this thanksgiving...

Participation Assignment 3:
Send in a description of somethings you are grateful for ...

Being an international student, the American festival of Thanksgiving is new to me. I discovered what it stood for and I loved the concept – Apple cider, turkey, mashed potatoes, what's not to love !!! Jokes apart, I did find out about the festival's history (about the native Americans and the Europeans) and it sounded really special. So this thanksgiving I hope to join others and cherish the feeling of love and togetherness.

I am the world’s luckiest person. . Today I am almost 8379 miles from my country and I have never felt more comfortable and close to home as I do right now. I am grateful to be alive and to be alive where I am right now. I sometimes go on walks around the campus and it just hits me- I cant believe I'm really here. After dreaming about it and working for it for 21 years. There are so many people who go through life wondering what their purpose of life is, but for me, honesty its clear, I was brought to life to travel, to live, to learn.

Here's a small list of things I'm grateful for:

• I'm grateful for Skype, GoogleTalk with video and other VoIP applications that allow me to keep I touch with home for free.
• I'm grateful to my sister for spending her hard earned money and buying me winter jackets so I don't freeze this winter.
• I'm grateful to the guy who lives near my backyard who owns the black cat which he leaves in his yard, and I'm grateful for the gap in the fencing which allows her to escape and come out to my backyard so I can play with her, and remember my cats back home.
• I'm grateful to AT&T for their free calls plan which lets me keep in touch my BFFs (Best Friends Forever) without worrying about my phone bill.
• I'm grateful to my girl friends from high school, who still gossip, curse and discuss fashion, accessories, boys, make up and parties, over group email these days. They bring out the teenager in me.
• I'm grateful for my by-weekly pay checks.
• I'm grateful for all the people who waste their valuable time and InstantMsg on GTALK with me ...
• I'm grateful for my roommate, Sruthi, who cooks for me, cleans up after me and is always there for me, and sits up all night with me for girl talk. I really have found sisters here.
• I'm grateful to the guys at 76 n a half, 13th street who postponed their Halloween party just so that I could be there and saved cake for me that day as well. I'm also grateful for their patience and for inviting me to all the fun stuff they come up with, and for always being gentlemen.
• I'm grateful to Shravya, (our fairy god mother), for getting me New Moon tickets(first day, first show no less) and baking the best cakes.
• I'm grateful to my gym and travel partner, Avi, who has taught me more about growing up than actually experiencing it.
• I'm grateful to my Database Systems project partner for feeding me omelets after four months.
• I'm grateful for my mom, for her cynical views on life and warnings about marriage which helped me keep my head and make the right decision in more situations than I can remember.
• I'm grateful for my father and all the rules he laid down on me when I lived under his roof. The values he buried in me, will never be forgotten.
• I'm grateful to the friends I made during my undergrad for their patience and for putting up with me.
• I'm grateful the admissions committee saw me fit to give me an admission.
• I'm grateful to my future Adviser. Thank god he believed in me !
• I'm grateful for Menaka Gandhi who was instrumental in passing a law in India which banned the inhuman dissection of cockroaches in Bio-labs.
• I'm grateful for my Brother-in-law, who besides being the best husband my sister could ask for, also chats with me and humors me.
• I'm grateful that my sister's wedding was so beautiful, and she was so happy that day and that I could be there to see her through it.
• I'm grateful that I will be going to New York city on December 1st for something special.
• I'm grateful that one of my oldest friends in India, is pregnant and expecting a beautiful baby this January.
• I'm grateful I didnt get rabies and die last year ! And to my grandfather who paid for it when the emergency actually happened.
• I'm grateful for Linda, Gail, Kevin and David who make work so much fun every other weekday morning.
• I'm grateful that I was NOT born in the Afghanistan during the Taliban years and hence I can wake up each morning and eat ice cream, wear perfume, watch TV and leave the house WITHOUT a man by my side if I choose to.
• I'm thankful for all the opportunities and the endless possibilities, and I hope that everyone, someday, gets to feel as lucky as I feel right now.