Friday 24 December 2010

Nativity... or Why Birth Is Worth the Fight!

Ballet in front of our Christmas tree, Bbay, Dec '89
I have had so many of you chiding me for questioning if 'earth is worth the fight' in my last post. It is! It is!! But sometimes Yes it is!! So to make up, I shall sing you a Christmas carol...

Long time ago in Bethlehem,
so the Holy Bibles say,
Mary's boy child Jesus Christ
was born on Chri-istmas Day!

Hark! the herald angels sing, as we gather round our fires. Impossible that it is really snow on the trees outside, and not the cottonwool we used for our Christmas tree in India. We had a real one growing in our garden, and a little rubbery one for Santa (and our presents) inside. On Christmas Eve, a softly gathering chorus would wind its way up the gentle slope where we lived. It would fall silent, and coins would tinkle, and then the music would drift towards us again. The Salvation Army singers. How I miss the sounds of hush and harmony, and the lantern that lit their journey for them, and lit them for us. And on Christmas day, we did the strangest thing. We went to Breach Candy Hospital, and mooched around from ward to department - each one more heartily decorated than the next. There were delicate mangers and tinsel and baubles and food! And we were three little kings and queen, the children of Dr and Mrs Tayabali, who were both adored by the staff, and we basked then as we do now, in their reflected magic.

I am basking now in the reflected magic of my big brother and trying to absorb as much of his life experience and brisk global summary as I can before he heads off to new lands, new skills. And contemplating the turns in the roads awaiting us. For just around the corner, my little brother and his wife, five months pregnant, feel far away, and yet so dear. The blanket is knitted and awaiting its owner. I think Aunty Shaista is ahead of the game, for now, but let's see what Uncle Riz comes up with!

Do you remember my brother's wedding took place on an island called Nikoi? Well, there were only 40 of us gathered in that jewelled setting of sun and sea... and five of the couples are now expecting babies! Five! So on that happy note, I wish all of them safe deliveries, with stars colliding and magic manifesting; and wish you, dearest of readers and writers, Merry Christmas!!!

13 comments:

Maggie May said...

Merry Christmas Shaista, your spirit is absolutely luminous...xoxo

* said...

Loved that picture of you on the ladder, it is a magical one, that, if your home was burning (heaven forbid), I'd run back in to retrieve.

Wondering how you are, knowing the brother-love intimately..my own brother was away the previous 2 Christmases in Iraq, this year he is finally home with us, at our table, near near near...

And the picture of your family all smiling, all young, so happy, happy. What a treasure, it brings me to tears (you know how easily I cry, I cried a few times that day in Cambridge alone...)

Enjoy your family, Shaista, it is nearly all we are, all we have.

Love,
Terresa

Marion said...

According to our newspaper, our Food & Drug admininstration is likely going to approve a new drug for lupus Benlysta (belimumab) Done any research on it?

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Shaista, it is okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes. It is a long road. I know you are very brave and your spirit stays amazingly radiant and inspiring.Your family is so wonderful! Might they adopt me? hee hee! Just what they need, right? A 64 year old chronically fatigued person teetering around? I do clean houses very well though:) Watch the mail sometime between December 29th onwards - and have a wonderful Christmas with your wonderful parents and brother!You will no doubt be reading about all of the hilarity at this end............did you read my night before xmas poem? I had fun with it.........all the best, Shaista. I hope the new year brings successful treatment that affords you relief and improvement. Thank heavens your father is a doctor, he will know all the latest.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

p.s. the header photo is really beautiful. And the ladder things look very....precarious!

Sobrina Tung said...

merry christmas shaista!!! beautiful story :) I wish you all the best this season and in the new year!

Maia said...

Merry Christmas, my beautiful girl. Sending so much love your way. Beautiful photos, beautiful words. Thinking of you right now. OX from Maia, Mike and QiuQiu

Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillow said...

I, for one, could never 'chide' you for sometimes wondering outloud if 'earth is worth the fight', and instead prefer to applaud in appreciation for the resounding earth-life-affirming YES with which you answer that very question through the poetry of your blog spirit. I think it is better to ask the question and answer yes in the way you do, than to never ask the question or turn our gaze away when it is posed.

Merry Christmas to you, Shaista.

Ruth said...

I agree with Lorenzo 100%, as I indicated in my comment on the previous post. Your honesty is always beautiful, because it comes through your beautiful heart.

There is something so joyous about this post, with the gorgeous photo of your family (your parents glow!), and then the news of your brother's visit, and their unborn child, and the others too. I feel that fullness of expectancy here in myself, which by the way I always feel here. It's magic, this place with you, and I thank you with all my heart for sharing it.

Cheers to the year ahead! Much love.

lupie said...

Happy Holidays!!!

Merry, merry Christmas too!

Sara said...

Shaista, I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish all the lovely women great deliveries, too!

rauf said...

as always i am off target.

Women are projected as inferiors always. They are easy target to blame for men's stupidity. Pardon my English Shaista. Actually men are afraid of Women's intelligence and courage. Eve is blamed for man's downfall. Easy target. Actually i salute Eve for her courage, daring to experiment. You always want something new, something different don't you ?
She had the courage to defy God's orders, oh how brilliant she is Shaista. Thanks to her that we are here on this beautiful and amazing planet. Its really worth all the fights.

i dread the word i have to type in word verification. It is sessesse,
some chap is obsessed with the letter s. i think i typed the same word in Letty girl's blog this morning.

i had cold, bad cold, no one gets good cold Shaista, some fever and all. And friends visiting at wrong time made it worse. i have to talk and the fever goes up talking.

Jeanne-ming Brantingham said...

...whew....

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