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!

If it ain't caffeinated, it ain't coffee!

"Over second and third cups flow matters of high finance, high state, common gossip and low comedy. [Coffee] is a social binder, a warmer of tongues, a soberer of minds, a stimulant of wit, a foiler of sleep if you want it so. From roadside mugs to the classic demi-tasse, it is the perfect democrat." ~ Anonymous

Coffee is the unofficial fuel for human body. My day does not start without an extra-large hot cup of coffee. Yes, that statement officially makes me an addict. So much so is my addiction that I feel lazy and tired if I don't get that first coffee cup in the morning.

According to a recent survey:

• Among coffee drinkers the average consumption in the United States is 3.1 cups of coffee per day.
• Over 50% of Americans over 18 years of age drink coffee every day. This represents over 150 million daily drinkers. 30 million American adults drink specialty coffee beverages daily; which include a mocha, latte, espresso, café mocha, cappuccino, frozen/iced coffee beverages, etc.
• Specialty coffee sales are increasing by 20% per year and account for nearly 8% of the 18 billion dollar U.S. coffee market.

When I look back, and think of the time, when my coffee used to be 'light and sweet'. As part of calories cut down, I started drinking 'less milk and less sugar' and then slowly I came down to 'dark, milk with one sugar'. The change was not just in the style of my coffee, but also in the quantity, which needless to say grew with time.

So there started a quest to see how I can progress in my daily coffee reduction:

Day 1: Realization: One day, almost by magic, I realized it was time to make this addiction, a little less addictive. Various research have proved that some heavy caffeine users grow irritable, get headaches, or feel lethargic when they can't get that one cup of coffee or other caffeinated drink. As soon as I realized my consumption of coffee, I knew something needs to be done.

Day 2: Reduction: I got only a large cup (20 oz) of coffee in the morning as opposed to a daily extra large cup (24 oz) and did not even finish it. Day 3 was going to be a hard one with no coffee at all. I was excited to see how this 'No Coffee Day' goes.
Day 3. Restriction - No Coffee Day: The plan was simple. All I needed to do was stay away from coffee. Morning was the toughest phase. Obviously, people were walking around the office with their coffee cups in hand and I had none. I was finding it very hard to resist the temptation to run down to the Dunkin Donuts next door. I went into the office kitchen to get some water. Someone had kept the fresh coffee for brewing. I thought, about 100 times to leave the idea of No Coffee Day and drink that one sip of coffee. I drank water instead. Although, I did enjoy taking a long sniff of the brewing coffee. The morning passed very lazy. I was found yawning most of the times. I started getting headaches and it was hard to concentrate on work. After a long morning, it was time for lunch. Post lunch, I got deep into work and forgot about the coffee for a while. I thought it will be a lot easier to sleep at night. Why I did not sleep well that night, is another story (thanks to the crappy apartment I was living in at the time). At the end of the day, I was proud of myself for not drinking coffee.
So the conclusion of the experiment (at least for myself) was, I can run / walk / crawl slowly if I don't fuel myself with the regular dosage of coffee. It is hard, but not impossible. Day 4 on wards, I have reduced my daily intake of coffee. It has been four days since and I do not see a problem. All it takes is a very strong determination and will power.

Cheers!