BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass.

CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish to lip-sync.

HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY.

HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation’s range.

RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often sung a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left.

INCENSE: Holy Smoke!

JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to find colleges with good basketball teams.

JONAH: The original “Jaws” story.

JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.

KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava. (it means Lord have mercy)

MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower.

MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn’t covered by an HMO. (The Bible’s way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.)

PEW: A medieval torture device still found in Catholic churches.

PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats.

RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusio n of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot.

RELICS: People who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel, and stand.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top Ten list not given by David Letterman.

USHERS: The only people in the parish who don’t know the seating capacity of a pew.

Little known facts about the Catholic Church in Las Vegas:

There are more churches in Las Vegas than casinos. During Sunday services at the offertory, some worshippers contribute casino chips as opposed to cash. Some are sharing their winnings – some are hoping to win. Since they get chips from so many different casinos, and they are worth money, the Catholic churches are required to send all the chips into the diocese for sorting. Once sorted into the respective casino chips, one junior priest takes the chips and makes the rounds to the casinos turning chips into cash. And he, of course, is known as The Chip Monk.

Sneha came over on Christmas Eve for a while before mass. Mass was relatively short and sweet. The choirs have improved since the past few years, which is a good things. Returned home immediately after mass.

I met Marise and Ruth for dinner at the 5 Spice in Bandra. Being, Christmas night, we had to wait a while before we were given a table. We definitely ordered a good deal of food and desert, a lot more than our normal capacities

Went over to Marise’s place on 26th morning to prepare for the engagement. We went over to the church in the morning itself and engaged rings and vows. After a good deal of furniture movements, to accommodate 30 persons, I went over to my ENT for a follow-up.

The party at Marise’s place was fun-filled like any of our other parties. The only difference was that we had my part of the family there too.

Got a host of presents for Christmas from Marise and her family. It was like sweeping the Oscars!

Spent the night over at her place. And, the next day we went over to her grandaunt’s place for lunch. After a bit of rest, my weary feet found their way home.

I have uploaded more photographs of the engagement. Check out the engagement album.

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1. The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
2. The sermon this morning: ‘Jesus Walks on the Water.’ The sermon tonight: ‘Searching for Jesus.’
3. Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands..
4. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say ‘Hell’ to someone who doesn’t care much about you.
5. Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.
6. Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again,’ giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
7. For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
8. Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
9. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
10. A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
11. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice
12. Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
13. Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
14. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
15. The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
16. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM – prayer and medication to follow.
17. The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
18. This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
19. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.. S. Is done.
20. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
21. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
22. The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM.. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
23. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
24. The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new campaign slogan last Sunday: ‘I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours’.

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Was surprised to see a whole new menu on offer. There have been several good additions to the menu, but there have been equally bad ones. Going to check if the menu has been updated in Bangalore as well.

I headed off home soon after dinner. Marise came over on Friday as well as Saturday. Friday and Saturday both turned out to be extremely rainy days. However, the newspapers claim that it rained everywhere except the lakes!

Marise and me went over to her house on Saturday evening, so that I could meet the family. Attended mass as well, after quite a while, at the Sacred Hearth Church in Worli, had a quick dinner and set off in the rain back to Andheri.

I wasn’t able to find a single cab but was lucky enough to find a 39 that brought me right up to Nelco, where I caught a 333 back home.

Began packing for returning to Bangalore this morning. It doesn’t take much time when you have minimal dumping to do. Got a rickshaw to the airport. Asked for the row number 6 seat in the airplane, since it was the same row with ample leg space on my journey to Mumbai. Wasn’t disappointed and one of the cabin crew turned out to be the same one on my flight to Mumbai! Decided to grab some grub in the plane itself, since it is cheaper to eat there than at the airport.

The journey was rather peaceful, with minor turbulence. I caught one of the A/C buses from the airport that dropped me off at Koramangala 1st block, where I caught a rick home. Have finally settled in. It’s work day from tomorrow, which means reduced updates out here!

This blog post will take you three weeks back. I’ve had three weeks which have been so filled with work (yes, that is a usual statement I make) that my initial plan of updating the blog took a back seat.

Anyway, three weeks back, I met up with Maria, who, along with her sister, has been complaining that I’ve spent more than two months in Bangalore and hadn’t even seen them! The main reason has been my prolonged effort to settle into the city that I haven’t yet called home and the lack of a full weekend out here yet. I haven’t seen much of Bangalore yet and I don’t know when I will be able to. The few places that I have visited have been Church Street and Brigade Road area on two separate occasions.

Maria picked me up from near my house in Koramangala on that Sunday morning and we headed over to “The Only Place” in Brigade Road. “The Only Place” is famous for its steak and I decided to try one of those. Well, it was also a while since I had some good meat. We then walked down Church Street to the Levi’s store at Brigade Road. My current pair of blue jeans had started to fray and rather than make a fashion statement, I decided to pick up a new pair.

From what I have seen, shopping in Bangalore seems to be more expensive than Mumbai. I’m going to verify this on my trip back to Mumbai as I hunt for some clothes. Anyway, I found a decent pair of blue boot-cut jeans for a little more than 2K and picked them up. It turned out to be a smart thing to do because my jeans finally frayed and well, they are now a pair of torn jeans that many people pay so much extra for!

After this, we walked over to one of the Cafe Coffee Day’s in Brigade Road, where they insisted that we have to take addons on Saturday and Sunday. I have definitely not seen this at any other CCD and we told him that we refused to do that. Why should I take chocolate sauce in my coffee, when I don’t want it?

We didn’t spend much time there, because we decided to drop into Garuda mall for a while, which is supposed to be one of the biggest malls in Bangalore. Well, I still prefer InOrbit in Mumbai, which is not only bigger, but definitely better planned than any of the malls here in Bangalore.

Anyway, I decided to go window shopping for suits. Saw some excellent ones which were 7K and above. Decided to check the same out in Mumbai over this week. I need a good business suit for work. The one we got in college was good for college and the one I got at home is too party types.

We hung out at Garuda mall a while and after that tried to find out the mass timings at the nearest church out there. We found out that we had to wait for at least an hour for mass and so decided to rush back to the one near Forum. It turned out to be a mixed language double-feast mass where we found ourselves standing far far away in the dust and the dirt and the crowd. We just gave up hope and headed back home.

Stay tuned for yet another post with the events of the last two weeks. Until remember you cankeep track of updates of my blogs and me of course by following @ajaydsouza on Twitter.

After a long day of lectures on Friday, in which we gave two presentations in Strategic Management, we headed out to the city. Sneha and Namrata had finalized on a joint called TC’s in FC Road. We had booked the place for eleven people.

Caught the 7.30pm bus from college which drops us at Atur Center from where we caught rickshaws to the place.

TC’s is decently sized place with a good ambience and service. However, I really wonder why they needed to have the lights fading into various colors!

The prices weren’t that high compared to the other places we have eaten at, but then again, neither were the portions. We were offered 11 tequila shots on the house, a pity only five were consumed.

Then we desperately hunted for rickshaws back to Atur Center and rushed to catch the last bus back to college.

Woke up (or more like was woken up) early Saturday morning as all these folks were off to Alibaug for the weekend. I’m not much of an outdoor person and had tonnes of work so decided to stay back.

Went with Maria and her sister Tina for mass on Saturday. Was asked to and did the Prayer of the Faithful. After mass, we decided to go to Mainland China, which is close to where we had to catch the bus back.

This is my first visit to a Mainland China. The food was decent, so was the service. However, they really need to understand the meaning of the word “spicy”.

The bus back to campus was jam packed, but we were fortunate enough to get seats.

Sunday was a quiet day. We gathered together to bid farewell to Maria, who is the first among all of us to begin her job.

Am really exhausted now and will be hitting the bed soon. Have to still get my hands on photos of the birthday. Will put them in my album.

Today was the feast of Christ the King as well as it happens to be my brother’s birthday. The feast of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year. This is usually a big event in my church back in Mumbai. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. I can finally start playing some Christmas carols

We took the 5.05pm bus to Atur Center and then went to the Food Bazaar at Pune Central to pick up some eatables and other essentials.

Mass at St. Anthony’s in Model Colony was over an hour. However, it was filled with singing, something that I haven’t indulged in a long time.

Met quite a few other Catholics of SCMHRD of both the juniors and senior batch who landed up for mass today.

Caught the 8pm bus back to the campus and grabbed a simple dinner of double full fried eggs in the cafeteria.

We have a company on campus tomorrow morning. Have to attend the pre-placement talks before I decide if I should signup with them or not.

Wish me the best of luck. Will provide details tomorrow or day after. I plan on going home on Tuesday since the rest of the week is relatively free. Also have to pickup my final installment demand draft.

BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass.

CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish to lip-sync.

HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY.

HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation’s range.

RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often sung a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left.

INCENSE: Holy Smoke!

JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to find colleges with good basketball teams.

JONAH: The original “Jaws” story.

JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.

KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava. (it means Lord have mercy)

MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower.

MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn’t covered by an HMO. (The Bible’s way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.)

PEW: A medieval torture device still found in Catholic churches.

PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats.

RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusio n of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot.

RELICS: People who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel, and stand.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top Ten list not given by David Letterman.

USHERS: The only people in the parish who don’t know the seating capacity of a pew.

Little known facts about the Catholic Church in Las Vegas :
There are more churches in Las Vegas than casinos. During Sunday services at the offertory, some worshippers contribute casino chips as opposed to cash. Some are sharing their winnings – some are hoping to win. Since they get chips from so many different casinos, and they are worth money, the Catholic churches are required to send all the chips into the diocese for sorting. Once sorted into the respective casino chips, one junior priest takes the chips and makes the rounds to the casinos turning chips into cash. And he, of course, is known as The Chip Monk.

Went for mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Worli on Marise’s invitation. She wanted me to do the reading there, so did just that. Didn’t realize I had a singing session coming as well!

Tried to get rid of the headache with enough sleep and water, but neither worked.

Had to go to R’s place as she had invited all of us over to her place. The ride the Thane was fun, big empty roads. The two crocins before helped for a few hours. Had plans to go to Worli but wasn’t in a position to do so and headed back home.

Two crocins in the evening and a ton of water did end the headache, with just lingering splits all through Monday.

Was perfectly fine on Tuesday. Also completed the project I was working on and have been assigned another.

We received our cheque for our stipend yesterday. Money finally

And today yours truly managed to get a catch in my neck. It sure has been a pain in the neck.
I’m hoping it is good tomorrow.

However, we did struggle out of our beds and get ready.

Now Thivim Chapel is right on top of the hill, which means a great deal of walking indeed! I had received strict instructions from Marise to wear formals. Walking is bad enough, walking up a hill is worse, walking up a hill in the heat can be a real pain, but walking up a hill in the heat in formals is a real killer!

By the time we were at the top we were totally drenched in perspiration. And the chapel was also overfull and we didn’t have any sitting place.

We ended up sitting in the corridor which had one lonely fan that did throw some breeze. Crispin and Valley arranged for some chairs, so, thankfully, we didn’t stand the full hour.

We headed back home after mass, glad to have a good fan over our heads. Marise wanted to visit St. Christopher?s Church, which is the main church in Thivim. However, before that I was treated by the friendly neighbourhood witch doctor for a major catch in my neck, the result of me sleeping on a soft pillow on hard ground! (for some strange reason sleeping in Goa was a problem)

Got some pictures of the church, which was all locked up before we headed back. Had to pickup some provisions and we treated ourself to fake orange fizz.

We also stumbled upon Valley who was drawing water from the well and so I decided to give it a shot (for the photo ofcourse).

Also found some touch-me-not plants out there so indulged in shutting their leaves… hey it’s been a while!

It’s late now, so I’ll keep the beach stories and pictures for another post. Until then…