Today is Raksha Bandhan, the most awaited festival in the month of August. The festival celebrates the special bond that exists between brothers and sisters.  During this festival, the sister ties a Rakhi on their brother's wrists.  The rakhi dosn't have to be tied to a blood-related brother, but any brother like companion or adopted brother in your family, such as a friend, extended family member, or step brother to signify a peaceful and co-existence of every individual.     The rakhi symbolizes the brother's promise for the protection of his sister.  Although most of the culture does indeed celebrate it, many people don't know the actual history behind it.  One of the most famous stories that existed from Raksha Bandhan was the Rajputs, Mughals, and Sultants during the 15th century.  The story of how it arrived was based on the widowed queen of Chittor felt that she could not protect her kingdom from an invasion by Bahadur Shah Zafar, Sultan of Gujarat, she sent a rakhi to Humayun. Humayun was touched by this gesture of Rani Karnatvati and he rushed to protect his new sister. He even abandoned an ongoing military campaign to protect his sister.    However, the traditional method to Rakhi festival celebration differs from place to place across India.  Some people also believe that Raksha Bandhan derived from the legends of Alexander the Great & King Peru, Lord Krishna & Draupathi, King Bali & Goddess Laxmi.  However, in each legend, the same message is emphasized: Raksha Bandhan is afestival symbolizes the everlasting bond between a brother and his sister.  Thus, the Raksha Bandhan festival has become so important in the culture that  brothers and sisters try to visit each other place on this particular day in order to bring back the oneness of the family, binding the family together in an emotional bond of love.

Organic Food has a had a huge growth over the past couple of years. Today the market is worth almost ten times that, and by 2011 it's predicted the market will double again to be worth close to $32 billion. Consumer demand for natural, organic foods is booming and shows no signs of slowing down.  The reason due to the immense growth is because of the many advantages of chosing your foods organically.  Although there are many reasons to go organic, I would say one of the most biggest advantages is the contribution to nutrition and health benefits.  Organic food is known to contain 50% more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed.  Another great advantage is that it helps reduce and prevent  some allergies and diseases.  An organic diet significantly lowers the risk of Alzheimer's disease and various forms of cancer.  Thus, buying organic food can be highly crucial to one's overall health and lifestyle. 

“The sin of pride is usually considered the most serious of the seven deadly sins.” Being proud of one’s accomplishments is one thing. “The problem comes when leaders believe themselves so special that ordinary rules no longer apply. Generalized pride—as opposed to being proud of specific things—is the most serious leadership sin because it can easily lead to the other six.”    Thus, my commentary on leadership is the true ethics behind leadership.  Leaders are looked upon because they recognize the importance of ethical behavior.  The best leaders exhibit both their values and ethics in leadership style and actions.  Thus, even though one achieves high amount of success, the egoistical bug shouldn't go over them as it will have a negative impact on people's perspectives.  When people choose what definies a true leader, qualities such as, respect, teamwork, generosity, and flexibility play a huge role in what people percieve as you.  So, if a leader does ever attain huge amount of success and becomes too over cocky about what they have achieved, they should also realize that if their arrogance lasts too long, his/her perception of a true leader will slowly diminish. 

I am writing this article on the basis of the new San Jose Mercury News Article published on Wednesday August 18, 2010.  Obviously, many people believe that the main culprit would be personal music players (Ipods, MP3 Players, Shuffle), however, the real culprit is still not determined.   According to the Journal of Medical Association, it is still not completely proven why there is 30 percent more of today's teenagers have some level of hearing loss compared with their peers in the late '80s and early '90s.  If you were to ask me, I would say it is definitely  due to the advanced music technology and the high volume which many adolscents are listening to.  Being an avid music listener myself, I definitely know that if I have listened to music all day, it would make contribute to my hearing loss.  High School Students and College Students are also more inclined to listen to music because many of them listen to music while they go on the bus, walk around campus, wait for any transportation they use, or even while studying!  Back, when I was getting raised, I remem me  plugging in my big headphones into the big CD players.  I realized now how easy and convenient it is to listen to music and attain music.  Thus, while it is good that there is more expansion and attainability in music, one has to also realize to be careful with all the music exposure they get as they have to be more concered about their future hearing loss.  So, if you know of any who is a fanatic music listener and constantly listens to music all day, make sure to tell them to lower the volume and also be careful for not Music Overdose as it can contribute to future hearing loss!

Traveling is an important aspect, which can definitely be a fun, adventurous, and exciting experience.  However, I feel that the main appeal of traveling comes from the fact that traveling can open one's eye's to an entire  different level and makes them explore something they never imagined.  I would say that  traveling to other countries and third wheel countries is critical and every person whether they have family responsibiliities or they are straight out of college should still travel to a country which is completely different from their current country.  The reason is because this makes people more open minded to other cultures, religions, and allows them to think out of their box.   Thus,  my main objective of this blog is that anybody who is debating whether or not to travel somewhere they never immagined, then jump on the plane and do so because it an experience which you will never forget!