Annual day celebrations
Disclaimer : This is not an account of the annual day celebration a school conducts to reminisce their foundation day.
Two reasons for this title : It has been a lifetime since I last had been to a school (I am twenty five, feels lot less daunting when written in words), and I cannot think of a more befitting title to an annular event. If you guessed it already, you would not need an IQ test, you are already a genius. But if you are like me, last week I was reminded of my first day of existence in this "lovely" planet as a part of the Andromeda galaxy.
Just kidding, we are part of the milky way, there is still four billion years till we "meet and greet" each other (cannot wait!). Talking about annihilation reminds of this particular event which occurred in the snobbishly dark midnight of November 7th, I am not talking of my birth, but of the election results of United states. My birthday (November 8th) has particularly been targeted for shocking events. Let me remind you of some previous events:
November 8th, 2016 : PM Narendra Modi of India announces the demonetization of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes. This was when everything went haywire! There are many stories to tell about this, but none being merry.
November 8th, 2016 : An extremely charming, relentless and hardworking person is provided a four tenure to lead United States into its demise glory.
Many others can be accessed here.
I do not want to enlist all the gloomy events which coincidentally occurred on my birthday. Two spectacular things happened for United States, first woman of colour had been nominated to be the vice president of USA and the other being that cost of peanut butter decreased substantially. In all seriousness, another old man got elected to be the president of USA. What is their obsession with old presidents (nervously typing this after checking the average age of presidents of India) ? You might ask me, why would I care, having spent all my life nowhere close to United States? There are several factors which influence my answer :
United states is a leading exporter/consumer of peanut butter, and I just love it.
Scratch the above reason. They are one of the leading contributors to GDP and I hate to agree that they have a huge say in United Nation's major decisions which influence our world (isn't UN == USA, perhaps it's best not to answer that!) .
They are known to stick their noses in many political conflicts being a socialistic capitalistic country. Some maybe for resources, but it is largely for "world peace and prosperity".
It is a land of opportunity, many great minds of other countries (predominantly Asian) have migrated to this country essentially to have a better lifestyle and contribute more to USA's economy and population of skilled professionals. India has first hand experience with brain drain, which wasn't quite a surprise given the brimming population.
I have friends in USA who I care about (this is the primary reason).
A random thought crossed my mind while I was writing this. Why didn't USA include "great" in their nomenclature? Their predominant precursors and ancestors did. It would have made "Make America great again" redundant (please remind me when it was great in the first place, Britain you too). And would have saved the nation and the world of wasteful leadership. The only population which benefitted in this four years are creative artists (meme makers) and television show anchors.
Another gratifying news was released this week (almost feels like it was held until the elections) about a vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and Biontech reaching a 90% effectiveness against he/she/it-who-must-not-be-named ( weren't we aiming for 55-60%, that escalated quickly). Pfizer almost stole due credit, or at least US media wanted to pounce on this credit train, but hey, your government never funded it in the first place. I kinda have a sweet spot for conspiracy theories and here is one that I read off the internet. You know what, best I don't write it here, I don't want to get any political in this blog.
Let's get back to my birthday! I turned 25, yay! To diabetes and weakened bones! In all seriousness, this was the most memorable birthday, spending it with my family. I received two heart warming gifts, one was surprisingly expected and the other completely unexpected.
This birthday was a sequence of unforeseen events. First, a gift from someone apart from my family. I do not have any friends in the place I currently live, this was a pleasant surprise. I never fathomed (pun intended) in my wildest dreams, someone will take so much efforts to gift me on my special day after knowing me for such a short duration. Life is unexpected as we know it. A scratch map is perfect motivation to travel more, and scratch away countries that I had the pleasure to visit. She has been my sole inspiration to write a blog on the internet. If you are curious, head to thecuriousmaverick. On a side note, I scratched away Belgium despite only trekking near its border due to its tiny presence (sorry Belgium, I truly am, perhaps will pay a visit in the future to set things right). The Mexican man really loves this country for its adaptation of French language.
The gift which followed was from my family, whose brainchild was my sister. I cannot thank them enough, they have always given me thoughtful gifts. One particularly hilarious event occurred with my extended family. They wrongly guessed my birthday, despite knowing me for twenty five years. Perhaps social media is the only hero in these situations, or I have a good memory with birthdates and numbers, I never fail to wish my close and dear ones.
In the closing ends of my birthday, another unexpected surprise waited for me, orchestrated by my dear sister. My cousin (third, if I am not wrong) and his friends visited us and celebrated my cake cutting ceremony together followed by my sister's effortless dinner preparations. It is strangely contrasting to how I spent my last birthday, apart from baking a pizza and a cake with a friend and almost attending an expensive concert with taco man (we simply chose not to attend it, it was too lavish for us).
I would write more about my previous birthday when my blog series on graduate experience reaches that timeline. I can see that I am sufficiently far from it now. I apologize to the regular readers for my delay in regular posts. There wasn't any unfounded knowledge that I reflected upon after this birthday apart from this one.
Some people we meet aren't meant to stay long, we must cherish the time we spent with them. Sometimes people ghost or avoid you, do not take it personal. It's the other person's loss. Spend your time with people who value your thoughts and time.
- Karthigeyan Ganesh Shankar, New-age philosopher and revolutionary.
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