Thanksgiving Day

Fourth Thursday of November is a Thanksgiving Day in USA. It is different in different countries. In USA this the most eagerly awaited event. I may not call it as a festival, but is certainly an annual event. Thanksgiving is important in an individualistic society like USA where family and friends can meet and party on this day or on following days. This is the longest weekend in the US starting almost from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday midnight. Children meet their parents on this day and gifts are exchanged. The holiday season starts with this.

Thanksgiving was traditionally celebrated in England for thanksgiving prayers after the harvesting. It is known as Loaf mass. Farmers make a bread from freshly harvested wheat and that would be handed over to the local church. Thanksgiving is very much similar to Holi and Diwali in India which are also post harvesting festivals that are social and religious. In Christianity there were ninety-five holidays and fifty-two Sundays on which one was expected to offer the prayers in the church. Following reforms the numbers of holidays were reduced to twenty-seven. There cannot be any reduction in Sundays, in certain years these could be even fifty-three, so these were left untouched. Original migrants to America started celebrating this day during same period as that of England, even though in New England the harvesting is over much earlier than it is in England. No adjustment in dates was ever made, unlike other countries. This reminds me of Australians celebrating X-mas in summer, knowing well that Santa cannot come on a sledge in their country in that season.

Thanksgiving has assumed different dimensions and  great importance in America. England doesn't have that kind of celebrations as America has. Some researchers also put forward another theory. It states that the first batch of migrants was fighting with sickness and shortage of food when they landed in America. The seeds and food that they had brought with them was either of no use in this new-found land or had got spoiled, except for barley. The natives taught the migrants to fish, to hunt and to cultivate. The migrants in honour of the natives celebrated Thanksgiving Day.

Wild Turkey

Few things are of great importance in this period and one of them is turkey. This beautiful bird is roasted and served on this day to the invitees. As during Halloween everything is of pumpkin, likewise during this period everything is dominated by turkey (scientific name - Meleagris gallopavo). This native American bird travelled to Central Europe via Turkey.   I am not very clear via such an odd route, but Wikipedia says so and thus this native American bird got the name turkey. Guests are served turkey for few simple reasons. Being a large bird (can weigh upto 18 kgs) and cheaper than chicken, turkey was the choice. Turkey got preference over beef as cow was considered as a useful animal when alive (similar to considerations by Hindus) and thus was not preferred to be slaughtered for feasting. Ham and bacon are not considered as good meat for such occasions thus pigs were spared. Unable to compete with these edible creatures, poor turkey had to submit to the knives of the butchers to satisfy holiday hunger. PETA has campaigns to protect turkey. Average number of turkeys raised in America is about 248 million, valued at USD 4.37 billion.

Turkey farm

As per the published estimates as of 20^th Nov 2013, over 51 million Turkeys are reported to have been slaughtered for Thanksgiving Day feast. It is estimated that nearly 50% consumption of turkeys in America is between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. 

Average American consumes about seven kg of turkey per annum. Turkey is relatively cheap, being priced around USD 2.50 per kg. Like the broiler farms there are domesticated turkey farms in US. The wild turkey hunting has restrictions from 1991 as these were declining.

There is a tradition to present a turkey to American President for Thanksgiving Day Dinner. However as per one legend Abraham Lincoln’s son Ted requested his father to release the turkey, meant for the President’s Christmas dinner, back in the natural habitat as the turkey also has a right to live. President gave a presidential pardon to the turkey and was thus released. So when did the Presidential pardon for the turkey for Thanksgiving Day dinner start? It is reported to have started with President Truman, who released the bird in 1948 in his home state. JFK sent back the turkey to the farm from where it came. President Eisenhower and President Johnson actually ate the turkeys that were presented to them. Officially the Presidential pardon started with President Bush (senior) in Nov 1989.  What an irony of fate, on one side millions of turkeys get slaughtered for Thanksgiving Day and on the other hand on the same day a lucky one is released to live the remaining life (about ten years) without fear of being slaughtered.

Presidential pardon by President Bush (Senior)

Another highlight of Thanksgiving Day is Black Friday. The next day after the Thanksgiving Day is traditionally the first day of Christmas shopping. The idea generated in mid 1960’s in Philadelphia and the police called it as a Black Friday due to jammed streets and congested traffic. Retailers try hard to get additional footfall on Black Friday. Accountants gave another angle in 1980’s. They called Black Friday for the reason that those retailers who were in loss, for which my accountant friends use red ink, make profit on this day, for which black ink is used in account books. Thus turning red into black makes this a Black Friday. For online shopping from 2005, the first Monday after the Black Friday is termed as Cyber Monday. For both these days prices are slashed for limited number of products and it is a very common site to see long queues outside retail outlets. At times the disappointed customers who could not get the desired product due to limited quantity offered for sale is sold out, do get into arguments and fights. In good old days shops would remain closed on Thanksgiving Day and would have an early opening on Black Friday. The mad competition changed the picture. Wherever the local law permits even Walmart keeps outlets open on Thanksgiving Day and offers the deals. The early opening on Friday morning is a history now. It got shifted to Thursday/Friday midnight and now it’s on Thursday afternoons, if shops are not open on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. Strange are the ways of marketers. Research shows that early opening increases the footfall but not the revenue. Early opening of stores cannot generate surplus cash with spenders.

Customers lined up outside retail outlet

This strategy reminds me of campus interviews in Management schools in India. In the year 2000 many management colleges would have companies coming on the campus for recruitment in March onward for vacancies to be filled up by June. Over a period of time the campus visits started getting advanced and now we find campus interviews as early as September or October. Many companies force the students to join early and some colleges even permit the student to remain absent in the last semester. Both the employers and colleges make mockery of management education creating a half-baked product in job market with a hope that it will mature with the time. Not everyone really matures, it’s a tragic reality.

Back to Thanksgiving Day, it’s a great holiday to enjoy meeting relatives and friends, exchanging greetings, even if you don’t shop, which is relatively a low possibility. With so much of promotion going on, one always lands up buying something whether needed or otherwise. Whatever may be the event, be it Halloween or Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, the marketing companies will never miss out an opportunity to earn an extra buck, no complaints. After all it’s a mainstay for the economic growth. Happy Holidays and enjoy.

Source: Wikipedia for the pictures, published non-copyright material

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Assassination Attempt

Every cold winter morning in this Nov 2013, when I log on to a particular website from India, I find a recommendation by the editor for some news related to Jawahar Lal Nehru. May be these goody goody  articles are to remember the first prime minister of India or may be to precondition the minds of gullible persons to vote for certain political parties in 2014 elections. This blog is not a political commentary. I would like to do that but not here. I also don’t want to comment on Nehru for various actions that he took. The pain of Nehruvian socialism that my aspiring generation has undergone in our prime days is unforgettable. His dividing India on linguistic basis, was another painful action for which we are still suffering, be it Belgaum or the recent Andhra Telangana rift and there are many more in the pipeline.

Nehru was charismatic leader. I liked the aristocracy that he had. One of his pictures, in the book that I had on his USSR visit, was showing him making a toast at a dinner party. It was so aristocratic that I still remember it even after nearly sixty years. Nehru’s pictures of horse riding, playing golf were also equally impressive. Among children Nehru was always projected as “Nehru Chacha”, who always had a red rose pinned to his majestic sherwani. As an individual his personality was adorable.

Nehru and trademark Rose

The security that is seen today for political leaders and at the airports was not imaginable till 1980. I have seen motorcades with leaders shaking hands with their supporters. Security was not lax, but was not needed in that period. I would like to share an incidence of 1955.  Not many persons may know that there was an assassination attempt on Nehru in Nagpur. As a child I was a witness to the incidence. This incident dates back to March 1955. I was a primary student of Somalwar High School, Ramdas Peth, Nagpur. In the first week of March during the prayer time students were informed that Nehru Chacha is visiting Nagpur and we have to greet him when his motorcade passes on Wardha Road, not very far off from our school. Wardha Road was also called as Jail Road in those days as Nagpur Central Jail is also situated on the same road. This road connects airport in south to Raj Bhavan in north, where Nehru was to stay during his Nagpur visit. Janata Chowk, the junction of road passing over my school to the east and Wardha Road was less than a kilometer from my school and was midway between my home and school. I understand that this place is now called as Lokmat Chowk. Wardha Road was a part of NH6, and considering the traffic in those days the width of 60 feet was adequate. There were no pavements but some kachcha road on both the sides of the road. We were supposed to form a single line and stand facing the road with flags in our hand. We were instructed to wave the flags and shout “Chacha Nehru Zindabad”. We practiced this almost for a week. Finally on March 12^th, 1955, we were ready to greet “Chacha Nehru”. There were no school uniforms in those days but we were asked to come in a white shirt and a khaki half pant that almost every student had in those days of Nehruvian socialism, being the most affordable. For few other students the possession of Khaki half pant was due to allegiance of their parents to RSS, of course of their parents as we were too small to understand political ideologies of RSS or Congress.

That morning we marched in a single file from our school. We made a brief halt at Caltex petrol pump that situated little away from Wardha Road on the opposite side of a small factory manufacturing industrial spades; we called it as “Phavadyacha Karkhana”. We had to wait there as police had to block the traffic, so that we can occupy our positions on the road at the junction. A police jeep sounding siren zoomed past on the Wardha Road. Immediately few whistles were blown, smartly dressed policemen took their positions and traffic was blocked. We were led to the junction by our teachers ensuring the flags were held properly and instructions were given as to when to shout the slogans.

It was bright sunny morning and it was brighter for us as we were facing east. In few minutes two smartly dressed policemen, riding motorcycles one on the right side of the road and another on the left were seen approaching from south towards us. That was the indication that “Chacha Nehru” was coming. I strained my eyes to see a white car little behind the “Daroga”, vernacular synonym for the policeman who were riding the motorcycles. The car was approaching at very slow speed. As the car came further I could see Nehru standing in the rear open car in the center and greeting the waiting public waving his both hands. He was in white sherwani with his trademark red rose. We were instructed to shout the slogan and wave the flags. We were certainly excited to see someone whom we had so far seen only in pictures, in print media. No TVs in that era. The motorcade came nearer. The policemen on the motorcycles crossed us and suddenly there was some commotion just opposite me. On the other side of the road, I saw a man pushing a cycle rickshaw northwards on the road, through the crowd that was watching Nehru. His rickshaw breached the crowd and rolled over the road. He managed it so well that the motorcycles had crossed and there was enough space between them and Nehru’s car. The rickshaw rolled and hit the car in the front. Driver applied the brakes; Nehru’s hands came down on the back of driver’s seat to balance himself. In the meantime the man who pushed the rickshaw came running towards the car, stood on the foot board behind the driver’s seat, grabbed Nehru’s Sherwani near the neck with one hand and raised another to attack Nehru with knife that he was holding. Nehru was surprised, he tried to resist. In the meantime the Daroga riding the motorcycle on the right side sprinted towards the assailant and overpowered him. I was watching the entire episode with wide open eyes and awe. I was in no position to scream, I was flabbergasted. I realized the gravity of situation when I heard my schoolmate screaming and crying. Our teachers were trying to pacify us and cordon off the area due to the commotion. Police from the van that was following Nehru rushed and cleared the area. The attacker was hauled to the van and the motorcade resumed its journey. Nehru looked composed and continued waving to his admirers.

We returned to the school to continue with our classes, but everyone was really disturbed.

Author in 1955

I returned home after the school and described the entire incidence to my parents and siblings, who had already heard the same from neighbours and on radio. However my account was most significant for them being actual witness to what they had heard. Next day the newspapers carried te news in details. I was told that the attacker’s name was Baburao Chakole, who did this just to get publicity and for no political motives. The inspector who overpowered Baburao was attached to Sitabuldi Police Station and his surname was Quin, I don’t remember his first name (if anyone knows, please mention in the comments below).

Days went by; I grew up but could never forget the incidence. I might not have endorsed Nehru’s political ideology or policies, but I admired him for his personality, his aristocracy and calmness that he had after the assassination attempt. I doubt if India would ever have that kind of aristocratic, charismatic leader? His positioning in various segments was perfect, more so in 0-15 age group as Chacha. With 2014 election round the corner will some of the leaders reposition themselves?

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