Introduction to the Troublesome Trio

I have added a new label 'troublesome trio' to the already existing labels. Now let me introduce you to the trio... first and the youngest is Mariya who also happens to be my sis who is three years younger to me....the second and the middle one is Neet who is two years younger to me... the third and the eldest of this trio is myself Anne...

We became friends when our family moved into the colony.... though we call it a colony it was not really designed to be a colony....... the manner in which the hous got constructed lead it to becoming a natural colony.....the straight lane leading into the colony led to the church compounds and from where it forked to the left and the right where they meet dead ends and thus the colony being created of closely knit group of ten families.... the three of us were ones who in age were similar with just an age gap of two or three years amongst us ..... the rest of the kids in the colony were either younger or elder to us.. and the remaining who were in our age slot were boys... added to this we were together as part of the choir....leading the three of us to getting together scheming plans against the rest of them ;)

Friday evening after class and weekends in the colony were fun... in the initial years when we had moved into the colony the people in the colony and believers going to the church had a hard time walking down our lane...... as we used to play cricket, football, rugby and all possible games and created great racket.... as we started going on to higher classes these game filled Fridays slowly turned out to more peaceful Fridays when the three of us would stand at the "Trinity corner" that is what we had named the point where the straight lane leading into the colony forked out into three.......the corner where it forked there is a lamp post which was christened as 'the Trinity Corner' by the three of us. It was these Friday and weekend meetings along with the choir practices that strengthened our bond

The three of us had our usual meeting at the Trinity corner till we, that is my family shifted back to Mumbai five years back :( Even today on Friday evening and weekends when I am free I long to go back to the old days and have our meetings at the Trinity corner where we used to talk for hours on end on God alone knows what all subjects......... and kept on talking there till our moms gave three warning until finally they had to come to literally drag us home :)

We have grown so close over the years that we feel that Neet is also my sis ....... so much so that when I went to Bangalore to pursue my degree I told my friends there that I have two sisters younger to me Neet and Mariya....... and it continued to be told like that till the day she got married :)

Christmas in Kochi after 5 years !!!!! :) :(

Christmas of childhood in Kochi was the tension of whether we that is Neet, Mariya my sister and myself in the choir would be able to sing well or not for the midnight mass. The days preceding the day of Christmas after the school closes for Christmas vacation was spent in the church practicing for the choir on Christmas day midnight mass. The church would be a place of great activity with the youth members from the church setting up the crib, the Christmas tree and the light and audio arrangement for the nativity play which takes place during the mass. Christmas this time was a nostalgia of all these memories.... the choir practices where we had so much of fun, the thrill we got after having finished the mass and parishioners congratulating us on having sung well....the sipping of hot ginger tea at night before the mass so that our voices came out loud and clear...the sleepiness we had to fight off when the priest gave the sermons.....mostly it was the thrill we got when we sang the songs which we had been practicing for days and literally singing every waking moment till the Christmas mass.

This time too like old time Neet, Mariya and myself attended the mass together......just like the good old days the only difference being there was new set of young girls as part of the choir singing instead of the three of us. :) And we went and congratulated them after the mass as we knew that these would be the beautiful memories of Christmas for them in the years to come.

At times like these I always wonder why did I have to grow up..... :) :(

Thousand splendid suns!!!!!

Thousand Splendid Suns is a book by Khaled Hosseini of two women in Afghanistan, the story shows the struggle that these two women face in their lives. The story flows through a time period when there is so much unrest happening in the country including the recent attack by the US on it after the 9/11 attacks. Thus making us relate to it in a better way.

The story is about Mariam and how her life changes when Laila enters into her life and finally how her life ends. The book is a reality which many unfortunate women have to go through in their marriage not only in Islamic countries but all over the world. But the vulnerability for these women lies in the fact that the laws in these countries too do not help them because they too are male oriented and are partial.

Though I had heard a lot about this book I still like the other novels mentioned below because I feel they have more reality towards it maybe because they are real life stories. This story is beautifully written and does depict the miseries faced by women in their marriage and the miseries of being born as a woman in an Islamic country.

The story is yet another window to the lives of women living in the Islamic countries. Other books which give similar overview of the lives of women in Islamic countries are Princess and its series by Jean Sassoon, also another good one is Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody.