In the eyes of a child!!!!

'I am looking for a pet to put in my cage' little Megan ( a cute, blonde, sprightly, adorably talkative girl, with snot trickling down her nose) tells me, as I sit on one of the tiny (but thankfully sturdy) chairs in the St Andrews Nursery! I look into the cage, and I find a wee bowl! 'Is that your pet'? I ask! She sniffed (not at the seemigly stupid question, but as the snot was bothering her, you see) and said 'Oh! that is the food for my pet. But I need to find one to put in this cage!' Rebecca, a shy little girl, brings a teddy bear a couple of minutes later. Alas! Ted is too big for the cage! Megan looks at me again and patiently repeats 'I need a pet for my cage!' Dear Lord! rain down some stuffed toys that can be unceremoniously shoved into this cage, else I will be covered in snot! Rebecca comes to my rescue again! She finally manages to find a wee rabbit and its mommy perched on one of the tables in the room! Finally Megan has not one, but two pets! Grin! Grin! A minute later the cage and the beloved pets are abandoned, while Megan goes to find something else to play with!

Sitting across from me at the tiny table was Noah, a shy girl who disappeared under the table every time I spoke to her (I would have crawled under the table myself, but I was afraid it would wrap itself around me, tiny as it was, and I would have to go home with a table for a hat!) But thanks to chubby Ted who could not be squeezed into the cage, I managed to introduce myself to her and Rebecca, and also get a vicarious hug through him! Thanks Ted! And then along came little Oscar, with beautiful blue eyes, and hair the colour of straw (well, he was right there in the room, but I had not noticed him until then), who told me with pride 'I can do a paper airplane! My dad taught me how to!' 'Hmmm! (I thought, looking at him!) that must be one cute dad you've got!' I smiled at him sweetly, and he disappeared again. A couple of minutes later I saw him at one of the other tiny tables, armed with paper and some markers, all set to fly away. I went and I settled in beside him and managed to tuck my legs under that little table, all the while hoping it wouldn't break! I noticed he was drawing something. 'What is that?' I asked him. 'That's me!' he said. 'And who's the other person'? 'You' he said! (I sighed with relief! He didn't draw a barrel instead with two eyes, and a nose!!!!) He then proceeded to make a paper plane out of that sheet.

We were engrossed trying to figure out how exactly to fold the paper in the shape of a plane (poor little Oscar was rather confused! If only his dad were there to help us!), and then I felt a tug on my sleeve. And there was Megan, and she wanted a paper plane, too! I said, 'Sure, let us make one'! But Megan had no idea how to do it! So I struggled a bit until Patrick (another guy who was flying paper planes in another part of the room) came and stood by us with his paper plane. I grabbed it and tried to figure out how to make one :), and yes! I succeeded! But Megan wasn't satisfied. She wanted to 'decorate it' (those were her words!). And she went on to decorate it with ... windows!!!

I spent an hour with these little angels, but no two minutes were the same (like one of the office staff told me, 'No two days are the same'!). The hour flew by quickly, like Patrick's paper plane. The innocence of these children was infectious. I did not feel 30 years old at all! I felt like a child myself, looking at things with wonder, like I was seeing everything for the first time!

I have been told by many I am a very bad listener! (Is that maybe because I hate being a grown-up - because all we adults (me included) do is find fault in others and wait for opportunities to complain and groan and be so negative? Because we can never genuinely feel happy (most of the time) when someone else succeeds? Because we are constantly trying to be better than the rest?) I could sit for hours with these children and listen to them rattle on about spiderman and batman trying to save the good people (that was Oscar's bit of conversation with me), and I could sit on those tiny chairs for hours without complaining of creaking bones and aching joints and draw distorted figures and talk about cartoons and toys and games and not feel ashamed about it or bored!

I came back feeling happy, gushing about all the cute things we did and said! And then I realised, kids are better than any age-miracle cream, but as long as they are someone else's!!!

Patrick writes his name!

This is Oscar's drawing of me and him :)!

Oscar writes the name of his friend Tommy!

And yes! that is Oscar!

IT CERTAINLY IS THE MOST HAPPIEST TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!

Early this month I thought I would have a white, and a rather blue, Christmas! Sadly, looks like the weatherman up there decided to give the Scots in St Andrews a break this winter (they complained too much and too loudly about the harsh winters and the heavy snowfall they had for two consecutive years). Poor me! My patience is running thin! I can barely wait to be enchanted by the flakes as they swirl lazily, gracefully, beautifully, silently from the heavens and come to rest at my feet! Oh weatherman, don't keep me waiting! For now, I can only content myself with imagining the conversation snowman probably has with the weatherman in heaven....
Snowman: 'Oh Mr. W.! There's Flora, waiting for me to fall on her lashes and to run through her fingers! She's been asking every Scot she's met so far if it will snow! Please let me dance around her and let her have a merry time!'
Weatherman (I imagine him to be a guy with a shock of windblown hair as soft as the clouds that float sleepily high above, snow (yes SNOW) white beard, crimson cheeks and eyes azure by day and the colour of coal at night, and who distributes weather): 'Well, S. The Scots whined so much about the treacherous roads and the cold and the snow and the sleet! I don't think my sensitive ears can stand all the muttering and mumbling this year, too!'

Sigh! So much for a white Christmas, eh? Well, the good news is, I am not having a blue Christmas :)! So HOHOHO!!!

I am miles away from home, and, yes, I sorely miss putting up the Christmas tree and setting the crib with Carmel, two things I looked forward to every year with childlike glee! As I listen to Carols in my room, my heart doesn't swell with joy as much and I don't feel the intoxicating warmth that would traverse through my veins when I played Christmas Carols back home! Simply put, it is the little traditions that spring forth in each household, silly to an outsider, but laden with meaning and heaps of love for those within, that make Christmas the most special time of the year, and when one is not around to savour them, they cause a feeling of forlorn in the heart. I long to breakfast on kuswaar on Christmas morning. But Alas! that pleasure, too, is not to be mine this Christmas!

But then, hey, it is not that I get to celebrate Christmas in St Andrews every year! And, to be honest, Christmas at St Andrews has been thoroughly exciting in a way I never imagined it to be! Christmas has taken a whole new meaning this year! I notice it has shifted, imperceptibly, from 'me' to 'others', and it feels great!

My heart leapt for joy as I sang with gusto with other ladies, at Morrison's yesterday. A feeling of utmost joy washed over me as I held out a money box to collect money for a charity. I felt incredibly happy as I greeted generous donors and wished them a 'VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS'! Was I ashamed to be doing that? Far from it! I felt blessed! I am certain that, if I could, I would have gone on all evening; I enjoyed feeling the money box grow heavier and heavier, and though my arm ached, my heart grew lighter and lighter as I increasingly became aware of the true spirit of Christmas! That one hour was sublime!

 There's me with the ladies; I'm holding the money box!

My lunch with the Rotarians goes into my treasure chest, too. It is an afternoon to remember - letting squealing balloons fly across the room, swinging streamers with abandon, waering paper crowns, popping party poppers with men and women who have enviable jobs, but who shed their inhibitions and brought out the child in them just to embrace us International students into their fold and ensure we have a wonderful Christmas! I laughed and sang and ravenously tucked into thick slabs of turkey soaked in some delicious sauce! Yum!

Nothing, however, can beat the thrill of witnessing the quiet joy that descended on the face of the woman in a wheelchair while we sang on the corridors of the local hospital. She was surrounded by her family, and as we sang I could see she was transported back in time, to Christmases she celebrated in the past I reckon! Here we were singing Carols, and there she was reminiscing silently and humming softly as the magic of Christmas enveloped her and everyone on that floor of the hospital!

This Christmas, may we all realise that...

Christmas is magic, Christmas is love,
Christmas is hope sent to us from above!
Christmas is peace, Cristmas is joy,
Christmas is for every girl and boy!
Christmas is not white, Christmas is not blue,
Christmas is in every hue!
Christmas is not only for the black, Christmas is not only for the white,
It is for every soul that searches for the light!

My prayer this Christmas is that every child, every adult around the world experience the miracle of Christmas that took place 2000 years ago, that they know they are not alone, that they feel the love and peace of Baby Jesus! Reach out to others this Christmas. You don't have to fill stockings and exchange gaily-wrapped presents. A smile and a cheerful, warm greeting will suffice! Trust me! You do that, and Christmas will never be the same!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,

Flora

Three months in St Andrews!

It is hard to believe it is three months since I first arrived in Scotland on 15 September, 2011! I often walk down the street (Market street, as it is called) I walked on that day, and look for an angel who stepped out of Martyr's Church and struck a conversation with me right away! I must have looked bewildered and hopelessly lost, and certainly not attractive after the long ride and the seemingly endless walk in France's Charles de Gaulle Airport! He led me down South Street and back again along Market Street to help me find the shop that would give me a free map of St Andrews! As I walked and chatted with Mr. Harrison (sadly, I've forgotten his firt name :( ), I silently wondered if I would ever be able to get round these streets on my own!! Today, I walk (and sometimes run) along these streets which are no longer alien to me, but have become, in so short a time, familiar, like the lines on the palms of my hands.

I feel proud that my invisible footprints have intermingled with those of thousands of other students (and, MAYBE, with those of HRH Prince William and HRH, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge!) who have trudged or pranced (depending on the success of their assignments! :D) on these roads ever since the inception of the University. I have laughed (out loud), cried bitterly (I was disappointed with the result of an assignment), slid (I didn't fall!) on the thin sheet of frost that formed on the pavement (it was -1 last night), and run (to the library for printer credits) on these pavements! I am sure, if those pavements, if those streets, could talk, they would have the most amazing, most poignant, most hilarious, most ridiculous tales to tell!!!

I have learnt a lot about the rich history of this beautiful coastal town in the three months I have lived here. I would like to share it with you (I will make it brief, I promise!). To begin with, St Andrew, one of the disciples of Jesus, is the patron saint of Scotland (since the 10th century). Here's why. Legend has it that the bones (from the wrist and fingers, if I am correct) of this saint were brought to Scotland by a monk (Irish, though some say he was Greek) called St Rule. He was told in a dream to take the bones of St Andrew from Constantinople (where St Andrew was buried) to a distant place to protect them. This monk did as he was told, and set sail. En route to the distant shores, a storm blew (I now know what a storm is like; we've had two of them in the past week!) and the ship was wrecked in the Pictish settlement on the East Coast of Scotland, which came to be called St Andrews (well, it was distant enough for St Rule then)! Where those relics are today, I don't know! But this town was a pilgrim centre for centuries, because of the relics of St Andrew, and a tower, which lies among the ruins of the cathedral today, is named after St Rule! The Scottish flag bears the sign of St Andrews Cross (below), which is shaped like an X (it is called Saltire), because when St Andrew was crucified, he thought he was not worthy to die on a cross shaped like the one on which Christ was crucified!

The flag of Scotland

Cucifixion of St Andrew

St Rule's Tower

Another reason why St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland is because on the eve of a battle, Óengus II, the King of Picts in the 9th century, prayed for divine intervention and promised that if they won the battle, he would make St Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. The next morning he saw clouds in the sky shaped like the cross of St Andrew, and with renewed faith and hope, they fought and won the battle (this is why the Scottish flag is blue with a white saltire).

There! Didn't I tell you it would be brief! Well, I hope you enjoyed your lesson in Scottish history as much as I enjoy delving into it :)!

Liar! Liar! Your Pants Are On Fire!

                                There's the view, from my window, of apartments adjacent my building.

Now picture this! Monday night. I set the alarm on my cell (or mobile, as the English like to call it) phone to rouse me from my sweet slumber at 6 a.m. the next morning. It promptly did! I rolled over, looked out of the window (yes the same window in the picture), and said hey! Mr. Sun hasn't woken up yet, so why should I???? And before I knew it, Mr. Sandman was right there beside my bed with his fist full of magical sand waiting ever so patiently to shower it all over my eyes. I smiled at him, and the next moment I drifted off in to a dreamless snooze (but not before I snooz'ed' my alarm, too). I am sure I didn't snore, cause my flatmates would certainly have heard me! Life's difficult with paper thin walls; you have to make sure you don't burp from the wrong end, at least not loudly (not even in the loo!!)!

A few minutes (which was precisely an hour later), I woke up yet again, only to fall asleep once more! Ah! Bliss! Silence! And then off it went, the smoke alarm!!!! Goodness me! I jumped out of bed wondering how to turn it off, and thinking what could have triggered it. Then I heard voices in the corridor - my flatmates! I dashed to the door, too ashamed to step out of my room in my nightie (May, Jan and Carm, you know those gulf gowns), and then I realised the smoke alarms in all their rooms and in the corridor were screeching so loudly, too! 'What the hell's happening?' (Pardon me Fathers, if you are going to read this. Please skip that word!) I asked my roommate???  'Oh! the fire drill! Don't forget to bring your key card when you come downstairs' she said and disappeared out of the door.. Downstairs?????? I hastily shut the door, pulled on my track pants, wore my top with cartoon pictures on it and a pullover (after removing the above-mentioned nightie of course), slipped my feet into my bathroom slippers and ran downstairs, dishevelled hair, bad breath and all (all the time praying I wouldn't meet my future husband downstairs!). On the way I saw guys from the building running out of the rooms, like their behinds were on fire, struggling to get into their shirts, and with nothing on their feet! :D..... I walked down and out of the building with heavy eyelids (remember I was fast asleep just a minute ago!?), and joined a long line of Postgraduates and Researchers (on the road in the picture above), all with unkempt hair, and equally bad breath I guess! We all stood there in the cold, fifty something of us, some looking so sleepy, while some early birds looked crisp and ready to face that beautiful morning, and the roll call! A few other smart alecks decided the fire (thank God there was no fire, else they would have been roasted alive) could wait while they brushed their teeth and put on 'decent' clothes and made themselves presentable enough to join the long line of 'evacuees'!

Anyway, it was all much ado about nothing! They made sure we all got out 'safely' from the danger zone, unscathed, and not smelling good! And then the show was over.... We all sauntered back to our rooms, now wide awake and ready to face the day (but not before showering and brushing teeth and ..... Well, not particularly in that order!):)!!!!!

That's my bed and duvet (which feels like a nice, warm hug!). Now you know why it's difficult to spring out of bed every morning and sing 'Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey It's a Beautiful Day!' like Katrine Falkner....

The shared kitchen

The shared kitchen

The shared kitchen

 David Russell Apartments. This is the road I walk to go to my classes.

The Apartments again.

The week that was (sounds clichéd????)

I would be lying if I told you my first week in Scotland was awesome! No doubt it has felt like I have been living a dream! I actually had to pinch myself, like Alice in Wonderland, when I landed in Edinburgh and then made my way to St Andrews by bus, to make sure I was not dreaming!!! It all seemed surreal. One moment I was amidst all that was familiar to me, in surroundings that defined who and what I am (everything so hackneyed like the title of this blog! J), settings and people that evoked trite thoughts and sensations, but the next moment I was torn away from it all, whisked down a rabbit hole. And hey presto! Where did I find myself? Yep! In a strange land, which was not unlike the places I had visited earlier in my mind! (And now, like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, I am led to believe that impossible is nothing!)

Week one has been a wonderful mixture of thrill, joy and fear, laced with loneliness and sadness within (and the occasional rain without, which caught me unaware more than once). What did I do? Discovered quite a bit in this medieval town, which overlooks the sea, and which is tucked into a small county called Fife! My major discovery would definitely be this - you need a pair of strong legs, which will not buckle easily, and calves, which will not protest painfully when they are made to half walk and half jog in search of the classroom, or the Church, or maybe just some good company!

Sorry, I am getting a little negative in my perspective there! What else did I discover? Yes, St Andrews is expensive, but breathtakingly beautiful! It is a microcosm of the wide, wide world we all live in. But, like all good Indians, I kept looking for good Indian company; and all the time Francis Bacon's admonition in his essay 'Of Travel' (pardon me students) kept ringing in my ears - 'Do not seek the comapny of your countrymen when you travel abroad'! But Mr. Bacon, did ever feel so out of place in a foreign land, that you waited for the earth to swallow you at times? Or maybe you weren't caught in a situation where your jaws ached because of the constant smiling you had to do while pretending that you understood conversations perfectly well, even though you couldn't follow the twang of the speaker? Okay, keep rolling in your grave, but don't let your words haunt me ever again!

I have met a few Indians, and a few Americans, and some Chinese! Incidentally, I have a good Chinese friend in class, who enjoys my company as much as I enjoy his! God Bless Him! May he and his wife, who sadly is in China, be blessed with many beautiful children once his sojourn in Scoltand comes to a happy end! The Chinese are great people! I feel a connection to them, maybe because we are so close geographically? Just saying!

I love my professors! And I don't have to 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' them! I just call them by their names. Got to get used to that! Then there's Mandy, my guardian angel, my beacon, I could use so many adjectives to describe her! I CANNOT imagine how difficult the transition and settling in Scotland would have been if destiny had not led Mandy to me!

I know this blog covers events that span more than a week. I will blame it all on procrastination! (I have to work on that!) The week has been easy and difficult. Difficult because of the street/building finding bit, the cold weather (a bit nippy eh? just felt like saying that :)), the 'I sometimes fit and sometimes don't fit into your group' feeling, the 'I miss mama and papa' phase (not to forget you, Carmel), the cooking, the walking, the aching legs. But the easy easily outweighs the difficult! It was easy to become friends with people from different cultures, different backgrounds (How cool is that!), while it would have been impossible to do so while in Mangalore! It is easy to boil water. (All I have to do is pour water into the electric kettle, and hey! I get boiled water in less than a minute. You could go to my house in Mangalore for a free demo!)

I am sure I am sounding so boring! What do you expect. The clock says it is 10 o'clock! Time for me to go to bed! So I would like to end on a very positive, though sleepy, note! My one year here will be one chapter of my life in itself! This is just the beginning. A promising one I hope with all my heart and with all my soul! Where this leg of journey will take me, I don't know. But this year is going to be an adventure-packed year (academically and otherwise). I can feel it in my bones. How? Well, with the beer and whiskey and canoeing and knitting and singing and umpteen number of societies to choose from, I know I will never feel bored or ever regret this seemingly bold step I have taken at this point in my life. Will I be different a year from now? I don't know. I do hope changes creep in subtly and for the better!

Alright then. Will see you all more often I hope. So much more to tell you all. But it will have to wait, cause, yawn! the pillow and the duvet are tempting me to shut my eyes and dream new dreams! Ciao....

P.S. I promise to put up more pics and more posts regularly :).....

My first post!!

Check, Check, Check!!
Flora at St Andrews!!!
Just a check..:)