Another Year Gone! Welcome 2015

 Life is what we make it...we can sit back and ponder a glass half-empty or rejoice that the glass is half-full...the perspective and state of mind is of our choosing. 2013 was a foggy year filled with pain and some of that pain and sadness of losing my father spilled into 2014...yet it is but a perspective and that perspective shifts gradually (the love remains, the pain slowly ebbs).  I have chosen to live most of 2014 with a few simple tenets :

• Carpe Diem or Seize the Day - I am living each day as if it is the last one I have - Kungfu Panda  (yeah! a cartoon movie I know) was where I heard this saying - Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present.Be present to enjoy the moment. I watched sunsets and sunrises (sometimes!), watched the playful seals in the bay, climbed mountains and trails and told my loved ones I loved them... (yes, I even climbed the little hill in the picture and have every intent of climbing the Mission Peak either today or tomorrow!)

• Eat what you want Diet Plan - I will be the first to admit that I love food (just like my Bapa did)...for the first few months at the beginning of 2014, I tried to restrict what I ate and then reality sunk in - I was unhappy...I shucked that plan to oblivion and decided to live life queen size...eat what I want (not regret it later)...I followed it with a lot of exercising...so didn't really lose weight and didn't really gain weight and felt great eating what I wanted to eat

• Be Flexible - This applies to mind, body and spirit -- Accept change as a positive thing in life. At times, go with the flow that is before me vs. trying hard to change the outcome to something else. I have accepted myself as I am and have stopped devising ways to improve what already exists. I have rediscovered  balance and peace with Yoga and have been consistent with Zumba. I take long walks with the 2K's in my life. Everyday is not perfect...there are days when all we do is fight, squabble or whine...yet, accepting that  is the way it shall be for today is key to moving on and finding equilibrium.

• Keep my To-Do List -  I chucked my to-do list for a while and really suffered mentally feeling like there was something missing. My to-do list is an integral part of making me feel positive, balanced and healthy and so I am back to my to-do list with a vengeance. Guess what - we purged for the new year. There are about 10 trash bags of un-necessaries that we have ruthlessly discarded and I feel great about it. I have cooked for the next couple days and everything seems planned and organized

 I am a little sad to see 2014 go and am excited about the upcoming year...let's make it count! Happy New Year !!!

Tentative Parenting : It Don't Matter If You're Black Or...

I have been furious this week (and last week) after what happened in Ferguson I would imagine that the authorities would become "more" sensitive to treating human beings with humanity. Then two days back the Eric Garner jury decision not to indict was taken...I became a citizen here not so long ago (3 years to be precise) and even though I felt sad "renouncing my Indian Citizenship" I was proud being a part of a nation which gave me so much in terms of a feeling of Equality, Opportunities and Belonging.What stood out as I was preparing for my citizenship exam in 2011 was that in this country as a citizen everyone has a very basic personal right which is :

(1) Not to be killed.

(2) Not to be injured or abused.

So what happened to Michael and Eric....? What do I tell my 8 year old boy who is definitely not White or Black...just a different shade but born here in this nation and if you asked him what is his country he would say - USA. He eats Indian food sometimes, doesn't speak any Indian languages and loves Football, Pizza and Skylanders - my son has no sense that he is different because of the shade of his skin. 

Truth be told I will be the first one to confess that due to my late assimilation into the American Culture, stereotypes do hold - I did come into this country with personal biases and proclivities. I was always aware of my accent, my skin tone (I have been called a cookie to someone's milk), used to the underlying attitudes ( asked quite a few times when I will go back to my country, am I an Engineer) BUT in the same breath I have got friendship, acceptance and opportunities here....so I am not using this as a soapbox to rant or vent. 

I am however convinced that I can't turn a blind eye to "colorblindness" -- at some point my son will realize that he is different ( the good news is in his public school - there are a lot of kids from different cultures, so they are learning early about the  differences) - I don't want race & ethnicity to be a taboo subject...he needs to understand, respect and accept these differences. Maybe race shouldn't be such a big deal in this country, but we know it is...too big a deal for me to ask an 8 year old to figure out by himself....so I will have the talk with K2 soon....what about you?