I Love 20-20!!!

How I cherish the memories of India winning the 20-20 world cup 2007 in South Africa. No Bollywood script writer would have written such a thrilling final between the arch rivals India & Pakistan. What more would have any cricket lover expected than a nail-biting finish to the slam bang 20-20 world cup in 2007. India entered the previous world cup as 'Under Dogs' not having any high hopes but ended up wining the world cup as they cruised to win one match after another though it was truly a battle right through to the end. Now, they enter this world cup as 'Defending Champions' with having high pressure of performing well right through out the tournament.

Yesterday, Netherlands beat England which sent shock waves to the Cricketing Fraternity. This is what 20 20 is all about. It gives minnows a chance to be World Champions as opposed the 50 50 matches where it is the reign of 'Kangaroos' most of the time. 20 20 is all about set backs and scintillating victories; set backs to the so called Giants and victories to the babes in Cricket.

I must admit that Cricket is a fantastic game but all in all it is too lengthy. Giving respect to the game it has always been, the X- Generation doesn't have patience nor time to appreciate its class. It's all about providing entertainment to the crowds. After all every game is for crowds without them there is no game at all. How I remember skipping the classes in the school just to play and watch this game, though I don't advice any kid to emulate what I did in my childhood, I cannot take away the beauty and charm this game has always possessed, and of course 20 20 added more beauty to it. India being one of the 'Common Wealth' countries, it inherited the Game from its Masters. Who would have ever expected that 'Cricket' would have one day become such an important part of life in the Sub- Continent; even to the extent that it would beat its Masters at some point.

I must confess that though one must not love anything or anyone more than Jesus; it has always have been challenging for me to put Cricket aside even today. May nothing become ever more precious than loving & serving Jesus Christ our Lord but He has also given us some thing to enjoy within its own limits. Enjoy watching 20 20 world cup in England!!

Who am I??

In the film 'Bourne Ultimatum' Jason Bourne; the hero forgets who he was; and the through out the film it was his mission to find out who he was and that too from the most complex clues.

Even when I was a child; this question used to pop in my mind very often. Especially when I wore new cloths or new shoes. I first used to look at the cloths that I wore and get fascinated by them and then the next thought would be like 'these cloths on what??!!' or ' are these shoes for my foot; oh gosh!!'. I used to look at my hands and used to look at them on and on trying to figure out what they actually were; the material it was made from; but I couldn't find an answer why those hands are linked to me or my mind?? and why am I saying to myself these are my hands; 'what is this so called feeling of being connected with 'me or my self'; what is this thing called 'me' or in other words 'what am I' or 'Who am I?'.

I think it is a serious question to ask ourselves, though it is a childlike one. Who are we? One might reply we are humans; of course we are; but when I ask who you are; don't just say you are a human; of course you are but think deep about who you are and how blessed you are to be born as a human and how different you are from other creatures and finally realise that you are created in the image and the likeness of God and you have a living soul. This soul is not mind as you would think but it is more than that. Just ponder on these thoughts and give me a reply when you can. I will be looking forward to that.

Don't harden your heart

What is heart? Is it a bodily part or the source of all emoti -

onal feelings? what does it mean when you say 'I am touched' or 'it's mind boggling'?!! Apart from being a bodily organ, it is the source of all emotional feelings; good and bad.

It is a warning to those who trust in the Lord that we must not harden our hearts which means that we must not give up the spiritual habits regardless of our feelings. The spiritual habits are just like bad habits or good habits that we nurture or enjoy. The only difference I have noticed between nurturing a bad habit and a good one is that it is easy to get swept away by the bad one; it pulls you off to its side and the effort from your side to be consistent may be minimal but to nurture a good one; one needs to be consistent and it is a hard work in a sense until you do it automatically without any extra burden or effort. And the spiritual habits are only two. One is to read the Word and the other is to pray to God. Not that our reading and praying is so beautiful that the Lord should answer our prayers but it is with the help from Him do we do these things; this is when we will easily get swept into the fold of keeping our spiritual habits with joy. But when you stop doing these things just because you are tired or had a bad day at office or a spat with a guy or a sin that you shouldn't have committed or your love is broken and the list goes on..When we stop praying and reading the Word; the very life to spirituality gets chocked; our hearts will get slowly hardened. It is a process and it doesn't happen over a night but the process continues and we cannot stop it until we throw ourselves at the feet of Christ. This is when preaching becomes boring, praying becomes the most undesired action. How is your heart to day? Is it hard or soft enough to cry to God?

Welcome to my town-Vinukonda!!

If you were to expect some pattern looking at the traffic in a town like 'Vinukonda' , I promise you, you would go mad. The truth is that there is no traffic pattern as such. Everybody drives as they like. I wonder what could be the reason behind it!!? Before we dig deep into it, one needs to ask why people should ever need a 'system' for anything or any purpose. What is promised in the absence of a proper system is 'chaos'. But wait a minute, why should people need rules?? Having heard what Protagonists of Post Modern Movement say that man is matured enough to control himself, I'm confused to see why he needs a rule to be controlled?

In the West, to appears as though all is neat and quiet. Everybody seem to follow the law with keener interest which is very much commendable as opposed to the system in India. However I am bewildered to see how people can be outrageously hypocritical when it comes to their person lives. They say they are born for freedom and ready to die for it; no interference is tolerated. Here rules are marginalised and rationalised. Objectively they follow rules but subjectively they do not like rules. Isn't there an apparent antithesis clearly visible? People are chaotic anywhere in the world. They are unable to control themselves. They need a guide to guide them.

It was Vinod dham, the designer of Pentium Chip once said in an interview that " it was the traffic pattern in India makes people even more competitive as every driver tries to create a space when there isn't much available." May be that is true to an extent. The point is we all need rules; whether they are subjective or objective. And remember, it is the source which ultimately matters. What source do you have to guide you? And what set of rules do you follow? Make the Word of God as your map and let God guide you to see through the unknown future.

Welcome to Vinukonda- My Town !!!

What you see in the picture is a Cinema Theatre. We have as many as 6 cinema theatres even in a relatively small town like 'Vinukonda'. People are truly crazy about movies in here. They worship heroes as if they are gods!! They form different associations for different popular heroes as if they are forming charitable associations doing some charity!!?? and the clash between the fans is an obvious fight. Every time a new cinema of a popular hero is released; something hazardous is bound to happen.

Probably, you have heard they say 'India is a land of Snake Charmers', but it is now a land of 2C's; if one 'C' stands for 'Cricket'; the other is for 'Cinema'. Nobody knows when the 'Hindi Film Industry' started to earn its name as 'Bollywood'; a replica to 'Hollywood' in the West. The only difference between the 'Hollywood' and the 'Bollywood' is that there are no songs in the Hollywood movies where are there plenty in the 'Bollywood'. Even our Telugu Cinema industry is also called as 'Tollywood'. Again nobody knows who termed it? The most tragic part is that, though people are getting entertained; often the cinema does nothing but cashes in human weakness for sin and promiscuousness and encourages to break all God's commandments. Gone are the days when the people wanted to put across some social message out to the public; now is the time for 'Nonstop Entertainment'. The story line swings according to the mood of the public. Many a youngster head for 'Hyderabad' or 'Mumbai' with the hope of becoming heroes and heroins, leaving their family and friends behind. Instead of becoming heroes and heroins, they become maniacs and prostitues. Before they realise that life is far more precious than being a hero in cinema, they are on the verge of eternity. It is all started off with having great expectations of their own; to become popular in the tinsel town; to earn millons of rupees; a shortcut to success and fame. And the tragedy hits when they terminate their lives abruptly, having seen their dreams shattered and hopes broken into peices. How sad we are! if only people know the truth, they could have avoided all this.

Should Christians watch cinemas? It's a debate. Remember, our 'Conscience' is the Police Man who is inside kept by the Lord. He presses the panic button every time we trespass the Lord's commandment, but do we wake up the call? It is not just a matter related to 'Cinema' but everything that we do needs to be watched through the eyes of God. We must question ourselves if what we do is pure, moral, and acceptable to God? Can you thank the Lord, having watched it or done it? or is it to gratify your lusts? Please read 1 Cor 10: 14- 33 and Publish your comments; we shall discuss.

Welcome to Vinukonda- My Town!!

Before I talk about my town; I wish you all a very happy New Year as our happiness lies in the Lord than it is in the world or in us. I have been running around all these days doing some good as well as some bad. One of the bad things I did was that I haven’t been able to write anything on the blog for quite some time.

The monument which is in 'red' stands for what the communists fought for. It was resurrected in the name of those communists who died fighting for their cause. My town Vinukonda has got a quite a bit of communism attached to it since many years. Though my state ‘Andhra Pradesh’ has never been ruled by the Communists; there are a few in India like ‘West Bengal’ and ‘Kerala. It is noteworthy that the development in communist ruled states is very marginal; though ‘Kerala’ seemed have made quite a bit of progress.

Though I see this monument as I ride past it on my motorbike everyday; it doesn’t speak to me anything. May be I am deaf to what it says or it is just not something I am interested in. There were times when I seriously thought why communism dwindled all across the globe except in Cuba and China. The greatest downfall would be the fall of the USSR when it couldn’t go on any further with the rampant corruption amongst the top rank Officials and Military Generals. The motto might have been good. Whatever insists on ‘Equality’ is good. But have they stuck to it? Did they make sure that their good mottoes implemented to the fullest extent? May be 'No'. Hang on a minute!! Where on earth does ‘equality’ exist? No where. Not even ‘Democracy’ has dealt with the problem effectively. What is amusing in ‘democracy’ is that if all want something; you must give it to them by all means whether it is right or wrong. How then, do you differentiate it from the struggle for existence theory where only the strong can survive?

I believe ‘Communism’ has its roots in the Bible; though a hard- core ‘communist’ wouldn’t agree with what I say because he denies the very existence of God; I heard someone saying that Jesus was a revolutionist; may be it was true in a sense; but it is only a half truth. One cannot ignore the reasons why He became a revolutionist. The Bible has ample evidence of people sharing what they had n equal measures before the Apostles when they distributed the food equally between the haves and have-nots (Acts4:32-37). Think about how your neighbour feels when he laments in abject poverty, do you flaunt with your smugness showcasing all that you have? Probably, this has been the very reason all the revolts broke out all the across the Globe down through the centuries. Are you walking in humility as Christ did. May be it is ever more difficult in the wake of the new age 'materialism'. But the Word remains the same from generations to generations and we have to obey what it says. Let us be content with what we have and on one hand and share what we have on the other.

Merry Christmas!!

To day is the day when Christians all around the globe celebrate the Lord's arrival into the world. Probably, to day is the day which has given license for all kinds of immoral activities to be taken place all around the world too. Probably there is more booze and unending partying on Christmas day than ever!! What a sad reality it is. Again my good old friend 'Donald' says "Christmas is without Christ" here. This is the exact reason why the 'Reformers' rejected the idea of celebrating Christmas. However, we do not deny the glorious entry of the Lord into this world; of course not as an emperor; but as a meek, humbled human being to redeem us from sin. There is no point to celebrate Christmas if we do not know the purpose behind it. We do not just have to make up the Lord's birth as an occasion to unwind all our worldliness. One must understand the purpose behind the Lord's coming, the Lord's crucifixion and the Lord's ascension into Heaven. So it is not only Merry Christmas but Good Friday as well as Easter. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and I thank you all for watching this blog and I sincerely hope that I'm not wasting your time. HAPPY CHRISTMAS BUDDIES!!!