Gratitude List #6: Blessings

Photo of Om symbol (www.dreamstime.com)

Today's gratitude list is on the theme of weekend, Nepal and India, gratitude and blessings:

* A short work week due to the long weekend last weekend
* Sunning in warm weather that kisses my face
* Great bands - free entertainment - and dancing, especially outside
* Community events to gather, socialize, and support one another
* Fundraisers to support others (like Nepal due to the recent earthquakes)
* Henna in the form of a lovely flower design and Om symbol on my hands

Om design henna on my right hand and flower design on my left hand and arm

* An invite to "Sacred Chambers," a spiritual process
* Power in prayer
* Gratitude for blessings
* Music (including spiritual as in Sanskrit chants)
* Silence
* Beauty of nature and peace in nature
* Nature sounds: birds, running water (a brook)
* Trees, including tall pine trees
* New friendships
* Nourishment including herbal tea and water
* A safe journey: there were three accidents on the opposite side of the highway as we headed home, including a car on fire
* Leftovers and a delicious, nutritious meal

And similar to last weekend, there was wildlife too in the form of a hummingbird hovering or flying near and/or past me as I heard its wing vibration quite loudly, and an eagle (though I didn't see it when a few of us were driving homebound).

What is on YOUR gratitude list today?

Vacation Spot: Not

Photo from google search

Today's post is a NaBloPoMo* prompt with the following questions, "Where is the one place you would never want to go on vacation that other people seem to love?"

Forgive me dear readers for 'cheating' - it feels to me - a bit due to the time element of blogging a post today. I wasn't home long before I stepped out to head to an all candidates meeting for the upcoming political election in the City of North Vancouver where I live. I felt it was important for me to do so to become acquainted with the current representatives, issues, and viewpoints.

The theme for today on vacation is an interesting one for me: I haven't travelled extensively. Though I have been abroad to my homeland twice, i.e., The Netherlands (nicknamed 'Holland') and my Mom's home country, Austria - beautiful countries in different ways - I have only travelled through the States to Utah from Toronto where I lived for a number of years plus surrounding suburbs, visited Calgary on two occasions, been to Point Roberts, and Bellingham, Washington in the States (U.S.A.).

When I think of it, I haven't even travelled in BC (British Columbia) that much either. I have gone however as far north as Whistler and the Sunshine Coast area, as far south as Delta where the ferries take you to Vancouver Island, as far east as Harrison Hot Springs, and as far west as Tofino, a community renowned for storm watching and surf riding – on the western part of Vancouver Island. That’s not too bad, except that I have lived in Vancouver and area for over 20 years: Wow! Already!

With respect to the original question above as I got sidetracked, the first place that comes to mind is China, and another is Mexico City and other parts of Mexico.

I equate China with overpopulation, pollution, communism, and a lack of security due to lack of communication. Cultural history may be of importance and of a curious nature, but other than that perhaps, I consider myself far removed emotionally and mentally to consider ever landing there. On the other hand, from a young age, my only nephew has had a strong interest and passion for China, even as far as to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) there.

The other place I would never want to go on vacation that other people seem to love is Mexico, at least the capital for similar reasons to above: polluted and overpopulated, and I also would feel safer elsewhere than where drugs and crime go hand in hand.

Where would I want to travel you may wonder? First and foremost the Yukon as well as Alaska to experience the pristine wilderness, wildlife, and the Northern Lights; Italy for their lyrical language, culture (primarily the arts), and cuisine (foods and wine); and India to experience devotion and spirituality through kirtans in Sanskrit, and their rich history and culture.

Check out http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/07/spiritual-ecstasy-through-the-ancient-art-of-kirtan-steven-j-rosen-satyaraya-das/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtan for information about kirtan.

My favourite female kirtan singer is Snatam Kaur...more about her in a future post (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatam_Kaur). Here she starts off translating I assume in English followed by Sanskrit.



Where would you not wish to travel and where would you? And why?

I am linking this to NaBloPoMo and Write Tribe Bloggers.

Smorgasbord Saturday: 4th week of Ultra Blog Challenge

Photo taken from Roberto Kaplan

Finally, here’s a recap of my Ultra Blog Challenge this past week starting from Monday, September 22nd to Friday, September 26th. Except for my guest post on Thursday about misconceptions of India, the themes this week seem to be focused on happiness and gratitude, including for that of trees and autumn.

World Gratitude Day: Part 2 (#MicroblogMonday) features a video of ‘Happy’, an upbeat, fun song that I wanted to share. Thus I tied it in with the theme from yesterday’s post on gratitude. (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/09/world-gratitude-day-part-2.html)

Tantalizing Tuesday: Tree Days is a short piece about autumn equinox, the first day of autumn, my second-most favourite season. Autumn is a splendorous season, although unfortunately only in season in certain parts of the world. (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/09/tantalizing-tuesday-tree-days.html)

In Honour of National Tree Day was posted in keeping with the theme of trees from yesterday.where I copied a piece of writing when I was in school. (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/09/in-honour-of-national-tree-day.html)

"No, I do NOT speak Indian!" is a special post as a blogging companion and friend wrote on the misbeliefs of India which I was surprised many people had. I only have one out of the several she wrote about. ;) (https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4481012230858682867#editor/target=post;postID=7320907518553952528;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=3;src=postname)

Frolicking Fun Friday: Two (2) Awards?! was a writing about two awards I received in one day that came out of the blue. I also shared a number of items about myself that people can read about in order to learn more about me. ;) (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2014/09/frolicking-fun-friday-two-2-awards.html)

"No, I do NOT speak Indian!"

Photo of Taj Mahal from Wikipedia

In lieu of my recent Talented Thursday theme, I have a surprise, a special surprise for you! I have a guest blogger who is writing on my behalf, in place of me! Woohoo! :)

This female blogger has become a dear soul 'sista' (sister) of mine since meeting her in the blogging world through another blog challenge. We met through her stories - I was SO fascinated by them - the way she wrote with sharply curved storylines that reminded me so much of Agatha Christie's writing style - a mystery writer - in particular Murder on the Orient Express, the first book of hers that I read: you never knew 'whodunit.' (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit).

Vinodini Iyer is a blogger, writer, poet, design professional, and a 'lost' painter based out of India. She calls herself a lost painter because, although she was academically trained in the Fine Arts, somewhere along the way she lost her touch with painting. Writing is a childhood passion she reconnected with a few years back and there's been no looking back for her ever since. She blogs at http://vinodinii.blogspot.in/.

As a child she would haphazardly scribble amateur poetry on the last page of her school notebooks, in particularly boring classes. Her mother would in turn find those pieces of writings and compile them in a file and send some of them to the local newspapers to be published in the kiddies column.

She started blogging about six years ago, but has turned into an active blogger only a few months back after participating in a few blogging challenges. One of these challenges is where she met me.

She writes about her random experiences in life. She is fascinated by the unknown mystical and pursues the same with a childlike wonder. She considers herself a gypsy at heart, a gypsy who loves writing about her journey of life through various voices, sometimes her own, sometimes of her characters! They could be in the form of essays, poetry, or short stories. Of late though, she has been veering more towards short stories. One of her short stories is about to be published in an anthology.

I'll let my blogging sista take over from here ...

Elly and I have known each other for about two months now. While she enjoys reading my stories with twisted endings, I’m in awe of the tremendously informative blog posts she writes with careful research to back her write-ups with. Since we had decided to do a guest post on each other’s blog, after she obliged me with a wonderful story on my blog on August 1, 2014 (http://vinodinii.blogspot.in/2014/08/my-newfound-friend.html), it is time for me to invade Elly’s blog space. I chose to talk about India in this post for Elly’s apparent interest in the topic.

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While India boasts of a rich and vibrant culture, there are a few misconceptions the world has about India. This observation has been made on certain generalized assumptions one comes across while interacting with people outside India.

India has also been ridiculously and falsely perceived as a poverty-stricken nation. Ridiculous assumption, specifically because the world is well aware of the royal heritage and background that this country originates from. Our historical monuments, rich cultural resources, and lifestyle are a testimony to the wealth of culture and riches this nation boasts of. So, the documentaries and photographs depicting the dreary poverty in India that you might have chanced upon are only one side of the story. This is the land of the aristocratic Tatas, Birlas, and Ambanis. Go on, Google them if you haven’t heard about them.

People visiting India for the first time, at times are pleasantly surprised or rather disappointed to see Indians commuting by cars and buses as opposed to elephants. Fortunately technology spared the elephants long back, sent them back to the jungles, where they belonged, and gave us vehicles that ran on fuel. Also, a few people come to India with the hopes of seeing snake charmers on the streets, but, well, the snake charmer has probably become redundant long back and has switched to selling cheap cellphone covers outside the railway station.

At times, it is the fair-skinned Indian baby born in a foreign land that evokes awe, for the color of its skin. Especially, since it is another general assumption that Indians have either black- or brown-toned skin. Well we sure are proud of our honey-colored complexion, but just as there are different hair colors like red-heads, brunettes, and blondes elsewhere in the world; in the same manner Indians also have a wide variety of skin colors and facial features. And hence, we do have fair-skinned people around along with a wide assortment of wheatish, honey, and black skin. The best part is that our sharp features blend beautifully with almost all skin tones. I say this at the risk of sounding vain and immodest, but the fact remains.

Photo from students.ou.edu

A few months back, I met a lady from Sweden who was confused when I told her that not all Indians speak Hindi or Sanskrit. We have 29 states and 7 union territories in India which speak 18 different languages! And yes, for people who thought there was a language called ‘Indian’ (yes, I’ve heard that too!), you got it wrong. There’s no such language. Just as there is no language called ‘American.’ Hindi is our national language. Also, ‘Hindi’ is not a religion and ‘Hindu’ is not a language. Also not all Indians are Hindus; there are Indians who follow other faiths like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism. Most of the educated Indians these days are well versed in English.

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My whole intention of writing this post for Elly’s blog is to enlighten the ones who are genuinely interested in knowing more about India, but have been thriving on half-baked information that the media feeds them with. There are many more such myths and illusions that people outside India carry that I have not delved into here, or else this post would have gone much longer than acceptable limits of maintaining the interest of the reader.

Elly, thank you so much for inviting me to ramble on your blog space. For once, I did not write a thought-out story, but just went with the flow of words to come up with a blog post that I thought would hopefully add some value to your blog.

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I am particularly honoured that Vinodini is gracing my blog, zesting it up with a bit of spice and writing about a topic that has always intrigued me. Thank you Vinodini for sharing this enlightening post on India. Namaste.

I encourage you readers to share your thoughts in the comments below to support my wonderful friend in her attempt to write in my style.