After a long time, I went into the St. Thomas Cathedral today. Its such a beautiful and relaxing place to just sit and calm yourself down...something that I sorely needed today.

Did you know that this is the oldest surviving British building in Bombay? It was mooted in 1676 and formally opened on Christmas Day, 1718. Later supplemented by many layers over the centuries, the Cathedral is now a mix of successive styles, with fine stained glass windows, thin mother-of-pearl windowpanes, and a white marble statue of Thomas Carr, the first Bishop of Mumbai – all culminating in a Gothic tower that was added in 1863.

If you look down as you walk to the altar, you will notice that the flagstones on the floor are really the gravestones of 18th and 19th century British soldiers who are buried underneath. The one right at the end is that of a 21-year-old, who "lived as he died, in the manner of a true Christian." How many wonderful stories these stones would tell us if they could speak! In the absence of that, I just love sitting there and spinning my own daydreams of what might have once been. And I can sit there doing so for hours!!