What is love?

IN THIS season of love and affection, nothing defines love more affectingly than a unified family. Here are my siblings and their families offering answers to one of the most immensurable questions in life: "What is love?"

The Bahá'í life in a year like no other

THE BAHÁ'Í World News Service has released a video compendium of the most compelling stories of the global Bahá’í community in 2020. The video illustrates what Bahá’ís do: collectively serving humanity and refining their lives according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. The year needed the greatest need for togetherness, and Baháʼís have shown how hope, effort, and unity helped alleviate human suffering in societies worldwide.

The night before Christmas

LIKE ANY other social activity this year, Christmas meant new ways of connecting and celebrating. Our Zoom gathering last night was gripping for a big reason: this was the first time we all gathered together on Christmas since the mid-1990s. It might also have been the least expensive gathering ever! My nephews and nieces showed up to surprise us; two of them even sang and played the guitar. We exchanged our usual jokes that never got stale. It was a day (or night in my case) that was incredibly merry and bright.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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Honoring mothers : a birthday salute

THIS VIDEO, backed up by JJ Heller's "A Mother Like You", honors two of the finest mothers in the world: my sister Carla and sister-in-law Tara. Both were born one year apart many Novembers ago. Happy birthday, sisters.

Honoring mothers : a family memorial

AS CATHOLICS commemorate saints and souls in this solemn weekend , I remember departed members of my family and honor their selflessness and nobility. They include the parents-in-law of my siblings: because of them, stronger love and blessedness exist in our family.

13 years on Twitter

DO YOU remember when you joined Twitter? I do—it's been 13 years, since 6 August 2007. I signed up after hearing an American speaker at a conference gush over this newly-launched app. She proclaimed its ability to keep you instantly updated on news due to its real-time messaging technology.

COVID-19 : Virtual family gathering

NINE OF my siblings and I gathered together tonight on Zoom. This is the first time we have all come together and reached out collectively to each other during the pandemic. It was initially challenging to decide on a time that would work for everyone with five different time zones. Breakast on Saturday in Toronto and Virginia was dinner in New Delhi and late night in Manila. But it eventually worked out.

Turning 55

I TURNED 55 today, a milestone of sorts as I've just entered the middle of the quinquagenarian decade. But like anything else happening this year, this birthday has come and gone with bigger priorities in mind. There was no singing of birthday wishes, only receiving greetings with replies of "Are you safe?" or "Hope you're doing safely". There was no birthday cake, only the quickly-prepared lunch before the 1PM office meeting on Zoom.

COVID-19 : Lockdown essentials #5

AT A corner of my study room—now my work-from-home office—is a second-hand console table holding a Keurig coffee machine given by my sister Kathleen three years ago.  To replicate the pantry in our Lenskart office, I've include a bone-china tea jug that I once found in the cellar of my brother's apartment building in Toronto.  Aluminum containers carry assorted tea sachets, while the table's drawers contain coffee packs and my daily medicines.

COVID-19 : Lockdown Essentials #4

THE KITCHEN has been my sanctuary of calm since the lockdown began. This is the place where I can take the focus away from the all-consuming anxieties of the pandemic. I prepare and have my meals at 11:30AM to 1:00PM (lunch) and 7:30PM to 9:00PM (dinner), a routine that has kept me grounded.

COVID-19 : Lockdown essentials #3

WHEN I lived in Israel nearly 20 years ago, the health services center always advised me to drink water as a preventive measure against general sickness. It did make sense, considering how Israel's dry weather could speed up the risk of dehydration. The Associated Press has reported that drinking water won't prevent contracting COVID-19. But there are ways that water can help in these perilous times. The body needs water to function, as it optimizes body processes and fortifies the immune system. Drinking water can also improve cognitive functions, allowing better judgement and wiser decision-making.

COVID-19 : Lockdown essentials #2

WITH RESTAURANTS closed and kitchen helpers banned from entering our housing society, dining at home during the lockdown means self-reliance. This became a challenge to a man like me who's living alone and strenuously balancing work and domestic chores. As it turned out, reawakening my culinary skills has become rather uplifting and unwinding. It's a task I now look forward to twice a day (lunch and dinner).

It's also gratifying when you concoct a meal from whatever ingredients are available in the fridge and pantry. Plus, all those cravings are now literally in the palm of your hand, ready to carve the dish in the exact way that you want it. My favorite home dish has always been spaghetti, since it's easy to prepare and creates a welcome break from the heavier Filipino dishes eaten with rice. I'm now exploring so many possibilities with pasta—impossible to do before the lockdown as I was mostly in the office.

I've started planning meals for each day of the week. The lockdown is truly making me take charge of myself. That's a good thing.

COVID-19 : Lockdown essentials #1

A HOT mug of Philippine cacao drink is a piece of bliss in times of uncertainty. To prepare:

1. Boil one cup of milk.
2. Add 2-3 cacao pellets. I use SaBroso, a pure cacao brand brought by my friend Conchita Velez during her India visit last February. Otherwise, use a one-inch block of dark baking chocolate.
3. Whisk in the cacao or chocolate pellets until they liquefy into the milk.
4. Turn the heat off as soon as the milk starts to rise.
5. Add sugar, if you wish. (I don't.)
6. Serve and indulge immediately.

A college reunion in India

WE FIRST met in October 1984 as interior design students at the University of the Philippines. Through the next three years, we assisted each other with our class assignments, projects, and semestral theses. After college, we had each other's back through the struggles and triumphs of building careers and families. Last weekend, we were old friends getting together again, reminiscing on those many years of friendship.

40 years of being a Barbra Streisand fan

FORTY YEARS ago today, I fell in love with Barbra Streisand. I was watching the live telecast of the 1980 Grammy Awards, and suddenly I beheld an unannounced performance of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Neil Diamond and her. It was the most romantic pairing of voices I had ever heard. It was pure. It was electric.

EPITAPH : Michel Legrand (1932-2019)

WHEN MICHEL Legrand passed away late last month, he left a large body of music for film and television, raging from the avant-garde to the more commercial productions. His music was romantic but never banal, original but never inaccessible. His most memorable works begin low-key, almost like a whisper, and then intensify in rhythm before finally surprising us with an unexpected jump from minor to major chord. His deep-seated love for jazz buttresses the playful, rhythmic, and sophisticated qualities of his compositions.

The sounds of growing up, Part 3

DURING THE eighties and nineties--the latter days of his life--Papa would play classical music in his bedroom with the same passion that he had in his younger years. My brothers and I often wondered when our neighbors would finally show up complaining about the decibels. Thankfully, such moments never occurred.

The sounds of growing up, Part 2

MY PARENTS listened a lot to easy listening music. In the seventies, when everything seemed secondary to Manila's socio-political agitations, orchestral music was the perfect metaphor: it had unpredictable moments, yet it quietly fell into the background, moving along unnoticed unless it skipped on a scratched surface. Moreover, as background music, its sophisticated character matched the formality of family gatherings. (Those were the days of sartorial elegance: people dressed up even for dinner. Mama used to attire my siblings and me in similar, unobtrusive shirts and pants—yet another case of things falling into the background!)

The sounds of growing up, Part 1

ONE OF the special things about growing up in Manila in the early 1970s was the exposure to the choral music of Catholic mass. As a kid, I attended Sunday church enraptured with the liturgical chant, pipe organ, and full choir of the Sacred Heart Parish Shrine, the neighborhood church that my family attended. "Tantum ergo" was my all-time favorite choral hymn: I knew the Latin words by heart, even though I never learned what they meant!

Leaving Biba

I HAVE left Biba after four years and nine months, the longest time I’ve ever spent in a company in India.