!5 degrees at the start of summer, every week for the last few weeks, there is talk of a hurricane, a typhoon or a storm of some sort, causing mad destruction and wreaking havoc, all over this globe, yet we ask y? Cut down the trees, drive our cars, spray our deo and carry on asking y?!

Ooh doom and gloom to start off the mail, but no its not all doom and gloom in my world, quite on the contrary, even though its cloudy outside the sun still shines. I actually just completed my first term loan transaction of about R30mil, bringing my total lending to about R90 odd mil for the year, the first 2 were a walk in the park compared to this one, but I think I will get more satisfaction from this one, just cos of the amount of KAK (shaite) I had to go through to get it done! It’s a bit of an anti-climax to be honest, kinda like finishing a series of exams. J But how u all doing? Hope u are all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

I am not sure if you are aware, but this is quite a holy week we are in, with lots of religious events taking place. Monday nite was the first nite of the Jewish New Year and Tuesday the second nite, of the Jewish new year. I think I may have written about this in previous emails, someone please confirm.

4th October, other than being Liam’s birthday J was the start of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, “Nava”, meaning 9 and “ratri” meaning nights. It is one of the most celebrated festivals in the Hindu calendar, it however holds special significance to Gujaratis and Bengalis. It is a festival observed twice a year, once at the beginning of summer and then again at the start of winter. Why is this? Well Hindus believe that there is a divine power that provides energy for the earth to move around the sun, causing the distinct changes in temperature and its only right to give it thanks. Another reason for this is that due to the changes in nature, peoples minds and bodies also tend to change and worship must be given to the divine power that allows us to maintain our physical and mental balance.

So now why the nine nights as I mentioned before? Well the festival is divided into 3 sets of 3 nights. The first of the 3 nights is for dedicated to the destruction of impurities, vices and defects. The goddess Durga (warrior goddess), dressed in red and mounted on a lion is the goddess dedicated to this cause. The next 3 nites, the giver of spiritual wealth Lakshmi, dressed in gold and mounted on an owl is worshiped. It is believed that she has the ability to bestow on her devotees copious amounts of wealth. The last 3 days are devoted to the goddess dressed in milky white and mounted on a pure swan, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. Hindus believe that in order to have an ‘all-rounded success in life’, all 3 aspects of the divine mother must be worshiped.

The 5th October, yesterday, was the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhaan in the Islam faith. This is a month of fasting (Saum) where ‘participants’ are supposed to abstain from eating, drinking and sex from sunrise to sunset. I have written about this before, but I find it quite interesting and for the benefit of those who have just joined this newsletter I will summarise this period. Why fast? Well it’s a means of controlling desires, u see if you can steer clear of abstaining from lawful pleaseures such as eating, sex, drinking, well then its just that much easier to steer clear of unlawfull ones and it weakens your inclination towards sin. Fasting brings people closer to the angelic beings who have no need for food and water. Fasting teaches people self control and patience, cos damnit imagine being hungry and not being able to eat till the sun sets, boss, if u r dedicated to the cause, u must maar wait, which removes the impulsive animal nature from our being.

But this is the easi part. There are deeper forms of fasting that includes:
1) lowering and protecting the gaze from the evil and sights
2) protecting the tongue from vain talk, obscene language, lying, back-biting, carrying tales, etc.
3) protecting the ears from listening to evil
4) protecting the remainder of the limbs of the body from evil

Here’s a thought, how about we try and fast for one day, just for whatever reason you have in mind and donate whatever cash you would have spent on food that day to a buy a street kid some food, or extra pay to your helper or whatever cause you can think of. I must say its quite a discipline. I tried to fast today but at 8:30am one of my colleagues offered me a muffin that I duly accepted, without even a thought, didn’t do it on purpose, but still did it, DOH!! The holy month of Ramadhaan lasts till about 3rd November so u have plenty of days to get it right.

That’s me for this week

Birthdays
4th Monkfish
6th Liz

“Few see beyond the outward appearance and recognize the true worth of a human soul. When they do, miracles occur” Thomas S Monson

U know last weekend, I heard of the passing of a very young man, I cant claim that he was a good friend or anything, but he was quite a jovial kinda guy and every time u’d see him out on the ‘jol’ he’d be having a ripper, but no more, which makes this next quote all the more relevant.

“Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!”

On that note I am out for this week, I sincerely hope you had a good week and have an even more pleasant weekend. Maximum respect.

Y