If Ozzy can coexist with Phillip Bailey, the Whites, and the rest of Earth, Wind and Fire, I am saying this country has a chance. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for DJs and mashups and remixes. It’s an art form to transform what’s old and lived into something completely new and exciting. Hell, its green and sustainable too. Thanks John Henry Witherspoon for sharing this!!! I am just a vessel. 
Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOuUixdSvY
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#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for Tracy Morgan … He’s not my favorite comedian. He doesn’t have my favorite special (even in the recent run that Netflix is having). But man, there are few people you see on stage who come across so real. Where you don’t feel like they’re doing a bit, you feel like they’re just being. When you saw him hosting Billboard, or random comedy tours. That’s what made him great. So when he says he shopped at Walmart even while in a wheelchair because of one of their trucks … “you can’t beat their prices” … I laugh on every level. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful that I’m not all the way through his new special but I’m making my way there; and it’s awesome to see him fully, authentically, killah … back in the game. Also, the world never has enough of the Bee Gees.
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I’ve tried to define these two. I get questions all the time about why I chose both. I’m not sure. I like the idea of some rhythm and reinforcement. I think a single point could get lost. But two, there’s something harder to lose in that message. (Those who know me are probably surprised I didn’t go with three — but that’s simply out of space limitations and a desire to respect the economics of a FB post.) Nevertheless, I thought I’d spend a few moments digging in on the two words. And this post came up: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/difference-thankful….
So let’s do this and understand the difference. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for this clear definition of both words. Thankful, is a feeling. It’s easy. It’s natural. If you embrace it, it can be supremely honest and momentum building. Humbling not to imply a lowering or lack of importance of oneself, but rather the elevation of the actions of another. Not a zero sum game either mind you. But grateful. That’s the hard one. Being grateful requires taking an action. Being grateful is manifested in actions. < It’s an area where I repeatedly fall short. Here’s to doing better.
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Mother’s Day is such a great day. It’s unifying. For all the disagreements and polarization in the world, Mother’s Day is one of the few days where we kind of get it together. Because even the folks I know who have not always had the greatest blessing of having access to an amazing mom biologically, most have found access to amazing mother figures proximally or otherwise. Because that’s what moms do. They raise … everyone. I benefitted from it as a child. And I didn’t even get it. My mom is amazing. Let’s be clear. The loudest voice in my head is my moms. Even with a wife and a daughter. My moms voice (Renu Bhatt) is loudest — because she’s also telling me and guiding me on how to be with them. There’s something about tenure. But there are so many other “mom figures”. There are so many other people who, though it may not be actually true, who raised me in a way to believe that there were people out in the world who loved me more than I loved myself, and who were willing to do for me more than they did for themselves. That’s what moms do. My Ba. My sis (Anu Kiran) because as Anaiya is showing me, an older sis is as good as the real thing. It’s also the greatest evidence that being maternal and being a mother figure, doesn’t require birthing a child. My Nani Sheth. My Darshana Bhuta Shukla (I love that your profile pic is an and my mom … exactly the point I make here!) My Mamis (Neelu Bhatt, Shanti Mehta, Chet Bhatt, Charu Bhatt). My Kakis (Rakhee Bhatt). My Nani from another Mami (Chet Mehta). My friends moms, too many to name. Even that mom that keeps a falafel ready for you in the fridge when she knows you will be home late as hell and hungry as hell (right Ekata Doshi?) And … my most recent mom, who made it ok to call someone a mom formally and in the purest sense, when there’s no blood or legacy involved. Satinder Chadha. That’s the beauty of moms. They transcend. So many damn boundaries. So many ridiculous assumptions and borders. Moms. And that’s what I love about life. Because just when you think you’ve figured out humility, life slaps you in the face and points back over your shoulder to tell you — there’s more room to grow. That’s my wife. Priya KC Bhatt.
Every other mom I’ve known, I’ve always known as a mom.
But Priya .. is the the first mom I’ve watched intimately grow into a mom. And it’s beautiful and amazing. And humbling. I’ve spent the past few years realizing a lot of my flaws and faults. But the past 3.5 years I’ve also come to grips with my natural limitations. When I watch Priya with the kids it’s different. Her patience is always steps past where mine ends. Here awareness is always steps past where mine ends. Here ability to hear them cry through several walls and floors is always seconds, minutes, hours before mine. And that’s mom. So I guess my point is that the moment I became best equipped to appreciate everything that a mom is … the moment of maximum mom appreciation and celebration … was the moment, I became a dad. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for all I’ve learned from you all. Happy Mother’s Day. #stronglikemom
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SRK: A perfect TED talk. Aspiring for humanity’s potential and desired outcomes come of pure unadulterated self-obsession. I dig this story. And I dig…the storytelling. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful that they finally released it a few days ago. After weeks of reading about it, I was hoping it would live up to the hype. And it did. Highly recommended.
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It trumps anger. Wonder. Excitement. It’s harder to find and much more precious. But #iamgrateful and #iamthankful that anger isn’t the emotion that motivates us most:
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I heard this song, for probably the 1,000th time in the past month, and I have to say, I’m still kind of fine with it. What’s fascinating to me is that most of the times I hear it now are with some amazing adaptation of it. Seriously, google all of these …
Dance:
> Shape of You Lia KIm
> Shape of You Kyle Hanagami
> Shape of You Bhangra Empire
Cover:
> Shape of You Hari Ravi + Anil Chitrapu
> Shape of You Akriti Kakar
> Shape of You (cover by 彭偲禹) CHINESE VERSION
> Shape of You Acoustic Cover (< neat to see his talent … dude is pretty legit)
I’m kind of feeling like this is evidence of the fact that nothing heals like music. Nothing transcends boundaries like music. And nothing brings people together like music.
And to that end, I feel like Ed Sheeran’s video for this song showcases all the progressive social steps I’d like to see us take by the time my kids are active participants in the world. Post-racial. Strong women. Let the feedback be blowback. But good pop is capable of some powerful things.
Let’s do this, as #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the reach of a pop song like this, and it’s great to see so many unifying threads at a time where we keep hearing more about the frayed ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8(PS – I dig that he has an official lyric video too, and Castle on a Hill acoustic is pretty legit, too.)
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I haven’t worn my contact lens in 3 months. Not my knee braces as I had no idea where they were. I tossed my old DWade Converse after my last game of basketball in September. Some old college friends are getting together to play tonight and I found my way into a pickup game from 9-11. In Metuchen. A mile from where we live now. Lots just lined up so I could make it even onto the court. The rest? It’s gravy. At my age and physical condition it might be best for me to stay in the car. But let’s do his and let’s get out on that court and let’s stay…between the three point lines. #iangrateful and #iamthankful for some run….
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The family you choose. Sometimes unwittingly, the family that chooses you in spite of your willingness to acknowledge them as family. What a moving story. Sure the father/daughter parts tug at me, but the friendship aspects are even more…puissant (merci, France.) When I read stories like this I always think back to some of the stories that move my dad to tears. Indian workers with such integrity that they’d forego a day’s meals for their families…and often do. I wonder how much of it is religious, cultural, the inability to separate the two. I think in the end it’s proximal. I read a story like this and it gives context to the piece that’s been circulating about how in America, the richest give 1.3% of their income to charity and the poorest give some 3%+. Proximity. So let’s read this, and be moved.
#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for all those people who act when the “experience of need” fits within your “locus of control.” That’s when magic happens. Thanks to my bro Raman Singh who liked this page and brought it to my attention as a result.
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When your soon to be 1 yo decides 130am is game time, it’s game time. So let’s do this. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful that this little guy is as cute and chill as he is. It’s your world, homie. It’s your world.
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Suneet Bhatt 