Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated by Americans & Canadians on the fourth Thursday of November. Its a day for being thankful for all the blessings, most importantly the harvest bounty reaped that year. This being a holiday belonging to the western culture, does not carry much importance in India and neither is it an official holiday here. Moreover, we do have our own Harvest Festivals dotting almost every month of the Indian calendar.
We have lots of holidays religious or otherwise but none of them actually is meant as a way to give back to society. Why not start our own tradition of THANKSGIVING as it is a VALUE we all should inculcate in our children - A value that makes them grateful for everything they have and realize their duty towards the lesser privileged section of the society - THE GREAT INDIAN THANKSGIVING if you will!
Let's make INDIAN THANKSGIVING a day on which children spend time with the underprivileged children. Parents can arrange a visit to an orphanage, blind school or even better the representatives of unorganized charities - the children living in the slums!
It could be done in a big way or a small way according to your financial capability. All it takes is a simple home-cooked meal with maybe a cake or any other dessert and have lunch together with the kids there. The electrifying smiles on their faces and the happiness in their eyes will fill your soul with warmth and will definitely make our children value their blessings and more importantly understand the need to give back to society in whichever way possible thereby making them better individuals. We all want our children to get a good education in order to be successful in life but let us also teach them to be better individuals.
Some food for thought for all us...........both literally and figuratively!
HAPPY INDIAN THANKSGIVING!
