Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated each year in the United States on the 4th Thursday in November. It is a federal holiday. Most offices are closed on Friday (day after Thanksgiving Day) also. Therefore many people will have a 4-day weekend.

It is supposed to be a religious observation to give thanks to God. The first thanksgiving was celebrated in the United States to thank God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. The early settlers of the Plymouth Colony (now Plymouth, Massachusetts) were called Pilgrims. It is said the first thanksgiving was celebrated for 3 days. That first thanksgiving was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Indians. That is American Indians and not East Indians.

The traditional Thanksgiving feast menu includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Of course, lot of alcohol also consumed.

Traditionally, in our home, my wife cooks the following. Of course, I help her. This menu idea came from Google.

Starters: Tomato and Roasted Bell Pepper Soup with Sourdough Croutons

Salad: Apple, Dried Cherry and Walnut with Maple Dressing

Main Dishes: (Since we are vegetarians) A Vegetarian Dish, Maple Grazed Carrots, Peachy Sweet Potato Casserole, Mashed Potatoes.

Dessert: Pumpkin Pie

Of course there is always a football game (not soccer) in the TV. We invite a few relatives and friends and eat and drink our heart out.

Friday, the day after thanksgiving, is another story. It is called Black Friday because the retailers hope that their sales figures will move out of the red and into the black. It is the biggest and busiest shopping day in USA. It is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Most of the department stores open at 5 AM on that Friday and many people will be waiting outside in line all night to enter the store at 5 AM and grab the stuff. There are always huge discounts on all items in the store.

But this year it is going to be different. We are driving to Southern California to see Dinnyland (that is Disneyland) and Universal Studios for the umpteenth time. My family thinks if we do not go on a plane it is not a vacation. That is a different story to be told at a later date.

We are returning from Southern California on Sunday. Next week I have to attend to some urgent and important chores. Therefore, my next posting will be after 12 days.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Hope

A few months ago I read a book titled “Call Me Hope”, written by Gretchen Olson. That book touched my heart. While browsing the web yesterday, I happen to read a commentary on this book.

This is the story about a 11 year old Hope Marie Elliott. She is studying in sixth grade. Hope lives under the pressure of her abusive mother. . Hope’s father ran away from home when she was a baby. Her mother told Hope that her dad ran away because “she cried all the time”. She has been called stupid and idiot so many times that she started to hate these two words. Her mother never said a single praising word to Hope.

Hope is tempted to run away from home but chooses to tackle the situation. She establishes a creative point system. She gives herself points for every bad thing her mother says to her. She finds comfort and inspiration from reading Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.

Luckily her friends, school teachers, and some neighborhood old ladies shower affection on her. With their support Hope gradually begins to believe in herself. Finally she is able to confront her mother about her abusive words and help her begin to change.

People, who generally think child abuse means someone physically hurting a child will change their mind after reading this book. Even constant verbal abuse is also child abuse.

Parental abuse happens because of different reasons. They themselves were abused as children. Lack of parental knowledge. Expecting too much from their children. Financial problems. Insecurity and immaturity. Alcohol and/or drug problem. Unable to manage children as a single parent. Defective self-image. Some parent think since they give birth, they have the right to do anything with their children.

Children suffering from abuse develop a range of anti social and self-destructive behaviors from academic difficulties to depression to panic attacks to suicide attempts. Many children, especially girls, run away from home and end up in red light districts.

At the same time, there are many children fight back in their own way and excel academically. They become lawyers, doctors, engineers, software professionals, managers, business executives, etc.

This is my 50th posting and I proudly dedicate this blog to those abused kids who have become a success in their life through their hard work and dedication.

News Flash: As I am about to post this blog, the TV is giving this sad news. Anul Ram, a 31 year old Indian origin woman in Sacramento (about 75 miles from our place) has been arrested for allegedly drowning her 3 year old daughter to death. She has been estranged from her husband and living separately. The child’s father called the police asking for a welfare check of his daughter and 7 year old son. When the officers went to her apartment they found the child unresponsive. The officers performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. They rushed the child to the UC Davis Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

Where is the limit for child abuse? How sick can some one be to drown a helpless child? Children are a gift and are to be loved. They should not be harmed in any way.

The World's Most Powerful People

Forbes Magazine, for the first time, has come out with a list of “The World’s Most Powerful People”. The magazine allotted one slot for each 100 million people in the world for a total of 67 slots.

What are the criteria for ranking? There are 4 of them.

1. Do they have influence over lot of other people?

2. Do they control large financial resource?

3. Are they powerful in multiple spheres?

4. Do they actually use their power?

They first ranked all the candidates in each of these 4 dimensions. The individual rankings were averaged into a composite score which determined who was ranked above whom.

Here are the top 10 powerful people in the world:

1. Barack Obama, President, United States of America
2. Hu Jintao. President, People’s Republic of China
3. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister, Russia
4. Ben Bernanke, Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve
5. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Founders, Google
6. Carlos Helu, Chief Executive, Telmex, Mexico
7. Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, News Corporation
8. Michael Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores
9. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, King, Saudi Arabia
10. William Gates III, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

There are 5 Indians on that list. They are:

36. Man Mohan Singh
44. Mukesh Ambani
50. Dawood Ibrahim (yes, the same Dawood Ibrahim)
55. Lakshmi Mittal
59. Ratan Tata

Three bad guys made the list. Osama bin Laden (37), Joaquin Guzman, Mexican drug trafficker (41), and Dawood Ibrahim (50).

Oprah Winfrey (45) is the only entertainer.

John Roberts, Jr. (49), Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is the only person from the judiciary.

Three journalists made the list. William Keller (51), Executive Editor, The New York Times, Wadah Khanfar (54), Director-General, Al Jazeera, and Mark Thompson (65), Director-General, BBC.

I noted some interesting points.

Igor Sechin (42), Deputy Prime Minister of Russia is more powerful than Dmitry Medvedev (43), President of Russia?

Kim Jong II (24) of North Korea and Luis Silva of Brazil (33) are more powerful than Man Mohan Singh (36)?

We can take consolation that Man Mohan Singh (36) is more powerful than Syed Gilani (38), Benjamin Netanyahu (46), Nicolas Sarkozy (56) and Hugo Chavez (67).

Osama bin Laden (37) is more powerful than Syed Gilani (38)?

Dawood Ibrahim (50) is more powerful than Lakshmi Mittal (55) and Ratan Tata (59)?

If they give one slot for every 100 million people, then India should have received 11 slots on a mathematical basis. The highest place an Indian could get is 36. This will bring down many Indian leaders to reality.

Following is the total breakdown:

1 Entertainer, 1 Judiciary, 3 Bad guys, 3 Journalists, 20 Leaders of countries, 39 Rich industrialists or people associated with money.

In the end, money talks. You have money. You have power. That is the bottom line.