Nikhila

For a good laugh… Have a great weekend!


Deepavali

Deepavali means ‘row of lights’. Deepavali is a combination of words ‘Dipa’ and ‘Gavali’, the former meaning ‘light’ and the latter meaning ‘a row’ in Sanskrit. Deepavali also known as Diwali is a festival of lights. This is the most important festival in India, celebrated mainly by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. India being a culturally and religiously diverse society, celebrates various festivals, Diwali being one of it, people in different parts of the country celebrate it differently.

Hindus celebrate it by performing special prayers and burning crackers, they share sweets and snacks with friends and family, and light ‘diyas’ in their houses after performing prayers in the evening.

Diwali, is observed on occasion of return of Lord Rama after a fourteen year long exile. Lord Rama in his exile had defeated the demon King Ravana. This is also remarked as an occasion to celebrate the victory of good over evil.

On this day people offer prayers to goddess of wealth, ‘Lakshmi’ for wealth and prosperity and she is said to fulfilling the wishes of her devotees in her most benevolent mood. Deepavali also marks the end of the harvest season in most of India. Farmers give thanks for the bounty of the year gone by, and pray for a good harvest for the year to come. Traditionally this marked the closing of accounts for businesses dependent on the agrarian cycle, and is the last major celebration before winter. Goddess Lakshmi symbolizes wealth and prosperity, and her blessings are invoked for a good year ahead.


Halloween Treat

Halloween is celebrated wearing scary clothes, trick-or-treating, going to parade with their costumes adorned. Though it has a history behind it kids really enjoy wearing costumes and going around the neighborhood trick-and-treating and I personally feel that the look really cute, even in their scariest costume.

This Halloween I had the opportunity to attend a costume party, I had gone to a friend’s office where everybody was dressed in their costumes, and my friend was dressed as “Little Red Riding Hood”. As I had gone directly from work I didn’t wear any costume.

There I saw little kids, who looked really cute in their Halloween costume, somebody was dressed as a cow and somebody was dressed as a wonder girl and somebody was dressed as rancher. 1-2 year olds dressed in such costumes were a treat to the eyes, especially seeing them bubbling with energy. All this brought back my childhood memories. This Halloween was a very cute one for me and I hope everybody else had a great time too!


First Month at HedgeFundLIVE

I just realized that it has been a month since I joined the HedgeFundLIVE family. I recall my first day here, this being my first corporate job there was a lot of excitement on the first day, as well as a little bit of anxiety. Enthusiastic to meet everybody at HedgeFundLIVE I started from home, reached work early (not because it was my first day, but because that’s how the public transportation works!). I meet Saad, he was the only person whom I knew as he was my interviewer. Saad and Mike instructed me and I started with my work. I met Jeremy, who told that my predecessor lasted only two days on the very same chair I was on, I could not get it out of my mind for a whole week.

Being an extrovert by nature it was unlike me not to introduce myself to others, but was too scared to even open my mouth at that point of time, gradually met everybody and was given a warm welcome to this wonderful family.

My work is going great now, I am learning a lot from this job, and it give me a sense of satisfaction.