"A Toast to Life"

What is happening to the community?
The loss of a middle-aged uncle
And a young brother on the brink of life
And a mother ailing for the past several months
Each life within a year of the other

Is this just the fragility of life itself?
Was this simply the physical frailty of our bodies one day weakening in old age?
Or is it this idea that there are only so many precious fleeting moments of life that even a young person has to live?

And yet we live our lives each day
Making sure we watch the SAG awards
And planning our Super Bowl parties
Driving to work after our morning cup of coffee
Making our monthly payment on our home mortgage
Watching history take place in U.S. politics on CNN,
Truly believing that just maybe these moments just might last forever

And though we live with this feeling of immunity
Let us instead challenge ourselves to wake up to our life
With our eyes open and our hearts clear
So the tears we shed for others cut more deeply
And our smiles become more valuable as we fully extend them from cheek to cheek
As we celebrate this life
And the treasure that it is


-In memory of a loving uncle-Ram and a loving brother.-Raja. Both people were part of two different Indian families in our community of family friends in the South Bay. The two individuals had passed away approximately within a year of each other. They are survived by their respective families.

"In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

i started out this dr. martin luther king jr. morning, initially thinking how lucky my friends with whom I had just shared a wonderful dinner celebration the night before, were for not having to go to work today. Stumbling out of my bed into the universe, those thoughts of the drudgery and stress of my work tasks which lay ahead of me began settling in my mind. yet, as i come to the close of this special day, at night, i am feeling something different. i knew i had felt compelled to do something today in his honor, but i didn't know exactly what. what is it that i could do to honor the legacy of justice and equality that dr. martin luther king jr. had brought to this world? i began perusing the charity focus blogs, and came across a wonderfully inspiring quote that linked up to a great article by the reverend's friend, Marian Wright Edelman, an activist and winner of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. in her efforts to bring a sense of life to the symbol that dr. martin luther king jr. has become to many of us, she came to the heart of what mlk was all about-he was a man who lived to serve and died in service---whether it was during the struggle he lead to fight against segregation through galvanizing communities through faith, peace, and solidarity, or through the montgomery bus boycott, or through speaking at black universities, or preaching to a church congregation. so, as marian edelman, leaves us with this thought to use this yearly holiday as a "day on, not a day off," her wisdom suggests to me that to truly honor such a man, would be to serve. now, as i reflect upon my day and consider my role as a legal advocate for a nonprofit domestic violence agency that serves battered women in the south asian community, i realized that i had the answer to my question all along...by helping a client, or working on a funding project, or answering a phone call to respond to a victim in need, i was in fact, honoring the legacy of dr. mlk jr. in the best way i could-in service. so, perhaps, i was the lucky one today after all! :)
i have attached the link to marian's article here for reference as a source of inspiration to all.
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20060123j
i'll close with a quote by the great man himself which is taken from the article and hints at how the ability to spark positive social change is literally at our fingertips:
"If you want to be important-wonderful. If you want to be recognized-wonderful. If you want to be great-wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."
-dr. martin luther king jr.
~in peace&service,
mitu

"An Angelic Mother"

so i heard this amazing story on the radio, and i knew i had to share. if any of you are bay area folk, you may have heard of the radio dj host 'delilah.' she's this incredibly kind woman with a soothing voice who listens to the stories of people in the south bay who phone in and selects an uplifting song to honor each person's story...so when i switched my radio dial to 94.5, this is what i heard:
a woman with a genuine and quivering voice explained that she was the biological mother of her 38-year old son, randy, who was adopted when he was 7 days old by a warm-hearted soul named, mrs. lancaster. randy's biological mother so humbly began to describe randy's adopted mother as this woman who raised 200 children (not sure how, but that's what she said), and adopted 7 of them as her own. randy was the last one she adopted when she was 53 years old (even though the state tried to prevent it since they thought she was too "old"). despite that, she succeeded in the adoption and randy lived with her all of her years and cared for her until she recently passed away at age 90 this past december. the son's biological mother then proudly began to share to the radio waves that her son was always called the "daddy" in his family because he was the one all of his brothers and sisters looked up to since their own father had passed away from parkinsons' disease. the woman was teary-eyed as she closed with the final remarks that "i know that randy has given been the gift of happiness from this mother of his, that he could not have experienced in even one day with me."
by the end of her heartfelt story, i too was teary-eyed. after that, delilah, then honored mrs. lancaster, the woman she called, "an angel," with the song, "testify" (testifying about love). :)

“Driving Down a Different Path”

My car was parked in the lot on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View just outside the Shambhala Meditation center. Anxious to move along on my Sunday afternoon, my efforts to move my car were immediately halted. A triple AAA truck that stretched more than a stretch limo was literally blocking my path to exiting. My initial feelings of “I’m upset” and “How could someone just box me in like that?” began to surge, but then, I paused. I took a look at Sakyong’s face (my new favorite Tibetan Guru) as he looked at me from the cover of his book, titled, “Ruling your World.” In that moment, I remembered, I have a choice. I decided to make that mental switch that Sakyong often refers to, and just gave myself a chance to experience what taking a step down that road might feel like. So, I listened to some tunes in the car, read a little more wisdom, and waited for the Triple AAA guy to help the elderly woman get her car back in gear. Incidentally, a few seconds later, he knocked on my window, smiled, and handed me back my cup of starbucks coffee that I had placed on top of my car and forgot about. (Lol). I thanked him laughing, asked him if the lady was all set with her car, and after his positive response and another exchange of smiles, he moved his truck up forward and I happily drove away in no time (like 2 minutes later)! :)

"Sharing Christmas in Boston"

while on a roadtrip to boston for the holidays, i certainly couldn't live without my periodic coffee breaks amidst those crisp east coast winters. so, while i was embracing the warmth of family by engaging in lively animated discussions with my fellow passengers including my mom, my aunt, and my uncle (who are essentially my 'second parents'), we stopped for a few moments to refuel the car. i seized the moment to do what i felt was right---secure my coffee fix (of course) in the convenient store that bordered the gas pumping station...however, as i approached the counter at the coffee shop and completed the caffeinated transaction, i glanced down at the 'ronald mcdonald' sticker that housed the faces of small children with lost and forlorn faces affixed on a plastic container. at first, i sprinkled in a few coins to add some 'jingle' to these little souls. yet, then i thought perhaps i could do something more, and tucked a smile card into the opening of the plastic ronald mcdonald's house. i left the shop with the hope (as tiny as it may be) that they too, can also feel the warmth and love of parents, and perhaps even "second parents" during their holidays one day.
Happy New Year!

-this holiday moment reflects the concept of spreading 'anonynous acts of kindness' to others. by taking a positive step to help someone else and accompanying the gesture with a 'smilecard,'you become a part of the phenomenon of increasing generosity in our world. to learn more about helping others, simply go to http://www.helpothers.org/.