As I mentioned in my "catch-up" blog, I started a different space to keep in one place my small collection of poems..
The time has now come to reveal that blog :). .. Words from the Heart and Soul is my small contribution to amateur poetry..
Do leave comments on what you think about them ..
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Gold Rush
The Olympics Gold Rush is half way through as I write this post, another week to go and I have been following the games on TV almost every night.
To start-off, the opening ceremony was truly unique, it not only had all the pomp and glory associated with an Olympic Opening but it also imbibed in it, an amazing show of tradition, unity and power that one will now forever associate with China.
Of the sports that I have been able to watch, (swimming, gymnastics and beach-volleyball being the only ones really) the skill and the passion of each athlete in these sports has clearly shone through.
Whether its Michael Phelps , with his world record equaling 7 gold medals , the 7th one in a photo finish even to add to the thrill, or it is Misty May and Kerri Walsh winning an almost lost first set (5 set points against them) againt the Belgiums in the most amazing game of beach volleyball I've seen so far, and of-course the Womens Gymnastics team - Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin - all poise, grace and balance - each athletes hard work was clearly visible in every movement of their bodies in their respective events! Many Kudo's to not just these, but every athlete who as competed in the games, win or lose - to play is most important.
As I write this, I notice that I'm most aware of and also inadverently always rooting for the American athletes, so when Nastia and Shawn were (i felt) unfairly given lower scores on uneven bars and balance beams that their Chinese counter-parts, even though their routine was far more flawless, I felt my blood boil for them! And when the eventual won Gold and Silver in the all round champioships I rejoiced at their gain..
Now, it could be because I'm in the US and the prime-time TV here focuses on events that the Americans excel in (all of the above) and also because having lived here for a long time, an American winning the Gold makes me as Happy as an Indian winning the gold would make me feel..I guess I do have the true Olympic Spirit in me then eh?
Well, almost :). When Abhinav Bindra from India won the gold, I almost fell off my seat in disbelief! I couldnt watch the event, it wasnt shown on TV here, so I read it in the news and after that momentary feeling of disbelief, I was amazed, happy, proud, laughing and sad all at the same time! Finally..after 25 years, 1 Individual GOLD for a country of 1 Billion People!!
It is a well known fact that sports are not properly encouraged in India, we're a country of engineers and doctors, of intellectuals and artists but unfortunately - no athletes. No? Well, we now have a name to be proud of too..Abinav Bindra - Gold medalist - 2008 Beijing Olympics!!
To start-off, the opening ceremony was truly unique, it not only had all the pomp and glory associated with an Olympic Opening but it also imbibed in it, an amazing show of tradition, unity and power that one will now forever associate with China.
Of the sports that I have been able to watch, (swimming, gymnastics and beach-volleyball being the only ones really) the skill and the passion of each athlete in these sports has clearly shone through.
Whether its Michael Phelps , with his world record equaling 7 gold medals , the 7th one in a photo finish even to add to the thrill, or it is Misty May and Kerri Walsh winning an almost lost first set (5 set points against them) againt the Belgiums in the most amazing game of beach volleyball I've seen so far, and of-course the Womens Gymnastics team - Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin - all poise, grace and balance - each athletes hard work was clearly visible in every movement of their bodies in their respective events! Many Kudo's to not just these, but every athlete who as competed in the games, win or lose - to play is most important.
As I write this, I notice that I'm most aware of and also inadverently always rooting for the American athletes, so when Nastia and Shawn were (i felt) unfairly given lower scores on uneven bars and balance beams that their Chinese counter-parts, even though their routine was far more flawless, I felt my blood boil for them! And when the eventual won Gold and Silver in the all round champioships I rejoiced at their gain..
Now, it could be because I'm in the US and the prime-time TV here focuses on events that the Americans excel in (all of the above) and also because having lived here for a long time, an American winning the Gold makes me as Happy as an Indian winning the gold would make me feel..I guess I do have the true Olympic Spirit in me then eh?
Well, almost :). When Abhinav Bindra from India won the gold, I almost fell off my seat in disbelief! I couldnt watch the event, it wasnt shown on TV here, so I read it in the news and after that momentary feeling of disbelief, I was amazed, happy, proud, laughing and sad all at the same time! Finally..after 25 years, 1 Individual GOLD for a country of 1 Billion People!!
It is a well known fact that sports are not properly encouraged in India, we're a country of engineers and doctors, of intellectuals and artists but unfortunately - no athletes. No? Well, we now have a name to be proud of too..Abinav Bindra - Gold medalist - 2008 Beijing Olympics!!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wildlife Shmildlife..
"President" Bush wants to end an existing moratorium on off-shore drilling, this means allowing drilling for oil off the US coastline and opening the Alaskan Wildlife preserve for drilling as well, his pitch to the people is it will lower gas prices.
Some reports claim the oil got from these reserves will only last for 2.5 years (based on the current rate of consumption in the US) and other reports claim that the actual price decrease will be a measly 4 cents a gallon. So basically if we go ahead with the Bush-plan we would be ruining our coastline and tourism industry, hurting the environment, devastating the last preserved wildlife reserve in Alaska for a petty savings of 4 cents a gallon that would last for only 2-3 years.
Now, I don't know if the above reports are accurate or not, what I do know (from past experience) that President Bush is not always accurate, remember the "Iraq WMD theory"?, it led us into Iraq where no WMD's were found..but where thousands of American soldiers now lie. So when Mr. Bush says it will lower gas prices..how accurate is he this time?
Meanwhile, if we let this proposed thing happen, as humans we would have reached a new low. As the most evolved species on this planet that we call home, it is our duty to preserve the natural order of things, it is our duty to preserve the environment and it is our duty to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves. Yet, time and again, we have shrugged off these duties, we've killed animals for our own benefit or pleasure, we've ruined forests to grow concrete jungles and we've done our best to ruin the oceans with our oil leakages and industrial wastes. And now, once again..we pick up our drills and head into the last remaining frontiers of wildlife to ruin that too.
I was looking at footage of the recent flooding in the Midwest and the devastation it caused to peoples homes and businesses and the pain to the people living there, this is an example of the environment enroaching on OUR land..how does it feel? Don't we hate it? That's probably how the animals feel when we take over their land and they cant even give Televised interviews to complain!!
We need to wake up to our own responsibilities, we have been faced with the impossible before and we got over it with innovation didn't we? We said we would and we did put a man on the moon didn't we? Where did that America go? Why do we now look for short term benefits v/s long term results? Why cant we put all the money we would invest in these drilling activities into searching for alternative fuels instead? Isn't that the real long term solution in any-case? And if we take that decision now..wont we sleep a little better knowing that we saved some animals in the process?
If Mr. Bush really wanted to help the Americans, he would introduce policies to promote and better public transport and carpooling instead of suggesting drilling as an option. There are other options out there and only we can find them if we try!! A recent poll shows only 1 in 4 Americans still believes in Mr. Bush..and yet 57% Americans might approve of drilling for oil ?? How can you agree with the policies of a man you dont believe in?
Wake up America! Speak for the animals who cant speak for themselves, lets show them we are the more evolved species and lets show them why.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Playing Catch Up
Its been so long since I've written anything here and its more due to lack to time than lack of things to blog about!! I was reviewing all the posts lying around as Drafts in my dashboard (and there are soo many) and I figured this was really really not good :)
Some Time Capsule this will be if all the posts are never published :(. So i've promised to find a few hours each week to complete each of those posts and keep this blog more updated.
To quickly catch everyone up ..its been a pretty eventful year so far..
- My Mom and Grandmom paid us a visit recently - the best 20 days eveahh
- We started looking for a house..our very first home..yay
- We went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park
- I started another blog to post all my poems on (Yes!)
More on all of this and more coming soon..stay posted ;) ;)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
To Live Beyond Life..
This was going to be one of those posts that are heart rending and sad because that is exactly how I feel right now, however, I dont think the person who this is for would approve, so instead of a feeling-sorry-4-myself post..here's a post that hopefully celebrates life and all it has to offer.
My grandfather (Dada) was born and grew up in pre-independance India and yet in thought and nature he very much belonged to modern India. Each of us passes thru many phases in life and and in each phase we play a very specific role, my grandfather was the master of each role..
The Student : He studied engineering in Benaras one of the better places to study in India at that time, kudo's to him for following his dream and his English was perfect! Maybe a result of growing up in British India.. :)
The Family man : This role more than any others I am most aware of, Dada together with my grandmother, raised 3 great sons. As the son's grew up and got married, the new daughter-in-laws also were brought into the family with a lot of love and respect. Till date, I have not seen 3 brothers who respect and love each other as my dad and uncles do and the same goes for my mom and aunt's. The one person responsible for keeping everyone together this way, the one person who commanded everyone's respect and love the most, and the one person who through his letters of advise and gentle guidance made this family a model joint family was my Dada.
The Grandfather : On every single birthday or every small achievement the one thing we could be sure of was that we would recieve a letter from Dada. Till the very end, he wrote us letters on every important day in our lives. Each letter was filled with advise on how to live life and what was most important to us at that point in our lives. The letters as always were only meant to guide, we were never pressured into following anything we did not believe in, and in-fact Dada and our parents always encouraged a healthy debate on things we did not commonly believe in. Dada did not only write letters to us grandkids,but also to his sons and daughter-in-laws, and these letters were all compiled into a book a few years back and distributed among our friends and family, everyone loved reading them..they were great pointers to leading a simple trouble free life!
The businessman : Dada started his own business (P.C. Gandhi and Associates) and till he fell sick recently, he used to go to office every single day. Never once did he talk about retirement, this I believe kept him sharp in mind. He was very aware of the goings-on in the world and always had examples and ideas to throw at us on possible things we should do with our lives.
The Religious Man : From the above, it should be very clear that whatever dada did he did with all his heart and soul and the same held true as far as religion was concerned. He used to pray every morning and go to the temple as often as possible. We used to have many healthy discussions with him on religion, god and blind faith and being true to himself, he held his own in our discussions but never inflicted his opinions on us. He always accepted our arguments with a twinkle in his eye.
Dada fought many health battles in his life, he was even taken to London early on in his life for a Major operation. However, he never let any pain show or stop him from leading the life he wanted to lead.
Recently, when he passed away, we were all lost .. it was like loosing the hand that was guiding us through the woods.. then we found his last letter, it was not addressed to us but to God. In the letter dada said he was happy with the life he had led and was ready to move on.. so even his death was on his own terms!
But who says he's gone? Dada lives on through his lovely letters, he lives on through his values that are imbibed in all of us and he lives on through all of us.. he prepared us for life and gave us a headstart..and now he lives on forever through us..
We LOVE YOU DADA..
My grandfather (Dada) was born and grew up in pre-independance India and yet in thought and nature he very much belonged to modern India. Each of us passes thru many phases in life and and in each phase we play a very specific role, my grandfather was the master of each role..
The Student : He studied engineering in Benaras one of the better places to study in India at that time, kudo's to him for following his dream and his English was perfect! Maybe a result of growing up in British India.. :)
The Family man : This role more than any others I am most aware of, Dada together with my grandmother, raised 3 great sons. As the son's grew up and got married, the new daughter-in-laws also were brought into the family with a lot of love and respect. Till date, I have not seen 3 brothers who respect and love each other as my dad and uncles do and the same goes for my mom and aunt's. The one person responsible for keeping everyone together this way, the one person who commanded everyone's respect and love the most, and the one person who through his letters of advise and gentle guidance made this family a model joint family was my Dada.
The Grandfather : On every single birthday or every small achievement the one thing we could be sure of was that we would recieve a letter from Dada. Till the very end, he wrote us letters on every important day in our lives. Each letter was filled with advise on how to live life and what was most important to us at that point in our lives. The letters as always were only meant to guide, we were never pressured into following anything we did not believe in, and in-fact Dada and our parents always encouraged a healthy debate on things we did not commonly believe in. Dada did not only write letters to us grandkids,but also to his sons and daughter-in-laws, and these letters were all compiled into a book a few years back and distributed among our friends and family, everyone loved reading them..they were great pointers to leading a simple trouble free life!
The businessman : Dada started his own business (P.C. Gandhi and Associates) and till he fell sick recently, he used to go to office every single day. Never once did he talk about retirement, this I believe kept him sharp in mind. He was very aware of the goings-on in the world and always had examples and ideas to throw at us on possible things we should do with our lives.
The Religious Man : From the above, it should be very clear that whatever dada did he did with all his heart and soul and the same held true as far as religion was concerned. He used to pray every morning and go to the temple as often as possible. We used to have many healthy discussions with him on religion, god and blind faith and being true to himself, he held his own in our discussions but never inflicted his opinions on us. He always accepted our arguments with a twinkle in his eye.
Dada fought many health battles in his life, he was even taken to London early on in his life for a Major operation. However, he never let any pain show or stop him from leading the life he wanted to lead.
Recently, when he passed away, we were all lost .. it was like loosing the hand that was guiding us through the woods.. then we found his last letter, it was not addressed to us but to God. In the letter dada said he was happy with the life he had led and was ready to move on.. so even his death was on his own terms!
But who says he's gone? Dada lives on through his lovely letters, he lives on through his values that are imbibed in all of us and he lives on through all of us.. he prepared us for life and gave us a headstart..and now he lives on forever through us..
We LOVE YOU DADA..
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