Hello Friend!

“We have three types of Friends in Life:
Friends for a Reason, Friends for a Season and Friends for a Lifetime.”
This is a post from a friend’s wall on FB. She wrote it in January and the blog post has been in the making, since.  2013, for valentine day, I chose to share my take on what is love and concluded it’s logically illogical and a choice we all make.  
Valentine day 2014, lets talk about you, my friend.    
The quote above is a very profound statement that is open to interpretation.

Here’s mine.

Friends for a reason; making friends for a reason? At the first take this  sounds very selfish, but then it’s not always like that. Definitely not in my Utopian world. Friends for a reason come into our lives to fulfill a gap, a need or a wish that we have. That friend could be your child’s teacher who walks you through the ups and downs of school years, it could be a nurse who holds your hand as you sit next to your loved one in the hospital or it could be a fellow co-worker who understands that a new job can be daunting so instead of being the smart one, they choose to listen and guide you to success. That’s the friend for a reason. 

They are nature’s way of making things happen and keeping the circle of giving going.  Your friend for a reason was literally put at the right place and at the right time by life, so you could take the next step forward.
If this friend vanishes as suddenly as he or she appeared, then don’t be sad. Some relationships are meant to last for only so long because the reason for their existence is over and its time for that friend of a reason to find another and continue to exist.
If this friend continues to become a friend for a season, then you are lucky. Friends for a season are rare 🙂 

The friend for a season is often unseen and untouched until it’s the right time.  
When they are really needed, they magically appear like the cluster of lilies blooming from the cold frosty ground announcing the arrival of spring. 

This friendship has a sixth sense of its own. When the world sees a smile, this friend will see the forced smile. These friends will always be there for you and yet they come and go. These are the friends you won’t talk to for years and yet when you do, the years of absence seems irrelevant.
Friends for a life-time; is your family. Yes, a true and honest familial relationship over time crosses the bridge of relationships to step into the informal playground of friendship. These friendships give us an environment to thrive. They accept all the tantrums as much as the person and either by the stern look of a father, the cuddle of a mother, the kiss from a husband or the hug from a child this life-time friend nurtures you from the inside out. 
Today as the world changes, so do these antiquated beliefs. Friendships today are not limited to in person, they are virtual too. No longer do we need a coffee shop or the bench of a park, today you can meet your friend in a virtual space called the Facebook wall, and then its Me, My Wall and You.
Momma always said, “Birds of a feather flock together, so choose your friends wisely.”  I would then wonder, who is a good friend? 
Today, a friend is “someone I can be silent with.”

Education Evolves.

The purpose of education is much more than acquiring job skills and earning money. Centuries ago Aristotle with his selective choice of words and quotes that spanned generations made it clear that education is the way to eliminate poverty and empower man for the well-being of the society.  Today repeated research echoes the same thoughts.
The recent January 2013 OECD report (click the link for details on report) brings out some interesting findings. The accuracy of these findings can be argued but I think the core of their findings is something we knew all along.  
  • –       Education increases the life span.  
  • –       The educated citizen will participate in more civic activities.
  • –       There is an increased level of happiness amongst the educated vs. the non-or lesser educated.

The above seems pretty obvious. Right?  Better education translates to improved resources and greater access to good health care and thus the increased life span. Better health with improved resources translates to increased happiness too. A higher education allows us to become more aware of our surroundings and its needs and as a result we try and give back more to the society we live in. 
Clearly the status of education or the education policies of a country influences more than just the students, teachers and parents.  So why has this industry been in hibernation? Why is it that teachers in the United States lack the respect and salaries of their counterparts in European countries? Why is it that US has consistently fallen the rank of PISA ratings and yet its neighbor Canada ranks in the top 10? 
Last week, I shared a subjective perspective on education, this week, it’s an objective perspective of Education: The Industry.
There is more to education than just teachers, schools and colleges.  It is an industry surrounded by many mushroom industries that keep the wheel of education moving forward or at the least balanced.
Investopedia (www.investopedia.com) a common man’s guide to the basics of finance defines market as “a medium that allows buyers and sellers of a specific good or service to interact in order to facilitate an exchange.” The price paid is predominantly decided by the supply and demand of the good being sold. In the context of education, the primary consumers (buyers) are the students and or parents.  Further, since education influences the whole community and in large the society as a whole, one could argue that the society is the consumer.  Sellers are the institutions. Either public or private institutions supply education. The government and or non-profit institutions sponsor public education, whereas schools and or individuals who charge a mandated fee for their services supply private education.   

The key element for the existence of a market is not the supplier or the buyer; it is the presence of a good that is “in need” and “in demand.” The good here is “education.” What kind of good is education? Is it the kind that should be easily available to all irrespective of their income strata OR is it the kind that should be available to only few who are willing to pay the price?  If you said, both, then you are correct, it is a mixed good. The failing public schools have created a market for private education, thus creating a need and demand where in parents (the consumers) are willing to pay the price in hope for a better future for their kids. From a finance perspective, they are making an investment into their kids’ future by diverting their limited resources (salary) into their child’s education.

There are proponents for all three situations making education either a public, private or mixed good.  For the purpose of this blog, we will consider education to be a mixed good since education provides individual and community benefits.
If it were simply a private or public good, life would be simple. But then it wouldn’t be interesting enough to write a blog post. 
Education being a mixed good calls for many different decision makers thus complicating things.
Dynamics of the Market of Education:
The very definition of market calls for competition. Here the competition is not only between private and public schools within a city, but the competition extends externally and is both inter and intra school districts. The rules governing them are similar with minor variations coming from state and local laws. 
Economists classify market structure into four broad categories (1) Perfect competition, (2) Monopolistic Competition, (3) Oligopoly and (4) Monopoly.
Very briefly, in a perfect competition there are very large number of buyers and sellers with no barriers to entry and no product differentiation. Monopolistic competition is similar with some (minimal) product differentiation. Oligopoly and Monopoly both have high barriers to entry, with the difference being; the number of sellers. In a monopoly, like the name suggests, there is one seller whereas in an oligopoly there are a few sellers who have a similar product with a key differentiating factor and while they are individual companies, it is in their mutual interest to work together.  The best example is the airline industry. 
The blog identifies education as an Oligopoly.  The sellers (both private and public) provide good education differentiating themselves either with the curriculum taught, the method of instruction, the extra activities offered and or the philosophy of education.  Competition in the market allows the private schools to sell their services for a price with no player trying to price below market as that results in lower price points for all.  Public schools don’t have to fight to attract consumers. Differentiation there comes from a better academic environment, good neighborhood and the prospect of being in a high achieving neighborhood wherein the residents share similar values. This translates to increased property prices for school districts that have a high academic performance. An testament to the mixed good status of education. 
Purely to understand this further, let us assume for a minute that education is purely a public good, in that case the seller would be the government and the market structure becomes a monopoly. Thus eliminating the need for competition as parents would then not be shopping for individual benefits. 
Coming back to the oligopolistic market structure of education, this market structure is going through a paradigm shift and moving towards a monopolistic competition.  How?  By the use of technology.
Technology disrupts; but not in isolation. Technology by itself cannot change a market. It is the application and the use of technology that may or may not disrupt a market.  Unfortunately, technology has always been an option in the field of education, never the mandate. This is the aspect that is changing and demanding an overhaul of the education policies. S.T.E.M subjects are once again coming back into the forefront. Interestingly the demand though is coming from the industries and not the education institutions. The development of the common core standards was also in reverse. The college readiness standards were worked backwards to arrive at what the teaching standard should be for K-12 students 
The first major disruption in K-12 education came when Khan Academy introduced the idea of free high quality education. It provoked public schools to think outside the box, and many teachers tried the model of learning at home and doing the homework in class. The experiment has been a huge success with the academy reaching greater heights both as an institution and its reach to the global student population.  Once the disruption happened, many other instituions came in, with University of Phoenix being amongst the first few for college level education and now companies such as Coursera and Udemy are creating a disruption again, by offerening courses to anyone, irrespective of age. For instance, a 6th grader interested in learning HTML can now take an online course from these private entities to supplement the missing elements in a traditional school environment.  These companies are providing a platform for both the educator and the student to come together in a virtual world and exchange the good of education for significantly lower prices than a traditional brick and mortal model. 

Virtual academies both at the K-12 and college level are gaining popularity as they allow the flexibility of pursuing passions and learning at a price point that is below the market price, thus changing the market structure.   Last week we saw how the corporate world is defining the missing elements in the traditional school curriculum.  Technology and virtual learning is eliminating the gap.


Tutions, a industry that mushroomed to answer the call of failing education system is also becoming obsolete once again thanks to the presence of self learning virtual options. 
You are probably wondering where do the teachers fit into this equation. The teachers are the doers. One could argue that in a sense they are the “good.” Since the quality of education imparted can only be as good as the teacher teaching it, that’s a fair argument. What do you think? 

Irrespective of the type of institution, a teacher is needed to close the loop.  

There was a time in America, when innovation, creativity and thinking out of the box was the heart of education. Teachers were respected and given the freedom to teach.   As the world got smaller this gap got smaller too, and the countries that adapted to the change took lead. Today Finland is given as a leading example of an excellent education system. The philosophy in Finland is simple, education does not allow poverty. Education is a priority for the nation there. It is not limited or restricted to any social strata. Teaching is a highly paid profession so many choose it. It is time for the United States to wake up from its slumber and recognize education as the priority. 

It is time to free education of the bureaucracies that are embedded in  the system. There are bureaucracies within bureaucracies.  The school district is a bureaucracy of its own, which then reports to state and federal bureaucracies.  Within the schools there are informal bureaucracies in the form of PTA’s. Bureaucracies are a necessary evil, however for the innovation to comeback in the American education system, it is imperative to align these bureaucracies to a common goal, the goal of providing the learning to every student in the country. 

There are many other aspects to the overhaul of the education system. Examples would be testing procedures, testing standards, tests themselves, the school infrastructures and most importantly our perception of teaching as a profession. It all needs to work hand in hand. Working on one aspect and ignoring the others will result in failure again, for two wrongs do not make a right.  
As an individual we cannot fight alone to change the system, and besides in these crazy times, wherein we barely have time for our families, how many of us are willing to devote our energy to changing the world.  So lets go back to the ancient adage “charity begins at home,” and start with our own communities. 

Next time you go to your childs’ school, remember to pause and say hello to the teachers. Be a partner in the education of your child and not the questioner.  We all work better when we are appreciated so why should the teaching profession be any different?  

In my humble opinion, the easiest way to bring change in the education system, is by giving the respect and freedom to teach back to the teachers.  

Virtual or brick and mortar teaching model, for learning to happen, at the minimum, you need one student who is willing to learn, and one teacher who wants to teach. 






Education: Effective yet Elusive.

Education goes beyond just learning how to read and write. It is more than mastering the fictions or finding the mysterious X in algebra. Education should be about the community we live, the ecological system that surrounds us and how we and our actions influence it. 


We have learnt a lot since mankind evolved and we have also created a planet where the ecological system is now so delicately balanced that even the slightest tilt could result in a catastrophe. Interesting how the uneducated and naked man was sensitized to the slightest change in climate and here we are still trying to understand the mysterious planet Earth. 

What do you think? Has education desensitized us? 

Remember, when Steve Jobs said that he took a calligraphy course in college, just because he wanted to.  The movie Jobs shows him screaming at his staff, because they could not see the vision and the need for multiple type-faces known as fonts today. Today we know that if he had not taken that course, MS Office would never have had the multitude of font options. 

What does this have to do with education?  It’s the “Why Learn” that is being redefined.

Till now, schools and colleges were the sure set way to a career and one did not need to think out of the box. A standard job required good grades and a few canned answers in the interview. Today a good job can happen without grades provided the applicant has a skill set of value.  See the reversal in roles?  Gone are the days when colleges and education institutions defined what students should learn. Today it’s the businesses defining them.  There are very few jobs left that require a defined skill set, most require multiple skills that allow their employees to float between departments.

Interestingly the change in education is not stemming from schools and colleges but from businesses.  Silicon Valley sweethearts introduced the Hour of Code in December 2013. Their vision; coding needs to be taught in schools starting at the elementary level.   Many would argue otherwise, but the argument is that the world is now techno centric and will get more, so the need to know coding is imperative.  We can argue and agree to disagree on this, but the point is, it is the businesses now demanding and dictating the skill sets needed.

Tangential to this is the changed focus on how the basics are taught.  For the longest time, teachers had the freedom to teach. They could choose their medium and then as the law decided to not leave any child behind came in rigorous testing, scripted manuals and defined curriculum for teaching. Today, the buzz in all schools is Common Core State Standards (CCSS); the new standard for teaching. The CCSS takes us back to the basics. The philosophy “It’s not about what the answer is but how you got to the answer” is at the heart of CCSS. The educators are raising the bar and challenging the students to achieve those higher goals.  


Education has been in an endless state of hibernation, but now spring is here. Once again, the philosophy, life is a circle comes true. 


Google the topic CCSS and you will find a wealth of information. What the articles don’t tell us is How?  They say students are going to be challenged. Students are the most resilient party involved, the teachers and parents are the ones who are going to be challenged the most. 

Yes teachers! Why? Simply because every manuscript they had will have to be chucked out of the window and they have to start from scratch. They have to find a way and connect the evolution of man in science to the migration of man from Africa to USA in social studies.  You would think that should be easy, it’s not. Cross-referencing subjects is not the norm for students in the USA. The weekly testing helps release the stress of semi-annual  testing, but the flip side is chapters are taught in isolation.

This is not bad news for the teachers though. It is very good news, because CCSS gives them flexibility and more elbow room to teach. They don’t have to follow a manuscript. To understand how the earth revolves around the sun, they no longer have to use charts, they can go outside, create a sun-dial and see their students come to life with excitement. 

You wonder why would parents be challenged?  Tuitions will soon be obsolete, because they don’t provide the why and how of learning. They just teach the student how to calculate and read fast.

The wealth of online resources and the new paradigm, quality education should be free is making tuitions obsolete. 2008, with the launch of Khan Academy this paradigm became a reality. This shift will require parents to spend more time with their child. These are challenging times for kids, increased pressure to succeed, an overload of knowledge and the constant need to stay connected adds to their mental stress and takes away from the fun stuff; shooting hoops and just hanging out. Kids need individualized attention that tuitions don’t provide.   More importantly, there is no one as vested in your child as yourself. So why not re-prioritize and spend time with kids and give them experiences. Give them the experience of going to a playground and being a kid and some where in between talk about the kinds of clouds in the sky or ask them how heavy does your sibling have to be for the see-saw to be balanced.  They need to see the connection between what they learn and the real world. 

When the dots connect for those little innocent minds, we as parents will see magic happen.

Have I achieved this at my home? Absolutely not. I am struggling just like many other parents but I am confident persistence will pay off. It’s a rough road that requires every ounce of patience and I am not giving up.

This week, we looked at the subjective and in some ways the philosophical perspective of education. I am going to leave you today with the question: Has education desensitized us? 

As always, thank you for visiting and taking the time to read. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject. Next week, we take a closer look at education as an Industry. 


….. To be continued. 



Tweeting Tweens!

Long time ago, when there were no ipods, cell phones or even calculators allowed in school, the definition of teenage was “when a boy starts noticing that a girl is noticing him.”  Yes, its okay to laugh because it is a lame definition for the times we live in. Teenage has been replaced by Tween age and if the 40’s is the new 30’s then the 20’s is the new 10.  I am gong to stop here, because if I go further, it would mean that babies are born with the smartness of a 10 year old… and that’s a scary thought. 
Why is there such a rush to grow up? Recently I heard a tween conversation in the school and saying that I was apalled is an understatement. I was fuming. Where are they picking up this language form? I am sure their parents don’t approve of it. But then I am told that every one talks like that and those who don’t are either nerds or geeks. In other words, being polite is geekiness now.  Don’t get me wrong these are good kids, in fact the high achievers in school and yet there is this incessant desire to be cooler. “Cool,” another word that is lost in the oblivion of changing times. 
Amongst all the confidence and “I got this,” I see indecisiveness, not because they don’t want to or know how to, but more so because “what will my friends think?” The peer approval becomes the epitome of decision taking. Yet every once in a while comes along a tween who says “whatever” and takes his/her decision, it is this tween that succeeds and becomes the leader. 
Be a parent or be a friend; is the dilemma. 
When the world calls it a night and sleeps is when I put on my thinking cap and think. Just think, as to what happened, and how did the cute little kids who came running to their parents for every little achievement become so independent that even acknowledging their parents becomes optional.  I don’t like it. 
They say its about growing up; growing taller, smarter and hopefully more mature.  How does one make them understand that growing up is a process, one has to learn to grow up. Aging and growing up are not synonyms.   
The experts say be connected to your family. “Connected” is another word going through a transformation. In the 80’s.. if you asked a kid, what is that one thing which is free  the kid would probably say “air,” today they say “wi-fi.”  2014 will see Americans connected even more than before.  Every ad from any internet companies harps on how important it is for the family to be connected. But connected to what? There is a laptop, smart tablets and phones in every household.  Can communication be replaced by the swipe of a finger? 
Life is full of stresses, buckling under and following a crowd is not the answer. How we handle those stresses is what defines us.  It may be hard to be called a geek or a nerd, but mimicking others or disregarding rules to please friends cannot be the answer. 
I don’t have answers to any of the questions raised above. These are unchartered waters for me.  
I wish the tweens of today recognize their strengths. They are smart, creative and out of the box thinkers. Their thinking is crystal clear,  all they need is to tune out the buzzing of the iphone and focus on their dreams and aspirations. 

I wonder if they remember Tweety Bird, the cute innocent bird who was smart, witty and unique, just like they are: The Tweeting Tween 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year.  For a while, It’s been quiet on this blog. The silence has been intentional. Every once in a while it’s important to let silence speak for itself.  

2013 was blessed and yet a very solemn year. The year brought forward altered relationships, changed friendships and life.  Life, a four letter word, that encompasses everything from our friends to our being, and yet we almost always take it for granted.  We assume that as long as we follow the rules and do good deeds, all will be well, but the year showed me how in a minute life changes its course and suddenly every little prized possession becomes meaningless. 

As I moved along in 2013, amongst all the chaos, I then saw those tiny toes and fingers.  The innocent smile, the random twitch of a nose and the blink of an eye, all reassuring me of the fact that life thrives. 

I would be a robot if the contrast of experiences did not force me to think of what really matters.  As the year ended, and the world shared the year in review with celebrations across the globe, I made my new year resolution – More humility and more optimism.  Humility for all the blessings that have been showered on me and my dear ones, optimism so I can forget the bitterness and learn to forgive.  

On a more personal front, besides the usual eat healthy, be a good parent, etc…my primary goal will be to work with myself and the family to not waste. Be it electricity or food, the goal is to reduce squandering. There is way too much being wasted in this world.  We talk about reducing our carbon footprint and yet we keep buying. Tangential to this is the task of de-cluttering. De-clutter both my home and FB wall 🙂 Yes, 250+ friends on FB and there are a handful who visit, so de-clutter. The gamut of ideas brewing in my head about blogging, painting, cookbooks and so much more need some direction and I know I can take them to their destination, just need to figure out how 😉 

New Year’s eve: time to romance, time to indulge, time to make resolutions and underlying all these modern day celebration traditions lie ancient spiritual resolutions. In Haridwar, India you will find folks jumping into the Ganges so they can wash off a year’s worth of sins and take permission to repeat those sins in the new year. Parts of Italy, the locals are busy cleaning their houses to welcome the new year, while the Vienna folks are running after the pig, because if they can touch it, the new year will bring good luck.  

However you may choose to celebrate the new year, the underlying sentiment is the same, welcome the new year with happiness and positivity.  
Only the first 8 pages of the Book 2014 have been written, write the others so when the world reads them, it smiles. 

I wish that all your wishes are fulfilled this year. Happy New Year. 

Picto Blog _ PALM DESERT, CA

This holiday season, we decided to skip the long lines in the popular destinations and take the lesser travelled road to Palm Desert, CA.  
Imagine majestic mountains, a desert landscape and an oasis in the middle; that is Palm Desert, CA. Only 20 minutest east of Palm Springs, CA, it could be called sub-urban Palm Springs too. This is my first travellogue cum picto blog. Come with me to this small town where you can see life spring from stones and rocks. 
SFO _ PALM DESERT, CA _ Approx 7 hours drive assuming NO Traffic and minimal stops. It took us 9 hours. As soon as we entered LA .. it was stop and go. The last 120 miles took 4 hours 🙂 

Every good road trip needs a picnic. Lots of stops along the way to Palm Desert to have a little picnic.
As we crawl in LA traffic.. Last 120 miles took 4 hours.

Club Intrawest Lobby. Beautiful place and definitely a thumbs up accomodation.


This is what we saw as soon as we entered our accomodation. 

Many don’t like cooking during vacation.. but thank fully I don’t mind it.
Makes life a lot easier when you have a family with a varied pallete.
And this kitchen was a delight to be in.

The main living are.

DAY 1: BEAUTIFUL MORNING. 

DAY 1: SUNRISE … and view from the Patio.
Definitely a Good Morning!

Panaromic view from the patio.
Palm Desert is heaven if you like golfing. 

Day 1: Tourist Stop:  THE LIVING DESERT

Love knows no caste, color, creed or animal group.
Some Giraffe Love.
Ok.. In reality its feeding time.. they are eating from the feeder from two opposite sides 🙂 
No two giraffes have the same spots 🙂 

And you thought a nest was simply some twigs put together.
It’s a science. 

This would look gorgeous in a backyard too.
Beautiful display in the African Village at The Living Desert. 

A very handsome Yucca!
What do you think?

The Live Animal Show at The Living Desert.
This is an African Serval. Very unique animals and very up close interaction. 
DAY 2: THE PALM TRAMWAY: It takes you from a Desert landscape to a National park 8500 feet above. From a dry desert landscape to a snowy redwood forest. AMAZING! 
The beginning of the hike as we get down from the tram at the Mountain top. 

Hike starts _ Its a simple hike, but most of the walk is unpaved, so wear good shoes. 
Tree Canopies _ it was a gorgeous day. 
The Desert Trail _ An easy trail for little ones too.
There are 5 vista points, check out all of them.. they are breathtaking views.
Learnt something new.. Jeffery Pine trees.. their scent is like Vanilla or butterscotch like 🙂
And yes, we did get a few whiffs.. YUMM!

Another tree canopy.. the trees are just gorgeous. 

Can u see the Desert Below? 

Can u see the remains of the melting snow?

This was also Thanksgiving Day _ We had a gourmet meal made to specification and taste of every member of the family.  The boys wanted Chicken and the girls wanted something spicy and Indian 🙂 And why not.. Palm Desert is surrounded by Indian Reservations. 
The Thanksgiving Dinner table is set.

Pani Puri _ transcends all cultures and festivals.
Green Beans Casserole with an Indian Fusion

Chicken Tikka
Cake _ yes we bought it from the store. The kids topped it off with ice-cream too 🙂

DAY 4: INDIAN CANYONS, CABOT PUEBLO, Oasis Date Gardens
The Drive to Indian Canyon. 

The Aqua Caliente Indian Reservation taken over by modern man. 
DRIVE THRO’ ATM _ IF ONLY THE BAY AREA KNEW WHAT IT WAS MISSING 🙂 
As we drive towards Palm Canyon
Wonder what thrived here before? 
Some excitement in the otherwise dry landscape
It’s dry, barren and lifeless. 
And then we see this.  The word “Oasis” comes alive. 
Life springs in the most lifeless conditions. 
As we hike down to the Palm Canyon Trail. Its a 15 miles trail.
i would not recommend going all the way.
As you hike down, you will see the Oasis area.. its perfect for those vacation Photo Opps.
Take pictures and then head on over to Andreas Canyon. 
Pictures don’t do justice to the beauty of this landscape.
ANDREAS CANYON TRAIL _ My Personal Favorite Part of the trip.
Its a 1.5 mile easy trail. Its unpaved with up and down climbing on small rocks , but its totally worth it.
You will be blown away.  The stream I am told flows all year long. 
Andreas Canyon Trail
It’s hard to believe there is a desert on the other side of the trail. 

As we exit the trail, this is the view that greets us.
It was surreal.

Cabot Pueblo. A very nice little Pueblo… tucked away in its own world.
If you have time, take their tour.
A door in the Pueblo. Love the words next to the door.
“There is no place just like this place, anywhere near this place. So this must be the place.” 

Notice, I did not link this in the post above. We were hoping for it to be more
than just a date shop.
Well that’s the impression we got after eading its flyer at the hotel.
But it does not have tours, just a 15 minute video and its a very basic date shop.
But if there is still time in the day, go on over _ their date cakes are pretty good and so are the dates that you will buy.

Day 4, we head out early from our hotel, hoping to hike a little in Joshua National Park before 
heading home. But seeing the traffic and how far away it was, we saved it for the next trip to 
Palm Desert 🙂 Yes, I think we will go here again some time. 

It’s one of those places that surprises you. We went thinking there won’t be much and the 
only saving grace will be the hotel pool.  At the end of the vacation, we realized, we tested the
pool waters only once. 

All in all, a great place to take your family to.  Next time you don’t know where to go to.. 
Think Palm Desert, CA. 

Feel the Rain…

Feel the rain on your skin no one else can feel it for you, is the only song in my mind as I watch it pour outside.  I love the rain. To those who think only sunshine brings happiness, I say “you have never soaked in the rain.”
As I walk to the school armed with my umbrellas to pick up the kids, I look around me; folks searching for that awning to stand under and here I am walking under the open sky with my umbrella tilted just ever so slightly to the left, so I can feel the droplets on my face.  It’s the one time, I do not care about  looking out of place. The water makes me come alive. If I wasn’t trying to protect the kids from this freezing cold shower from the heavens, I would have thrown the umbrella and soaked in the pure blessings of mother nature. Water is the essence of life.  Two thirds of this Earth is water, we spend thousands to go on vacations and stay in an ocean front property; yet a few drops of water and we scout for cover. Humans! We are without a doubt the most contradictory species alive.
Once home, I brew my cup of tea and sipped on it staring aimlessly at the magic outside. Random thoughts of child hood crossed my mind. One incident that has stayed with me from a long time ago.. it must be the early 90’s or maybe even the end of 80’s.. regardless, it was a scorching, absolutely brutal Indian summer. The Earth was parched and after many chants from the gurus, the clouds came and poured. I remember running out on the terrace and just throwing my arms up to soak in the rain. It was a liberating moment, wherein the stare of a stranger did not pass through the water shield I was surrounded by.
Rain like love embraces you from head to toe and soaks us with pure innocent droplets from the skies as the clouds play cupid.   Romance the rain for it gives you the chance of slowing down to release your inhibitions and splash puddles like you once did as a child.  Romance the rain just because. The continuous pitter patter or raindrops on my window makes me inexplicably happy. 

If weather was food, sunshine would be a scrumptious chocolate cake, a  delicious bite would warm our souls. Wind would be a spicy tangy sauce, jolting us with its bite. Snow would be ice-cream, frosty cold frosty and yet so comforting. Rain would be what it is; plain pure refreshing water, blending effortlessly with all foods and moods.   There really is no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of weather. Good or bad is a human concept. 

The seasons exist for a reason, without them our Earth would not be the living planet that it is. 

“Next time it rains on you, step outside and don’t just get wet, but try and walk in the rain. The truth is if there was no rain, there would be no rainbow.” 

The Shy Little Girl.

Once upon a time in a land faraway was born a little girl. Her parents had wished for a daughter and there she was, a quiet shy little thing trying to make her space in this beautiful world.  In time she too grew up, still continuing to be quiet, shy and content in her little world. Challenging the world was never her style, but walk camouflaged amongst a crowd was more her style.  Amongst the crowd, though camouflaged she met some like minded friends. Some stayed with her, some she lost along the way.  
Father time did not stop for her either, it kept moving and so did she. Today as she looks at the mirror, she remembers the young girl that crossed the seven seas to start a journey far away from home in an unknown land.  She was nervous, but not afraid. She took small confident steps and today as she stands in front of the mirror she sees the woman who continues to live in her little world, but is not shy to explore the world around her. She walks amongst the same crowd but does not camouflage. She continues to stay true to her old friends and has made a few new ones too. 
A year and 50 posts later, here she is reflecting upon the past. What does your birthday mean to you?   To her, its her very own personal new year.  
The little girl always loved birthdays. She would turn the house upside down just because her birthday was only two months away.  Today, her kids do the same to her.   She no longer creates the hoopla for her birthdays, but rather on her birthday she pauses and thinks. She thinks about stuff. Yes, stuff in general. No philosophical retrospection. She ponders about all the little imperfections she has seen and how despite the glitches in life, at the end life finds its way. It’s quite amazing to her.   
She thinks about the year ahead and tries to write down a plan for achieving her dreams and objectives for the year and realizes that the more she tries to pen them down, the more far fetched they seem so she tears the paper and being true to herself, she once again leaves it to life and decides to keep her thoughts to herself and go with the flow; for life she believes has a way of preparing us for the future in its own unique way. 
As her big day gets closer and everyone asks her about how she plans on celebrating. She realizes that now her birthday is not about the party but its about reflecting upon her life and being solely with her family. She loves receiving the phone calls from her friends and family from lands faraway. She loves seeing the effort her family goes through trying to keep it all a surprise, but most of all she loves just being thankful for another year. 
Around her she sees a world trying very hard to stay young, and she wonders, why is the world so afraid to grow old? Maybe because growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Sometimes in an effort to stay young forever the gap between growing old and growing up becomes so wide that it leaves us feeling and looking confused. As she thinks to herself, she is thankful that the gap is not so for her. She is staying young just enough to be able to talk to her kids and growing up just enough to be there for them when they need her. 
So true. Be thankful for growing old. 
She stops staring and instead smiles at the mirror, for now she is a year older and a year wiser. She is no longer afraid or shy because she knows its not the leaps and bounds but the one confident step every time that makes the journey possible.  And for that she is thankful not to herself or god, but to her better half. He doesn’t surprise her with roses and diamonds but yes he took  the shy little girl by her hand and continues to introduce her to the confident girl that was and in some ways is still hiding inside her.  He tells her that at this point she should do what she likes.  
She looks at the cake in front of her and realizes that the icing is no longer pink and purple, the number of candles keeps changing, but the cake beneath is still the same.  She closes her eyes, makes her wish, cuts the cake and once again closes her eyes to secretly thank for and the imperfectly perfect world she lives in. 
Its YOUR very own personal New Year.