September 2012 - Northern California Edition

NBC, Shut the **** Up

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IndiaCurrents Celebrating 26 Years of Excellence Celebrating 26 Years of Excellence Celebrating 26 Years of Celebrating 25 Excellence 26 Years of Excellence

We Are Also American

A Sikh American presents a thoughtprovoking perspective in the aftermath of the tragic killings at the Wisconsin gurdwara, and reminds us of the various faiths and people that make up the fabric of America. Sikhs are proud Americans and the turban is a visible attribute of their faith.

september vol.2626, ,no no.5 .6 •• wwwindia . .india currents.com august 20122012• •vol. www currents.com

The Hero in Us In the wake of the horrific killings in Colorado and Wisconsin, the gun control debate has been on the forefront in the media.

According to the figures released by the FBI, violent crime rate went down by 4% in 2011. Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesperson for the NRA, was quick to point out in The Washington Times that “It would be disingenuous for anyone to not credit increased self-defense laws to account for this decline.”

But, further analysis of the data reveals that gun violence has pretty much stayed the same between 2010 and 2011; it’s the other homicide categories that went down significantly.

Gun ownership in the U.S. soared to an eighteen year high in 2011. 47% of Americans own a gun in their homes or elsewhere on their properties and gun homicide rates are the highest in the world, about eight times higher in the U.S. as compared to other developed countries.

These statistics point to a disturbing upward trend in aggression.

Books, movies and television serve us models of heroes who carry guns and are not chary at using them. The virtues of a lightning fast draw are reinforced as being the necessary trait of celluloid daredevils. A hero is one who can draw his weapon faster than the villain. It is no wonder that gun ownership has risen. It gives credibility to the hero in us.

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Contributors: Jasbina Ahluwalia, Vrinda Baliga, Teresa Bergen, John Cussen, Simran Devidasani, Gleb Finkelman, Malar Gandhi, Jessi Kaur, Raji Krishnamurthy, Tara Menon, Rajesh Oza, Teed Rockwell, Sandip Roy, Joe Samagond, Suchi Sargam, Mani Subramani, Dyuti Sengupta, Preeti Sharma, V.V. Sundaram Cover Design: Nghia Vuong.

Information provided is accurate as of the date of going to press; India Currents is not responsible for errors or omissions. Opinions expressed are those of individual authors. Advertising copy, logos, and artwork are the sole responsibility of individual advertisers, not of India Currents.

I submit, however, that there are a few practical considerations that make gun ownership somewhat futile. Imagine that there were few gun controls in place. Would gun owners carry their weapons to a movie theater or to a grocery store? How feasible is it to go to Sunday service at a temple, church, gurdwara or mosque with a weapon tucked in your trouser belt? Only if that were the case, would the shootings in Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas and, let’s not forget, the Stand Your Ground case in Florida have had less of a toll.

Now, imagine that we did indeed carry our weapons everywhere. Are we then going to be in a state of readiness, at all times? If and when confronted with a gunman, how soon are we going to be able to draw out our own weapons to retaliate?

The very act of owning a gun signifies aggression. As a nation we would be better served to teach ourselves techniques of peace rather than elements of war. Let our inner hero be the one who reduces acts of violence by initiating and moderating dialogs of peace. For a peaceful solution is often the most sustainable one.

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Northern California Edition

We Are Also American Sensitive and thought-provoking commentaries after the Sikh gurdwara shooting in Wisconsin.

By Jessi Kaur and Preeti Sharma

12

RECIPES

TRAVEL The Courtly Pulao

Macau—Las Vegas of the East

By Malar Gandhi

54

By Teresa Bergen

PERSPECTIVES

56

1

EDITORIAL: The Hero in Us. By Jaya Padmanabhan

6

VOICES

8

FORUM: Should We Defend Fareed Zakaria? By Rameysh Ramdas and Mani Subramani

10

ZEITGEIST: Nerve Endings By Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

17

COMMENTARY: Batman’s Bait and Switch. By Sandip Roy

18

POLITICS: Back Off, Arizona! By Joe Samagond

24

PERSPECTIVE: A Long Way Up Mount Olympus By Rajesh Oza

102 REFLECTIONS: Mind Body Integration. By Raji Krishnamurthy

30

ANALYSIS: Engines of Sustainable Education. By Dyuti Sengupta

112 HEALTHY LIFE: Fertility Foods. By Malar Gandhi

48

ON INGLISH: Mind it, Pundit By Kalpana Mohan

125 DEAR DOCTOR: Overcome by Inertia. By Alzak Amlani

LIFESTYLE 40

DESI VOICES: Paru Mami’s Dignity By V.V. Sundaram

68

RELATIONSHIP DIVA: Giving the Green Light. By Jasbina Ahluwalia

80

YOUTH: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

By Simran Devidasani

144 THE LAST WORD BY SARITA SARVATE: NBC, Shut the ****

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Up. 34

FILMS A Review of Teri Meri Kahani, and Bol Bachchan

By Aniruddh Chawda

137 DEPARTMENTS 32 Ask a Lawyer 33 Visa Dates 139 Uncubed

FICTION: For Sale By Vrinda Baliga

38 BOOKS: Review of A Girl in the Garden and I Am An Executioner—Love Stories By Tara Menon, John Cussen 42 Q&A: The Leading Funny Man By Suchi Sargam 76 MUSIC: Who Owns Bhangra? By Teed Rockwell

WHAT’S CURRENT 88 Cultural Calendar 103 Spiritual Calendar 126 Classifieds india currents • september 2012 • 3

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india currents • september 2012 • 5

IC

voices

Celebrating 25 Years

Please accept our congratulations on India Currents’ editorial integrity and business acumen. It is such a pleasure to receive it every month and notice the quality, diversity and relevance of the articles.

Birendra Prasad, Canada

Train to Nowhere

I completely agree with Rameysh Ramdas’s views on the rail project (India Currents, August 2012, Forum—Should California Go Ahead with High-Speed Rail?).

The estimated cost of the total project, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, is $69 billion. When the voters approved this project in 2008, the cost was $45 billion for building the rail from Sacramento to San Diego. The distance has been reduced and the cost has gone up. If we calculate the distance, the cost has doubled in just four years. By the time the project progresses, the cost will continue to rise. I will not be surprised if it ends up at $169 billion by 2029, when this project is expected to be complete. We have a proven track record of projects being under the estimate and ultimately costing us three or four times more. Take for example the OaklandSan Francisco Bay Bridge under construction, it rose from under $2 billion to more than $7 billion, and it is not complete yet.

The ridership was projected at 55 million passengers per year, and now it has been scaled down to 20-25 million per year. The fare was projected at $55 for San Francisco to Los Angeles, and now the new projection is $85, that too before the work has even started.

At today’s rate a family of four has to pay $680 for a round trip to L.A. plus transport to the station at San Francisco and renting a car in L.A. My family can drive cheaper than that and it comes with relative freedom.

We are in a deep recession; schools are closing, police and fire services are being trimmed, cities are filing for bankruptcy, and billions of dollars are being wasted on this “train to nowhere” project. This project is Jerry Brown’s poster child. He was a disaster when he was Governor in the 1970s. He has not learned anything from his past mistakes.

He is pouring money into this sink-hole, which our children and grand-children will have to fill up.

The latest public opinion poll shows only 39% people in California support this project.

If we do the math it means 61% of the people in California are against this idea. We live in a democratic society. The laws are made by the majority will of the people. It is time to stop this project before Jerry Brown sinks California any further.

Virendra Jain, Concord, CA 6 • india currents • september 2012

The Insane Moniker

Thanks for your editorial comments regarding Holmes, the Colorado shooter (India Currents, August 2012, By Reason of Insanity). It brought to mind a comment I read regarding the Norwegian, Anders Behring Breivik, who killed eight people when he bombed some Oslo government buildings.

Breivik wanted (as I understood it) to be found sane so he can be a political prisoner.

Then there is the issue of police assisted suicide. This is the moniker used by the police to explain someone firing on the police and being killed. It is all very unsettling.

Keep up the commentary, we need it.

Patrick Golden, CA

Home Grown and Milk Fed

While reading Kalpana Mohan’s juicy dissertation on the varieties of mangoes in India (India Currents, August 2012, My Summer Tango with the Mango), I see our own mango trees, from my window. No, we are not in India. We are right here in our home in Fullerton in Southern California. We have three mature mango trees in our back yard, about 25 years old. They yield mangoes, large in size but not good enough in quality to compare with the supply in local markets these days.

These mango trees were planted from the seeds from Hayden mangoes that were available in Hawaii several decades ago. In a good season, we harvest about four to five hundred fruits and share them freely with friends in the community. They are called “Swathy’s mangoes” here because my wife insists that they are home grown and milk fed. By her. I won’t vouch for the latter qualifier. Let me share a voice mail message on our telephone a couple of weeks ago, “I am going to India for four weeks. Keep the mangoes for me. Do not give them to my husband.”

I question the brand fidelity of these fruits. Our back yard trees do not resemble the parent Hayden variety. I also recall two varieties in my village in Kerala: Kotta and Mylappu. I am sure they were not produced by grafting techniques More often than not, they were random seeds thrown by some one, some time that took seed. I am puzzled as to how any one of the fruits we pick up at random in India can be labeled Neelam or Banganapalli unless they were commercially grown from grafting saplings.

P. Mahadevan, Fullerton, CA

Tragic slaying

The all too familiar scene of violence came closer home for Sikh Americans with the horrific slaying and injuries to devotees at the Sikh temple near Milwaukeeby a lone guman. Early reports revealed that the perpetrator was a member of a white supremacy music group.

We don’t require the skills of a Sherlock

Holmes to conclude that this was clearly a hate crime targeted against the Sikh community because of their distinctive appearance—the turban and beard. Sikhs are often mistaken to be Muslims because their articles of faith closely resemble the Afghan tribal people. At least 7,000 hate crimes have been committed against Sikhs post 911. Incredibly, the FBI does not collect data on crimes committed against Sikh Americans. 92 members of Congress signed a letter to the Justice Department urging the FBI to collect such information. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) led the effort warning that that Sikhs “were acutely susceptible to violence because of their appearance.” Better tracking would enable the FBI to be far more pro-active. Tragically, this request was ignored. Clearly, the thrust of such efforts should be to promote religious tolerance and not to single out the Muslim community. All violence is anathema to our society and must not be tolerated. The Obama administration and U.S. lawmakers have lost yet another opportunity to mount an assault on much needed legislation to control the purchase and use of these terrifying weapons. Columbine, Aurora, Milwaukee, Texas—what’s next?

Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA

There’s More to Spain

The travel article (India Currents, August 2012, Sensory Overload in Madrid) was very well written but it could be elaborated upon by adding details on Barcelona and Seville.

Barcelona is the second largest city of Spain, where the locals speak Catalan & Spanish, has long associations with our Chess wizard Vishy (Viswanath) Anand, has the fastest train connections with Madrid and has an effect local Metro system.

Seville is the third largest city connected with equally fast trains, has numerous cultural activities, and boasts of its buildings of one color as in Jaipur.

I hope Kalpana Sunder will find time for a second visit to Spain as her writings will be welcomed by your readers.

Des Khurana, Anaheim, CA

Well-Scripted

I’d like to express my appreciation for the cover story on the criminal justice system (India Currents, July 2012, The Color of Justice)

SPEAK YOUR MIND!

Have a thought or opinion to share?

Send us an original letter of up to 300 words, and include your name, address, and phone number. Letters are edited for clarity and brevity.

Write India Currents Letters, 1885 Lundy Ave. Suite 220, San Jose 95131 or email letters@indiacurrents.com.

It was very well scripted, detailed and bold.

Shashi Desai, CA

Nobel Recollections

Dr. Mahadevan’s article (India Currents, August 2012, Nobel Trivia) triggered some Nobel related recollections. I strongly recommend to readers the book Ordinary Geniuses written by Professor Gino Segre, which covers several aspects of Nobel Prize winners, including their political beliefs and social and intellectual friendships, which allowed them to get past all obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge. Many may not realize the contributions and impact of several quantum and astrophysicists to the science of Genomics. Professor Chandra’s works, his association with Niels Bohr and Hans Albrecht Bethe are well chronicled in the book.

Notable are the contributions made by institutions like Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Rockefeller Foundation, Caltech, and Columbia that promote and encourage scientists. I leave you with a quote from John Wheeler to mull over: “Matter tells space how to curve. Space tells matter how to move.”

Viswanathan, San Jose, CA

A Stirring Column

For years I have been reading Sarita Sarvate’s column, (India Currents, The Last Word by Sarita Sarvate) from 2,500 miles away in Michigan and then from a closer distance of a little over 25 miles, while I lived in the Bay Area for seven years. It is once again from the other coast I say how directly her column speaks to me.

As a fellow Nagpurian Sarvate’s recent column (India Currents, August 2012, I am Gulliver, I am Sindbad) struck a chord, she began exploring the globe after being raised in this provinical town, while I am re-discovering the area I was born in after spending decades in different parts of India and America.

What Sarvate wrote spoke to me long before I dared to take what my pen had to say beyond the acadmic compound. Now, as a writer in Hindi, Marathi and English, her words still continue to carry a special meaning.

Thank you India Currents for closing with Sarvate’s “Last Word,” a column that time and again has provoked me, encouraged and stirred me. Once again I found myself mulling over her thoughts as I read what she had to say about “travelling solo.” As someone who is still learning to look at each trip I take as an adventure, often begining with a little trepidation and ending with such exhilaration, Sarvate’s words made me realize, as she has done so frequently, a solo voice can take us on many paths we never thought were possible or even existed.

Waiting to read another commentary by Sarita Sarvate, who drew me to India Currents in the eighties.

Latika Mangrulkar, Michigan

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IC

forum

Should We Defend Fareed Zakaria?

Rameysh Ramdas

Mani Subramani

Yes, because the plagiarism charge was politically motivated.

No, it doesn’t matter who was behind the revelation.

areed Zakakria made a mistake in his recent Time Magazine article “The Case for Gun Control” in the inadvertent usage of a paragraph similar to what Jill Lepore had in her piece in The New Yorker earlier on April 23rd.

It is my belief that it was an honest mistake and not a devious case of plagiarism, since the reference was to Adam Winkler and there was an attribution made to him. The author, whether Zakaria or an intern, probably believed that it was not necessary to include credit to Jill Lepore, too.

The whole campaign against Zakaria was politically motivated. A conservative website NewsBusters whose declared mission is “exposing and combating liberal media bias” published the similarity in the articles, accused Zakaria of plagiarism and went on to attack him for his comments on gun control. I believe there was a special effort made to publicize this mistake in order to silence an opposing viewpoint.

Zakaria immediately issued an apology, and both CNN and Time took the extreme step of suspending Zakaria for a month, while they investigated the plagiarism charge. Both media outlets have since rescinded their suspension with Time stating that it was an “unitentional error and an isolated incident.” That should have been the end of this story.

However, pro-gun groups who had been belittling Zakaria’s data in his advocacy of sensible gun control seized on this error to smear Zakaria and undo his lifetime of credible journalistic achievements.

The same Newsbusters. org website went on to derisively call him “‘Xerox Zakaria” for giving similar convocation speeches at Duke and Harvard Universities. According to The Boston Globe, Zakaria wanted to limit his commencement speaking engagements to only one University this year and had agreed to do so at Duke. Later, none less than the Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust called and asked that he must come to theirs as well to which he clearly set expectations and indicated that “the themes would be similar.”

We all agree that plagiarism is to be frowned upon and looked on very seriously in academic circles, even at the middle school level.

However, as Bret Stephens opined in the WSJ, the bastion of conservatism and gun rights—“But I will give Mr. Zakaria this: He anchors one of the few shows that treats foreign policy seriously, that aims for an honest balance of views, and that doesn’t treat its panelists as props for an egomaniacal host. He’s also one of the few prominent liberals I know who’s capable of treating an opposing point of view as something other than a slur on human decency.”

I can understand the frustration of the NRA and the right wing groups that we have repeated instances of mass senseless killings, yes, caused by guns, that undermines their cause, and with Zakaria for making an articulate case for gun control, but to use an innocent mistake to revile him is despicable. After all, we must have a battle of ideas without making it personal—just as Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neil did in the 80s. n

areed Zakaria is an accomplished columnist and television anchor who got caught plagiarizing and he was outed by the gun lobby who’s objective it is to stamp out any form of sensible gun control. But does it really matter who caught him?

In this era of connectedness and information availability, setting the bar high for credit and attribution for written works is especially critical. After all, it can be looked as thought theft. There is no need to defend Zakaria’s article from claims of plagiarism just because it was the gun lobby that pointed it out.

Both Jill Lepore and Fareed Zakaria started their paragraphs citing Adam Winkler. Here is Zakaria’s version: “Adam Winkler, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA, documents the actual history in Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. Guns were regulated in the U.S. from the earliest years of the Republic …” while The New Yorker’s Jill Lepore had—“As Adam Winkler, a constitutionallaw scholar at U.C.L.A., demonstrates in a remarkably nuanced new book, “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America,” firearms have been regulated in the United States from the start …”

When you examine the paragraphs in question, it is clear that Zakaria cited Adam Winkler in his article, but failed to credit Jill Lepore, whose article on April 23 preceded his own piece published in the Aug 20 issue of Time magazine.

Jill Lepore deserved credit as the secondary source, especially since both paragraphs seem a bit too similar in content. But for a few prepositions and minor substitutions, (like “documents” for “demonstrates”) the phrasing in both articles is too close to excuse as inadvertent.

Fareed Zakaria’s quick apology attests to the fact that he too believed that there had been an error.

It can be argued that it is generally true that the left leaning pay a stiffer price for infractions compared to conservatives. For example Martha Stewart spent jail time for insider trading. However, none of the Wall Street executives will ever see the insides of a jail cell. But, that is no reason to excuse blatant errors. Cops do not stop handing out tickets for minor traffic infractions because bigger crimes sometimes go unpunished. Uniform application of the rule of ethics is essential.

I have enormous respect for Fareed Zakaria for taking full ownership for the mistake. This incident can now be held up as an example of what happens to people who commit plagiarism even if they are accomplished writers. Zakaria is a good journalist and through his writings and the television show, he makes an effort to educate the public with his honest and balanced approach. CNN and Time suspended his column while they investigated it further and lifted the suspension once they found that it was an isolated mistake. It is now time to move on. Zakaria has. n

Rameysh Ramdas, an SF Bay Area professional, writes as a hobby.

Mani Subramani works in the semi-conductor industry in Silicon Valley.

F

I believe there was a special effort made to publicize this mistake in order to silence an opposing viewpoint.

8 • india currents • september 2012

F

But for a few prepositions and minor substitutions, (like “documents” for “demonstrates”) the phrasing in both articles is too close to excuse as inadvertent.

india currents • september 2012 • 9

IC

zeitgeist

Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

Nerve Endings O

ne night, in mid-March, I went to bed and found I could not sleep. I lay awake, overly aware of my heartbeat, trying to remember my last cup of coffee, nervous that if I did not get to sleep soon, I might never rest again. My pulse counterproductively increased in time with the building anxiety. Gradually I became aware of a sound, a beeping, in my left ear that was preventing me from drifting off. I increased the tempo of my bedside fan and fell asleep to the reliable rhythm of its plastic blades.

I woke the next morning and switched off the fan. The beeping had become a distinct chirping. It is a sound I now know well.

For nearly six months, I have heard in my left ear a ringing, a little cymbal, a tinny bell, that persists through night and day, and flares up into micro-crescendo just when I think it has finally outsung itself.

Sometimes, it sounds like rustling leaves. Once, it was a typewriter.

At the moment, it is a cricket in heat, rubbing its wings together with

I move around the world in a body without thinking much about its inner processes, and I generally expect it to fulfill the tasks I set it to. purpose and verve.

No one can say what the sound is or why it suddenly developed one night when I was sleeping alone at home, my husband away at a conference. I hadn’t been exposed to loud noises or machinery; I had no trauma, no history of autoimmune disease. The medical consensus (offered by a Berkeley nurse practitioner and a smugly unhelpful otolaryngologist) is that I must be losing hearing in my left ear. A nerve has somehow been damaged and is now dying, and this is its swan song: fits and chirps and a persistent, if unpredictable, tone.

According to Wikipedia, tinnitus is “the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.” Mine is subjective, not objective, which means that if you were to come up close to my head and place your ear against mine, you would hear nothing, while the crickets unseen continue their mating calls. The sounds are literally “in my head.” Meanwhile, I continue to hear everything around me just fine, so if I’m losing hearing, it is by minor degrees, with disproportionate fanfare from my hyperactive nerves.

We are all varying degrees of body-conscious. Some of us—whose livelihoods are not explicitly dependent on our physical aspects—go through life aware of, but not fixated on, the flesh body we bathe, the figure in the mirror. We may scrutinize the swell of our muscles in the gym, but it is not an overwhelming preoccupation. We are aware of our bodies; we know we have ears, fingers, belly buttons. But they do not 10 • india currents • september 2012

command us. They do not talk to us. If I am engrossed in work, the last thing I think about is my physical body. In graduate school, my father once forgot to feed his during a marathon research session— forgot, until he fainted among friends.

Of course, to anticipate the critic of mind-body dualism, the mind, too, is in and of the body. We think, read, and write from and with our bodies. All cerebral work is embodied, as is all human experience. Fair enough. My point here is not philosophical, but observational, anecdotal.

I have always imagined that the likes of models and athletes must be more attuned to their bodily matter than the rest of us. Watching the Olympics this summer has reinforced this sense. I’m not referring to the window dressing of makeup and tracksuits, but the elemental stuff of eyelashes, toenails, freckles, fat. The Olympian profoundly inhabits her every cell. I, by contrast, have lived my life in relative ignorance of the transformations in the physical stuff of me. Sometimes, I am a little heavier, hungrier. Sometimes, I have dull pain in a knee. When the dead cells of my hair grow long, I have them cut.

I move around the world in a body without thinking much about its inner processes, and I generally expect it to fulfill the tasks I set it to.

Although as a child I imagined myself a future oncologist (I had absorbed the predominant aspirations of my parents’ immigrant generation), I have since moved into the bloodless world of word processing and library carrels, and I have become squeamish about bodies and their secret lives. When the “Bodies” exhibition came to town, I recoiled from the skeletal and muscular systems, the tar-blackened cross-sections of lungs, and stretched intestines on display: all fascinating in theory, but I was viscerally disturbed.

Now, tinnitus has taken me into my body in uncomfortable and illuminating ways. I have an ear that is not tethered to the rest of me, for inside it, nerves are dying, early and already. What else might go, or will, and when? What else is happening inside that bag of skin that makes possible everything I am, and do?

I have moved deeper into myself, into the nerves that reside under the skin I scald with hot water washing dishes. I have started running, stretching, and moving more mindfully, pushing other parts of my body to compensate for the mysterious, premature aging of my left ear. I have moved into the tongue that flicks the corner of a chipped front incisor. I will never get that corner of tooth back; it, too, will be jagged until I die.

It is hard not to be over-serious about tinnitus. “Hearing things” occasions drama. In the early weeks, I struggled to come to terms with non-stop sound as my new normal. Now, having adjusted to it, like an acquired scar, I try to attend to what it’s telling me. It is part of the story of this body I schlep about, like the gray hair I spied the other day at my temple. It grounds me in particle physics, like the eyes which track these words through light and screen and this, my first of many pairs of glasses. n Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley.

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india currents • september 2012 • 11

We Are Also American The Temple Tragedy

By Jessi Kaur

The Sikh community has had to confront issues of identity and solidarity after the tragic deaths of six worshippers at the gurdwara in Oak Creek, a small town in Wisconsin. The issues of identity are further complicated by a pervasive lack of awareness of the Sikh faith, the Sikh people, and what the turban represents.

B

y now we are familiar with the events that unfolded on that fateful Sunday in a quiet, peaceful suburb of Milwaukee.

Shortly after 10:00 a.m. on August 5, 2012, Sikh men, women and children were gathering for a service at their gurdwara. Preparations for langar, the shared community meal were already underway. In the kitchen Sewadars were chopping vegetables, making the dough for fresh rotis, getting the karah parsad ready for the morning service. When the sound of the first bullet pierced the tranquil morning, the congregants were puzzled.

Mayhem broke as the horror of what was happening sunk in. People scurried to hide in the pantry, restrooms; any place that seemed safe.

In terrified whispers they called friends and relatives to stay away from the temple. Fear and confusion took over the temple where singing, prayers and sacred recitation formed part of the usual Sunday service.

By the time the gunman was taken out, six innocent people were dead and many seriously wounded. The senseless killing sent a

12 • india currents • september 2012

wave of outrage and grief all across the world.

Thousands gathered to hold vigils in gurdwaras and city halls across America. The Sikh community saw an outpouring of support from neighbors who came to their temples to express grief and solidarity. Many that came to the Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek professed to know nothing about Sikh Americans. They wondered about the turbans and beards, but were ill-informed about who they were, what religion they belonged to, and why they wore a turban.

A Distinct Identity

The Sikh faith was founded by Guru Nanak was born in the 15th century. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, created the Khalsa community in the 17th century and gave them a distinct identity when he stipulated that the Sikhs must leave their hair unshorn as an article of faith. The turban became a cultural symbol donned mostly by Sikh men, but women also are known to adopt the turban.

The tenets of the faith are simple and egalitarian. There is one Creator who has fashioned everyone from the same Light. No one is born high or low, no one has monopoly over God. In spite of a distinctive outer appearance, the Sikh way of life is an internal journey in which you evolve to your purest essence and merge back with the Light. Meaningless rituals are shunned. Honest labor, sharing of one’s gifts with the less fortunate, and living in divine remembrance form the cornerstone of the creed.

Perhaps so little is known about Sikhs because the religion does not demand proselytizing. Sikh history is replete with fierce heroes who gave up their lives to uphold freedom of worship for all—the most prominent of them being Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru.

The sacrifices of Sikh martyrs have seared in the Sikh psyche an acceptance and respect for all faiths. The lessons of respect for all traditions are passed on through Sikh hymns that extol the One creator as being the source of all creation. This is further instilled by life

It is a difficult time to wear a turban in the land of the free. stories of the Gurus who preached equality and oneness at a time when India was rigidly divided by the caste system on the one hand, and tyrannized by bigoted Mughal emperors like Aurangzeb on the other. It is tragically ironic that their own members are assaulted in a house of worship that welcomes people of all faiths.

Being Targeted

A concerned friend called me to express his sympathy, “They had the wrong group,” he commiserated. “There is no right group for this kind of violence,” I said.

Some in the media called the incident a “hate crime,” others dubbed it “domestic terrorism.” Many like my friend thought that it was once again a case of “mistaken identity.”

But senseless killing is a terrible thing no matter what the religion of the victims.

Starting with the murder of Balwant Singh Sodhi who was shot at his gas station five days after 9/11, Sikh Americans continue to face assaults on their person and property.

Sikh Coalition, a civil rights and advocacy organization has cited more than 300 incidents of violent attacks on Sikh Americans.

Earlier this year, two elderly men were slain in Sacramento, a Sikh temple was vandalized in New York, Sikh men have been targeted in buses, trains, in quiet neighborhoods, and busy airports; young Sikh American boys have been bullied in schools, their head gear torn and their top knots tugged in a shameful mix of ignorance and bigotry. At airport security, Sikhs are singled out for secondary screening as a routine matter.

My 23 year old son who wears a turban chooses to drive whenever possible than be subjected to what he considers demeaning

profiling at the airports. It is a difficult time to wear a turban in the land of the free. It is viewed with suspicion and Sikh American men and women often have to choose between keeping their head gear or getting a job.

For almost a week CNN covered the temple tragedy. For the first time the Sikh-American community was front and center stage on mainstream networks and Americans learned more about their Sikh neighbors in one week than they have known their entire life.

The vigils are long over, the media attention has died down, and the gun-control debate that is often triggered by such incidents has receded to the background, but the lives of those that lost their loved ones has been changed forever. The question of why such horrific incidents are happening with alarming frequency continues to haunt all Americans as it should.

FBI and the police are trying to figure out the motives of Wade Page who was identified as the gunman that went on an unprovoked rampage against innocent people. A forty year old Army veteran with less than an honorable discharge, Wade was a member of neo-Nazi rock band that spouts lyrics of hatred.

Was this a lone man gone crazy? Or is it a group of sick individuals that have banded together for a sinister purpose? Can it happen again? Will the Sikh American community ever get answers to the questions that haunt them? Do temples, synagogues and churches now need security personnel like airports to guard them against twisted minds? Are we safe anywhere?

Drawing Parallels

These concerns become more potent and relevant given that the Wisconsin temple tragedy was preceded by the chilling Aurora shooting that killed 12 and wounded dozens of people. Do the two tragedies have anything in common? Wade Page was part of a growing movement that seeks racial dominance. James Holmes, the Aurora shooter, was a psychopath who dressed up as the Joker from Batman and

Candlelight vigil at the San Jose Gurdwara

for whom killing was no more than a game.

Both men were heartless sociopaths without empathy or humanity. How many more such crazy individuals lurk amongst us? The day after the temple shooting, a mosque was gutted in Missouri. The authorities are trying to determine the cause of the fire. On August 13 another crazy shooter killed three innocent people near the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas.

What is causing this epidemic of hate and senseless shootings? What has broken down the fabric of our society? Is it guns that kill, or people? Are video games raising a culture of mindless shootings? Are movies becoming too violent? Is censorship the answer? Do we need new policies and petitions to ban guns to have a safe society?

We have to go beyond what the federal government and law enforcement authorities can do to thwart this epidemic of hate crimes. We cannot look to policy makers to bring about a change in our society. Values that teach respect for human beings no matter how different they are, or how little you know about them have to be taught first and foremost within the family structure.

No community can afford to live in silos any more. Respect and dignity for all has to be practiced not by words but by actions. A hate crime against any community is a hate crime towards all Americans. We have to create a global narrative of mutual respect. Using the resources that exist—Internet, YouTube, social media, TV channels—and by creating new tools and opportunities, we need to mingle outside of work and school environments; honor each other’s festivals and traditions, open our homes and hearts especially to those who seem different. We need to do everything in our power to bring down the walls that divide and separate us. Every day has to be a National Community Day in word and deed.

The Milwaukee Sikhs showed tremendous spirit when in spite of experiencing shock and grief at their slain brethren, offered food to the police officers and the responders elevating the tradition of langar to new heights. The darkest hours in the history of our country have often become the biggest catalysts of change. Can we hope that the recent spate of tragic killings awakens us to our collective responsibility to fight the forces of ignorance, hate and violence in every way? n Jessi Kaur is the author of two highly acclaimed children’s books. She is a frequent speaker at interfaith conferences and founder of a non-profit IGS NOW that seeks to work in and towards global synergy through education and empowerment. www.jessikaur.com; www.igsnow. com india currents • september 2012 • 13

14 • india currents • september 2012

Preeti Sharma

Finding Middle Ground

In Their Own Voices About the Sikh Turban

“I am an American, a Sikh American. I’m here to remember the people who died at the Wisconsin temple. I’m proud to wear my turban.”—Hans Raj Singh, 16 years old, a member of the Sikh Boy Scouts troop, Number 600, at the candlelight vigil at the San Jose Gurdwara “The turban is our crown.”—Sandeep Sohal “Deep in my heart, I am a Sikh. I don’t have to wear a turban to prove it. But I respect all those who do.”—Manmohan Singh Mahal “I wear the turban regularly. It defines who we are and it gives me confidence.”—Gurbhej Singh, 16 years old, a member of the Sikh Boy Scouts troop, Number 600

T

he Wisconsin temple shooting once again gives voice to the reactionary society we live in. This was a horrific incident, beyond doubt, and was deservedly condemned by law enforcement, politicians and the media. But almost everyone felt compelled to uphold the religion as a proponent of peace and goodness. In my opinion, it seems highly unnecessary to defend the beliefs of the victims. Killing innocent civilians in and of itself is a horrendous act. Why should there be a need to defend the character, beliefs and religion of the victims? Would the horrific acts be justified if the victims were found lacking in any of these qualities? In fact, the victims’ beliefs are entirely irrelevant, what’s relevant is that a group of people, going about their lives, was attacked in their place of worship.

Obviously we need to resist speculating on the motives of the gunman. But an attack on a place of worship gives away the motive to a certain extent. Even more baffling are the few public statements emphasizing that the victims are not Muslims. Yes, they are not Muslims, nor are they Christians, Jews, Hindus or Buddhists. So why does their not being Muslims deserve specific attention?

Expecting Muslims alone to face attacks is like expecting African-Americans alone to face racism.

Since 9/11 Muslims have received extreme attention and scrutiny. A similar deluge of information on Islam and its followers was evident subsequent to the 9/11 attacks.

Numerous public statements on the attacks

upheld Islam as an advocate of peace. There were talks on how people need to be educated on Islam. A few rushed to make accommodations for the religion. These initiatives were led by well meaning individuals trying to counteract the anti-Muslim sentiment in a world polarized by the rhetoric “you’re either with us or against us.”

Unfortunately these efforts had a reverse impact. They singled out Muslims even further. Additionally, they marginalized other minority communities. They emphasized one minority religion over others as opposed to addressing the bigger issue of the rapidly changing social fabric of the nation.

This resulted in a more polarized society, contrary to what was intended.

Responses to the Wisconsin attack now run the very same risk. Media and public officials need to refrain from singling out minority communities in the light of such incidents. These should be approached as broad-spectrum minority concerns. Responses and reactions to these incidents thus far have inspired islamophobes, islamophilics, sikhophobes and sikhophilics and hence has failed to actualize a happy medium. We need to act before this rhetoric expands by creating mindfulness on all minority communities, hopefully not in response to such horrific events. n Preeti Sharma is a Bay Area technology professional. An ardent follower of sociopolitical issues she aims to reach out via writing.

“The Sikh dress code is analogous to police uniform.”—Satwant Singh “Personally I don’t wear a turban because I don’t want to be different.”—Hitender Sohal “When I was growing up, my parents told me, ‘I can cut your hair, but I’m not going to make you white, right, so on some level, you’re going to have to deal with your identity.’ So we believe that the strength that comes from having a clear identity and the faith and tradition that go along with it is a benefit. But, I won’t pretend it’s easy.” —Mandeep Singh Dhillon on KQED “While some non-Sikhs wear turbans as cultural garb, Sikhs are the only community for whom the turban is religious and nearly every person who wears the turban in the U.S. is Sikh.

For many of us, abandoning this visible identity is equivalent to abandoning our faith and core values, including the commitment to protect the right of all people to practice whatever faith they choose.”—Valarie Kaur, extracted from The Huffington Post article “Underneath the Turban, Why Sikhs Do Not Hide.”

“We stand out for a reason, because we have a clear code of conduct. We’ve been looked to as protectors.”—Simran Kaur, Sikh Coalition

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commentary

Sandip Roy

. New America Media

Batman's Bait-and-Switch

R

olling Stone magazine just put the ultimate question to Chris Nolan.

Would Bruce Wayne vote for Mitt Romney?

Nolan adroitly answers the question with another question: Before or after Bruce goes broke?

The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) has become the unlikely political movie of the year.

Conservative windbag Rush Limbaugh got it totally ass-backwards. TDKR is not some Democratic propaganda machine aimed at influencing the 2012 U.S. presidential elections because it has a villain named Bane. Rush obviously confused a man in black fighting a baddie named Bane with a black man running against the former honcho of Bain Capital.

If anything, The Dark Knight Rises raises a different spectre in the mind of the viewer: what would happen if Occupy Wall Street (OWS) became Occupy New York?

The answer is clear: anarchy, kangaroo courts, nukes on the loose, hoodies versus fur coats, sewer rats and armed convicts unleashing class warfare.

Enter the savior: Very rich white guy.

Or as writer Hari Kunzru writes in a tweetsize review: Dark Knight wears politics on sleeve. #ows-esque baddies institute revolutionary terror. Billionaire in fetish wear saves the 1%.

The brothers Nolan hotly deny any political agenda in their grand trilogy. TDKR, they point out, was conceptualized long before the Occupy Wall Street protests erupted. Jonathan Nolan says if he was inspired by anything while writing the screenplay it was the French Revolution: “A Tale of Two Cities, was to me one of the most harrowing portraits of a relatable, recognizable civilization that completely folded to pieces with the terrors in Paris.”

But what Nolan was reading while writing the movie does not really matter. Ultimately a movie’s message is in the eyes of the beholder, not in the intention of the moviemaker. Bane launches his spectacular attack on Gotham by aiming for the Twin Towers of Americana— the Stock Exchange and the football game.

One is targeted by Occupy Wall Street as the symbol of all that is wrong with America. The other, which opens with a child singing “The Star Spangled Banner,” is the symbol of allAmerican wholesomeness. Nolan cleverly conflates the two.

The conservative blogsphere has gleefully found its wind beneath Batman’s right wing.

On Breitbart.com, Christian Toto writes it’s impossible not to “feel Nolan’s disgust at Occupy Wall Street.” After all, the horde that

takes over Gotham literally comes out of its sewers.

“Rises” never mentions the 99 percent or other overt Occupy Wall Street slogans. But Nolan clearly summons the spirit of the ragtag movement with a propensity for violence.

Bane’s henchmen literally attack Wall Street, savagely beat the rich and promise the good people of Gotham that “tomorrow you claim what is rightfully yours.” The Catwoman’s gal pal (Juno Temple) assures her at one point, when they enter a swanky abode, that this is “everyone’s home” now—in perfect Communist fashion.

We haven’t even mentioned how Bruce loses a good chunk of his fortune by investing in a failed clean energy program.

The OWS folks have issued their own defence with Harrison Schultz writing in The Daily Beast that Bane and his militia of terrorists and criminals freed from prison, armed with firearms, tanks and a nuclear bomb, “in no way resemble the comparatively impoverished, peace-seeking protesters who armed themselves with signs, sleeping bags, tents and iPhones at best in their attempts to fight for social justice.”

But it is impossible not to hear the rhetoric of the 99 percent in the film when the Catwoman turns to Bruce Wayne and says “There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

The cinematic trickery of TDKR, its clever bait-and-switch, is that having raised that prickly question, it never tells us if Mr. Wayne, indeed, wonders about any of these issues. Instead the distraction of a nuclear weapon on the loose, its trigger apparently in the hands of an ordinary citizen, allows the film to shepherd the terrified Gotham-ites (and the viewers) back to the relief of the status quo—where the guys who know best for us, the ones who have always been in charge, the billionaires and the thin blue line of the cops, are back in the saddle and peace (aka order) is restored. Even Batman’s hallowed no guns philosophy gets shot to pieces when the Catwoman saves him with a blast that blows the villain to bits and says, “About the whole no guns things, I am not sure I feel as strongly about it as you do.”

Why is any of this a surprise? The notion of the vigilante who can put down those he deems corrupt, unencumbered by the annoyances of the legal system, has always been terribly attractive because it’s anti-democratic,

democracy being slow, messy and error-prone, not to mention boring cinema. Batman has been the archangel of extraordinary rendition and we have all learned to stop worrying and love him for it. In The Dark Knight (2008) he literally swooped down from the sky to pluck the white-collar criminal Lau from his skyscraper in Hong Kong. In TDKR he becomes a victim of extraordinary rendition himself— consigned to a far-away black hole prison. But honestly, what were all those civil liberty types whining about? That prison doesn’t look so bad. The prisoners are not being beaten or tortured, they don’t even seem to have guards, and once you escape you are not in the badlands of Afghanistan but inside a commercial for Rajasthan tourism—beautiful old fort and all. You almost expect the cast of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to stroll past on a camel safari.

But the greatest deceit in TDKR is the one it begins and ends with. At the opening of the film Batman is in disgrace while the city celebrates Dent Day, unaware that Harvey Dent, its fallen hero from The Dark Knight was really the villain Two Face. At the end of this film, the supposedly dead Batman becomes a statue, his reputation restored in bronze. In a sentimental doffing of the cape to A Tale of Two Cities, Batman’s ultimate act of self-sacrifice is reflected in his eulogy: It is a far far better thing I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

Except in A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton says those lines on his way to the guillotine, taking the place of a condemned aristocrat. In TDKR, (big spoiler alert) unbeknownst to the Gotham-ites, Batman is on his way, not to death, but to a café in sunny Florence where he can now drink wine and live in bliss with his true soulmate.

Wait, I thought Bruce Wayne went broke.

I guess broke means something else when you are part of the 1% and Hollywood knits the yarn, instead of Madame Defarge. n Sandip Roy is the Culture Editor for Firstpost. com. He is on leave as editor with New America Media and host of its radio show New America Media Now, on KALW 91.7 FM. This article was first published in First Post. india currents • september 2012 • 17

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politics

Joe Samagond

Back off, Arizona!

I

n 1994, lawmakers in California were pushing Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that would have prohibited undocumented individuals from using public services. That galvanized immigrant rights activists and a passive Latino electorate. It ultimately led to moving a California under consecutive Republican Governors and swing state status to a reliable “blue” state with strong Democratic majorities. Could Arizona’s SB 1070 set that state on a similar track? The Supreme Court (SC) recently ruled on this State law against Arizona finding that the federal government has broad and superior constitutional authority for immigration.

Background

In 2010, the State of Arizona enacted a statute called the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The law is often referred to as SB 1070 (from the AZ state Senate bill). Its stated purpose was to “discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States.” When Governor Janet Brewer signed this bill into law in April 2010, it provoked a range of reactions. Supporters hailed it as an important tool to fight illegal immigration while opponents feared it would escalate racial profiling into a common practice in Arizona.

Everyone agreed that there was a need for immigration reform at the Federal level. That effort has been stymied in Washington due to a stalemate between the Democrats and Republicans. Even Republican leaders who were in favor of finding a sensible solution to this issue, such as Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have retreated in the face of furious opposition from the extreme margins of their party. What a shame!

Issues Addressed

Four provisions of the law were at issue: 1. Section 3, which makes it a crime to be in Arizona without valid immigration papers; 2. Section 5(C), which makes it a crime to apply for or hold a job without proper immigration papers; 3. Section 6, which allows a police officer to arrest someone, without a warrant, if the officer believes that he has committed a crime that could cause him to be deported; 4. Section 2(B), which requires police officers to check the immigration status of anyone whom they arrest or detain and allows them to stop and arrest someone if they believe that he is an undocumented immigrant.

This is often called the “papers please” provi18 • india currents • september 2012

sion.

The last two provisions give specific arrest authority and investigative duties to state and local law enforcement officers.

The federal government challenged SB 1070 as unconstitutional, claiming that Arizona was trying to move in on the federal government’s power to enforce federal immigration laws and moved the Supreme Court to render it null and void.

The Supreme Court Decision

By a vote of 5-3, the Court nullified three of the four provisions (1, 2 and 3 above) determining that they either operated in areas solely controlled by federal policy, or they interfered with federal enforcement efforts. The Court left intact the “papers please” provision. The majority (including Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor) stated that “The National Government has significant power to regulate immigration. With power comes responsibility, and the sound exercise of national power over immigration depends on the Nation’s meeting its responsibility to base its laws on a political will informed by searching, thought­ful, rational civic discourse.

Arizona may have understandable frustrations with the problems caused by illegal immigration while that process continues, but the State may not pursue policies that undermine federal law.”

It is an unmitigated victory for Federal power in the realm of Immigration. The justices make it clear that the federal government has the exclusive right to set immigration policy and to pre-empt state policies that can infringe on that federal power. The message on Section 2(B) provision is also clear—there is a wrong way and a right way to implement it. I got a sense that they were leaning towards tossing it as well. I fully support and endorse this thoughtful approach.

While the majority ruled 5-3, Alito actually sided with them on voting down Section 3, making it 6-2 for that issue. On the issue of the “paper test” the vote was 8-0—unanimous giving a clear nod to the State and the State Courts to act first before asking for SC opinion.

A Creative Commons Image

We must keep in mind that Supreme Court decisions are always a matter of context, reflect the times we live in, are built on precedents and ultimately uphold the rule of law.

Scalia Bluster

While most Justices dissent with respect, Justice Scalia in his acerbic oral opinion covered a range of topics whether or not they had any relevance to the Arizona case. He noted that President Obama recently used an executive order to accomplish some of the goals of the DREAM Act, by exempting certain young people from deportation. Bringing that up showed remarkable immaturity as it came well after the Arizona case was argued and was legally irrelevant to the issue at hand. He also asked, “Would the states conceivably have entered into the union if the Constitution itself contained the court’s holding?” What he meant is that if Arizona had known this view, they never would have joined the United States in the first place.

To support his claim Scalia went back into history to examine the role of states in policing immigration in the first 100 years of the Republic. He did not stop to consider what kind of immigration the states (especially the Southern ones) handled in those days; much of it had to do with slavery. This approach is a particular weakness of judges who adhere to the “original intent” school of thought, without updating it for the times we live in.

What’s Next?

Arizona will go ahead and apply “papers please” provision—but must do so in a manner consistent with constitutional rights. If civil rights are violated, the law will be enjoined again by the lower court. Furthermore, the aggrieved parties will be able to sue Arizona for damages under federal law. The ruling on Arizona’s law sends a strong signal to the five other states that have passed similar measures. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana and Utah must now review their own laws and strike down the provisions that do not comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

The California Senate recently voted to approve the California Trust Act, dubbed as the “anti-Arizona” bill. It essentially blocks local police from referring a detainee to immigration officials for deportation unless that person has been convicted of a violent or serious felony, deferring to the federal government on immigration enforcement.

Understanding Supreme Court Decisions

There are different reactions to Supreme Court decisions. Some people burst with joy or are reduced to despair just because of the decision itself. I prefer to take a logical approach and look at the reasons for the ruling and understand them. The Dred Scott Decision plunged the nation headlong into civil war and Plessy v. Ferguson legalized segregation in this country based on the statute of separate but equal facilities. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, overturned Plessy v. Ferguson at a later time in our history.

On the same day, it passed the Arizona Immigration judgment, the court also ruled the Stolen Valor act unconstitutional, asserting that lying about your military record is defensible as free speech under the First Amendment. We must keep in mind that Supreme Court decisions are always a matter of context, reflect the times we live in, are built on precedents and ultimately uphold the rule of law. Just because you don’t agree with a decision does not make it wrong or the Court, a political tool of the opposition. The Court’s decisions reflect the interpretation of nine judicial experts at a particular point in time.

The most important message from this decision is that a long-term solution—one that is tough, fair and practical—for a broken immigration system must come from Congress. n

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He is interested in global politics, science and social trends. More about his thoughts at http:// joes9.wordpress.com. india currents • september 2012 • 19

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india currents • september 2012 • 23

IC

perspective

Rajesh C. Oza

A Long Way Up Mount Olympus Why hasn’t Indian Olympic performance gone up with India’s economic rise?

W

ith two silvers and four bronzes, India has achieved an Olympic double “hat-trick”—tied with Ireland in the middle of the pack, but at the bottom on a per capita basis. While this is as many medals as India took home in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 combined, it is a far cry from the “century” of gold, silver, and bronze hardware that the United States has bagged.

As India has begun flexing its information technology muscle and concomitant economic rise, many Indians have bemoaned their country’s less muscular showing in London.

Some members of the younger generation are particular piqued that the only champions that India has produced in their lifetime have been Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand, national heroes whose pursuits (cricket and chess, respectively) have no platform at the Olympics. The youth have little patience for the Gandhian philosophy that demands unattachment to results: “Winning or losing is no concern of yours. You will simply try your best, and I am of course there to assist you” (M. K. Gandhi quoting Kevalram Dave in his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth).

Substitute “Arjuna” for “M. K. Gandhi” and “Krishna” for “Kevalram Dave” to hear the Bhagavad Gita’s sacred song that Gandhi’s life echoed. As Arjuna’s charioteer on the battlefield, Krishna espoused karma-yoga and counseled the despondent prince to do his duty without attachment to results.

So India’s Hindu ethos may have its citizens—Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, agnostic—resigned to not be despondent as long as Indian athletes are trying their best. But the country’s superpower aspirations to win in the corporate boardroom, from the classroom chalkboard, and on the swimming diving board has those same citizens asking if India is trying its best to win Olympic gold?

While it may be a stretch to think of sport as a metaphor for the battlefield, how can we not think of the medal count as a less bloody arms race between nations. Indeed, there is a correlation between economic might and sporting power. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, when American might was at its apogee, the United States won 174 medals and China took home 32. A quarter of a century later in Beijing, a rising China celebrated with

24 • india currents • september 2012

2012 Olympic Games—Opening Ceremony

100 medals and a declining America slipped to 110. Of course, there are many factors besides GDP at play: the USSR boycotted the 1984 Olympics, home-field advantage consistently bumps up the home country’s medal count, and micropower countries such as Jamaica can go up and down based on star performances by athletes such as Usain Bolt.

But the evidence is in: Olympic gold follows economic gold.

So the natural follow-up question one might have is, “Why hasn’t Indian Olympic performance gone up with the country’s economic rise?” This is a fair question for sports economists, but the question that is in keeping with the spirit of this column is whether India should expend the requisite human energy and financial capital to succeed on the world sporting stage? Gandhi would have thought it folly that the Chinese spent $40 billion to stage the 2008 Olympics. Even the more frugal British spent $14 billion for this year’s sports extravaganza. In the false promise of prideful propaganda, countries spend like parents who go bankrupt while sparing no expense at their children’s weddings; a classic case is the $16 billion 2004 Athens affair which contributed to Greece’s debt crisis.

A study from the University of South

Photo Credit: Globeimages.net

Australia concluded that one gold medal costs $37 million in training budget. Imagine those dutiful dollars (responsible rupees? karmic coins?) training Indian students on something less violent than boxing and more meaningful than swimming laps faster than Michael Phelps. Closer to home, as many American children prepare for the upcoming school year, perhaps an illuminating arithmetic problem could find its way into education policy: 46 gold medals at $37 million each equal $1.7 billion opportunity cost. With their state’s deficit in the billions, the campuses of the University of California—arguably part of the finest higher education system the world has produced—have responded to the significant budget shortfalls with not insignificant tuition increases and faculty losses.

After the feel-good buzz of The Who closing the London Olympics with a nostalgic performance of “My Generation,” future generations throughout the world might pause to wonder if climbing Mt. Olympus is worth the cost. n Rajesh C. Oza is a Change Management consultant, who also facilitates the interpersonal development of MBA students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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analysis

Dyuti Sengupta

Engines of Sustainable Education

In the face of rising college tuitions, community colleges present a better option.

A Creative Commons Image

“If I had to attend a community college, the sad truth is that I would be heavily judged by not only the Asian parent community here, but a lot of my peers ... ”—Anish Dhar.

A

s many desi parents are fully aware, the cost of a university education in the United States is rising each year.

In California, the cost of an undergraduate education at the University of California at Berkeley last year was $22,426. The approximate cost of a private education at Stanford University was unsurprisingly higher, close to $50,000. Of course, many students who excel academically, athletically, musically or otherwise reduce costs through scholarships, while others sometimes take on part-time jobs or loans to contribute to these costs.

Although Indian parents often make the greatest efforts to pay for their child’s full college education, it is hard to believe that all Indian parents can afford to pay for their child’s (or children’s) four-year college education. Are there viable alternatives?

One frequently overlooked option is the community college system where a course unit costs $31. After a two-year stint at a community college many students successfully transfer to four-year universities including the highly competitive UCs as well as private and out-of-state universities with stringent entry requirements. As an example, DeAnza College, located in Cupertino, possesses one of the highest transfer rates in the state of California, ranking #2 after Foothill College.

Despite the potential to save thousands of dollars on college costs, there is a certain 30 • india currents • september 2012

stigma attached to attending a community college, particularly among Indian communities. Anish Dhar, an incoming senior at prestigious Lynwood High School in Cupertino says, “If I had to attend a community college, the sad truth is that I would be heavily judged by not only the Asian parent community here, but a lot of my peers. Most of my friends are high achieving students who consistently receive high grades and do well overall in school.” He touches on one of the key reasons desi parents choose to live in Cupertino or San Jose –—the high achieving student community. He goes on to explain his own criteria of acceptability, “My personal opinion is that community college is only acceptable if a student is transferring out of the community college after two years to go to a UC or perhaps even a better college from there.”

Laying the Foundation

In fact, preparing for a transfer is one excellent reason that the community college option makes sense. Freshmen and sophomore students frequently spend the first two years of college taking prerequisites if they have not already completed them in high school.

Devki Saraiya, a microbiology summa cum laude graduate of the University of Washington (Seattle) describes her own motivations for having attended community college, “I had already declared my major as biochemis-

try, but I no longer was sure that this was the degree that I wanted. Since I was in limbo, I decided that this was an amazing time to take a year off to find what my true academic interests were.” Devki attended Shoreline Community College in Seattle, where she took both organic chemistry and biology. She describes her experiences as extremely positive saying, “[there were] professors who loved their subjects and were dedicated to ensuring that every student came away with a strong foundation in these basic science courses.”

She also says, “When I compared my experience and understanding of the course material to my friends who were taking the same classes at four-year universities, I could clearly see how this environment truly helped to solidify my understanding of these topics in much more detail than I could have obtained otherwise.” Her experiences outline two important aspects of the undergraduate experience—determining true academic interests, and the laying down of a solid foundation for future academic success. Devki now has a successful career as a genetic counselor for a reputed biotech company.

Back at DeAnza College, Leela Tanikella agrees with this approach. A graduate of Monte Vista High School in Cupertino, she decided to attend DeAnza to save money and to figure out exactly what major she wanted before venturing away from home. Leela’s current plan is to complete her first two years at DeAnza, then study bioengineering at a four-year institution. As for the quality of her education at DeAnza, Leela says, “De Anza has given me a very rounded education. I have never been more involved in school activities as I am now. I’ve met a lot of people, and I really enjoy the independence that comes with taking care of your own education.” She goes

on to add, “I am very involved with on campus activities. Being involved really makes me feel like I am a part of the school, and makes my days far more interesting than they would be if I were just at school for studying.”

performance. The bottom line for parents is to understand and listen to your child’s true nature, and the bottom line for students is to go with your instinct, not the expectations around you. n

T

Dyuti Sengupta teaches Geography at Foothill Community College.

here are many approaches to a college education, depending on a student’s resources, disposition and goals. The community college option provides a solid foundation in basic coursework that may be impossible to get at a four-year university. Students entering prestigious four-year institutions sometimes immediately find themselves in large, impersonal “weed out” courses—large, impersonal and heavily demanding courses such as physics, chemistry and biology. Up to 800 students are regularly enrolled in UC Berkeley’s introductory biology course. Additionally, moving directly into an off-campus lifestyle complete with partying and new and often unknown social situations can potentially contribute to a nosedive in academic performance during the first two years, and result in poor goal setting for the latter years. Clearly not all students will suffer these consequences, but certainly some percentage will experience considerable stress in the first few years. From the parents’ perspective, the money spent on their child translates to high hopes for success in the academic arena, and they may be disappointed if their child fails to compete effectively. Community colleges essentially prepare students for upper division courses without the hassle of expensive tuition or unrealistic academic expectations. For some students, it may help strengthen their confidence in certain subjects and spare them the pain of being “weeded out” unfairly.

But do community colleges only serve students who do not want to compete as rigorously in the first two years? Not necessarily.

Foothill College in Los Altos Hills is equipped with an Honors Institute for high performing high school students and challenges them to perform above regular collegiate expectations.

Closely knit academic communities like these help students gain confidence and leads to excellent transfer options, including enhanced transfer options to UCLA and UC Irvine.

Whether or not a community college education is appropriate for a student really depends on his or her current state of mind and goals. If a student wants to take time to figure out a career path, explore options, work in a job to save money, or just take a little more time to study difficult subjects without excessive pressure, it provides an excellent advantage over four-year institutions. The drawbacks are of course the lack of perceived prestige, and perhaps not sharing the same experience as his or her high school peers.

However, high school expectations fade fast after one enters the “real world.” Ultimately these minor drawbacks are a small price to pay for one’s overall education and academic

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A Guide to Choosing a Community College

Like us facebook.com/India Currents

• If you are seriously considering attending a community college for your first two years of college, be sure to choose a good one! Here are some of the important pieces of information that might help you deduce the quality of a community college.

• Transfer rates: Over the past seven years, the highest transfer rates in California included three Bay Area colleges: Foothill College (#1), DeAnza College (#2) and Ohlone College (#5).

• Demographic makeup: Often an irrational topic in Desi circles. Just because minorities (other than Asians) attend a college does not make it a bad college.

However, pay closer attention to whether or not you will be comfortable in the demographic setting, and if there is adequate support for any special needs you have. Look for rational indicators, such as entering freshman GPAs, or high school completion rates.

• Percentage of faculty with Ph.D.s: This is very telling of the quality of the education. People who have earned Ph.D.s in their topics usually have excellent knowledge of their subjects, and have often been trained to teach in graduate school.

If a Ph.D. is at a community college, it probably means he or she loves to teach.

• Honors programs: Provide opportunities for higher achieving students to continue to excel at the community college. Also provides excellent transfer options. Both Foothill and DeAnza College have such programs.

• Transfer Advising: Students should work hard to find the available resources for transfer opportunities. On campus advising is sometimes challenging and crowded, but critical for students wanting to transfer. Find these resources early to reduce stress and confusion.

Most Popular Articles Online August 2012: 1) My Summer Tango with the Mango.

Kalpana Mohan 2) Framed for Success—Ten Under Thirty Arpit Mehta 3) My Virtual Encounters Geetika Pathania Jain 4) India Day Celebration Staff Writer 5) Firecracker Patriotism Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan 6) Celebrating Indian Pride Emma G. Blanco 7) From the Bihari Rasoi, Anuradha Malhotra 8) Cautionary Fairy Tales Aniruddh Chawda 9) Sensory Overload in Madrid Kalpana Sunder 10) I am Gulliver, I am Sindbad Sarita Sarvate

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india currents • september 2012 • 31

I C ask a lawyer

Gleb Finkelman

The Costs of Legal Action

Q

I have a good case which I am reasonably confident I will win. Should I go ahead with finding legal ways to seek justice?

A

“Go to law for a sheep and lose your cow” is a German proverb that is often touted around courtrooms. Most of the time individuals focus only on the fact that they were wronged and do not consider what it means to “win.” After all, in a civil lawsuit whether you win or lose is determined by how much money, time, and effort you put into a case and how much money you get out of it.

Filing a civil lawsuit can be time consuming and expensive. The reason to pursue such a lawsuit should be to receive financial compensation for a harm that you suffered. Some people think of it as a punitive enterprise, but bringing a civil lawsuit for retribution as opposed to compensation can be very expensive for the client. So how should you decide whether or not to file a lawsuit? It is helpful to disconnect your emotional attachment to punishing the guilty party and to think of the

32 • india currents • september 2012

case as a business investment.

Weigh all the costs of pursuing a case; these usually include the following: the money you are likely to spend before trial, the money you are likely to spend during trial, your time and inconvenience, and the emotional discomfort from dealing with a person or entity who has already caused you enough aggravation that you are willing to bring a lawsuit against them. If you think that you are likely to recover enough money from the defendant to make up for all these costs, and you can afford to take the risk, then you should move forward with your case.

Q A

Who will cover the costs of pursuing a case?

We have all heard those advertisements for contingency fee attorney services that state “You don’t pay unless we win your case.”

Many people think that they will not need to spend any money on the case, because the attorney does not get paid unless he wins the case.

If the case has a lot of witnesses that

need to be deposed, or if the case requires the attorney to travel, someone will need to cover the expenses. Some attorneys might be willing to cover all case related-expenses and some may be willing to split the expenses with the client. Most attorneys leave the client responsible for any expenses associated with the case. This is one of those instances when it is helpful to think of a civil lawsuit as an investment. The client and the attorney should be cognizant of the estimated value of the case, so that the attorney does not spend $75,000 pursuing a $65,000 case.

A good attorney will counsel the client about the estimated costs of pursuing a case and work with the client to develop a case plan that does not expose the client to too much financial liability if the case does not result in a recovery. Before signing a fee agreement, you should closely check the language and consider your financial situation to see if you can afford to pursue such a case. n Gleb Finkelman is an attorney engaged in all aspects of personal injury and business litigation at the Abronson Law Offices in Los Gatos. www.redhouselawyer.com

IC

legal

visa dates

Important Note: U.S. travelers seeking visas to India will now need to obtain them through Travisa Outsourcing. Call (415) 644-0149 or visit http://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/ for more information.

September 2012

T

his column carries priority dates and other transitional information as taken from the U.S. State Depart­ment’s Visa Bulletin. The information below is from the Visa Bulletin for September 2012.

In the tables below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed. “Current” means that numbers are available for all qualified applicants. “Unavailable” means no numbers are available.

FAMILY PREFERENCE VISA DATES

Verma LAW FIRM Arjun Verma, Attorney at Law (408) 436-1010

Preference Dates for India 1st 2A 2B 3rd 4th

Oct 01, 2005 May 08, 2010 Sep 15, 2004 May 15, 2002 Mar 01, 2001

Note: For September, F2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than Apr 15, 2010. F2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants with priority dates beginning Apr 15, 2010 and earlier than May 08, 2010.

EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA DATES Preference Dates for India 1st Current 2nd Unavailable 3rd October 08, 2002 Other October 08, 2002 Workers 4th Current Certain Current Religious Workers 5th Current Targeted Employment Areas The Department of State has a recorded message with visa availability information at (202)663-1541, which is updated in the middle of each month. Source: http://www. travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5759.html

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fiction

For Sale “M

rs. Shergill?”

A young couple is at the door. The husband smiles down at Simran. “I’m Tarun, and this is Rhea. We called earlier? We’ve come about the ad.”

That much is obvious from the way the wife is already looking past her into the hallway. Her glance is focused and appraising.

Simran steps back reluctantly and lets them enter the space their eyes have already invaded. She has to press back against the wall to let the wife pass. Maternity clothes, nowadays, are designed to worship the pregnant figure. Back in Simran’s time, a pregnancy would have been hidden in loose, flabby clothes. Not that she had an occasion to wear them herself.

“I hope this is not an inconvenient time,” the wife says.

Katha 2011 Results ard $300): FIRST PLACE (cash aw UNDHWALA, JAL Y LA MA by Lucky Sky San Francisco, Calif. sh award $200): SECOND PLACE (ca REFAI D ME Amma by MOHA N, FA IR D MOHAME Chennai, India award $100): THIRD PLACE (cash LIGA, BA DA For Sale by VRIN ia Ind d, Hyderaba ION: HONORABLE MENT NIKESH by s me Ga th eal onw Comm lia stra Au a, err MURALI, Canb ION: HONORABLE MENT DU EN RN PU The Beggar by kpore, India rac Bar , EE RJ TE AT CH

34 • india currents • september 2012

Simran shrugs. The question is a little belated, isn’t it? Now that they’ve already come in? It isn’t as if they will turn and leave if the time is inconvenient.

They’re in the living room now. The wife begins a circuit of the room, pausing to examine this or that, knocking on the fauxwood paneling with her knuckles like a tax inspector on a surprise raid. Her brisk manner makes such little concession to her advanced pregnancy that Simran prays secretly that her water doesn’t break. Not on the rug, at any rate. The husband, meanwhile, goes over to the window and looks out. Simran follows his line of vision into the neighbor’s garden. The neighbors. What will they tell them about this house? About Nikhil and Simran? God knows, even without recent events, they have had enough to gossip about over the years. A house tainted by scandal discounts its own market value.

But then, these two don’t look like the type who will bother with neighbors. They are the modern couple, the self-sufficient “family-unit” she reads about in the newspaper, the type who can never have neighbors, not even if they happen to live in a crowded apartment complex. They have only visual acquaintances through chance meetings in the elevator that never go beyond greetings. Next door could just as well be a different planet.

The wife is looking at a photograph now-it is Nikhil and Simran’s photograph taken during their honeymoon in Shimla. At the time, like the typical couple that emerges gasping for breath out of the endless ceremonies and rituals of an arranged marriage, they barely knew each other. There they are with the Christ Church crowning their heads, smiling innocently at the camera that Nikhil has foisted upon some passerby. Framed in the photograph, they are safely confined, as if they will never emerge from that moment to reveal, to each other and themselves, their real faces, the depths to which they are each capable of falling.

The woman turns, looking inclined to comment, but then decides against it. Perhaps she is intimidated by Simran’s white sari. For all she knows, Simran could have been widowed years ago. On the other hand,

VRINDA BALIGA Katha 2012 Third Place Winner

.

it could just as easily be last week, and she probably doesn’t want to get Simran started on her husband’s death. It would be inauspicious, wouldn’t it, to talk about death on their first visit to what could soon be their home?

The young of today are selective in their faith. They may not know a single religious chant, they may look down on rituals as backward, but when it comes to the important phases of their own lives, they are just as superstitious as the generations they think they have left behind.

They are done with the living room now, and are looking expectantly at her to take the lead and show them around the house. But she makes no move. Finally, they step tentatively towards the kitchen.

“May we…?”

Simran nods, but remains at the door. If they think that she will throw open cabinets and reveal all the clever little nooks for gadgets with a “Ta-Da!”—that she will do a little song-and-dance routine for them so that they can do her the privilege of buying her home, they’re sadly mistaken.

In any event, they give the kitchen only a cursory glance. Perhaps they have a cook. Very likely. They have left laptop bags at the front door. Both working. Independent. Far above the drudgery that they can hire menials to do. This woman will probably step into the kitchen only to hand over a new baby-food recipe that she has looked up on the Internet or seen in one of the countless parenting books with which she has doubtless equipped herself. How will a cook, and an unsupervised one at that, look after this kitchen? Simran’s kitchen. The one place where she had found temporary oblivion in the preparation of the elaborate meals that had nevertheless failed to serve as an effective counterpoise to the frigid silence at the dining table.

They are going up the stairs now. Simran follows them, keeping a short distance behind.

“Oooh! This is perfect!”

Simran flinches. They have discovered Prakriti’s room. When she enters, the woman is busy making plans. The room is to be painted lavender. Crib goes here, toy cupboard there, rocking chair in the corner, study

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india currents • september 2012 • 35

table by the window, bookshelves, a glass-door showcase for trophies … every little detail down to the location of height-giraffe which will provide the one solid measurement, meticulously noted down on every birthday, among all the myriad intangible ways in which the poor kid will doubtless have to measure up against peers.

She seems to have got it all figured out till the kid is twenty. But, Simran knows her type.

The novelty of the baby will wear out soon enough, when it dawns on her that motherhood is not a long series of picture-perfect shots out of a Johnson’s baby ad, and the reality of the endless cycle of feeding and cleaning-up-after sinks in, and then, before you can say “Peek-a-boo!” a nanny will be installed, while she herself carries on with life as usual.

But why has she taken such a dislike to this woman, this Reena, or whatever her name is?

Who is she to judge her when she has barely known her for more than a few minutes. Perhaps it’s the way she is planning the future, as though life is nothing more than a Saturday night dinner-and-a-movie. How can she be so complacent, so smugly confident that everything will work out according to plan? After all, Simran too had once made similar plans on how this room should be arranged. And what had she ever got for her efforts but an empty space—a “guest-bedroom” in a house that could not afford to have guests over, given the poisonous atmosphere that festered within its walls.

Simran excuses herself and goes back downstairs leaving the (relieved?) couple to its charming little tour. She has no appetite left for the next room. The master bedroom. The room in which Prakriti had been conceived. This room is the venue of their greatest sins. But who was the greater sinner?

Nikhil, who had coldly informed her, after an ultrasound done by a “family doctor” whom she had never heard of before, that there was a “problem?” Or Simran, still in awe of marriage and what she had been taught was “her place” in it, who in not putting up a strong enough fight had betrayed her own child?

Either way, they had both paid the price.

The same room was witness to their increasingly desperate, loveless attempts to conceive a son, doomed at the very outset by what she had become convinced was Prakriti’s curse. Simran’s periods had always been a little irregular. But now, month after month, her womb mourned its dead with clockwork regularity. And with every passing year, Nikhil became obsessed with their inability to conceive; he presented it, in turns, as the cause and the outcome of the reversals he faced at work. And the deeper his business fell into debt, the more he wanted a son to carry it forward. In the face of a faltering business and the continued absence of a male heir, he resorted to other ways to prove his manhood.

Simran did not play silent victim. Not anymore. She matched him blow for blow, 36 • india currents • september 2012

A Creative Commons Image

resorting in the face of his physical aggression, to a more enduring arsenal of words—insults and taunts inflicted with bitter, brutal thrusts, their blades all the more lethal from having been honed on hard, undeniable truth.

And all those years later, after the initial grounds had long been invalidated—not only had they given up trying, but it had also become increasingly clear that there would not be much of a business left to carry forward, heir or no heir—they had continued to live in a state of siege, both making occasional half-hearted attempts to annex a moral highground that had long ceased to exist, but both really biding their time. In the end, it was she who had prevailed.

They are finished with the upper floor.

She watches husband and wife with distaste as they come down the stairs. How easily they trample all over her carefully-preserved ruins, these vultures who have come to feast at the remains?

They have given up on her by now, and go out themselves to take a look at the garden and garage. With only her glare following them and not Simran herself, they help themselves to a more leisurely second circuit of the ground floor. She watches them nudge each other to nod towards some minor pro or con, she notes the way they whisper conspiratorially over some alteration they propose to make. Every gesture feels like a violation. Why can’t they hurry up and get done with it? They act as if they already own the house.

The house. This house is the closest she has to family now. All these years, it has taken sides too. Every nook that shielded her from his blows; every sharp corner that lent him a hand; the study, his safe haven; the kitchen, hers—this house was never a mute spectator, instead always taking an active part in whatever took place between its walls. It is the only place in the world that can still furnish those sudden, heartbreaking, precious little moments; little peeks into an alternate universe in which Prakriti is happy and healthy and alive. When Nikhil died, it was a measure of

what they had turned themselves into that her first reaction had been to rue the fact that his suicide had rendered his life insurance policy null and void. The house would have to go.

After what seems like ages, the couple is ready to leave. They will get back to her once they decide, the husband assures her.

But Simran can see that they already have.

The husband holds the door for the wife as she eases into the car. They cast repeated backward glances at the house, assessing its looks from the street as if it were part of a supermodel line-up. Simran watches the car till it turns the corner. She can imagine what they must be saying.

What a bitch! What was with her? She was acting like we were breaking and entering.

She doesn’t want to sell. It’s a distress sale, for sure.

Now, there’s a thought. That means she’s probably negotiable on the price. Make sure to drive a hard bargain.

Simran shuts and bolts the door. She draws the window blinds. Had there been a drawbridge, she would have raised it too, for what it was worth.

But she knows that they next time they come by, she will have no option but to open the door once again. n Judges’ Comments: Chitra Divakaruni: The situation in this piece was intriguing. I liked how the backstory was revealed to us slowly as the tension built.

Bharti Kirchner: Story of an individual, yet it seems to have a universal quality.

Vrinda Baliga lives in Hyderabad and is a writer of short fiction. She is a prizewinner in the Unisun Short Story Competition 2011 and the Katha Fiction Contest 2010. Her fiction has appeared in anthologies like Urban Shots, Crossroads, and Two is Company, and in various print and online literary journals and magazines.

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books

Tara Menon

A Cluster Of Petals

THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN by Kamala Nair. Grand Central Publishing 2011. Hardcover, 320 pages. $24.99

A

fter reading Kamala Nair’s debut literary mystery, The Girl in the Garden, I was reminded of two classics, The Secret Garden and my favorite, Jane Eyre, though more so of the former. The heart of Nair’s story was inspired by an image she had in a dream, when she visited India, of a tree that showered its petals on two girls. After the writer woke up she reflected on who they could be and why they were there. Perhaps that is why among the most lush passages in the book is the one about the garden. The young protagonist, Rakhee, who narrates the life-changing events of a summer vacation with her mother, says, “An Ashoka tree stood at one edge of the garden, as if on guard, near the door. A brief wind sent a cluster of red petals drifting down from its branches and settling on the ground at my feet. A flock of pale blue butterflies emerged from a bed of golden trumpet flowers and sailed up into the sky. In the center of this scene was a peach stucco cottage with green shutters and a thatched roof, quaint and idyllic as a dollhouse. A heavenly perfume drifted over the wall, intoxicating me—I wanted nothing more than to enter.”

The novel begins with a tormented Rakhee as she breaks off her engagement and returns to India to wrestle with the demons of her past. The reader is then plunged into the past, with Rakhee as a ten-year-old girl living in a prosperous part of Plainfield, Minnesota.

She is a child of an unhappy marriage between a beautiful, troubled Malayali woman and an older Sikh doctor.

The unraveling of their lives begins with the arrival of an aerogramme addressed to Rakhee’s mother who is clearly disconcerted by the contents. Rakhee overhears the friction between her parents and wonders if they are headed towards divorce.

Much to her distress, her mother tells her they will both be spending the summer in India. To Rakhee, her mother is a puzzle, a person who was happiest while gardening.

Nair makes us feel empathy for Rakhee, who is raised by a mother marred by the past and a father who is frustrated by unrequited love.

Rakhee also suffers from being different: “I was shy about my dark skin, unruly hair, and thick glasses, which separated me from most 38 • india currents • september 2012

of the other kids at Plainfield Elementary with their blue eyes, hardy frames, and Lutheran Church, whose vaulted ceiling soared above their golden heads every Sunday morning.” The reader feels the tension the girl must have absorbed in her young life.

That summer, Rakhee’s mother takes her to Malanad, a village in Kerala, to stay with her grandmother and maternal relatives. They have servants to wait on them, but no modern amenities. Rakhee misses her father, and is unable to talk to him because international calls are expensive and phone connections are bad. Nair recreates the joint family adroitly, and by choosing an old-fashioned place where superstitious myths abound, she deepens the mystery.

Rakhee not only makes friends with the three daughters of her aunt, but also befriends the girl in the garden. The girl in the garden is an interesting character because of her unusual upbringing. She has barely seen anyone except for her “teacher.” It’s in this respect that I am reminded of Jane Eyre, in which the mad wife is locked up and doesn’t come into contact with anyone except for the servant, the housekeeper, and her husband.

The girl in the garden hasn’t ever seen herself in a mirror because whoever is caring for her has made sure she won’t get the chance to be horrified by her reflection—the girl has a birth defect. In fact until Rakhee befriends her, she remains blissfully happy in her ignorance, though her caretaker has educated her and inculcated in her a love for books.

Nair’s premise of a girl untouched by the world raises fascinating questions in the reader’s mind about isolation and I wonder if she has delved into any research about children for whom social contact has been minimal.

The mystery in the book revolves around the identity of the girl, but much of the charm of the pages lies in the cultural details. Arundhati Roy’s novel, The God of Small Things, first placed Kerala on the literary map, but it was mainly a Christian community she recreated whereas Nair’s characters are Hindu.

Though Kerala has its share of chauvinistic males and though it is the privilege of a writer to choose what she wants to communicate, I was a bit disappointed that some of the power women enjoyed in what was once a matrilineal society hadn’t been imparted in the tale.

However, I could identify with a few of the experiences Rakhee had as an Indian-American plunged into life in a joint family in a Kerala village, because I, too, found myself displaced from the American culture I was exposed to and relocated to Kerala, as a young girl.

Like the children’s literary classic, The Secret Garden, The Girl in the Garden presents the act of gardening as a healing force and its desecration as ominous and ruinous for the soul. Yet in one fundamental way they are different; the boy in The Secret Garden benefits from the ties of friendship, but the world of the hidden girl in The Girl in the Garden is shattered after she encounters another child.

Nair has an impressive debut with The Girl in the Garden. Her message is simple and clear—unless we makes peace with the past there can be little happiness. Life is complicated and worrisome unless one can be in almost total isolation like the girl in the garden.

However what happens to the girl in the garden demonstrates the perils of such an upbringing. The Secret Garden and The Girl in the Garden make us see the truth that whether in the city or in the village, no matter which country we live in, we depend on nature to heal and nourish us. n Tara Menon is a freelance writer based in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her fiction, poetry, and book reviews have been published in many magazines.

John Cussen

Gothic Wallah I AM AN EXECUTIONER: LOVE STORIES

by Rajesh Parameswaran. Knopf, 2012. Hardcover, 272 pages. $24.95

H

arder than it would seem, as every actor knows, is the playing of a corpse.

For several minutes after the plot event that yields the lifeless body—the sword thrust, strangulation, pisoning, etc.,—the audience will watch it closely to see if it is really dead. Whatever else is happening on the stage will be lost.

Something like this principle applies in fiction, too. The presence of a corpse in a scene is unsettling. It requires of the living characters that they either be burying it or running from it. Eating a sandwich in its proximity will not do. For this reason, Faulkner does not let us know for sure that Emily Grierson has been sleeping with the deceased Homer Barron in A Rose for Emily, until the story’s last paragraph. Had we known any sooner, we would have stopped reading.

In his debut short fiction collection, I Am an Executioner: Love Stories, Chennai-born American writer Rajesh Parameswaran takes on this minatory axiom of narrative aesthetics and comes away largely triumphant. For the whole of one story, for example, while the Indian-born wife/protagonist cooks, talks on

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the phone, and attends a pre-Thanksgiving Day party, we are asked to imagine her just-deceased husband’s body slowly, gradually rigor-mortising into a V-shape on their living room floor. In the collection’s title story, the narrator courts his second wife on the internet without revealing to her his heartless profession as their unnamed country’s official executioner. In the beginning of their marriage this oversight bedevils him, for, as we would expect, his bride is reluctant to get lovey-dovey with him.

But, then, much to our surprise, at the story’s end, she does get intimate with him after she watches him dispatch by stoning, a girl small enough to carry under one arm.

The narrator of Parameswaran’s futuristic final story is an undertaker on a lesser-developed planet over-run by Earthling adventure tourists. At the start of the undertaker’s story, he is attending to the impaled body of an illcompassed female Earthling who lost her life driving too fast and too close to the roadside jungle’s sudden outcroppings.

These stories have several virtues: fullness, daring, invention, and flawless comedic timing. In a few, one hears the voice from The Mystic Masseur and The Suffrage of Elvira of the Indian diaspora’s first writer

of international stature, V. S. Naipaul. However, save in his last story, Parameswaran’s subject is not influenced by postcoloniality, nor, refreshingly, does it have any of the overworked plaints standard to Englishlanguage immigrant fiction—that, for example, the emigrant is afflicted by guilt for having abandoned her home country.

Instead, Parameswaran’s stories shine light on the world’s sinister absurdities, among them, loving spouses occasionally wishing that their mates were dead; the “respectable” work done by executioners in societies that employ capital punishment; and death’s offputting physical remains.

Parameswaran is not a writer that evaders of cemeteries and wax museums will fast cotton to. That’s their loss and his unmerited misfortune. As one Tamil proverb enjoins, Should we blame him who announces a death?

No, not in the postmodern gothic wallah Parameswaran’s talented case. n John Cussen, Ph.D., teaches literature and writing at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He is a former Fulbrighter to India.

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www.indiacurrents.com india currents • september 2012 • 39

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desi voices

V. V. Sundaram

Paru Mami’s Dignity P

aru Mami of my village was, to quote a Hindi saying, Garib ki Joru, Sab ki Bhabhi—poor man’s wife, everybody’s sister-in-law.

Her husband, Nanu Jyosyar’s income as an elementary school teacher was insufficient to feed the family of five daughters and one son. Though his surname (Jyosyar—a version of Jyothishar or astrologer) referred to the family’s age-old profession, that line of work ended with his father. Nanu Mama had no clue whatsoever of astrology; otherwise he would have supplemented his income to make up for the shortfall.

Consequently, the family was often in arrears on rent for the house they lived in. The owner, also a resident of the village, didn’t evict them on sheer humanitarian grounds, and compromised by collecting the rent in bits and pieces.

Wives and mothers in other houses in the village mitigated Paru Mami’s misery to the extent their own situation permitted, ensuring simultaneously that Paru Mami’s dignity was preserved. Whenever there was any family function, the lady of the house would request for Paru Mami’s assistance.

On such occasions, instead of telling Mami to bring all her children for lunch and giving her the feeling that such an invitation was being extended more to alleviate her suffering, the lady of the house would gently come up with a request: “Ha Paru, can I also request that your daughters give me a helping hand to cut vegetables, grind different pastes, pound spices, and fetch water from the well?

And, ah, in between your tasks, please tell them not to rush home to prepare meals; prevail upon them to join us.”

This was the most honorable method the elderly ladies deployed to save Paru Mami from having to light the hearth at home. As for Mami’s husband, the ladies made sure to pack enough for his dinner on such occasions.

Four or five functions a month gave Mami some respite.

As children, this gesture, when it occurred in our house, did cut into our own quota of appam, vadai, or payasam, but for some strange reason we felt elated watching Mami’s children having a rightfully earned hearty meal along with us.

Most houses also sought Mami’s services for the annual pickle event—mango, lime, 40 • india currents • september 2012

naarthankai (dried lime) or veppala katti (curry leaves mixture). And every lady relied on Mami’s hand to add the final heaping of salt and spice for two reasons. First, she moderated the quantities of spices depending on the blood pressure level, or ulcer or other problems plaguing the members of the house in question. Second, the ladies believed that under any other hand the pickle would sour and develop fungus sooner than later. At the end of her labors, Mami would be gifted with a jar of the prepared product, and sometimes betel leaves, arecanut, haldi-kumkum, a blouse piece and money.

Thus, Mami had a good collection of pickles on hand. Sometimes driven to despair the family made do with a bare minimum meal—rice and thin buttermilk. On these occasions Mami made up for the absence of a full course with an offer to her children to choose their own pickle: Karikkar Mami’s mango pickle, Karimasseri Mami’s lime pickle, or Kolathu Mami’s hot kadugu mangai (whole mango pickle). This effort to divert her children often worked—they forgot what was missing on their plates in their eagerness to grab a pickle of their choice.

The visit of a son or daughter from Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta or Madras on holiday was an annual or biennial occurrence in most households. It was a custom that when they returned the mothers packed them a tin of savory—murukku, thattai, ribbon pakoda, or thenkozal and some sweets: laddu, or mysorepak. Mami would be commissioned to prepare these snacks.

Mami’s murukku chuttal, the art of ma-

neuvering the raw rice paste into twisted rounds of five and seven circles was as perfect

as Picasso’s symmetrical rounds. She was the best in the village, if not in the town.

However, it must be admitted that her mysorepak was a trial and error effort despite her years of experience. The outcome was as unpredictable as any One Day International cricket match. This however is not to suggest that on the not so successful occasions the product turned so bad as to be fit only as glue for Navaratri Kolu decorations. It could still be eaten, just under a different name.

Thus Mami carried her domestic show with great aplomb and self-respect. If at any time she had to draw temporarily a measure of rice, or cooking oil, it was just from our house—and our house only.

While on an official visit to Calicut decades later, I visited Mami who had moved there with her only son and his family. The four daughters were all married by then.

Two of Mami’s daughters also lived in Calicut, one of them running a pickle business as a cottage industry enterprise. I called on her. After offering me coffee and snacks, she said: “We hear your uncles are selling the ancestral house. I would be keen to buy it, just to perpetuate my childhood memory. Can you put in a word to them, please?” I promised to convey her wishes. Yes, at that time all members of our family had moved to cities, and the house was vacant, and on the verge of dilapidation. My uncles were seriously thinking of selling it.

As I prepared to take leave, she asked me to wait. She went inside and returned with a shopping bag full of assorted pickles—easily 12 bottles. I had a tough time convincing her that it would be a problem for me to carry it either as a check-in luggage or as cabin baggage.

I couldn’t help admire the wheel of time.

The family that had endured hardship in the village were keen to own a house there, and we, who had nothing but pleasant memories, were trying to sever all connections.

But then that is what life is all about, I thought, as I packed the pickles with my clothing and headed to the airport. n V.V. Sundaram retired from a U.N. organization managing their publications programme.

He taught Sales and Marketing for a book publishing course and, as a hobby contributed to Hindustan Times and Times of India.

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q&a

Suchi Sargam

THE LEADING FUNNY MAN An interview with Boman Irani

W

hat do you think will happen when Boman Irani, better known as the absurdly laughing Dr. Asthana from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., dons the hat of Farhad and romances a Shirin on screen? A touching yet funny, instead of tragic, love story is the best guess. Released in August, Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi has the zestful Farah Khan debuting as an actor alongside Boman Irani. The movie has the funny man pondering over the stupid things one does when one is in love, regardless of age.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari released recently and you played one of the three important roles.

Are you satisfied with the response the movie generated?

Yes. People have loved it and media is going crazy about it.

What matters more to you—Box Office collections or reactions of audiences?

Ferrari got good reactions and good collections too. As an actor you want your movie to be seen by as many people and the Box Office is an empirical way of telling you how many saw it. Ferrari has done very well considering it was pegged as an underdog movie— there is no conventional hero, and no heroine in the movie. People were wondering what it was all about and going to cinema halls to find out. It’s done well business wise. But lets say it didn’t do well. Even then, I’d say I was happy if the reaction of the public remained the same. I am thrilled with the love and the respect the film has got.

Khosla Ka Ghosla, Munnabhai, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti … these films came out long back but are still remembered. Ferrari ki Sawaari is one of that ilk—people will talk about it. The movie is one from the heart.

After Ferrari your next big one is Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi. How did you get the offer?

It’s a strange thing—Farah says she did the film because she was going to be acting with me. (But I was thrilled to know I was doing a film with Farah.) When I heard that Farah Khan was being cast, I agreed to do the film. I knew it would be a different kind of film.

Do you consider this your first conventional lead role in Bollywood?

No. Well Done Abba was my first. But that 42 • india currents • september 2012

was more of a dark comedy. It took convention and bent it. It was a satire. This is my second lead role.

What makes you happy about this role?

I don’t know what makes me happy. As an actor maybe it’s the opportunity to be in a film that tells a good story. Afterwards, you can say you displayed your acting talents. But then you are deviating from why you are in the film. A film is a story-telling process. It’s about how the story is told, and how well the actors help the story by emoting. A movie should not be a vehicle for you to show your acting talents alone.

So the story is important?

The narrative style is also very important.

The story and the style in which it is said are crucial elements of filmmaking.

For Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi, did you read the original Persian story?

It’s just a coincidence that the names of the characters in the movie are Shirin and Farhad—it’s got nothing to do with the original tragedy. It’s a comedy in which I play a

45-year-old bachelor.

Could you share a bit more about the movie’s lead couple?

Look, there is this monologue of mine in the film. A little speech—nothing like a Shakespearean soliloquy—in which Farhad says to his family, “Let me be, I am in love.”

He tries to explain to them that “just because I am 45, you all want me to get married. You are missing the point that I AM IN LOVE. You all just want me to get me married to anybody—uski shaadi karwa do!” But when you are in love, you should understand that it is a very beautiful feeling. Tell me, have you been in love? What’s the feeling like?

I’d say initially it’s superb, and then it develops …

Develops into a pain in the ass? (Laughs) It can! The point is that love is something that has to happen to you once in a lifetime.

You are never too old to be in love. That’s what the film says—love has no expiry date!

You can fall in love at any point in life.

The story is exactly that: just because you

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are in your 50s, don’t get married for the sake of getting married. You can still find love. Like a teenager’s love, you can behave stupidly and giddily and enjoy the holding of hands and walking down the street and cuddling in corners and stealing kisses … Everybody is stupid when in love. If you’re not stupid, you’re not in love!

How difficult was it to do this stupid bit at your age?

I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life.

What is so difficult about being stupid here?

You’ve got to really enjoy life to do things that are stupid and crazy. It doesn’t matter what age you’re at. Nothing is difficult if you are unprepared for it. It’s sort of like preparing for exams, the more you prepare, the tougher it seems!

When was this movie shot?

From December to January. All here in Mumbai.

Since Farah is a choreographer, should we expect dance sequences in the film?

Yes. But Farah refused to get involved with the choreography. She refused to do anything apart from acting. She surrendered completely to her job and asked me to help her. She needed a little help initially but later she was on fire.

In fact on occasion even I asked Farah, “Do you think I should have said my lines this way?” That is very much what actors do.

We are not directors or producers. We actors

like to hold each other’s hands and help each other.

Among your movies this year, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu did not do well at the box office …

(Cutting in) It did very well. It’s nothing to do with who went to watch it at the theatres. There is a budget for a movie. And there is a recovery from the movie. In that sense the movie was a success.

Housefull was a blockbuster while Tezz bombed. Do you plan the genre of films you will take up after one is over?

No. I have planned nothing. I do films because I want to do them. End of story. If I plan anything—it is about taking a break to rejuvenate myself. Its not like I do one film for one audience and another for another.

Is there any particular director you wish to work with?

Something in the story should excite me.

After the meeting (with the director) when I sit in the car, I should feel—“Ya, I should do this, it’ll be exciting.” Shyam Benegal is one person for whom I’d do anything, whatever the experience. Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani are my best friends. But even for Raju’s film, 3 Idiots, I did not want to do the movie as the character was very similar to Munnabhai, and I told him it was not for me. But he said, no, we’ll make it different. Let’s sit and work towards it. Its not like “ye ghar ka mamla hai so lets do it,” not like biwi ke haath ka khana, that you’ll eat whatever is given. You

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have to be true to what you are doing. I’ve to justify my presence in the film.

You have a role in Student of the Year?

Yes, I have done a 2-3 minute appearance.

And your son Kayoze is debuting in a Karan Johar film. Do you think you inspired Kayoze to take up for acting? readers in It is not a family business. One of my sons California has not taken up acting. Even Kayoze was not inclined to act. Karan met him and wanted to audition him. Kayoze was the director’s assistant in Ek Main Aur Ek Tu. One day Karan called me and told me that “your son has been working in my company for three months and you have not even told me.” I said “why should I? You hired him on his own strength. I have nothing to do with him.”

But has your presence in the industry influenced him?

I don’t think so. He came and asked me what he should do. I told him to give it a try!

See if you have the chops in you. It may be that he was enamoured by cinema. But there is no handing over of a legacy or business.

What is it that you want audiences to check out in Shirin Farhad?

I think they should see look out for two actors who are enjoying themselves on screen; two characters that are very fresh and playing off and beautifully dependent on each other. n

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IC

on Inglish

Kalpana Mohan

Mind it, Pundit Origin: 1665–75; < Hindi pandit < Sanskrit pandita learned man, (adj.)

O

n my recent summer trip to India, I spent an extraordinary amount of time with pundits of many different stripes. I flew to Calcutta to interview a fashion pundit, laughed at the endless audacious repartees from one of the world’s most respected textile pundits in Delhi, gabbed with an articulate and feisty pundit of education and women’s empowerment in Chennai and marveled at the humility of a newspaper pundit over a cold coffee at the Amethyst Café in Chennai.

Again and again, when I was at home, I marveled at the punditry of my own father as I sat next to him in our living room and talked to him about the meaning of life, living and death. During this stay, on more than one occasion, I recoiled from the heat of the hands-on workshops on tea-making from my father’s Man Friday, the Guru of the Paper Dosa, Vinayagam, who now thinks of himself also as India’s chai pundit. Pundit Vinayagam fits the last definition for “pundit” in the Merriam Webster’s. pun•dit noun 1: pandit 2: a learned man : teacher 3: a person who gives opinions in an authoritative manner usually through the mass media : critic Like P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves who frequently displays mastery over a vast range of subjects–from philosophy to poetry, science, history, psychology, geography, politics, and literature—my father’s valet also waxes eloquent on the subject of one-way streets in Chennai (now that it has been torn asunder following plans for the metro), sari shops, concert artistes, matters of housekeeping, details of plumbing, dosa textures, international baggage allowances, tailors, cooks, bank timings, broadband connections and wedding halls.

Note that Vinayagam’s sundry punditry does not mean that he may, for any reason, be referred to as “Pandit Vinayagam” just because one of the entries for “pundit” is also “pandit,” with the word referring to a wise or learned man. Thank the lord, Vinayagam’s streetsmarts simply cannot equate to erudition or scholarship. For example, the term “pandit” is often used as an honorary title for a scholar in a field and it was how Indians used to refer to Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, the erstwhile prime minister of India. The word “pundit” itself originates from the Sanskrit pandita meaning “learned.” It becomes obvious why the term “pandit” must be used sparingly.

While traveling through South India last month, I ran into many practicing priests or “pundits” inside ancient temples. I wasn’t sure if they were Hindu scholars learned in Sanskrit, Hindu philosophy and religion. But one thing I had little doubt about. Those priests were in the business of keeping an eye on our wallets to know how well we were positioned to tip them before they parted with the deity’s blessings.

In most of the temples, we found we could have a special audience with the deity in the sanctum sanctorum within minutes, provided we paid a special fee for extra-special treatment. We discovered that most of India’s conmen are to be found in its most sacred places. By a deserted portion of the 48 • india currents • september 2012

A Temple Donation Box

seventh century Sanishwaran temple in Tirunallar in Pondicherry distict, a gentleman appeared from nowhere and appointed himself as planetary agent between our family and a dour priest in a black dhoti who, incidentally, also appeared from ether. Soon the two of them pressed us for 200 rupees per person so that we’d be rid forever of our “shani” or “misfortune.” Even before we were ready to think about whether or not we wanted to continue to live with our shani, the sorry priest in black began chanting Sanskrit verses to drive away the evil forces churning our lives. Then Saturn’s agent pressed a black cloth into our hands and told us to donate it to the glum, bare-chested priest after repeating the mantra that was being recited by the man. Then the agent issued another warning.

“Madam, when he finishes, you must give away the cloth to him and walk away from him. Don’t ever turn back to look at him, alright? Never ever do that. Because he is taking away all the misfortune from you and embracing it as his own, don’t you see?” I wondered for a minute whether the emaciated priest with a saturnine face looked thus because he had absorbed everyone’s shani. I suspected, even as I realized I was being conned, that this was also the best possible confidence trick in the galaxy. What better way than to tell me that I must never set eyes on the con artist again, especially if I wanted my stars to align?

The San Francisco Bay Area also has pundits whose bands of holy ash belie their stash. One in particular has been known to recite a constellation of the same mantras for birth, death, housewarming, marriage and everything in between. He has been known to invoke Goddess Lakshmi with eyes partially shut while taking in the flushed granite and marble in the homes in which he was pretending to be a priest.

The story goes that he informed his client, just as he was packing up his bags, that his charges were a hundred dollars higher than what he had quoted on the phone before arriving at the lavish place that, unfortunately, was also located at a greater distance from his home than Google Maps had originally envisioned. Upon receiving his check, the priest fished out the keys to his swanky car and sped off with the day’s loot, leaving the house owners incensed at being gypped in the name of religion.

I will close my piece with one plea to the Webster’s committee: please consider including a fourth entry for the word. It must be stated that “pundit” may sometimes mean “bandit,” especially in the context of some Hindu priests around the world who have been caught practicing daylight robbery in the guise of propitiating the gods on our behalf. n Kalpana Mohan writes from Saratoga (this one's from Chennai).

To read more about her, go to http://kalpanamohan.org and http:// saritorial.com.

india currents • september 2012 • 49

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india currents • september 2012 • 51

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IC

recipes

Malar Gandhi

The Courtly Pulao

I

f any dish can be said to be the foundation of a cuisine, it is pulao for the Mughal repertoire. It has a fascinating history and can dominate the dinner table as a colorful centerpiece.

The fragrant pulao originated in Persia and spread throughout the world with a subtle change in the consonants of its label—in Persia it was called pilaf, in India pulao, Turkey pilaw, Russia plov, Trinidad and Tobago pelau, and in Uzbekistan and Albania pilaf.

In Spain, with the addition of seafood and an emphasis on saffron it became paella. In Italy, butter transformed it into risotto.

One of the earliest literary references to pilaf can be found in the histories of Alexander the Great when describing Bactrian hospitality. It was known to have been served to Alexander the Great upon his capture of the Sogdian capital of Marakanda (modern Samarkand, Uzbekistan) in 329 B.C. Alexander’s army brought it back to Macedonia and spread it throughout Eastern Europe. It is believed that the proper preparation of pilaf was first documented by the tenth century Persian scholar, Abu Ali Ibn Sina (popularly known as Avicenna), in his medical science book. He had elaborated on several types of pilaf and today in Tajikistan, Ibn Sina is considered the

“father of modern pilaf.”

Between the eighth and tenth century, the pilaf was a nomadic shepherds dish, prepared over campfires. The dish usually consists of barley or wheat as the main ingredient, since rice was a luxury at that time and only nobles imported it from India.

Emperor Humuyun (1530-1556) brought with him a strong preference for Persian culture and a large number of Persian cooks.

Needless to say the Mughal dynasty introduced the pilaf to Indians. However, Indian cooks often incorporated their local dishes into the courtly culinary collection, and many innovative ideas were welcomed and accepted. By the time of Akbar, pilaf or pulao became standard fare in the palace kitchens with numerous variations to the ingredients, such as fruit, or turmeric and saffron, or onion and garlic, or with raisins and almonds.

The varieties of pilaf in the subcontinent are chronicled in British traveler Sir Thomas Herbert’s writings (1668).

Royal cooks judged the quality of a pulao by the rice, which was supposed to swell up completely, without becoming sticky and forming into lumps. A good pulao was also highly aromatic, filling the room with the delicate scent of its spices. The cooks soaked

Coconut Milk Infused Bell Pepper Pulao

54 • india currents • september 2012

Malar Gandhi is a freelance writer who specializes in Culinary Anthropology and Gourmet Indian Cooking. She also blogs about Indian Food at www.kitchentantra.com 2 green chillies, slit in the middle 1 large onion, sliced 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste 1 star anise 2-3 cloves 1 cinnamon stick 1 bay leaf, crushed 1 black cardamom 2-4 teaspoons of ghee(clarified butter)

Ingredients 1 cup long grain rice 3-4 different colored bell peppers, sliced 1 cup coconut milk 1 large onion, sliced 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste salt to taste 5-7 mint leaves chopped 1 small cinnamon stick 2 cloves 1 bay leaf 2-4 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter) Method Heat ghee in a wide crock pot. Add the whole spices, let it sizzle for a minute.

Add onions and ginger-garlic paste, fry a few minutes till the raw odor is no longer perceptible.

Add rice. Fry the rice for few minutes, till it gets well coated with oil. Add mint, salt, coconut milk and a cup of water to it.

Cover and cook over low-medium heat for 10 minutes. Once the rice is three-fourths

the rice in salted water for many hours to ensure that, when it was cooked, the grains were gleaming white. At Indian restaurants, pulao rice often appears at the table in different shades of color like pink, yellow, and orange. However, today with growing health concerns, the addition of vegetables have replaced the use of food colors in many households.

The pièce de résistance of Persian cuisine is pilaf, a version crowned with nuts, fruits and currants. In Persian pilaf, the rice is cooked on a very low flame until the water is absorbed and the rice crusts at the bottom of the pot. This crusted rice is called tahdig and is considered a delicacy.

Pulao is one of the most diverse dishes today with variations and innovations by Persians, Arabs, Turks, Armenians and Indians. Yes, there is no definite recipe for it, as every region and country has its own version to surprise us. That is one of the reasons for the popularity of the dish throughout Middle East, Asia and beyond. n

done (about 8 minutes), add bell peppers and continue cooking over low heat for another 4-5 minutes.

When the rice turns fluffy, remove from heat. Serve warm as a main course.

Corn Pulao Ingredients 1 cup long grain rice ¾ cup corn kernels

Method Heat ghee in a wide crock pot. Add the whole spices and let this sizzle for a minute. Add the chilies and wait till they splutter.

Add onions and ginger-garlic paste, fry a few minutes till the raw odor is no longer perceptible.

Add rice. Fry the rice for few minutes, till it gets well coated with oil.

Add corn kernels, salt and two cups of water. Cover and cook over low to medium heat for 12-15 minutes.

Once the rice is done, remove from heat.

Let pilaf rest for 2 minutes before serving.

Serve warm as a main course.

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travel

Teresa Bergen

Macau—Las Vegas of the East

Macau Skyline

M

y first trip to Macau was in 1992, in its last few years of being a downon-its-luck Portuguese colony before the planned 1999 handover to China. Back then the port smelled like sewage and the gamblers looked more desperate than glamorous.

A lot has changed in two decades!

My recent trip was in early April 2012 when the weather was in the 60s. I flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong, where I met up with a group of writers. We took the ferry boat together to Macau. The landmass of this Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China includes Macau, which is a peninsula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane. Macau and Taipa are connected by a bridge. Taipa and Coloane have merged into one big mass, thanks to many tons of landfill. This landfill hosts the highest concentration of casinos.

The whole SAR covers just over 11 square miles.

The plan for the trip was that the local hosts would show us writers some of Macau’s sights, and then we’d have time to follow our own particular interests. My interests range across the broadscape of vegetarian travel, fitness, religious sites and the arts. If my travels take me to unplanned locations, so much the better—I love to get lost.

We spent two nights in the Mandarin Oriental, a beautiful 213-room hotel with lots of personalized service, and two nights in the much noisier Hard Rock Hotel. At the Mandarin, I loved that my bathtub had a view of the 338-meter Macau Tower. But I was a little 56 • india currents • september 2012

too far away to be able to watch the bungee jumpers going over the edge.

Since I was in Macau partly to work on my vegetarian travel guide to Asia, I slipped away from the group our first night to go to Aruna’s Maharajah Indian Curry restaurant. Aruna Jha, owner of three restaurants, left her native Uttarakhand and came to Macau in 1983.

The Macau Cultural Institute had invited her to teach kathak dance for three months.

Three months turned into three decades, and now she’s an established and well-respected businesswoman in Macau.

Aruna’s recipes are fabulous. I don’t want to say how many different dishes I tried, but the black dal and roti were excellent, and she made the best gulab jamun I’ve ever had.

One of her signature dishes, samosa chaat, is samosa pieces drowned in a delicious yogurt sauce. I could have eaten there every day. And many Indian visitors do.

In 2009, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) held its awards ceremony in Macau. Later, the Bollywood movie Double Dhamaal shot scenes in Macau’s casinos, and the STAR Parivaar and Zee Cine awards were presented in Macau. Indian tourism to the SAR skyrocketed, and travel agents upped their offerings of package tours. According to Jha, “Before IIFA, nobody knows what is Macau. Now everybody knows.” Aruna said the main things Indian tourists come for are gambling, night life and relaxation. “Macau is very peaceful, not like India,” Aruna told me.

“That’s why I’m here for 30 years.” Unlike Vegas, Macau doesn’t require a visa for Indian

Aruna Jha

tourists. As one of a handful of permanent Indian residents of Macau, Aruna is a key local contact for visitors from India. She serves up to 600 people a night when package tours are in town, catering to veg, non-veg, Jain and halal diets. Indian businessmen have talked to her about building a Hindu temple.

As for tourists coming from the United States, gambling and nightlife are less of a draw. U.S. gamblers can go to Vegas, where there are even more casinos and a grittier

• Dinner Delivered to Your Doorstep • Weddings / Arangetrams / Events • Cooking Classes

india currents • september 2012 • 57

nightlife. Macau also has had a hard time getting big Vegas-style shows off the ground.

Due to low ticket sales, Cirque de Soleil fulfilled only three-and-a-half years of its tenyear contract. That leaves Macau with one major show, “The House of Dancing Water” at the City of Dreams casino complex. Since it cost 2 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 258 million U.S.), I’m sure everybody’s praying it doesn’t close down. The performers in the show are absolutely amazing. As the title suggests, the show is based largely around water. The stage features a pool that fills and empties extremely quickly as different parts of the show require land or water. A team of muscle-bound divers execute flips from way up near the rafters. At one point, ramps are pushed onto stage for nerve-wracking motorcycle tricks. The only weak part of the show was the attempt at a plot, an insipid story about a princess who needed to be rescued and a bad witch who needed to be caged.

So if gambling and nightlife aren’t enough to draw tourists from across the world, what is? The best part is the unique mix of Portuguese and Chinese culture. A-Ma, Chinese goddess of the sea, and Mary, Christian mother of God, are both abundantly represented in Buddhist temples and Catholic churches.

Street signs are written in both Chinese and Portuguese. Narrow alleys full of Chinese shops open onto squares with churches or other relics of Portuguese architecture.

To me, much of the fun of exploring a new place is discovering what’s around the next corner. Up Guia Hill, Macau’s highest point, I found the shelter where the metal typhoon warning signals are stored. Coded from one to ten depending on the severity of the signal, the appropriate shape is hoisted from a pole atop Guia Hill so people know how hard the wind is blowing.

On the roof of an old Portuguese fort that now houses the Macau Museum, I saw young men practicing martial arts and a group of women performing tai chi with swords.

Walking up one street, I came across the Maritime Administration Building, also known as the Moorish Bar-

Moorish Barracks racks. This gorgeous white-trimmed yellow building is an example of the Arabic influenced Portuguese influenced architecture. European soldiers couldn’t take the heat, so the barracks were built for them. Built in 1874, the barracks housed 200 soldiers and gave them a panoramic view of the Chinese coastline, which at that time was known for opium, weapons smuggling, and other piratical activities.

Because Macau has long been a gambling town, it has a history of pawnshops. The old ones are picturesque.

Each has a tall storage tower with small barred windows, designed to protect goods from Macau’s humid summers. I toured the Tak Seng On (which means Virtue and Success) pawnshop museum. Walking through the old pawnshop, visitors get a feel for the way business was conducted, goods were stored, and the shame that was sometimes involved, as evidenced by a thick wooden privacy screen that kept passers-by from seeing who was pawning what.

For many visitors, the best part of Macanese culture is the food. While Portuguese and Chinese flavors predominate, other Portuguese holdings, such as Mozambique and Goa, contribute to the taste. There’s not a lot of main dishes for vegetarians like me, but my colleagues raved about the African chicken, a Macau specialty, and many seafood dishes. I did try my share of desserts. Macau makes a variety of puddings and mousses. But my favorite treats were the almond cookies that Chinese vendors bake and serve hot on the street. A box of those was my souvenir of choice.

Macau has long been in Hong Kong’s shadow. It’s much smaller and more laid back.

Typhoon Signals at Guia Hill Chinese woodcarvings

58 • india currents • september 2012

Usually Macau is tacked onto Hong Kong travel guides as an afterthought, or a suggested day trip. Back when I first visited 20 years ago, a day trip to Macau was frequently recommended to travelers as a way to renew their Hong Kong visas. In fact, more than half of the arrivals into Macau are still day trippers, and the average overnight guest stays only 1.8 days. But I was charmed by Macau this time around, and even though I spent four full days there, I wished I’d had time to visit a few more temples and churches, wander another dozen streets, and sample another hot almond cookie. n For more info, see http://www.visitmacauchina.com; http://www.twitter.com/MacauUSA; http://www.facebook.com/MacauUSA Teresa Bergen lives in Portland, Oregon, where she writes about health, fitness, travel and the arts. She’s the author of “Vegetarian Asia Travel Guide,” the new edition of which should be done any day. www.teresabergen.com Storage Tower of old pawn shop

india currents • september 2012 • 59

60 • india currents • september 2012

india currents • september 2012 • 61

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I C relationship diva

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Giving the Green Light

Q

When I’m out socially, guys don’t tend to approach me. Is it a good idea for me to approach guys myself? To take it even further, what about actually asking a guy, who seems interesting, out?

Does doing these things seem confident or desperate to guys?

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Sending a signal via initiating conversation may be as simple as just warmly greeting him with a friendly “hello;” asking for help of some sort, i.e. directions (a guy who’s interested will savor the opportunity to help); or observing him and making a playful comment about something you’ve observed.

While being more approachable may feel more natural to some women and less so to others, and many of the nonverbal signs mentioned above oftentimes actually occur at the unconscious level, conscious awareness and practice can make cultivating approachability second-nature (and fun).

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contact and smile more than once and/or combine a few of the above signals to effectively give the green light.

Now once a woman gives the green light, there is typically no need to approach and/or ask most guys out. If a guy doesn’t approach or ask you out after clearly being given the green light, absent extenuating circumstances, he is unlikely to be interested.

An uninterested guy may be receptive to a woman asking him out, but his lack of interest is likely to foreclose any long-term potential, even if the two people end up going out.

Many guys take the path of least resistance, and will be open to seeing where a woman asking him out may lead even if they don’t believe there’s any relationship potential. n Jasbina is the founder and president of Intersections Match, the only personalized matchmaking and dating coaching firm serving singles of South Asian descent in the United States. She is also the host of Intersections Talk Radio, a monthly lifestyle show. www.IntersectionsMatch.com. Jasbina@intersectionsmatch.com.

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68 • india currents • september 2012

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70 • india currents • september 2012

india currents • september 2012 • 71

On it’s 20th Anniversary presents

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Sunday, September 9, 2012 DOUBLE HEADER CONCERT Venue: Center for Performing Arts, Menlo-Atherton High School 555 Midlefield Rd., Atherton, CA 94027

Time: 2:00 pm

Time: 5:00 pm

Dr. Pantula Rama - Vocal Sri. MSN Murthy - Violin Sri. Tanjore Murugaboopathi - Mridangam

Smt. Mala Ramadorai - Vocal Sri. Abhay Prabhakar Datar - Tabla Sri. Anant Shrikrishna Joshi - Harmonium

Friday, September 21, 2012 - 7:30 pm Sri. Sanjay Subrahmanyan - Vocal Sri. S. Varadarajan - Violin Sri. Neyveli B. Venkatesh - Mridangam

Venue: Gunn High School 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 95035

Sunday, October 7, 2012 - 3:30 pm

Sammilan - Folk Fusion Concert Sri. Sashank Subramanyam & Party Sri. Shashank Subramanyam - Flute/Vocals Sri. Anwar Khan Manganiar - Vocal Sri. Feroz Khan Manganiar - Dholak Sri. Ravindra Chary - Sitar Sri. Sai Giridhar - Mridangam, Khanjira & Konnakol Venue: ICC (India Community Center) 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas, CA 95035

Sunday, October 14, 2012 - 3:30 pm Mysore Manjunath & Dr. Mysore Nagaraj - Violin Duet Sri. Srimushanam Rajarao - Mridangam

Venue: ICC (India Community Center) 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas, CA 95035

Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 3:30 pm Celebrating 100 Years of Madura Mani Iyer Sri. T.V. Sankaranarayan - Vocal Violin: Vittal Ramamurthy Mridangam: Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam Venue: Mexican Heritage Plaza 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, CA 95116

Friday, November 9, 2012 - 8:00 pm

Kum. Alarmel Valli Bharathanatyam with Live Orchestra Venue: Mexican Heritage Plaza 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, CA 95116

November, 2012 Sri. Mohan Rangan Govindraj - Flute Date: TBD Venue: TBD

For all concert timings and venue please visit http://www.southindiafinearts.org/

For details & updated information please log on to www.southindiafinearts.org

74 • india currents • september 2012

music

Vocal Music Classes

By DR

MOUSOOMI BANERJI

(disciple of late Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh and Ustad Munawar Ali Khan)

Habib Khan Sitar, Vocal

&

* Teacher of repute and artiste having numerous stage and TV shows. * Elementary lessons for beginners in Indian Classical Music (Hindusthani style) and Light Classical Music - including bhajan, ghazal, etc.

Tabla Lessons

in San Jose, Fremont, Mountain View, South San Francisco, Danville, & Cupertino & Miliptas (ICC)

* Special lessons in Bangla Gaan - (Bengali) ClassesseIn, San Jo Puraatani, Tappa, Nazrulgeeti, Sunnyvale ra Atulprosad, Raagprodhan, etc. & Santa Cla mousumi_999@yahoo.com Contact: (408) 799-1102 • (408) 823-3918 mousumi.banerji@gmail.com

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Upcoming Events

Sangeetaanjali Kaksha, 39701 Logan Dr., Fremont, CA (A Non Profit Public Benefit Corporation) R Admission Free: You May Reserve Seats by Email C Friday, September 21, 2012 at 8:30 pm Rigorous Classical Indian Music Lessons F O Vocal: New Vocal Teacher, Sri Saugata Banerjee O N Pdt Shantanu Bhattacharyya declared a ‘Pandit’ by his Guru, Pdt. Jasraj-ji R C Vocal: • All Levels: Hindusthani Vocal/Tabla/Sitar/Flute/Guitar M Smt Durba Bhattacharyya E • Totally Dedicated Distinguished Music Faculty A R Tabla: Sri Satish Tare • Visiting Eminent musicians of India N T • Performances of Students C S • Concerts of Distinguished Artists (Local/Visiting) Student Performance 510-651-9149 • Email: contact@Sangeetaanjali.org E Group Vocal: Names TBA S www.sangeetaanjali.org

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E-mail: Bansijeff@aol.com india currents • september 2012 • 75

IC

music

Teed Rockwell

Who Owns Bhangra?

How British and Indian Punjabis reshaped South Asian dance music

W

ikipedia relies on what is sometimes called the “Wisdom of Crowds” to enable conflicting opinions to gradually evolve into a consensus. Sometimes, however, that consensus fails to form, and Wikipedia creates what is called a talk page, where disagreements are hashed out, hopefully in a reasonably civil manner. The talk page for the article on Shariah law is still raging with debates amongst Islamophobes, Islamic Fundamentalists, and moderate Muslims. The controversy on the “Bhangra” page is not as fierce, but it does show a strong disparity on the meanings of key words, and the significance of historical facts. The page is tagged with two Wikipedia icons indicating problems with tone and objectivity, and a link to a talk page that reveals a bewildering range of opinions and attitudes. To clear up some of this confusion, I conducted further web searches, and interviewed Indian bhangra star Daler Mehndi, but this produced even less consensus.

The current Wikipedia page claims that bhangra was developed in England by Punjabi expatriates, and that “Birmingham is considered to be the hub of Bhangra music.”

The essential property that defined bhangra was “a need to move away from the simple and repetitive Punjabi folk music” and consequently “folk instruments were rarely used.”

Another web page asserts that “In a sense, bhangra music is one of the few immigrant music genres of the world that is absent in the home country.”

The talk page also had no consensus as to where the name came from. Some claimed that it derived from the word bhang, “an intoxicating drink made from marijuana.”

Others claimed that this idea was “more folklore than anything else.” Some commenters on the talk page speculated that bhangra could be a part of Punjabi culture that predates Islam and Sikhism. The Bhangra page proper, however, describes the “prehistory” of bhangra as dating back only to the 1960s.

When I asked Daler Mehndi whether bhangra originated in England, he replied, “Absolutely not! Unfortunately you are illinformed. Bhangra is from Bhangu clan (one of original Jat tribes)—from the inner most hearts of Punjab.” Mehndi certainly has a more plausible story for the origin of the

76 • india currents • september 2012

Daler Mehndi

name, but his definition of it is almost opposite of the one in the Wikipedia article. For him, bhangra is Punjabi folk music that British artists are moving away from. Mehndi claims, “I have the credit of taking bhangra global.”

Some British bhangra fans, however, argue that Mehndi’s music is not really bhangra at all, but should be called “folk pop.”

Consequently, at one point in the editorial process, his name was completely removed from the Bhangra Wikipedia page, a decision that was criticized by a referee as reflecting only individual bias. “I personally think Daler Mehndi has twisted bhangra into a Bollywood mockery but I have kept him on there along with others.” Another referee countered by saying “I’m only an ignorant gori (girl) but I like Daler.”

The referees were using album sales to distinguish important bhangra artists from “somebody’s brother-in-law,” and by that criterion it made no sense to exclude Mehndi.

Most top selling Bhangra albums reach sales of around 50 to 80,000. The one exception was Malkit Singh, who was listed in the 2001 Guinness Book of Records as having sold a total of 4.9 million albums. Mehndi, however,

sold 20 million copies of a single album (Bolo Ta Ra Ra) thus making it the top selling non-filmi Indian album of all time.

Why then was Malkit Singh, and not Mehndi, listed as the top selling Bhangra artist? What is it about Mehndi’s music that so deeply offends bhangra purists that they refuse to even grant him the name? These “purists” reject the need for folk instruments, and some even claim that the 90s introduction of authentic folk music into bhangra remixes lead to the death of bhangra. They clearly don’t object to synthesizers, glittery costumes and flashy cars, or Mehndi’s pioneering use of green screen computer animation for his hit video “Tunak Tunak Tun.” At the risk of offending at least one side of this controversy, I will speculate about the innovation in Mehndi’s music that both infuriates his detractors and delights his fans.

Whatever other changes were added to Punjabi-British bhangra, it always kept the slow loping keharwa beat that was necessary for the traditional dances. Mehndi kept that beat, and most of the phrasings, vocal techniques and scales of traditional bhangra, but he sped it up to the tempo of Disco music. At that speed, the syncopated pickup of keharwa became intoxicating to fans throughout India, enabling Mehndi to sell 250,000 albums even in Kerala, where essentially no one speaks Punjabi.

Punjabi-British bhangra stars like Jazzy B often dress and act like rappers, and thus it appears that they express the voice of angry youth rebelling against parental tradition. In fact, the rebellion is actually aimed at the Anglo-Western culture that rejects both Africans and Punjabis as outsiders. Many of the dancers in Jazzy’s videos seamlessly combine hip-hop and break dancing with traditional Punjabi dancing, as if to say, “We’re here, but we’re still Punjabi.” This cultural synthesis would be difficult, perhaps impossible, at the tempos Mehndi uses. Nevertheless, there is still much affinity between Mehndi and his Punjabi-British colleagues. Although Mehndi always wears the traditional Sikh turban, his videos and performances often show a similar love of glitter, bling and attractive young women. This is not as big a break from Sikh

music The Original

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tradition as one might think. Folk bhangra was rural party music, with flirtatious lyrics that glorified partying and dancing, and the Sikh religion has always rejected yogic practices that mortified the flesh. Consequently, it is not uncommon for Punjabi-British bhangra performers to return to traditional dress for certain performances, not out of regret and repentance, but as an acknowledgement that both the sacred and the sensuous have their place in God’s Universe.

Mehndi came from a family that performed and taught sacred and classical music for eight generations. He was not even allowed to listen to Punjabi folk and dance music when he was growing up. At the peak of his success, he is now returning to his spiritual roots. His most recent album features lyrics from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred text, and a new instrument he has designed for accompanying sacred music he calls the Swarmandir.

Most importantly, he has devoted much of his time and wealth to the charitable work which is the heart of Sikh practice. He donated 85 million rupees to establish the Daler Mehndi Green Drive to help make a cleaner environment in Delhi, and built 16 houses in Gujarat after an earthquake there. He has also performed concerts to raise funds for the victims of natural disasters throughout India.

None of this, however, will ever conflict with his desire to party with his fans. There is a time for this world and a time for the next, and the Sikh religion has long recognized that there is no necessary conflict between the two. On this point at least, bhangra fans can hopefully agree. n Teed Rockwell studied with Ali Akbar Khan for many years, and is the only person in the world to play Indian classical and popular music on his customized touchstyle veena. You can see and hear videos of his musical performances at www.bollywoodgharana.com

in the Northern California edition of India Currents for

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CONTACT: Rama Shukla (408) 921-7324 Minnie Shukla (408) 406-5525 Shuklar@aol.com

Saturday Sep 8:

Carnatic Vocal Concert: Manasa Suresh

India Currents

U.N. Niranjan - Violin • Vignesh Venkatraman - Mridgangam Venue: Cubberly Theatre, Palo Alto • Time: 4 pm Fundraiser for Shiva Murugan Temple, Concord Ad is Correct Donation of $10/ticket requested

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Saturday Sep 29:

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Akhila Yechuri • Mridula Dilip • Sneha Dilip • Tarika Srinivasan Venue: 3273 Seldon Ct., Fremont, CA 94539 • Time: 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm New-Vocal Classes in Fremont / Dublin starting September 2012

For more info regarding Carnatic Vocal Classes contact: Anu

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india currents • september 2012 • 77

D 18 S (4 F

Anjali Natya presents

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of

Tara Pichumani Disciple of Smt. Radica Giri Artistic Director of Anjali Natya

Accompanied by Distinguished musicians Shri. Ashok Subramaniam -Vocal Shri. N.K. Kesavan -Percussion Shri. B. Muthukumar -Flute Monday, September 3, 2012 4:00 p.m - 7:00 p.m.

At: Mc Afee Performing Center (Saratoga High School) 20300 Herriman Avenue, Saratoga, CA

All are welcome

Contact: (408) 252-1413 | http://www.anjalinatya.com 78 â&#x20AC;˘ india currents â&#x20AC;˘ september 2012

india currents • september 2012 • 79

IC

youth

Simran Devidasani

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

W

hether at a family friend’s house, a kitty party, or a birthday party of an uncle’s daughter’s cousin sister, we kids are faced with this question at least once—“Beta, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

It is acceptable and even considered cute when a child below the age of 13 replies with teacher, princess, or, as in my sister’s case, a lion tamer. A teenage Indian American, however, is expected to respond with “doctor,” “engineer” or “lawyer.”

If our inclination is something other than these options, we are very likely going to be faced with a shocked face or follow-up questions about why we’d like to go into a field that is not engineering, law, or medicine.

“I was at [an Indian] party once, when I was faced with the question of what I wanted to be,” says 15 year old Manasi Gupta. “When I said I wanted to be a psychiatrist, the aunty immediately bombarded me with questions such as ‘How come you want to do this and not go into medicine?’”

Some adults are a bit more open when it comes to medicine and engineering related options and Manasi’s career choice (not the accepted medical degree) would then be permissible, however, anything too far to the left of these choices is often shunned.

“When I told my mother’s friend that I wanted to be an artist, she gasped and looked like she was about to have a heart attack,” says Srini Siva, age 17.

According to the article “Difference between American and Indian culture” on the site Differencebetween.net Indians tend to be more competitive in academics than Americans due to their family-oriented culture.

Indian Americans are expected to provide for their entire family, which might include grandparents and that odd relative, down on his luck. Scientific and analytical fields pay higher salaries, and therefore allow a higher standard of living. Indian American parents want for their kids the same standard of living that formed part of their own ambitions, hence, parents are inclined to persuade their kids into fields that pay better.

But don’t other fields earn as well?

Not unless one is exceptional in those fields, is the pat response.

“The reason why I wanted to steer my daughter away from majoring in dance is because I know she won’t be able to earn well,”

80 • india currents • september 2012

says Sharmila Mitra, parent of Priya Mitra. “I want her to make something of herself and be able to support herself.”

In the India Currents July 2004 article “Pursuing their Passion,” the author Anand Shah interviewed a struggling Indian opera singer, Sharmila Daniel. Daniel, defying her mother’s wishes, moved to America in order to pursue her singing career. She however, was not quite as successful and “paid her bills by teaching music.”

I feel that Indian American parents need to understand that there are tangible and intangible rewards in non-traditional fields.

In Daniel’s case, for example, although she did not achieve the desired level of success as a singer, she was happy with her choice.

In the article “Indian Tiger Parenting” in Non Resident Indian, Kavin Senapathy states that children are shaped from their childhood by their parents. Most Indian parents do not give kids the choice of picking their own after-school activities and therefore are raised with their parents’ ideals, rather than their own.

The pressure put on us Indian American kids to excel in academics is not the same as that among Caucasian or Hispanic families.

This level of pressure at a young age, I believe, shapes and establishes neural connections in our brains in such a way that we become left-brain focused, which means more

analytical, rather than right-brain inclined which enhances the creativity in us.

It is not our parent’s faults however, since they were subjected to the same left brain pressure and have come to understand and relate to the fields of science and math, which are much more fact-based and easily quantifiable.

However, parents often do not consider that their child may not be happy in fields not of their choosing. By forcing your son or daughter to study engineering is doing them a disservice. They may end up earning well, but they won’t be happy with their life. Furthermore, they may not even be good at the field they are directed into.

I commend those parents who do encourage their children to pursue their passion. By encouraging your child to follow his or her dream, and by steering them in the right direction—not pushing, but steering—you are allowing them to become their own person.

And to those still stuck in the “Indian mentality,” remember that if we have a million doctors and engineers in our world, their worth will go down. n Simran Devidasani is a senior at Monta Vista High School. Along with her love for news and opinion writing, she indulges herself in her passion for photography. She is extremely proud to have interned for India Currents this summer.

dance & music

KALANJALI Dances of India Establshed in 1975

CLASSES IN BHARATANATYAM

Jayendra Kalakendra

India's most ancient classical dance

Following traditional Kalakshetra syllabus - all levels

Suganda Sreenath

Artistic Director:

Bharatanatyam classes (Kalakshetra style, incl. Extensive Theory)

• San Jose • Fremont • Santa Clara www.sugandasreenath.com

(408) 270-9295

Email: sugandaiyer@comcast.net

SACRAMENTO, LAFAYETTE, BERKELEY NITYA POLIPALLI 2010

Enrollment for New Students at Santa Clara, San Jose & Fremont For details contact Suganda Iyer

Registration and Information:

510-526-2183

Kalanjaliusa@aol.com

BharathaKala Kutiram Artistic Director:

Jayanthi Sridharan offers Bharathanatyam Classes in North San Jose

Call: (408) 251-3438 e-mail: bkkdanceschool@gmail.com

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india currents • september 2012 • 81

Fall Concert

Gandhi

Saturday, November 17 & Sunday, November 18, 2012 Mexican Heritage Theater

1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, CA 95116

Arangetram

Savi Koka

Abhinaya Dance Company at

VivRti 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012 Smith Center

43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont, CA 95070

For more information: www.pallavita.org

Sunday, September 9, 2012 4:00 pm McAfee Theater

20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga, CA 95070 Free and all are welcome

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Madhuri Kishore Kuchipudi Dance School Presents Kuchipudi Rangapravesam (Classical Dance Solo Debut) of

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Date

ADMISSION FREE ALL ARE WELCOME Contact: DEREK NUNES (408) 807-8518 1885 Lundy Ave., Suite 220 San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 324-0488 / (714) 523-8788 FAX: (408) 324-0477

B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B

SHIVA MURUGAN TEMPLE P U J A S

&

F E S T I V A L S

www.shivamurugantemple.org

NEW SHIVA MURUGAN TEMPLE PUJAS & FESTIVALS

Happy Grandparents’ Day

Let us all join together and build a new Shiva Murugan Temple, the dream of all of us. Many of the Bay Artists are generously accepting to do Benefit programs for this auspicious effort.

Sun., Sep. 2 Mahasankatachaturthi Bharathanatyam Meena Logan & Students Sun., Sep. 9 Bharathanatyam Preeta Seshadri & Students Sun., Sep 16 Sri Ganesh Chaturthi Devotional Songs Jayashree Varadarajan Sat., Sep 22 Ganesa Vijarjana

PHOTO: VIGGY MOKKARALA

Sept. 8 - Manasa, Vignesh & Friends Oct. 21 - Rohan & Friends Nov. 24 Suganda Srinath Dec. 1 - Meena Logan Dec. 15 - Preetha Shesadri 2013 Jan. 26 - Guru Vishal Ramani & Students Feb. 9 - Nirupama Vaidyanathan Mar. 16 - Latha Sriram May 1st week - Guru Vishal Ramani & Students

SHIVA MURUGAN TEMPLE / SAIVA SIDDHANTA ASHRAM

Indumathi Ganesh, Jeyanthi Sridharan, Anu Suresh, Harini Krishna, Shreelata Suresh, Hema Sista, Srikanth Chari, Aruna Krishna

1803 Second Street, Concord, CA 94519 • Weekdays: 10am - Noon & 6pm - 9pm • Weekends: 10am - 9pm Voice Mail (925) 827-0127 • Fax (925) 827-0209 • www.temple.org

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B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B

Other Artists have also accepted to do a program for the New temple.

Shruthi ShruthiSwara SwaraLaya Layapresents presents

Carnatic Carnatic Vocal Vocal Concert Concert

Benefit Program for the new Shiva Murugan Temple Benefit Program for the new Shiva Murugan Temple

PHOTO: VIGGY MOKKARALA PHOTO: VIGGY MOKKARALA

(Proceeds go towards temple construction) (Proceeds go towards temple construction)

VIGNESH VENKATRAMAN VIGNESH VENKATRAMAN

MANASA SURESH MANASA SURESH

U.N. NIRANJAN U.N. NIRANJAN

Saturday, Saturday, September September8, 8, 2012 2012 •• 4:00 4:00 pm pm Cubberley CubberleyTheater Theater

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4000 4000Middlefield MiddlefieldRoad, Road,Palo PaloAlto, Alto,CA CA Admission: By Donation for Shiva Murugan Temple Admission: By Donation for Shiva Murugan Temple •• Ticket: Ticket:$10 $10 Contact: Anu Suresh: ggavimal@sbcglobal.net (510) 552-5824 • Kausalya Contact: Anu Suresh: ggavimal@sbcglobal.net (510) 552-5824 • KausalyaHart: Hart:(510) (510)525-1793 525-1793

india currents • september 2012 • 83

84 • india currents • september 2012

india currents • september 2012 • 85

KALALAYA* An Institution of Fine Arts

BAY AREA TELUGU ASSOCIATION (BATA) & KANNADA KOOTA

Presents

Mega Live Tamil Light Music Program by

Padma Bhushan Dr. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam & Padmashree ‘Chinnakuyil’ K.S. Chitra Along with

SP Sailaja & SPB Charan

… With Orchestra from India …

Kannada: Friday, September 14, 2012 • 7:30 pm Telugu: Saturday, September 15, 2012 • 5:30 pm Tamil: Sunday, September 16, 2012 - 4:00 pm

Venue: Chabot College Peforming Arts Center 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, CA Tickets: $20 (Balcony), $25, $35, $50, $100, VIP & VVIP

With Compliments

86 • india currents • september 2012

* National Promoter - Kalalaya

INDIA CURRENTS GRAPHICS (408) 324-0488

For Tickets / Info. Contact: Kannada: www.sulekha.com www.kknc.org Kala Iyer (510) 305-9285 Ragha (732) 766-8470 Arvind (408) 368-8279 Telugu: Ramesh Konda (510) 565-2495 Vijaya Aasuri (510) 421-3535 Kala Iyer (510) 305-9285 Veeru Uppala (510) 418-4292 www.bata.org Tamil: www.sulekha.com Komala Vilas (408) 733-7400 Ananda Bhavan (408) 735-1111 Kala Iyer (510) 305-9285

Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts Presents a Carnatic Vocal Concert

By

Hyma Vempaty and Madhuri Akkenepalli Disciples of Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan Violin - TBA Mridangam - Ravindra Bharati Shridharan Saturday, September 15th 2012 4:00PM Mt Pleasant High School Theater 1750 South White Road, San Jose, CA 95127 Admission is Free

Tel: (408) 741-8367 | (408) 674-3336

india currents • september 2012 • 87

Edited by: Mona

Shah

List your event for FREE!

OCT. issue deadline: Thursday, September 20 To list your event in the Calendar, go to www.indiacurrents.com/submit-event and fill out the Web form

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special dates Labor Day

Sept. 3

Onam

Sept. 16

Ganesh Chaturthi

Sept. 19

Gandhi’s B’day

Oct. 2

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cultural calendar

September

1 Saturday

Health Advisory Clinic. Free medical

consultation from various specialty doctors.

Ends Dec. 29. Organized by HCCC. 1-3 p.m.

Livermore Shiva Vishnu Temple Health Clinic, 1223 Arrowhead Ave Livermore. Free. (925) 449-6255, (925) 371-5640. suman1218@ yahoo.com. www.livermoretemple.org.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Kaniyaa Francis. Student of Artistic Director Vishal

Ramani, Shri Krupa Dance Company. Organized by Shri Krupa Dance Company. 4 p.m.

McAfee Performing Arts Center, Saratoga High School, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. Free.

88 • india currents • september 2012

106th Anniversary of Mohandas K. Gandhi declaring Satyagraha, September 11

www.shrikrupa.org.

BhavaRang-Expressions of Bharatanatyam and Kathak. Bharatanatyam by Nirmala Madhava, Artistic Director of Pampa Dance Academy. Kathak by Nirupama and Rajendra, Artistic Directors of Abhinava Dance Company. Organized by Pampa Dance Acad-

emy. 4 p.m. Sunnyvale Community Center Theater, 550 East Remington Drive, Sunnyvale. $20 general, $ 35 VIP. (408) 24-DANCE. pampans.com/bhavarang.html.

Solo Concert Series. Featuring Shruthi Aravindan, student of Deepa Mahadevan, Artistic Director of Tiruchitrambalam.

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recommends

Michelle Baird

Legends and Geniuses

“B

oth are legends and both are geniuses. Even if you don’t know the nuances of kathak, you will still enjoy the performance. For those of us who are professionals, we are waiting impatiently to see them,” says Anuradha Nag, Artistic Director of the Tarangini School of Kathak Dance in San Jose. For the 20th anniversary of the Tarangini School, Nag is hosting a concert at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco featuring kathak master Pandit Birju Maharaj and tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Hussain, a Grammy Award-winning tabla virtuoso, comes to the performance fresh from a new award, recently receiving the Downbeat Critic’s Poll Best Percussionist of the Year Award. “It is an immense honor to receive the Downbeat Critic’s Poll best percussion nod. These are connoisseurs who make this selection and therefore the award is of great prestige; it is amazing to be amongst the chosen ones.” Yet after acknowledging the praise, Hussain humbly turns to highlighting his fellow performer.

“Playing with Pt. Birju Maharaj-ji is a performance I always look forward to. He is a great rhythmist and a fabulous storyteller. To lend voice to his movements is a great challenge.” An opportunity to watch Hussain and Maharaj together on stage is a chance to watch the unfolding of a spirited conversation between two discerning masters. “With kathak, tabla becomes the lead instrument filling in with sound what the dancer is projecting through expression and choreography. This allows me to highlight the expressive element of tabla [which I don’t] get a chance to do in detail as accompanist to vocal or instrumental music.”

Zakir Hussain

“Supporting the great maestro is more than playing with another percussionist. It is similar to writing the score for a play or opera instantly on the fly. I make sure that as a tabla player and lead I am painting the exact colors that are needed to fully realize what the maestro is trying to portray.” With Hussain’s on-stage charisma matched with Maharaj-ji’s creativity, this particular show promises to create an unforgettable masterpiece before the audiences’ eyes.

The performance is also a celebration of Maharaj-ji’s 75th birthday. Revered as the torchbearer for the Lucknow school of kathak dance, Maharaj-ji learned the ancestral roots of kathak from his father and two uncles. Yet over the past 40 years Maharaj-ji has constantly innovated his style of dance.

“What you see today is a blend Pandit Birju Maharaj of what he’s learned from his gurus and what he’s changed amazing performers. “I’m very touched. with an awareness of space, the stage, and When I came here 20 years ago there were body lines,” says Nag. Maharaj-ji is known just a handful of kathak teachers in the as an innovator who constantly learns from United States. I love this art form, and I’ve his surroundings. “He told us once, ‘I learn been able to take it to the next level and from you all. I don’t have a teacher anygive back to the community.” It’s clear more, but I learn from what I see and what that the close relationship she shares with you all do.’” her own students directly reflects the close “No other teacher has created so many bond she shares with her own teacher. good solo dancers. He has students all over “When I watch him [Maharaj-ji] perthe world,” explains Nag. Maharaj-ji is also form, I sit and cry. It’s not just about enrecognized for his sensitivity toward his tertaining, it also touches your soul,” says individual students, “He creNag. Nag is thrilled that her students have ates movements according to an opportunity to learn from Maharajthe body structure of students. ji during his visit. And she’s profoundly He will fine tune movements to grateful to Hussain as well. “Zakir-bhai each student, saying ‘Whoever is so wonderful. His schedule is so busy, is talented will shine anyways.’” he could be playing so many other places.

Beyond teaching, Maharaj-ji is Yet he makes sure to make time to be with also a noted percussionist, poet, him.” Nag concludes, “May there be many and painter. And his choreogmore.” raphy and singing is legendary, Many more birthdays for Maharaj-ji, featured in numerous movies and many more opportunities to bring the including Satyajit Ray’s The legendary Maharaj-ji and Hussain togethChess Players. er for unforgettable performances.n Nag reflects on the importance of celebrating the 20th Saturday, September 29, 7 p.m. Palace of anniversary of the founding of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St., San Francisco. her kathak school with the op$101(donor), $65, $45, $35. www.cityboxportunity to showcase two such office.com. (415) 392-4400. india currents • september 2012 • 89

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recommends

Emma G. Blanco

Basant Bahar Celebrates 30 Years H

formers for its monthly concerts. “We select artists purely on the basis of merit and promise. While other organizations just try to get the ‘big name’ artists, we feel that art style. is bigger than the name. We [especially] Basant Bahar is a non-profit organizadon’t want to give up on promising young tion that aims to promote and preserve talent. We have tried to stay away from the Hindustani classical music and dance. biases that can exist in the industry,” insists Founded in 1982 in Sunnyvale by Narayan Chowdhury.

Sardesai, Arun Londhe and G.S. SatyanaraBasant Bahar is particularly thrill when yana, they brainstormed about creating an meeting promising new artists. Whenever organization that would the benefit both they encounter new artists/performers that music lovers in the Bay Area and talented they feel would be a great fit for Basant Bavisiting professional musicians from Inhar, they contact their sponsors in India. dia. In fact, the first Basant Bahar concert Alternatively, artists (and/or the representatook place in Satyanarayana’s home in San tives who arrange their tours) who feel that Jose on June 3, 1982 and featured Lakshmi their talents can be showcased best at a BasShankar, who suitably sang the raga Basant ant Bahar concert may contact the organiBahar. zation directly.

To this day, Basant Bahar is managed by Thirty years mark a milestone that Baa team of dedicated volunteers, each one a sant Bahar and its members are proud to passionate music lover and/or musician as commemorate. Thus far, the organization well. Surinder Chowdhury has always been has presented over 300 concerts and hopes an active member of Basant Bahar, has to bank on its momentum to continue to served as the organization’s President and grow and persevere. Chowdhury believes occasionally plays the tabla. He states, “We that “The key is [in] creating a core audiare one of the longest running Indian culence that has some stake in preserving this ture organizations in the Bay Area. We have heritage and I think we have been successa core group of volunteers that has strived ful in accomplishing that. Now, there are to keep [Basant Bahar] going. We hope we many people in the Indian community can continue our efforts because there are a whose children are learning classical Indian lot of artists who depend on us to give them music and it’s bigger than what it used to a platform. Performing with Basant Bahar be. In the future, I think it’ll be a great idea means something to their careers.” to go beyond the Indian community to see Chowdhury has also been a part of a if we can increase the audience base for this core group of active members that conart form.” stitutes a working committee. Among its The unique concept behind Basant Bamany tasks, the committee meets to vote har’s success is that it offers a certain ambion Basant Bahar’s officer-bearers and parance that is conducive to interplay between ticipates in the process of choosing the perthe performers and the audience. Hindustani music works best in an intimate setting and as long as the basic scales of the ragas are in place, approximately 90% of the music is improvised. The performers revel in their ability and freedom to improvise in front of a receptive audience; especially because the audience provides instant feedback by audibly expressing their appreciation of or, in some cases, their indifference toward the performance. However the audience reacts, the artist can garner inspiration.

Basant Bahar’s mission is to present artists of outstanding merit to audiences all Ashwini Bhide (vocal), Shyam Kane (tabla), Ramesh Misra over the Bay Area and to provide a platform (sarangi) at a recent concert. for up and coming artists to showcase their industani music celebrates 30 years in the Bay Area and Basant Bahar’s grand festival will celebrate it in

90 • india currents • september 2012

Basant Bahar’s first concert: Lakshmi Shankar (vocal), Shyam Kane (tabla), Narayan Sardesai (harmonium).

talent to a discerning audience. Membership to Basant Bahar is open to all music lovers, and covers a major portion of their revenues, all concerts are free for members and their immediate families. At the upcoming anniversary festival, Basant Bahar members will also receive an archival DVD of clips (approximately 2-2 ½ hours in length) from all past concerts.

The anniversary celebration is divided into two parts, the first of which will take place between 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and is free to all. Performances will include Partha Chatterjee (sitar); Labonee Mohanta (kathak) accompanied by live music; Subhangi Sakhalkar (vocal) accompanied by Vivek Datar (harmonium), and Nikhil Pandya (table).

There is a $25 general admission fee to attend the second part, which takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Kalapini Komkali (vocal) accompanied by Sanjay Deshpande (table) and Raya Korgaokar (harmonium).

Since its inception, Basant Bahar has offered high quality musical programs.

Chowdhury hopes for a big turnout at the anniversary concerts and says that “Basant Bahar will continue to serve the interests of Indian classical music and contribute in a humble way to the preservation and progress of this great cultural heritage.”

More information about Basant Bahar, its monthly concerts and its upcoming 30th anniversary celebrations can be found online at basantbahar.org.n Saturday, October 13. 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

Free. Concerts at 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $25, Basant Bahar members: Free. Jain Temple Auditorium, 722 South Main Street, Milpitas. www.basantbahar.org.

Hindustani Vocal Concert of Ragas.

Followed by choice bhajans by Upendra Bhat, a leading disciple of late Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Accompanied by Satish Tare (tabla), Manoj Tamhankar (harmonium). Organized

by Shatatantri Media LLC. 8 p.m. 5760 Newfields Lane, Dublin. $15. (925)-556-9611, (925)-413-8875. madanoak@aol.com. www. shatatantri.com.

September

8 Saturday

AID Bay Area Volleyball Open Tournament. Part of its fundraising and outreach

effort as part of the Play for India Series.

Organized by Association for Indias Development, Bay Area Chapter. 8 a.m. Baylands Park, Sunnyvale, 999 East Caribbean Drive, Sunnyvale. $60 per team. (650) 477-8654. srikanth.jandy@gmail.com. bayarea.aidindia. org/pfi_volleyball_2012.

Fairness and Freedom March: Immigration Voice Rally. In support of Bill

Upendra Bhat in concert, Sept. 5

Organized by Tiruchitrambalam School of Dance. 3:30-5:30 p.m. Shirdi Sai Parivar, 1221 California Circle, Milpitas. mahadevan. deepa@gmail.com. www.deepamahadevan. com.

H.R.3012, that makes priority dates current for applications form India, China, Mexico or the Philippines who are stuck in the green card queue for many years, due to the “percountry limit” rule. Organized by Immigration Voice. 10 a.m. Circle of Palms, 62 W San

Fernando St, San Jose. (404) 468-0695.

Classical Dance Solo Debut of Kaanchana Allanki. Student of Mad-

huri Kishore, Artistic Director of Madhuri Kishore Kuchipudi Dance School. 3:30 p.m. Campbell Heritage Theatre, 1 West Campbell Ave., Campbell. free. (408) 8078518. www.madhurikishore.com.

Karnatik Vocal Concert. Benefit program for the new Shiva Murugan temple.

Vignesh Venkatraman (mridangam), Manasa Suresh (vocal), U.N. Niranjan (violin). Organized by Shiva Murgan Temple.

4 p.m. Cubberly Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. $10. (510) 525-1793, (510) 552-5824. ggavimail@sbcglobal.net.

Bhajan Concert by Vocalist Kalapini Komkal. Student and daughter of Kumar Gandharva, Komkali presents the best of her father’s bhajans, inter-weaved with narration by host Sanjay Mathur. Organized by Swar Sudha. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Jain Temple Auditorium, 722 S. Main St., Milpitas . VIP $30, General $20, (early bird: 4 tickets for $70 till August 15th). (408) 243-9110, (408) 461-8390. swarsudha@ swarsudha.org, arvind_kansal@yahoo.com. www.swarsudha.org.

Karnatik Vocal Concert by Divya Mohan. Organized by Sri Ranga Ramanuja

Maha Desikan Fine Arts (S R Fine Arts).

5:30-8 p.m. Divine Science Community Center, 1540 Hicks Ave., San Jose. Free. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@gmail.com. www. srfinearts.info.

September

2 Sunday

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Apoorva Paranthaman. Student of Artistic Director

Vishal Ramani, Shri Krupa Dance Company.

Organized by Shri Krupa Dance Company.

3:30 p.m. Cubberly Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Free. www.shrikrupa.org.

Solo Concert Series. Featuring Sara Singh, student of Deepa Mahadevan, Artistic Director of Tiruchitrambalam. Organized by Tiruchitrambalam School of Dance. 2-4 p.m. milpitas County Library, Multipurpose Room, 160 north main St., Milpitas. mahadevan. deepa@gmail.com. www.deepamahadevan. com.

September

5 Wednesday

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Savithri Koka, Sept. 9 india currents • september 2012 • 91

Mona Shah

Bollywood and Beyond 3 rd i’s Tenth Annual San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival (SFISAFF) continues its run at the Roxie and Castro Theaters in San Francisco. On Sunday, September 30, 3rd i Films unveils its first-ever South Bay edition of the festival featuring an afternoon of screenings at the Camera 12 in San Jose.

Lucky

A larger thematic focus for SFISAFF 2012 is Bengali films from both sides of the India/Bangladesh border. From Bangladesh, director Amit Ashraf’s dynamic thriller Runaway (Udhao) depicts a rickshawalla’s mission to track down men running away from family responsibilities in their villages. Surjo Deb and Ranjan Palit’s Adda: Calcutta/Kolkata is a free-flowing, intimate portrait of the city and its people, using the Bengali phenomenon of “adda”—informal conversations between groups of people that go on for hours at a stretch—at street corners, cafes, markets and living rooms.

Punjabi voices also feature strongly at this year’s festival, and two of these entries are notable for their exploration of non-South Asian communities, bringing a universal eye to the human condition.

Canadian filmmaker Angad Bhalla’s Herman’s House follows the relationship an art-

Sket 92 • india currents • september 2012

ist forms with a man who’s been in solitary confinement for over three decades, embarking on a project to design and construct his dream home. UK-based filmmaker Avie Luthra is back with a feature-length version of his wildly popular short film, Lucky.

Filmed in Zulu and Hindi this story of an unusual alliance between a South African boy and elderly Indian woman highlights issues of family, race and friendship in postApartheid South Africa.

Alms For A Blind Horse won the Best Director, National Award for first-time Helmer Gurvinder Singh. It is deeply rooted in Punjabi culture and is the first Punjabi-language film to make the festival circuit. The screening is also a tribute to Indian master Mani Kaul (executive producer), one of the architects of India’s parallel cinema movement in the 1970s, who passed away in 2011.

As always, this year’s festival gives audiences an opportunity to experience the best up and coming talent from the South Asian diaspora, with two films from firsttime directors that have made a splash on the international film festival circuit. Nirpal Bhogal’s stylish urban thriller, Sket. The film boasts a rousing hip-hop soundtrack and follows a gang of young girls who exact revenge on abusive men in East London’s housing estates. NY-based filmmaker Musa Syeed’s Valley Of Saints, is about political, ecological and romantic awakenings intermingle in this lyrical neorealist feature debut set in the Kashmir Valley.

Documentary films make a strong showing at this year’s festival. Nisha Pahuja’s, The World Before Her, examines two worlds at odds with another - the world of beauty pageants and the world of Hindu-fundamentalist camps for women. Nishtha Jain’s Family Album is set in Kolkata, attempts to gain some insights into our notions of family as mediated through personal photographs in private collections. Decoding Deepak, has filmmaker and journalist Gotham Chopra following his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra over a year, separating the man from the myth with a raw honesty only a son can have.

SFISAFF’s foray into the South Bay features a pair of screenings on Sunday, September 30. The afternoon begins with a family matinee screening of Suseendiran’s comedy of errors Azhagarswamyin Kudhirai

Decoding Deepak

(Azhagarswamy’s Horse). This is followed by a reprise of last year’s opening night film Big In Bollywood by duo Bill Bowles and Kenny Meehan which charts the rise of Hollywoodbased actor Omi Vaidya in Bollywood following the release of blockbuster 3 Idiots.n September 19 – 23. Castro Theatre. 429 Castro Street, San Francisco. Roxie Theater. 3117 16th Street, San Francisco. Camera 12. 201 South Second Street, San Jose. Early bird $10.

General $12. www.thirdi.org/festival.

Big In Bollywood

Nirupama Vaidhyanathan

Arts). 2-5 p.m. Milpitas Library, 160 North Main St., Milpitas. Free. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@gmail.com. www.srfinearts. info.

Dance Company. 4 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts Center, Saratoga High School, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. Free. www.shrikrupa.org.

Melodious Music Fills theAir

Forever Pancham. A musical evening

ay Area audiences are in for a special treat—the golden voices of SP Balasubrahmanyam (SPB) and ‘Chinna kuyil’ Chitra will lead an orchestra comprised of talented singers Sailaja, SPB Charan along with supporting musicians from India. To satisfy fans from all over India, three concerts in Kannada, Telugu, and Tamil will be staged on consecutive days under the banner of Kalalaya.

India Currents recently had the chance to interview the person behind the legend and get to know more about his incredible career where he has sung over 40, 000 songs. A record that is hard to wrap around in one’s head—to sing 40, 000 songs within a lifetime is testament to the intense devotion of an artist to his art. Asked about how he sustains this longevity at the highest levels, SPB replies modestly, “Sincerely, I do not know. I just do my job first to my satisfaction, and next, to that of the creators.”

Starting his musical career after dropping out of engineering college, he took part in music competitions, bagging many prizes. His first break came when music director Kodandapani heard him sing at a music competition, and offered him an opportunity to sing in an upcoming Telugu film in 1966. In three short years following this debut, he had sung in Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam for actors in leading roles.

When asked about his impeccable diction and authentic pronunciation in all languages, he says with characteristic humility, “I am grateful to those who give me opportunities to sing in different languages. The only way to repay that debt is to learn the language, love it and respect it.” He is the

always tough” considering that they present 25 songs from the many thousands that he has sung. At the end, there is always someone who asks him why he did not sing his or her favorite song.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Usha Srinivasan and Urmila Vudali. Student of

B

SPB Charan

Artistic Director Vishal Ramani, Shri Krupa Dance Company. Organized by Shri Krupa only male playback singer to win National Awards in four languages.

Whether it is the lively En Iniya Pon Nilave or the mellifluous Ponmaalai Pozhuthu or the riotous, Namma ooru singari, in Tamil, SPB’s voice conveys the power, melody, and meaning of the song’s narrative in a way that cannot be forgotten.

His Telugu songs in Sankarabharanam and Maro Charithra and his Hindi songs for the blockbuster hit—Ek Duje ke Liye firmly established him as a pan-India favorite. He has recorded songs with leading music directors starting from veterans Kondapani and Ilayaraja to AR Rahman and Harris Jeyaraj. Recognizing the immeasurable contribution of this musical legend, the

remembering the magic and legacy of R.D. Burman. Organized by Audigy Systems Inc. 7-11 p.m. Schultz Cultural Arts Hall, 3921

SP Sailaja

Listening to him is definitely going to be inspiring experience—his deep, sonorous voice that has left an indelible impression onscreen is sure to move one even more when we see the legend live onstage.n KS Chitra

Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 2011.

When asked for his advice to youngsters in the field, his answer probably gives us a clue to his approach to life as well. He says, “Know what you do not know and if possible try to know that. Do not pamper your vocal chords but at the same time, do not abuse them. Enjoy good music regardless of who the singer or composer is. Enjoy life within a disciplined frame.” SPB says that he enjoys performing in front of Indian-Americans as they shower him with “more love”, given that his frequency of staging concerts here is less than in India.

“Choosing songs for a concert,” he adds, “is

Kannada: 7:30 p.m., Friday, September 14. www.kknc.org. (510) 305-9285. Telugu: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, September 15. www.bata. org. (510) 421-3535. Tamil: 4 p.m., Sunday, September 16. www.sulekha.com (408) 7737400.

Chabot College Performing Arts Center, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward. Tickets: $20, $25, $35, $50, $100.

SP Balasubrahmanyam

india currents • september 2012 • 93

Mona Shah

Third World Independent Film Festival

F

or most of us going to the movies is a fun event. It is at once intensely personal, yet paradoxically a social event. We go to be engaged, excited, satisfied, and sobered.

And at times we are reminded of the real power of film—to delve into important social issues and bring them to the forefront of public knowledge. The 2012 Third World Independent Film Festival (TWIFF) was created exactly for that reason, bringing together filmmakers from developed countries and allowing them to screen films that tackle social issues that are most important today. The festival provides a platform to introduce their films to the broadest possible audience.

The festival celebrates cultural diversity as well as social aware-

9 Eleven

ness, bringing light to issues once only associated to developing nations. Issues such as: poverty, unemployment, human trafficking, war, water crisis, and many more. But with globalization the gap that used to separate third world countries from developed nations has narrowed and these issues are now in the forefront of audiences everywhere.

This year, TWIFF will be presenting 32 films from 21 countries.

Film synopses and trailers: www.thirdworldindiefilmfest.blogspot.com.

Comprehensive schedule: www.thirdworldindiefilmfest.com/schedule. html.n

From Nomad2Nobody

September

9 Sunday

Talk on “The Meaning of Symbols and Numbers in Sanatana Dharma”. Shashid-

har Karnad a retired electrical engineer will speak. Followed by aarati and mahaprasad. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. htttp://badarikashrama. org.

Tribute to late Super Star Rajesh Khanna. Haunting songs that featured in his several

movies will be presented. Twenty five professional artists will perform. Alka Bhatnagar as a Chief Guest will sing a few songs based on classical Raags to inaugurate the event.

Organized by Sangeet Dhwani. 1:30-4:45 p.m.

Milpitas Library Auditorium, 160 North Main St., Milpitas. Free. (408) 733-7442, (408) 3940554. pradjoshi@gmail.com. www.sangeetdhwani.wordpress.com.

Double Header Concert. Gayathri Girish 94 • india currents • september 2012

September 21-23. Century 20 Theatres at Great Mall, 447 Great Mall Drive, Milpitas. Day Pass: $15, Festival Pass: $40. www.thirdworldindiefilmfest.com.

(vocal), Mysore V. Srikanth (violin), Poonuglam Subramanian (mridangam).

At 5 p.m. Mala Ramadorai (vocal), Abhay Prabhakar Data (tabla), Anant Shrikrishna Joshi (harmonium). Organized by South India Fine Arts. 2 p.m. Center for Performing Arts, Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road., Atherton. www.southindiafinearts.org.

September

11 Tuesday

Take Back Gandhi’s 9/11 Celebration.

106th Anniversary of Mohandas K. Gandhi declaring the non-violent direct action doctrine of Satyagraha in South Africa on 9-11-1906. Organized by Bay Area Poets

Bharatnatyam Arangetram of Savithri Koka. Student of Mythili Kumar, Artistic

Director of Abhinaya Dance Company. 4 p.m. McAfee Theater, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. Free. (408) 871-5959. abdanceco@ gmail.com. abhinaya.org.

Janaka Selekta. Music that brings together the classical and folk sounds of South Asia, Arabia, Jamaica and Africa with the cutting edge sounds of hard hitting electronica.

Organized by Dub Mission. 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

Elbo Room, 647 Valencia St., San Francisco. $6. (415) 552-7788. htp://www.dubmission.

Tribute concert for Rajesh Khanna, Sept. 9 com, www.elbo.com.

Habib Khan Saraswati Temple & Gurukul Presents

a Gandabandhan Concert Classical Solo Sitar Recital By

Rishi Dasgupta Accompanied

by Satish Tare on the Tabla Venue: Cubberley Theater, 4000 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303

Guru: Pandit Habib Khan

Saturday September 15, 2012, 6:00 PM Sharp

Shishya: Rishi Dasgupta

All Are Cordially Invited

Vocal, Sitar & Tabla lessons offered by Habib Khan For information call (408) 528-0786 or (650) 255-9752

india currents • september 2012 • 95

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of Loving Grace. 6-7:30 p.m. At the Gandhi Statue behind SF Ferry Bldg., Embarcadero and Market. (510) 845-5481. Paxmaux1@ gmail.com.

September

14 Friday

ICC Preschool Annual Session. An

integrated learning style focusing on: social and emotional development, language and literacy English-language development, mathematics, and Pride in our heritage. Indian traditions are peinforced through festival celebrations and activities including songs, arts and crafts, music, cooking and dramatic interpretation of Indian tales and mythology.

-Organized by India Community Center. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. ICC Playcare, 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. $99 per week. (408) 934-1130. indiaccevents@yahoo.com. www.indiacc.org/ preschool.

September

15 Saturday

AID Badminton Open Tournament.

Part of its fundraising and outreach effort as part of the Play for India Series. Organized by Association for Indias Development, Bay Area Chapter. 9 a.m. Bintang Badminton Club, 746 S. Milpitas Blvd., Milpitas. $20 for men’s single, $30 men’s doubles, $30 mixed doubles.

(650) 477-8654. info@bayarea.aidindia.org.

Kathmandu Festival. Celebrating the

diverse cultures of Nepal, Tibet and India through traditional Himalayan music and lively dance performances. “A Nite in Nepal” a Nepalese banquet and cultural show features celebrated musician and singer Sukhawat Ali Khan, banquet provided by A Taste of Himalaya, and dance performances by local Nepalese. Ends Sep. 16. Organized

by Children’s Medical Aid Foundation. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Veterans Memorial Hall, 126 1st St. West, Sonoma. Festival $10, A Nite in Ne-

Rishi Dasgupta in concert, Sept. 15

pal, $35. (707) 938-1807. childmedaid@gmail. com. www.childrensmedaid.org/kathmandufestival/.

Turning Rumi: Singing Verses of Love, Unity and Freedom. Artist Reception.

2:30-4:30 p.m. Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael. (415) 482-2453. schin@ dominican.edu.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Sarayu Pai. Student of Artistic Director Vishal

Ramani, Shri Krupa Dance Company. Organized by Shri Krupa Dance Company. 4 p.m.

McAfee Performing Arts Center, Saratoga High School, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. Free. www.shrikrupa.org.

solo sitar recital by Rishi Dasgupta, student of Pandit Habib Khan. Accompanied by Satish Tare (tabla). Organized by Habib Khan Saraswati Temple and Gurukul. 6 p.m.

Cubberly Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Free. (650) 255-9752.

September

16 Sunday

Kirtana Sabha. An all day musical event featuring students and teachers from Bay Area music schools. Performances by students of Rita Sahai, Suman and Sargam Shah, students of Shubangi Sakalkar. Accompanied

by Hari Das (santoor), Krishnapriya Kashyap (tabla), and Balaji Mahadevan (tabla). 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Mau

Karnatik Vocal Concert. By Hyma Vempaty and Madhuri Akkenepalli, disciples of Jayashree Varadarajan. Accompanied by Ravindra Bharati Shridharan (mridangam).

Organized by Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts. 4 p.m. Mt. Pleasant High School Theater, 1750 South White Road., San Jose. Free. www.srirama.net.

Karnatik Violin Concert by Vignesh Thyagarajan. Organized by Sri Ranga

Ramanuja Maha Desikan Fine Arts (S R Fine Arts). 5-7:30 p.m. Divine Science Community Center, 1540 Hicks Ave., San Jose. Free. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@gmail.com. www. srfinearts.info.

Solo Concert by Shruthi Aravindan, Sept. 1

A Gandabandhan Concert. A classical

Solo Concert by Saras Singh, Sept. 2 india currents • september 2012 • 97

(S R Fine Fabian Way, Palo Alto. VVIP: $50, VIP: $35, General: $20. Early bird tickets: VIP: $30, General: $15. (408) 802 5128, (650) 400 5156. www.facebook.com/ events/392922857437191/, mycity.sulekha. com/forever-pamcham_buy_611180.

September

23 Sunday

Vidushi S. Sowmya in Concert. Accompanied by Neyveli Narayanan (mridangam), K.V.Gopalakrishnan (kanjira). Organized

by Sankritilaya. 4 p.m. Mexican Heritage Theater. 1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose. www. sankritilaya.org.

September

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Abirami Murugappam, Sept. 29

bert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama. org.

Karnatik Music Concert. Kiranavali Vidyashankar (lecdem/concert). Organized by South Indian Music Academy. 4 p.m. Hoover Middle School Auditorium, 3501 Country Club Drive., Lakewood. General, $25, student/ senior, $20. (714) 681-2099. ask_sima@yhaoo. com. www.simala.us.

September

21 Friday

Hindustani Classical Concert. San-

jay Subrahmanyan (vocal), S. Varadarajan (violin), Neyveli B. Venkatesh (mridangam).

Organized by South India Fine Arts. 7:30 p.m.

Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road., Palo Alto. www.southindiafinearts.org.

Classical Music Concert. Shantanu Bhat-

tacharya and Durba Bhattacharya (vocal), Satish tare (tabla). Organized by Sangeetaanjali Inst. of Music. 8:30 p.m. Sangeetaanjali Kaksha, 39701 Logan Drive., Fremont. Free.

(510) 651-9149. contact@sangeetaanjali.org. www.sangeetaanjali.org.

September

22 Saturday

Karnatik Vocal Concert by Subiksha Kothandaraman. Organized by Sri

Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikan Fine Arts 98 • india currents • september 2012

29 Saturday

Mega Health Fair. Free medical advice and informational lectures by various specialists. Free evaluation: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and bone density.

Organized by Hindu Community and Cultural Center. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Temple Assembly Hall- Shiva Vishnu Temple, 1232 Arrowhead Ave., Livermore. Free. (925) 449-6255, (925) 371-5640. suman1218@yahoo.com. http// www.livermoretemple.org.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Abirami Murugappan. Student of Nirupama

Vaidhyanathan, Artistic Director of Sankalpa Dance Foundation. Organized by Sankalpa Dance Foundation. 4:30 p.m. Jackson Theater at Ohlone College, 43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont. Free. (510) 557-3066. abirami. arangetram@gmail.com.

Karnatik Vocal Concert by Varshaya Visvanathan. Organized by Sri Ranga Ra-

manuja Maha Desikan Fine Arts (S R Fine Arts). 4:30-6 p.m. Divine Science Community Center, 1540 Hicks Ave., San Jose. Free. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@gmail.com. www. srfinearts.info.

Veena Concert by Shri Srikanth Chary. Organized by Sri Ranga Ramanuja

Maha Desikan Fine Arts (S R Fine Arts).

6 p.m. Divine Science Community Center, 1540 Hicks Ave., San Jose. General:$10; $5 for students and seniors. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@gmail.com. www.srfinearts. info.

September

30 Sunday

Voters Education and Candidates Forum. Hear about the Affordable Care Act

and tax Initiatives and how they affect you.

Organized by Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs. 12-5 p.m. California State University, University Union, 6000 J St., Sacramento. Free. (916) 928-9988. office@

apapa.org. www.apapa.org.

October

4 Sunday

Amrut Indian Single Malt whisky and Scotch Tasting. Organized by Wineglobe.

com and ICC. 8-9 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. $40 for ICC members and $45 for non-members. (408) 416-0214, (408) 934-1130, (408) 586-8220. liraz@icc.org, vijay@wineglobe.com, tanuja@ icc.org. www.wineglobe.com, www.indiacc.org.

October

6 Saturday

Upanyasam and Karnatik Vocal Concerts. By Pat Krishnan and Sarathy 3p.m. -

4:30 p.m.: Karnatik vocal concert by Soundarya Jayaraman 4:30 p.m.: Karnatik vocal concert by Shubhapriya Srivatsan. Organized

by Sri Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikan Fine Arts (S R Fine Arts). 2-4:30 p.m. Divine Science Community Center, 1540 Hicks Ave., San Jose. Free. (408) 569-0860. srfinearts2012@ gmail.com. www.srfinearts.info.

Hindu American Foundation’s Fundraising Gala. Gadadhara Pandit Dasa is

the keynote speaker,. Organized by Hindu American Foundation. 5-9 p.m. Quinlan Community Center, 10185 North Stelling Road, Cupertino. Free. samir@hafsite.org. www.hafsite.org/media/pr/northern-californiaevent-2012.

Utsav 2012- A Celebration of Life. A

two-day event offering a variety of activities including scintillating Garba-Dandia Raas, Kids talent contest, teen and adult dance competition, cooking contest, quiz contest, exclusive fashion show, and a DJ Night. Ends Oct. 7. Organized by WomenNow TV. 1 p.m.7 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, Great American Parkway, Santa Clara. Free. Dandiya and DJ night, $15 each or $20 combo. utsav@ womennow.tv. www.discodandia.eventbrite.com, www.facebook.com/events/245640642223671.

Foundation for Excellence Annual Fundraiser. An evening of cocktails and hors d’ouevers followed by dance and entertainment. Dinner by Amber India. Foundation for Excellence (FFE) helps exceptionally talented but poor students in India become doctors, engineers, and computer scientists.

FFE awards scholarships to recent high school students who have overcome the adversity of their family’s circumstance to be in the top 15% in the board examinations and have secured admissions to quality engineering and medical colleges. Organized

by Foundation for Excellence. 6 p.m. Oshman Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. $1000, $500, $200. (510) 579-2037.

as well as political office. The discussion will seek to answer questions like (i) Why is the Sikh community being targeted? Is the Turban being equated with Terrorism? (ii) Who are the offenders? What is inducing them to target innocent people? (iii) The state of civil discourse in the nation - is charged rhetoric the culprit? Organized by India Currents magazine and the Indian Diaspora Project. 10 a.m. San Jose State University. MLK Library, 150 East San Fernando St., San Jose. Free. Snacks will be served. (408) 313-5348, (408) 324-0488 ext 225.

October

11 Thursday

Encounter—A Play. Based on a story about an indigenous woman, Dopdi, inspired by award winning writer Mahasweta Devi’s work and adapted for the stage by S M Raju and Aparna Sindhoor. Encounter explores images from the history and the world around whether it is the Native American history or indigenous peoples history elsewhere or a modern day occurrence in Iraq or Afghanistan or Rwanda.

Ends Oct. 12. 8-11 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, . $20 advance, $25 door. (510) 849 2568. cece@lapena.org. www.lapena.org.

October

14 Sunday

Partnership Walk. A day of entertainment,

learning and fun with an interactive exhibit “Village in Action,” where you can learn about innovative ways to solve hunger, poverty and disease around the world. Organized by Aga Khan Foundation. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Lake Elizabeth Park, 40000 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont.

Free. sanfrancisco@partnershipwalk.org. www. partnershipsinaction.org.

Deepa Mahadevan, Artistic Director of Tiruchitrambalam School of Dance

ashok@ffe.org. www.ffe.org.

Laser Dandiya. Featuring Garba/Dandiya

DJ, Dimple Patel and Troupe. Organized by Induz. 7:30-11:30 p.m. Centerville Junior High School, 37720 Fremont Blvd., Fremont.(limited early bird specials) Adults $10, children 5-10 years $6, under 5, Free. Regular Price Adults $12, children 5-10 years $7. (510) 449-8530, (510) 875-5006, (408) 230-5725. www. sulekha.com/induz.

October

7 Sunday

Sammilan—Folk Fusion Concert.

Sashank Subramanyam (flute/vocals), Anwar Khan Manganiar (vocal), Feroz Khan Manganiar (dholak), Ravindra Chary (sitar), Sai Giridhar (mridangam, khanjira and konnakol). Organized by South India Fine Arts. 3:30 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Choches St,. Milpitas. www.southindiafinearts.org.

Shreya Ghoshal Live in Concert.

Organized by APPI and AAPIO. 6:30 p.m.

San Jose Center of Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. $99-$39. www.desiclub.com/media/promos/shreyaghoshal2012/, www.instantkarmaonline.com.

Triveni-A Dance Concert. Featuring Madurai R. Muralidharan, Uma Muralikrishna and Deepa Mahadevan, students of Deepa Mahadevan, Artistic Director of Tiruchitrambalam. Organized by Tiruchitrambalam School of Dance. 2-5:30 p.m.

Woodside High School, 199 Church Ave., Woodside. mahadevan.deepa@gmail.com. www.deepamahadevan.com.

October

10 Wednesday

Americans Together. A panel discussion featuring prominent members from the Sikh community, leaders from academia, criminal justice system, law enforcement

Hindustani Classical Concert. Mysore

Manjunath and Mysore Nagaraj (violin duet), Srimushanam Rajarao (mridangam). Organized by South India Fine Arts. 3:30 p.m.

India Community Center, 525 Los Choches St., Milpitas. www.southindiafinearts.org.

100 years of Desi History on the Streets of Berkeley. South Asians have been living in

California since at least 1857, but their stories are still little known. Join community historians Anirvan Chatterjee and Barnali Ghosh as South Asian American history comes to life on an engaging 2-mile walking tour. You’ll visit original sites, hear stories, and come away inspired by secret histories of resistance and organizing. Morning tour, 10 a.m. Afternoon tour, 2 p.m. $12-$5. www.berkeleysouthasian. org/index.html. © Copyright 2012 India Currents. All rights reserved. Reproduction for commercial use strictly prohibited. india currents • september 2012 • 99

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india currents • september 2012 • 101

IC

reflections

Raji Krishnamurthy

Mind Body Integration

W

hy do you run a marathon, participate in a bike race, play a tennis match or simply walk every day? Is exercise a way of life? An integrated goal is not to achieve perfection in a challenging workout, or accomplishing one grueling endeavor after another in search of fulfillment. It is to develop our spiritual side.

Ayurveda, the Science of Life, clearly explains that the main goal of exercise is to rejuvenate our body and mind, reduce stress and strengthen our immunity. The Charaka Samhita text written thousands of years ago, states that exercise when done to 50 percent of our capacity will be beneficial for health and longevity.

When we exercise at a comfortable level we feel energized, our digestive fire or agni improves and we are able to remove toxins from our body. There is no formula to know the right amount of exercise but as we become aware of our own unique constitution or prakriti, we also begin to find the balance between exhaustion and comfort. This is the holistic approach to fitness and health. Modern medicine recognizes that the body produces a significant amount of harmful free radicals when we push ourselves to exhaustion that lead to diseases, degeneration and death.

It is common to see people exercise with the latest gizmos—iPods, iPads, books, TV screens or simply chatting with neighbors to combat the boredom of exercising. The body continues to mechanically perform an activity while the mind has been hijacked. When the mind and body are performing the same task there is alertness as well as relaxation. This is the “zone” the athlete seeks in peak performance where the brain is relaxed in silence and the body is in dynamic action. When we are alert and relaxed equally we produce alpha waves. We are powerfully creative and productive at this state, drawing from a deep place of innate wisdom and limitless possibility.

Here are four fundamental classical tools to attain mind body integration.

•Tapas, Svadhyaya, Ishwara-pranidanani kriya yogah is the first sutra

in the second chapter in Patanjali’s yoga sutras. It deals with the fundamental concepts of purifying and strengthening our systems through disciplines designed to reduce physical, emotional and mental toxicity.

102 • india currents • september 2012

to reduce anxiety or nervousness. Practice meditation regularly to increase awareness and access untapped information and energy.

Tapas and Svadhyaya become two sides of a coin to integrate our mind and body.

When they both are present, we integrate our mind and body.

•Ishwarapranidana signifies the DiTapas is a wise and consistent discipline for purifying and strengthening our body to reduce physical, emotional and mental toxicity. We learn to balance perseverance and contentment to gain alertness, relaxation and confidence. Tapas is a good discipline to instill in young athletes. When parents and coaches adopt a process-oriented method of learning the sport, and children focus on skill development, they are happier, gain selfesteem and don’t fall sick as often.

They learn the art of “less is more” and go back to practice with renewed energy. But if they push, strain and stress themselves to the maximum effort to win at all costs, the body, breath and mind will not integrate and stress levels increase in their growing bodies. The threshold for new stress is lowered with repeated stressors and eventually they experience “burn out” which leads to significant illnesses like anxiety, depression, insomnia, digestive disorders, physical injuries and eventually exhaustion.

Train yourself and your children to breathe through the nose the next time you play a sport. Conscious nasal breathing increases the tidal volume (amount of air going in and out) to two liters instead of mouth breathing where the tidal volume is only half a liter. Breath is the bridge between body and mind. By practicing yoga consistently, beginning every movement with the breath to help circulate energy, we build endurance, better coordination and a relaxed mind. Learn slow sun salutations or surya namaskars to warm up, stretch and strengthen the back, and also help with bilateral stimulation of both sides of the brain.

•Svadhyaya, literally means “to move to-

wards oneself” is where we come to a deeper understanding of ourselves and increase our awareness through the practice of meditation and reflection. For example, if we begin to train for a marathon without being truly self-reflective about our training, we may end up destabilizing our backs, creating some vulnerability and injuring our knees or ankles in the process. Pay attention to your breath

vine—the one with the greater knowledge.

We all work towards the goal but we can’t control the outcome. However, we can cultivate intensity and steadiness dedicating our practice to a higher force. This is kriya yoga.

This is yoga in action. We need to learn to relax so healing and reintegration can happen.

•Practice Yoga/Meditation. Yoga is a means to developing free will in the mind.

Asanas help oxygenate the lungs. Combining breath with movement will lead to stress reduction. Slow sun salutations done with the initiation of the breath before movement will warm up the body, strengthen and stretch the back. Breathing becomes a massage from the chest, to the abdomen and then to the spine. These movements also help with bilateral stimulation of both sides of the brain. They integrate and make the brain capable of focusing and ready for learning. Meditation is an act of restful alertness.

Meditation allows us to place our attention and intention in those subtle planes giving us access to untapped information, and potential energy. It is a simple process that teaches us the art of “less is more” and increases our awareness. When we become aware we begin to accept more, react less. We are willing to be with the experience as it is than what we would like it to be. We breathe deeply and counter stress by stimulating the vagus nerve that runs from the brain to the diaphragm and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. We learn to relax so healing and reintegration can happen.

Ayurveda defines a healthy person as one who has a balanced constitution, clear thoughts, sharp sense organs and a calm and peaceful mind. We exercise to stay healthy.

Lets make it an integrated and spiritual experience.n Raji Krishnamurthy is an ayurvedic wellness practitioner and yoga therapist teaching adults and young athletes yoga, ayurvedic nutrition and balanced lifestyles. She lives in Saratoga with her husband and two children, all competitive tennis players. www. theayurvedicathlete.com.

IC

spirituality and health

September

1 Saturday

Sri Ramana Maharshi Self-Realization Retreat. The retreat focuses on the Ma-

harshi’s teachings contained within Atma Vidya, Ekatma Pancakam, and other short texts, with spiritual instruction about these teachings, and much time for silent meditation. Ends Sep. 2. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT), 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Registration Required. (831) 4257287. sat@cruzio.com. satramana.org/html/ sri_ramana_maharshi_self-reali.htm.

Discourses on Advaita Makaranda. A three-day discourse series. Discourses on Advaita Makaranda by Acharya, Br. Prabodh Chaitanya. Ends Sep. 3. Organized by Chinmaya Mission San Jose. 6:30-10 a.m. Sandeepany San Jose, 1050 Park Ave., San Jose.

Free. (408) 998-2793. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www.chinmaya-sanjose.org.

Sri Sundarakananda Ramayana of Sri Tulasidas Gowswami. Group chanting

followed by aarati and mahaprasad. 2:305:30 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro . Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama. org.

September

2 Sunday

Sri Ramanama Sankirtana and Meditation. Group singing of Slokas condensing the story of the Ramayana. Followed by aarati and mahaprasad. 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. badarikashrama.org.

Mahasankatachaturthi. Bharatanatyam performance by Meena Logan and her students. Shiva Murugan Temple, 1803

Second St., Concord. (925) 827-0127. www. shivamurugantemple.org.

September

3 Monday

Sankata Hara Chaturthi. 6-8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N, 1st St., San Jose. (408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@ gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

4 Tuesday

The Spiritual Warrior: Living an Au-

Swami Kriyananda lecture, September 16

thentic Life. Focus on personal and spiri-

tual growth with practical, inspiring, and encouraging tools. Ends Sep. 25. 7:30 p.m.

Ananda Church, 2171 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. $15. (650) 323-3363. www.anandapaloalto.org.

September

6 Thursday

Learn to Meditate. Meditation gives di-

rect, intuitive experiences of higher realities, and is the cornerstone of true spirituality.

It brings balance, rest, and a growing inner peace. Ends Sep. 20. 7:30 p.m. Ananda Church, 2171 El Camino Real, Palo Alto . $45. (650) 323-3363. www.anandapaloalto.org.

September

7 Friday

Mahalakshmi Abhishekam. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose.

(408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

Discourses on Sat Dharshanam - Home Satsang. Organized by Chinmaya Mission San Jose. 8-9 p.m. Ruparel Residence, 20668 Seaton Ave., Saratoga . (408) 867-9550. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www.chinmayasanjose.org.

September

8 Saturday

International Yoga Conference. The con-

ference will present the latest developments in the field of yoga, its applications in health, and research in yoga therapy while maintaining the foundation of yoga philosophy.

Ends Sep. 9. Organized by Yoga Bharati and SVYASA, Bengaluru. 6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Oshman Family Jewish Community Center (JCC), 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. Adults $149, youth $100

india currents • september 2012 • 103

cessbraille.webs.com.

September

9 Sunday

Sri Ramanama Sankirtan. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

13 Thursday

Pradosham Sri Rudrabhishekam. 5:30-

6:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

September Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, Sept. 19

(6-12yrs), children $50 (under 5 yrs). (408) 681-YOGA. conference2012@yogabharati.org. yogabharati.org/conference/.

2-Day Meditation Training Program For Young Adults. The course will teach

a complete set of daily meditation practices It includes four experiential silent meditation sessions (about 30-40 min each) with Pranahuti (yogic transmission) offered by a trainer. Ends Sep. 9. Organized by Institute of Sriramchandra Consciousness. 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Heathrow Terrace, Fremont. Free.

(510) 405-1630. shishir.joshi@sriramchandra. org. sriramchandra.org/Training/Training. htm#FreshersRegister.

116th Anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Advent. Swami

Tattwamayananda of the Vedanta Society in San Francisco will give a talk. Lunch will be served. Organized by Arunachala Ashrama.

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Milpitas Jain Temple, 722 South Main St., Milpitas. Free. (10) 6562752. sunita_parasuraman@yahoo.com. www. arunachala.org.

Krishna Ashtami. Pratyangria abhishekham and puja with Sri Kalikambal abhishekham.

11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sri Maha Kaleshwar Mandir, 2344 A. Walsh Ave., Santa Clara. www.srimahakalmandir.org.

Access Braille Fundraiser Harikatha Concert. The Harikatha on Surrender will

focus on the story of Gora Kumbhar, with abhangs, bhajans and songs in Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Organized by Access Braille. 4 p.m. Multipurpose Hall, Shirdi Sai Mandir, 1221 California Circle, Milpitas. $15.

(408) 762-4836. info@accessbraille.org. ac104 • india currents • september 2012

14 Friday

Discourses on Dakshinamoorthy Strotram. Organized by Chinmaya Mission San Jose. 8-9 p.m. Rao Residence, 22314 Cupertino Road., Cupertino. (408) 863-0595. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www.chinmayasanjose.org.

Ribhu Gita. Readings with commentary

and dialogue, by Nome. 8-9:30 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT), 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio.com. www.satramana.org.

September

15 Saturday

Amavasya Shiva Pooja. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Ba-

laji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@ gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

16 Sunday

Swami Kriyananda Lecture. In his only

Bay Area appearance, he will talk about Paramhansa Yogananda: The Untold Story.

Organized by Ananda and East West Bookshop. 11 a.m. Foothill College, Smithwick Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Free. (650) 988-9800. www.Swami2012. com.

September

18 Tuesday

Swarna Gowari Vratam. 9-10 a.m. Balaji

Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 2031036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

19 Wednesday

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations. Orga-

nized by Chinmaya Mission San Jose. 6 p.m.

Sandeepany San Jose, 1050 Park Ave., San Jose. (408) 998-2793. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www.chinmaya-sanjose.org.

Sri Ganesha Chauti Puja and Kirtan.

Followed by aarati and mahaprasad. 6:308:30 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. badarikashrama.org.

September

21 Friday

Bhagavad Gita Study Group - Home Study. Organized by Chinmaya Mission

San Jose. 8-9 p.m. Rao Residence, 22314 Cupertino Road., Cupertino. (408) 863-0595. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www.chinmaya-sanjose.org.

Discourses on Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

Home Satsang. Organized by Chinmaya

Mission San Jose. 8-9 p.m. Dash Residence, 6789 Glenview Drive, San Jose. (408) 2685056. sanjose@chinmayamission.org. www. chinmaya-sanjose.org.

September

22 Saturday

Krishna Ashtami Shoolini Durga Puja.

7 p.m. Sri Maha Kaleshwar Mandir, 2344 A. Walsh Ave., Santa Clara. www.srimahakalmandir.org.

September

23 Sunday

Sri Ganesh Homa and Music Celebration. As part of Sri Ganesha Chauti celebrations. Group worship followed by concert by Krishnapriya Kashyap with Balaji Mahadevan on tabla. 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro.

Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama.org.

Sri Gakar Ganapati Pooja. 7-8 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 2031036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

25 Tuesday

Ekadasi Sri Hanuman Chalisa. 7-8 p.m.

Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose.

(408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

28 Friday

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india currents • september 2012 • 105

plained in detail. 8-9:30 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT), 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio.com. www.satramana.org.

September

29 Saturday

Creating Courage and Confidence. Facing our fears with a clear head and vision is the best way to releasing them. Learn tools you need to help transcend your fears, and live your life in greater harmony with yourself. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Ananda Church, 2171 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. $30. (650) 323-3363. www.anandapaloalto.org.

Navagraha Homa/Sri Saneeswara Graha Homa. 2 p.m.: Pournami Vrtha,

Sri Sahtyanarayana Swamy Puja. 4 p.m.: Sri Venkateshwara Abhisheka followed by aarati abd manthra pushpa. 12-4 p.m. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple, 32 B. Rancho Drive., San Jose. (408) 245-5443. srikalahatheeswara@ yahoo.com. siliconvalleyhindutemple.com.

Purnima Sri Chakra Puja. 3-5 p.m. Sri Maha Kaleshwar Mandir, 2344 A. Walsh Ave., Santa Clara. www.srimahakalmandir.org.

Poornima Special. Sri Balaji Abhishekam and Satyanarayana pooja. 6-8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 2031036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

September

30 Sunday

Mahatma Gandhi’s Annual Birthday Celebration. Singing Mahatma Gandhi’s

peace prayers with Sri Karunamayee. 11 a.m.12:30 p.m. Cultural Integration Fellowship, 2650 Fulton St., (at 3rd Ave.) San Francisco.

Free. (415) 668-1559. culturalfellowship@ sbcglobal.net. www.culturalintegrationfellowship.org.

Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja and Kirtan. Followed by aarati and mahaprasad. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama. org.

Vasavi Devi Abhisheka. Bhajans and pot

luck prasadam. 4-6 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 203-1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail.com. www. balajitemple.net.

October

3 Wednesday

Sanksta Hara Chaturthi. 7-8 p.m. Balaji Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 203106 • india currents • september 2012

Smita Garg

Yoga Sangam

Y

oga Bharati, a Bay Area non-profit, in collaboration with Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA—a yoga research foundation in India), is celebrating its 10th anniversary and Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birthday with an international conference on yoga.

Fittingly named “Yoga Sangam,” or a confluence of people and topics related to yoga, the two-day event will see a number of experts from around the world congregate to present papers, pour over the latest research on health benefits, and provide a deeper insight into the philosophy of yoga.

The event is composed of three parallel symposium tracks focusing on three main areas, namely, Philosophy of yoga (includes texts like Patanjali yoga sutras and the Bhagavad Gita); Health (yoga practices, ayurveda, naturopathy); Research (developments in yoga therapy and applications, research methodologies for yoga, and yoga education).

Sessions will include panel discussions conducted by experts in each of those areas.

Prominent researchers and yoga practitioners from around the world are expected to attend. Some of the speakers and attendees are N.V. Raghuram (Chairman, Yoga Bharati), H.R. Nagendra (Vice Chancellor, SVYASA), Dr. Nagarathna (Dean of Health Science, SVYASA), Shirley Telles (Director of Research at Patanjali Yogapeeth, Haridwar), Christoph Garner (Director of KWA-Klinik Stift Rottal, Germany), Prabodh Chaitanya (Chinmaya Mission, San Jose), Philip Goldberg (author and spiritual coach), Shunya Pratichi Mathur (Founder, Vedika Global), to name a few. A gala event, on-going cul-

tural celebrations, yoga demonstrations, and many other activities will accompany the symposium.

Of the two primary organizers, SVYASA, is a yoga university and research institute located near the picturesque Bannerghatta National Park in Karnataka. With a sprawling green campus spread over a 100 acres, it offers a one of a kind yoga therapy home with a 250-bed inpatient treatment facility called Arogyadhama. It has been envisioned as a place for prevention and treatment of diseases, and promotion of good health.

The other organizer is Yoga Bharati, established by N.V. Raghuram, an engineer turned yoga practitioner. Raghuram, who is also on the faculty of SVYASA, founded the organization with the objective that yoga be taught in its purest form. It is often observed that yoga studios ignore the underlying philosophy and a holistic approach to yoga when teaching students. However, true practitioners of yoga see it as a complete lifestyle, rather than just an exercise routine focused solely on physical fitness.

The Bay Area chapter was founded to teach yoga in a way wherein all paths of the discipline, namely Raja, Karma, Bhakti and Jnana yoga, are addressed. Yoga Bharati’s classes offer an integrated and natural (Sahaja) approach to yoga.

The Bay Area chapter organizes a teacher training program annually and has trained over 250 instructors. For those just aspiring to make a lifestyle change based on principles of yoga, Yoga Bharati conducts free classes at numerous locations around the bay area such as temples, apartment complexes, and community centers. Classes for kids, pregnant women, postnatal recovery, back pain, arthritis, diabetes or psychosomatic ailments are also offered. With “Yoga Sangam,” Yoga Bharati aims to establish itself as a catalyst in bringing together and building a community of like-minded organizations involved in promoting global health and peace.

As more people begin to see the value in this gift of wellness and well-being, it is clear that yoga is here to stay. n Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9. Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. (408) 681-9642. http://yogabharati.org/conference. conference2012@yogabharati.org.

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Email: ads@indiacurrents.com india currents • september 2012 • 107

Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro . Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@ pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama.org.

October

7 Sunday

Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prayer. Annual

prayer day honoring the life, times, philosophy and influence of Mahatma Gandhi.

This year will feature groups who work for peace, justice, and nonviolence. Lunch will be served. 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave.,San Leandro . Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama.org.

October

12 Friday

Ribhu Gita. Readings, with commentary

and dialogue, by Nome. 8-9:30 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT), 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio.com. www.satramana.org.

Singing Mahatma Gandhi’s peace prayers with Sri Karunamayee, Sept. 30

1036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

October

6 Saturday

Sri Balaji Abhishekam. 8:30 a.m. Balaji

Temple, 5004 N First St., San Jose. (408) 2031036, (408) 956-9050. balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

Sri Sundarakhanda Ramayana of Tulasidas Goswami. Group singing followed

by aarati and mahaprasad. 2:30-5:30 p.m.

© Copyright 2012 India Currents. All rights reserved. Reproduction for commercial use strictly prohibited.

15602 MAUBERT AVENUE • SAN LEANDRO • CA • 94578 (510) 278-2444 • www.badarikashrama.org

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Email: ads@indiacurrents.com 108 • india currents • september 2012

September 19,2012 , 6:30 pm Sri Ganesh Chauti Puja & Kirtan

September 23, 2012, 10:30 am Students of Rita Sahai, OSMJ Music Sri Ganesha Homa & Music Suman & Sargam Shah

by Krishnapriya Kashyap 1:00 am - 2 :00 pm Aarati & Mahaprasad with Balaji Mahadevan,tabla Students of Shubangi Sakalkar Suman Shah - Santoor • Hari Das - Tabla Students of Sumita Chakraborty, Sangitanjali School of Music To sponsor puja & homa contact Krishnapriya Kashyap ashrama staff. with Balaji Mahadeva - Tabla Events are free & open to all

badarik@pacbell.net • Call: 510-278-2444

Om Sri Mathre Namaha

Vaidica Vidhya Ganapathi Center

SRI LAKSHMI GANAPATHI TEMPLE 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose, CA 95111

(Capitol Expressway West and Montrey Road Junction, Opposite and 1 Block from Capitol Cal Train Station)

(408) 226-3600

Monday, September 3, 2012 - Labour Day Week End Timings At 5.00 pm Shiva Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa Tuesday, September 4, 2012 Sri Sankata Hara Chathurthi At 5.00 pm Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Homa/Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa Friday, September 7, 2012 At 5.00 pm Sri Bhuwaneswari/Sri Lalitha Devi Abhisheka, Kritika Vratha Sri Valli Deva Sena Sametha Sri Subramanya Abhisheka continued with Sri Lalitha Sahasranama chanting Aarati and Manthra Pushpa Saturday, September 8, 2012 Sri Vaikanasa Pancharathra Sri Jayanthi, Munithreya Sri Jayanathi Thursday, September 13, 2012 At 6.00 pm Pradosham Shiva Sri Rudra Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

• www.vvgc.org or siliconvalleyhindutemple.com

Monday, September 17, 2012 Sama Veda Upakarma (Samopakarma) At 7.00 am Only one batch. Contact temple for further details.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012 At 7.00 pm Swarna Gowri Vratham. Contact temple for further details.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012 Ganesh Chathruthi Vinayaka Chathurthi At 9.00 am Temple opens with Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam continued with Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Abhisheka continued with Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Vratha Pooja Aarati and Manthra Pushpa. Continuous Archana At 10.15 pm Final Aarathi Dukha Hartha Sukha Hartha, Jai Jagadesha Hare, for Balaji Ekantha Seva Temple Closes.

Thursday, September 20, 2012 Rishi Panchami Vratha Friday, September 21, 2012 Sukla Sashti Vratha

At 8.30 pm Sri Valli Deva Sena Sametha Sri Subramanya Sahasra Nama Archana Sunday, September 23, 2012 At 3.45 pm Ganesh Visarjan Ganesh Nimmarjanam Thursday, September 27, 2012 At 6.00 pm Pradosham Shiva Sri Rudra Abhisheka Aarathi and Manthra Pushpa Friday, September 28, 2012 Anantha Chathurdasi Vratha Saturday, September 29, 2012 At 12 Noon Navagraha Homa/Sri Saneeswara Graha Homa continued with Sri Navagraha Abhisheka/Sri Saneeswara Graha Abhisheka Aarati And Manthra Pushpa At 2.00 pm Pournami Vrtha Sri Sahtyanarayana Swamy Pooja/vratha. All are welcome to participate with family.

At 4.00 pm Sri Venkateswara Abhisheka Continued with Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Chanting Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

Please Make A Note:: Temple Address: 32 Rancho Drive, San Jose CA 95111 Temple Timings: Week Days Morning 10.00 Am To 12 Noon, Evening At 6.00 pm To 8.00 pm - Week Ends And Holidays 10.00 am To 8.00 pm FOR BHAJAN'S RELIGIOUS DISCOURSES, MUSIC AND DANCE PERFORMANCES, PRIVATE POOJAS PLEASE CONTACT TEMPLE FOR FURTHER DETAILS MANGALANI BHAVANTHU,SUBHAM BHUYATH,LOKA SAMASTHA SUKINO BHAVANTHU, LOVEALL SERVE ALL LOVE ISALL

For Pujas & Rituals Contact: PANDIT GANESH SHASTHRY 245-5443 / Cell: (925) 209-7637 E-mail: srikalahatheeswara@yahoo.com

5639 Kimberly Street, San Jose, CA 95129 — Home: (408)

india currents • september 2012 • 109

110 • india currents • september 2012

india currents • september 2012 • 111

IC

the healthy life

Malar Gandhi

Fertility Foods

W

hen Darwin used the term “survival of the fittest” he was counting your children and their children. If you raise children that have babies, you are what nature calls “fit”. You have successfully passed your genes to the next generation and in terms of survival, you have won.

When young people are at the peak of fecundity, they invest in graduate school rather than in nurseries; spend their income on gourmet meals rather than baby food and strollers. Educated elites are planning to have children only after reaching their thirties. One can safely argue that they are responding to something other than a naturally selected tendency to rear as many as children possible. Ironically people who can have the most children are having the fewest or none.

In recent years, infertility treatments have risen. More and more women are turning to desperate and expensive methods of treatment in order to get pregnant not knowing there is a free and simple alternative available elsewhere. While problems in conceiving can be attributed to a specific complication in certain cases, a healthy and nourishing diet can significantly boost your fertility and increase your chances of conceiving. Human fertility depends on factors of nutrition, sexual behavior, culture, instinct, endocrinology, timing, economics, way of life, and emotions. No diet can ensure that you will become pregnant. However, no one can deny the fact that human fertility is highly influenced by lifestyle and diet.

A good nutrition may give you the extra edge to conceive.

•Ayurvedic Preconception Care begins with the right partner. It is highly impossible to chose the right partner according to one’s physiological conditions like vata, pitta and kapha we can skip to next level. The emphasis is made on a balanced diet for couples. The first step is to detoxify the body (panchakarma). It insists on saatvic diet (food that aids good digestion). Diets rich in whole grains and organic produce promote digestion and assimilation. How well we assimilate food into the body is the first step in producing healthy sperm and eggs.

•Way of Life. A healthy weight is one of the best things to increase a woman’s chance of conceiving. Daily exercise can help improve fertility. But, too 112 • india currents • september 2012

much exercise can interfere with ovulation.

Think of a balanced meal each time. Avoid alcohol, caffeinated drinks and nicotine. Aim for eight hours of sleep and keep yourself stress-free.

•Ayurvedic Fertility Treatment (garbhadhan samskara) speaks about some health tonics and fertility boosting herbs.

Namely, Chyvanaprash is a traditional Indian nutritional elixir made from around forty different herbs, ghee and honey. Its main ingredients is Amla (emblica officinalis), a powerful antioxidant. It has long been used in India to promote immunity, strength and fertility. Shatavari (asparagus racemosus) is a powerful fertility enhancing herb. Ashwagandha (withania sominfera) is a highly rejuvenating herb that promotes fertility to both men and women.

Though it is very important for women to consume a healthy diet and stay fit in order to conceive a baby, it is equally essential for men to have a balanced diet. Men’s diet and the lifestyle affects their fertility and the health of their future babies.

•Foods that Boost Libido. Almonds, asparagus, strawberries, bananas, mangoes, peaches, figs, dates, chocolate, red meat, greens, eggs, seafood and herbs can increase libido. Asparagus rejuvenates the reproductive system both for men and women. Indian Moringa oleifera (drumstick greens and flowers) and dark leafy vegetables (kale, collard and amaranths) are useful in increasing libido. Purple onions, garlic and red chilies are best libido enhancers. Almonds are great for increasing sex drive. Dates restore sexual drive, increase endurance and improve overall vitality. Ginkgo biloba is considered beneficial in the treatment of male impotence. Zinc rich shell fish (crab, oysters and shrimps) and tree nuts (pecans, cashew nuts) are good forimproving overall vitality.

•Dad-To-Be’s Diet can affect her chances of conceiving. For healthy sperm, it is important that men include plenty of whole grains, lean protein, low-fat-dairy and more colored vegetables and fruits. Both zinc play an important role in conceiving. Low levels of zinc and selenium have been linked to poor sperm quality and a reduction in the sperm’s motility. Food sources of zinc and selenium include lean meat, baked beans, and selenium can be found in tree nuts, bread and eggs. Folate (vitamin B9), is important for men to make healthy sperm and is the naturally occurring form of folic acid. There is a small amount of evidence linking a diet rich in this vitamin to higher sperm counts.

Folate-rich foods include green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and sprouts. Folate can also be found in pulses, potatoes and oranges. Many breakfast cereals are also fortified with folic acid. Antioxidants may improve the quality of the sperm by decreasing the number of free radicals that can cause cell membrane damage. Eating a wide range of fruits and vegetables will give you plenty of antioxidants.

If you have begun taking extra care with what you eat while trying to conceive you may want to take a closer look at the pots and pans that you cook your food in too.

New research reveals that women with the highest levels of Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in their blood (150%) are more likely to have difficulty conceiving a child.

Perhaps, nonstick cookware is one explanation for declining fertility. It may be wise to keep non-stick pans away from men too.

The chemicals used in non-stick coatings are linked male infertility.n Malar Gandhi is a freelance scholar and writer, who specializes in culinary Anthropology and gourmet Indian cooking.

health

india currents â&#x20AC;˘ september 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ 113

ONGOING SPIRITUAL EVENTS Daily Laughter Yoga Club. Simple effective yo-

gic exercises with laughter therapy for perfect health and happiness and to reduce stress.

Serra Park, Hollenbeck Roadd, Sunnyvale. Daily. 7 a.m.-8 a.m. Free. (408) 490-1260. mkm. blr@gmail.com.

Vishnusahasranama. Daily, 12 p.m. Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail.com. www. balajitemple.net.

Aarti. Daily, 8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 678 Cy-

press Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras: Satsang. Patanjali

is a great sage and inner world scientist from ancient India. He was the first person to systematize the oral yogic tradition and encode it in a concise form called Yoga Sutras, roughly over 2,000 years ago. Through these talks, he enables the flowering of yoga in you, so you can see a visible change in your very postures, ethical discipline and sensory perceptions. Program broadcast live from India, conducted by Paramahamsa Nithyananda.

Organized by Life Bliss Foundation. Daily, 8-9:30 p.m. Nithyananda Vedic Temple, 513 Los Coches St., Milpitas. Free. (408) 2636375. info.vedictemple@gmail.com. www. vedictemplebayarea.org.

Sunday Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY), plus

physical exercises. We guide and initiate SKY meditation. We also provide Kayakalpam and Introspection courses. Sundays, 8-10 a.m. Sunnyvale-Sanadan Dharma Kendra,897 Kifer Road, Suite #1, Sunnyvale. Free. (510) 456-8953. sky.bayarea@yahoo.com. www.skybayarea.org.

Guru Gita Chant Siddha Yoga Meditation Ctr, 4115 Jacksol Dr., San Jose. Sundays, 8 a.m. (408) 559-1716.

Purification and Meditation Ananda

Sangha, 2171 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Sundays, 9 a.m.-9:45 a.m. (650) 323-3363. www. anandapaloalto.org.

and the essential harmony of the world’s religions, emphasising on self-realization, awakening to the inherent goodness of our spiritual nature and living in harmony with divine will. An inspirational message, silent meditation, sacred music and scripture from many traditions help us to remember what is true—life is good. Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, 1146 University Ave., San Jose.

Sundays, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. (408) 283-0221, x30. www.CSEcenter.org.

days, 10 a.m.-12 noon. (831) 425-7287. www.

SATRamana.org.

Lecture on different religious traditions. The

Sunday Services Self Realization Fellowship,

meditation hall is also open for those who wish to deepen their meditation practice. Organized by Cultural Integration Fellowship.

2650 Fulton St. San Francisco. Sundays, 9-11 a.m. (415) 626-2442.

Yoga and Meditation. Sundays, 9:30-11

a.m. Premarpan Yoga and Wellness Center, Los Gatos. Free. (408) 406-8197. premarpan@ gmail.com. www.premarpan.com.

Abhishekam and Alankaram and Special Pujas to magnificent deities, accompanied by the divine and auspicious chants of Rudram and Chamakam we perform abhishekam (holy bath) to Lord Anandeshwara, Anandeshwari (Shiva and Parvathi), Shiva linga, Devi, Karthikeya and the Nava grahas using divine powder, sandalwood powder and turmeric. It is later followed by grand alankaram (dressing up) of the deities, naivedhyam, and Maha Aaarthi. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Nithyananda Vedic Temple, 513 Los Coches St., Milpitas.

Free. (408) 263-6375. info.vedictemple@gmail. com. www.vedictemplebayarea.org.

Sunday Service Sikh Temple, 2301 Evergreen Ave, West Sacramento. Sundays, 10 a.m. (916) 371-9787.

Sri Akhand Path Sahib Sikh Temple, 1930 S Grant St, Stockton. Sundays, 10 a.m. (209) 946-9039.

Jainism Classes for children 4 years and older. Organized by Jain Center of Northern Califorina. Jain Bhavan, 722 South Main St., Milpitas. First and third Sunday of every month. 10-11:30 a.m. $35 annually for members, $50 anually for non-members. (408) 5170975, (408) 262-6042. www.jcnc.org.

Satsang, silent meditation, discourse by

Meditation and chanting. Yogalayam, 1717 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley. Sundays, 9-10:30 a.m.

(510) 655-3664. www.yogalayam.org. info@ yogalayam.org.

Nome on self-dnowledge and self-inquiry, recitation and readings from the Upanishads, recitation of Tamil Ribhu Gita. Organized by Society of Abidance in Truth. First and fourth Sundays of the momth, 10-11:30 a.m. 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. www.satramana.org.

Sunday Worship Services. Seekers from all faith backgrounds are welcome. The service offers a nonsectarian message of hope, faith,

Advaita Vedanta and the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Society of Abidance in Truth, 1834 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz. Sun-

114 • india currents • september 2012

Monthly Satsangs of Vaswani Mission of

Bay Area. Includes video discourse tapes of Dada Jashan, reading of the Noori Granth, Gita path, bhajans, and shloka recitation.

Fremont Hindu Temple, 3676 Delaware Dr., Fremont. Third Sundays, 10:30–11:45 a.m.

(510) 796-4472, (408) 218-6364. prmlani3@ yahoo.co.in.

Sacramento Center, 4513 North Ave, Sacramento. Sundays, 11 a.m. (916) 483-9614.

Community Gatherings include a short

talk with discussion, kirtan, puja, meditation, and treats. San Francisco Integral Yoga Institute, 770 Dolores St., San Francisco.

Sundays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (415) 821-1117. www. integralyogasf.org.

Ramanama meditation and kirtan. Orga-

nized by Badarikashrama. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave, San Leandro. Sundays, 11 a.m. (510) 278-2444. www.badarikashrama. org.

Sunday Service Organized by Self Realization Fellowship. SRF, 303 E. Main St, Los Gatos. Sundays, 11 a.m. (408) 252-5299.

Sunday School for children 6-14 years of

age to give them a general knowledge of the universal truths of Vedanta, to acquaint them with the basic teachings of the major living religions, and to inspire reverence for the great religious teachers of the world.

Organized by Vedanta Society of Northern California. Vedanta Society of Northern California, Old Temple, 2963 Webster St., San Francisco. Sundays, 11 a.m.-Noon. (415) 9222323. www.sfvedanta.org.

Zoroastrian Temple Arbab Zoroastrian Temple, 10468 Crothers Rd, San Jose. First Sundays, 12 p.m. (408) 365-0119.

Nithya Dhyaan Meditation Satsang, a powerful meditation technique to achieve physical and mental well-being. Organized by Life Bliss Foundation. Sundays, 3:30 p.m. 451 (Kung-Fu School), Los Coches St., Milpitas.

Sunday Festival, an evening of bhajans, arati, discourses and Krishna prasadam. Organized by ISKCON. ISKCON, 951 S. Bascom Ave., San Jose. Sundays, 4:30-6 p.m. Free.

(408) 559-3197.

Traditional Vedanta and meditation classes. Presented by Swami Dayananda’s Arsha Vidya Center. Jain Bhavan, 722 S. Main, Milpitas. Sundays, 5-6:30 p.m. for beginning students; 8-9:30 a.m. for intermediate students.

(650) 208-9565. vijaykapoor@gmail.com.

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Festival and Feast an evening of bhajans,

Bhagavad Gita classes, aarti, kirtan, and prasad. Radha Krishna Temple, 2990 Union Ave, San Jose. Sundays, 5:30 p.m. (408) 5593197.

Satsang. Kirtan, lecture, prasad distribution, and vegetarian feast. Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Ashram, 2900 N Rodeo Gulch Rd, Soquel.

Sundays, 6 p.m. Free. (408) 462-4712.

Meditation with devotional chanting and talk on yoga philosophy. Sivananda Yoga Center, 1200 Arguello Blvd., San Francisco, Sundays, 6 p.m. (415) 681 2731.

Satsang. Prayer, chanting meditation, lecture

series on devotional topic (Geeta, Bhagwatam, Brahma Sutra, Upnishads etc.), followed by arti and prasad. Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat (JKP) Center-San Jose. Sundays, 6-7:15 p.m.

4940 Avenida de Carmen, Santa Clara. (408) 980-9953. www.JKPSanJose.org.

Women’s Sufi Gathering Discussion of Sufi principles, poetry, literature and meditation. Organized by International Association of Sufism. Berkeley venue to be announced.

Sundays, 7 p.m. Free. (510) 849-5309.

Devotional Meetings Programs including prayer, chanting meditations, video discourse (Bhagvad Gita series), arti and homage. J.K.P. Sunnyvale Center, 955 Ponderosa Avenue #27, Sunyvale. Sundays, 7:30-8:45 p.m. (408) 7381201. dk.taylor@sbcglobal.net

Let us brighten your smile!

Sri Ram Amrith Vani and bhajans. Sundays, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. followed by Preeti Bhoj. Sunnyvale Hindu temple, 420-450 Persian Dr., Sunnyvale. (408) 734-4554, (408) 734-0775. www.sunnyvaletemple.org.

• • • • •

Sri Aurobindo Meditation and Study Group. 11 a.m.-noon. Danville. Free. Open to all. (650) 218-4223. braroo@gmail.com.

days, Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

Monday Bhagavad Gita—The Song of God with

Kamala Lee, teaching the scriptures of the Bhagavad Gita. Organized by Integral Yoga Institute. Integral Yoga Institute, 770 Dolores St, San Francisco. Mondays, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. $48. (415) 821-1117. www.integralyogasf.org.

Sri Rudrabhishekam Mondays, 6:30-8 p.m.

Sunnyvale Hindu temple, 420-450 Persian Dr., Sunnyvale. (408) 734-4554, (408) 734-0775. www.sunnyvaletemple.org.

Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati lead Sanskrit chanting, commen

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Live web broadcasts at www.shreemaa.org/ broadcasts (707) 966-2802.

Rudrabhi Sheka. Mondays, 7-8:30 p.m.

Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale.

(408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

Tuesday Shri Appaji Meditation. Participate in

unique psychosomatic spiritual meditation techniques Shri Appaji has developed after years of in-depth analysis, research, and experiments. Group meditation, discourse sessions. Shri Appaji Meditation Center, Sunnyvale. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. (women only), 7:30 p.m. (men and women). $10/session, first Tuesday free. Registration required. (408) 7359025. shri_appaji@hotmail.com.

Jain Spiritual Lectures on topics such as

syadwad, anekantwad, nonviolence, forgiveness by samanijies from Jain Vishwa Bharati, Ladnun, Rajasthan. Jain Bhavan, 722 S. Main Street, Milpitas. Tuesdays, 8-9:30 p.m. Free.

(408) 262-6242, (650) 207-8196. www.jcnc. org. hirensaraiya@hotmail.com.

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Sri Hanuman Puja. 6:30-8 p.m. Sunnyvale Hindu temple, 420-450 Persian Dr., Sunnyvale. (408) 734-4554, (408) 734-0775. www. sunnyvaletemple.org.

Osho Meditations. Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. at

Amrithika, 248 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. Free.

(650) 462-1980. www.amrithika.com.

Wednesday Yoga for Wellness. This class will offer tools to help manage stress, enhance the immune system, promote healthy digestion and sleep, and optimize the body’s own healing mechanisms, by using movement, breath, meditation, and sound in a supportive group setting. Wednesdays, 9-10:15 a.m. Yoga Shala, 330 Melville Ave, Palo Alto. $15. (650) 8570226. dhurgareddy.nd@gmail.com. www.dhurgareddy.com.

Worship Services include a burning bowl

Hanuman Chalisa and Durga Pooja and Subramanya Strotam. Tuesdays,

7-8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@ gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

Chanting Hanuman Chalisa. Chanting of the powerful Hanuman Chalisa in a group grants the devotee protection from all harm and blesses him/her with health, wealth and prosperity. It is followed by special aarthi to

ritual that supports each one in consciously letting go of that which no longer serves our highest good and inviting in that which does.

Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, 1146 University Avenue, San Jose. Wednesdays, 12-1 p.m. (408) 283-0221, x30. www.CSEcenter.org.

Bhagavad Gita Class An in-depth explora-

tion of the Bhagavad Gita, led by Vaisesika Dasa Adhikari. ISKCON, 951 S. Bascom Ave.,

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Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati lead Sanskrit chanting, commen-

Ram parivar (Ram, Lakshman, Sita, and Hanuman). Transcripts of the Chalisa provided (in English, Hindi, and Tamil). Tuesdays, 8-9:30 p.m. Nithyananda Vedic Temple, 513 Los Coches St., Milpitas. Free. (408) 2636375. info.vedictemple@gmail.com. www. vedictemplebayarea.org.

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Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati lead Sanskrit chanting, commen-

tary and discussion of scriptures including Lalitha Trishati, Bhagavad Gita, Sundarakand, Chandi Path. Devi Mandir, Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. Live web broadcasts at www. shreemaa.org/broadcasts (707) 966-2802.

Bhagavath Seva - Voluntary Service to God. Wednesdays, 6:30-8 p.m. Sunnyvale Hindu temple, 420-450 Persian Dr., Sunnyvale. (408) 734-4554, (408) 734-0775. www.sunnyvaletemple.org.

Ramayana Katha Aranya Kand with pravachan by Shastriji. Vedic Dharma Samaj, Fremont Hindu Temple, 3676 Delaware Dr., Fremont. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. (510) 6590655.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, a discourse

by Swami Prapannananda. Vedanta Society of Sacramento, 1337 Mission Ave., Carmichael.

Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. (916) 489-5137. www. vedantasacto.org.

Mandukya Upanishad is a class by Prapannananda on Vedanta scriptures. Vedanta Society of Sacramento, 1337 Mission Ave., Carmichael. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. (916) 4895137. www.vedantasacto.org.

Devotional Meetings including prayer, chanting meditations, video discourse (Bhagvad Gita series), arti and homage. J.K.P. Sunnyvale Center, 955 Ponderosa Avenue #27, Sunyvale. Wednesdays, 7:30-8:45 p.m. (408) 738-1201. dk.taylor@sbcglobal.net.

Satsang. Prayer, chanting meditation, lec-

ture series on devotional topic (Geeta, Bhagwatam, Brahma Sutra, Upnishads etc.), followed by arti and prasad. Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat (JKP) Center-San Jose. Wednesdays 7:30-8:45 p.m. 4940 Avenida de Carmen, Santa Clara. (408) 980-9953. www.JKPSanJose.org.

Sri Aurobindo Meditation and Study Group. 7:30-8:30 p.m. Danville. Free. Open to all. (650) 218-4223. braroo@gmail.com.

Meditation. Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale.

(408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

Atmotsava. Meditation, readings, devotional chanting and learning of kirtans. Organized

by Society of Abidance in Truth. 7:30-9:30 p.m. 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. www.satramana.org.

Atmotsava (Ramana Nama San-kirta india currents â&#x20AC;˘ september 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ 117

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nam), meditation, readings, devotional chanting and learning of kirtans. Organized

by Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT). First, third, and fourth Wednesdays of the month, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz.

Free. (831) 425-7287. www.satramana.org.

Thursday Yoga for Anxiety, an on-going, drop-in

yoga class for people with mild to moderate anxiety as well as for those seeking to reduce anxiety in their lives. Teachers use movement, breath, meditation, and sound in a supportive group atmosphere. Organized by Healing Yoga Foundation of San Francisco.

Thursdays, 4-5:15 p.m. 3620 Buchanan St, San Francisco. Donations. (415) 931-9642. admin@healingyoga.org. www.healingyoga.org/ schedule.html.

The Secret of the Self, introduction to meditation and philosophy in the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. Organized by Sri Sambha Sathashiva Vidya Peetham. Thursdays, 7-8:30 p.m. Nine Star University of Health Sciences, 441 DeGuigne Drive, Suite 201, Sunnyvale. info@vidyapeetham.org. www.vidyapeetham. org.

Shri Shirdi Sai Baba haarathulu dhoop

aarti. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple, 32B Rancho Dr., San Jose. Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.

(408) 226-3600. www.vvgv.org. www.siliconvalleyhindutemple.com.

Satsang Siddha Yoga Meditation Ctr, 4115 Jacksol Dr, San Jose. Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.

(408) 559-1716.

Inspirational Service SRF, 303 E. Main St, Los Gatos. Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. (408) 2525299.

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Zen Fitness Designed to reduce stress,

pain, and weight. Thursdays, 10:15-11:15 a.m.

Sunnyvale studio. Contact for location, (415) 203-9231, taoak@yahoo.com.

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Ancient Wisdom, Modern Mind, guided Kriya meditation led by Pratibha Gramann, longtime student of Sri Baba Hari Dass.

Thursdays, 7-9 p.m. Shubhamayurveda Center, 3606 Thornton Ave., Fremont. rmg.pratibha@ att.net.

Dada Bhagwan’s Satsang. Thursdays, 8-10 p.m. For location, call (408) 910-6052, (408) 578-5685.

Jain Swadhyay with an illuminating study

of Jain scriptures Series continues on Samyag Tap, Samyag Gyan, Samyag Darshan and Samyag Charitra, with samanijies from Jain Vishwa Bharati, Ladnun, Rajasthan. Jain Bhawan, 722 S. Main Street, Milpitas. Thursdays, 8-9:30 p.m. Free. (408) 262-6242, (650) 207-

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Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati lead Sanskrit chanting, commen-

tary and discussion of scriptures including Lalitha Trishati, Bhagavad Gita, Sundarakand, Chandi Path. Devi Mandir, Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Live web broadcasts at www.shreemaa.org/broadcasts (707) 966-2802.

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Friday Kirtan and chanting. Organized by Ananda Sangha. Ananda Sangha, 2171 El Camino (at College), Palo Alto. Fridays, 7:30-9:15 p.m. Free. Note: Only on the first Friday of the month, these sessions will be held at 240 Monroe Dr., Mountain View. (650) 323-3363. www.anandapaloalto.org.

Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda Saraswati lead Sanskrit chanting, commen-

tary and discussion of scriptures including Lalitha Trishati, Bhagavad Gita, Sundarakand, Chandi Path. Devi Mandir, Fridays, 6:30 p.m. Live web broadcasts at www.shreemaa.org/broadcasts (707) 966-2802.

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Sri Santhoshi Mata, Durga Devi Pooja and Lord Lakshmi Pooja. Fridays, 6:30-

8:30 p.m. Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@ gmail.com. www.balajitemple.net.

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Meditation, self-inquiry meditation in-

struction by Nome, silent meditation, and dialogues. Organized by Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT). Every first and third Friday of the month, 8 p.m. 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. www.satramana. org.

Group Meditation with mantra chanting

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120 • india currents • september 2012

nior meditation teacher. His kirtan and music is lively and his talks are practical. Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, 1200 Arguello Blvd, San Francisco. Fridays, 8 p.m. (415) 681 2731, SanFrancisco@sivananda.org.

Bhajan Class for Children, ages 4-18. Fridays, 8-9:30 p.m. Nithyananda Vedic Temple, 513 Los Coches St., Milpitas. Free. (408) 2636375. info.vedictemple@gmail.com. www. vedictemplebayarea.org.

Saturday Srivenkateshwara Suprabhata and Vishnu Sahasranama Strotam. Saturdays, 8-9 a.m. Balaji Temple, 678 Cypress Ave., Suunyvale. (408) 203-1036. Balajitemple1@gmail. com. www.balajitemple.net.

Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY), plus

physical exercises. We guide and initiate SKY meditation. We also provide Kayakalpam and Introspection courses. Saturdays, 9 a.m. Fremont Temple. Free. (510) 456-8953. sky.bayarea@yahoo.com. www.skybayarea.org.

Sri Venkateswara Suprabhata Seva and

Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Parayanam. Saturdays, 10-11:30 a.m. Sunnyvale Hindu temple, 420-450 Persian Dr., Sunnyvale. (408) 7344554, (408) 734-0775. www.sunnyvaletemple. org.

Video Satsang, bhajan, kirtan, Pranayam

(breathing technique), Mantra jaap and Dhyan program. Organized by Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

First and Third Saturdays, 2-5 p.m. Second Saturdays, Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, 420-450 Persian Dr. Sunnyvale. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. First and Third Saturdays, Fremont Hindu temple, 3676 Delaware Dr., Fremont. Free. (831) 2124680, (408) 667-8884. www.ashram.org.

munity. Second Saturday of every month, 6:45 p.m. St. Joseph Parish Church, Mountain View. www.tamilcatholic.org.

FREE

Osho Evening Meditation Meeting

based on Osho’s vision and techniques. Meditation class followed vegetarian potluck in forbyreaders dinner. Organized by Ritesh Arora (AmaCalifornia resh). 989 Lakeshire Ct, San Jose. Saturdays, 7 p.m. (408) 294-6737, (650) 842-9140. www. osho.com, arora_ritesh@yahoo.com.

Balajyothi Classes The classes focus on slokas, bhajans, story telling and activities.

HCCC Library and Learning Center, Livermore Temple, Livermore. Every 2nd and 4th Saturday, 1-2 p.m. ranganathanarchana@ yahoo.com, pmadhusu@yahoo.com.

Devotional Meetings Programs including

9oVideo Gita from Tulsi Ramayana, by

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Literature, a discourse by Swami Prapannananda. Vedanta Society of Sacramento, 1337 Mission Ave., Carmichael. Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. (916) 4895137. www.veantasacto.org.

Acharya Prabodh Chaitanya. Organized by Chinmaya Mission San Jose. Saturdays, 4:306 p.m. Los Cerros Middle School, 968 Blemer Road, Danville. (408) 998-2793.

prayer, chanting meditations, video discourse (Bhagvad Gita series), arti and homage.

J.K.P. Sunnyvale Center, 955 Ponderosa Avenue #27, Sunyvale. Saturdays, 7:30-8:45 p.m.

(408) 738-1201. dk.taylor@sbcglobal.net.

Bala Vikas Classes Organized by San Jose

Sathya Sai Center Study Circle. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple, 32B Rancho Dr., San Jose.

Saturdays, 6 p.m. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgv. org, www.siliconvalleyhindutemple.com.

Eucharistic Celebration in Tamil. Or-

ganized by Bay Area Tamil Catholic Com-

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Email: ads@indiacurrents.com india currents • september 2012 • 123

124 • india currents • september 2012

I C dear doctor

Alzak Amlani

Overcome by Inertia

Q

I am trying to work on a few projects at home. I find myself procrastinating and feeling overwhelmed by them. Most projects are not that difficult and some include simply getting estimates and having some repairs done. I feel alone and find myself fearing the work. Days and weeks go by without my accomplishing what I need to finish. Then I end up feeling pretty bad about myself and get a bit down. I don’t know quite how to break out of this cycle.

A

I hear a burdened tone to your question, like these are chores you have to do and don’t want to. Is that how you feel? Are you feeling fatigued in your life right now? If so, check to see why that may be so. Fatigue and tiredness lead to boredom and feeling slouchy, rather than enthusiastic and industrious. Take some time off to just rest, play, and think things through. It will be easier and more positive after you’ve had a good break.

Is there a genuine interest in doing these projects and is there any joy in the process of doing them? If not, the work will feel like a drag and you will move forward very slowly.

You may not want to tackle everything alone, even getting an estimate to repair something in your home. It’s harder to make decisions by ourselves by simply considering different options in your own head. You might want to ask a friend or a relative to join you in some of these projects. Working in partnership or as a team is a lot more fun and you can chat about different possibilities, get another opinion and have fun along the way. The right company when doing difficult tasks can lighten things up and help you make decisions much more quickly. Another opinion is generally a good idea anyway. We have become too much of a self-serve society and our technology gives us a lot of information immediately, but often it isolates us and makes us believe we ought to be able to be self sufficient and independent.

It’s natural to feel bad when we don’t meet our expectations and fail to accomplish things we care about. However, we also tend to like ourselves based on our accomplishments. We live in a culture of achievement, where we are constantly measured for our tasks and accomplishments. This is too materialistic, individualistic and capitalistic. Who we are counts more than what we accomplish.

If you think that getting the pending tasks done will get you closer to the life you want to lead, then let the good feelings about your life be your compelling force. This is much better than beating yourself up or doing things so you don’t feel guilty about it later. A positive goal gets us more in the mood than a “have to.” Once you get through the inertia, the momentum of the task will carry you and your creativity and energy will start to flow. n Alzak Amlani, Ph.D. is a counseling psychologist in the Bay Area. (650)325-8393. Visit www.wholenesstherapy.com.

Is a family member or loved one hurting you?

A domestic violence helpline for South Asian women Our services are free and strictly confidential Call us for information and support from someone who understands your culture.

We speak

Bangla •Farsi •Gujarati • Hindi • Kannada • Malayalam •Marathi • Nepali • Punjabi • Sinhala • Tamil • Telugu •Urdu india currents • september 2012 • 125

IC

classifieds

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126 • india currents • september 2012

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india currents • september 2012 • 127

IC

classifieds

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128 • india currents • september 2012

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130 • india currents • september 2012

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india currents • september 2012 • 131

realestate estate. .loans loans real

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132 • india currents • september 2012

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india currents • september 2012 • 133

real estate . loans

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Commercial

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Email: ads@indiacurrents.com india currents • september 2012 • 135

136 • india currents • september 2012

IC

films

Aniruddh Chawda

Three Knots and Rites TERI MERI KAHANI. Director: Kunal Kohli.

Players: Shaheed Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Prachi Desai, Greg Heffernan. Music: SajidWajid. Hindi with English sub-titles. Theatrical release (EROS).

M

ovies that draw from an overlap of multiple historical eras often have a built in excitement quotient in allowing the filmmaker to create a visual trajectory of how lives, fashions, and politics evolve over time. Spanning a 100 year timeline, Teri Meri Kahaani should offer exactly that. What Kohli’s first venture outside of the Yashraj label does offer, instead, is staging that is both eye-catching and intermittently fun and yet suffers from poor handling.

Kohli’s own screenplay follows Kapoor and Chopra through three lives lived in different eras. Beginning with a Lahore setting in 1910 where the ne’er do well ruffian Javed (Kapoor) shows interest in village belle Aradhana (Chopra) even as Javed gets under the trespassing radar of British officer Green (Heffernan). Then there is a struggling musician Govind (Kapoor), who arrives in what was then Mumbai in 1960, befriends a neighbor (Desai) while he falls for Rukhsar (Chopra), an established star who can help promote Govind’s career. Finally, as the third spoke in this wheel, there is a Londoner Krrish (Kapoor) who gets mushy with Radha (Chopra).

The off screen on-again, off-again links between Kapoor and Chopra has been tabloid fodder for some time now. Mercifully, the twosome retain onscreen chemistry that is clearly evident here. Incidentally, two period pieces retro-fitted on top of contemporary theatrics very nicely gives ace costume designer Manish Malhotra (Agneepath, Agent Vinod, Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu) a chance to explore time-appropriate threads. By far the most interesting costumes are the ones from the 1960s.

Sajid-Wajid is very much making a mark at the charts. Teri Meri Kahaani is their best work since Dabangg. The time-shifting theme also allows the two brothers to get into period specific tunes that are ear-worthy.

Sajid’s “Mukhtasar” pounds away with a mod vibe while the colonial era feel to the groupdance number “Humse Pyar Karle Tu,” al-

ready hugely popular on YouTube, nails the jail-break mood it is earmarked for onscreen.

The combination of folk-earthy choreography and decent tune elevates the soundtrack even more.

Then there is Sonu Nigam-Shreya Ghosal’s torchy nightclub number “Jabse Mere Dil Ko Uff” (when was the last time you heard “Uff” in a song title?) captures a nostalgic glance at an era when male leads worried about the tightness of their white pants and female leads about tightness of their saris and possibly the height of their beehive ‘dos. Four decades ago, this would surely be Shammi Kapoor and Helen having a cabaret tete-a-tete crooned by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle while a sullen-looking Asha Parekh sat in the crowd sipping Fanta and looking forlorn. If only the movie would end there and then.

And that brings us to the drawbacks of Kohli's film. While Kapoor and Chopra look pretty as leads, a more forceful and cohesive narrative behind their stories would have

given the story more purpose and made it more memorable. Also, the powerful staging of the songs works against the movie in that they serve to highlight the weak plot of the movie. If only these were a collection of stand-alone single song videos. If only we could loop through “Jabse Mere Dil Ko Uff” every time Kapoor’s characters fumble with what he really does for a living in any of these incarnates. If only.

The sophomoric plotlines and quick fixes to sub plots do little to push forth an “epic” feel. In the past, Kunal Kohli worked almost exclusively for the Yashraj label and had considerable success there with Hum Tum (2004), Fanaa (2006) and to a lesser extent, Mujhse Dosti Karoge (2002). Outside of his comfort zone Kohli flounders. While the music score may be the best of any Kohli film to date, Teri Meri Kahaani is a great concept that lacks oomph in execution. n EQ: Bindia currents • september 2012 • 137

Aniruddh Chawda

Bully of the Manor BOL BACHCHAN. Director: Rohit Shetty.

Players: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Prachi Desai, Asrani, Krishna Abhishek, Amitabh Bachchan. Music: Sajid-Wajid. Hindi with English sub-titles. Theatrical release (Fox Star). MPAA Rating: PG.

T

here hasn’t quite been a hot directoractor team with the same success as Shetty and Devgn in recent times. In contemporary film lore, only the hit pairing of Yash Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan would be a bigger box office parallel with the former as the director and the latter coyly romancing through his various “Rahul” named roles.

Beginning with Zameen (2003), Shetty-Devgn have made four super-hits, with three installments in the Golmaal franchise and Singham. With Bol Bachchan they return with an essentially unaltered lascivious and bawdy slap-stick comedy routine that is as much a pedestrian front-bench draw as it is a big-tent event.

Abbas (Abhishek Bachchan) lives in Delhi with his sister Sania (Asin). Losing out on a court-case involving some ancestral property, the brother and sister are convinced by Shashtri (Asrani), a well-meaning elder, to

go with him to a nearby village where Abbas can find a job. Arriving in a village ruled by the perennially hot-headed Prithviraj Raghuvanshi (Devgn), a baron-bully with ancestral land dispute issues. Abbas assumes a double identity. In a plot twist, he changes his name to Abhishek, and recreates himself as a gay guy named Abbas to throw the wool over Raghuvanshi's eyes. Complicated? Yes. Make sense? No. The farce involving mistaken and fake identities is only paper thin. If Abhishek Bachchan’s character in Dostana had to pretend to be gay so he could share an apartment with a gal pal he liked, Bol Bachchan has Bachchan playing an over-the-top, effeminate gay. This caricature is both downright silly and also perplexing in that even in 2012 the only identity an A-list Hindi movie can give a non-straight character is that of a flamboyant, scarf-wearing hip swisher. But then again, subtlety is hardly a term that jumps to mind when one thinks of a Shetty-Devgn vehicle.

Abhishek Bachchan has never quite made a mark as a terrific actor. He can, however, come up terrific caricatures and does so here.

Devgn’s Prithviraj is a bossy lord of his manor and vast holdings. He is fond of surround-

ing himself with muscular—albeit scantily clad—jousters and all of them are afraid of him. Also, in the rush to get the genderquestioning sight-gags up and running, the female characters are utilized almost as afterthoughts.

While the production values sparkle, the acting is almost uniformly overdone and the story is shallow. That appears to have done very little to dampen the box office appeal of Bol Bachchan. Well-marketed by Devgan’s own Ajay Devgn Productions label, Amitabh Bachchan both singing and showing up for the title song video doesn’t hurt box office receipts. Bol Bachchan opened to a $500,000plus haul on its U.S. opening weekend and dashed to a 10-day total of more than $1 million. This is on par with the highest box office of any Hindi movie in the U.S. for 2012 so far. Be warned: check sensibilities in at the door and be sure to pick up sanity bearings on the way out. n EQ: C Globe trekker, aesthete, photographer, ski bum, film buff, and commentator Aniruddh Chawda writes from Milwaukee.

LATA’S S FLICK PICK ail Cockt ns ur Evil Ret i ari Ki Sawar rr Fe haqZaade  Is fe It's My Li New York London Paris     imum Max ang Pat Rathore dy ow R  ai Shangh ani ri Meri Kaha Te  

138 • india currents • september 2012

IC

uncubed

Krishna M. Sadasivam is the cartoonist behind UNcubed, a weekly online auto-bio comic, focusing on life as an Indian guy in the United States.

When he’s not creating comics or working as a freelance illustrator, Krishna teaches full-time in the Media Arts and Animation department of the Art Institute of Tampa in Florida. See more of his work at http://www.uncubedthecomic.com/.

india currents • september 2012 • 139

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existence in this world? What is a person profited, if he/she shall gain the whole world, and lose his/her own soul? (Or) What shall a person give in exchange for his/her own soul? Is there anyone in this world who can truly love me? Many times we are lost and finally end up asking these questions. There is no one in this world, who can truly love us, except God. Initially, God created human kind (both man and woman) in HIS own image. The purpose of creating mankind was to be with God. But human kind sinned against God and lost the greatest gift of being with HIM. God is Holy. A person with sin cannot dwell or exist with God. Also with sin, human kind earned curses from God. The result of sin was death & curses.

What is sin?

Anything we do that separates us from God’s presence is called SIN. We cannot hide anything from God. God knows our troubles, problems & everything. What the World can offer us is the Lust of flesh, the Lust of eyes & the Pride of life.

Anyone who takes what the World offers ends up committing sin against God.

What is the result of committing sin?

The result of committing sin is a broken heart & soul,having guilt which makes us weak before God, with sadness, no peace, sickness, curses and separation from God. The Bible says, when we were born, we were born with sin because our parents brought us into this world with a sinful nature. For all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The wages of sin is death.

No one in this world including our parents or spouse or kids or friends or relatives can love us more than God. The Bible says, God is Love and HE manifested HIS love by sending God's only Holy SON Jesus Christ into this world to save us from all our sins and redeem us from this sinful world. For God so loved the world, that HE gave HIS only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in Jesus should not perish, but have everlasting life, the life after death with God in Heaven.

Jesus came to this earth only to die for us and shed HIS blood so that we can be saved by HIS grace and then receive HIS gift of Salvation. Without HIS shedding of blood there is no redemption from sins. So God sent Jesus Christ to this world to die for you and me. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins. If we confess our sins to Jesus, HE is faithful and just to forgive us from our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus said "Come unto ME, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

For every sin we commit, we need to pay the penalty individually. However, Jesus took all our sins upon himself, when HE died for us. By giving HIS every drop of blood, we are saved and free from the penalty of sin & death. Jesus

died for our sins and on the third day, HE rose again from death and became victorious over death, hell and sins. Jesus is a living God. HE is the same yesterday, today & forever. In the Name of Jesus there is Victory, Deliverance from sins & curses and there is Healing from sickness & Miracles in our life.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY to God the Father, HE is the Truth and HE is the Life. No one can go to God the Father & Heaven, except through Jesus Christ.

Our family or friends, our caste or creed, our education or position, our money or riches or status, or by doing charity or by doing yoga or by doing fasting will not take us to God or to Heaven. When we accept & ask Jesus Christ to come into our heart & cleanse our sins with HIS precious blood, Jesus comes into our heart and makes us a new creature, by giving us HIS Love, Joy, HIS Peace, Hope & eternal Life with HIM. This is the TRUTH and the truth shall set you free.

Now how can I redeem HIS gift of Salvation in my life?

All we have to do is to believe Jesus, accept HIM into our heart & ask him to cleanse our sins by HIS blood by repeating this simple prayer.

(Prayer means talking to God in your heart)

Lord Jesus, Thank you for coming into this world for me and my sins. I truly accept you just as I am.

Come into my heart; cleanse me and my sins with your precious Blood. Be in my heart forever and help me to live and lead a Holy life like you. I also invite YOU & Your Holy Spirit to come into my heart and give me the Joy, Peace, Happiness, Deliverance from sins, bondages and sickness forever. Thank you for giving me the assurance of being with me forever. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

If you have truly meant this prayer, then you have accepted Jesus into your heart. HE will be with you forever. HE will not leave you nor forsake you. If you need prayers or would like to know more about Jesus, then you can visit nearby Churches or email us at info@christforworld.org

india currents • september 2012 • 141

AD INDEX  APPLIANCES 123 D.S. Neil Enterprises 27 East West - Preethi 23 One Vision Surveillance ASTROLOGY 105 Clara Tarot 105 Pandit Anil Sharma 105 Pandit Krishna Kumar 105 SK Sharma BEAUTY 26 Kashish Threading 27 Rita’s Beauty Salon 29 Robert Lowen, M.D. 26 Shiva Beauty Salon, Inc. CLASSES: COMPUTERS 21 Canvas Infotech 20 Silicon Valley University 19 Strategism CLASSES: DANCE 81 Bharathakala Kutiram 81 Jayendra Kalakendra 81 Kalanjali Dances of India 81 Preetha Sheshadri 81 Savitri Hari 81 Xpressions CLASSES: LANGUAGE 110 Samskrita Bharati CLASSES: MUSIC 78 Ali Akbar College of Music 75 Dev Feldman 75 Habib Khan 75 Jeff Whittier 77 Madhuwanti Mirashi 75 Mousoomi Banerji 75 Peter Block 75 Sangeetaanjali 77 Shruthi Swara Laya CONSTRUCTION 140 Vipul Adiecha EDUCATION 20 Amfasoft Corporation 4 India Community Center 21 Lekha Publishers 14 UCSF 22 US Hindi Foundation ENTERTAINMENT 55 Kids Castle 7 Most Unique EVENTS 82 Abhinaya Dance Company 71 Alka Bhatnagar 84 Basant Bahar 16 Deepa Mahadevan 86 Kalalaya 82 Kaanchana Allanki 79 Pallavita 142 • india currents • september 2012

95 Rishi Dasgupta 71 Rita Sahai 75 Sangeetaanjali 85 Sankritilaya 74 South India Fine Arts 87 Sri Rama Lalitha 72 Tarangini School of Kathak 73 Tarangini School of Kathak 96 VIBHA 5 WomenNow TV FABRICS 26 Borrow It Bindaas 29 Elegant Drapery Concepts 26 Preet Fabrics FINANCE 43 Tushar Kumar GROCERY 52 India Cash & Carry 51 Madras Groceries 143 New India Bazar HEALTH 115 Alpha Dental Care 118 Anjali Tate, MD 119 Aparna Nayudu, DDS 113 Archana Gulati, DDS 125 Bill Gray, M.D. 117 Jyoti Sahdev 133 Lakshmi Sathyanarayana 115 Mamta Desai, DDS 119 Manjari Aravamuthan 117 Meenakshi Bhargava PhD 118 Pacific Homeopathy 133 Pacific Valley Financial 123 Palo Alto Medical 129 Palo Alto Medical 119 Prakash Advani, DDS 116 Smilesavers Dental 122 South Asian Heart Center 116 Sujatha Rajagopalan, MD 118 UCSF Women’s Health INSURANCE 41 Amar Sehgal 41 Amila Insurance Services 41 Avninder Singh 41 Bindu Bhandari 41 Global Health Ins Center 41 Manjit Singh 41 Mann Insurance Services 43 Rachel Payne 43 Robert Ju 41 Seeta Bhandari 9 Visitors Coverage 43 Visitors Medical Insurance LEGAL 35 Allan Samson 50 Anu Peshwaria 33 Arjun Verma 32 Aruna Venkidu Law Office

35 Gleb Finkelman 35 Hemant Habbu 35 Immigrant Relief Center 33 Indu Liladhar-Hathi 37 Kalara Law Firm 35 Khorshed Alam, CPA 45 Khorshed Alam, CPA 37 Madan Ahluwalia 49 Mahesh Bajoria 35 Naresh Rajan 37 Raji Rajan 35 Robert Bergman 33 Robert Preskill 37 Roy Legal Group 35 Uma Subramanian 46 Yelisetty Gupta MUSIC 77 Geetanjali Band REAL ESTATE & LOANS 140 Access Mortgage Inc. 132 Everest Realtors 131 Jai Ramaiya 135 Ken Vasan 132 Kim Properties 140 Malathi Ramji 130 M. Saheen & M. Singh 135 Meera Gupta 135 Multi-Financial Services 132 Nila Patel Ins Bk Cov Nirmalya Modak 7 Prometheus Real Estate 16 Pulte Group - MS 1055 1 Raju Kosuru Bk Cov Ramesh Bhambhra 132 Sue Bose 132 Suneel Rajpal 135 Wells Fargo Home RESTAURANTS 61 Amma’s Restaurant 59 Chaat Bhavan 96 Chaat House 60 India Buffet 57 Kamakshi’s Kitchen 55 Krishna Restaurant 53 Sneha Inc. 55 Steps of India 55 Suraj Indian Cuisine SERVICES 2 Best Tile 11 Deco Kitchen Cabinet 127 Genova Landscape Design 113 Maitri 123 MCC General 125 Narika Ins Bk Cov Summit Marble SPIRITUAL GROWTH 95 Ananda Sangha 108 Badarikashrama

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IC

the last word

Sarita Sarvate

NBC, Shut the **** Up

O

nce every four years, I complain about television coverage of the Olympics. This year, when National Public Radio (NPR) reported that National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was trying a different approach, I was hoping not to have to complain. But tuning the dial, I found the same hyperbole, the same parochialism, the same jingoism that has dominated television coverage of the games for decades.

The broadcasts haven’t changed, but viewers have. We live in an era when news is available minute by minute, when television shows are watched via Netflix, online through websites like Hulu, via On Demand, through recordings made on DVRs, or from plain old DVDs rented from video shops. In fact, this last one is rapidly becoming extinct.

So much so that no one watches shows when they are actually on.

But NBC has not taken this reality into account at all. It is abiding by a stone-age model of television broadcasting wherein bombastic commentators tell viewers what to think. It is a model so ancient, it boggles the mind. Television, in the meantime, has made such strides that it has become an art form in its own right. The television revolution started with programs like “Six Feet Under” and “Sopranos” that set a new bar for quality and excellence. Television was no longer the poor cousin of cinema, but an altogether different medium, in which characters, stories, and settings could be explored in depth in a way that was impossible to do in a two or even a three hour movie. This realization was what got me hooked on HBO, which, as its slogan indicates, is not television. A truer tagline was never coined.

When viewers began to watch AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” they realized what TV was really capable of. Surrealistic sequences, Shakespearean acting (even though I personally am not fond of Shakespeare, it is still considered the gold standard for drama), and great storytelling mesmerized us. After “Breaking Bad” no one could conceive of going back to old fashioned television.

Except NBC and its tired business model. It still has commentators shouting at the tops of their voices while swimmers glide through water with such grace that you want to just watch them. But NBC never gave the viewers a chance to react to the display. There was in fact so much screaming going on that I was not surprised that viewers wrote in to NBC telling them to “shut the **** up.” Of course, they did that for the opening ceremony, but I think the message applies to all of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

There is an old axiom for writers, “Show, don’t tell.” NBC’s motto however seems to be just the opposite; it is so busy telling

We all know that the only reason NBC puts these events [Women's Beach Volleyball] on during prime time is to titillate the male viewers who, I am willing to bet, could care less about the scores in these events.

144 • india currents • september 2012

us stuff that we lose what little surprise or excitement we can summon up for these telecasts, particularly since we already know who won. I can visualize the commentators frothing at their mouths as a Niagara of words pour out. Why not shut up and let the viewer imagine? Why not let the picture tell the story? Why not introduce some art into the broadcasts by way of intelligent camera angles, surrealistic sequences, and emotional truths?

The actual games, on the other hand, have changed drastically since the cold war era, when the U.S.S.R. and the United States used to vie to show their prowess. What better testimonial to this than the fact that the Queen herself entered the digital age by actually participating in a skit? Just a decade ago, no one would have thought such a thing possible. If the British Royal Family can finally enter the twenty first century, why not NBC? NBC does have a miserable excuse of a storyline for the games.

A storyline constructed long before the competitions actually took place. A storyline built around a few white American athletes who NBC presumptuously wants us to bond with, like Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin. The network squanders away so much time showing replay after replay of their events and stretching out the thin plot that we miss important things like Great Britain’s sensational medals in track and field. Thousands of viewers complained about this and about NBC’s time-delayed coverage, but to what use?

NBC stuck to its game plan, not being spontaneous or creative, even as it urged the athletes to be so.

Then there is the matter of the commercials which interrupted the flow. We were told they are needed but how about coming up with some other ideas, like giving Google or Apple the right to show them online, in real time? In fact, some viewers apparently did manage to find such live broadcasts.

This was the first year that I tuned out while the Olympics were on. I used to look forward to them, but I just could not muster enough enthusiasm. There was no emotional hook for me. Besides every time I tuned in, I saw only the Women’s Beach Volleyball team hopping about in the sand wearing skimpy bikinis. We all know that the only reason NBC puts these events on during prime time is to titillate the male viewers who, I am willing to bet, could care less about the scores in these events. But did you know that Olympics rules dictate a maximum length for their panties? Now if that is not sexist, what is? Gloria Steinem, please comment!

Indian athletes, of course, were conspicuous by their absence. I am willing to bet that this will not be for long. That one day, India will burst onto the Olympic scene, dazzle the world with its excellence, and take all the gold. Why do I think so? Because India is hot now in everything else, like technology, music, film, literature, science, and social movements.

And when that time comes, I want an American coverage of the Olympics to be global. I also want the likes of Danny Boyle not only to direct the opening ceremonies but also the content of the television coverage. How about Vince Gilligan (creator of “Breaking Bad”), Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”), James Manos (“Dexter”), or David Chase (“Sopranos”) to produce the shows?

The Olympics are important; they are more than about sports.

They are our opportunity to see the world. But NBC’s world, tragically, still consists of Peoria. n Sarita Sarvate writes commentaries for Pacific News Service and KQED. Visit www.saritasarvate.com

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