Redetermining!

9/26/2013

Crap!!!! I fell off the blogging routine and just got motivated enough to post something. Everyday, I noticed things and thought I’d post about that! Never happened! So I’m putting myself to task and getting on track again.

Among these thoughts were setting general parameters on topics to post according to the day of the week. For Thursdays, I thought to share with you all something, an anecdote or a story or an experience.

I am from a little state in the southern peninsula of India called Kerala. It is coastal, the weather is amazing, the state is green and pristine and the people are always warm. It has been dubbed ‘God’s own Country’ – guess that makes me an angel 😉 (credit for this line goes to my dear friend Shweta ‘the sparrow’ Sivasankaran). One of the biggest festivals celebrated in Kerala is Onam – the annual harvest festival that usually falls in the first week of September. The story behind Onam and the reason why we celebrate it the way we do is also really interesting. Here it is:

Once upon a time, there lived a ruler called King Mahabali or Maveli as he is lovingly called. During his reign, his kingdom was prosperous and successful, everyone was equal and no one suffered from poverty or hunger. As he became the ruler of all three worlds, Indra, the king of the Devas (gods of the celestial world) became jealous and insecure and asked Lord Vishnu to help them take their kingdom back and control King Mahabali. Lord Vishnu decided to test the King and visited him as a Vamanan (a brahmin boy, fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu). He asked the King for the land that covered three of his footsteps and Mahabali generously agreed. Vamanan  grew in size and with the first two steps, he measured the entire earth and heaven. A man true to his word, Mahabali asked Vamanan to place the next step on his head, thereby sending him to a heavenly underworld – Patalam. Even though the devas succeeded in stopping the King, Vishnu was very impressed with him and allowed him to be the ruler of Patalam. He also allowed him to visit his people once a year to make sure they are happy and well. Onam is the day King Mahabali (name literally means great sacrifice) comes to visit us.

So every year for Onam, we get together with family, play games, sing songs, enjoy a sumptuous feast, wear new clothes, clean our homes and design a pookkalam (a pattern on the floor made with flowers – see pic below). We welcome Maveli into our lives and show him that we are happy and thankful for the lives we get to live in the kingdom he ruled over with so much affection.

And every year for the past 8 years, I have missed Onam at home. My entire family gathers together and the phone is passed around to everyone till I have spoken to them all. Everyone tells me about all the fun they are having and I miss them all so very much. I sulk, I cry and make my own modest pookkalam. Aditya made it special this year by buying me flowers and taking me out to dinner :).

Happy ONAM to everyone.

With that and lots of love!

Taking for Granted

8/30/2013

It is only so natural that one day after I post about consistency, I completely forget to do my daily post.  HA! Yesterday was Friday, the Friday before a long weekend and I woke up happily, waiting for the weekend to start. My flatmate’s mom had already received a package for me, something I knew nothing about. Turned out to be a Jabra Halo Bluetooth headset, I had no idea where that came from. As I confirmed later in the day, my fiancee surprise-gifted me that. 🙂 I never leave the house without music and am really liking these headphones. I went to work, had a Dunkin Donuts breakfast and lunch from a Mediterranean place.

I have been slacking on chanting regularly so I decided to go to the New York Cultural Center (NYCC) for doing my evening gongyo. The best part about the NYCC evening gongyo or just chanting in a big group is that it lets you chant out loud, like really loud. Sometimes, when you cannot get yourself to sit down and chant at home, doing the same thing loudly with a whole room of people pulls your spirit right back up!

Now to the long weekend, I have no real plans at this point, so I am going to have to make stuff up as I go. Aditya,  my fiancee, is off in Florida with his buddies, a fact I have been giving him hell about for about a month now. He knows I don’t mean it but I think he still feels a little guilty about not including me in the plans.  While he was en route to the airport, we were talking and I was pulling his leg about leaving me alone and he asked if I’d ever stop taunting him about this. Well my answer is a resounding NO because I like making fun of him. I like it because he knows I don’t mean it any other way, he is # 1 in a short list of people  I am allowed to be that obnoxious with.

Family means taking people for granted in the best possible way and appreciating that they allow you to!

With that and lots of love,

aawjo (Gujarati; Translation: goodbye/come again)

for my supremely gujju workplace!

Because I said so!

8/29/2013

This is post # 7. One whole week of daily blog posts! Yayyyyy! I am so proud of myself right now. It is so important to me because consistency is key to being successful at anything.

A little shout-out to Landmark Education, while I go on about how all this is new to me. I completed my graduate degree from Stanford University in January 2012. I stuck around the Bay Area looking for jobs, finding little success and getting more and more depressed with each passing day. I was feeling like a failure and had pretty much convinced myself that it was impossible for ME to find my dream. This went on for three months and I had firmly established an escape mechanism – a sort-of- addiction to anything related to watching movies or TV shows online, even ones I absolutely did not care for. Somewhere in March of 2012,my fiancee’s sister-in-law, who lives in New Jersey recommended me to a position at the logistics firm she worked at and that came through. I moved to the east coast, found a support system, a job that paid some bills and went to work begrudgingly everyday. It was then that my future in-laws came to attend their son’s commencement from Columbia University. Papa and Maa are the most amazing people you will ever meet and I am so thankful to Aditya for giving me this ever-supportive second set of parents. It was Papa’s suggestion that I do the Landmark Forum. Having reached the peak of helplessness and frustration, I agreed. It wouldn’t do any harm would it? I would recommend it to anyone because it empowers you immensely. Landmark taught that I have the ultimate power in my life. It transformed me and I am an incredibly happier person for it. It also let me open myself up to this Buddhist practice which constantly empowers me to stay calm and focused as I face daily life. It gives me the courage to do what I say. This blog was started after I chanted for an hour and said to myself that I am going to bring into my life, that which I lack the most – CONSISTENCY OF PURPOSE.  The only thing I was consistent before was idling away my time.

I end with what I aspire to do. I want  to work hard, tirelessly and continuously every single day, I want to always be happy with where I am and I want to be my best person. I want to love and be loved and contribute to Kosen Rufu (world peace through everyone being absolutely happy and reaching their full potential). And I will. You know how I know that? Because I said so!

With that and lots of love,

“Thank you very much” (said like Bhabhi – my sis-in-law who got me this job- says it)

to Bhabhi, for believing,bringing me here and giving me so much acceptance.