In My Hands Today…

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The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #14) – Alexander McCall Smith

17345190Modern ideas get tangled up with traditional ones in the latest intriguing installment in the beloved, best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

Precious Ramotswe has taken on two puzzling cases. First she is approached by the lawyer Mma Sheba, who is the executor of a deceased farmer’s estate. Mma Sheba has a feeling that the young man who has stepped forward may be falsely impersonating the farmer’s nephew in order to claim his inheritance. Mma Ramotswe agrees to visit the farm and find out what she can about the self-professed nephew. Then the proprietor of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon comes to Mma Ramotswe for advice. The opening of her new salon has been shadowed by misfortune. Not only has she received a bad omen in the mail, but rumors are swirling that the salon is using dangerous products that burn people’s skin. Could someone be trying to put the salon out of business?

Meanwhile, at the office, Mma Ramotswe has noticed something different about Grace Makutsi lately. Though Mma Makutsi has mentioned nothing, it has become clear that she is pregnant . . . But in Botswana—a land where family has always been held above all else—this may be cause for controversy as well as celebration.

Time Turners aka If you could turn time back….

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Please do not read this post if you are a major Harry Potter fan and have not yet read the Cursed Child book. This post is heavily influenced by the book and contains spoilers in the book.

img_0671A couple of weeks back, I finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the major premise of the book is time travel and what happens when you try to change reality if you go back in time.

In the book, the protagonists of this story, Albus Servus Potter, and Scorpius Malfoy, who are best friends, try to turn time back from an important event in one of the books – the death of Cedric Diggory. They try to do this three times and each time when they turn time back, they arrive back in the present time in an alternative universe, one that has no bearing on their actual present.

 

 

So I started thinking ‘What if I managed to get hold of a Time Turner’, what would I do? Initially, I was very excited and started thinking of all the times in my life that, in retrospect, I wished I had done or acted differently. I also wondered how my life would turn out had I changed even one aspect of my life.

 

Then I read about the Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.

 

What it means is that small changes in one dimension (or a change in time) multiply and can have a dramatically different effect in the current state in time. This effect is part of the chaos theory.

When I read about this, I started thinking about this – if I did change any part of my life before today, then perhaps, today will not exist. I may be living a completely different world than what I am living today. I probably would not have S, GG or BB in my life!

At every point in our life, we make certain decisions based on our current knowledge. Our today is the sum total of all that knowledge and the cumulative effect of all those decisions. Who we are today, is, therefore the sum of all that we have done – right or wrong – till the now.

This is a similar lesson that Albus and Scorpius learnt. When they tried to stop Cedric from being killed, the reality they came to was completely different from the reality they left.

 

Let us embrace our current reality and learn to love life as it happens. Everything happens for a reason and this is so true here. When we try to change fate (or reality as it is), reality then throws a curve ball at us….

 

In My Hands Today…

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Noontide Toll: Stories – Romesh Gunesekera

20702813The driver’s job is to stay in control behind the wheel and that is all. The past is what you leave as you go. There is nothing more to it.

Vasantha retired early, bought himself a van with his savings, and now works as a driver for hire. As he drives through Sri Lanka, carrying aid workers, businessmen, and families and meeting lonely soldiers and eager hoteliers, he engages them with self-deprecating wit and folksy wisdom—and reveals for us their uncertain lives.

On his journey from the army camps in northern Jaffna to the moonlit ramparts of Galle, in the south, Vasantha begins to discover the depth of the problems of the past—his own and his country’s—and the promise the future might hold.

2016 Week 33 Update

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This week just flew past. Having a public holiday in the middle helped, I guess!

I’ve been feeling quite off this week, but I just can’t put my finger on why I feel like this. Headaches have also been plaguing me this week. I feel I was mildly depressed, and hopefully, I’ve managed to pull myself out of it. Job search is also at a standstill, and as the days pass, the less I feel confident of landing one soon.

Singapore celebrated its 51st National Day this week and I enjoyed watching the show on TV. I’ve always been drawn to national day celebrations, even as a child growing up in India and would pester my dad to let me watch the Republic Day parades, which no one else was interested in watching. The pomp and grandeur of the show always made me feel happy and when the national anthem was invariably played, I always get goosebumps!

Singapore also had another bit of fantastic news to round off the week. Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling upset the ‘greatest Olympian of all time’ Michael Phelps to win the 100 meters butterfly finals at the Rio Olympics to win the Gold and at the same time, created a new Olympic Games record of 50.39 seconds. This was Singapore’s first ever gold medal in the history of the Olympic games and the first time the national anthem was played during the victory ceremony.I was at the doctor on Saturday morning for my monthly medication and blood test and wanted to get home to watch the final. I didn’t get out of there on time, but by the time I got my medication, it was time for the match, so I, along with all the others in the clinic, watched the match with bated breath. We were all rooting for Schooling

I was at the doctor on Saturday morning for my monthly medication and blood test and wanted to get home to watch the final. I didn’t get out of there on time, but by the time I got my medication, it was time for the match, so I, along with all the others in the clinic, watched the match with bated breath. We were all rooting for Schooling and when he was first at the end of the 50 meters, it seemed that Singapore was destined for a podium finish. But when he came in first, almost a second ahead of the three silver medalists (including Phelps), everyone in the clinic was shouting, so much that the doctors came out to celebrate with us! I rushed home to see the victory ceremony and when Majulah Singapura was played, I literally got goosebumps!

 

Today, my country of birth, India, celebrates her 69th Independence Day. Wishing all Indians, both in India and elsewhere a very Happy Independence Day. May the country grow from strength to strength.

 

Have a joyous and productive week folks!

Secondary 1 Week 33 Update

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This was a very short school week for GG & BB. Monday was a half day with no studies as schools celebrated Singapore’s National Day. Tuesday and Wednesday were holidays for the same, so when Thursday rolled up, it felt like a Monday all over again!

I also went for a PSG Core Committee meeting at GG’s school this week. Since I am not working full-time at the moment, I thought of being more active in their schools. It was an interesting meeting as this school’s PSG is not as active as BB’s school, even though GG’s school is the more established one!

GG also went with her choir to see a programme at the Singapore Choral Festival, which she loved! After she was back, she was raving about the singers and how they were able to pitch their voices real high.

I was very upset with BB yesterday. From my school PSG chat group, I realised that the school has already released the year-end exam school two weeks back! Luckily one of the other parents posted pictures of the schedule. When I checked with him, he just gave me a sheepish smile and said, “I forgot”😱 Boys, I tell you!!

Well that was what happened in our school week. Exams start in about a month’s time so time to start cracking the mom whip. 

Have a happy and blessed Sunday everyone!