MY LIFELINES

MY BACKYARD.
You can see the area which
my neighbour looks after. 

VIEW OF THE SKY
 FROM THE BACKYARD. 

 Today, I want to share with you some thoughts on the people I meet daily. Some of them you may have met if you are from Bastora and others you will hopefully want to befriend once you get to hear about them from me. 

So, let me first begin with my immediate neighbours. In the flat next to mine live a mother-daughter duo Patsy and Manuela who keep pretty much to themselves but have a great love for dogs and feed the 'Bastora gang' (as I fondly call the five strays). The moment they come home, the dogs flock around them like little lambs and they always have some treats ready in the bag especially bought for these dogs. They have four dogs of their own too so you can imagine how much they need to cook for all these dogs. 

Another next door neighbour is Hema, an old lady who loves plants. She has every medicinal plant you can think of. Recently, when she went on a pilgrimage, she requested us to water her plants. I saw a few plants which looked dead and was tempted to pull them out, thinking they were weeds. Thankfully I didn't, because they were bitter medicine plants that she had planted. She's up at the crack of dawn, watering these plants and tending to them. 

HEMATAI'S HOUSE. 
Can you list the
various plants she has?J

On the floors above, we have Joe, who's a poet, a journalist named Dominic and an AAP member Diego whom my Ebony adores. And right on the top floor, we have a vet Aparajita who's a Bengali and a sweet old lady Annie with two adorable grandchildren, Ishika and Kiarra. 

As I stroll along the roads of Bastora, I meet several new faces who 'HELLO' me even though I don't know them. Its a nice feeling.  One day, I was with my son walking towards the church when I met a nice lady on her walk. She spoke to me, and I asked her name. She said Maria. Now, I had been told that I should contact a person of that name to join the somudai in our area. Was it a coincidence or God ordained? Turned out Maria was THE MARIA I was seeking and she took us to her place. That day we did not enter but days later. I did go in to wait for the carollers to join us for our Christmas carol singing in the somudai. 

CAROLLERS 
Delina, Maria, Louvina and Lavina with her daughters outside my flat. 

Joe (the poet) got me these stars from Parra.
They were discarded on the roadside after a competition.  

Our Somudai Star. 

The day I went carol singing, I met a few of our somudai members and they are now my friends. One of them, Delina, reads at Mass and also conducts the prayers before Mass. Another lady, Amia, also knows me now as she's Reagan's mom. Reagan has a catering business in Bastora - Cooky Catering. I met her when we went carol singing and I see her daily at Mass. 

Another person worth mentioning is a lady from Xell named Theresa. One day, as I was approaching the church, she gave me a lift. That day, there was no Mass so she took me to Mapusa for Mass and dropped me home too. I went in search of her and found her after a long search. She too comes daily for Mass and serves in the Legion of Mary. 

A lady I know from MBBS Paliem (comes on Sundays there for Mass) meets me quite frequently as I walk to the Bastora church early morning. She does brisk walks at that time, saying the rosary aloud as she exercises. If I don't see Eliza for some days, I wonder what's happened to her. In fact, many people do go for walks early morning. Some even jog. I prefer strolls which I do in the evenings. 

Tai's gate and house. 

Tai's dog.
 Ebony likes him or
 at least allows him
to kiss and smell her ;)

THE BREADFRUIT TREE 

Another person I like talking to is the mother of my neighbour on the other side of the building wall. I call her simply Tai. Couple of days ago, she gave me some radish leaves from their field. I cooked it with onions, tomatoes and grated coconut. Tasted heavenly. I eye her breadfruit tree every day, hoping one of those tasty fruits will find its way to my tummy! 

Today, I met our village postman, or lady, to be precise. Her name is Rekha and she's from Ucassaim. She thought that I was a Muslim because of my nose stud :) 

And I also met our Myntra courier guy and invited him  home to collect a small gift that I had kept to give away to people who serve us. 

My 6.30 pm baker, the guy who sells us Amul icecream cones at the gate, Supriya, who makes kappas at Cafe Niharika, my lady manager at UBI, the sacristan at Bastora church, my friend and neighbour Moses who sells pigs as a side business, the maid who works in one of the flats above mine and gave me lemon grass for my tea, a distant neighbour Fatima whose Christmas decorations are always the first to go up in the area, these and many more that I cannot mention here make up my list of friends and acquaintances in Bastora. 

Friends, our life on this earth is short and there is so much it has to offer. Whenever I open my eyes in the morning, I am grateful that I can see. So I try to see the goodness around and befriend the people God sends my way. They are gifts from His generous heart and they bring something from Him to me every day. I praise God for this and enjoy the gifts and my life becomes more blessed each day. 

Till my next post then, its

 Smile at a stranger 

and

 he becomes your friend.