Growing Up Part 1 - Zambia

For most people they remember their childhood from the day they were born. Although I was born in Chandernagore, WB, India and lived in London for a year, I consider my childhood from when I was 2 years old. That's when we moved to Zambia. I spent only 8 years there, but they were the most memorable 8 years of my life. I should add though that I visited Zambia at least once a year for another 12 years since my parents were living there, I still consider Zambia to be my home!

I spent my first 5 years in Ndola, a small town in the heart of Zambia. My first home was in 64, Petauke Crescent, a beautiful house. We had a huge garden in the front, where my parents built a tree-swing. I could sit on that swing for hours on end, of course I needed my mum to push the swing for me. My second most favourite pass time were my dogs: Tommy, Bingo, Snoopy and Paku. Those were the days of barbecues and summer parties. On the left is a picture of my mum, brother and I with our two faithful servants, Lakson and Violet. Whereas on the right is a more visible picture of my brother and I playing with an aeroplane.

As the saying goes: good times never last and we had to move to Kitwe. Below is a photo of what Kitwe looks like.

Kitwe was another wonderful city to live in. Although we lived in a housing complex, I fell in love with it at first sight. Our complex had a small playground (something very rare in Zambia back then) along with two small pools which I later found out were not to be used for swimming but rather to house some very melodious frogs croaking their hearts away at night. There was a lovely stream that would flow nearby our home. Well, initially it was lovely, but due to the lack of fresh water, that too became infested with frogs and many other insects. I still remember my friends and I playing around the stream and me falling in much to my embarrassment. Here below is a picture of Lubambe Complex, my second home for more than 10 years as well as my school in those days.

Zambia is basically known for what used to be at one time one of the seven wonders of the world: The Victoria Falls. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Victoria Falls although shorter than the Niagra, it's much wider. The other unique thing abou the falls is that it's the border betweent two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe or Northern Rhodesia and Rhodesia as they were formerly known as. The second main attraction within the Copperbelt Province where I lived was the Chichele Mofu Tree. The tree I'm told was over 200 years old and was taller than trees of its height. This is a tree that lies in between Ndola and Kitwe. The ride between the two towns would take approximately 45 minutes, but growing up I would always want my mum to show me the tree. It was just so unique and one of the few excitements I would have on the trip.

If anyone ever gets a chance to visit Africa, visit Zambia. It may not be a great place for entertainment or parties, but the weather's wonderful all year round, you'll see a breathtaking waterfall, some exciting widlife sanctuaries, but most of all, you'll see what will aways be, my second home!

Snoopy

This is the lime-light of our lives currently. He was born right in front of our home in March of 2005. There were three of them, Snoopy, Caesar and Snowball (as we named them!)

Ranjit and I fell in love with all three. On 24th May we came back home from a meeting and Ranjit spontaneously said, "Let's take one home!" Since Snoopy looked the cutest, black and white and all plumpy we picked him up.

The next couple of days were just like having a newborn in the house. Snoopy would wake us up crying in the middle of the night, sometimes he was hungry and sometimes lonely. I'm sure he missed his mother those days. We would come home to find small puddles everywhere.

And so the memories began... Snoopy trying to climb into our bathroom to relieve himself. Attempting to climb onto our sofa with no success. Peering out of the cardboard box as we took him by bike to my parents' home. His excitement to see us after we had left him at a shelter for a week. The list continues...

Today he has many aliases: Mr. Snook, Beta, Mr. Spy, Chonu, Pooski-boy, Spoono, Puthu, Begusky, and Al-Qaeda.
Snoopy's well-known in our soceity to the extent that people don't know us but recognize us through our dog.

Each day he grows closer to our heart!

My Hubby

The first thing that I have to talk about is the love of my life. This is my hubby, Ranjit whom I fondly call "Love".

Our story goes way back to 1998 in Pune. I am one of those people who remembers dates (and I'm sure if you're a woman then you're smiling coz you can relate, and if you're a man, you're rolling your eyes)

It was on April 19, 1998 when I walked into the Church of Christ. I had no idea that I was entering the place that would change my life in every possible way! That of course is another story altogether! Later on that day, I had gone to a friend's house to study the Bible. We spent a couple of hours in her bedroom reading through scriptures... oops getting sidetracked here... Once done, I opened the door to find "my love" sitting on a chair tying his shoelaces. Back then, he was supporting a beard (yuck!) and looked about 10 years older. (Later on I came to know that he thought the same about me!)

We were introduced and if you told me back then that this was to be my husband, I probably would have gasped! But you never know how God works... very mysteriously I must say.
I was surprised to learn that he was a sophomore in college and I a freshman.

And so our friendship began... We went from being acquaintances to working together for our church as student counsellors. I, being me, made a huge number of assumptions about him (sadly to say most of them were negative!) and kept my distance from him. We were even leading the same "ministry" as we call it in church-jargon (basically a group of men and women living in a certain area)

Somehow leading together brought out a lot of character which made me further repel away from him. Then in 2000 he moved to Bombay and I remained in Pune. Somehow I felt relieved. But God has His own plans, and one year later I moved to Bombay too.

To cut this really long story a little shorter... jump to Jan 3, 2003 (Yes another memorable day!) This was the day when I was asked by a friend to go on a "date" with Ranjit. My mouth fell open! I was in no way prepared to get married nor start dating. Somehow, the date never happened and I was left with a bit of a disappointed, just for the very fact that I like it when people keep their word (a trait I've inherited from my Dad).

Our first date finally took place on Jan 25th. We went out with a mutual friend. I was on a fast that day and had a sweet-lime soda. We spoke briefly, mostly general talk about our families and hobbies.

And so the dates continued, until in July when we decided to set on a date in December to wed. Unfortunately, by the time October rolled in, I got the jitters and a whole closet full of doubts, enough to cancel the wedding! My fiance was heart-broken to say the least. I however justified myself by reminding me that this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with and didn't want to enter a marriage with fears and doubts.

We put our wedding "on hold" till June 2004. Meanwhile, my feelings blossomed! It's true distance does make the heart grow fonder. I started to miss talking to him and spending time with him and that made me realize that this was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with!

After much prayer, we decided on October 24, 2004 as our wedding date. This time however, as the days got closer, I was getting excited! I have always believed that God knows the right time and person, and I am just so happy that I was able to trust him with that.

Today, I can confidently say that with each passing day, my love for my hubby grows.

First attemt at blogging

Today's my first attempt at blogging. Had always wondered what the craze is all about and so I thought I'd give it a try for myself. I'm still trying to understand the entire "blog" thing... call me blog-ignorant.

I think it's gonna be a while until I get used to this idea... let's see how things go...