Just a wish

Each single day could be a special day for some one.

With the increasing of the age, getting more socialized with people, sometime I just feel that I have lost the interest of celebrations. 

On any colleague's birthday, the cake is bought by the boss. Everybody is called to attend a short gathering. Of course, singing "Happy Birthday to ......" becomes a must performance. Anybody looks so happy, but I believe most of you just want to get a piece of cake, run back to your desk, and leave the office at 6:00pm sharp.  

When seeing people holding hands and enjoying their special wine and chocolate on valentine's day, I just can't stop thinking how many of you really know the meaning of love, "hope you are the only date for him/her tonight!"

However, today, I feel something different. Maybe I have been away from home for many years; Maybe I have the guilty that I haven't celebrated any special day with them for so long; Maybe I was too busy to even give a call every week. Maybe I am too selfish, until today I just cant tell them that I love them both so much; Maybe, and maybe...... 

I tried to give a lot of excuses to myself to convince myself that overall I am still a good daughter. But I know I am not.

"Happy Wedding Anniversary to both of you, my lovely baba and mama!" 

Thank you for your right decision, so I have the opportunity to come to this wonderful world and have selfless love from both of you! Please stay healthy, give me a chance to make up the time I wasted before. 

Hope there are more and more years..... we can be together... love, laugh, and live!!!!




The wold of the day

Wedding Anniversary

Jie Hun Ji Nian Ri

Get Inked!

 Few days ago, I spoke about how if you are a visitor in India, you are bound to come across some or other Festival. There is one more t
hing that I forgot to mention which you come across in India on a frequent basis is The big “E” - Elections.

There are a lot of parties in India such as national parties, regional parties and local ones. Believe it or not, since the elections are always held in different regions at different times, it is normal that you may just see some activities of elections while traveling within India. The levels of elections can be huge event as National Elections, State Elections, or smaller ones like District Elections, Municipal Elections and Gram Panchayat Elections (to elect head of villages). No matter what happens ahead, be rest assured its elected by the people.

Leaders of each party

If you are in Maharashtra these days, congratulations, you can have a close look at how excited people are. On 15 Oct, people of Maharashtra, the largest state in western India voted to form a state government.  From 7am to 6pm, people went to vote for their favorite political party. India takes pride in its democracy. It is considered an extremely vibrant democracy. People from all classes and castes come out and vote depending on their own wishes. To show that they encourage their employee to participate in this event, many companies allow their employees to leave the office early or come slightly late. Some offices even give a day off to make sure their staff won’t miss the event.

Congress, Bjp two national parties and Shiv Sena a strong regional party are the 3 major contenders for these elections. Mr. Modi too has campaigned extensively here for his party BJP. What made him come to Mumbai twice within few days? Why did the related news catch so many peoples’ eyes? Basically, Maharashtra is a huge province and with Mumbai as the capital, power here means access to huge money. Recently in May, India made history of sought. After 30 years, India collectively voted a strong prime minister with absolute majority to a single party and the result, gentlemen called Mr. Narendra Modi as the head of the nation. However, will his personal charm help BJP to win the election in Maharashtra? So far, nobody knows. Shiv Sena has a large amount of supporters in this region since many years. It is always the favorite party for most of native Maharashtra people.

Social media is full of people showing inked finger selfies and news channel busy talking of numbers, this is one time in India, when dividers get united and unity gets divided, of course in a nice way.

Good Luck to All. The result will be out on 19^th!

"Clean India", will it be always a dream?

Have you ever seen an Prime Minister sweeping the street with such a proud? Yes, I did. Just got down the flight from his US trip, the Prime Minister Modi surprised whole India again by holding the broom in front of Media......

2 October, it is always a very special date in every Indian's heart, because it is the birth anniversary of the father of the nation --- Mr  Mahatma Gandhi who led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. His idea of "nonviolent civil disobedience" has been influencing on many generations. However, very less people knows that there was one more thing he was keen on --- the cleanliness of the nation which has been left behind for many years. But, this year, at the ceremony of his 145th birth anniversary, PM Modi launched the biggest campaign named "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" (Clean India). He is aimed at making India a clean country by 2019 in order to fulfill the dream of Gandhi at his 150th anniversary. 

The PM's "clean" India posted
 on his official tweeter 

After his announcement, entire India warmed up for this event. The photo of him holding the broom and sweeping the street became so popular in all kinds of media. He also invited 9 person to come to public places and work towards clean India. Of course they need to challenge the other 9 person afterwards to assure this activity will keep going on. He highlighted that "This campaign is above politics, this is purely due to our love for the nation." He hopes that all Indian will take a part of it. Many famous people such as popular Bollywood starts and cricket players, have accepted his challenge and were very supportive.  It becomes like a Indian version of "Ice-bucket challenge". However, just like PM Modi said by himself "This is not about Modi... Modi is only one of its 1.2 billion people... This is people's task." How many Indians will really follow his idea and build up good habits? It is not easy to change peoples' mindset, isn't it? 

As a foreigner living in India for many years, I can feel the difference after Mr Modi became the new PM. People are excited  and full of hopes. I have no doubt about his charm among his people, but 5-year is long enough? 

Good luck, Mr Modi! Good luck, India! 

 The word for today
Cleanliness
gan jing

Nine Nights Festival —— Just dance and pray!

If you are a regular visitor or a long-term resident in India, you are always bound to come across some kind of celebrations in between the normal chaos & the fast paced life. Most of the times it’s either a marriage or a festival. Lighting, bright Colorful clothing, various flowers, very often dancing symbolize these festivals spread across different religion & communities of India. 

If you are wondering what’s going on with the colorful lights, loudly played music & dance everywhere these days, well! We are going through the NavRatri (Nava-9 & Ratri-Nights) Festival right now. This is a festival that goes for nine nights. In a highly male dominated Indian society where even Gods have a bigger share of festivals on their side, NavRatri is a rare extravaganza of Goddess. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti(power) / Devi (Goddess) are worshiped. It is the most enjoyable time of the year for Indian ladies because it is the festival especially for their respected Goddess. It represents the importance of women’ s power and they should gain their equality in the society as well. A lot of ladies wear shining traditional dress and dance overnight. Most of times in life, they are only looked as a supporting role, but during NavRatri, they finally play as a leading character!

Interesting thing is this festival also corresponds to a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily by the ethnic Chinese of Min Nan linguistic group in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and also the Riau Islands called the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.

Navratri is an important major festival and is celebrated all over India; however, it is most famous in the western state of Gujrat & Eastern state of West Bengal, although celebrations are done differently in these both states. In Gujarat it’s more of the dance forms of garba & dandiya (dancing with 2 sticks as prop ) while in Bengal is popularly the Durga Puja decorations that is the Highlight. When Mr Xi was invited by Mr Modi to visit his hometown during his recent trip to India, garba & dandiya was performed by a group of festival dressed ladies at the event. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomizes the victory of Good over Evil.

If you are in India & aware of any dandiya event close to your place, do not hesitate to visit it and give a shot to the dance. It’s worth every penny if it’s a paid event. The costumes are colorful & lavish. 

The word for today
Dance
Tiao Wu