Honesty is still the best policy or so the driver at UBER showed us today

Since my Dad is in town for just a week, it was a mad clamber to meet family and friends who he had not in several years.
Today was one such day when he was meeting one of his friends who is 80+ and due to the heat, he asked me to book him a cab. On his way back, his friend who was travelling with him left his phone in the Uber cab. He realized it only after about half hour of reaching his home. He called Dad to ask him if Dad had seen his phone. We called his number and the cab driver Ganesh picked it up. He was already on another ride but he promised to drop the phone personally at Dad' friend' place.

Ever the skeptics, we told him to return the phone to whoever was closer to him at his earliest. He said that he would be coming closer to our place and told us to not worry about the phone. Within an hour, we got a call from Dad' friend saying that Ganesh had come by personally to return the phone to him.

Dad' friend was worried more about the loss of the contacts on his phone. Where he had lost hope, Ganesh' act of honesty and going out of his way to return the phone was simply overwhelming.
Not just for him, for us too. Because it is far from what we hear normally about cab drivers like - how rude they are or how they overprice or how they harm the customer.

Thank you Ganesh for showing us how cab drivers can also be!

Easter selfies!

I was never a selfie-kinda girl. In fact, I hate posing for pictures; I'd rather play photographer. This Easter, I let my hair down... Probably because there is nothing like celebrating the biggest day of a Christian with your family.

My parents are with me this Easter weekend and after the mass, we posed for selfies & pictures. This sparked a selfie-sharing frenzy on my various Whatsapp groups. Then came the pictures of different family activities or just chilling-out poses.

That made me try out my latest kurti which is actually made from the material for another kurti' salwar (bottom). I have so many cream salwars / churidhars / leggings that making another one seemed to be such a waste. Also, I collect the left over materials from my other creations in the hope of using it sometime in the future; that proved to be a boon.
I had to create multiple panels and sew them together but the result was worth it - simple yet elegant. Best of all, it made me stand tall. It was like I was implementing the message of Easter - 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'; I converted my earlier rejects into something that I love wearing.

Now that is reason enough to give in to the 'posing and clicking and then posting on social media' frenzy. Here is the Mathews wishing you a verrry happppppy Easter!

Sewing a kurti with special significance this Good Friday!

Jesus died for our sins without question or argument; we commemorate that great sacrifice on Good Friday. 

I sewed a kurti with each color having a specific significance - black to protest the death of an innocent Jesus in a manner most cruel), yellow to proclaim Jesus as the light for removing darkness & evil, and other colors to show Jesus' sacrifice as a victory of good over evil. Light handmade and machine embroidery dotted the bottom and sleeves. I wore this to church. A song was on my lips as I went to attend the Good Friday service -

God gave his life for me, 

O what love I feel,

Jesus, the innocent lamb was slain.

All those protests leave my lips,

For such cruelties,

T'wards the Lord Immanuel.

Jesus, that light you are,

That which removes the dark,

You have conquered the evil in me.

There I do the dance,

To those trumpets blast,

You led goodness to victory!

Thank you Jesus for saving me; you are the light of my world!

Bala, you are an inspiration to me; I support you for NATA Idol 2016!

She has seen loss like no other from early childhood; she had talked about it on some rare occasions because she simply hated pity. I was a terrified & helpless witness when she lost her 8-year old daughter; I had never seen her so broken, so frail. She said that she had lost part of her heart and soul that ill-fated day. What I admired about her afterwards was the way she decided to look at loss in the eye and say ‘I am not going to bow down to you’.

True survivor she is and thus an inspiration to me. She taught me by example how -

To realize your potential no matter what the odds

To constant renew yourself and shake off negativity from your life

She is multi-talented, she sings like an angel, bakes like your own Mom, sews with the expertise of a surgeon. Her job as a Testing Manager did not allow her to realize her true potential in these areas. Now that is on a sabbatical, she is geared up to renew herself in all these areas.                                                                                                                                                                        

Starting with NATA (North American Telegu Association) Idol 2016; check out her angelic singing in this demo video - https://youtu.be/KhUh7ONiPv4

I salute you dear Bala and I avow my admiration for your fighting spirit; you are truly an inspiration to me. Since my blog is all about renewal, it is befitting to support you in all these endeavors.

Cheers to my dear friend!!!