Thank You For Saying Thank You!

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
~William Arthur Ward

Thanksgiving is celebrated in United States of America on the fourth Thursday of November annually since 1863.

There are many things people are or may be thankful for. So, I tried to list 20 things I am thankful for. After only 11, I started to wonder, hopefully digging in my heart for more. I could not find anymore. Its not that the things I did not list are the things I am not thankful for. Sometimes, somethings are better kept closer to heart - family, friends et al.

Apart from the significance of the day, one thing that keeps me thinking, why do we have one day of the year to be thankful for? Why couldn't we be thankful everyday? I could at least find one reason to be thankful for each day.

Nevertheless, the feast, the company, the craziness of shopping, cleaning, cooking and baking and the cleaning afterwords has some special importance. The gathering of the friends and family and the feeling of being thankful, even if experienced once a year, is out of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trick or Treat?

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;

One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
- Emily Dickinson

The New York City Halloween parade is listed as of the "100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss".

I definitely did not have it on my list as one of the things I would want to do before I die. However, after much persuasion from friends, I decided to be a part of it or if not, at least be a spectator. It is said, that the Halloween parade in the New York City is one of most crowded event, with over 50,000 costumed participants and over 2 million spectators (not including those on television). I was wondering if the streets of New York could consume that many number of people at the same time.

To my surprise, there were more people than I thought. This was my fourth Halloween in this country and third in New York City and first in the parade. This was the first time I dressed up as "something" and went out to get scared or scare people.

The theme for the 2009 Halloween parade was "Terra Incognita". The craziness and the chaos is beyond words. I used to think that Halloween is not as important a festival, and I am amazed to learn that the people spend so much effort, time and money to show up as something that would probably make them stand out or look scary or cute.


Unfortunately, the fun had just begun when it started to pour. I would have felt a lot less cold, wet and gross and would have had much more fun, if it was not raining.

Halloween is not just about haunted houses, ghost tours and trick or treat. This was a great experience, and I hope I would be able to dress up as something different next year and participate in the parade.

Although, this was not in my list of 100 things to do, may be I can add it and cross it out...

Adios!

You are what you eat!

"No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut." ~Channing Pollock

I remember, once someone told me, "You should never go grocery shopping when you are hungry." It is true, indeed.

After work, I decided to get some basic stuff from the super-market near my apartment. Of course, made a huge mistake. That is the time when its too early to have dinner and to late to grab a snack.

So, everywhere I looked, I could only see the "wrong" food. The chips and the dips, the chocolate cake, the Snicker minis, the frozen pizza and the ice-creams. All the stuff that I told myself that I'd not buy after losing considerable weight. Sometimes, it takes a little negotiation with myself, if I need to include any of those fatty acids to my grocery list. So I bargained. If I can buy a bag for chips to munch on, then I would need to keep away from that packet of Snicker minis. If I buy the frozen pizza for days I do not want to cook, I would have to leave the ice-cream box out of my cart. Phew! I did not buy any of that stuff.

Alright, lets face it, sometimes I do get cravings, who doesn't? Cravings to eat fried food, or sweets, or chocolate cakes, Snickers, or the regular cheese slice of pizza. Honestly, it is very hard to fight those cravings, however, more often than not, I succeed.

A couple of weeks ago, while having a very busy day at work, and in order to please myself, I bought a big bar of Snickers. Another huge mistake. I have to admit, I just could not control myself from buying one. The truth is, it is still in the jar on my desk at work. I decided, I would think about eating it on a similar day, when I would not be able to control my cravings again, and then look for an excuse to bail myself out.


On that yummy thought,
Goodbye!

Axis: Bold as Love

'Gadgets & Gizmos' is a store with a selection of gift items, gadgets, games, gizmos, electronic gifts et al. Some items in that store are very funny. Even the sales girl in the store laughs funny. I visit that store just to look around atleast once when I am in the mall.

I was disturbingly surprised to see a very different tin tote. That box had a depiction of all forms of Vishnu with a super imposed image of three African men.I couldn't help but wonder, why would someone use an image like that and that too for an ugly tote box? So as always, all it takes is a little Google.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was a British / American band. This image on the tin tote was the artwork of the album Axis: Bold as Love. The objective was to show the American "Indian" heritage of Jimi Hendrix. Instead, it turned out to be a the super imposed image of the band members on 'Viraat Purushan-Vishnuroopam' (the religious poster with all forms of Vishnu).

Well, I learned a lesson, to find the truth behind things that might appear meaningless, but have some character to it.

With that thought, "Wait until tomorrow"!!

A new year is born!

As the new year comes knocking, I look back and weigh what the passing year brought with it. The year 2008 was full of surprises, uncertainties and unexpected twists and turns.

I have to admit, the decisions I made and the path I took is rarely taken by people. I haven't seen a lot of people quitting jobs in the middle of collapsing economies. I had no idea how and where I will land up. Before I made any decisions in the later part of 2007, I made plans A, B and C. The surprising part of this is, I never got a chance to use any of those plans. Things changed and as if by magic, everything started falling into place.

I have mentioned in few of my earlier posts, and this is something I totally believe in, no matter how many plans you make, the master planner, God almighty, have something else in mind for you. I guess something similar happened with me.

Life took off like a roller coaster. The twisted turns and the ups and downs passing by at an unbelievable speed. The very few end of the year holidays gave time to slow down and look back and think of the ride I had along the year.

There were a few achievements of the year though, most of those things whose importance you realize when you are deprived of them:

1. Importance of the few core things in life - family, friendships, love and health.
2. A good job which takes care of the bills.
   
3. Decrease in the intake of coffee.
4. Good Indian food (specially when you don't get it).
5. Sound night sleep ( I could never imagine I needed certain specific mindset, certain specific surroundings to get good sleep, until I got it)
6. A regular at the gym. (Adding regular exercise to the routine makes a lot of difference)
   

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." - Hal Borland

On that (happy) note, not making any new year's resolutions this year either, here's wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year.

Cheers!