December | 2012 | mercy's musings

season’s greetings!

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I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel. Genesis 3:15

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him ‘Immanuel.’ Isaiah 7:14

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

The Lord says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.” Micah 5:2

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But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. … The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and God’s power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:30-32; 35

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and said in a loud voice, “You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” Luke 1:41-42

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21

While they were Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. She gave birth to her first son. Luke 2:6-7

The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David’s town your Savior was born; he is the Messiah, the Lord!“. Luke 2:10-11

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For God loved the whole world so much that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life. John 3:16

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“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending”, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 1:8

“Listen!” says Jesus. I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give each one according to what he has done, I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:13

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wishing you a christmas that is merry,

a season that holds wonders,

and a new year that is the happiest yet…

What is a ‘biologist’ doing in a place like this, you might ask.

From the moment I began to read and write as a child, I’ve been encouraged to read and write and then read some more. In a time and a place where there was no suitable venue to expose what I scribbled, I tried my ‘verbal skills’ on my unsuspecting relatives and friends by penning them letters on whims, to anyone who would care to read the rudimentary stuff I wrote.

Fast forward to 2012. Past the ‘Age of Aquarius’. Well into the new millennium. To now. To the world of instant communication, of e-mails and the blogosphere. In this new age, I’ve been keenly persuaded by well-wishers to start a blog of my own.

An emotional tribute is in order at this juncture, to my Papaji, for spotting in me at an early age, this fondness of language and for his unfailing support towards its enhancement.

I vividly recall him bringing home a Malayalam ‘novel’, ‘Bible Rani’, written by one Kanam EJ (a pen name that might tickle the memories of some of you from a certain bygone era) and published by the Malayala Manorama Press Kottayam. It was a relatively small book by today’s standards, and capsuled the story of Esther, a substantial female figure from the Old Testament. I wasn’t concerned if the language was not urbane or that the novel didn’t reveal any universal truths. It must be said that in our Holy Scripture, the book of Esther does hold eternal lessons. Be that as it may, it was enchantingly fun for me as a youngster, and I finished it in one sitting. I was seven and asked my father for more. Promptly and soon enough, I earned the nick name ‘book worm’, in familiar circles.

As I entered college in the Kerala of the sixties, when most of my peers selected Hindi or French as their second language, I chose Malayalam, precisely for its literature. I simply had a zeal for reading and material was generally only available to me in that language. I took delight in the poetry of ‘Kumaran Ashan’s ‘Chandala Bhikshuki’, and ‘Vallathol Narayana Menon’s ‘Magdalana Mariyam’. Shakespeare and Dickens and Twain hadn’t entered my imagination, yet.

Well, not exactly.

My dad also made available to my sister and me, a monthly publication, ‘Bala Mithram’ put out by the CMS Press Kottayam, which printed Malayalam translations of selected western classics. Thus, as implausible as it may sound, I have read William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, ‘Macbeth’, and ‘King Lear’, Charles Dickens’ ‘David Copperfireld’, and Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’, in Malayalam!

This passion has led me to this spot. Here I am, decades behind, attempting my hand at becoming a self-anointed ‘wordsmith’ or in more modern lexicon, a ‘blogger’. Hope you’ll pardon the flaws of a novice, I promise to keep refining my posts. Your input will be of paramount value to me.

The blog, ‘mercy’s musings’, is the culmination of a great journey. It is deeply indebted to the ‘village’, that unwittingly contributed to this adventure, and it consists of:

-The above-mentioned Kanam EJ,

-The editors of the daily the ‘Malayala Manorama’ and the now-defunct ‘Bala Mithram’,

-The innumerable family and friends who have cheered me along, whose names are carried in my thankful heart,

-And first and last and most infinitely My Dad, who placed me on this magical path of loving the written word.

–This is dedicated to my husband who is my rock, and to my daughters who are my heart and my inspiration.