The thanks in Thanksgiving..........

Not originally a festival that is celebrated in India, the place where I originally come from, yet, one of the very first traditions  of America that warmed my heart was this, the beautiful sentiment of "Thanksgiving" , because for me, the real thanks at Thanksgiving is eventually to God. A time of the year when, as I am surrounded by my loving family and at the same time as I dearly miss the rest of my loving family, I can never stop myself from tearing up. It, for me, is in many ways a humbling moment as I cannot gather my arms around the many blessings that God has bestowed upon me to be able to thank him for all of them. I think as the years go by, I have more reasons to thank him and I pray that things remain so for as long as I live....

His blessings upon us come in many forms, loving husband, good kids, kind parents and caring family, the list goes on and is customized according to the order of priority for each individual.
Also as the years go by and you gain some insights of your own, things take on a new perspective. Not only do you come to realize who you really are , you also come to know what is important to you, what  is the bottom line .I think I sense a little detachment or strive for it at least rather than the frantic struggle to achieve that I was constantly in earlier.I feel a little detachment will let me fix my attention on the immediate moment, allow the future to take care of itself while at the same time rely on the past for the wisdom of knowing what to do right now. I think I feel some freedom as I venture into this positive and full absorption in the present just as it is right now. Yes, I detect tones of contentment here.


So here I say my thanks for all the years I've had and all that lies in store for me...........hoping its all good and if not that it then comes with the courage and wisdom that will be needed to deal with whatever it is.


I am reminded of what Thomas Merton said here,
"What do I need to be happy? God has given me the ability to be happy in my own situation simply by accepting what is present before me and doing the best I can with it. Can I not be content with this personal happiness?Do I need to get someone else's approval before my guilt and anxiety cease? Do I need to measure my happiness against my neighbors to be certain that I am happy indeed? Can happiness that's free, available to anyone anywhere and at any time, private and personal, be genuine? We are quite capable of being happy in the life He has provided for us, in which we can contentedly make our own way, helped by His grace. We are ashamed to do so. For we need one thing more than happiness: we need approval. And the need for approval destroys our capacity for happiness." 

Unfortunately so.........

One of the crucial question as we all head into the election of 2012 is this: Is it because President Obama is Black?

The answer to this repeatedly nagging query is," Yes, unfortunately so."

This nagging thought was given credit when the republicans announced on the very first day of Obama"s presidency that their main aim was to make him a one-term president!

Thereafter, he has faced nothing but stiff opposition on most, if not all, of his proposed plans.

The list is familiar to all of us whether it was the big issue of debt or "Obamacare" or giving money to schools! Take for example the American Jobs Act which the President proposed and the Congress passed one element of his plan — an extension of the payroll tax cut — but blocked other proposals, which included money for states and local government to hire more teachers and federal funds to repair schools.

Another incident and even more stark was when he proposed his new health care reform which many dubbed as "Obamacare".

Instead of relying on competition among insurance companies to hold down costs, he tried to take the path of regulation in hopes of succeeding in keeping costs down.His new law included a number of provisions designed to slow down the increase in healthcare costs both for Medicare and private health plans.As a backstop, the law created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a government-appointed panel that has the authority to further cut payments to providers if Medicare spending increases too rapidly.


It is strongly believed that billions of dollars could be saved if doctors and hospitals would simply adopt the best practices already in use in some parts of the country.Yet , this continues to face stiff opposition to the point that the common man can be confused on who is saying the right thing or what really are the facts because we cannot forget that to begin with Obama and Romney had quite similar stands on healthcare issues. Romney's biggest legislative achievement as governor was a law guaranteeing health coverage for all Massachusetts residents. That very law became the model for Obama's national health plan.


But surprisingly so, now,with his party firmly opposed to Obama's plan, Romney no longer wants to pursue

the Massachusetts model. Instead, he has embraced ideas pushed by congressional conservatives.



And  we wonder why, because it is born from his own model of Massachusetts.Which brings me back to the question, " Would it have been different if President Obama was not Black?"

What is the logic behind opposing something you were proposing and even implementing yourself a while back? Don't mock those of us who say then that you, Gov. Romney, are just a puppet in the hands of your party and your corporate buddies. Do you really expect us to trust you here ? Would you and your party have treated the same laws and same proposals in a different light if they had been proposed by , say, Clinton?!

Unfortunately so, it has been about race all along, when it should have been what is best for the country and the citizens of this great country, especially one that is known as the land of opportunity where nothing else matters and hard work inevitably leads to success.






For more on the issue of race in politics http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/poll-shows-widening-racial-gap-in-presidential-contest/2012

Answer the big Question Please

Listeners might debate on who performed better in the debate last night, but there is no doubt in my mind that Paul Ryan did not provide the answers needed.

Repeatedly Paul Ryan was asked by the moderator and vice president Joe Biden also, "DOES THE MATH ADD UP? IS THIS MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE?Can you give us some details, some specifics?"

That is the start and the end of the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Listeners were left wondering as Paul Ryan failed to include any concrete details in his responses to most of the questions.
 
I for one do not trust the candidate who " backpedals" so much that I fear he is going to backpedal the whole country!

Atleast with Obama-Biden administartion we know what we are signing up for, specific plans on clearly detailed policies are already under implementation and in the least will continue to be put into action rather than making a u turn and starting on a new path," the right direction" according to Romney-Ryan.
I drive a car, I know when I make a u-turn, my momentum comes to near zero and I start over. At this precariously balanced state of our just barely recovering economy I fear to make the u-turn!

THE DEBATE AND ITS AFTERMATH

Immaculate attire, a crisp red tie, a smile and lots of smooth talk, a seamless transition to the center, a haze, an impression.... Presidential debates first and foremost try to convey an impression to the crowds, especially to the "undecided ones".Looking sharp and attacking the President on several accounts politely and with confidence, candidate Romney may have seemed to create the  right impression to many, especially to those easily impressed. Also to those who don't remeber that this is the same person who just a few months ago was so far veered to the right that it was scary!

What Romney's smooth performance at the debate could not hide from the president was the fact that he did not have any details what so ever to any of his proposed changes.Spoken like a true candidate or contestant,  he had no concrete plans or details to back up his theoretical  revamping of the economy!" At some point, I think the American people have to ask themselves, is the reason that Gov. Romney is keeping all those plans secret is because they're too good?'Enough clues to the intelligent voters to pose this very question to him at the next debate!

Not mincing words or not in the least going vague or "hazing" the listeners, Obama said," Math, common sense and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth. Look we've tried this." A clue to the ones who listen closely as the president clearly speaks from the standpoint of someone who has had 4 years of  dealing with these gruesome issues in office and only making a dent!

Repeatedly the president attacked with conviction, and a bleeding heart for the country's common folk, and a nagging suspicion on the honesty of Gov. Romney's real game plan or real focus , " It is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high-income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burdenening the middle class.It's math.It's arithmetic." President commented,"But under Governor Romney’s definition, there are a whole bunch of millionaires and billionaires who are small businesses. Donald Trump is a small business. Now, I know Donald Trump doesn’t like to think of himself as small anything, but -- but that’s how you define small businesses if you’re getting business income." Enough cluing us in who Gov. Romney really concerns himself with, again the entire 100% or just 47% ? So is it too much when I ask whose side is Romney really on? I am not going in to vote for him till I can be sure I get the answer  to this one?

President Obama said not just once during the debate that your budget reflects your choices.His words of warning played out like this  " You know, this is where budgets matter, because budgets reflect choices. So when Governor Romney indicates that he wants to cut taxes and potentially benefit folks like me and him, and to pay for it we’re having to initiate significant cuts in federal support for education, that makes a difference.You know, his -- his running mate, Congressman Ryan, put forward a budget that reflects many of the principles that Governor Romney’s talked about. And it wasn’t very detailed. This seems to be a trend. But -- but what it did do is to -- if you extrapolated how much money we’re talking about, you’d look at cutting the education budget by up to 20 percent."

President clearly warns us that these  will come from cuts for education. Romney vehemently denied accusations on this , on Medicare, and on taxation issues without giving any concrete plans or details.Am I then willing to take the chance and cast my vote to someone like Gov. Romney who may tomorrow decide to do just that?! 

" We have to work on a collaborative basis" said Romney, the same guy who at the party"s preliminaries stood out as the one most on the right. The President may have seemed mitigated at times, being too decent to point out that from day 1 of his term the Republicans had claimed that their mission was to make sure Obama was a one term President! 

 To those  in doubt of his achievements the president said," When I walked into the Oval Office, I had more than a trillion-dollar deficit greeting me. And we know where it came from: two wars that were paid for on a credit card; two tax cuts that were not paid for; and a whole bunch of programs that were not paid for; and then a massive economic crisis."

Defending Obamacare he put forth,"And the fact of the matter is that, when Obamacare is fully implemented, we’re going to be in a position to show that costs are going down. And over the last two years, health care premiums have gone up -- it’s true -- but they’ve gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years. So we’re already beginning to see progress. In the meantime, folks out there with insurance, you’re already getting a rebate."

So in the end impressions can only go so far.What will create the right impression on anyone, skeptical and doubtful as we are now, are  concrete detailed plans focusing on us the middle-class, our jobs and our kid's futures.

THE DEBATE IS ON!

THE DEBATE IS ON and so are we! Never before has the election been so important .While all elections are important, this one by far exceeds any regular election simply because the issues at stake are not just any run of the mill issues.When schools don't have money to pay their teachers, or individuals don't have insurance to be able to see a doctor,libraries are closed down for lack of funds, or young graduates can't find jobs in their own country,or parents are laid off and don't know how to put food on the table, it is time to wake up and pay close attention to our electoral debates and scrutinize our candidates by the strictest standards possible.

As a parent I will vote for the one that is clearly PRO EDUCATION.Enough seeing the schools struggle to make ends meet.I cannot see my kids future go down the drain and the future of the whole country too because messing with education is messing with the country's future.

As a person with common sense I will vote for the candidate who is bright enough to figure out this much math atleast:

KIDS EDUCATION (e)IS DIRECTLY PROPRTIONAL TO COUNRY'S FUTURE(cf)

                                                              e=cf

As a person with common sense I will vote for the one who has had experience in the office rather than bet on one backed by such a young (and thereby inexperienced in life and its dimensions) vice president!

As a person with common sense I will vote for the candidate that is clearly on the side of the entire 100% of the country and not just 47%.

As a person with common sense I will vote for the candidate who has the guts to take the right decisions no matter how tough and then have the integrity and vision to see them through rather than the one who seems to be  a puppet in the hands of the corporate world.

As a person with common sense I will vote for the candidate who strives to keep and create new jobs in the country.

As a person with common sense I will vote for the candidate who will ensure that I can see a doctor when I need one.

Yes, the debate is on and so am I and here's hoping that each one of us is too.Hoping for the right outcome of this election but alas

 as they say " Common sense is not that common!"

AN ODE TO MY GRANDMA

My grandmother sadly passed away on Sept 9th. and left me (and all her other grandchildren) with this big,gaping void of emptiness.This emptiness, rather this shock was so intense that I am not able to still  grip the fact that she is no more! Another hint to me about what a  great shock it is for me is that I find myself being able to put words to my thoughts and feelings only today,7 days after her demise and after her ashes have already been offered to the holy river Ganges in Haridwar!For me, I feel the loss was more pronounced because I had had the honor of spending a few years of my life with her in her and my grandfather’s house.Part of this is also because I left soon after my marriage and came to the U.S., only to meet her after a gap of a couple of years at a time.Each time I went back, I saw her health deteriorated, as if the slow decline over the years ( and in my absence),was being shown to me in fast forward mode.

She was also the last of my grandparents to leave me, leaving me stolen of the precious treasure of life we kids value the most: grandparents love in our lives.What makes grandparents great is the way they lavish love on their grandkids, they have time and they make time to share time together which is a precious gift of love and trust.It is well known that a sense of family unity,belonging, and warmth doesn’t just happen. It is nurtured and grown over time, just as a lovely garden flourishes in the hands of a caring, diligent gardener.My eyes brim over with a million memories right from bathtime to storytimes to picnics to ailing times when they could hardly feel themselves breathe as they prayed for my well being.Times where they literally held my tiny fingers and showed me the way to times when they morally educated me to life’s many ways and its responsibilities, customs and traditions to follow and ways to conduct myself right out in the world.From Grammar lessons in Language arts to lessons by being ideal role models of good, honest citizens, the list is endless, as it must be.

I am shocked by the cruel reality life and the world so ironically presented to me.I was incapacitated to travel and make the journey to India due to a complicated ankle fracture I suffered on the evening of 4th Sept.For my own grandmother, who had always stood by me at all my good and bad times, especially at my bad times, I was never really there for her.

And to me it seemed as if the rest of the world, (barring her immediate family, of course) did not know, did not care, that she was no more.I may be blamed for being biased, but even at that risk, I have to say that My Badepapa and Bademummy i.e. my grandpa and grandma were one of the few very pious,wise, gentle, good, honorable, honest, kindest persons I have ever known in my life. If people such as them can pass away and apparently it makes no difference, I shudder to think how far I have to go in my life to even make a scratch!People around you are really nice to you at your face or when they know you are around but whether you really made a difference... who knows. Today I understand the deep concept I have had several opportunities to hear as excerpts of conversations between my parents, both of whom have always tried to impress upon me that one should always be good to each and every person one comes across in everyday life coz’ ultimately THAT is what matters.  Needless to say,it never sank in as effectively as it has now.Religion, summed up to me, is right there, be a good human being.

As Charles S. Spurgeon said,” A good character is the best tombstone.Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered.Carve your name on hearts, not marble. “ The name of my grandpa and grandpa will forever be etched in my heart and soul with the utmost respect and love.

I urge everyone who is reading this to join me as I offer my humble but most sincere prayers to bless my grandparents with the best...a place in heaven or eternal peace.

I thank God for blessing our lives with you, we carry your blessings and love in our hearts forever and ever and know that you do not leave us alone but enrich us with your loving presence in our minds and hearts always.

Wake up!

First and foremost, apologies to those of you who have been reading me here for being away for so long.Next, apologies again coz' I can't stay for long.Just an FYI this time:

For all of you out there who are waiting for a Sherlock Holmes or Nancy Drew or whoever it is you grew up idolizing, stop waiting. Wake up and BE who you are waiting for. The world out there does not have any Sherlock Holmes anymore. The world out there does not have Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincolns anymore. If you believe in these people you are one of the fewer people in the world. Even fewer are those who chose do something about all this in the course of their daily lives. I am going to start that change in my life , no more waiting for ideals to be put into actions by others. I am going to be my own Sherlock Holmes and may God be with me and all of you too who seek out to change any wrongs being done to them in any way in their lives, be it foreclosures, unjust employees, corrupt officials or any other matters.

Here is a quote I recently found in a book:
It's when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart.

Friendships and us!

Along the journey that begins after one completes college, one sometimes doesn’t realize how much he/ she changes as a person. Perhaps it is the time to change. Filled with ambition and the zest to prove oneself we set out to make our mark, all gears set to achievement and success. We work hard and  for most, somewhere along the path, also get married and maybe even have kids. Most of us hop jobs till we get where we want to be , some of us may buy a house, settle down, you know in the traditional way! WHEW! before we realize it we are not what we were years before. Gone are the care free days .Now routines, schedules and deadlines rule our lives!We live responsibly and are responsible adults and needless to say, responsibility is our motto. Also along the line, sureptiously so, some us turn skeptical and attain a rather ironic outlook on life. We tend to not make new friends easily or we complain we don’t have friends like we used to have in the good old times.Needless to say, at this point, not only has life’s priorities changed us,but, friendships have too, which in itself, by the way, is just a complex organism that evolves on an often unpredictable path of its own.

AS people grow in life, for good or for worse, so do friends.Individuals who once were good friends may not connect on the same frequency anymore. Values, priorities change, so do we! Gone is the youthful innocence and the luxuries of time. Sometimes the time comes to evaluate just that, as people continue to grow and change: did they grow apart or just grow in different directions.Are the differences so big or vast that the friendship is not possible anymore. Yes, in some cases that is the case. In others, the love or the fondness that the friends feel outweighs these differences and keeps them together in spite of the ways they’ve changed.The question then is TO BE OR NOT TO BE, TO HOLD ON OR TO LET GO! There are many who do and many who don’t.

Meanwhile, there are those friends who connect across decades and start off again at the same exact point where they had left off. For a microcosm is created , one that goes back in time and for a small speck of time in the entire scheme of life and its important deadlines you rise over the din and bask in the warmth of the glow of the good old days.New confidences are built, new insights shared, new tricks conjured, and in between endless laughs and tears somewhere the magic happens, of applause given and received simply for being you and likewise for  your friend.Promises are made to remain in touch for many more decades to come, to attend the weddings of each other’s kids and life is good.There is hope and there is light at the end of the tunnel. As long as promises are made and the intentions are good: life is good my friends and  there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King Jr. this January 15, 2012.

RESPECT EARNED RIGHTFULLY

This one is inspired by my recent trip to Washington D.C. and New York.

As one stands outside The Federal Building in New York looking up to the elegant statue of George Washington representing the historic moment when he took the oath as the First President of United States of America, one is filled with awe for this great man who once worked as the Post Master General in the old post office building in Washington D.C. More than just a few pages of history come alive as you stand on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial or as you look down upon the stone from where Martin Luther King Jr. reached out to the rest of the nation with his famous "I have a dream" address.The honor, we, as the common man of today bestow upon these two great leaders is evident not just by the pillars or the steps or the marble that has been used to construct the memorial but it is simply as if the veneration seeps through the walls and their great words linger in the air.Abraham Lincoln's  idol truly idolizes the persona of one of the greatest leaders of the nation.One cannot help but think that if merely looking at the idol can bring forth such emotions, what must it have been to have met the great leader in person.As millions people come here to pay their respects, I wonder, as I am sure many others have too as to what would the world would have been if not for these men?

The honor, respect they command today, ages after they have passed, is it because they had the courage to break away from the common public opinion and to be able to see things differently, to maybe believe in values that were different from those of the majority? To not only think differently and believe in different  things but to take a stand for whatever it was that they believed in.Everyone knows the kind of resistance both these men faced in their voyage to bring about change and equality and it all began with them being bold enough to stand for what they believed to be true and right.Had they kept quite, had they gone with the popular or the majority opinion, would we have been where we are today? Do they then command the respect of generations that have come after them coz' they were different or coz' they were not afraid to be so?

A lesson to be learnt here, not just by our youth in schools who cringe at the mere thought of wearing a outfit that's not popular or the lady who buys a Vera Wang product or a Satya Paul outfit even though she secretly detests the product line. A lesson to be learnt here not just for the young or the not so young but also for our leaders of today who sometimes seem to lack the backbone to come up with or stand for novel strategies and approaches to the problems we face  today.

Maybe it is time to seek out the new and radical  rather than be ashamed of it.What  can the leaders of today do differently to turn the world's mural into a better one ? What new approach or strategy or plan can one  leader of today take a stand for to implement now to etch his name on the same scroll as those before them? What can they do differently today to rightfully deserve the honor and respect of the masses that leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr,Mahatma Gandhi and many, many others command?