Abi:original - If you aren't original, what are you?

Oprah Winfrey to me (2 hours ago) Got your email. Thank you for watching the finale. I could feel your beating hearts, along with mine, through the TV screen. I'm off to take a little rest, and then I'll get busy working on OWN. Take care of yourself. I'll write soon, Oprah There it is. Plain and simple. The simplest and most heartfelt reply. Sure anyone could have typed it. That's the ugly fact that's out to burst my happy bubble at this hour of night. Sure anyone could have replied to an email on Oprah's behalf but I'd like to believe that she did read my humble blog and this is her reply. However brief. I quickly did some mental maths and realised its early morning in the US. So it has to be Oprah (or her secretary/publicist) who sent an email out to little ole me. Even so, I'm feeling so happy to have made a connection. I'm willing to admit that I spent quite a few times writing to the Oprah.com website and got nothing. No reply, no make overs...

There are probably a few people in the world who haven’t heard of Mother Teresa. She treated the sick and destitute in India but managed to touch countless lives around the world. I am not someone who believed in wearing religious medals. I was taking my first holiday without parents or siblings and my mother insisted I wear a silver medal which had an image of Mother Mary on it. I wore the medal, grudgingly. We were a class of 25 women who travelled with two teachers to visit a few Indian cities and practise photography. Our first stop was Calcutta. We had heard of the mouth watering sweets that the city is known for and a few of us headed out to the local sweet shop. It wasn’t long before the residents noticed us. As we relished our desserts and made our way back to the hotel, a few miscreants started hurling stones in our direction. I was shocked when a large stone came straight at me. Perhaps it was luck or divine intervention that I was saved from a serious wound because the stone...

SoundCloud Audio by Abigail Mathias A travel piece on Turkey that also featured on the mygola blog...http://www.mygola.com/blog/?p=97 Music holds the key to my soul. When it comes to a live music concert, I’m usually pretty kicked to attend. Hitching a train from Bombay to Bangalore for a Roger Waters’ concert with a bunch of office colleagues, including my boss, is certainly a memory I’m waiting to relate to my kids. Eight years and two children later, one of the biggest acts in music history and certainly in my book, were headed this way. I couldn’t believe it. U2 was in town. Ok so they weren’t particularly in my town but they were going to be somewhere in the vicinity. Actually they were going to be a four-hour flight away in Istanbul but hey, it was a great opportunity to see Istanbul as well, right. Luckily my amazing husband, agreed. Of course a few people thought I was insane to take a five-month-old baby on a vacation. What they didn’t understand was that I...

I took my first Zumba class just two months after my second baby was born. It was time to face the outside world and shed the excess weight. I first heard about Zumba from my sister who attended classes in Canada. The idea was intriguing – burning 600 calories in one hour at a workout that’s aimed at being fun. I couldn’t wait to start. According to the official website; Zumba fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program. It was first conceived by celebrity fitness trainer Beto Perez in the late 1990s and soon gained popularity worldwide. It is probably no coincidence that my Zumba instructor, Amani Abassy has a permanent glow on her face. She’s a self-confessed Zumba addict who is constantly motivating her students and urging newcomers to give the class a try. “I started my first class in 2008 when Zumba was relatively unheard of in the Middle East,” says Amani. The growing popularity of her classes in Kuwait is obvious from...

By Abigail Mathias I couldn’t bear being apart any longer. I willingly sent my laptop for repair, knowing pretty well that I was leaving it vulnerable to outside forces. Thank heavens it is finally back home. My laptop is about five years old which in computer years makes it way past its expected expiry date. It has been working decently, contrary to what many would have me believe. Yes it is super slow, but I’ve gotten pretty used to starting the laptop and getting myself a cup of tea (or two) before sitting down to work. However I was getting more and more frightened of having the laptop collapse at the very touch of a button. A few weeks ago I hesitatingly took it to see if there was some hope of giving the machine a facelift of sorts. Unfortunately the laptop’s been acting up since its return. As I type this, the text keeps shifting in between lines without warning and certain alphabets fall off without hesitation. Arggggh! Thank heavens spell check still works. Perhaps the laptop’...

Does God exist? I sure hope so. I hate it when people shove religion down your throat - priest, parent or politician, its not always easy to practice what you preach. Its especially annoying to meet someone who's suddenly found God and expects you to drop everything and follow suit because you aren't living right in their eyes. Excuse me, but who died and made you God;) Yes God is good and he or she is whatever you want him or her to be. God is in the eyes of a child who's intentions are pure. God is in a sunset. God is probably in every sunrise too. He or she is in every act of charity and in every storm that comes our way. And yes God is often dealing with fools who make up the rules as they go. I think the lyrics of this song speak for themselves. Its not overtly preachy and makes a lot of sense. Gob Bless you Alan Parson and RIP Eric Wolfson. Don't think sorry's easily said Don't try turning tables instead You've taken lots of Chances before But I'm...

Another season of 'American Idol' has come to a close. My husband is only too delighted. After many months of finding his wife and son glued to the television set every weekend, he can finally reclaim his family and the remote control. So what is it that gets us hooked on to AI? How do contestants for a singing show become household names? Perhaps it’s the singing, the quirks or Simon Cowell’s unusual remarks. This year I was rooting for a 24-year-old contestant named Crystal Bowersox. Not just did she have an amazing voice, (When was that the only prerequisite for the show?) Bowersox seemed unlike previous contestants in other ways too. She was bold enough to be herself and not get swayed by the judges. She also happens to be a single mother. It must have been hard to leave a child who is less than a year old, for that one in million shot at winning a TV contest. Bowersox is no stranger to hardship. Shortly after the finale she recalled life barely a year ago. ...