Art

I am sure that on Grammy's Monday, productivity of most people at work goes down by at least ten percent. In the first place we are all tired. Also, most of us are talking about our favorite artists. We are happy if they won, and we justify the winning to the fullest, and we show our regret if our favorite artists didn't  win anything.  

What is the criteria on which an artist gets an award? I would not know. I asked a few people and they said that it was complicated. Nevertheless we keep getting tips and clues from our television and radio announcements about different songs and different artists being nominated. So we watch in the hope of seeing someone we like get up and take the award. When that doesn't happen, we feel bad for the artist. What we don't realize is that to an artist winning is not everything. 

Last night watching Sara Bareillis sing along side of Carole King made me realize that for an artist singing with someone they admire is more important than winning an ward. 

Grandson to Grandpa

My mom was a tenth grade Hindi teacher and loved fiction. My dad, although an accountant, also loved to read fiction. It was fun to watch them discuss various novels and when my aunt came over, the three of them would talk about novels that they read, sitting under the blue starry sky of an Indian evening until the fruit bats came, and they realized that it was almost midnight and they would go inside.  So, needless to say four out of six children of my parents love to read for fun besides college or work material.  My brothers and I could not wait for our turn to read a good young adult novel that our parents would get for us. However after I got married, I did not get the same company.  My husband thinks that fiction is a waste of time.  Some one told him when he was young that he needs to read fact books only. So he thought that I was wasting  my time.  That did not stop me from reading. I made sure that my kids grew up around fiction from the age of two. They love books of all kinds . So I did my job as a mom. Year after year, I felt sad for my husband for being deprived of such wealth of enjoyment. His memory is extremely sharp and the fact that he does not want to read what people wrote is something I cannot figure out.  It is ironic that as much as I love to read,  it is not easy for me to retain fiction in my mind and following long stories have become a problem . So I have been bugging my husband to enjoy reading for fun, not just for learning and I think I have succeeded a little bit. 

 After reading Granny Annie's inspirational blog post I have made up my mind to look at the positive sides of things. Granted, it is cold outside and snow storms  do not seem to cooperate with work schedules, I decided to enjoy our grand-kids even from  long distance by talking about them and remembering each and every visit and comparing how they are growing up each time my husband and I see them.We discussed how one day our eight year old grand son told us in a matter of fact way that his class is trying to understand the different genres of books.  My husband at first did not realize that an eight year old could use the word "genre". However  he seemed to understand when I told him how the world is changing very fast and kids are being introduced to all kinds of books as long as they do not have foul language.  I told him that it is a good thing that fiction books are being introduced to kids at a young age as well as fact books. Guess what ? While so much of my nagging and convincing did not prompt my husband to read, the fact that our grand-kids are into fiction books is making him look into fiction as well. He is taking interest in different characters of Marvel comics and yesterday he watched the movie X- Men.  Now the question is - - - will he read fiction?

 

What shall we do ?

We elect our leaders because of their political believes, their promises, and because we trust that they will take care of things that matter in our daily lives. Little do we understand that they are not alone and there are several people working with them.  These people also have their own political believes, likes and dislikes, and hence grievances and grudges.

 I wonder,  out of all these  people, how many actually got any lessons in ethics in the work place and how many of them got their positions because of nepotism. 

Needless to say elections have become a dirty game (or has it always been a dirty game? I wouldn't know.) However I thought that once elections were over, things calm down and life goes on.  Apparently I am wrong. Some people did not help a certain Governor  get elected and as much as that governor does not mind, his own staff is upset and want to get back at those people. What do they do? They go ahead and order that some lanes at a very important bridge get closed. What happens now? Public suffers. Traffic is bad enough already, we do not need these kinds of political games affecting our daily lives. So, for some time, the leaders of the jurisdiction of that area of the bridge are facing criticisms. I guess human nature is to get to the bottom of things and rightfully so. Sooner or later the truth always comes out and now the person responsible for making it hard on others does not have a job. 

 Work ethics is one big part of the culture of India and yet there is a lot of corruption. I thought that it would be different here in the USA. It will take a lifetime before we understand that we have to keep an eye on people who we thought would be our leaders. It is sad but I guess I am beginning to believe that eternal vigilance is the price for democracy. I am just thankful that we did not hear of any casualties during these lane closures. A couple of years ago, we were not this lucky. City workers were not happy with the mayor and did not do the snow cleaning and salting like they were supposed to and a couple of people lost their lives as the emergency vehicles could not get in.

Happy New Year

New Year's Prayer

I hope that there is food on everyone's table.

I hope that everyone has warm clothes to wear.

I hope that homeless people find a shelter. It is very cold out.

I hope that all children get love.

I hope that all animals and birds get love.

I hope that all sick people get better.

I hope that trees, plants and flowers are never hurt. They make mommy very happy.

I hope that everyone is happy for the New Year and also

all the time.