Sunday, September 14, 2008

Who is to say that you have not come to the kingdom even for such a time as this?

Mention of atrocities from Orissa and most of us silently thank God, that we are living elsewhere...far away from where things have gone awfully wrong. However, today's sermon got me thinking about what my role was in the scheme of things...We read through the 4th chapter of Esther from the Old testament where the entire Jewish population was to be wiped out, as per the king's decree.

One of the lines that struck me is when -Mordecai a Jew was pleading outside the king's palace, sends a message to his niece Esther, Xerxes' queen and a Jew herself, reminding her that she may be the favored queen but she still is a Jew. He pleads with her to represent the Jewish people before the King, failing which she may not be safe within the palace walls. After all, she too was a Jew!

Pastor's message went on reiterate the point that most of us are in positions to get the message across just like Esther was....But are we using it, or are we under the false assumption that we have attained the kingdom of God and hence can sit back and say-Thank God, we are far away from the nightmare...

I wonder what I have to do to reach out.......

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Where have the crisp editorials gone??

I barely get the time to read the newspapers extensively due to hectic work schedules. However, I was home early and decided to skim through the Bombay Times section of TOI for a light read, and chanced upon an article with a catchy title. Written by a lady who was supposedly the Editor of the lifestyle section, it left me searching for the punchlines and high points in the article. It came across as a complete drag and almost seemed colloquial in style. I am assuming that writers of these articles are trying to connect with their readers. But this piece of expose was plain sad, as the matter seemed to come across as excerpts from a conversation between two gossip mongers!!!
The article in question was focusing on the lame and selfish PR tricks used by Bollywood actors today and how the press should react/combat it. Ahem, that was a nice thought! It goes on to say that the press gets taken for ride as these actors go all out with their publicity stunts just before the release of their movies and then disappear once their objectives are met.
Following are the lines from that article-Celebs measure and weigh every word. The readers would be more interested in reading about a star cheating on his wife instead of lame quotes about how much they enjoyed the making of a boring film. Let’s get real guys. Why should we accept whatever rubbish they give us? They have no sense of loyalty towards their fans, let us at least be more answerable to our readers and give them what they really want.
I do not claim to be voracious reader (judging by the stuff i am writing about!!) but this article makes me want to say-Get real guys!!!!!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Creative punch line

We were on our way back from Calcutta after attending the big fat loud bong wedding, and we had decided that we have seen and heard enough! However the Geetanjali Express gave us a glimpse into creative selling....we had just approached Nashik station when a young lad selling grapes walked in with his offer of the sweetest authentic Nashik grapes and his punch line for it--- Shakkar ko takkar dene wala angoor! Now thats neat way of putting it..