Happy Diwali

Diwali.....A festival of lights...

Each year this festival brings lot of hope to me. Wondering why? Each year, I try to celebrate in the best possible way.
I have always remembered Diwali where I have celebrated with friends and relatives, than the ones with just our family only.One Diwali celebrated in Kancheepuram with all our relatives - thats the only Diwali I have ever celebrated with relatives.
Once coming to the US of A, its been with friends through out, though my parents joined me last year. Its lot of fun to have friends to celebrate. This year too...Diwali was a memorable one. Thanks to Aunty for inviting us for lunch and making it our day!

Wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Diwali 2009.May God Bless us all with knowledge, health and prosperity.

Eeram

A good week end..Handful of movies - Kite Runner, Finding Neverland and Eeram.I liked all the three, each one a kind...

Kite Runner - an emotional one.

Finding Neverland - was like dream. Talks a lot about belief.

Eeram - a perfect entertainer. Am gonna talk about this movie than the others.

With all unhappiness as Sunday was coming to an end, started watching this movie, Eeram. Heard from couple of friends that this movie was good, a thriller and all that - zeroed down the expectations and just watched the movie.Had no clue on the starcasting, even had I known, have never heard of them before - new faces, may be except Nandha.Would have been a two and a half hour film! Fast! Thrill...and fun and Surprises!I will give the credit to the director - full credit for his excellent screenplay/narration/direction. Crisp dialogues - to remind Gautam Menon in few places(ofcourse not Maniratnam Sir).Very nice movie from a new comer.

These days, Tamil Film industry is coming up with a lot of quality movies - starting from Poo,Subramanyapuram,Pasanga,Nadodigal and so on to Eeram.

One thing that I could see common across these movies is - A movie can be made successful even without a bigger starcast(unknown faces literally)! And I like it.

Eeram is a good entertainer...

Julie and Julia

Last evening, we just took a stroll around Castro Street, and decided to watch a movie all of a sudden. Went to the nearest amc in lookout for the next available show of any movie! Thats how we ended up watching Julie and Julia. With no idea(of course I just knew that Meryl Streep was in the movie - from a vague remembrance form a preview) we watched this movie and it turned out to be a very good entertainer.

Its all about food! Cooking and food is my passion. This movie was exactly all about that. Julia Child is an author of a cook book - Mastering the art of French Cooking. Julie is a customer support person who is leading a boring life at Queens, and has a great passion for cooking, and a fan of Julia Child. So two stories are told in parallel, as to how Julia gets to the extent of publishing a cook book and how Julie brings spice to her life by blogging about Julia Child's recipes, after trying them out. Its two real stories and based on a book.

Very good entertainer, you can watch this to feel light at heart. A movie that I love on food, in line to Ratatouille. :)

Learning to Dance in the Rain

I read this recently - thought I should share:

The date was July 16, 2008. It was late in the afternoon and I was sitting in my hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky. I was scheduled to speak that evening for the Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA). I was a little "down in the dumps." I hadn't gotten to exercise lately because of my traveling schedule and recently I'd experienced some mild bouts of vertigo (that inner ear condition that can cause the room to start spinning.) You got it...speaking and "spinning" are not good partners!

My keynote presentation was scheduled for 7:00 PM, but I had been invited to show up at 6:00 to see a performance they said I'd enjoy. Little did I know that I was about to see something I would never forget.They introduced the young musician. Welcome...Mr. Patrick Henry Hughes. He was rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair, and began to play the piano. His fingers danced across the keys as he made beautiful music.He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more beautiful. For some reason, however, I knew that I was seeing something special. There was this aura about him that I really can't explain and the smile...his smile was magic!

About ten minutes into Patrick's performance, someone came on the stage and said..."I'd like to share a 7-minute video titled, The Patrick Henry Hughes story." And the lights went dim.Patrick Henry Hughes was born with no eyes, and a tightening of the joints which left him crippled for life. However, as a child, he was fitted with artificial eyes and placed in a wheelchair. Before his first birthday, he discovered the piano. His mom said, "I could hit any note on the piano, and within one or two tries, he'd get it." By his second birthday, he was playing requests (You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). His father was ecstatic. "We might not play baseball, but we can play music together."

Today, Patrick is a junior at the University of Louisville. His father attends classes with him and he's made nearly all A's, with the exception of 3 B's He's also a part of the 214 member marching band. You read it right...the marching band! He's a blind, wheelchair-bound trumpet player; and he and his father do it together. They attend all the band practices and the half-time performance in front of thousands. His father rolls and rotates his son around the field to the cheers of Patrick's fans. In order to attend Patrick's classes and every band practice, his father works the graveyard shift at UPS. Patrick said..."My dad's my hero."

But even more than his unbelievable musical talent, it was Patrick's "attitude of gratitude" that touched my soul. On stage, between songs, he would talk to the audience about his life and about how blessed he was. He said, "God made me blind and unable to walk. BIG DEAL! He gave me the ability...the musical gifts I have...the great opportunity to meet new people."When his performance was over, Patrick and his father were on the stage together. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered for over five minutes. It gave me giant goose bumps!My life was ready to meet Patrick Henry Hughes. I needed a hero, and I found one for the ages. If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forget that night, that smile, that music, but most importantly, that wonderful "attitude of gratitude."

I returned to Chicago and shared Patrick's story with my wife, my friends, and our team at Simple Truths. About two weeks later, I received a letter from a friend. He said, "Mac, I don't know who said it, but I think you'll love this quote."

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...

it's about learning how to dance in the rain!"

I thought...that's it! We all face adversity in our life. However, it's not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our life. During tough times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or, can we, with gratitude...learn how to dance in the rain?It almost sounds too simple to feel important, but one word...gratitude, can change your attitude, thus, your life, forever. Sarah Breathnack said it best...

"When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present....we experience heaven on earth."

Lost in No time

How is it to feel lost?
Yes, we do get lost in thoughts, ending up day dreaming. Am not talking about that.

Getting lost, in a new city, without a penny, without a phone!! A new experience I had. When I was experiencing it, along with a slight fear, there was an inner person who was enjoying the adventure.

I got lost in an international Airport, when came to drop a friend. A series of events pushed me to this, where I got lost with no mode to communicate to the world!

Thats when realised how dependent are we. Got to see the faces around, just to check who could help me out. Ran across a few people requesting them to lend their phone, but in vain! Finally caught up with an Indian lady who was very kind to me to help at that moment.

I did know for sure that this experience will be penned down in my blog, but I express my hearty thanks to this anonymous person, whom I don't know, even now, for helping me that day. A very small kind act that meant a lot to me that day!
Thank You Mam.

A very different experience from the monotonous day to day life, and I believe things like this what makes life interesting. Good!

Congratulations Sir

Two Oscars to AR Rahman! A very happy evening for every Indian.Sachin Tendulkar and AR Rahman are two personalities whom I like a lot, for their humbleness.

There is no cable connection at home and hence I was just checking out at oscar.com for updates. All of a sudden there was a cloud of applause and clapping and hurrays that I could hear last night.My neighbours have been watching the Oscar on the television. Immediately a friend called and told me that ARR won an Oscar. Wow...very happy moment. How happy should have his mom and family been?

After a few minutes, when I had hung up my phone, there was this applause and cries that I heard again! This time I understood that ARR has bagged the Oscar once again! Lovely!
If the globe has praises for Slum Dog's scores, then what will be the reaction for his rest of his work? I bet there are better and beautiful compositions of ARR than Slum Dog's.
Am happy that, what we Indians have been enjoying so long, will be enjoyed by the rest of the world.

Congratulations Sir!

A good one

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us" - Helen Keller