Rekha's Ramblings

They said, work hard, go after your dreams. You worked hard and went after your dreams. They say there is a price to pay for everything. Nothing comes for free. So now you have paid the price. You worked hard, you gave your time, you worked hard to fulfill your dreams. They said you can't have everything. So now you have a fulfilled dream, but it has cost you time, the time away from your family. They say there is nothing like spending time with your family. You do just that but now you have no money. Then there are those who were doomed by their circumstances, by where they were born, the color of their skin. It didn't matter how hard they worked. They could have nothing. Their fate was decided by geopolitics, their race. They had no chance. Some will spend their entire lives in refugee camps. The moral of the "they say", "you need to give up something to get something, you can't have it all" is a bunch of BS. I haven't figured...

  What's in a name, one asks. Well, I will tell you. The remnants of history and colonization still live in a catholic community where I grew up. My ancestors were Hindus who were converted to Christianity by Portuguese missionaries during 16th century and either they willingly adopted the Portuguese last names or were forced to take their names. I am not a historian, but this is what I have gathered over the years. Christopher Columbus was trying to find a sea route to India but instead landed somewhere in the Caribbean in Circa 1492. Then another Portuguese sailor Vasco De Gama left in search for the sea route and landed on the west coast of India in circa 1498, bringing Portuguese missionaries to India who then travelled up the coast converting the local Hindu people into Christianity, voluntarily or by force. During that time, they landed in my hometown (only a few kilometers outside of Mumbai). The church that my family attends is four hundred fifty years old. Last names suc...