A Joyful Occasion
Evelyn has always looked forward to Easter Sunday; she goes to a lot of trouble to make it fun for the children. She did it for our daughters till they grew up into teenagers. After the hiatus of twenty years the Easter bunny visited five years ago for the granddaughters Kahlo and Asha and he has been kind enough to return every year since.

The routine is the same every year. Evelyn buys the top quality Easter eggs in a variety of sizes with shiny and colourful wrappings. On Saturday evening after children have gone to bed, we both assume the role of bunnies. We rush around the house, indoor and out, placing the candy from our bags, some in obvious places some in hidden corners. When the bags are empty bunnies are transformed into tired humans ready for bed. The great hunt begins after breakfast on Sunday,.

I don’t really remember whether it was inclement weather or children not going to bed till late, the Bunny did not arrive on Saturday this spring. So the hunt could not begin till poor Bunnies were out of bed and had done their job. But the girls were excited and woke up before their grandparents. To meet the secrecy requirements of Bunny Evelyn asked the girls to go to their room to play for half an hour. Instead they started quarrelling. When all attempts at cajoling failed Evelyn threatened them that unless they went to the room Bunny will not visit the household. This did not work either. In frustration Evelyn issued the only possible, though admittedly harsh, verdict, “No Easter Egg hunt.”

Eight year old Kahlo did not seem to be concerned. She went to the trampoline and practiced her reverse somersaults. But six year old Asha was visibly upset although she did not cry. She went to the bed room and sulked there for a while. During this interaction I was working in our home office on my novel which was not going anywhere either. I heard the conversation in the living room and felt sorry for Evelyn at the turn of events more than for children being deprived of the joy of the hunt. I gave up writing and got my brain to grind jerkily to solve the vital problem, “Can the Egg Hunt be retrieved?”

In a few minutes after she had recovered a little, Asha came to me, disappointment writ large over her face. “Grammy said Easter Bunny will not come because we have been naughty. How can we tell him how sorry we are and ask him to come?”
“You can’t ask him to come, only Grammy can. If you both apologized to her and promised to be good girls for rest of your stay, she might relent and phone him. If he is not too busy he may drop by.”
“How will Grammy phone him, she may not have his phone number?”
“No problem. I can find it for you.”
I googled for Easter Bunny’s phone number. Lo and behold! There was an entry and there was a number – 715 438 9844. I jotted it down and gave it to Asha. But first she had to persuade usually obstinate Kahlo to go to Grammy with her. To my surprise this turned out to be an easy task. They both went sheepishly to Evelyn who was preparing chicken soup in the kitchen. Asha took the lead.
“Grammy, we are sorry we were naughty. We promise we will be good for the rest of our stay if you tell Easter Bunny to come. Grumpi found his phone number. Here it is.”
“Me too,” Kahlo added her bit.
Evelyn listened to the tearful request. Her heart softened as she took the paper but she kept an angry façade, “You both go to the room and write a letter in your best writing. I will decide after I see the letter.”
The girls came to me and I gave them a lined paper and a pencil. Asha dictated and Kahlo wrote,
Sorry, Easter Bunny we said
sorry to our Grammy will
you please come and visit us
Thank you
Kahlo
Asha

Asha drew the sketch of a cute rabbit in the bottom left corner. They took the letter to Grammy. She expressed her pleasure, went to the phone and pretended to dial the number and talk to the Bunny. She turned to the girls, “You are lucky he is in this area. He will come by in a few minutes. Now you go and play in your room till I call you.”

The girls were thrilled and rushed upstairs two steps at a time. I joined Evelyn and we did our usual hiding trick. After catching our breath we called the girls. Each picked a plastic bag and rushed around the house and garden excitedly looking for the loot. Before long the bags were full. Every one was happy. Who was the happiest? The girls were happy they got to hunt for candy they could share with their friends at home. Evelyn was happy she got to do what she does best - make every one happy. I was happier still because I played some part in turning disappointment of three persons I love into joy, something I am able to do only rarely.

Some Published Letters



Proportionate sentencing:

I've no doubt that what Kenneth Klassen did to little children was terrible and deserves a lengthy jail sentence along with psychological treatment. However, my issue is the relative length of the sentence.
Judges routinely hand out gang leaders, drug dealers, murderers and robbers lighter sentences than 11 years. Eleven years is appropriate in this case. But please let us keep a sense of proportion and sentence more dangerous criminals to longer terms.
(The Vancouver Province, 01/08/10)

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Nature of the beast:

Re: “Anti-Alberta views fester in home country, July 16. While Rick Bell makes many good points, it makes no sense for the Alberta government to deny the nature of the beast that is the oilsands. You can’t fight the glaring truth by asking people to look the other way. You have to persuade them you have been working hard to improve the situation and your efforts are working. Therefore, the best strategy to counter misguided environmentalists would be to acknowledge the pollution caused by the process, then emphasize the economic benefits of production to Canada and the U.S. and describe the political and economic risks of curtailing the production. The clincher in the argument would be a graph of historical improvements in emissions from oil extraction and new research under way to improve it further.
(Calgary Sun, 18/07/10)
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Zero appeal:

Re: "Fourth horse dies at Stampede," Herald Online, July 13.
Four horses killed, one rider seriously injured and Stampede has just begun. One wonders what is the attraction in a so-called sport that celebrates the lifestyle of a long bygone era. I guess it is the audience of the same people who cheer the brawls in hockey games and enjoy the grossly violent movies and video games.
(Calgary Herald, 14/07/10)
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Multiculturalism gets bad name:

Re: "Multiculturalism has undermined unity," (July 3). As an immigrant of long standing, I agree with Salim Mansur, with one proviso. It is multiculturalism as practised in Canada, not the concept, that has failed us. Multiculturalism means accepting good points from other cultures and tolerating grey zones without adopting them. It does not mean accepting practices like Sharia law, the Niqab, kirpans, arranged marriages, etc.
which are contrary to accepted practices or laws. Failure to recognize this promotes discord and gives multiculturalism a bad name. If the goal is a united country with a harmonious population, it can be achieved by enlightened multiculturalism, which distinguishes between good and not so good rather than defending all foreign practices.
(Calgary Sun, 06/07/10)
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