Christians have been in India since St. Thomas the Apostle traveled to the Malabar Coast just decades after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But despite this long Christian history, India’s Parliament is considering amending Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment (FCRA) rules to permit government takeovers of churches and religious charities.
This is a clear attack against Christians. If this bill proceeds in this way, it would be a point of major concern in our bilateral relationship with India.
Some members of the billionaire Glazer family have been debating whether to sell their stake in Manchester United FC, after more than 20 years of ownership that has often been blighted by fan protest https://t.co/yn8zjFzVG5
Wishing our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji a very happy birthday with the warmest wishes. May God bless you with good health and happiness always. Your efforts for our beautiful nation have put us on a very high pedestal among all the countries of the world.
Jai Hind, Sir @narendramodi 🙏🇮🇳
Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties.
India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.
@realDonaldTrump@POTUS
🚨 JOURNALIST : India says U.S. purchases Russian uranium and fertilizers, yet criticizes India for buying Russian energy. So, Your response?
TRUMP : I don’t know anything about that 😂😂
SOME TEARS NEVER DRY
Ever since news broke of the plane crash in Ahmedabad, I have been fighting tears as my mind went back to that fateful day Oct 19, 1988, when another plane had crashed in Ahmedabad. I lost my dearest cousin in that crash.
Initially, I and my family in Mumbai didnt even know he was on that flight. My cousin often had work in Bangalore and he would hop in to Bombay late night, stay with us, and take the first flight back to Ahmedabad. But if the Bangalore-Bombay flight was late, he used to stay back in the airport and take the 6 am Ahmedabad flight.
The shock hit us when my young nephew -my late cousin's son- called from Ahmedabad, at about 9 in the morning, telling me over a very bad STD line that his father may have been on the flight that crashed. "Appa had an open ticket", he said "Can you find out from Indian Airlines in Mumbai if he was in that flight? The Ahmedabad airport doesn’t have the passenger list," he said.
We could not figure out even the phone number to get to the right Indian Airlines desk. I had never been on a plane until then and knew little about airlines offices. My brother rushed to Santacruz airport to physically check at the airlines counter. I got a brainwave to call an influential family friend in Express Towers, who went over to Air India building and phoned me back with the terrible message "Yes, N.S. Subramanian is in the passenger list and his name is not in the survivor list". The toughest task of my life was to call back my little nephew and confirm to him, "Yes Mani Anna was in that flight!".
The airlines arranged to fly my parents and they brought back my bhabhi and her two young children, even as my aged aunt and uncle (parents of the late cousin) arrived from Trivandrum. Oh the grief, the tears, the disbelief, the impossibility of consoling the old parents or the young wife even as were sobbing ourselves. His children, I remember, seemed more shocked. The little daughter probably didn't even grasp the depth of the loss.
Today the two children - my niece and nephew - are well educated successful professionals. One started her career in Microsoft and the other in Mashreq Bank. Bhabhi remained a teacher in Ahmedabad till retirement and spends her time happily between Trivandrum, Dubai and Seattle.
I want to tell all those grieving that my dear ones fought their way through the grief and moved on. I want to tell them the adversity made my young bhabhi, my little niece and nephew stronger, confident and courageous. You all too shall overcome.
Only Aunt never overcame her anguish. She lived two very unhappy years and passed, hopefully joined her loving son.
That cousin, Mani Anna was a loveable, chatty, diligent hardworking guy, the first engineer in our family. The eldest of the cousins on my father's side, he was the banyan tree of the family. We never got over his absence.
The family whatsapp group today is brimming with heart rending memories of the day. Some memories never fade. Some tears never dry.
Older I get, the more effect these kind of events seem to have - guess age makes it easier to put oneself in others' shoes and imagine how their lives got disrupted