Author Archives: Sarmishta Venkatesh

The Glory of the Pittance

During his earthly life, Christ taught that giving more of your little is worth more than giving little of your most. The poor widow’s mite* was worth more than all the gold and silver that went clanging down into the treasury (Mark 12:42-43). “But”, you may wonder, “how can the widow’s mite pay anyone’s salary? How can it pay for the sick and the needy? Does God not want the rich to come into the church and give? Shouldn’t our church pews be filled with the rich and the elite so as to feed the hungry and sponsor the poor and keep the church’s economic engine well oiled?”

A faithful friend until the end

Who is a close friend? I’ve had diverse friends all my life. Growing up, I always had close friends for a season, but only for a season. It bewilders me even now as to how I lost so many friends along the way. My best friend in school was someone with whom I played afterContinue reading “A faithful friend until the end”

What if a tree falls and no one hears its sound?

There was nothing particularly unusual about this morning. Yet something began to bother me. Perhaps the unusual bother was in the mundaneness of it all. Do all these simple trifles of everyday life really add up to something more meaningful and rewarding? Why does the heart long for a holy climax, a more glorious ending to a drab life? Why does it always look for the extraordinary ending to the ordinary meanderings? Or is it just dust we return to, not stardust?

Come Home this Christmas

Coming home has become overwhelming. Keeping up with family traditions and prepping up for family dinners can be really stressful for some. Coming home to a dysfunctional family with an absentee father or a controlling mother can be stressful for some others. Culturally we live in tumultuous times. Christians are terrorized by the threat of anti-conversion bills and right-winged bullies, constantly living their own rightful lives as though they have committed the unpardonable sin. Young blokes are calling for a ‘ghar wapasi’ (homecoming to the home religion) to seal the nation’s ethnic identity, unaware that such tactics make the idea of home more abhorrent. We have no where to escape and no place to rest our weary heads.

Disability is Normal

One of the biggest hoops that the disabled and their caregivers have to hop through in the Indian landscape is the obsession for perfection. Since the time of our adoption, I have met several who have indicated this subconscious obsession, unbeknownst to themselves, one way or another.