Deepavali - the festival of lights

 Deepavali is around the corner. While it is a bummer that this holiday falls on a weekend this year, it still is a little exciting to know it is here. "A little exciting" because our family don't really celebrate it. Perhaps we should. Wish we had friends who did celebrate Deepavali and who, more importantly, called us over :)

The little I know of Deepavali is that it is the festival of lights. Lights that symbolize the victory of light over darkness, good over evil. Nothing inherently evil about the dark though - that was just a thoughtless metaphor adopted by men in the past. But yes, victory of good over evil. Nothing good about evil ever. And while the conventional interpretation of the Ramayana is about Ravanan being evil and Ram being good, things have never been so black and white. It is impossible to label people as good and evil. Of course, some people are evil some of the time. Perhaps, all of us have been evil some of the time. 

Today, a lot of what's happening around the world makes it hard to label people as being good or evil. So we can not really cheer for one group's victory over the other. But we can cheer, pray and work, for the victory of good over evil - of peace over war, of life over killing. 

To anyone who may be reading this - Happy Deepavali.

Beyond Fridge Magnets

“You get to travel a lot, huh?” Every time someone posed this question to me, I would usually respond with an apologetic smile. And then respond that yes, I did get to travel a lot but that I never really got to see the place. You know that t-shirt which says “My friend went to so-and-so place and all he got me was this lousy fridge magnet”? Well, that was the manifestation of my travels. My refrigerator’s upper door was dotted with fridge magnets.  A crab for Maryland, a cactus for Phoenix, a crown for Charlotte (Queen’s City they call it for a reason I am not aware of), a cowboy boot for Dallas… all stereotypical images associated with the places they represent – all magnets on my refrigerator. And then I decided to stop buying fridge magnets. Two reasons: one, I figured they served very little purpose and two, at around 5-7 dollars each, I found them expensive!

It was only a couple of trips ago that I resolved to explore a little bit of the place that I was visiting. Enough was enough. No more spending evenings in my hotel room and watching bits and pieces of movies (actually, there is something to be said for movies that you catch from the middle. You not only wonder what will happen towards the end, but you also wonder what happened in the beginning! Double the suspense, eh?). So I went to the famed Alamo and the river walk in San Antonio. I also visited a lovely church downtown. I thought I had turned a corner. But then, when I was in Chicago, I was back to square one. My desire to visit the famed Navy Pier in the windy city was evenly matched by the unenviable task of either a 90 minute drive to and fro through heavy traffic or a 2 hour train ride. Decision making was very much in the present continuous, and then came the thunderstorm to change the tense. The decision was made. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, rain fell. I didn’t go. The next day, I found out that the rain was largely confined to my part of town. Ouch.

Today, I am at Hartford in Connecticut. As soon as I reached my hotel room, I browsed through a city guide which advertised sights to see. Mark Twain’s house was close by it said. Around 20 miles said my cracked Nexus 5. I didn’t think twice. Hopped back into my car, and drove back 20 miles the way I had originally come. Managed to make it to Mark Twain’s opulent home in time for the last tour. More about it tomorrow.

It was a very short visit, and I would have loved to have stayed a little bit longer. Unfortunately for me, it was closing time. I was happy however. I had done what I had resolved to do. To see more of the place I was in, beyond airports, hotel rooms and fried magnet.  And there’s something immensely satisfying about that.  As there is to writing this blog as well. Because that was another commitment I had made to myself. To start writing daily. Will I be able to keep this second commitment? Well, that’s a daily battle I have to fight for the rest of my life. Today’s just day one. 

1 Jan 2016

A day when Chinju, Anju, Manju and Jessy chechi got together at Long Island. Sibi and I spent almost the whole time on the couch. 

Everyman Resurrected

This took a while, didn't it. Around three years to be precise. Well, not really precise. But three years would be just about right. And as you would have it, a whole lot has happened while I have been away. For starters, I am now in the USA. Yeah, who would have thought it, Everyman in the USA. And yeah, USA as in United States of America. 

It's easy to see why the US is considered the Promised Land for such a lot of us (except those who are not in the US I guess :-) ) Life is convenient here, if you have sufficient money. Lots of space, noiseless roads, much cleaner air, faster internet speed, no power cuts, and almost everything that money can buy. That's why, that part about sufficient money is important. There are poor people here too. And if you go to the city, you can see a few beggars as well. Only, they look much smarter, and they speak with a lot of polish. If you are new, like I was around a year back, it would take you a couple of moments to actually realize that they are asking you to part with your hard-earned pennies. The city has a lot of other sights as well, and those are blogs for another day. I do hope that I am able to write one blog every day now from now on. I just made that resolution right here, right now. As I was typing. I am still grappling with that resolution, and I would like to see this through. You see, I attended this 2 day workshop a couple of weeks back - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (If you were a reader of my blogs before, then you would want to read The Twerp Who Bought The Ferrari. I still hold those views, but this workshop was actually useful.) And one of the things I realized through this workshop was that writing was important to me. 

Writing is something that gives me a lot of satisfaction, and a sense of fulfillment. Granted, this isn't technically writing. That would have required me to be using a pen. I wonder if a lot of us do that any more. Still, let us continue to call this writing. Not many of us may read blogs anymore, and certainly none of us might read Everyman's Diary anymore. Still let me write. There is also a BIG part of me that wants to be read and to be followed, and that isn't possible without me writing in the first place. I have been writing a little on and off - all of it on my company's internal enterprise network. There are a lot of good writers there. And just the other day, there was a blogpost that ended up raking in comments about who the inspiring writers were, and who people liked to read. My name didn't figure in any of them comments :-) Ouch. Truth be said, I am nowhere as regular a writer as a lot of those who were mentioned. So it isn't realistic for me to just wish upon a star and hope someone mentioned my name as well for the odd blog that I put up there. So this is a start from that perspective as well. 

This was rusty, and is not a particularly enticing piece of writing. Neither may I write anything worth reading anytime soon. But here's a start. 

Everyman

Shain

Dysfunctional

It's so bloody irritating when things start giving up on you. I can understand people giving up on you. It's not fair to expect them to keep being empathetic I guess. But when it's time for bed, and you are home, and home is Chennai (of all places), you don't want the AC to give up on you..you surely don't. 


I just hope that it's just that the darn thing's remote control is conked, and it's not really some coil or some other such visually insignificant but otherwise so damn important thing. The latter could really pile on some misery. 

Darn.@###$@#@$$@#!!

Kolkata Wheels

 I guess this wouldn't be new to any of you who are from or have been to Kolkata. But I was quite fascinated by all these yellow Amby cabs that you get to see in Kolkata. I didn't get to travel in this one, nor in any other yellow cab. Guess I will leave that for my next trip to City of Joy - but these are a welcome sea of color, anytime.

Shain

True Delight

 When was the last time I truly enjoyed myself like this? I really don't remember. Nina though doesn't seem to have a problem. It's so easy when you are a child, to delight in the seemingly simplest of things. Somehow, when we grow up, it takes a lot more than just the feeling of rain. When we are older, it takes all sorts of things. Must be all the baggage we're lugging around.

Shain