Parents Day

May - 2nd Sunday - Mothers Day

June - 3rd Sunday - Fathers Day

July - 4th Sunday - ???

May is for Mother's, June for Father's and July for both of our wonderful PARENTS... yes, for Papa and Mama... because Papa Loves Mama.

Like every year, this year as well the Sunday School at our parish celebrated Parents Day. While the Sunday School along with the Family Cell in the parish organised a session on Parenting In the Digital Age, the children were busy with art. Most of the classes spent their hour creating beautiful cards to gift their parents. But I was pleasantly surprised when I received this as a WhatsApp message from my elder son's Sunday School class.

As a child, I usually associated Parent's Day with December - that's when we used to celebrate it in school. Parents and Prize Day was actually our Annual Day when we, students, put up some talented performances for our parents to enjoy (and be happy about)... from One-Act Plays, to Dances (Traditional Dances - snake dance, tribal dances - as well as from Around the World) to an array of songs (a performance I always was a part of). While I remember singing for a Christmas Play while in Grade 2, I also recall the many plays on mythology performed on the same stage (discussed in the print column Devlok authored by my batchmate Devdutt Pattanaik. As we put up these pereformances, we had one question for them... Do I Make You Proud?

The observance of Parents Day in July is actually to celebrate the feast of the St. Joachim and St. Anne (that actually falls today - July 26th) - the parents of the Mother of Jesus - whom we affectionately honour as Mother Mary. 

The day is also celebrated as 'Grandparents Day'. I'm sure that they had some influence in His upbringing - just like our own have (or have had) in our own wellbeing... Thanks to you... for You Raised Me Up.

The Fourth of July

Just yesterday my son was asking me for suggestions for patriotic hymns. The only one I could think of was 'Rise India'. But on the Fourth of July - Independence Day in America , I thought I'd use this blog  to share all the American Patriotic songs that I know and love. 

What better way to start the blogpost than with the National Anthem - The Star Sprangled Banner.

For the music trivia lover, the most famous version of that track would be unmistakably the Jimi Hendrix performance at Woodstock in 1970. 

During the one trip I made to the USA nine years ago, I recall attending Church on Sunday when the choir began to sing this song - America The Beautiful.

Back home in Mumbai, I remember singing the next song as a child of 7 or 8. Never knew at the time that it was an American Patriotic Song - Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Another song I remember as a child, and possibly heard among the family medleys was this classic - This Land Is Your Land.

So whether your a native American or one of my many Indian friends who live there, here's wishing you a Happy Fourth of July. Yes, Happy Independence Day. God Bless America.

While looking for videos for these songs, I chanced upon an interesting compilation of the Top Ten Most Patriotic Songs from Watchmojo.com