Double Whammy - Inflated Cold and Food Prices

(photo from The Hindu newspaper)

Gone are the warm sunny days of December, the cold has intensified in the past few days plummeting the mercury down to the 30s and 40F (10 below C)

8 people have died in my city. (According to the evening news 56 in our state of U.P.) Read a report from The Hindu newspaper HERE

Yesterday it was 1.5 C about 33 F. Brrr ...that 's freezing in an unheated house. Mama keeps in bed under quilts and blankets and when she emerges out of her warm 'cave ' I turn on the small blower heater to provide moderate succor.

I feel colder in the daytime when a chilly wind is blowing. I like reading in bed , but last night I couldn 't hold a book in my frozen hands ( have to hunt for my gloves). I don 't have woollen socks and was wearing cotton ones and Ma gave me her extra pair this morning. I also don 't have proper shoes fit for this weather - mine are too thin.LOL.
Everyone has to wear lots of woollen clothes to keep warm, even indoors. ( picture us like the cartoon above). Doing housework wearing all that armour is quite a task. Specially washing with icy water.

I like to drink lots of hot unsweetened tea and soup.

I made my veg soup with fresh spinach, and bottle gourd (lauki). Last night I made Borscht soup with beets, carrots and cabbage etc. Tried to follow the Russian version, but mine was quite Indianized - I have saved some to have for supper .

My Sheeba also feels very cold. I cover her up as much as possible - but the silly girl wriggles out of everything. She likes to sit on top of the sheets. She likes my old jacket.

Her hair is sticking to all our warm clothes and blankets. I brush them off with a clothes brush and a second later they come back on. I don 't have a solution. John the Baptizer (fore - runner of Christ) in the New Testament times used to wear clothes made of camel 's hair but I feel I am wearing clothes made with dog 's hair. LOL.
My very old vacuum cleaner is too heavy and unwieldy and I can 't use it anymore. I am dreaming of buying a light , small, user friendly one which is about Rupees 2000 ( $50).

But we praise God for all the comfort we have. The poor and homeless people, daily wage and migrant workers don 't have it so good.

Many of them camp out in the open on sidewalks and pavements, under trees or huts and tents made cardboard or plastic sheets. The district administration provides bon fires for warmth, but they are not enough, don 't last very much and not everyone can benefit from them.

The top 2 photos are from my city. The 2 below are from Delhi and Jammu. They were taken from the Times Of India website.

With falling temperature food prices have risen 14 -16% in the past one week. Its hard to put together a decent meal. The prices are pinching us very hard. Money disappears so fast, I feel I 've lost it or have been robbed.I try to use veggies from our garden. We give away lots. I also give away clothes fire wood etc - whatever I can spare. People are closer to the poverty line than ever before. Our poverty line is determined by a certain amount of calories one consumes per day. Millions are living below the poverty line.

On this evening 's news our Home minister P Chidambram said India cannot survive if inflation shoots up like this. I have developed a personal strategy to cope with the price inferno. I convert the prices into US $ and they appear much cheaper. For example if I say 1 doz eggs cost $1.50 its easier to accept it than saying Rupees 48. At least it doesn 't sound so expensive. LOL. So in my mind I keep converting. Indians living in the North America do the opposite and they can hardly take a bite out of a McDonald's burger. LOL.

But in everything we give thanks to God for taking care of us.The Bible says "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God".

I want to end this post with this MUST WATCH video - on a happier note

You must watch this amazing and incredible display of talent, ingenuity, expertize, innovation , imagination, story telling and artistry.
This is what the Internet was created for that we might see amazing things like this.

Cakes, Kids and A Story

On Dec 30th I made 3 fruit cakes, from scratch as usual. ..no package mixes for me.

They are fresh out of the oven. 2 I gave to Sonia and one was for guests.

We also got cakes as gifts. I bought store bought cakes to put in packages of Christmas goodies to give to economically backward people. They appreciate them so much.

On Dec 31st I was invited to my cousin 's birthday party. Dr AD is a skin specialist and cosmetic surgeon.

Here he is cutting his birthday cake. It was followed by a very nice dinner.

Seated is aunt Joy, his 80 year old mother. She is a heart patient and has been sick for some time. But everyone was glad she could come out and interact with friends and family that night. Behind her on the right is her daughter Cheenu who llives in UK. She is married to a British man and has a young daughter.(20 plus). Her younger sister was also present , but I could not get her photo. Both of them live in the UK. They are very talented musicians and film makers.

This is a family of doctors and musicians.

Aunt Joy 's two sons , one daughter in law, a sister in law and a grand daughter are doctors.

Let me introduce Ryan to you. He 's my youngest 6 month old nephew.

smiling at his Mom.

We sisters used to babysit his daddy Rajat when he was born. We treat him like a walkie talkie doll, and now here is his son.

This tiny Bible was gifted to me by my friend Holly . It has a verse from each book of the Bible in it. Also the tiny Angel in the header. On her blog Holly has some very pretty tags.

THE STORY OF THE DIAMOND MERCHANT

On Christmas day a guest preacher told us the following story.

Once a wealthy diamond merchant was travelling by train from Mumbai (Bombay) to Chennai(Madras). In his possesion was a priceless diamond . Getting this information a diamond thief, member of an international gang booked his seat right next to the merchant with the intention of robbing him.

ON the day of the journey the two men boarded the super fast air conditioned train. And during the course of a few hours they made friend s with each other. When night fell the diamond merchant covered himself with a blanket and went off to sleep in his berth.

Making sure that his co-traveller wa\s fitfully asleep the thief sprang into action. H e made a careful search of the merchant 's luggage. When his meticulous search did not yield the gem, he went through the sleeping man' s pockets , socks and even shoes. But he was greatly puzzled when he could not find the diamond.

When morning dawned both men were about to disembark at the Chennai railway terminus. Not wanting to lose his opportunity the befuddled thief could not control his curiosity.

He confessed to the merchant that he was a much wanted diamond thief and had boarded the train with the intention of a heist. He searched the businessman 's luggage the whole night but could not find the stone.Please could he tell him where he had hidden the gem as he was ashamed of his rare failure.

The merchant smiled, reached across the aisle , opened the thief' s hand bag and took out a black velvet pouch containing his prized possession.

"I knew all about you friend", he said.," Expecting you to rummage through my luggage I hid my diamond in your bag, because you would never suspect it to be there. After that I fell into a peaceful sleep assured that my gem was in your safe keeping".

The red faced thief hung his head in defeat and disappeared into the pressing crowd of passengers.

How often do we look for the attributes of God and the fruit of the Spirit in others. Do we reflect on our own lives and examine ourselves for the same things?

Just a PS to say that its pretty colld here. Temp in the 50s F