Life Winner

Why people can not be happy with what they are having on hand and always expecting what they can have more? 

Why people always keep an eye on what others have but not the other way around to consider how many people don't even have what you have already had?

There are so many called "life winners", in real life, they may not even have one trust friend or one reliable partner.  After leaving their offices, the only thing they can do is "stay home, eat popcorn and watch movies". they are scared of sharing any problem or doubt with anyone, because they can not lose the title as "life winner". How can they ask helps from those they call "Losers"? So for them, life has become a drama you have to act. 

Many of us may lose our own judgement. How to find yourself a balance of "Lose" or "Win"? 

My high school classmates had a first reunion last week after many years. I wasn't able to attend since I was out of town. After the gathering, many people shared photos in our group at social network with their kids and partners.  It was an open invitation to everyone, but what surprised me is only those who married with kids were there. --- Did they want to show they are the winners? or Did the others think  themselves as losers? 

Conversation with my cousin: "Hey, your parents are behind me to introduce some boys to you for marriage since you are only interested in your work and study, what do you think?" "Forget about it, I have seen a lot already, but none of them went well." "What happened to them?" "Hard to say, but I will never lower my standard even so I am not concerned young enough to have more chances in love. I know who I am waiting for and he will appear one day."   "Aren't you bored with your work and study?" "No, I like it! I enjoy very much. I know what I can achieve!" --- Is she crazy or genius?

Casually asking my colleague would he go back home town to visit his parents during Diwali, he said no, because he decided to meet his girlfriend in her city this year. "Wow, how can you manage it?  Are you from different castes?  How long have you been together? Are you guys taking this relationship seriously? " "We met at some event and we only saw each other twice but I know she is the one. Both of us are focusing on careers, but we plan to work in the same city when the opportunity comes." --- Is he idealist or realist?

I was having a tea at balcony and enjoying beautiful Diwali lights hanging outside. Suddenly, I saw a young father climbing up the radder and putting up their lantern on the celling at the opposite side. His wife looked at his every movement and held the radder carefully. A small girl was sitting on the shoulders of her grandfather and excited to see the final result. After a long wait, the arrangement was all settled. The grandmother turned on the switch. At that moment, the light shined everyone's joyful face. The girl was clapping and cheering, the others were laughing loudly at her reactions. Such a pretty and warm picture! --- They are life winners!

Real winners, they take care of what they already won, because they know that's the foundation to help them to gain more; Real winners, they believe in themselves. They have the confidence in what they trust; Real winners, they are not actors in their lives. They understand living their own way, so they can win more; Real winners don't care about what others say, because only themselves are holding the key to happiness and satisfaction.  Be yourself, listen to your heart, and become a winner of your own!

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

Little buddy --- the first day we met

Why do you want to have a puppy?

--- Get bored at home,  but tired of talking to humans
--- Like to observe, just want to look at their cute face, sweet!!!
--- Feel safe, when they are along
--- They are the best friends
If they are reasons you want to have a puppy, sorry, they are not all true. It was not easy to take care of them. Responsibility, Patience, Love, Pray are the qualities you'd better have. After all, you can expect once they grow up they may like what you look for.

I got my first puppy one month ago. It has been a very exciting, tiring, and busy month...

I didn't believe "love at the first sight", but after he was running in front of me --- such a tiny boy with a pair of innocent eyes. When I tried to hold him, he started to lick my face by his little pink tongue. "wow, wet and warm!" Can't understand the person like me always talking about hygiene allowed it happening so easily. At that moment, I realized that I am in Love...

On the way home by car, I was wrapping him with a blanket. He checked and smelled surrounding quickly, and fell sleeping during the rest of time. His whole body was lying on my legs.  He looked so relaxing and easy-going. Suddenly, I was so proud of my choice, because he was not like a little evil as other experienced friends said, he was an angel!

Once we reached home, he was excited to walk around and check rooms by himself while I was busy on preparing his food and water. After having his first dinner at home, he was peacefully settled down at a little corner in the living room. He was tired and asleep again. "Such a wonderful beginning! Can't get any more better."

I started to put some drops in toilet as my vet suggested to train him where to do as early as possible. I also put some old newspaper with drops close by him. Hope that he could do at right places. Refilled the water inside his bowl. Seemed everything was arranged for the night. When you enjoy doing something, you don't feel the time is flying. What else more you could ask for? Little cute buddy at home. Looking sweet and charming. I just could not remove my eyes on him...

Good night, my little buddy!

Actually, the real fun was the next day morning...

To be continued...


the word for today:

xiao gou

小    狗

puppy

The meaning of birthday

When I were small, I looked forwards to having my birthday because mum would cook my favorite noodle soup with pork chops. Until today, it was still my must-order dish whenever I came home meet her. 

When I became teenage, I started to feel the different way of celebrations. You received a lot of birthday cards & flowers from your schoolmates and friends. At home, some aunt bought you a birthday cake with chocolate chips on top. Everybody surrounded you, sang happy birthday songs, asked you to make a wish and then blew the candles.  

Can't remember since when, suddenly I enjoyed the quiet and peaceful time by myself at birthday. I can't stop flashing back what I have been done this year and planning what I suppose to do next year.  At late night, I call some friends out for drinks and try to get crazy. It is still a difficult day to get a good sleep. 

It is really scaring me when the numbers of candles on the cake are keeping increasing, you have not achieved what you planed to be at this age. The funny thing is nowadays, it seems very hard for us to satisfy with anything: 

You study in one of the best universities, but not sure I could get the best job;

You work in one of the top companies, but not sure my salary is the highest;

You get the best offer, but not sure my future partner is as good as me;

You have family, but you can't make enough money to make them happy;

You have family and money, but you cant have time to spend it with them;

or You have money and time, but you cant have love ones beside; 

The saddest time, you have all, but you cant have good health to enjoy everything.

------ So what's the real meaning of our births?  Why are we celebrating it if we are never happy?

 "I want to grow up fast!' "No, you will regret what you said. Take your time to grow." I believe this is a very common conversation between kids and their parents. However, the meaning of it you will only understand when you are grow-ups. 

When I were sitting there and watching a PPT show at one lady's 60th birthday party, my tears wet my eyes. In such a long journey, she has been a beautiful daughter, caring sister, amazing wife, loving mother, wonderful mother-in-law, and happy grandma. Although cooking is her passion, she had to stop her cooking classes because of so many roles she must play at home. Today, she won all respects from entire family, since she gave up her dream without any compliant to fulfill others' dreams.

The meaning of birthday, maybe it is the day coming once a year for us to reborn, to make a new choice, to renew our plan, to reconsider our future, to remind you what you are really looking for in life. It allows us to have the opportunity to spend time with important people in our lives. Maybe unperfected life is actually more beautiful.