Blessings and prayers on Good Friday.

   1. May God's mercy fill your heart with peace and comfort today.

   2. May your faith grow stronger and your worries fade away.

   3. May this Good Friday bring healing, hope and endless grace.

   4. May divine love guide every step you take.

   5. May your prayers rise and your blessings fall like gentle rain.

   6. May your heart be calm and your soul be at peace.

   7. May God protect you and your loved ones always.

   8. May forgiveness, kindness and compassion fill your life.

   9. May today renew your spirit and strengthen your trust in God.

 10. May your day be wrapped in peace, love and heavenly light.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked on the road in front of the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of appams and egg masala.

Worked on my laptop.

Suresh, from Ribi's Asian Paints team, finished up the last of the jobs remaining. Gave him our first Vishukkaineettam for the year.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" and siesta.

The evening chores.

We've a guest.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked outside the house: recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of puttum pazhavum.

Worked on my laptop.

Leela Samson drops in by a half past 12.

Lekha had made Fish curry and meals. Leela seemed to enjoy it.

Met Roopika and Layapriya, two of Leela's disciples. Roopika's one of three daughters has been selected for the Sainik School.

They all leave by 3, back to Kochi.

Siesta after watching the serial, "Snehakkoottu".

The evening chores.

A quiet evening.

The FCRA Bill.

Lok Sabha was set to take up the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) for passage today. Owing to pressure from Kerala's BJP, the government decided to take up the amendment on a later date because of the strong opposition from the state's Christian denominations who feel that their contributions are being brought under check!

The amendment allows the Centre to appoint a designated authority, which could control funds and assets if the FCRA certificate of an NGO is cancelled, surrendered or ceased.

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, expressed concern over the proposed amendments.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India wrote to the Home Minister seeking wider consultation and safeguards against 'excessive state control over civil society'. 

80% of Christian NGOs in Kerala have FCRA licence.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Breakfast of dosas and chana before bath.

Worked on my laptop. 

Bath followed by siesta.

Lunch, saw "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

Lekhs went to the temple for the darshan of the good Lord and buys grocery from the Harisree supermarket.

The evening chores.

The first fully-digital census.

India's first fully-digital census to kick off on 01 Apr.

The process starts with self-enumeration in Delhi, Goa. Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Orissa, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Second phase from Feb '27

The census 2027 will be done in two phases - house listing or house census and population enumeration. After a 15-day self enumeration period, the 30-day house-listing phase will begin on 16 Apr. Across the country, the first phase will be wrapped up by October. The population enumeration phase will then be conducted in Feb 2027.

No decision taken on NPR updation

* The self-enumeration will begin on 16 Apr in Andhra Pradesh, 26 Apr in Telangana, 16 Jun in Kerala     and 17 Jul in Tamilnadu. The date for West Bngal is yet to be decided.

* The Registrar General has said that no decision has been taken on National Population Register's 

   updation.

31 lakh enumerators to participate in the world's largest census

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked on the road in front of the house; recited my prayers.

Lekha goes to the temple for the darshan of the good Lord and to buy sundries.

Bath and breakfast of dosas and chana.

Worked on my laptop. Sent my March mail by a trifle after 12. The formatting went awry.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

The evening chores.

   

Whither West Asia war?

The war between US-Israel vs Iran is entering its 5th week and there isn't any let up. I would like to classify this war into three stages as of now :-

    (a) US and Israel carry out deadly missile strikes, decapitating the top Iranian leadership

          including the Supreme leader.

    (b) The Houthis, Hezbollah and the Hamas join Iran making it a wide front concentrating

         on the destruction of Israel.

    (c) 3,500 marines poised to be deployed in Iran.

What's gonna happen after that?

Either of the two possibilities.

     * The US deploys "boots on ground", a fierce battle ensues with heavy casualties on both sides.

        The American public mood will change seeing the sickening arrival of American soldiers, in

        body bags, at regular intervals! Mind you, the fallout would be that the public support would

        diminish raising a backlash on Trump.

     * The US puts pressure on the Iranians and by mid-Apr, Trump's gonna pull out from the                            engagement, citing victory.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the home theatre.

Sajish comes in, gives me a good haircut and massage.

Lekha goes to Mammiyur temple to carry out Mini's vow.

Walked on the road in front of the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of idlis and sambar.

Worked on my laptop.

Spoke to Anup, BM of the SBI and put in the requisite action for taking a loan.

Lunch, saw "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

A quiet evening.

Bath followed by breakfast of idlis and sambar.

Back @ The Quarterdeck.

Our day began at 4, this morning. Went about our chores and we were ready by 6 but our sa'arthi, Monish came about around a quarter to 7. Between the caretaker and me, we'd loaded the Chevy with our luggage and set off soon after.

Our first stop was at the Nagaraja temple at Randalummoodu. After meeting the priest, resumed our journey and had our next halt at the Kottarakkara Maha Ganapathi temple. Had a nice darshan and we pressed on to Letha's place at Mylam from where we collected our breakfast and lunch packs!

We'd breakfast of idlis and chutney in the car with a cuppa tea to wash it down at a wayside tea stall.

The journey was smooth with Monish clipping at an average of 90 kmph and we reached Thrissur by a 20' past 1. The PM electioneering visit was on and therefore, we did face traffic restrictions and diversions. Reached Guruvayur by a quarter to 2.

Unloaded the Chevy, sent Monish back and had our lunch.

Siesta.

The evening chores.

Watched Lekha watering the plants and sat down to watch the television.

A quiet evening!

A quiet day!

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Breakfast was colonial with toasts and eggs.

Frequent power outages were the order of the day.

Washed all the clothes, along with the bed linen.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch of rice, fish curry and assorted vegetable dishes.

Siesta; got up just in time to collect all the dried clothes from the clothing line outside, from the flash thundershowers that fell.

Saw our serials in bits and pieces thanks to the frequent power outages.

A quiet evening!