It was a good experience I had when I went to Chicago. I was kinda hinting to my co-worker Cheryl if she was interested to hang out one evening, I was bored, didnt want to watch TV in my room again. She was a nice person from what I had heard. She immediately said that she had a class to attend .. I was like "oh ok...not a problem!".And minutes later I get this email from her - "Priya - if you are interested you can come with me as a guest to my seminar tonite. I think I mentioned that the subject matter of my class is ontology, which is the science of being. Who you are being in every moment affects everything and everyone around you, it greatly impacts your relationships with everyone you come into contact with, and consequently affects everything that happens to you.". I kinda felt nice that I was being invited....SO immly I said WOKAY :-d. About 5, we left work walked to her beautiful apt in Downtown near the Navy Pier - such a fab view of the city & river, spent a little time there, drove to her class. She was driving a stick-shift - reminded me of my good ol' driving days in B'lore. We parked at an open place and went to a kabab place and I got my usual veggie stuffs. Inroduced her to our samosas :). We finished up and walked over to the class. There were like 50 ppl there. All ages & backgrounds. The first thot that came to me was - What am I going to do here - will they ask me to join them!! And Cheryl was quiet throughout! I signed in and went and sat with her on the last row !! Things took time to calm off and then came this guy who was a senior person in their institute, he started talking and shouting (he literally was loud!)...and it went on for 3 hrs. But I must say I did learn a few things thou I hesitated to register into a class...The entire topic was about "you as a individual trying to have a breakthrough" - in what?? the answer was "In anything" - from being able to communicate with spouses/children to being confident in life and achieving success. I know this sounds like one of our Moral Philosophy classes...but thats what is essential in life. The key point out of the session were:
1) Remove those barriers that we create around ourselves.
2) Stop thinking what others may think about you - dont waste your life trying to be what you are not
3) Open up and give a chance to trust or be trusted.
The final thought was illustrated with a classic example, the guy suddenly said "once when i was 6 - my friend told me I was a loser" - I picked up that with me (and saying that he lifted a chair) , "then at 12 , my sister said that i have an attitude problem" - I picked up that (along with the chair, he carried the mic stand) ..and so on, with everything every person said bad about him, he carried another extra item ...and finally at 30 - with all the burden , he went up to a girl sittin on the first row with the chair he was carrying blocking the two of em - he says "can we start a relationship together" - The whole crowd was laughing - and the point was MADE !! MOST IMPORTANT & DIFFICULT - Leave behind all the old thoughts/grudges/criticisms that people have showered on you. You are in the process burdening yourself - how can you lead a life with such a situation?
Thats that...its your turn to think.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Its Diwali!
We indians are so pampered with all these festivals - its like you cant live with or without them!! Every other week we have something or the other to celebrate - rather a reason to eat sumptously!! Not that I crib eating , but its probably the only reason that many of us NRIs are skinny that we dont get to eat all those sweets and namkeens like we used to back in india.
Diwali is so much fun in younger years...I sound like an old woman now - no that can never happen ;) ..we kids on the block would have a competetion as to who'd be the first to wake up - like 2am and 3am and go fire cracker on everyones' compound wall to wake them up...its so much fun that day.
All moms would not disclose their sweets/karams till that day to not let out recipes or whatever damn reason that may be..who cared, we were busy collecting fire crackers! Starting off with nalangu, a nice oil bath and the new dresses would be ready to wear..its such a nice feeling those days, cos you'd get to wear a new dress maybe 3-4 times a year....unlike times now. These would usually be the best of dresses yu'd ever get, so there'd be matching earrings, bangles and what not!! I've literally fleeced my dad some years i think, poor guy wud always just wear some shirt given to him on some occasion ..and occasionally - a new veshti! you cannot argue with men of those times on such matters. Moms are always the opposite - atleast mine is !! She would be ready with all the displayable artifacts for this year! She is a fun loving woman - so comes under our category of ppl!
so all done, we venture out, to visit and display ourselves on our lane, talking abt wheres and whats of the purchases..what a mundane way to start the day!! then we'd come back home, eat something (that was understood right!!) burst some crackers - at dawn start out on expeditions!
yeah it wud be from house to house - eating/"tasting" as i wud recall - all aunties sweets & karams..this was fun, cos its a test for your stomach an early winter morning! most of them were good - i'd rather say this in case some of those folks read this blog later some day!!
Anyways - these thoughts came by as i visited several of our indian websites to see that everyone is in a Diwali mood - selling , sending, buying gifts. And we - here are as usual getting to our daily routines - without much of a diff- Does this make you think that we are losing out on our culture??
Diwali is so much fun in younger years...I sound like an old woman now - no that can never happen ;) ..we kids on the block would have a competetion as to who'd be the first to wake up - like 2am and 3am and go fire cracker on everyones' compound wall to wake them up...its so much fun that day.
All moms would not disclose their sweets/karams till that day to not let out recipes or whatever damn reason that may be..who cared, we were busy collecting fire crackers! Starting off with nalangu, a nice oil bath and the new dresses would be ready to wear..its such a nice feeling those days, cos you'd get to wear a new dress maybe 3-4 times a year....unlike times now. These would usually be the best of dresses yu'd ever get, so there'd be matching earrings, bangles and what not!! I've literally fleeced my dad some years i think, poor guy wud always just wear some shirt given to him on some occasion ..and occasionally - a new veshti! you cannot argue with men of those times on such matters. Moms are always the opposite - atleast mine is !! She would be ready with all the displayable artifacts for this year! She is a fun loving woman - so comes under our category of ppl!
so all done, we venture out, to visit and display ourselves on our lane, talking abt wheres and whats of the purchases..what a mundane way to start the day!! then we'd come back home, eat something (that was understood right!!) burst some crackers - at dawn start out on expeditions!
yeah it wud be from house to house - eating/"tasting" as i wud recall - all aunties sweets & karams..this was fun, cos its a test for your stomach an early winter morning! most of them were good - i'd rather say this in case some of those folks read this blog later some day!!
Anyways - these thoughts came by as i visited several of our indian websites to see that everyone is in a Diwali mood - selling , sending, buying gifts. And we - here are as usual getting to our daily routines - without much of a diff- Does this make you think that we are losing out on our culture??
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Got this in an email today....funny how this little fellow in ur head works.
Believe it or not you can read it - get ur axons and dendrites working !
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt
Believe it or not you can read it - get ur axons and dendrites working !
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
I have a couple of things to blog about today...
Firstly about the US Elections..yeah you all saw it didnt you..CNN.com with Bush & his brightest smiles.Hmm..Iam no politics enthusiast but yet, I somehow felt that Kerry shud be given a chance. It seemed like a not so fair game ... I had no clue about how such stuff worked in this country (not tht i did in india either!). But somehow after watching those bits of presidential debates, it occured to me - as a novice to politics, that the way these leaders present themselves matters so much. Bush was all along repeating the same thing over and over in different words - now like the way I do in my writings !! All I could think was "Mister - Dont beat around the Bush" - lame joke huh..but yeah, it seemed like inspite of leading this country through rough times in the last 4 years, he didnt seem to deliver that punch and personality that would impress many. I was totally surprised when the results initially came out - all the mid-west states were looted away by Bush..Watching CNN project the US map on an icestaking rink was awesome...they had done a great job projecting by the hour of poll closing. All said and done, I dont know if I shud be happy (the gains we immigrants have ) with Bush being elected or not. I shall think abt it for the next four years, hopefully by then , I may be more knowlegdeable abt US politics, eligible to vote ;) or mabbe not (!).
Secondly, I had read this Karan Thapar et JJ matter sometime back, it was fun. She is sooooo aggressive. That woman is has some tough muscles! Thot i'd share it for anyone to read.....its fun to read it. Click this link...KT & JJ
Firstly about the US Elections..yeah you all saw it didnt you..CNN.com with Bush & his brightest smiles.Hmm..Iam no politics enthusiast but yet, I somehow felt that Kerry shud be given a chance. It seemed like a not so fair game ... I had no clue about how such stuff worked in this country (not tht i did in india either!). But somehow after watching those bits of presidential debates, it occured to me - as a novice to politics, that the way these leaders present themselves matters so much. Bush was all along repeating the same thing over and over in different words - now like the way I do in my writings !! All I could think was "Mister - Dont beat around the Bush" - lame joke huh..but yeah, it seemed like inspite of leading this country through rough times in the last 4 years, he didnt seem to deliver that punch and personality that would impress many. I was totally surprised when the results initially came out - all the mid-west states were looted away by Bush..Watching CNN project the US map on an icestaking rink was awesome...they had done a great job projecting by the hour of poll closing. All said and done, I dont know if I shud be happy (the gains we immigrants have ) with Bush being elected or not. I shall think abt it for the next four years, hopefully by then , I may be more knowlegdeable abt US politics, eligible to vote ;) or mabbe not (!).
Secondly, I had read this Karan Thapar et JJ matter sometime back, it was fun. She is sooooo aggressive. That woman is has some tough muscles! Thot i'd share it for anyone to read.....its fun to read it. Click this link...KT & JJ
Monday, November 01, 2004
Spooky nite for kids!
It was so much fun yesterday, kids clad in cute outfits knocking on each door & shouting "Trick or Treeeat!" ...We even ran out of candies and had to buy more! They were just swarming @ our door - guess the news passed around quickly that we gave candies generously (hee hee..not that i did!). some of them just came in PJs...wonder what they were ! We took a walk around our neighbourhood to see some spooky costumes and decors. One of the neighbours had a projector outside the house playing "Harry Potter" for kids to watch...
.
That got me to thinking whats this halloween thingy all about..is it really spooky or some celebration like how we do during our harvest seasons or was it like our Navarathri Golu where kids & parents go from house to house...(that last one was my MIL's ideology - just stole it!)
Here we go ...
Halloween is said to have dated 2000 yrs ago, when a group called "CELTS" who lived in what is now - Ireland, France region celebrated their new year on November 1.This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.
. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and the pope decided to designate Nov 1st as All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
.
That got me to thinking whats this halloween thingy all about..is it really spooky or some celebration like how we do during our harvest seasons or was it like our Navarathri Golu where kids & parents go from house to house...(that last one was my MIL's ideology - just stole it!)
Here we go ...
Halloween is said to have dated 2000 yrs ago, when a group called "CELTS" who lived in what is now - Ireland, France region celebrated their new year on November 1.This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.
. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and the pope decided to designate Nov 1st as All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
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