The little things to look forward to this year...

         It has become a habit of sorts...to get the new calendar every time a new year rolls in and to check the dates and days for all the festivals. Nah, not because I’m super religious or anything like that. It was to get all my holidays sorted out. What can I say? I always had my priorities right! 

Back in India, I’d cross my fingers and hope that none of the major festivals (or for that matter, even the Independence Day) happened to be on the weekend. It’d mean losing that extra day off. Who’d ever want that? While there was certainly a religious angle to it, food was a big part of the festivals. A good chunk of time was spent preparing it, consuming it, followed by a nap to digest it. Not to forget that after the advent of cable television, watching all the movies aired devoted to the particular God being celebrated on the day. It was a little reprieve from the mundane routine of school and work.

Forward to the here & now. Major festival or not, if it’s a weekday, you’ve got to run. Places to go, work/homework to do, activities not to be missed... It gets crazier as the kids grow older, and especially if you have kids in different schools. You are lucky if their holidays/breaks match partially at least. So now when I open the Hindu temple calendar, it is with hope that at least the handful of festivals we celebrate fall on the weekend/holiday. I know...how people change! So for 2019, first on the list: Ugadi (Telugu New Year) - it’s the Friday of Spring break for one child and the other one doesn’t have school that day for some reason. Looks like the year is off to a good start! Rama Navami is on a Saturday - maybe we could go to the temple to enjoy the delicious Kalyana Bhojanam (wedding feast). Ganesh Chaturthi falls on Labor Day! Sweet! Not just any weekend...this is a long weekend! All activities and all schools will have a holiday. Deepavali is on a Sunday! This does seem to be a lucky year! Of course, we could still end up having something crazy come up and not celebrate any of these, but hey, the stars seem to be aligned right! When something that’s not in your control - even if it is a tiny trivial thing - turns in your favor, it feels good :)

        So while we all look forward to the really really big things like world peace and such, personal big things like milestones/goals accomplished, may you also have a whole lot of little things along the way that bring a smile to your face! Here’s to a happy, healthy, blessed 2019...