Mothers' Day

It has been a week since I have come here to spend a month in my summer vacation with my parents. And a week well spent with a lot of discussions with parents, cooking and eating excellent homemade food. Now that we have a router, I have access to the Internet 24/7. However, that was not the case before. Chelli and I kept fighting as always for time on the Internet. I need it to stay in touch with my friends and she needs it to do some stupid stuff, as always. So when she was hogging the laptop, the only form of entertainment available was TV with basic connection comprising of 40 odd channels. The Food Network and TBS happen to be the only channels with any interesting shows. Of course, Monday is CBS time. I get to watch the latest HIMYM, BBT and 2.5 Men episodes before my college does, HA!

Anyway, during these 7 days of my stay here, I could not help but notice the propaganda carried out for Mothers' Day. It felt like the TV shows and movies were being showed in the breaks between the advertisements rather than the other way round, seriously!

1) "What are you getting for your dearest mother on this Mothers' Day? A card, jewelley, dress?"
2) "Mothers' Day sale, 50% discount!"
3) "Free lunch buffet for all women on the occassion of Mothers' Day!"

LOL.

I have always wondered about the necessity of celebrating a Mothers' Day. Why do people celebrate it? Do we really need a day to make it all women feel special? Then one might as well argue against the celebration of more established days like Birthday, Wedding and Death Anniversary. They have been looking after us since Day 1 and will continue to do so as long as it is physically possible for them. Giving your mother a day off and some gifts does not make up for the hardships faced by her during her daily routine in keeping her family happy, healthy, safe and united. Our mothers know how well they are appreciated by us. The little things that we do everyday to help her in whatever way possible deliver to her the message of love and appreciation that no other gift can.

The occassion sounds more like, "Happy Mothers' Day amma! Thank you for all the things you have done for me till now. Here is a gift as a token of gratitude. Keep up the good work!"

However, after looking at the people here, I feel that they really need such a day after all. In a society where kids are left to fend for themselves since childhood, where they are encouraged to leave home after their 18th birthday, the need for such special days exists. The sons and daughters take it as a daunting task to even call up their parents, let alone meet them. An appointment needs to be taken by one family member to meet another. Everything has to be so formal here. So they celebrate Mothers' Day, one of those 7 to 10 special occassions out of 365, and get back to their daily lives the very next day. I feel sorry for them, not to mention adoption of business tactics to capitalize on this issue. The sad thing is that this culture has been in existence since time immemorial, hence has very deep roots in society, and only some people realized the flaw and took the appropriate steps.

The thing which depresses me is the 180 degree change in the thinking process of Indians who come to America. After experiencing the freedom here, they start believing that American culture is superior to ours in every sense. They forget the K, P and T taught to them and instead learn Khe, Phee and Thi. It reminds me of a small joke by Russell Peters, an very good comedian, in which he points out the strange behaviour in immigrants who use American accent only when speaking English and use their native accents otherwise. I have observed that everywhere. I too did it for a couple of months in my childhood and then stopped as I found it extremely stupid. And it does not stop there, the mindset slowly turns towards the Live-Life-Independently ideology. The Indians here know what they are doing and yet, they continue doing them.

It must be understood that I am referring to the majority here, in Indians as well as Americans.

I was watching this movie, Mom, Dad and Her the other day. Almost all movies made here involve a seperated couple. And so did this one. The stupid thing about this movie though, which probably was the main reason for its poor rating of 2.8 in IMDb, was this part where the teenage daughter of the seperated parents releases her frustration over the divorce after her grandfather's death, so typical right? In order to console their child and to make feel more independent, the parents conducted a Divorce Ceremony, similar to Birthdays and other anniversaries. Yes, you read that right, a Divorce Ceremony, to celebrate their passage into new lives. WTF . Apparently they read about such a ceremony in a book, most probably written by another American.

So a new day added to the calendar, Divorce Anniversary.
Correction: new days added to the calendar, Nth Divorce Anniversary. I do not even want to get started on this topic now.

1. Mothers' Day
2. Fathers' Day
-soon to come-
3. Sons' Day
4. September 23rd Day (some random date)
5. Glad To Be Still Alive To Celebrate Today Day
6. Anything else that needs to be invented? The greeting card companies are probably blowing their brains out at this very moment for new ideas.