuity.  MY COMMENTARY:  I love to

LAND BILL

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LAND BILL Cartoon by Indian Political Satirist...FRANCO JOSEPH Permission given to post 2015

PRICELESS SMILE

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PRICELESS SMILE While I was on my recent retreat I met this little girl Grace through her father.  At first she resisted the meet but she would soon get over her shyness and we became fast friends. I received permission from her father to take Grace’s photograph.  After taking several photos in which she was not smiling I encouraged her to smile by showing her teeth and this was the results…TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS.  MY COMMENTARY:  The world has been extremely cruel to the most vulnerable children.  The new reports are in dated with atrocities perpetrated against the innocent and corrupting the very innocent of life not lived.  We often equate genocide with the mass killing of a group of people whom are victimized. Genocide is what these children suffer when their very innocence has been infiltrated by evil. When we hear and see these atrocities and cannot bear it, it shows a heart of compassion.  If the abuses of these children makes us violently ill that is wh

JACK IS BACK!

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JACK IS BACK! Jackfruit is in season its origin is from Southwest India.  The fruit is a thick rubbery rind has shot blunt spines and can have up to 500 seeds.   All parts of the fruit have milky white sticky latex and only the rind and core are inedible.    The average fruit size is 35 lbs but they are often larger.  In 2010 at a Jackfruit Festival in Kerala, India 144 lb fruit was featured beating out a 79 lb Hawaiian fruit which held the Guinness book of records for years.        I personally enjoy the fruit and look forward to April the start of its season.  It is sold as is off the tree in some places but it is a bugger to cut and extract the fruit therefore, it is mostly sold 10 pieces in a plastic bag ready to eat.  You can find hawkers selling them at bus stands, toll booths or on the side of the road. WOW! I am happy JACK IS   BACK! © Linda Mary Liotino ME A SERVANT OF CHRIST MISSION 2015

STONE CUTTER

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STONE CUTTER The village of Uthiramerur is built on large boulders.  Our neighbor’s land had what started out to be a four foot projected boulder.  He hired a Stone Cutter to begin the process of removing the boulder.  The Stone Cutter uses a five inch iron chisel and an iron hammer.  He also uses an iron sledge hammer and iron rod to pull up the broken pieces of the boulder. The photograph depicts to me a Stone Cutter using ancient old method who knows his craft perfectly but who in his humility bows to the wisdom given to him by the old man. It reminded me no matter what we know or what we do that wisdom is always in those who came before us and have live life longer…RESPECT THE ELDERLY! ©Linda Mary Liotino ME A SERVANT OF CHRIST MISSION 2015       

BLESSED FOUR DAYS

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Blessed four days Anytime I end a Lent I am bless to be given knowledge in our Lord’s direction for my life.  I find I can be off kilter in my direction in part because of impatience and my prideful resolve I know or at least I think I know His plan which is generally wrong.  Thankfully I do not mess up His Divine will as to shatter it but detour here and there.  Our Lord knows how to reign me in and I am fined tuned into hearing Him when I fast and block out the world as I did in these last four days before Easter.  Prayer is the center of my life during the noises of the world but it is in the quiet I hear Our Lord divorced of glaring injustices, sadness, and heart-breaking stories about the abuse of children.  There is religious intolerance and persecution not to mention hatred all which crowds the heart and mind. My time at POONDI MADHA BASILICA was truly miraculous in many ways one I will share is meeting children who bought a quiet innocence to my time in Poond