Ego Day

A few weeks ago, I met someone who was very happy to proclaim, loudly I must add, that she shared a birthday with Aishwarya Rai. If you don't know who that is, never mind, you probably already have everything you need in your life. I wasn't sure what she so happy about, maybe she hoped that she would in a few years magically look like Aishu (Ya, that's my pet name for her), or dare I say, maybe even become as popular. But she was happy, and she was proud.

Today I chanced upon another feature in Wikipedia, the growing online encyclopedia. If you type any day into its search field, you will see a page that lists events, births, deaths, and occasions that occurred or occurs on that day. I scrolled down the list.

The 1924 Summer Olympics open in Paris, France. Yippee.
1932 - In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion. - This can't be good.
Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea. - Hey, he is a VIP, maybe I will the Pulitzer too.
Born 1825 - Thomas Henry Huxley, English scientist
Born 1826 - Frederic Edwin Church, American painter
Born 1903 - Luther Adler, American stage actor
A scientist, painter and actor. I still have hopes.
Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader died on this day in 1799. Maybe I will be as brave.

Ok, I admit none of the above is actually interesting. But here comes the part where I will now prove that there are forces in play that we have no control over.

In 1494, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica. I am part Jamaican. Jamerdian actually. I am part of the rare community that was born in India, lived in or went to school in Jamaica, attended university in America and settled back in India. I was in Jamaica between 1989 and 1994. If Columbus had not found Jamaica that day, who knows maybe it never would have been found.

1927, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. I am a big movie fan. I can watch all movies and I spend hours after analyzing the intricate details of it. I love IMDB.com. If the Academy was not founded on that day, who knows, there might never have been so many movies for me to watch.

1945 - Narasinham Ram, Indian journalist, the Editor of The Hindu newspaper was born. His daughter Vidya Ram was my classmate in 9th and 10th grade. She was the first famous daughter I knew. She told us stories of her palatial house with a million cats and I got to spend quality time with a VIP. Who knows, maybe if he wasn't born that day, Vidya might not have been born and I might have never had this dream of being a VIP.

1929 - Audrey Hepburn, Belgian actress, was born. Now if you visit www.karthik.info and read the Quick Facts about me, you will note how my favorite actress in Audrey Hepburn. I haven't watched all her movies, but I will. She is one of the most influencing forces in my movie craze. Who knows, maybe if she wasn't born on May 4th, I wouldn't be her fan, and my movie interest would have been less. Imagine that! And she won an Oscar which is given by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Yup. The links are all there.

And finally, at the bottom of the wikipedia page, it says that May 4th is also Star Wars Day. May the Fourth (be with you). A great pun, but again if you see the Quick Facts, you will note that Star Wars is by far my favorite movie. I sometimes even believe I am a Jedi.

So many connections to my life, so many influences, and all happened on May 4th, the day I was born. Star power? I would definitely say so.

I hope I get positively influenced and get to be a VIP like these people, and not turn out like Lance Bass, who was also born on that day. If you don't know who he is, great, you are better off that way.

May the Fourth be with you!