South Asian Festival : Toronto


Hi friends,

Hope all of you guyz are doing fine!! its been a long while i wrote about something, but then the life is all mundane so dint felt like sharing much.. however we had an South Asian Festival on the famous Gerrard Street here in Downtown Toronto.

It was an amazing experience, the one which makes us proud of being Indian. I felt so Proud to see the native Canadians dressed in traditional Indian(Asian) wear, women dressed in silk kurta-pyjamas, and males in sherwanis, I had a part time job on this street and wasnt in the liberty to click these images as my boss was constantly around me :P, never the less i will try my best to get you in my shoes.

First, let me share some facts,
• The guys here like ThumpsUP more as compare to Coke (We get it illegally in most Indian and Pakistani grocery stores or restuarant)
• The gals are carzy for Fanta, they were craving for it as if it was some gold
• Chats are favored here too, i wonder, how Indian/Asian foods are fast accepted by Canadians.
• Naan was refered as special type of bread.
• Butter Chicken was on everyones mouth.
• Banarasi/Calcutti/Lahori Paans were asked by many, which again amazed me.
• Believe me I saw a long Queue for Kashmiri Tea (made with kesar/saffron and dry fruits)
• Pani Puri stalls were most busy for the entire festivals
• and the most shocking for me, was to see Asians showing more attitude/tantrums than the natives

The surrounding, settings and ambience were perfect, brightly coloured tents on street, the entire street full of crowd and both sides taken over by street food vendors. Not for an instance i felt outside India, the bollywood music of 80s and 90s, Bhangra beats, singing competition, young and beautiful children performing folk dances, there were Bharat natyam, Kuchipudi, Garba, Bhangra some canadians also went up to stage and tried learning these steps :)
The best part was that as we all know how concerned these natives are for hygiene and stuffs, but they act like asians on those days, they bought asian chats/foods and they sat on the brinks of road or wherever they found place some were sitting down on road too.
One thing in particular which was very fascinating was to see the native girls applying heena (mahendi) by professionals on the streets, buying colourful dupattas, bindis and bangles. I particularly could feel the amount of zest and eagerness in them to learn about our culture, our staying. The same kind of feeling was when i visited ISKCON temple here, which had the similar aura.

There were some sweets moments too... like a very young 2 year old girls were dressed in traditional wears with Indian Dolls in their hands, old ladies and gentlemen coming inquisitive to know about our cultures and various cuisines. Afghanis, Europeans, Middle East Asians and North Americans all people from different walks of life were present and enjoying this festival, which makes this festival even more realistic to our festivals as we have been like this.

All in all it was a very rich experience with a feeling of pride of being Indian. I guess its because of such diversity and unique tastes that we have a distinct mark in this World.

Memories

Its been 3 whole months in Canada now, and i have had a royal time since my landing in this so called advanced country. I am having a royal time as i dont have a job, studies are not as tuff as it used to be back home and have a lot of time to leisure.

Suddenly an irrelevant talk or thought sparks memories that influence an enormous amount of nostalgia. Thinking about the days of childhood, days in junior college and life in hostel. I miss the scoldings and beatings of dear mom, teachers. I miss the catch-catch sessions(with anything that comes in our hand) during school breaks, cycle racing back home, the festivals and most importantly the summer holidays. Ahh life was so LIVELY. And it does not take long to reminisce all that had transpired during the times and days of yore. They were little things, things that would never have any relevance in todays world. In fact they would be ridiculed and laughed at. But when you live those years again in today’s times they bring back such vivid and exciting memories.

Here are the few words which one of my friend recently posted on facebook, which touched my soft spot about the childhood days and my thoughts and actuated me to write this blog.

I Want To Go Back To The Time When INNOCENCE Was NATURAL, Not FAKE.
When GETTING HIGH Meant On A SWING, Not PROMOTIONS.
When DRINKING Meant RASNA ORANGE, Not BEERS Or WHISKEYS.
When DAD Was The Only HERO, Not DEPP Or TOM.
When LOVE Was MOM’S HUG, Not The GIRL-FRIENDS’.
When DAD’S SHOULDER Was The HIGHEST PLACE On The Earth, Not Your DESIGNATION.
When Your WORST ENEMIES Were Your SIBLINGS, Not Your MANAGER.
When The Only Thing That Could HURT Were BLEEDING KNEES, Not The TEARS Falling Down Your Cheeks.
When The Only Things BROKEN Were TOYS, Not The DYING HEARTS.
And When GOOD-BYES Meant TILL TOMORROW, Not For YEARS & YEARS...

We had little then, but we felt large. Today we feel large, but we get little. Little in quality, little in response, little in the way we conduct ourselves, little in thought and word … just little .. in everything we do and believe in. The large heart, the large feel and the largeness of being small has all left behind for the past. Today our perspectives have changed. Time and tide have brought in the changes we so fiercely protected when young.

Now i wonder, how things were taken granted, how parents were taken granted.

Only if we could travel back in time to ;
Wash that first bicycle once again,
Eat those mangoes and all the fruits till our hearts are not filled,
Sit around our grandparents to listen their stories,
Play more with our friends,
visit the native place with much excitement,

rolling our beds in open roofs and just counting stars in the summer night,
the aroma of fresh earth just after few drops of rain,

aaww and the list would never end...............................

As time and tide waits for none, and the morning alarm brings me back to where I am . And obeying the fact that change is name of the game, I am gearing up for the daily struggle, hardships, and staying in in the survival of the fittest world.... while not forgetting that each moment spend will be memory for tomorrow and hence living life to the fullest, and enriching my future nostalgia of memories... ha ha ha ha

Keep HOPE

hii folks,

This goes for my roommates and few friend going thru their trying times; i can understand that these world has not been rosy to u guyz however it was never always rosy for others as well, if i could cange the world for u guyz, i would have been more than happy to do so...... but somethings are better managed by TIME, all we can do is help ourselves in the best possible ways and keep HOPE... i sincerely request all u friends out there going thru bad times to keep HOPE as there is no other thing as good as HOPE, once you choose HOPE, anything's possible.

I am sure you guys have that thing in you and will succeed at some point of your life,,, just stick on and try the best u can... as at the end of the tunnel there has to be a light, and if there isnt we will bend the tunnel ;)

Its struggle that everyone has to pass through, so this a short example of butterfly which needs to go through so much of struggles before showing their beauty to this world....

Before a butterfly can emerge out of it’s chrysalis it has to go through a lot of struggling. Yes, struggling. Each time it lunges out to escape, acids are being removed from its wings. If someone were to come along and break the chrysalis open for it then the butterfly would die from those acids. In essence the struggle is necessary for the butterfly to survive. Then in the stillness, when the struggle is over, the butterfly can come out and share its beauty with the world.

We as humans are not any different. There are times that we need to struggle, to rid ourselves of the acids that make up sadness, fear, and anger. It is only at this time when we are exhausted and still that we begin to hear the Universe whisper to us.

So friends take heart and have courage to face the struggles they are temporary but hope is permanent, as i mentioned earlier hope will put everything in place......

take heart, my friends.

Take Heart, My friends!!

In our lives there may be situationsthat make us feel agitated, depressed, sorrowful, disheartened and so on.
But life isa precious gift and each individual carves out his own destiny. You may be aperson with cheerful disposition; you may be a loner, you may be a person whoexperiences bouts of depressions, you may be calm and composed individual.Whatever it is you are what you are, mainly due to perception of your mind.
Mind is thatpart of consciousness that perceives and thinks. It is the way you perceivethings that moulds your personality, your life. Is your mind a happy place orworrisome place? If it is in a happy place you have a positive attitude towardslife. Negative thinking makes the person sad, depressed and agitated. When youhave a positive attitude you are holding the reins of your mind. If you are harboringnegative thoughts, your mind is controlling you.
Ourhappiness depends mainly on how we interpret things we experience in life.Every adversity, every failure if taken positively can result in greatachievement. We very often blame the circumstances or the people around us andunfortunately these accusations will not help us at all in restoring thesituations. There are examples of great men who have risen above their personalproblems or failures or physical challenges and made big in life. It is verynecessary to accept defeat or setback with grace. For example, Abraham Lincolnfaced failures a number of times before he became the President of USA.
Don’t allowany handicap or defeat or poverty or sickness to conquer you. Rise above it.Don’t fear the winds of adversity. When it rains the birds take shelter buteagle is the only bird that avoids rains by flying above the clouds. If youhave strong will, you will rise above your problem.
Milton wrote his great epic ‘Paradise Lost’ when he wasblind!
The great music composer Beethoven was deaf when he composedhis most exalted symphony.
Demosthanes had a speech defect that caused him stammer, buthe made constant effort to overcome that until he became greatest orator ofGreece!
Charles Darwin was a neurasthenic; he was so nervous that hewould hardly sleep. He wrote ‘The Origin of Species’!
Julius Caesar was an epileptic, but he conquered the then knownworld!
James Watts,the inventor of steam engine, Michael Faraday who discovered the laws ofelectrolysis and electro magnetic induction, Edison who has around 1043inventions to his credit, Abraham Lincoln who abolished slavery, had all beenborn in extremely poor families!
So believein your strengths, your positive qualities and your intellectual capabilities.Don’t allow anyone’s negative remarks to ruin your lives. Brush it aside. Thegreat scientists Edison, Einstein, Newton etc. were called ‘dunces’ by theirteachers and fellow students!
We musttrain our minds to have a positive interpretation of what we perceive. From ourminds emanates the energy that influences everything around us. First of all wehave to develop an attitude of gratitude for the blessings and gifts that havebeen showered on us. If we focus on our positive points, we will develop acheerful disposition; a positive frame of mind and we will experiencecontentment. Some amount of competitive spirit is good but to have a happy life,one should keep oneself away from the rat race. It is good to haveintrospection as to where we stand in our life. As someone has said ‘what isthis life if full of care, if we do not have time to stand and stare?’
Take hearteven when unexpected calamities strike you. Leave it to the supreme power. Hewill sort it out for you! Take time to pray. But prayer is not just seekinghelp from God. A true prayer is an ex-pression of gratitude to the Almighty forwhatever you have been receiving. So prayer is not approaching God when inneed. It is the relationship with that supreme power, acknowledge that greatpower. This will give you lot of strength when you face adversity because youare very sure that a mighty hand is holding you, nothing evil can touch you.‘Many things are wrought by prayers than the world dreams of’ says the worldrenowned poet Lord Alfred Tennyson.
Life is a gift – it is enjoyable! If taken positively. Tryout!!


AbhaySonigara
(B.E.Mechanical)