I am grateful for …

Navaratri Dandia is a great leveler where every one dances together forgetting all differences.

 Below are some thoughts I had while playing Garaba this evening. I guess the positive energy in the atmosphere there gave me these thoughts. Jai Mata Di!
When I was born, TV was a luxury in India and it had basic state-run phone service and automobile in the form of an indigenous car, Ambassador and a Mahindra Jeep; forget about computers. Today, I use a mobile phone with Internet access, write this on a laptop computer, and drive a fancy car (by Indian standards :-)). In half a lifetime, we have transitioned from no TV or car, to TVs, mobiles, Internet and (soon) self-driving cars, while looking forward to NetWorld (IoT) and smart homes.

I read literature in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and English while eating Gujarati cuisine and developing computer software for American/European/Australian and Indian clients from my office in a tier-2 Indian city. Isn’t that amazingly fortunate?

I am sincerely grateful for having the good fortune of …

·  being born in free and democratic India, my motherland
· spending my childhood in an Indian village and living in a tier 2 city after having lived in New York and Mumbai
· being born in a Gujarati family and living in a joint family with my parents and brother’s family. Having spent time with my grandparents who contributed significantly to my value system.
·  studying in Marathi medium
·  ability of computer programming and project management
· reading a bit of PL Deshpande, VP Kale, GD Madgulkar, Atre, Balkavi, Dinakar, Nirala, Subhadrakumari Chouhan, Harivanshrai Bachchan, Shahabuddin Rathod, Narsingh Mehta, Khalil Gibran, Stephen covey, Malcolm Gladwell and many more.
·  for the liking for reading.
· listening to Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Hrudaynath Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, Yesudas, AR  Rehman, Gulam Ali, Gulzar, Suresh Bhat, Kishor Kumar, Mohd. Rafi, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam … the list is too long!
·  spiritual guidance personally from Sri Sri Ravishankar and Baba Ramdeo
·  eating Gujarati cuisine and Enjoying Garaba/dandiya
·  having a wonderful life partner and son
·  having an opportunity to care for a special child to the best of our abilities
·  guidance and love of so many smart friends with diverse background, geographies and age groups
·  wonderful and loving extended family of all aunts, uncles and cousins
·  for all our customers who gave us an opportunity to serve them
· working with a great team at Harrier and some of the smartest people in India and the world, who shared their knowledge and experience and taught me so much!
·  for the great teachers who cared for us as if we are their own children, in spite of constraints of Indian education system, particularly in villages
·  for the good health and all working senses
·  for the wealth God has blessed me and family with
·  for exposure to various religions like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism.
· for exposure to various streams of life like Science, Commerce, Arts (a little bit), Spirituality, Atheism and others; and the ability to accept those are different ways of life than being judgmental about any.
·  watching Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil deo play cricket
·  watching India reaching Mars
· watching movies of Aishwarya Rai, Nasiruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan
·  the Internet, Web, Yahoo, Google, Wikipedia and all the technology
·  the sense of gratitude for all of these (‘sadbuddhi’) by the grace of God!

The List is literally endless. Can I ask for more? Yes, this is only half the lifetime, and I have many dreams, miles to go and promises to keep … bus itana sa khwab hai (I have a small dream)!! J

Hope you like it. Shall highly appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

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