Happy New Cheer

Cheers to a New Year.

Cheers to New Cheer.

To finding new ways to enjoy the moment, appreciate your blessings, to live and to laugh, and to celebrate being alive in 2015.

To increasing the stock of happiness in the world by reducing the stock of sadness.

Starting with your very own.

How will you stay cheerful next year?

Let me ask you this – what makes you laugh, what makes you smile, what lightens you up?

Is it a good story?

Are you, like me, always up for a good story? “Tell the story of the Russell Market doctor” someone says to my brother-in-law AKB. And we are rolling over with laughter for the next 5-10 minutes. "Tell the story of the guy you met in the BART" I say to Rosie and David. Ditto. There’s the the call from the Chinese take-out man story, the Bozo the clown story told to me by April, the aunt on the 3-D ride at Marine World Vallejo story, the Eva wants to know about Africa story…. we just can’t seem to get enough of our favorite stories. We can hear them again and again.

What’s a favorite story you never tire of hearing?

Good stories have an eternal life and the capacity to make us laugh anytime we hear them.

Perhaps you remember this story I shared with you, or this assortment of stories from the MAA days told by the inimitable Ajay Sachdev, the crowning piece of which is surely the Vellupillai Pottu story.

Do you like music?

Get ye to your favorite concerts then.

Or if you are like Tanita, to your favorite I-pod playlist. Or if you are like me, to your favorite radio station.

Cheers to more music in 2013.

Music you listen to, music you play.

Here’s to more bathroom singing, more pick up the guitar and jam after dinner singing.

Maybe you can even take it up a notch and show those musical skills of yours some love -  the ones that have never been tapped, or the ones that were in full bloom once, but have been gathering dust.

With so many internet sources to help you, and musical instruments being well within reach, you could be up and running in your garage, or bedroom by this evening, yes this evening, why not.

Music is a family tradition and I shared some of our favorite family songs in this post.

How about dancing?

Have you thought about that?

Yes, I know the story about your two-left feet, blah, blah, blah!

Get ye out to salsa classes or Bollywood dancing, or to what Alberto Beto Perez has 14 million people all over the world doing.

Funny movies or tv serials?

All those Steve Martins.

Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther or The Party.

Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory - celebrated in a 6 part series of posts on my blog last year.

Steven Colbert or Jon Stewart skewering some hapless politician or media pundit.

Or the movie that gave us the line “I’ll have what she is having” (any guesses?).

Ok, your taste runs to The Matrix and The Hobbit. Or maybe Fox News. Blah, blah, blah.

I say, if it puts you in a cheerful mood, go for it. 

Sports and creative play

What would we do without our Giants games, or our Forty Niners games or our Sharks games; home teams to root for, the Olympics, Friday Night Football?

What would we do without bowling alleys and a place to shoot hoops, ski slopes and pool tables and poker tournaments and swimming pools?

What would we do without World of Warcraft and Tetris and Call of Duty and Halo 2?

And the X Box, the Wii and the PlayStation?

My tastes run to scrabble and caroms, but I totally get that you love what you love.

So cheers to more of all of that. 

Being part of a fun group 

So maybe you can’t be a member of Bangalore Club, or of San Francisco’s Super Exclusive only-Presidents-and-Bechtels, Basses and Rockerfellers Bohemian Club (and get to watch the Cremation of Care ceremony).

But there are umpteen other groups you might enjoy being a part of.

Adventure groups, hiking groups, scrap-booking groups.

And groups you may have never heard of.

Such as National Nameless Luminaries – which consists of people who teach kids how to build model cars and hold exhibitions every year in different parts of the country. Or Hash House Harriers - which bills itself as Runners with a Drinking problem - and hosts unique events such as the Red Dress run.

Why you can even start your own group. Get thinking.

Parties, celebrations and get-togethers

The word “party” has a magic to it.  Special celebrations like showers, birthdays, weddings and anniversaries even more.  And I know Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year make people go crazy happy too.  Parties create lifelong memories.   You can probably remember and re-tell incidents from parties that happened eons ago. Whether it’s the party when the 3 of you danced like the Supremes. Or the party where everyone dressed in lungis. If I had to nominate a person for an MPM Award (Memorable Party Moments) - it would have to be Chetan Shah. And my runner-up nomination would be Ranjan Ghoshal.

What incidents are evergreen in your mind from some of the parties you have attended? And who would get your nomination for MPM? 

Also, would you care to write a piece on one of the memorable parties in your life? It could even be your own wedding. Or some interesting event that you attended. I would love to publish it on the blog.

P.S. Nieces and nephews, I have fond memories of all your weddings; I even got a post out of one of them. And Tanita, I still treasure all those memories of all those birthday parties we had for you at Bamboola and Hands on the Arts.

Good food

Mmm…..isn’t good food da bomb?  And doesn’t it have the capacity to put you in a super happy mood? So thanks to all the cooks of the world. Do I think it’s great to have so many of them right in the family? Totally.

Everything about food is amazing, eaten in moderation, of course.

So cheers to more biryani, dosas, appams and stew, cheers to Malaysian food and Indonesian food and Thai food and all the other food that floats my boat and all the interesting food that floats your boat.

P.S.  If you want to read a light-hearted piece about cooking and our family, you can do so here.

Travel

Hope you go on a magical journey in 2013.  A journey that’s everything you wanted it to be and more.

P.S. Books and tv are a great way to travel too. Confession:  I am quite happy exploring the world from in front of a book, computer or a tv.

Pets

How can I forget pets?  They have a capacity to bring us cheer even if nothing else does.  I see SPCA bumper stickers which read “My Pet Rescued Me”. I totally get it.

Hope your pets – your Kyaras, your Oscars, your Bellas, your Deweys continue to bring you lots of cheer in 2013. And if you are planning to get a pet in 2013 – let’s call it Huggy, I know it’s going to be a source of great joy.

If everything about pets delights you, you may like reading this post by Anita Saran, or this TMZ style scoop by moi.

The Lamenters Club and the Say Cheese Club

I could go on and on.  If you like meditating or gardening, or taking pictures and writing poetry like my friend Cindy does, or painting, or wine-making, or looking after your grandkids, hope that brings you cheer in 2013.

Lots of it.

Whatever puts a smile on your face, I wish you more of that.

See there are 2 clubs – the Lamenters Club (LC) and the Say Cheese Club (SC).

I hope you will spend most of your time at the SC next year.

Happy New Year

Happy New Cheer.

Or as Steve Maraboli put it…“This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, 'aw shit, he's up!”

Thanks for reading and see you next week….M