July 2015 Northern California Edition

Destination Bali

by Vivienne Kruger

You Lose It In a Generation

by Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

KATHA 1st Prizre

winne

Unsaid

by Iqbal Pittalwala

INDIA CURRENTS URREN Celebrating 29 Years of Excellence

Re-creating Home How retirement homes are now catering to changing demographics

by Sarita Sarvate

July 2015 • vol. 29, no .4 • www. indiacurrents.com

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 1

2 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

Thumbs Up, Ekalavya! facebook.com/IndiaCurrents twitter.com/IndiaCurrents Now published in three separate editions HEAD OFFICE 1885 Lundy Ave Ste 220, San Jose, CA 95131 Phone: (408) 324-0488 Fax: (408) 324-0477 Email: info@indiacurrents.com www.indiacurrents.com Publisher: Vandana Kumar publisher@indiacurrents.com Managing Director: Vijay Rajvaidya md@indiacurrents.com Managing Editor: Geetika Pathania Jain mgeditor@indiacurrents.com (408) 324-0488 x226 Events Editor: Mona Shah events@indiacurrents.com (408) 324-0488 x224 Advertising Department ads@indiacurrents.com Northern California: (408) 324-0488 x 225 Southern California: (714) 523-8788 x 225 Sales Associate: Anu B anu@indiacurrents.com (408) 324-0488 x 222 Marketing Department Ritu Marwah ritu@indiacurrents.com Graphic Designer: Nghia Vuong

As a child, I was dismayed at the story of Ekalavya, a boy of “humble birth,” who asked the sage Drona to accept him as a pupil. Seeing that the talented youngster was a potential rival to his royal students, (and no doubt remembering the non-compete clause in his contract), Drona first refused to accept E (the dreaded reject letter from Drona U.!) and then asked for the archer’s right thumb as gurudakshina (tuition fees by another name.)

Allow me to venture that high education costs are the equivalent of Ekalavya’s thumb for low-income students who are crippled by the burden.

Desi immigrants are uniquely positioned to understand that a college education can be a ticket to the American Dream. Even after admission is secured, steep college tuition remains a formidable barrier.

But perhaps there is hope. The “other,” arguably less famous, Salman Khan of Khan Academy has been in the news recently. The son of Bangladeshi parents, Sal attended MIT and Harvard before founding Khan Academy.

In partnership with the College Board,

Khan Academy announced free prep classes that hold the promise of creating educational access. (“Can Khan Academy’s Free SAT Prep Level the Playing Field?” Jason Tanz, Wired, June 2, 2015.)

Could this usher in a democratization of education? Can you say MOOC? (Massive Open Online Course) As in so many fields, the Silicon Valley leads the trend. Sebastian Thrun’s first open 2011 Artificial Intelligence class grew to 160,000 students. Despite some disappointment over completion rates, there is no doubt that the new model has the potential to radically alter higher education. The face-to-face Socratic method of teaching is effective, but expensive. The door has been cracked open just a sliver.

Let’s hope that a modern-day Ekalavya can sign up for a free Khan Academy prep class or a MOOC instead. Thumbs Up, Ekalavya!

Geetika Pathania Jain, Ph.D. is guest Managing Editor of India Currents magazine. Jaya Padmanabhan will return from her sabbatical next month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. BUREAU (Managed by IC New Ventures, LLC) 910 17th Street, NW, Ste# 215 Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: (202) 709-7010 Fax: (240) 407-4470 Associate Publisher: Asif Ismail publisher-dc@indiacurrents.com (202) 709-7010 Cover Design: Nghia Vuong Cover Photo Credit: Priya Living INDIA CURRENTS® (ISSN 0896-095X) is published monthly (except Dec/Jan, which is a combined issue) for $19.95 per year by India Currents, 1885 Lundy Ave., Ste 220, San Jose, CA 95131. Periodicals postage paid at San Jose, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to INDIA CURRENTS, 1885 LUNDY AVE, STE. 220, SAN JOSE, CA 95131

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INDIA CURRENTS July 2015 • vol 29 • no 4

Northern California Edition

PERSPECTIVES

www.indiacurrents.com

1 | EDITORIAL Thumbs Up, Ekalavya!

By Geetika Pathania Jain

Find us on

8 | EDUCATION Why a Software Engineer Became A Writer

By Jaya Padmanabhan

28 | RELATIONSHIP DIVA It’s In The Eyes

By Jasbina Ahluwalia 44 | TRAVEL Destination Bali

By Vivienne Kruger

10 | A THOUSAND WORDS You Lose It In A Generation

By Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

59 | MUSIC Bollywood Hums New Zealander’s Tunes

By Priya Bhatt Das

20 | BUSINESS House of Cards

By Prabhu Palani 25 | COMMENTARY Memories Of A Beloved Father

By Vrinda Kirloskar

LIFESTYLE

92 | HEALTHY LIFE Skyrocket Your Energy Level

By Puja Mukherjee

16 | Recreating Home How retirement homes cater to changing demographics

56 | FEATURE Drought Changes Water Rights History in California

By Ritu Marwah 74 | Q&A Kal Penn Loves India Currents

By Geetika Pathania Jain 94 | YOUTH Gandhi Camp

By Divya Desale 108 | ON INGLISH House of Teak

By Kalpana Mohan 110 | THE LAST WORD Does A Corset A Woman Make?

By Sarita Sarvate

By Sarita Sarvate

32 | Fiction

106 | RECIPES Baked Samosa Triangles

By Shanta Sacharoff

Unsaid

By Iqbal Pittalwala

60 | Films

Reviews of Dil Dhadakne Do, Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Miss India America

DEPARTMENTS 6 | Letters to the Editor 7 | Popular Articles 30 | Tax Talk 31 | Visa Dates

By Aniruddh Chawda, Sagaree Jain and Madhumita Gupta

68 | Books Reviews of Two States by Chetan Bhagat, Grandma and the Great Gourd by Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni

By Raj Oza, Tara Menon

4 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

98 | DEAR DOCTOR Getting To Know Yourself

By Alzak Amlani

WHAT’S CURRENT 76 | Cultural Calendar 86 | Spiritual Calendar

4:00

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 5

letters to the editor Secrets R Us

I would like to make some comments on Geetika Jain’s editorial.(“Secrets R Us” India Currents, June 2015) When the threat to national security is very high, even riff-raff like Snowden get “Top Secret” clearance. Snowden is guilty of misusing that privilege, getting paid for it, and seeking publicity outside, after “deserting the post” by renouncing his own country. This fellow is a hero? He should have resigned and recorded his objections in secret to the hierarchy and then remained silent.

But the pay check and the fame. So many of my generation with security clearance could not get the “Top” category because we had parents or siblings in India. This fellow is safe and dependable? He stabbed the country on its back.

Parameswar Mahadevan, website comment Who is a hero and who is a traitor? A similar Snowden-esque figure exists in the Ramayana, in the case of Vibheeshan, who can be seen as a dissident.

As a “whistle-blower” who exposed the government, it can be argued that Snowden caused us to to reflect: who will guard the guardians?

Thanks to Snowden, a nation-wide conversation began, which led this month to the Senate overwhelmingly passing the USA Freedom Act —a surveillance reform bill that limited mass surveillance under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Geetika Pathania Jain, Guest Managing Editor

Black and Desi

IC’s June 2015 article, “Black & Desi: a Shared History” (India Currents, June 2015) was an eye-opener for me. I commend Anirvan Chatterjee on his research, his activism and his effort to educate us.

The history of slavery and racial discrimination has burdened us—no matter what race—with a whole lot of negative collective karmic debt. The Bayard Rustins of America who have supported freedom-rights show us how to restore the karmic balance. Anirvan and young desis like him are too. This is both dharma and good karma.

Mala Setty, Long Beach, CA

Black and Desi

As someone who was active in the early sixties in the Civil Right Movement on my universty campus and who saw the passing of the “Immigration and Nationality Services Act” in 1965 and how it was opposed by the American conservatives and had heard their odious and racist arguments against its pas-

6 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

sage, I am disgusted, appalled and amazed when I see so many Indo-Pakistanis support the Repulican Party. If the right wingers had their way, the Indo Pak population would never have been the 3.5 million of today’s.

We have forgotten so easily who are our friends and who is the foe of liberty and equality and free opportunity for all.

Zubair Malik, Facebook

Sammy the Stockpicker

The article “Sammy the Stockpicker” (India Currents, June 2015) starts with “Before we bet the house on our favorite stocks, let us consider this. The majority of the best trained, most accomplished professional money managers often make mistakes in their stock picks.”

The article goes on to say that investors are essentially in the negative after management, brokerage and other administrative fees.

Yet this article closes with the following confounding remark to let the pros invest for you.

If the author views investing as a “game” then it is no wonder this article vociferously says nothing.

Toucalit Benton, Facebook Thank you for your comment. Perhaps I could have been clearer at the end. There are many pros/financial advisors who buy ETFs and Index Funds instead of “picking” stocks. It is my hope that investors will seek them out. Stock picking (as opposed to buying an index/smart beta/ market and suchlike) is essentially a losing game for the majority.

Prabhu Pilani, author

Yoga Dualism: Physical or Spiritual vs. Indian or American?

“Why do we need God? Don’t we have enough problems already?” Swamy Chinmayananda, the late founder of the global Chinmaya Mission often began his sociospiritual lectures with this opening question.

If the talk were scheduled for today, most certainly, one of the “problems” will be the

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.

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observance of International Yoga Day on June 21 per request from the United Nations. Srinivas Chari in his comments on this general problem (India Currents, June 2015) expresses appreciation of the general public’s willingness in America to translate an esoteric practice from another country into mainstream culture here. If the system is shown to be beneficial to the practitioner, the dichotomy is irrelevant.

The controversy, if there is one, appears to come more from the zealous religious followers in America rather than from anyone in India. The question is whether the practice is spiritual or physical. I recall a blog in the press for a way out of the difficult dilemma by simply calling Yoga with reverse spelling; “AGOY.” Imagine how this would turn out if the spoken language is phonetic instead. In Southern California, the matter was referred to court recently requesting an inunction against a school district to cease and desist the teaching of Yoga. The court denied the request on commonsense grounds. Even a unique ancient practice to inculcate physical and mental discipline among its practitioners with no intellectual property rights or protections to anyone can become a bone of contention in the modern day culture of intolerance.

Parameswar Mahadevan, email

Call of the Koel

With regard to the article “Call of The Koel” (India Currents, June 2015), I just read the delightful piece by Kalpana Mohan—your definition of Koel—“the male, typically having all-black plumage”— Mohan C Mohan will never be a koel!

Rameysh Ramdas, Facebook Editor’s note: Mohan C Mohan must never dye his snowy plumage black, not even to impress his witty mate, Kalpana Mohan.

Are You Desi Enough?

With regard to the article “Are You Desi Enough?” (India Currents, June 2015) I completely agree. It is a victory if we can make our kids worthy global citizens of this planet, grounded in human values of compassion, kindness and ever striving to make themselves stronger so they can help other people!

Neeraj Chowdhury, online

A Message on a Postcard

I receive India Currents regularly. I wish all the working India Currents staff good luck.

Kamaluddin Ahmed, Los Angeles, CA

India Currents is now available on the Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/IndiaCurrents/dp/B005LRAXNG Follow us at twitter.com/indiacurrents on facebook.com/IndiaCurrents Most Popular Articles Online June 2015 1) Black and Desi Anirvan Chatterjee 2) My Tailor Nazi Raji Venkatesan 3) The Call of the Koel Kalpana Mohan 4) Are You Desi Enough?

Vibeka Sen 5) My Stroke of ... Luck?

Harshanda Rajani 6) When Should Kids Start Yoga?

Arundhati Baitmongalkar 7) Secrets R Us Geetika Pathania Jain 8) Family Stories Jeanne Fredriksen 9) Fault Lines Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan 10) Seeking Kabir in Malwa Jayaram Kalpathy • Easy access to our current content and decade-old archives of diverse articles • Special web-only articles and videos • Digital issue of the magazine • Interactive event listings • Advertising access to a niche high-value segment of the community • Comments highlighted on home page • A full color experience • RSS feeds and newsletter subscriptions

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education

Why a Software Engineer Became a Writer 2015 Convocation Speech at San Jose State University’s Computer Science Department

By Jaya Padmanabhan

M

y name is Jaya Padmanabhan.

Twenty-four out of every million people may know who I am on this planet. (That number is based on the factoid that there are 172,000 monthly readers of the magazine that I edit: India Currents.)

So I was justifiably surprised and incredibly honored to be asked to give the speech today.

I always believed that there were rules to these things but thank you Dr. Khuri, Rule Bender.

I’d like to borrow a line from the movie The Second Best Marigold Hotel, one of the most extravagantly boring movies ever made despite some serious aging good looks. In the movie, Maggie Smith declares to Dev Patel “I’m not here to give advice. I’m here to share opinions.” That was one of the few things I took away from the movie. So here 8 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

they are my opinions.

Twenty years ago I took a class on Computational Theory and I loved it. I was fascinated by the idea of unsolvable problems, by the intractable nature of mathematical dilemmas. Twenty years ago, I listened to Professor Sami Khuri talk about genetic algorithms and I saw the beautiful complexity of heuristic search methodology. Twenty years ago, I was one among you, sitting on a chair listening to a speech given by I don’t know who and wondering where I would be twenty years from graduation, and whether I would be applying what I learned in the classroom.

I got my first job based on my passion for NP Complete problems and genetic algorithms, subjects I absorbed in the classrooms that you have sat in. And I was excited then as you probably are today. Yet twenty years

later I stand before you as a writer.

And that, ladies and gentleman is what I am here to talk to you about. Life Choices and Algorithms.

Graduates, faculty, parents Congratulations! And graduates, class of 2015, while the rest of your story is still to be written, some of the most interesting chapters are done, and whether it is a Narrow Road to the Deep North, or the Road Less Traveled, or the Road to Utopia you are now the one setting the line and page breaks. So keep your eye out and your hopes up.

Many of you will be heading out to join startups and large and small enterprises. In a few years some of you will start your own companies and then one or two or maybe a handful of you will be listed on Forbes 500.

Your salary and benefits will allow you to buy

those Teslas and Louis Vuitton handbags and you will take your beautiful families on vacations to Aruba and you will dine at restaurants and order dishes described as hand-cut silken cheese from brown cows fed on organic hay and artistically stimulated into reduced green spinach with a splash of satin cream. It will be the same dish that your grandmother once served you, which she calls palak paneer.

But that’s what your money will get you. A nice seat at the table and a beautiful description. And, of course, the Louis Vuitton bag.

Yes, I am a writer. I am one of those who gave it up, took that fork in the road that brought me little money and 24 out of a million people worth of recognition.

I’m a culture writer. I write about identity and being an American from India. I write about belonging and integration and alienation. Writing to me is not much different from coding. It’s merely more refined and less defined. I like to think of writing like it’s a set of codes and trees and data structures that I need to make sense of. So I apply what I was taught in this university to my words.

I give it a pattern, and configure my paragraphs so that my story is directly affected by the word to sentence scripting that goes into it.

So why become a writer? I’d like to start by telling you of an incident.

When one of my twins was seven years old, she and her friend Mary were standing in line during recess. They had just come out of a history class. Mary, without much preamble, turned to my daughter and explained it to her: “if you’d been born 200 years ago,” she said, “you would have been my slave.” At seven, my daughter couldn’t make sense of that remark, so she came home and asked me if what Mary had said was true. I could see that my daughter’s self-image had suddenly changed and she desperately wanted me to refute what she had heard. All of a sudden she was forced into the realization that there were things beyond her control that had tremendous significance. It was an inflection point in her life. It was one of the gravest moments of my life.

There was no perfect answer to my daughter’s question. If I’d been born 200 years ago, would I have been a slave? Yes was not entirely right, and no seemed like a dissociation from the black experience. And I wanted my seven-year-old daughter to feel the utter devastation of slavery and to not want to be white, something other than what she is, in our multi-colored world. I understood that this was too much for a child to grasp. So I wanted to record the moment for later.

There were many such moments in the years that followed. It became an increasingly complex problem that I grappled with. I

found that I had a crazy compulsion to write and then to read what I had written to make sense of a particularly significant moment.

If I’d had to write an algorithm at age thirty that could deterministically predict what I would be doing for the rest of my life, it would have been a straightforward one.

The inputs and variables were steady and strong to become a software engineer. At age forty, however, the variables changed and the predictions began to fluctuate. And that, I think, is the irrationality of living.

More and more I began to read and think

One of the biggest perks of my job is that I am expected to read. I have always been somewhat of an avid, almost greedy reader. of what identity really meant. For many it’s their job, for others it is fame or friends or fortune or status and for others it’s keeping our spirits alive within our skins. For me, it’s feeling the connection. I feel it when I listen to a beautiful rhythm played by a subway drummer with dark glasses on. I feel it when I’m reading a sentence that is textured into such beauty that I must stop to reflect. I felt it when I sat on a staircase 16 years ago and watched my two-year old daughters negotiate the stairs towards me. I feel it when I read about the Salem march in America or the Dandi march in India and wonder what it would take to knock me down. And how many knocks it would take to keep me physically down. I feel it when ordinary people do extraordinary things. And I feel it when my daughters ask me what the meaning of color really is.

The Harlem writer James Baldwin once said, “Insofar as you think you are white, you are irrelevant.” In today’s context I’d like to believe that, “Insofar as you think of the color of skin, you are irrelevant.” Events in the past few months have brought home once again that racism is the discoloration of minds and has less to do with the skin than with inherited attitudes. And that is what I want to convey to my readers and to my children. And that is why I write. The little seven-year-old Mary was trying to make sense of a history lesson and to her the differentiating factor was the color of skin. To my darker hued children, color did not have much meaning till they encountered that life lesson.

So I arrived at a point in my life where I hungered for a new awareness. I began to write and publish and I grew as a writer. I experienced the headiness that comes from bringing to the world a truth, even if it’s an

inconvenient one. I often got it wrong, but when it was right, it was beautiful.

I loved what I did in my twenties, but I love what I do today even more. And I never forget that I’m here at this juncture of my life because I took classes in Basic and Pascal. I’ve been advising my daughter who wants to be a human rights lawyer that it’s important to take a coding class, just so it can instruct her as a thinker.

There are many similarities between writing and programming. Not the least is the analysis that must be part of non-fiction and even fiction writing.

Many of you in this audience may have experienced that aha moment when you cracked the code to an algorithm or figured out a solution to a problem you think nobody else has. In my opinion every code has been cracked, every problem has been solved. What we are innovating is a new set of problems and hence new solutions to these new problems. To keep those aha moments coming.

It’s no different with writing. I experience many aha moments when I write. Only to realize a little later that someone else has beaten me to it. The plot has already been written, the title already taken. It has already been said. So I just need to say it sooner or better or funnier or in my own style.

One of the biggest perks of my job is that I am expected to read. I have always been somewhat of an avid, almost greedy reader. I don’t have to wait to find time for it anymore. I must read in order to survive as a writer. Though strangely enough I’ve come across more writers who don’t read (enough) than readers who don’t write (enough). My mother can testify to my obsessive reading habits since she has caught me on more than one occasion reading what she calls a “storybook” instead of preparing for the chemistry test or bio midterm in high school. She lives with me now and has a permanent furrow on her forehead. I believe it showed up after I told her that I was not merely reading one but actually writing a storybook!

The challenge in the choices we make is that whatever we do, we must “think different,” to borrow from Apple. How we do that, what we use to do that or where we do that does not matter.

So as you leave San Jose State University, my hope is that you look for and make those connections. Feel the empathy of other experiences and enter your cubicles and garages powered by those feelings. Be ready to be different, make a difference and differentiate wisely as I know you will. Thank you! n Jaya Padmanabhan is the editor of India Currents magazine.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 9

a thousand words

You Lose It In A Generation

By Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

M

y parents came to the United States young (my mother was in English. Then, after “establish[ing] each other’s linguistic identity a teenager) and separately. They met in upstate New York, … they switch comfortably to another language, or a hybrid, dein graduate school. Despite sharing roots in Kerala—she by pending on the link they have established.” heritage, he by residence—they spoke to each other in English. They This is the conventional account of English as a mediating, wrote letters in English and announced their engagement by phone to “neutral” language in India’s complex linguistic environment. But it parents in India, in English. misses two important things that I have learned as a diaspora-born I have written about some of this before, in these pages. Like many Indian. First, those two Indians cannot always choose to “switch of their generation and demographic, my parents both grew up speakcomfortably” to another language, even if they establish the most ing English. They went to English-medium schools in Cochin and intimate of links. There are many Indians like my parents who are Calcutta. They count some serious Anglophiles among their ancestors, most comfortable in English, full-stop. Choosing or not choosing including, on my father’s side, an English prose-stylist known as the to speak the language is no choice at all, and cannot be vested with Silver-Tongued Orator. undue significance by the arbiters of Indian authenticity.

It is entirely possible that, in the early years of their marriage, my Second, in my experience, when two Indians meet abroad today, parents told each other jokes in Hindi or layered their speech with they may very well speak first in Hindi, then switch to English, or Malayalam asides, two of their other a hybrid Hinglish, depending on the compeshared languages. But by the time my My mother tongue is English. tencies of the speakers in question. I have had brother and I were born, in the midthis happen countless times, at restaurants My father tongue is English.

1980s, they had basically established an in Berkeley, in grocery stores in Princeton, English-medium household in suburban The only language I will probat a Starbucks in Dubai airport, at a beauty California, where, let’s face it, we would salon in Chicago. Invariably, I am addressed ably ever wield with unqualihave learned to speak English anyway. in Hindi by someone who recognizes me Over the years, my father’s Tamil fied fluency is English. as a fellow Indian. Typically, I comprehend waned, but not so much that he couldn’t enough to respond sensibly in English. I nod still speak to his mother or translate, in the appropriate places. I say hanh, and ji, felicitously, for a priest at the London and I get by despite the rising shame. wedding of his sister-in-law. Malayalam he trotted out only at parties This is my own version, albeit a comparatively innocuous one, with other Malayalam-speakers, and normally in the form of a pun or of V.S. Naipaul’s “areas of darkness:” words I hear but don’t underodd literary reference. By contrast, my mother’s Malayalam—which stand; mixing up my d’s and dh’s; the inability to ask the woman had always been stilted given her upbringing outside of Kerala—imwho just gave my daughter, Mrinalini, her first real haircut, then proved considerably as she befriended diasporic Malayalees who were, followed with the gift of a paper airplane, how old her son is. Techunlike her, both fluent and literate. Her Hindi, too, benefited from nically, I know the words. It’s just not the same as having them at encounters with other NRIs. the tip of my tongue.

Enter the ambivalent and resentful American, moi. My mother This is not an indictment of my parents. They took us to Intongue is English. My father tongue is English. The only language I dia yearly, so often that I learned to speak Malayalam comfortably will probably ever wield with unqualified fluency is English. I watch enough to study in Kerala while living with a host family. They tried Bollywood movies with subtitles. I speak pidgin Malayalam with a to put us in Hindi class. I could have done more than one semester Palakkad accent. My best line in Spanish is a query for more napkins, of Hindi in college. I’ve had the opportunities. The only thing I please. In French: a lament over not having killed some sworn enemy don’t have is the foundation: the experience of growing up in a bilinwhen I had the chance. gual environment, an experience that I jealously imagine would have Yes, I am not so old that I couldn’t make a concerted effort to acmade it easier for me to do what is necessary to achieve something quire fluency in one of these four tongues I speak with less facility than approaching fluency in one of my “native” tongues.

English. If I move somewhere where Hindi, Malayalam, Spanish, or What my American husband and I can’t do in any case is proFrench prevails, I might even learn to speak with aplomb. But I am old vide our daughter with that bilingual environment, one that exceeds enough to recognize my weaknesses when it comes to language study Spanish classes at school or exchanges with a Polish babysitter. I am (I got As in high school Spanish by entering Spanish poetry competireminded of this often, like yesterday, when a Bulgarian nanny pushtions, but never learned the subjunctive). It’s not enough to have the ing her half-Spanish, half-Italian charge on the swing told me off for accent; languages, like muscles, must be exercised regularly. And I’m speaking to Mrinalini in English. not sure if I want to move, or will have the opportunity to, or even “You are doing the wrong thing,” she scolded can, so strongly do I feel the historical legacy, the burden-by-proxy, of me. my parents’ migration and self-willed dispossession.

“Yes, but—” I started to explain. n In one of his many essays on the idea of Indianness, my uncle Shashi Tharoor observes that when two Indians meet abroad, “or two Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is a doctoral candidate in educated urban Indians meet in India,” they almost always speak first Rhetoric at UC Berkeley.

10 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

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cover

By Sarita Sarvate

Photo credits: Priya Living

“I am domesticated, broken, tamed,” Arun Pancholi says, sounding like a hen-pecked husband. But as he speaks, his cheeks break into playful dimples. With a baseball hat stylishly cocked on his head, he looks like a mischievous middle-schooler. “I am on the inside,” he says with a twinkle in his eye, “I am done for.”

“I

nside” is the Indian-American retirement community of Shantiniketan in Tavares, Florida, where Pancholi has been living with his wife Usha for the last two years. “Women adjust better to this place; they don’t have to cook any more,” he adds. “Men have a hard time. They have to find their niche.”

Pancholi has found his niche. He volunteers at a local hospital. “There is a great need to help people,” he says. “Not only at Shantiniketan but also in the town.” Florida, after all, is the retirement capital of America.

People need transportation to medical facilities; they need help in so many different ways. And Pancholi feels fulfilled when he is helping others. “I am an A-type personality,” he says. “I need something to occupy me.”

16 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

After a successful career in sales and marketing in Ohio, where he lived in a 4,000-5,000 sq. ft. suburban home, it is a challenge to adjust to a 1,000 sq. ft. condo in a retirement community. But the choice for him and his wife was to move close to their daughter in New Jersey, go to India, or come to Shantiniketan. And after forty years in America, they knew they could not adapt to life in their native land.

Like many Indians of their generation, the Pancholis are modern people. They were among the first wave of Indian immigrants, many of whom came to the US as students and later acquired green cards. They were the first generation to also reject the traditional lifestyles of their parents and grandparents, with the result that they do not expect to live

with their children; they value their independence too fiercely.

When I embarked on this project to explore Indian-American retirement communities, my visions of such places were derived from stories about nursing homes I had read in the newspapers when I first came to the US in the ‘70s. I was imagining the neglect, the isolation, the abuse; I was envisioning ghettos of women in saris and men in kurtas hobbling around, cut off from the diverse world, the normal world of America.

But Iggy Ignatius, Shantiniketan’s founder says, “They don’t know what heaven is until they come here.”

“Every ethnic and religious group has retirement homes in America,” he adds. “Why not us?”

In some media stories, Shantiniketan has been referred to as a Hindu community.

But in fact, it is as secular as India is, with a prayer room that accommodates all beliefs, including Islam, Christianity, and Jainism.

Ignatius is himself a Christian but belongs to the Brahma Kumaris, a sect that believes in purifying the soul through meditation and positive thinking. “I was seeking something more in life,” he says. Material and professional success was not enough.

Trained as an engineer, he got an MBA from the University of Illinois. He became a marketing consultant, got into computers in 1974, and formed a successful IT company.

Still, he felt that something was lacking in his life; he was not actively involved in society.

He began to ponder his old age. He started to long for his homeland. But his children would not let him leave the US. He realized that like many Indians who came to the

Yet he longed for his own community. “We are like salmon that return to the stream to die,” he says. “At the end stage of our lives, we want to be surrounded by our own kind.”

US in the sixties and seventies, he was too assimilated into American life to adjust to India. Yet he longed for his own community.

“We are like salmon that return to the stream to die,” he says. “At the end stage of our lives, we want to be surrounded by our own kind.”

The name Shantiniketan, which means abode of peace, is taken from the name of the university that Ravindranath Tagore, India’s only Nobel laureate in literature, founded outside of Calcutta in the early 1900s. Devoted to the pursuit of art and poetry in a natural setting, Shantiniketan, India, caters to one end of the population spectrum, while Shantiniketan, Florida serves the other.

“There are 3 million Indian Americans,” Ignatius says.

“Nearly 10% or 300,000 are retired. And about one percent of those seek a place like Shantiniketan. So it is definitely a niche community.”

The main reason residents come to Shantiniketan is the vegetarian food, he adds.

Pancholi and his wife Usha agree.

“Don’t you get tired of eating institutional food day after day?” I ask.

“No,” they reply. “We have so much variety.”

Breakfast is served continental style, with cereal, milk, toast, tea, and coffee. Lunch consists of two vegetables, daal, roti, rice, and yogurt. In the evenings, there are over 30 items for dinner, including Gujarathi, Punjabi, and Maharashtrian cuisine. Mexican and Italian dishes are also available. For the monthly price of $250, the meal plan is a bargain. Residents are free to cook non-veg in their own kitchens, as many fish-eating Bengalis do.

For the retired doctors and engineers, Shantiniketan’s condos at $250,000 apiece are quite affordable. But then again, you can get a four, five bedroom house in Tavares for that amount. Still, one of the attractions of a community like Shantiniketan is that it has 55+ zoning, Ignatius says, so residents do not have to pay property taxes for schools.

His model has been so successful that he has been invited to open homes in California, Washington DC, Dallas, Texas, even overseas, in places such as Malaysia, England, Australia, and New Zealand. One of the reasons for his success is that 50% of the profits go back to the community, he says.

“What about low-income Indian-Americans?” I ask. A plan for a subsidized ashram is underway, Ignatius replies.

“For years, Indian-Americans tried to create something like this,” Ignatius says.

“But they couldn’t figure out the structure.”

Until he came up with a financial model that worked. “First, the land is purchased and infrastructure is put in,” he says. “Development proceeds in phases. Out of a 100-condo community, about 30% or 30 are pre-sold and built at the first stage. The developers get their profits and the next phase is built. Once the entire project is finished, the management and ownership transfers to

the Shantiniketan Association.”

Currently, in Phase I, the Ignatius Company prepares the food while the Association serves it. The Association, in fact, has a committee for everything. There is a management committee, a food committee, a transportation committee, a safety and health committee, and a maintenance committee.

I recall my experience of communal living in Berkeley in the early eighties and the inevitable arguments it involved over doing the dishes and taking out the garbage.

“Don’t you get tired of endless meetings and squabbles?” I ask.

“It is definitely like living in an extended family,” he says. “Individually, Indians are great to work with, but communally, they can be difficult.”

“I have to keep the premise of 3Cs in mind,” he adds.

I recall my experience of communal living in Berkeley in the early eighties and the inevitable arguments it involved over doing the dishes and taking out the garbage.

3Cs consist of camaraderie, caring, consideration, and compassion, he explains.

When I point out that these add up to four Cs, he chuckles and says that you can combine consideration and compassion in one.

A sense of humor, after all, carries the day.

Based on the principles of ownership and partnership, if Shantiniketan is modeled on the co-housing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing) facilities of Scandinavia, Priya Living offers a different alternative to aging IndianAmericans.

Located on a side street off a main thoroughfare in the heart of Silicon Valley, Priya offers one-bedroom rental accommodations for about $2,500 a month. Every year, there is an increase of about 8%.

Not only are the rates reasonable by Silicon Valley standards, but for the majority of affluent Indian-American residents, very affordable. Still, Pravin Thakkar, who moved here in April from Columbus, Indiana, worries about his payments. He had a successful career in management in Indiana, but his rental income from Photo credits: Shantiniketan a condo there is low.

Cost is not Thakkar’s only pre July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 17

occupation. He also worries about his health, about the possibility of having surgeries without anyone to help him. He finds his loneliness devastating. At the age of 66, Thakkar retired from his job after his wife passed away. He could not bear to live alone in the Midwest. But now he regrets his emotional decision. At least his work kept him occupied, he says. Now he has nothing to distract him. He was never interested in spirituality, so it is hard to find solace in it now. He tried to live alone in Cupertino near his daughter, but it was expensive. So he moved to Priya. “My daughter tells me I was unfortunate to be so fortunate all my life,” he adds. “I had a happy marriage, a happy life. I never had to face the meaning of life.”

“The people here are good company,” he adds with a tinge of wistfulness in his voice.

Seventy-nine year old Kottarathil Venugopal also speaks wistfully about his fortyeight years in the US. A professor of anesthesiology in Chicago, he started a private practice after the university failed to offer him tenure. He had a successful career but he could not get close to the Indian community there. Winters were cold; distances large.

His life was filled with work. Now, at last, he is part of a community. But talking to the 79-year old Venugopal, one cannot help getting the sense that the life he had envisioned when he first came to America has somehow passed him by. Still, he is pragmatic about his decision to live at Priya. “Medical facilities are close by,” he says. “I had a heart procedure at Stanford.”

The women at Priya seem more adapted to communal living than men do. Sheela Jangla, who left India forty years ago with her husband to live in Dubai, has acquired the resilience of a nomad. After retirement, she and her husband came to California to be with their son, she says, but returned to India when her husband got cancer. Now that they have green cards and healthcare through Obamacare, they are back. They tried staying with their son but got bored. Her husband misses India, she says, but she does not.

Eighty-four year old Uma Jindal, a “snowbird” who comes to California every winter to be near her daughter, is reluctant to give up her condo in Edmonton, Canada.

She worked at the library in Canada, she says; she has friends there. Talking to these strong women, one gets the sense that they are fiercely independent and determined to avoid being a burden to anyone. They have used the philosophical underpinnings of their culture, I observe, to prepare themselves for life’s transitions.

One advantage of Priya Living is that it also offers rentals to a small number of young Silicon Valley workers, providing 18 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

Photo credits: Priya Living

“Sometimes, you come to me as my mother’s heart And sometimes, like my little girl.

And every time I remember you, I ache.” much-needed diversity. The other advantage is that in addition to yoga classes and other activities offered in-house, the residents can access facilities in the communities such as food ordered in from nearby restaurants or activities at the Santa Clara Senior Center.

I sit in Priya’s sunny but breezy courtyard, watching a group of residents mixing flaked rice, peanuts, and spices to make Bhel, an Indian street food, when Arun Paul, the founder of Priya, joins me.

“A column of yours explains the philosophy behind Priya Living perfectly,” he says, jolting me out of my reverie. “I read it years ago, but I remember it clearly. I have it in my office.”

Titled “Exiled at Home,” he reminds me, the essay talked about the experience of spending a lifetime in a place one was not born in. “You talked of the longings and disorientations exile produces in immigrants,” he says. “Even though I was born in the US, I feel it too; I am cut off from my larger family and community.”

“Now, millions of people live in places they were not born in,” I wrote in that 2011 column. “Yet, deep down, our longings have

not shifted. To be born and to die in the same place, surrounded by your own people and family, is a privilege that many no longer have.”

In my column, Paul reminds me, I quoted a 1961 song a man sings to his country: Sometimes, you come to me as my mother’s heart And sometimes, like my little girl.

And every time I remember you, I ache.

Maybe it is Paul’s reminder of my words, or maybe it is the sight of these women, young and old, peering over jewelry someone has brought for sale from India, but I no longer feel separate from the group. Teary-eyed, I envy its camaraderie and companionship.

I recall the last words of that song: Hum jahaan paida hue us jagah pe hi nikale dam Where I was created, There I will take my last breath.

Most of us no longer have the luxury of taking our last breaths in our birthplaces, I muse, but Shantiniketan and Priya Living offer a very good simulation. n Sarita Sarvate (www.saritasarvate.com) has published commentaries for New America Media, KQED FM, San Jose Mercury News, the Oakland Tribune, and many nationwide publitions.

Sarita Sarvate wrote this article supported by a fellowship from New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, sponsored by AARP.

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House of Cards Are we in a housing boom?

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hall we Wollongong? Anyone? If you thought Wollongong was a verb, I don’t blame you. The only reason I know it’s a noun is because I have family who live there and I happened to visit this beautiful seaside town about 50 miles south of Sydney in the fall of 2008. According to the ever-reliable Wiki, the “Gong,” as locals call it, boasts a population of about 292,000, not much bigger than my current hometown of Fremont. Besides its beautiful beach, I do remember that it had the magnificent Nan Tien Buddhist temple and is home to the University of Wollongong, rated “Australian University of the Year” in 1999 and 2000 by the Good Universities Guide. The Gong, as I remember it, was a nice, friendly, but not too exciting sleepy town at the edge of the world.

Imagine, then, my surprise when the Gong recently made headlines in no less than The Wall Street Journal (4/28/15). At least by one measure, the Gong is now more expensive than New York. When I last checked, New York had a thing or two more going for it than the Gong. Apparently, it takes about 7.5 times your annual income to buy a house in the Gong, compared to a multiple of only 6.1 in New York. Before you go rushing to buy that “cheaper” condo in Manhattan though, the Journal once again comes to our rescue (“Where Prices Are High and Air Is Thin, WSJ, 5/13/15). The 66-story 220 Central Park South has listed more than 60 apartments above $20 million, compared to 2008 when “only” 29 condos sold at those levels. At the 1004-foot green glass tower One57, the penthouse fetched $100 million in January, the most expensive sale for a single unit ever.

Are we in a housing bubble? For those readers who live in Silicon Valley and certain pricey markets around the world, it must certainly seem so. The wife, who likes to check out neighborhood kitchen upgrades at open houses, unsuspectingly ventured into one a couple of weekends ago and almost got stampeded by the flood of prospective buyers. After only one weekend of showing, the agent proudly put up a ‘Sold’ sign. Rumor has it that newly affluent overseas buyers roam the streets of the Valley with sackfuls of cash in their black Mercedes Benzes, ready to snap-up two-room shacks in Cupertino, Palo

20 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

By Prabhu Palani

A Creative Commons Image by AAG Alto, Los Altos and everywhere else.

According to the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), the metros of San Francisco and San Jose (which comprise the 20 largest cities in each metro) have both exceed their pre-crisis highs. And so it is with Honolulu.

In the Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Boston metros, prices are within 5% of their precrisis peaks. Where are the bargains? In Tucson (-30% from its peak), Las Vegas (-38.7%), and Atlanta (-11.2%), it appears that the property market hasn’t reached boiling level yet. Nationally, the numbers look slightly more sobering. As of January 2015, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index stood at 172.81 compared to its peak of over 200 in 2006. The National Association of Realtors Home Affordability Index tells a similar story. Barring a few metros in California, New York, and Hawaii, a family at the median income level can still afford to buy an average home.

What should you do? If you own a home, pat yourself on the back. You’ve done rather well in the last three years even if it is only on paper. You feel good and spend more on other things (which helps the economy). If you are really lucky, you actually have an economic reason to move to the boonies where you can trade your home for a mansion with some left over in the bank. But what if you are a prospective homebuyer? Make sure that you fully understand the costs of home ownership (and there are plenty). Interest rates are low and hopefully your income is high enough. The local economy influences home prices to a large extent, so make sure

that your area has plenty of jobs and a potentially bright economic future. Factor in other considerations as they apply to your own situation, such as schools, healthcare, crime, quality of life. As the old adage goes, it’s all about location, location, location.

Despite the periodic busts of the housing market, some markets like New York and the Valley continue to show an upward trajectory over the long term. According to Draft Plan Bay Area—Strategy for a Sustainable Region published by the Association of Bay Area Governments (March 2013), the San Francisco Bay Area population is expected to increase by 30% from 2010 to 2040, with 33% more jobs and only 24% more housing units during that period. If these projections hold up, the local housing market should remain strong in the long run.

As for me, I am waiting for that cash buyer to ring my doorbell. For the right price I might even thrown in my six-and-ahalf cylinder 1929 Bentley Speed Six with the overhead camshaft, single-piece engine (the miniature model). And then I will pack my bags and head out. Tucson anyone? n Prabhu Palani, CFA, was formerly a managing director and the head equity strategist at Mellon Capital Management in San Francisco, CA. Previously he was senior vice president and portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investments and Principal, Portfolio Manager at Barclays Global Investors. Prabhu holds graduate degrees from Stanford University and the University of Delaware and is a member of the CFA Institute and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

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commentary

Memories of a Beloved Father A piece of paper brings memories

L

eafing through some old diaries, I stumbled across a page torn out of a mini spiral-bound note pad. The calligraphy was precise, drawn gracefully, using a blue ink pen. The writer and his tools were unmistakable, and I saw the flourish with which he probably ended the last sentence. Discovering this little remnant of my Dada opened the floodgates that day.

He had written across the top, “A parent can only be as happy as their saddest child.” I had read this before, but I felt my heart shatter into a million little pieces. The date on the little notepaper was May 2009.

Unbeknownst to anyone, including him, that would be his last year.

Both, my brother and I, had immigrated and carved out our present in America.

Still, Dada’s eyes looked west, following our progress and trying to guide us. Like most young adults, we found this cloying and were exasperated by his advice. We tried to explain it to him, my brother in his gentle, circuitous way, and me as direct as a rhino.

Dada listened, but as always, stayed true to his beliefs. We tried to shed him, like skin, yet he stayed so close like an essence.

Then came the phone call that one dreads. In June 2010, a neighbor called to say that Dada had been hospitalized and was really sick. Our lives began to unravel at the seams. My brother and I flitted between the United States and India, as regularly as if it were a work commute. Playing tag team and coping.

This was not how we had imagined this eventuality. Dada was so particular about his walking, balanced diet, and perfect schedule.

In contrast my mother, Aai, always ailed, hounded by her hydrocephaly. Like a willful child, she ate, drank and slept erratically.

We chanted these thoughts helplessly, like a mantra, and watched the disease grip and alter him. In the privacy of his room, he sat sad, lost, and diffident. But in the presence of visitors, he hauled out his big personality.

Indeed, he was so persuasive that everyone

26 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

By Vrinda Kirloskar

A Creative Commons Image by Anthony Kelly

Playing tag team and coping. was convinced that he was “fine.” Only then I understood how Dada’s personality always eclipsed everything else, filling the space around him with his energy. So much so that no one, including my brother who left home at 17, saw how much Aai’s hydrocephaly affected our mother’s life.

Dada’s decline was sudden and gave us no time to come to terms with it. I don’t think Dada had come to terms with it either —he was always so positive that I can almost describe him as ebullient. But in those last six months, my brother or I would catch him despondent, and pained.

He had lost what he did best—taking hard decisions and standing by them.

We realized, quickly, the difficulty of managing two ill parents from another continent, so we moved them into a senior facility in Pune. For our fiercely independent Dada, and diehard Mumbaikar Aai this was emotionally unacceptable. We were criticized by family, friends, and even

servants. We don’t blame them. Perhaps this is also a form of love … But given our circumstances, my brother and I had little choice ...

Dada stayed in the apartment for two days, before he moved back into the hospital. By the time the hematologist confirmed the disease, organs had begun to fail.

My brother and I signed the DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), knowing that Dada would not want any invasive procedures. This is the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life. Ever.

I suspect it is the same for my brother.

After Dada passed away, we got down to the business of caring for Aai. Initially she resisted staying in the senior community, but little by little she made it hers simply by her presence. It took her almost three years, and when she stopped talking about her “real home” and gave up railing against the senior apartment, we sensed that she was letting go of everything. It was one step at a time, slow and steady, very much in keeping with the rhythm of her own life through the years.

She passed away without a ripple, gently and calmly. The memory of her sitting on her favorite couch is etched into our minds.

It was only after she passed away last year, that my brother and I have had the respite to mourn them both. I suspect that almost all of us who live abroad share similar experiences. Since our parents’ passing, we have shed their stuff little by little, step by step. And then, just as one thinks that all physical connections no longer remain, one stumbles upon a mini notepad paper ... This connection I will preserve. Maybe I’ll read it out to my brother when he visits, and we’ll smile. n Vrinda Kirloskar has been a lecturer, tech writer, and fitness instructor. She currently runs her own Pilates Reformer studio in Cupertino. She is interested in people, their perspectives, and in fostering compassion and kindness.

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It’s In The Eyes

By Jasbina Ahluwalia

Q

My friend told me to pay attention to my date’s eyes to gauge his interest—any truth to that?

A

Controlled by the brain’s visual cortex, your eyes can reveal your moods and your emotions as they respond instinctively to what they see.

Here are 10 tips for observing the “windows to the soul.” Does your date 1. Maintain eye contact while talking to you?

If so, they are definitely interested in what you have to say—and possibly more!

2. Blink rapidly or excessively?

A date who blinks more than usual may be feeling awkward, confused or annoyed.

3. Have pupils that are large or small?

Enlarged pupils indicate interest, enthusiasm and even lust, while “pinpoint” pupils reveal the person may be “turned off.”

4. Look to the left or to the right?

Research studies into the direction of a

28 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

gaze has found that people looking to the left are trying to remember something or thinking about the past. Those directing their gaze to the right may be engaging in more creative, possibly deceptive thought patterns.

5. Have sparkling eyes?

Glistening, sparkling eyes means your date is definitely interested in you. Extra fluid in the eyes means your date’s central nervous system is being positively stimulated—by you!

6. Have a “poker face” and “poker” eyes?

A frozen face and a blank stare is not a good sign, especially if your date’s staring seems aggressive and unfriendly. They may be hiding something they do NOT want you to discover.

7. Break eye contact frequently?

If they move their gaze randomly around the room and do not look at you while you are talking, it could be a sign your date is feeling uncomfortable, distracted or uninterested in the date.

8. Have eyes that are wide open or

gazing downward?

This indicates fear associated with extreme shyness and uncertainty. Your date probably likes you but is too nervous to show it.

9. Have eyes that follow your every move?

That’s good! It shows interest and a desire to be accessible to you.

10. Have eyes that blink infrequently?

This may indicate they are attempting to control their eye movements, probably because they want to appear calm, cool and collected--when they are really feeling excited and nervous. 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.

Jasbina@intersectionsmatch.com.

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tax talk

Five Simple Tips to Lower Your Tax Bill

By Rita Bhayani

Y

ou’ve filed or extended your 2014 tax return and now it’s time to plan for next tax season. Here are five simple tax planning tips for 2015.

1. Check your withholding.

If you owed money in 2014 and weren’t self-employed, chances are that you might not be withholding enough tax from your paycheck. On the other hand, if your refund was more than a thousand dollars, you probably are withholding too much and could be getting a larger take-home check every week.

Your employer withholds tax based on the information you’ve provided on your Form W-4. The more allowances you claim on Line 5, the less tax your employer withholds. The fewer exemptions you claim, the more tax is withheld.

2. Increase your retirement contributions.

Money you contribute to your 401(k), 403, or SIMPLE account reduces your tax-

30 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

able income, which in turn reduces your tax bill. Some employers will even match contributions to a certain extent. That doesn’t mean you should only contribute up to the match. Investing early unleashes the power of compounding interest.

is no gradual increase. Once you reach the edge of the 15 percent bracket, for example, an additional dollar of income goes from being taxed at 15 percent to 25 percent. Your taxable income is reported on Line 43 of Form 1040.

3. Make HSA contributions.

5. Have a plan and seek advice.

If you have a high-deductible health plan, make HSA contributions through your paycheck to reduce your taxable income.

Paycheck contributions (through a cafeteria or 125 plan) also reduce the amount of wages subject to FICA tax. This is great double benefit. You can make contributions outside of work, but they will only reduce your income tax.

4. Know your tax bracket.

Do you know how much of your income was taxed at 10, 15 or 20 percent? The U.S. has a progressive tax system, meaning that your income is separated into brackets and each bracket is taxed at that percent. There

Unless you are Marty McFly, you can’t go back in time. Feel free to schedule a phone call with me to discuss the tax consequences of any big financial decisions you plan on making. n

Rita Bhayani is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant practicing at Pleasanton, CA and she protects the clients from the IRS. She provides tax planning, accounting, payroll and outsourced CFO services too. For more information log on to www. ritacpa.net. Reprinted with permission from the National Association of Tax Professionals.

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fiction

h

Unsaid

ic i n

n es

i s

i e

By Iqbal Pittalwala

I

t happened yesterday in the aunty’s reason, looks at everyone from the corhouse, just three days into our trip. ners of her eyes and slouches with such Somehow, I knew a breakdown poor stature that one has to wonder if would occur, despite all of Mansoor’s she isn’t developmentally challenged in assurances, and now I wish I had not some way. Asperger’s perhaps, somecome with him to India, to Mumbai, his thing like that. city of abject squalor and decay.

The day the airport taxi delivered us To back up, we’re here to attend to their flat—it was three or four in the a wedding—one of Mansoor’s million cousin sisters is finally getting married. The flight from LA to Dubai was a killer, the nine-hour layover in Dubai being no joke either. By the time we landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, we were drained, able to haul ourselves off the airplane only because we couldn’t stand it in the cabin any longer. So we scuttled out into the noisy terminal, got through immigration and customs in minutes, and A Creative Commons Image by Asim Chaudhari proceeded to his brother’s flat in Bandra—the flat that once be- morning, some such ungodly hour—it longed to their deceased parents. What took us about an hour to get them to he hadn’t told me all along was that the agree to let us sleep in the hall. They flat is so small—a boxy living room and wanted us to have Zaynab’s bedroom. two tiny bedrooms—that it can barely They would accommodate Zaynab in contain the brother, his wife and their their bedroom, although where exactly she would sleep was not explained. twenty-eight-year-old daughter.

So we’re sleeping in the “hall,” a.k.a. Finally, after lots of raised voices, chest the living room in sensible places in the t h u m p i n g world, and managing to sleep under a and nearnless e u u squeaky ceiling fan that I fear is going to c o m i c a l s g y c u le take a dive one night and decapitate us t h r e a t s , Irfan, the with its sharp blades. If only Mansoor i es hey e n had listened to me when I suggested a brother, and und cce hotel months ago. It would have given Fatima, the sister-in-law, us all the privacy we needed, but no, his brother would have felt insulted, he said, agreed to let the sister-in-law would have thrown a us crash out in the hall, which we did as tantrum, and the niece—well, Mansoor soon as we lay down on the ultra-thin said nothing about the niece, Zaynab, mattress they retrieved from a dusty who says nothing most of the time, closet and the lights were turned off.

The invitations came the next day, stands perpetually on her toes for some 32 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

one after the other, with relatives calling either Irfan or Fatima on their cell phones. There was no escaping. It was lunch with this aunty, dinner with another, and movies and picnics with different sets of cousins. Before Mansoor could fully recall who the caller was while Irfan or Fatima spoke, the phone was thrust into his hand. Poor guy. He nods and agrees now to whatever the callers say. Most of the time, he does not know who they are, and has to be reminded later by Irfan and Fatima. That’s why you should come to India more often, they’ll both tell him just about every time, pat his shoulder and admonish him for having let nine years come between his last trip and this one—about the same time we’ve been a couple.

Irfan is in his early fifties, portly, and sports a gray beard that makes him look older. Fatima is a few years younger, her thick hair tied into a bun, her sleepy eyes and drooping shoulders suggesting prolonged fatigue. While they know we’re a couple (who can know what Zaynab thinks?) the rest of the clan here—a mob of uncles, aunties and cousins—does not. But even Irfan will say when introducing us to their handful of friends, “This is Mansoor and this is Amol,” sel es u he e n e g l e c t ing to add e e his el - that we’re g ing c e as good as married. Is ing us s ne. it really that big a deal to acknowledge us as a couple? Mansoor says it is.

Yeah, a big deal in fact. This isn’t Los Angeles, he’ll say. Sure there are a lot of gay people in India, but gay couples are not as many, and Indian society—his

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relatives for sure—needs time to process it all. Well, I don’t believe in such a glacial pace of progress, I’ll remind him.

You should have come here by yourself.

Why throw me back into the closet?

It’s a matter of days, he said two days ago. Can’t you deal with that? Actually, I can’t. Societies can be transformed in an instant, I think. Unless we put ourselves out there as a gay couple before his relatives, they’re not going to come around to accepting us as one. And that was exactly how I felt last evening before we set out for his aunty’s place in Santa Cruz. I even warned him in the taxi that I would introduce us as a couple. Stop it, he said, and held my hand in his. Patience, sweet pea, he said. Patience.

His Sabera Aunty was the one who opened the front door, her rotund body doing little to stop the advance of a cloud of rich food aromas emanating from her flat. She lives with her husband in a high-rise building—I don’t recall what floor. She has no children; an early hysterectomy ensured that. No sooner had we stepped in and taken off our shoes than she asked if I was the friend that Fatima had mentioned to her.

An awkward silence followed. As she hobbled away from us, Mansoor said, to my surprise and horror, that that was correct. I was his friend from America.

I looked at him. He wouldn’t turn my way. Family originally from New Delhi, he said. Parents moved to the US in the mid-seventies, before I was born. Father: vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA. Mother: director of the Center for Feminist Research at USC. That isn’t all true, I said. His aunt asked what isn’t true. The friend part, I said. You are not a friend, she asked. Well, I am—in a sense, I said.

Then Amol, you are my friend also, Mansoor when he would give her the she said, and beamed. All of Mansoor’s good news. What good news, I asked. friends are mine as well.

She laughed. Mansoor did not. The Where do you live in America, she good news of his marriage, she said, and asked as we all settled into lush couches giggled. She patted me on the knee. He is in the living room. Los Angeles, I said. like a son to me, he always has been, she In the same apartment as your nephew added. My late sister’s son but he grew here, I wanted to add. We sleep in the up mostly in my arms. Now he must same bed. We get mareven have sex ried.

Yes, ns is y ne he e every once in he must, I a while. More y l e y y iend nd said. What in the early about you, fi nc . e e in y u h use years, less so she asked now. We’re h e e he is y iend. me. Are you renting at the married? I moment. We said I wasn’t plan to purbut that I chase a condo in Long Beach and then soon would be. That’s wonderful, she get married—you know, tie the knot, said. You must find a sweet girl for live happily ever after as husband and my Mansoor. A Muslim girl, please. husband. Is Los Angeles where you Mansoor glanced at me, all forty-three grew up, she asked next. I grew up in Al- years of him. I shook my head wearily. lentown, I said. It’s in Pennsylvania, not What have you made for dinner, Aunty, far from Philadelphia. Ah, Philadelphia, I heard him say. she said, enunciating each syllable, as They’re clueless, this aunty and unthough she were remembering the place. cle. Even if Mansoor and I held hands I was born in Edison, New Jersey, which right now, they would not be clued. is where my parents first settled, I said. Sabera Aunty said she made mutton I am their only child, I did not bother biryani. It’s his favorite, she explained to add. They love me and your Mansoor to me. And I have prepared some dhan unconditionally. My other relatives there saak, she added. Caramel custard for do, too. They accept us as a couple and dessert. Mansoor threw a fist in the air include us as such in the extended family. and yelled yes. That particular custard is Mansoor is my partner there, my lover, also his favorite, Sabera Aunty said. my boyfriend, and fiancé. Here in your house, however, he is my friend.

The husband emerged into the room and shook hands with us, the way one might before a business meeting. Silveraward $300): FIRST PLACE (cash haired and beady-eyed, he wasn’t interLWALA Unsaid by IQBAL PITA ested in me at all, his attention only on a Cherry Valley, Californi his wife and periodically on Mansoor. sh award $200): Had he guessed who I was, who we SECOND PLACE (ca JYOTHI were? To draw his atMiss, Dolly and Hulk by ia tention to me, I asked VINOD, Bangalore, Ind him if he’d been to award $100): THIRD PLACE (cash America. When he reNGULY, San 10-4 by SANJOY GA plied that he had in the Jose, California 1970s he looked at his wife. Mansoor asked if ION: HONORABLE MENT business had taken him , Los Altos, CH BU I NV TA by Brink there. The uncle said California business and pleasure.

ION: He looked at Mansoor HONORABLE MENT HOSH NT SA K VE VI by when he said that, then ge Coura a rni turned to his wife.

San Francisco, Califo Sabera Aunty asked

A Creative Commons Image by Tom Jervis 34 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

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vanishing temporarily, Yes, we are, I said. We are a couple and his and made her way back family—all of them—need to know. No, they don’t, he said. to her seat.

I leaned toward him, pulled him closer Zaynab should be getting married soon, to me, and kissed him hard on the lips. she said. The girl was He pushed me away, wiped his mouth approaching thirty. If and looked at the taxi driver in the rear she didn’t marry be- view mirror. Have you completely lost fore thirty, it would be your mind, he yelled. This is not West too late, the aunt pro- Hollywood, Amol! I don’t care, I retorted. nounced. Perhaps she That’s what I should have done at your wants to remain single, aunt’s place—kissed you, French-kissed A Creative Commons Image by R. Mitra I said. Nonsense, the you before her, that strange uncle, and that aunt said. What is with pitiful servant girl. You’re mad, Mansoor She panicked suddenly and leaned all of you single people? By now you said. Mad with joy and aliveness, I said. forward in my direction. You eat meat, should be happily married. Marriage is I added I would not stay another night don’t you, she said. I told her I am not fundamental to life, she said. at his brother’s flat. It’s too crammed. vegetarian. I didn’t say that while I was The uncle nodded. Marriage and then There’s no privacy. It’s a bloody prison. born Hindu, my family practiced no children, I exclaimed, leaning forward in We can’t even have sex if we wanted to. I religion, that with the exception of my my chair. What other purpose is there? don’t want to, he said. Not here in India. mother who had embraced the Baha’i A pregnant silence took over the room. Are you nuts? No, I am not nuts, I said. faith a decade ago, the family bordered Sabera Aunty looked down. The uncle We’ll check into a hotel, I added. No, we on atheism. reached out and held her hand. Yes, chil- won’t, he said.

A servant girl of about ten years of age dren, too, she said. I am sorry, I said, But why a hotel, Fatima shrieked brought two tall glasses of pink colored remembering the hysterectomy. But chil- when I brought it up minutes later dedrinks on a silver tray. She wore a white dren are not necessary for a marriage to be spite Mansoor’s warning. You have both frock too large for her. Her arms and happy, the uncle said, looking directly at come to my house from America after legs were cinnamon-stick thin. Mansoor me for once. I said I couldn’t agree more. God knows how many years and you protested, saying we were only consum- Mansoor gave me a look, and scowled. will stay in a hotel? What will people ing bottled drinks in India. He apologized Look at us, the uncle said, we’re happy. If think? You would spoil our name in the profusely. The aunt insisted the drinks no children followed, it is only the grace community! We wouldn’t be able to were made with bottled water. The ser- of God. No doubt, I said with a measure show our faces to anyone. Out of the vant girl looked on, unsure of what to do. of sarcasm. The servant girl entered the question! No, not possible, Irfan chimed Don’t be so fussy, Sabera Aunty said. You room again, in.

Even American-types are too funny, the uncle the silver Zaynab e en n issi n he s id. m u m b l e d said, and chuckled from one side of his tray held bemouth. He massaged his knee. Indian fore her like es e e s id. e e c u le something food and drinks are the best way to clean a shield, to that no one nd his ily ll he need could deciup the digestive system, he said. Enough, collect our his wife told him. She had already moved glasses but n . hey d n he s id. pher. We’re toward Mansoor with a drink in her hand. the drinks running Have, have, come on now, nothing will were still in into each happen, don’t insult us, she said. The our hands. other all servant girl came to stand before me. I Set the table for dinner, Sabera Aunty the time, I said. Mansoor sat down on reached for the drink on the tray and held commanded. Oh good, Mansoor said. We the couch, leaned forward, and held his it in my hand. settled our unsipped drinks on the coffee face in his hands. Please forgive me that The house phone rang. The servant table before us and proceeded through a my house is not big enough for you, girl slapped the tray against her chest and bead curtain toward the dining table.

Fatima said, joining her hands together. rushed to answer it. It was Fatima calling We fought in the taxi on the way to We’re inconveniencing you, I said. God to ask if we had made it to Sabera Aunty’s Irfan and Fatima’s place. Mansoor ob- promise, not at all, Fatima said. That is place in good time. Sabera Aunty took jected to the way I behaved at his aunt’s. why you both should have listened to the phone and issued mild protests that I objected to how he had not behaved. I me the day you arrived: just let Zaynab Irfan, Fatima and Zaynab had not come am not your friend, I said. Not again, he sleep in our room, and you two can then also. There was silence while Sabera Aunty said. I told you it’s just a matter of days. use her bed. We won’t fit in it, I said. I listened. Oh, Fatima, you don’t need an We’ll be out of here soon. I said nothing saw Mansoor shake his head. It’s a twin, invitation, the aunt said. Don’t be so for- would be achieved. There is nothing to I said. Twin? What twin, Irfan said. mal. You know you are welcome here any achieve or accomplish, he said. Yes, there Then let’s do this, Fatima said: Irfan time. She put down the phone, her smile is, I said. We are not on a mission, he said. and I will use Zaynab’s bed, and you 36 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

two sleep in our bed. And where would Zaynab sleep, I asked. Fatima turned to Zaynab. Zaynab puckered her lips. She will sleep in the living room, Fatima said. Mansoor leaned back on the couch, threw his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he said nothing was going to change: we would sleep in the hall, Zaynab in her room, Irfan and Fatima in theirs. Are you ruling out the hotel option then, I asked. Just shut up, he said.

This morning, before the others woke up, I told him I would not be attending the cousin’s wedding. I lay on my back on the mattress, watching the ceiling fan spin. Mansoor was spreadeagled on the couch. As you wish, he said. Several uncomfortable minutes passed. Wait a minute, I then said, piercing the silence. It had occurred to me he was glad I was not attending. This way he wouldn’t have to explain me to everyone. I know what I will do, I said.

I will attend the wedding. I’ll show you!

I’ll show everyone. I’ll wear lacy pink clothes and glittery high heels. I’ll wear dazzling jewelry, a sparkling tiara maybe,

loud lipstick and nail polish. You’ve lost your mind, he said. Just do what you want. Oh, I will, I said.

Fatima popped her head into the hall. Good morning, she sang. How did you both sleep? I want to go shopping, I said. A few things urgently needed for the wedding. No problem, she said. I rose from the floor and began to fold the bedsheet we were using for a blanket. It smelled of sweat and spices. Irfan staggered into the room, scratching his arm.

His nails made scraping sounds and left long white trails of dead skin. Hey guys, he said. Slept okay? What do you want for breakfast? What’s your agenda for today?

Today we are making asses of ourselves, Mansoor said. What, what, Fatima said. I burst out laughing, and clapped my hands. Irfan and Fatima exchanged glances. Zaynab burst into the room on her toes, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.

Today is a brand-new me, I said, and threw open my arms. Let’s have some crazy wild fun!

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Destination Bali g

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By Vivienne Kruger

B

ali is a very devout, sacred Hindu island—a shining green emerald etched into the equatorial heart of the primeval, volcanic Indonesian archipelago.

Bali continues to maintain its ancient cultural links to India—it is an adamant and joyous outpost of Hindu reverence and religion. A ring of high, coastal perimeter temples guards their sacred, secret island both from invaders—and from the omnipresent forces of lurking, local black magic practitioners. The Balinese are secure under this divine benediction: everything that they do is done under the protection of the gods.

The Balinese will never give up their deities, sacred religious foods, village priests, cycle of offerings, village ceremonies, temple anniversaries, and extravagant, traffic-stopping processions.

Local Balinese women in brightly colored, pink and yellow lace kebayas and silken sarongs parade through the narrow village streets in breathtaking, traffic-stopping, single ceremonial file. They balance heavy, six-foot-high, layered-fruit offering towers (banten tegeh) on their heads while enroute to visit another village temple. I took a oneday class at Ubud’s Puri Lukisan Museum on how to construct the offering tower (the trick is in a hidden, vertical interior stand and sharp bamboo sticks to affix the fruit in even rows!)

There are elaborately carved, strategically placed paras stone temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, and Lord Vishnu in every single village on the island—long referred to as “the island of ten thousand temples.”

The Balinese will invite you to come to their homes to share their ceremonies, home art galleries, village cooking, and weddings.

Royal cremation ceremonies showcase Bali’s devotion to the Hindu divinities. Everything else stops—time itself ceases and freezes solid—whenever a massive, elaborate cremation ceremony must be staged to honor (and consecrate to the flames) a king or member of the royal palace of Ubud. Indian tourists to Bali will be warmly welcomed, and you will find much that is familiar in shared roots

Bali, “the island of ten thousand temples.”

and religion—but with a delicious Balinese cultural twist!

“Spiritual growth and health tourism” options are abundant in the rice-field-ringed, traditional village heart of Bali. Ubud is the cultural capital and sacred healing center of Bali, blessed with an abundance of yoga studios, spas, herbal healing sanctuaries, beauty and massage treatments, traditional healers, local village balian, jamu sellers, beauty regimens, natural beauty products, Balinese dance performances, health meditation teachers, and holistic intuitive healers.

Shadow Puppet Performance

Ubud is the perfect setting to see a wayang kulit shadow puppet performance— a spiritualized art form which still holds tremendous power in Bali and Java. The highly trained dalang (puppet master) assumes formidable supernatural powers (he

is almost in trance) during the entire wayang performance. Sequestered behind an oil lamp-lit screen, he re-enacts ancient familiar scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana legends (spliced with contemporary, often comical, Balinese social and political commentary). He uses and manipulates his own large, ornate, powerful collection of carefully crafted and blessed, magically charged puppet characters. Behind the glow of the ancient oil lamp, he is an otherworldly spiritual force to be reckoned with—and treated with great care and deference. The wayang kulit can typically go on for hours on special ritual occasions. Young Balinese couples will still hire a wayang group to stage a performance at their home wedding ceremony to entertain the guests.

Balinese Wayang Kulit shadow plays take place in conjunction with temple celebrations or other religious gatherings. The first

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 41

time that I saw the wayang was in Ubud in the 1990s—I was captivated and entranced by both the ink-black, night-time, rubblestrewn performance space and the sacred ritual subtext of the experience. The purpose of the wayang is to bless the occasion by inviting ancestral spirits to visit the location.

Bountiful offerings are presented before, during, and after the performance, which may last from three to four hours. Balinese wayang is not an all night performance as it is in Java. Plays usually begin sometime between nine and eleven o’clock. The Balinese dalang takes on the role of priest, performing acts of offering and cleansing. Mantras are recited before and after the performance.

A primary purpose of the shadow play is for the dalang to make holy water—to be used for prayer and to bless the area and the participants. Holy water is prepared by adding flowers to water from a high stream, and reciting mantras with incense and sprinklings of rice (abundant offerings are also presented).

Natural Spas

Luscious-smelling, organic spa products manufacturers are clustered in the environs of Ubud—offering their own brand of authentic, village boreh scrubs. These poultices originated in the golden age of Balinese rice cultivation. Tending the bright green, terraced rice field rings, the farmers were constantly exposed to the raw elements. They labored under the heat of the sun—standing fast against tropical gusts—while mired knee-deep in damp earth, irrigated, mirrorlike flooded paddy fields, and pools of water.

This gave rise to assorted muscular aches and pains. The cure was a restorative boreh powder—a combination of medicinal roots, spices, and bark crushed into a healing pack.

Bali’s ancient, indigenous boreh—a healing and warming paste used for sickness—warms the body, enhances blood circulation, relieves aching joints and sore muscles, and enhances skin elasticity. The fresh herbal aromatics also relieve headaches, colds, flu, and runny noses. It is commonly applied to the forehead and temples, shoulders, back, foot, knee, and legs. Following a harsh day hoeing in the fields, the boreh provides welcome warmth to cold rural legs and feet. After the farmer washes up, eats dinner, and gets ready for bed, the pack will be applied and left in place throughout the night (especially during the cooler rainy season). It will be rinsed off in the morning. This warming sequence is also applied in modern, “traditional spa treatments,” with boreh described as a body warmer, beauty scrub/body scrub, healing paste and exfoliant all at the same time— both remedial and cosmetic.

42 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

Cokorda Rai Ceremony Blessing with Holy Water, Ubud

A healing boreh product is usually composed of fresh coconut oil, flowers, aromatic roots, cardamom, cinnamon, wild ginger, galangal, cloves, pepper, nutmeg and rice powder. All ingredients are milled into powders and blended with warm water for immediate use. The archetypal bark and cloves blend has a pleasant odor (brown rice acts as a glutinous viscous base). The paste is applied to areas of ailment and then left to dry. In the villages, you can see the typically rugged Balinese elders with patches of dried boreh on their temples, arms, and legs. Different ailments may call for alternate or additional ingredients such as sandalwood, mesui, and sitok (other indigenous tree barks), coriander, bengle (a type of plant widely used in local and Chinese medicine), and an extensive list of herbs. Older Balinese (even with a mild cold) will send a child to purchase a list

y u n ec e g nd find inne e ce y u c e ud. of herbs and spices from a small, traditional warung stall across the village road, or simply gather some home-grown roots and leaves from their back yard gardens and fields.

A relaxing, rejuvenating day spa indulgence is another integral element in Ubud’s arsenal of healing, happiness, and wellness choices. I recommend the Tamarind Spa at Murni’s Houses in Ubud for the ultimate in luxurious, body-pampering bliss. It lives up to its beautiful name—a place for magical caretaking, delicious scents, and the ultimate in body and soul rejuvenation. Most

spa products in Bali are natural and contain local Balinese herbs, plants, flowers, and spices grown in Ubud’s equatorial, tropical highland Garden of Eden. The native plants used in the Tamarind Spa all grow in rich, local volcanic soil. The village of Ubud (obad means “medicine” in Balinese) is the source of many of the Tamarind Spa’s superior concoctions—a naturally fertile area lush with emerald green leaves, roots, barks, and herbs.

In Bali, spiritual income is as important as physical income: the use of raw, organic spa ingredients benefits the local farmers.

Honeycomb may come from area bee keepers, and seaweed is brought over from Bali’s pristine sister island, Nusa Lembongan. The high quality of the fragrant ingredients enhances the Spa’s body and bath treatments, scrubs, facials, massages, and exfoliants. You will stare—with love and longing, and anticipation—at your beautiful, fragrant bar of soap sitting on the treatment room ledge. It awaits your every us pleasure. This is the type of soap that you bond with—that you build an intimate relationship with—an indulgent delight! You may find yourself lingering in the gorgeous hot shower in a fragrant haze. Your skin feels soft, silky, smooth, and relaxed—like everyone and everything else in Bali.

For the ultimate Balinese spa experience, you must take the famous, flower-filled, mandi lulur bathtub extravaganza—which originated in the sumptuous royal palaces of Java to preserve the beauty of the pampered royal princesses. You will luxuriate for an hour in a warm, gleaming tub filled with fresh flower petals, red hibiscus blossoms, and vivid marigold flowers and sip hot ginger

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tea from small, elegant, celadon-green stoneware cups. It does not get any better than this.

The nearby Tjampuhan Hotel and Spa on Jalan Raya Tjampuhan (near the old Dutch suspension bridge) is another wellestablished, wellness destination in Ubud. It offers a unique Romanesque grotto setting decorated with traditional Balinese carvings and stonework set into the river valley. Hot and cold whirlpool baths compete with multi-level, gladiator-like natural, tree ringed pools: I lingered here all afternoon in amazed bliss. The cliffside day massage beds are unique in the world: clients can relax “en plain air,” accompanied by the relaxing sounds and sights of the rushing river below.

I had hours of fun watching a beautiful, brightly colored, yellow and brown striped snail slowly crawl up the rocky wall of my open-air massage space.

Yoga and Healing

If you want to recover, grow, and find inner peace, you must come to Ubud. Ubud’s organic/healing sensibilities run deep: some of the finest and most creative yoga studios in the world make their home in the sanctuary of this bustling, rice-field bracketed Balinese village. Linda Madani’s Intuitive Flow yoga studio is perched high above the stone stairs leading up to the bucolic, beautiful local village of Penestenan. A Canadian expat, Linda, has done advanced spiritual training with a member of Ubud’s royal family, Cokorda Rai, in ancient Balinese yoga and healing techniques. Her gorgeous, Intuitive Flow yoga space has a wrap-around view of the lush countryside below: classes with Linda are a life-changing, life-enhancing, “spiritual yoga” odyssey.

Bali has a worldwide reputation as a monastic refuge of restorative healing, renewal, and health. The massive Bali Spirit Yoga Barn studio on Jalan Hanoman in Ubud is

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relaxing, friendly, comfortable, earthy and unpretentious. Here, you can nourish your body, mind and soul. The Yoga Barn has five yoga studios with wooden walls and floors, blessed by a myriad of carved Ganesha statues. The multi-level Yoga Barn is nestled in an oasis amidst lush rice paddies, an organic farm, and a jungle ravine: it is a Balinese architectural miracle of local green grasses, lotus ponds and bamboo.

A center of spirituality, the Yoga Barn offers delicious organic vegetarian food, a yoga clothing boutique, and a full roster of mind and body-opening yoga classes, retreats, yoga festivals, and yoga teacher training courses. The instructors are international “yoga teachers in extended residence” in magical Ubud (from the United States, Australia, and beyond). It is a very liberating experience to enjoy your yoga practice

in this special, supportive, transformational environment: “If you hug Ubud, it will hug you back!” I bought a special seven-day pass to the Yoga Barn, and was in residence there from morning until night for one of the best weeks of my life!

I finally learned the meaning of the all too common “monkey mind” expression:

fin lly le ned he e ning he ll c n n ey ind e essi n. like an overactive macaque, our unquiet, unsettled thoughts are always jumping from tree to tree! Nor will I ever forget Bodi Whittaker’s “bliss ball” teachings—straight from Byron Bay, Australia. Hold your palms body-width apart, facing each other in front of you. Imagine that there is a large round bliss ball between them. You can feel the very palpable, joyous positive energy running between your hands. Use it as an open-ended source of happiness, peace, and enlightenment. It works! n Vivienne Kruger, Ph.D. is the author of Balinese Food: The Traditional Cuisine and Food Culture of Bali, 2014. Vivienne Kruger launched her own tour company and is leading fabulous, fully guided two-week tour groups to Bali. Please visit www.balinesefoodculturaltourstobali.blogspot.com for complete information and booking.

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feature

Drought Changes Water Rights History in California Repeating Punjabi history in California?

W

hen Governor Jerry Brown asked urban dwellers to curtail their usage of water, it caused an uproar.

The culprit was agriculture, and it was sucking up eighty percent of California’s water at 8.6 trillion gallons per year. A sword now hung over the heads of the farmers. It threatened to take away the water they did have. Some farmers whose rights to water were protected by long-standing riparian laws were worried that this drought would rewrite history.

Among the farmers, the water right priority system is what determines who gets to use water in times of shortage. “Junior water right holders will be told to cease their diversions first in times of shortage so that water is available to meet senior water right holders’ needs. In general, the most senior are riparian water right holders. They are adjacent to the water body and are using water on the land that abuts the water body. Next are the appropriators. Their rights are based on the concept of first in time, first in right. “The ones with more recent rights (junior water right holders) are curtailed first,” explains the Water Authority, which decides who gets how much water and what gets planted.

Junior water right holders in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds and others have already been curtailed for the second consecutive year, but this year the seniors fear that the government may be forced

By Ritu Marwah

A Creative Commons Image by CIAT to cut their rights too, which so far have been protected by history. What has been rightfully theirs since before 1914 may be taken away. The concern is what would they do if they planted the field for the summer with row crops like tomatoes, potatoes and asparagus, and the government withdrew their right to water? San Joaquin’s farmers, with senior rights, thought they must take preventive action before the government takes deeper or unpredictable cuts. It was suggested and agreed, that in the interest of realistic planning they would work with the authorities and volunteer to use one quarter less of their water. Farmers with senior rights from the Sacramento Valley agreed to join in.

Map of soil moisture conditions across the U.S. as of January 13th. NOAA/NCDC 56 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

Riparian laws had existed in Punjab as well. When India got independence, each state had ownership of the rivers and lakes that ran through their state but that had not stopped the Indian government in 1966 from declaring that it was giving away Punjab’s water to Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. Could the drought repeat Punjabi history in California?

The senior farmers, to manage the risk of potentially deeper curtailment, offered to give up twenty five per cent of their water rights in exchange for assurances they would not face further riparian curtailment during the JuneSeptember growing season. The state accepted their offer. Thus the ongoing drought forced one of the most important concessions and marked the first cuts to the state’s most senior water rights holders anywhere in the state since the 1970s, and the first in memory to senior rights holders along the San Joaquin.

The Sacramento River, the principal river of Northern California, flows south from the Klamath Mountains. The San Joaquin River runs north towards San Francisco Bay, through the Central Valley. Both rivers merge in the delta near Sacramento and flow under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific Ocean. Farms along both rivers need water.

The difference between the two valleys is that the Sacramento Valley is not as short on water as the Central Valley. The Sacramento River is fat, fed by the melting snows, rain and its many tributaries while the San Joaquin River is dry by the time it reaches Fresno, drained of all its water by the canals which draw water into the farms that fan out from the river’s shores. The Sacramento River area gets more rain and loses less water to the air as the temperatures are lower.

It is less hot in the valley of the Sacramento River. The Central or the San Joaquin Valley is parched and hot. A sacrifice of water by the farmers of San Joaquin means cutting back on what they desperately need.

On 22nd May, 2015, the New York Times reported “on Friday, in a sign of how the record-setting drought is shaking up established ways here, state officials accepted an offer from farmers in the Sacramento-San

Joaquin River Delta to give up a quarter of their water this season, either by leaving part of their land unplanted or finding other ways to reduce their water use. In return, the state has assured them that it will not seek further reductions for the growing season. The deal was symbolic and potentially precedent-setting, reported the Times.

A map of the current status of the water levels in the major state reservoirs. As can be seen the situation is worse in the northern two-thirds of the state than in the southern section. Source: California Department of Water Resources

“A water right gives the holder legal permission to use water for beneficial purposes, such as for agriculture, municipal water supply, recreation and the environment. Water right holders do not own the water, but they have the right to beneficially use reasonable amounts of it, when water is available under their priority of right. Drought has given a major blow to Punjabi farming community and California’s agricultural economy, but I am confident that they will eventually rebound and farmers will use water more efficiently in the future,” says Mr. Jitender (Jay) Puniha, who has extensive experience working for California Department of Water Resources and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board. “The Californian weather pattern historically gives us hope that the drought has run its course.” The el Nino, flooding Texas in May may predict a wet winter for Californian city and farm dwellers.

While we wait with bated breath, eyes raised to the sky, the Californian drought has indeed taught us we must nail some new rules and plans to the trees. n Ritu Marwah has pursued theater, writing, marketing, startup management, raising children, coaching debate and hiking. Ritu graduated from Delhi with a master’s degree in business, joined the Tata Group and worked in London for ten years.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 57

58 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

music

Bollywood Hums to New Zealander’s Tunes

By Priya Bhatt Das

S

urprising fact: a New Zealander created the music for the Bollywood movies Margarita with a Straw and Bombay Velvet. He won “Best Composer” at the 2015 Asian Film Awards for the former. His name is Mikey McCleary.

McCleary was born in Chennai to New Zealander parents, but then moved out of India. When you listen to his music, it feels like 1970s-80s Bollywood music on steroids. His website, mikeymccleary.com has a sampling of his work, including Quick Gun Murugan, many well known commercials (Lakme, Cinthol, TVS Scooty), and a couple of his own albums. All of his work has a distinct, smooth sound that blends western and Indian influences.

How does a New Zealander “get” Bollywood? McCleary is not sure how that came to be, saying “Perhaps my family’s connection with India has helped me adapt. I’ve always enjoyed doing many different styles of music and I like the challenge of trying to understand Indian music and incorporate elements in my work.”

McCleary was re-introduced to India when he was working for a studio in London, focusing on Western music. He got

because it’s such a fascinating place and full of interesting music opportunities.

Which was your first TV commercial and first film?

It was a Lakme TV ad sung by Anushka Manchanda. First film was Aao Wish Karein.

were working on it, or just the plot, or …

First, I read the script and then worked on a few songs which were needed preshoot. After that, I saw many different edits as the film was fine-tuned. During that period, I did most of my composition for the other songs and the music score.

What made you think up “Bartender,” the stage name for your own albums? Could you expand on that, share that moment of epiphany?

Well, it was a combination of things. When I started playing around with old songs and reinventing them, I was making “smoky late night bar” type versions of these songs. The name Bartender seemed to suit the mood.

Also Bartenders mix up concoctions much like I mix up music.

Specifically about Margarita with a Straw: How did that come about?

I met the director, Shonali Bose, I had this feeling of “I must try living in after Shaad Ali recIndia sometime” building up inside me. I ommended me to We started work came here because it’s such a fascinating her. on this film more place and full of interesting music oppor- than two years ago.

Despite it being tunities. stretched out, the process always relucky, literally, when he met Lucky Ali and mained fresh and captivating. The last song started making music for his albums. That (“Choone Chali Aasman”) was the toughest collaboration spurred him into attending Into finish. Even though the composition came dian music concerts and working with other really fast we couldn’t find the right voice to music directors such as A.R. Rahman. sing the song. After trying seven different The following interview Mikey McCleary voices out, we came back to the first singer attempts to score his career.

Rachel Varghese. Often, first instincts are best. Winning the best composer award at When and why did you decide to move to BomAsian Film Awards was a huge bonus, parbay? ticularly as I was getting married in New I moved about seven years ago. I had this Zealand at the time of the award ceremony. feeling of ‘I must try living in India sometime’ building up inside me. I came here Did you get to see rushes of the movie while you

You are a music man. How do you craft your videos, which have an edgy vibe of their own?

Last year I made eight music videos. Many had interesting stories. I think the simplest and best one is “The little things you do” featuring Anushka Manchanda. It was just Anushka, my director of photography and I who went off to Goa and made this video with very little budget and no production help. Somehow, it turned out nice.

In another one called “Aaj ki Raat” I created a film noir mystery story which involved romance, betrayal and murder in the bath tub. This was a huge challenge because we had many actors, it was technically very difficult in terms of lighting and set design, plus I tried to fit the plot of a full feature film into a three minute video.

(Both of these videos can be watched at mikeymccleary.com) n Priya Das is an enthusiastic follower of world music and avidly tracks intersecting points between folk, classical, jazz, and other genres.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 59

films

Crass Warfare

By Aniruddh Chawda

DIL DHADAKNE DO. Director: Zoya Akhtar. Players: Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab. Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Lyrics: Javed Akhtar. Hindi with Eng. Sub-tit. Theatrical release (T-Series)

I

n these boom times for India’s economy —already the seventh largest in the world—leisure time and exotic vacations are increasingly within reach of an everexpanding middle class. Cruise ship travel, for example, is suddenly a family summer getaway possibility. For the emerging middle class, what could be better than taking one’s terra firma modern problems out to high seas on what promises to be an eventful cruise? Fashioned after that thought, Dil Dhadakne Do, a seven seas romantic comedy set almost entirely on a cruise ship, more-orless balances the wave motion while wringing through wet sordid upper-crust angst to dock into a surprisingly astute and slam dunk fun formula.

Director Akhtar and co-scriptwriter Reema Kagti wade deep into family waters to reel in the highfalutin 1-percenter Mehra clan that invites about a thousand or so of their closest friends on a Mediterranean junket.

Kamal (Kapoor), the patriarch, is secretly triangulating for a business white knight to rescue the family’s struggling empire. His wife Neelam (Shetty), makes a little too obvious the distance that 30 years of marriage has created between the couple. Kamal would like nothing more than for his underachieving son Kabir (Singh) to take over the keys to the kingdom while overlooking the shrewdly entrepreneurial daughter Ayesha (Chopra), who is by all measures an accomplished self-made businesswoman—even as she tolerates a cold, dismissive husband (Bose).

The gimmicky yet observant nuance of chunks of the dialog “spoken” by the human thoughts of the family dog Pluto (memorably voiced by Aamir Khan) provides comical insight into what ails not only the Mehras but also other assorted shipside fauna.

There is Farah (Sharma), the onboard cabaret dancer that catches Kabir’s eye and Sunny (Akhtar), an old flame of Ayesha’s who may just throw a pebble into the pond that is Ayesha’s otherwise stagnant existence.

60 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

This longish three-hour-cruise could have done with one or two fewer ports of call. Still, like she did with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), underneath the spectacle of shallowness, director Akhtar engages with a nudge towards basic human elements with which the Mehras and their well-heeled entourage sometimes desperately need to reconnect. That the filmmaker is able to tie all loose knots into the harbor so neatly is even more remarkable considering the huge allstar cast—perhaps the biggest ensemble of a marquee roll call since Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2002).

For added luster, Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s catchy soundtrack will no doubt end up on car dashboards and MP3 players this summer. This includes the Roaring Twenties jazzy number “Girls Like to Swing” (Sunidhi Chauhan), filmed on Sharma and her dance troop on an elaborate dinner-stage, and is a retro delight. Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar come up with decent chops in the title track, while the “Gallan Goodiyan” bhangra number figuratively brings to fore the afore-mentioned thousand guests who all appear to join in the rumpus.

As a respected big-budget filmmaker who can draw A-list talent before and behind the camera, Zoya Akhtar’s nearest contemporary big tent equal is Farah Khan whose movies, even though they earn far more money, are generally confined to churning out over-the-top Shahrukh Khan home projects (Happy New Year, Om Shanti Om). The fact that both these women firmly stand their ground and make successive box office hits in an otherwise male-dominated career track attests to the changing headwinds in Hindi cinema.

Aside from some gorgeous Mediterranean port of calls that include Tunisia’s Roman ruins, Paris’s riverfront and Istanbul’s Bosphorus as well as the magnificent Blue Mosque as backdrops, it is director Akhtar’s chisel-sharp floating microcosm that airs out stiflingly closed upper-crust slices from lives jaded by riches. Most deck-side hangers-on are wannabe nouveau riche who are more posers than actual movers, more crass than class. Their social passports are devised entirely out of gossip, faux scandals fabricated out of innuendo and the perceived misfortune of others who may or may not be in the same income tier or station in life. Dil Dhadakne Do is perhaps the closest that polite society gets to soft-core wealth porn. n EQ: A Globe trekker, aesthete, photographer, ski bum, film buff, and commentator, Aniruddh Chawda writes from Milwaukee.

LATA’S FLICK PICKS Velvet Bombay ku Pi  eturn  Weds Manu R Tanu Mr. X li Leela Ek Paheram Sankat ha D Ek   

Learning to Lose: A South Asian Saga

By Sagaree Jain

MISS INDIA AMERICA. Director: Ravi Kapoor. Writers: Ravi Kapoor and Meera Simhan.

Players: Tiya Sircar, Hannah Simone, Kosha Patel, Meera Simhan, Bernard White. Producers: Megha Kadakia and Saurabh K.

R

avi Kapoor’s 2014 Miss India America opens on a comfortably familiar graduation ceremony. The sun is shining, the parents are proud, and the valedictorian is delivering a speech so oily it is a wonder her hat remains on her head. The girl, energetic and oblivious, is Lily Prasad, and as she orates on the value of winning, she points towards her father as an example of a man who has won, despite growing up in a slum in India.

“Well,” he mutters in the audience, apparently to the white family next to him, “not technically a slum.”

This moment too, with its awkward weight of the Indian American diasporic narrative, is familiar.

“Miss India America” is a beauty pageant for Desi girls in Los Angeles. Lily, the protagonist played by Tiya Sircar, enters after a humiliating break up with a high school boyfriend. But “Miss India America” is also a perfect designation for Lily, a character composed mostly of the pressure of fulfilling a certain post-immigration trajectory. Lily must always win. Her friends, family, and plans all exist in a careful hierarchy of winners and losers, success and non-success. Her neurosis is exacerbated by her father, a loving but often oblivious man. Having already and dramatically achieved success, Lily’s fathercomforts Lily with the fact that she, too, is a winner, rather than forcing her to confront deeper questions about her goals.

Her boyfriend’s desertion is not so much a break of heart as a break in the life plan: Harvard, Johns Hopkins, job as a neurosurgeon, house with a view, two well-behaved children. When this boyfriend embarks on a path different from her own, reading poetry and dating last year’s Miss India America, Lily sets off to win him back in the most clear-cut competition available to her.

And so, it is the Miss India America pageant that becomes the field to test Lily’s

convictions, replete with delightfully bizarre supporting cast, pretensions, and moral dilemmas. The beauty of this setting absolutely lay in its loving details of Indian Los Angeles: in enrolling for the pageant, for example, Lily and best friend Seema find that the auspicious numbers in the competition order have aggressively been taken on the advice of various LA Panditjis. The opening dinner is populated by washed up pageant queens and Bollywood stars that form a Desi version of faded LA glamor. New Girl’s Hannah Simone plays Lily’s nemesis in the pageant, a woman named Sonia Nielson, aloof, enigmatic, but in tune with the emotional requirements of the pageant. When Sonia Nielson rounds out an exquisitely delivered speech from Shakespeare’s Richard III with a plaintive “meri beti,” adorning the prose with Hindi for maximum auntie appeal, Kapoor touches on something very sweet and funny about the game of approval many well-off, first generation Indian Americans play with the elder generation. All of it exists within a heady competition, stressed by surrounding mothers, aunties, and the open need of the girls themselves. Just the invocation of this syncretic world is fascinating, cathartic, comedic.

Another beauty of Miss India America is its constant comparison of the largely predictable Lily Prasad to the dynamic women around her. Her best friend Seema, played by Kosha Patel, is in some ways a better-rounded character. Seema’s complex of inferiority and genuine kindness is engaging and sweet in a film filled with overeager competition.

Lily’s interaction with Lily’s emotional journey also has much to do with her mother, played by Meera Simhan, an award-winning poet who Lily largely dismisses. In struggling to understand her mother, Lily is also presented with an idea of success not quite comfortable for her. And, of course, the lovely Sonia Nielson presents a sharp contrast to Lily, who is confused and frustrated by Sonia’s total lack of neurosis. The fabric of Miss India America is textured and stretched by these definitively female energies, testing the boundaries of Lily’s narrow mind.

Ultimately, the conclusion of Miss India America feels like a first step. Lily comes to the understanding that winning is not, in the end, everything, but some of her engagement with ideas of compassion, even with the diasporic narrative as the backdrop for her own neurosis, seems shallow. The slums of India referenced in the first scene reappear at the end of the film, but in a way, shows Lily continues to be, still, stunningly uninformed about the complexity of her parents’ lives in their home country. But Lily has many years to tackle her own history, answer her own questions. Rather than engaging in these thorny topics, Miss India America instead shows Lily developing real gratitude for the community it details, borne of displacement and achievement. It is filled with tributes to this broad, subtle system of love: its women, its bharatnatyam studios, its drama, humiliations, paradoxes, and ultimately, its support. n EQ: A Sagaree Jain is an undergraduate student at UC, Berkeley. She studies South Asian History, minors in English, and dreams of writing a thesis on the British Empire. She is spending the summer in Pune with a TATA International Social Entrepreneurs program to work in Corporate Social Responsibility.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 61

Double Fun!

By Madhumita Gupta TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS. Director: Anand L. Rai. Players: Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub and Swara Bhaskar. Music: Krsna Solo, Tanishq. Theater release: Colour Yellow Pictures, Eros International.

A

sequel to a successful but not extraordinary Tanu Weds Manu—how exciting could it be? Could there be anything new about it? Well, yes, the second, quite unrecognizable Kangana. And she did look intriguing enough to warrant the tickets but I went with low expectations.

And I’m glad to report that I was proved resoundingly wrong!

The film begins with a swift recap of the lively wedding in TWM as the credits roll to the very appropriate background song sun sahiba sun, pyaar ki dhun only to immediately transport us to the contrastingly grey and glum exterior of a mental asylum cum marriage-counseling center (don’t ask me) in the snowy Twickenham, UK. We find Tanu (Ranaut) and Manu (Madhavan) standing there at the end of their tethers four years later. The seven–year itch has set in three years too soon. An acrimonious parting further convinces them that theirs is not a marriage made in heaven. Determined to end their farcical marriage, Tanu returns to Kanpur–and as the more impulsive of the two, tries to find the lost spark in the string of her erstwhile “boyfriends”—who range from a rickshaw-wala to the realtor Raja Awasthi (Shergill) who had been abandoned at the altar in the prequel Tanu Weds Manu.

Manu, sick of the whole thing, seems resigned to the idea of returning to bachelordom and to drinking down his sorrows, but then he comes across a young Haryanvi athlete, Kusum aka Datto (an outstanding Ranaut 2). Her resemblance to Tanu makes Manu fall in love again, perhaps on a rebound, and he pursues her till he convinces her of his intentions.

How he goes about overcoming Datto’s and his own bosom-friend, Pappi’s (Dobriyal at his most hilarious) objections; and, after all, whether he still loves the original Tanu and whether she finds love elsewhere or not is what the film is about. The climax is a little contrived and Tanu’s stance unrealistically masochistic, but the performances rise above 62 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

the story and hold it together.

Undoubtedly, this film belongs to Kangana Ranaut. With the recent National Award for Queen under her belt, Ranaut is undeniably a force to reckon with in her two roles of Tanu and Datto. The former is the desi diva —“the Batman, who people hear about but don’t see” as Chintu (Ayyub) puts it in the film—she is the pouty-lipped, made-up, shallow and selfish little doll. Kusum or Datto on the other hand is the innocent, sorted and independent athlete who is touchingly proud of her ability to support herself and her family. Kangana, in a triumph of a performance, lives the part of Datto, her act is pat from the quizzical expressions to her boyish gait and perfect Haryanvi accent. Much hoo-haa is usually made when a super-star “preps” for a role—how he got his eight-packs or learnt this or that dialect, but Kangana leaves them all behind as she takes on this challenging role which isn’t like anything she has ever done before. She is in a class of her own.

The other character who deserves a very special mention is Deepak Dobriyal as Madhavan’s friend. We knew he was a great comic but in TMW2 he comes to his own and is side-splittingly funny as Madhavan’s confused friend who has his own fish to fry.

Madhavan serves as a foil to Ranaut in both her avatars and is consistent falling out and in love again. He gracefully gives Ranaut her space and still holds his own as the disgruntled husband who is wondering what he has let himself in for. Shergill also comes from the line of those secure actors who know they’re good and don’t believe in hogging the space. Another actor to watch out for is Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, as

the crafty, small-time lawyer from Uttar Pradesh who falls for the charms of Tanu despite calling her “didi.”

A star in its own right is the writing of the film.

While there are several loopholes and contrivances in the film, the dialogues sparkle with wit and humour without resorting to crassness anywhere. Take a bow, Himanshu Sharma! Anand L. Rai deserves praise as he has made small-town milieu his own with Kanpur and Lucknow-based characters in TMW and then in Ranjhnaa. In TWM2 too he delivers, proving to be completely in sync with his surroundings. His mastery over the medium is apparent in some scenes lifted straight out of life, like the one in which Manu, his father and Pappi are bonding over drinks. We hear the irate mother’s non-stop complaints from inside the house to which none of the three seem to pay any attention, till the father—fed up of the tirade, coolly brandishes a floor-wiper and smashes the tube-light.

As far as music is concerned, though nothing extraordinary, the songs fit in as they are feisty and folksy, specially, “Banno tera swagger sexy lage,” Krsna Solo and TanishkVayu have done their job well. Chiranatna Das’s cinematography captures Kanpur and Jhajhar village very realistically.

While we can question how a man can fall in love with a look-alike of a wife whom he hates; how a wife returns to her not-sorosy marriage only on discovering that her previous beaus are all unavailable; and how she tortures herself by helping out and dancing at her own husband’s wedding, what remains far above any question are the superb performances and the well-written sequences which help us glide over the bumpy bits in the story.

TWM: Returns is another one in the line of clean comedies which do not depend on the crutch of crass to raise the guffaws. n EQ- A Madhumita Gupta is a freelance writer and a teacher.

katha

India Currents and Khabar are pleased to announce the results of

DESI FICTION CONTEST 2015 Thank you to all for submitting your story to Katha: Desi Fiction Contest 2015. As the judges can attest, it was a very tough job to identify the finalists. The judging was completely blind. To all the writers who submitted, it is important to keep in mind that a writer is one who writes, researches, records and reflects. So keep writing and keep submitting. Congratulations to all the winners!

2015 Winners:

First Place: Unsaid by Iqbal Pittalwala, Cherry Valley, California Second Place: Miss, Dolly and Hulk by Jyothi Vinod, Bengaluru, India Third Place: 10-4 by Sanjoy Ganguly, San Jose, California Honorable Mention: • Brink by Tanvi Buch, Los Altos, California • Courage by Vivek Santhosh, San Francisco, California This year's judges were Vikram Chandra and Sonia Faleiro.

Vikram Chandra's works include, Red Earth and Pouring Rain (a novel), Love and Longing in Bombay (collection of short stories), Sacred Games (a novel) and Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, The Code of Beauty (non-fiction). He currently divides his time between Bombay and Berkeley, California, where he teaches creative writing at the University of California.

Sonia Faleiro is the award-winning author of Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Bars, acclaimed as one of NPR's Five Best Travel Memoirs of 2012, CNN's Mumbai Book of the Year, and The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year. In 2011 Sonia was awarded the Karmaveer Puraskaar for Social Justice "for drawing attention to India's most vulnerable and writing about them with humanity and integrity."

INDIA CURRENTS Celebrating 29 years of excellence

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64 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

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Kuchipudi Art Center (Artistic Director: Smt. Sunita Pendekanti) Presents

Kuchipudi Rangapravesam of

Veena Velury

On

Saturday, August 1, 2015 :00 pm 2015,, 4 4:00 Musicians: Nattuvangam: Sunita Pedenkanti Vocal: Snigdha Venkataramani Mrudangam: Hari Babu Violin: Susheela Narasimhan Veena: Hrishikesh Chary Flute: Prasanna Rajan Venue:

Woodside High School Performing Arts Center 199 Churchill Avenue, Woodside CA 94062

For More Info: Vijaya Velury (510)-794-5444 Email: vvelury@gmail.com

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books

Low Brow, High Readership

By Rajesh C. Oza 2 STATES: THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE

by Chetan Bhagat. Rupa, 2009, 269 pages.

T

hose of you who furrow your brows around the highfalutin books often reviewed in these pages, kindly relax and please know that there are at least two types of books that readers enjoy. High-brow or low-brow, it would seem that as far as novel writing goes, there is more than one way to do it.

Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States: The Story of My Marriage (aka, 2S:TSoMM ) is a sentimental novel with populist appeal that the youth of India have been raving about for many years.

Originally published in 2009, the book’s film adaptation was released on the silver screen in 2014 under the truncated filmy-friendly title 2 States. Perhaps in Bhagat’s case, “golden screen” would be more apropos, since he possesses a Midas touch in writing novels that inevitably find their way into the hearts of audiences and the coffers of film producers seeking super-hits: Five Point Someone adapted to 3 Idiots; One Night @ the Call Center to Hello; The 3 Mistakes of My Life to Kai Po Che!; and Revolution 2020 to a not yet released film.

2S:TSoMM is transmutational, in the way an alchemist transmutates lead into gold. While those inclined to call it “low brow” might smirk at this faux jewelry of fiction, it is a jewel nonetheless. It just lacks the Tiffany-esque imprimatur of prizes and prominent placement in the New York Times Book Review. But 2S:TSoMM has what every author dreams of: a reading public. Stroll on most any sidewalk in urban India or step onto almost any Indian railway platform, and you’ll have ready access to this book; indeed, if my recent experience in Bangalore with Sharif, a roadside vendor of books, is an accurate indicator, you’re likely to have available Bhagat’s entire corpus. To be sure, Sharif and his colleagues peddle pirated copies for a fraction of the published price, but perhaps the author is smiling all the way to the bank since his books may serve as a publicity vehicle for the film adaptations, which bring home crores of rupees to “Bhagat Inc.” (or is that ink?).

But this is neither a review of films, nor a discussion of jugaad (frugal, street corner, improvised, hacked) publishing economics.

As a recent article in Scientific American 68 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

While there is more to Bhagat’s magic than outlined above, hopefully this review compensates for years of neglect by this selfiden ified high reviewer. asked (and answered), “What of the fabled transmutation of lead to gold? It is indeed possible—all you need is a particle accelerator, a vast supply of energy and an extremely low expectation of how much gold you will end up with.” Bhagat and 2S:TSoMM meet the criteria established by Scientific American: both author and book are particle accelerators with a vast supply of energy of sorts (having published a book every year or two, Bhagat takes a small idea and moves it from concept

to completion with tremendous energy, and his novel’s pace and plotting reflect that same relentless movement). And while 2S:TSoMM has a moment or two of literary sunshine, its author seems to have little interest in abstract metaphors that might raise the expectations of readers seeking to enjoy a sunny story.

2S:TSoMM is a feel-good novel about an MBA student from North India who marries a fellow IIM student from the South. The tag line on the book’s back cover pretty much covers the narrative: “Love marriages around the world are simple: Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. They get married. In India, there are a few more steps: Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. Girl’s family has to love boy. Boy’s family has to love girl. Girl’s family has to love boy’s family. Boy’s family has to love girl’s family. Girl and boy still love each other. They get married.”

That is the essence of this novel; and it is the foundation of so many Bollywood romantic comedies. This is a formula that never goes stale; and with attractive, fresh-faced stars, a little bit of direction and choreography, and a lot of catchy music, it becomes a formula for a super-hit.

While there is more to Bhagat’s magic than outlined above, hopefully this review compensates for years of neglect by this selfidentified high-brow reviewer. And perhaps it may encourage a reader or two (million) to pick up Chetan Bhagat’s recently published Half Girlfriend. Of course, this reviewer vastly overestimates his own impact on the reading public. For example, though I have reviewed the Nobelist V. S. Naipaul numerous times in these pages, when I asked Sharif, the Bangalore bookseller, for a dusty copy of Naipaul’s Half a Life, he said, “Paul who?” Clearly, Sharif had very few customers requesting highfalutin fare.

I shuddered in the muddy Indian rain and raced over to the august Oxford Bookstore, housed next to the regal Leela Palace hotel, and found plenty of copies of Naipaul’s prizewinning books. n In appreciation of Balkrishna Oza, who let a much younger RCO ride on his shoulders and taught him that all kinds of writing (ranging from aerogram letters to prize winners to Sunday comics to cereal boxes) has value, as do all kinds of people.

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Saving Grandma

By Tara Menon GRANDMA AND THE GREAT GOURD,

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Roaring Brook Press, 2013.

C

hitra Banerjee Divakaruni, one of my favorite writers, whose twin strengths are an ear for language and an innate storytelling prowess, is not only prolific, but also versatile. Her books, whether they are poetry, collections of short stories, or fiction for adults or children, have an excellence that make me eagerly anticipate her next work.

Currently, Divakaruni has debuted in the picture book category with the retelling of a Bengali folktale for children between the ages of five to eight. Grandma and the Great Gourd is an easy read, one that will immerse the reader into a traditional world, where a wise old woman outwits three enemies. The writer sticks to the familiar terrain of folktales, without any genre-bending, and she appears to have stayed true to the original version. As demanded by this story form, the writer uses simple, straightforward language that occasionally conveys musicality.

The old woman in the story is known as Grandma and Susy Pilgrim Waters, the illustrator, depicts her with a beautiful white dupatta over her head, which can be mistaken for long, lush hair. However, her portrayal works well, especially for those children who are afraid of the elderly. Grandma lives in a village, where she has the best vegetable patch. From her hut, she can hear the jungle sounds of the elephants’ walk, thup-thupthup, or of slithering lizards, khash-khash.

Is Grandma afraid? Not while she has her fiercely loyal dogs Kalu and Bhulu to guard her.

The arrival of her daughter’s letter sets in motion Grandma’s adventures. She decides to cut across the jungle to visit her. Then, sounding very American or sassy, she says, “What’s life without a little adventure?”

Before leaving, she reminds her dogs to take care of her garden. When they tell her to call them if she gets into any trouble, the reader knows for sure she’ll need the canines’ help, as folktales often feature good characters (animals or humans) offering some kind of protection to people who are setting out on an adventure. When Grandma encounters a fox, it almost seems like a reverse Red Riding Hood story, except that Grandma favors 70 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

white and the animal she meets is a fox, who makes his intentions to eat her clear at the outset. Soon the Western fairy tale dissipates from our minds. In spite of a heart that goes dhip-dhip, Grandma outfoxes the fox by telling him to wait until she returns from her daughter’s house, when she’ll be plumper.

Twice more she meets dangerous animals, a bear and a tiger, who like the fox, utter the same polite sentence, “How nice of you to arrive just when I’m so hungry!” This is in keeping with the folklore narrative tradition, where similar sounding phrases are scattered in the text. A scared Grandma tells the bear, and later the tiger, what she told the fox— they would be better off eating her after she returns from visiting her daughter. Grandma has a lovely time at her daughter’s house and, true to her word, becomes plumper after eating the delicious dishes offered to her. When Grandma is ready to return to her beloved dogs and her garden, she tells her daughter that the bear, the tiger, and the fox will be waiting for her. Her daughter comes up with an ingenious solution to the problem!

The next few pages are fun as we follow Grandma traveling through the forest in a sealed giant gourd. There’s a bit of suspense

when the fox comes across the gourd.

However, the folktale has a happy ending since Grandma is the cleverest of them all.

S u s y Pilgrim Wa t e r s , who has done murals for the New York City Public Library and other large scale works, makes her debut as a picture book illustrator with Grandma and the Great Gourd. Her illustrations in the book have a large-scale quality to them. In addition, they are vivid and colorful. The foliage in the cover picture is reminiscent of Indian fabric, but lovely Grandma surprisingly wears a long white dress or a kurta sans pajama. In the picture of Grandma’s first encounter with the tiger, the animal’s eye appears glassy and menacing, a wonderful touch. The pairing of Divakaruni’s narration with Waters’s illustrations enhances the story.

Divakaruni’s inspiration to write the story might have stemmed from the fact she first heard it from her grandfather and, later, recounted it to her sons. We feel the writer’s affection for the story, which gets transmitted to the reader. If a writer has fun with her work, can a reader not help getting engaged?

When the last page is turned, readers will hanker for more Bengali folktales or, even, stories featuring a wise old woman. n Tara Menon is a freelance writer based in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her fiction, poetry, and book reviews have been published in many magazines.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 71

72 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

dance & music

KALANJALI Dances of India

BharathaKala Kutiram

Establshed in 1975

CLASSES IN BHARATANATYAM

India's most ancient classical dance

Artistic Director:

Following traditional Kalakshetra syllabus - all levels

Jayanthi Sridharan offers Bharathanatyam Classes in North San Jose

SACRAMENTO, LAFAYETTE, BERKELEY Registration and Information:

510-526-2183

Call: (408) 251-3438

Kalanjaliusa@aol.com

e-mail: bkkdanceschool@gmail.com

Learn Odissi this Year!

Visiting Master Teacher and Performer from India – Pabitra Kumar Pradhan Few match Pabitra Pradhan in the mastery of movement ·Workshops and in-depth of Odissi dance and theory. ·Regular knowledge Classes (includes yoga techniques) · Programs/performances He has been teaching and performing for 20 years. He is in Southern California from June 2015 to May 2016. ·Workshops ·Regular Classes ·Programs/performances

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Dance Director - Sharanya Mukhopadhyay Sharanya, a talented dancer and teacher, has taken Odissi to the mainstream by performing in platforms including the Miss America Pageant. www.sharanyamukhopadhyay.com For Programs, Classical Indian dance, semi-classical, fusion, folk and general choreography call: 714 318 2001; 7143188784 simonti@aol.com; smukhopadhyay1@aol.com or 714 743 1787; sharanyam217@gmail.com

Jayendra Artistic Director:

10th Year of Artistic Excellence Classes offered in a combination of styles including Folk, Semi-Classical, and Fusion at various locations in Cupertino and San Jose.

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July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 73

q&a

Kal Penn Loves India Currents Kal Penn talks about his recent work

By Geetika Pathania Jain

R

emember Harold and Kumar? That’s the first thought that pops up in my mind when I think of Kal Penn.

Standing next to him as we waited to enter the CAAMFest in San Francisco, I struck up a conversation. Kal, it turns out, remembers India Currents fondly for the many opportunities this magazine has given to aspiring artists, writers, and film-makers before they became famous.

Our readers would be delighted to hear that you remember India Currents and are familiar with it. Can you tell us how you first heard of India Currents?

Well, there are a handful of Indo American publications and you end up coming across them. I can’t remember exactly how I first came across India Currents—whether it is through family or through the love that you have given us over the years, through some of the film coverage. We very much appreciate it. I know that a lot of artists really appreciate the community support.

Kal, you are one of the few artists who has managed to cross over from the warm, nurturing, ethnic environment into the mainstream. Do you have any advice for the budding artists, writers, filmmakers?

Oh, you know there are so many really talented South Asian or Indian American artists. It has just exploded, especially in the last 10-15 years. But there were so many even before who are my mentors—folks like Ajay Naidoo, and countless people before me. So really I am not someone who should be offering any advice. I have taken advice from them.

Oh, you are way too modest. Tell me a little bit about the film The Sisterhood of Night that we are going to see today and also about “Bhopal.”

The Sisterhood of Night was shot about three years ago. It is about a group of young girls in a small town in upstate NewYork and a secret society that they form and the hysteria that takes place in the town based on their secret society. It raises questions about things like whether we trust our children—whether 74 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

A Creative Commons Image the girls are doing something nefarious or they are just innocently hanging out together.

It has a lot of very strong female characters and was very refreshing for a male actor to get the opportunity to perform in an environment like that. It was a fantastic group of people, relatively a small, independent film, which was a big plus.

first got in touch with me about five years ago and sent the script. I was so taken aback in a positive way by how layered the script was, and how complex the story line was.

It is not a biopic it is a fictionalized account of one guy’s journey through that whole process.

I enjoyed your role in The Namesake but I was getting flashbacks from Harold and Kumar.

Oh ya! that remains my favorite film.

And how do you like San Francisco?

I love San Francisco. I don’t get to come here as often as I would like to. It is a beautiful, creative, fun city. n

What about Bhopal?

Bhopal is a film written and directed by a guy named Ravi Kumar, also co-written with his writing partner David Brooks. I think they

Geetika Pathania Jain, Ph.D. is the guest Managing Editor of India Currents.

This interview was transcribed by Jyoti Khera.

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events

Madhuri Kishore School of Kuchipudi Proudly Presents

Kuchipudi Rangapravesam of

Amulya Vadlakonda July 25, 2015 at 3:30pm

Venue: De Anza Arts Performing Theater, Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Ahladhini Veerina

August 22, 2015 at 3:30pm

Venue: Canada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd, Redwood City, CA

Admission Free. All are Welcome.

Amulya

Seating starts at 3pm

Ahladhini

Contact 408-807-8518 for more details July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 75

events JULY

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India Independence Day

Aug 15

CULTURAL CALENDER Sufi qawali concert and film presentation by Fanna-Fi-Allah, July 10 and August 1

July

1 Wednesday

Art of Portraiture—A Solo Exhibition. Bhavna Misra uses charcoal, pen, pencil, oil and pastel for her work. Portraiture is her chosen genre, she does not copyright her artwork. In fact, she encourages others to copy, display, and use her work in any way. Ends July 15. Organized by Phantom Art Gallery. Milpitas Main Library, 160 N Main St., Milpitas. Free.

July

3 Friday

feTNA Tamil Convention 2015. Ends July 4. Organized by Bay Area Tamil Man-

76 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

ram. City National Civic Center, 135 W San Carlos St., San Jose. www.fetna.org.

July

4 Saturday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Shruthisri Ravisankar. Student of Vishal

Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin).

3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www. shrikrupa.org.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of

Shreya Venkatesan. Student of Sun-

dara Swaminathan, Artistic Director, Kala Vandana Dance Company. Accompanied by musicians from Chennai. Organized by Kala Vandana Dance Company. 4 p.m. Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose. Free. (408) 238-8321. www.kalavandana.org, www.facebook.com/kalavandana.

July

5 Sunday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Hriyai Srinath. Student of Vishal Ramani,

Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan 9mridangam),

recommends

Spirit and Spice Bombay Jazz performs at San Jose Fest

By Priya Das

B

ombay Jazz, a band comprising rising tabla master Aditya Kalyanpur, saxophone master George Brooks, legendary guitarist Larry Coryell, and flute maestro Ronu Majumdar, has been invited to perform at the San Jose Jazz Fest, Aug 7-9.

“We are constantly in search of the next new Indian artist,” says Brendan Rawson, executive director of San Jose Jazz. “We are particularly excited about the contributions of Indian and Indian-American musicians to the Jazz idiom. Some of the performers San Jose Jazz has presented over the year’s have included Black Mahal, Vijay Iyer, Sameer Gupta, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dehli to Dublin, Pandit Habib Khan, Karsh Kale, and Zakir Hussain. We feel we have only begun scratching the surface of the talented pool of Indian artists working here in the States and those in India.”

The fest typically draws 40,000 attendees and 1,000 performing musicians. This year, KCSM, the Bay Area’s jazz station, will be broadcasting live and web streaming around the world on Saturday, Aug 8 from the beautiful California Theater. Bombay Jazz will appear on stage at 5 p.m.

The tabalchi of the band, Kalyanpur, shot into fame when he was just a little boy, when he played alongside Ustad Zakir Hussain in the Waah Taj! commercial in India. Speaking of his journey, he says, “I feel blessed that I am able to collaborate with musicians globally and speak the universal language of music. I love every genre … Jazz to me means “be yourself ”. In the West the emphasis is on rehearsals and to have a fixed set list for the show. In Indian music, neither the melody nor the rhythm structure is decided until the musician is on stage. And sometimes even while on stage I have to guess the melody and the rhythmic cycle and play along.”

Given the difference in styles, the band puts in some time synching up, getting into the same musical space. Certain compositions are set in advance; the band tries to rehearse on the day of the show, but mostly, it’s impromptu performances. Kalyanpur improvises off-stage as well, “Recording for A. R. Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and Pritam, is always sheer joy ... I remember when I was invited to record for Mere Dholna at T-Series by Taufiq Qureshi at 1a.m. To work

l-r: Larry Coryell, George Brooks, Aditya Kalyanpur, Ronu Majumdar

out those wonderfully composed rhythmic patterns by him and then to play them right there was so much fun and challenging!”

Kalyanpur, who incidentally also contributed to Katy Perry’s Legendary Lovers, was invited to play for Bombay Jazz by Brooks.

The name of the band was inspired by the its namesake city, where the original band members, Coryell, Brooks, Majumdar, and the then tabalchi Vijay Ghate played together for the first time. That was for Jazz Yatra in 2003. In the next few months, the four of them played at an extensive European tour, where their synergies were formed. “It was evident rather quickly that we had a lot in common musically,” says Brooks, of the epic first few concerts. Kalyanpur joined the band about four years ago.

Elaborating on the experience of working with new artists, Brooks continues, “The thing about jazz is that it is up to the artist to find personal expression; who they are as an individual and who they are as a musician.

A jazz artist should not recreate what’s been done, but they need to have a deep understanding of where jazz came from, from the blues as played by Coltrane, Parker, among others.”

Jazz found Brooks when he was on another trajectory altogether, he was studying medicine. He had been playing the saxophone since he was ten. It became a serious enough passion at 17, when he applied to The Boston Conservatory.

Brooks’ discovery of Indian music was less deliberate. He took a class called “Sur-

vey of Indian Classical Music” on a whim one day, and as he says it, “It was like a lightbulb going off. I knew I had to study more of it.” He accompanied his future wife to California and met Pandit Pran Nath. It was Nath who cultivated Brooks’ Indian musical sense and the two were guru-shishya for years.

Brooks collaborated with Terry Riley (popularly known as the founder of minimalist music in California) and sitarist Krishna Bhatt for years. In 1996, he collaborated with Hussain on an album; and for the last decade or more, has divided his time between India and the United States.

His 2010 album Spirit and Spice is indicative of his close association with India, Indian musicians, and Hindustani and Karnatik music. Apart from featuring rising stars such as Kala Ramnath and Hamsika Iyer along with greats such as Hussain and bandmate Mazumdar, the album highlights Konnakol, the Karnatik enunciation of drum beats. “Konnakol is a more straightforward way to introduce Indian music to western musicians: It’s easy to be understood when I say, “was that TaDhiMi or TaKaDhiMi?”” This immersion that spans various genres and generations is what will make Bombay Jazz memorable at the San Jose Jazz Fest. n Sat., Aug. 8, 5 p.m. 38 West Santa Clara Street, San Jose. $15 and up. http://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 77

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events

Bharatanatyam Arangetrams

l-r: Shruthisri Ravisankar, July 4; Hriyai Srinath, July 5; Sahana and Sejal Sripadanna, August 1; Anisha Kakarlamudi, August 2

and N. Veeramani (violin). 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

required. www.indiacc.org/ayurveda.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Divya Balchander. Student of Sundara Swamina-

Organized by Tabaruq Records. 7:30 p.m.

Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad St., Nevada City. $20. (530) 615-6653. tahirqawwal@gmail. com. www.fanna-fi-allah.com, www.youtube. com/fannafiallah.

than, Artistic Director, Kala Vandana Dance Company. Accompanied by musicians from Chennai. Organized by Kala Vandana Dance Company. 4 p.m. Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose. Free.

(408) 238-8321. www.kalavandana.org, www. facebook.com/kalavandana.

July

10 Friday

Preventing and Reversing Diabetes.

A talk on ayurveda by Ashok Jethanandani. Have your blood glucose levels been creeping up in your annual tests? Are your triglycerides numbers elevated? Have you added inches of fat around your waist? All of these may be part of the same metabolic dysfunction that can be corrected by addressing the underlying causes. Dietary choices that can reverse the progression, and ayurvedic herbal medicines that help restore balance of health will be discussed. 6-7 p.m.

India Community Center, Classrooms 2 and 3, 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. Free, registeration

78 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

Sufi Qawwali Concert and Film Presentation With Fanna-Fi-Allah.

July

11 Saturday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Pooja Manapat. Student of Vishal Ra-

mani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin). 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

Tarangini—Kuchipudi Festival.

Presented by senior students and teachers of Bay Area kuchipudi schools. Organized

by Yuva Bharati. 4 p.m. Mission City Center for Performing Arts, 3250, Monroe St., Santa Clara . $15, free for Yuva Bharati members.

(650) 565-8859. yuva_bharati@yahoo.com. www.yuvabharati.org.

Nayan Ne Bandh Rakhi Ne. Ghazal concert. $20, includes dinner. 6 p.m. India Community Center (ICC), 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. (408) 646-0330, (510) 449-8374, (510) 246-2471. www.Dimplepatel.com.

July

12 Sunday

Sevathon 2015. 5K/10K/Half Marathon

or 27/54/108 Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation), a series of yoga postures synchronized with the breath. Organized by India Community Center. 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Baylands Park, 999 E Caribbean Drive., Sunnyvale. konnectme.org/sevathon-2015/, www.sevathon. org.

Lecture and Book Signing. Lopa

Mukherjee will present her new book, East-West Crossroads, a collection of short stories that belong to a space between the East, represented by India, and the West, represented by America. The stories explore the collaboration and contrast between the Indian and American cultures. Mukherjee will read from some of the stories and share her experience of being an immigrant in the United States. 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Cultural Integration Fellowship, 2650 Fulton St., San

recommends

T

Seva Brigade Spreads its Wings

he nation’s biggest and only walkathon, Sevathon, celebrates the spirit of seva. Predicted to be bigger than ever, it brings together over 100 Bay Area Non-profit organizations (NPO) pooling resources, expertise and ideas to make 2015 a blockbuster year for Sevathon and drive thousands to its 5K/10K/Half Marathon and Surya Namaskar.

“Our communities here in the Bay Area have been making us stronger with each passing year. We’ve come a long way since 2009; from a few hundreds of people to thousands of participants and hundreds of NPOs. Seva resonates with everyone across age, race and ethnicities. The causes they support maybe different but the drive is the same. We are 106 nonprofits and counting,” said Anu Jagadeesh, Sevathon co-chair.

In 2014, Sevathon raised 500,000 dollars via registrations and sponsorships. Isha Vidya, a nonprofit dedicated to providing education to children in rural India, raised $49,000 raised with 145 runners. The money helped them build classrooms for 153 children in the Erode region of southern India. The organization is back at Sevathon 2015, hoping to garner $75,000 to build 10 more classrooms in three school and provide scholarships to students for higher education.

Project Roshni is raising awareness and

funds for the Prajwala Rehab center in Hyderabad, India, a home for hundreds of children and girls who are victims of sextrafficking. The group has already raised $2,000 and aims to cross $10,000 according to its Sevathon registration page.

“For the largely volunteer-driven NPOs, Sevathon is months of pure hard work. Each organization puts in countless hours driving registrations, spreading awareness and helping with the event logistics. It’s a proud moment for us when Sevathon helps them get closer to their goals. A lot of nonprofits have found a voice and an audience via Sevathon and we are always striving to give them more and more support,” said Murali Chirala, Sevathon Co-chair.

“Sevathon in not just a single day event.

It has evolved into a movement and two very special traditions. The Sevathon torch shines a spotlight on the wonderful works of service and philanthropy in our community.

The symbolic passing of the torch from one non-profit to another captures the essence of Sevathon. The Sevathon Speaker Series (or stories of seva) happens through the course of the year leading up to the main Sevathon flagship event,” Chirala added.

The India Community Center, the umbrella organization where Sevathon was seeded, organizes a speaker series where the social entrepreneurs share tips and resources

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

Accompanied by Roopa Anand (nattuvangam), Jayanthi Umesh (vocal), Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan (mridangam), Vikram Raghuraman (violin) and Prasanna Rajan (flute). Organized by Nrityaarpana Dance Academy. 4-7 p.m. Cubberley Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Free. (408) 444-6996. riyaarangetram@gmail.com. www. roopaanand.com.

July

18 Saturday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Sanjana Yerramaneni. Student of Vishal Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin).

3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Riya Albert. Student of Roopa Anand, Artistic Director of Nrityaarpana Dance Academy.

Hindustani Vocal and Santoor Concert. A two part concert on the santoor

by Kunal Gunjal and Hindustani vocal by Poornima Kulkarni. Tabla accompaniment

by Vikas Yendluri and Satish Tare. Organized by Basant Bahar. 5 p.m. Jain Temple Auditorium, 722 S Main St., Milpitas. $25, free for Basant Bahar members.

July

19 Sunday

that could help others succeed. Boys and girls club of Peninsula BGCP, Pratham, India Literacy Project, OSAAT and India’s Sankara Eye Care Institutions were some of the non-profits featured in the series this year.

The NPOs also gain massive awareness via a non-profit fair of sorts that happens in conjunction with the Walkathon and attracts the huge inflow of families who either come to cheer their runners/walkers or enjoy the beautiful cultural extravaganza that follows the Walkathon.

For the participants it’s the perfect mix of fun, fitness. Almost everyone while enjoying the event never forgets the true purpose. “At Sevathon you have fun but I always make sure I visit all the NPO booths and learn about the amazing work that these nonprofits are doing. I am a teacher and I want to encourage my students to volunteer. Many of these initiatives are small but very inspiring and my I feel several of my students would love to support them,” said Achla Trehan, a Sevathon regular who plans to attend the 2015 event with her family. n Sunday, July 12. 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Baylands Park, 999 E Caribbean Dr., Sunnyvale. http:// konnectme.org/sevathon-2015. www.sevathon. org.

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Rishika Sai Jandhyala. Student of Vishal

Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin).

3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www. shrikrupa.org.

Shreya Ghosal Live in Cocert. Organized by Instant Karma. 6:30 p.m. City National Civic Center, 135 W San Carlos St., San Jose. $39-$99. (408) 579-9426, (408) 418-8657. www.instantkarmaonline.com.

July

24 Friday

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 79

Global Leadership Conference

F

or the eleventh year, alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology hosts the IIT Alumni Global Leadership Conference (GLC) There will also be a pre-conference event on July 23 hosted for Women by IIT women alumni. This year’s GLC, themed as the Internet of People, will bring together over 3000 of the best minds, both IITian and non-IITian, to motivate participants to succeed, promote diversity, encourage giving back, and keep them connected in an increasingly virtual world.

IIT GLC 2015 celebrates successes in corporate leadership, as entrepreneurs and encourages giving back. The conference will give attendees a forum to listen to inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking panel discussions and to network amongst each other. The program includes an evening of Sufi music and Kathak dances by artists flown in from India, and another evening of variety entertainment including local artists.

The conference is facilitated by PanIIT Inc., the umbrella organization of IIT alumni in the United States, so as to carry out its mission of branding IITs and keep-

ing IITians connected. These conferences are held every second year in the United States and are run by an all-volunteer team of IITians.

The 2015 conference will feature keynotes from John Chambers (CEO of Cisco), Pat Gelsinger (CEO of VMWare), Elizabeth Holmes (CEO of Theranos and Youngest Self Made Woman Billionaire), Salman Khan (founder of Khan Academy) and leading IITians including Vinod Khosla, Bharat Desai, Shailesh Mehta, Romesh Wadhwani, Sridhar Ramaswamy (Google) and Deep Nishar (LinkedIn).

The 2015 GLC will also include panels that explore various topics like Innovation at/for the Bottom of the Pyramid, Challenges in allocating funds in developing economies for water and the internet, the Vision for the future of India, Online Education, Technology in Sports, Moving from technology to other unrelated areas, and challenges and approaches to philanthropy and giving back. n July 24-25. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5101 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara. $220. pr@iitglc.org. www.iit-2015.org, iitglc.org.

Vinod Khosla, keynote speaker at the Pan IIT Conference, July 24-25

IIT Alumni Global Leadership Conference. The theme for this confer-

ence is the Internet of People, with a forum where people can interact, learn, teach and collaborate to change the world. Ends July 25. Organized by US-based Alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5101 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara. $220. pr@iitglc.org. www. iit-2015.org, iitglc.org.

July

25 Saturday

Karnatik Music Concerts. 2:15-3:15

p.m. Violin concert with Vittal Tirumalai accompanied by Gopal Ravindhran (mridangam). 3:30-6 p.m. Vocal concert

by Arthi Suresh accompanied by Keerthi Sundaramurthy (violin) and Aditya Ganesh (mridangam). Organized by SR Fine Arts.

2:15-6 p.m. Community Of Infinite Spirit, 1540 Hicks Av., San Jose. Free. (408) 5690860. dirsrfa@gmail.com. www.srfinearts.info.

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Anjali Kasula and Amrita Kasula.

Student of Vishal Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin). 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

Kuchipudi Rangapravesam of Amulya Vadlakonda. Student of Madhuri

Kishore School of Kuchipudi. 4 p.m. DeAnza Arts Performing Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. (408) 807-8518.

Hindustani Vocal and Santoor Concert with Poornima Kulkarni, July 18 80 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California | July 2015

Gautam Tejas Ganeshan in Concert

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events

Bharatanatyam Arangetrams

l-r: Pooja Manapat, July 11; Rishika Sai Jamdhyala, July 19; Anjali and Amrita Kasula, July 25; Sanjana Yerramaneni, July 18

with New Music From An Old Tradition. 7-9 p.m. Subterranean Arthouse, 2179

Tour is stroller and wheelchair accessible.

Organized by Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour. 2-5 p.m. $5-$15.

(510) 520-0545. barnalighosh@gmail.com. www.berkeleysouthasian.org.

Live Classical Music Under the Stars.

Summer Performance Art Series— Thematic Recital by Gauri Singh.

Bancroft Way, Berkeley. $15-$30. info@subterraneanarthouse.org. www.brownpapertickets. com/event/1447136.

Performance by sitar player, Peter van Gelder, who is one of the first American disciples of Ali Akbar Khan, and one of the very few people to have studied with the great Annapurna Devi, wife of Ravi Shankar.

Accompanied by Samraat Kakkeri on tabla.

7-10 p.m. Old Faithful Geyser, 1299 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga . Adults $14, children (4+) $8, seniors and military $12. (707) 942-6463. oldfaithfulgeyser@gmail.com. www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com, www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/musicunder-the-star/, www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/ music-under-the-star/schedule-of-musicians/.

July

26 Sunday

Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour. Discover 100 plus years

of Bay Area Desi history, from 1908-2014.

You’ll visit original sites, hear stories, and leave inspired by our community’s struggles for justice, from the independence movement to women’s organizing and beyond.

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

August

1 Saturday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Sahana Sripadanna and Sejal Sripadanna. Student of Vishal Ramani,

Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin). 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

Kuchipudi Rangapravesam of Veena Velury. Student of Sunita Pendekanti,

Artistic Director of Kuchipudi Art Center. Accompanied by Sunita Pendekanti (choreography and nattuvangam), Snigdha Venkataramani (vocal), Hari babu (mridan-

gam), Susheela Narasimham (violin), Hrishikesh Chary (Veena), and Prasanna Rajan (flute). Organized by Kuchipudi Art Center.

4 p.m. Woodside High School Performing Art Center, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside . Free.

(510) 794-5444, (510) 673-8564. vvelury@ gmail.com.

Live Classical Music Under the Stars. Performance by sitar player, Peter

van Gelder, who is one of the first American disciples of Ali Akbar Khan, and one of the very few people to have studied with the great Annapurna Devi, wife of Ravi Shankar. Accompanied by Samraat Kakkeri on tabla. 7-10 p.m. Old Faithful Geyser, 1299 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga. Adults $14, children (4+) $8, seniors and military $12. (707) 942-6463. oldfaithfulgeyser@gmail.com. www. oldfaithfulgeyser.com, www.oldfaithfulgeyser. com/music-under-the-star/, www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/music-under-the-star/schedule-ofmusicians/.

Comedy with Kapil and Family— Live. Organized by Gagan Singh. 7:30 p.m.

SAP Center, 525 Santa Clara St., San Jose. $39-$250. (650) 771-0933, (408) 234-1502, (408) 579-9426. eventcombo.com/kapil, ticketmaster.com.

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 81

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events 781-3125. hariandsujatha@gmail.com, email_ sujatha@yahoo.com. roopaanand.com.

Omkaar—A Festival of Classical Indian Dance and Music. In honor

of Pandit Chitresh Das, performances by Charlotte Moraga (kathak) and Chhandam Youth Dance Company; Jyoti Rout (odissi) and JKM Dance Company; Jyothi Lakkaraju (kuchipudi) and Natayala School of Dance.

Organized by Jyoti Kala Mandir and Radio Zindagii. 4 p.m. Sunnyvale Cultural Center, 550 E. Remington Drive., Sunnyvale. $15 advance, $18 door. (415) 676-0833, (972) 6790953, (510) 589-3989. www.jyotikalamandir. org.

August Bharatanatyam arangrtram of Pallavi Narayan, August 2

Sufi Qawwali Concert and Film Presentation by Fanna-Fi-Allah.

Presenting traditional music with a preview of the first comprehensive film on the qawwali tradition. Organized by Tabaruq Records. 8 p.m. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell St., San Francisco . $25-$30.

(415) 885-0750. tahirqawwal@gmail.com. www.fanna-fi-allah.com, www.youtube.com/ fannafiallah.

August

2 Sunday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Anisha Kakarlamudi. Student of Vishal

Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin).

3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www. shrikrupa.org.

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Pallavi Narayanan. Student of Roopa Anand, Artistic Director of Nrityaarpana Dance Academy. Accompanied by Roopa Anand (nattuvangam), Jayanthi Umesh (vocal), Lakshmi Balasubramanian (violin), Ravindrabharathy Sridharan (mridangam), and Ashwin Krishnakumar (flute). Organized

by Nrityaarpana Dance Academy. 4-7 p.m.

Woodside High School Theater, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside. Free. (408) 252-8117, (408)

82 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

4 Tuesday

Book Reading by Anil Ananthaswamy. In the tradition of Oliver Sacks,

The Man Who Wasn’t There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self, takes readers on an unprecedented tour of the mind, showing what the latest neuroscience of autism, Alzheimer’s, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotard’s syndrome (people who think they are already dead), out-of-body experiences, schizophrenia, and other disorders reveals about the human sense of self. 7:30 p.m. Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park.

(650) 324-4321.

August

8 Saturday

Book Reading by Anil Ananthaswamy, August 4

August

15 Saturday

Bharathanatyam Arangetram of Ashika Balamurugan and Pallavi Kondayapalepu. Student of Vishal

Ramani, Artistic Director of Shri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vasudevan Kesavalu (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), N. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), and N. Veeramani (violin).

3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. www.shrikrupa.org.

© Copyright 2015 India Currents. All rights reserved. Reproduction for commercial use strictly prohibited.

Summer Performance Art Series— Thematic Recital by Swati Vemulapalli. 3:30 p.m. Mission City Center for Performing Arts, 3250 Monroe St., Santa Clara. www. shrikrupa.org.

Classical Music Under the Stars.

Performance by sitar player, Peter van Gelder, who is one of the first American disciples of Ali Akbar Khan, and one of the very few people to have studied with Annapurna Devi, wife of Ravi Shankar. Accompanied

by Samraat Kakkeri on tabla. 7-10 p.m. Old Faithful Geyser, 1299 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga .

Adults $14; children (4+) $8; seniors (65+) and military $12. (707) 942-6463. oldfaithfulgeyser@gmail.com. www.oldfaithfulgeyser. com, www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/music-underthe-star/, www.oldfaithfulgeyser.com/musicunder-the-star/schedule-of-musicians/.

Kuchipudi rangapravesam of Veena Velury, August 1

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 83

84 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

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www.LoveYouTruly.com 818-384-1286

IF THERE IS A NEED FOR THE SERVICES OF A PUNDIT FOR ANY AUSPICIOUS, CELEBRATORY OR SAD OCCASION THEN YOU MUST CALL

ö XI m;;F;e n;m;/ All kinds of Hindu traditional Pujas and homas Ganapathi, Navagraha, Vasthu, Ayushya Homas, Marriages, Seemantham, Nama-karnam, Upanayanam, Sathyanarayana Puja, Lakshmi Puja, Durga Sapthasathi Yanthra Puja. Hiranya Sradha and last rites. American born children’s horoscopes.

Pt. Ganesh Shasthry 880 E. Fremont Ave., #302 Sunnyvale, CA 94087

Home (408) 245-5443 Cell (925) 209-7637 Kabalikarpaga@hotmail.com

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Acharya Ji

HINDU PRIEST & VEDIC ASTROLOGER Please contact for

ASTROLOGY & RITUALS Also available for all types of Poojas and Horoscope/Matchmaking (408) 480-5477 (Cell) (408) 400-0513 (Home) Email: hindupriest01@hotmail.com

www.hindupriestusa.com DURGA JYOTISH MANDIR

990 Lakewood Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Pandit Krishna Kumar Pandey Acharya Ji

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 85

SPIRITUALITY & HEALTH

July

1 Wednesday

Shiv Yog Workshop—Shambhavi Healing. Empowering energy for healing

all aspects of life. Ends July 8. Organized

by Shiv Yog Emerging Infinite. 1-8 p.m.

Chabot College Performing Arts Center, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward . $515-$750. (510) 681-0888, (609) 474-4808. california@shivyogus.com. www.shivyog.com.

Mind and Meditation. 7:30-8 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135326.

July

2 Thursday

Annual Vedic Astrology Conference—Jyotish Guidelines for Conscious Self Development. Presented by

Komilla Sutton, William R. Levacy, Dennis M. Harness, James Kelleher, Sam Geppi (Sadasiva), Pandit Samavedula, Bill Sinclair, and Swami Sitaramananda. Ends July 6. 12 p.m. Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, 14651 Ballantree Ln, Grass Valley. $295.00. (530) 272-9322, (800) 469-9642. www.sivanandayogafarm.org/course/july_fourth_jyotish_conference.

July

4 Saturday

Sri Durga Homa and Music. In honor of Adhika Masa a Sri Durga Homa will be conducted followed by a sitar concert by Susmita Banerjee accompanied by Abdull Sultan on tabla. 10 a.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free.

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

Happiness Seminar. 3:30-4:30 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135327.

July

5 Sunday

The Spiritual Foundations of World Peace. Sunday Service. Organized by SelfRealization Fellowship. SRF Center Sacramento, 4513 North Ave., Sacramento. (916)

86 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

Annual Vedic Astrology Conference, presented by Komilla Sutton, July 2

483-9644. SRF Center Los Gatos, 303 E. Main St., Los Gatos. (408) 252-5299. Berkeley Temple, 3201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 984-0084. www.yogananda-srf.org. Contact temples for times.

Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram Mantra Recitation. Devotees will chant

this sacred Ram mantra continuously for 4 hours. Ram Saxena will lead the chant with melodious rhythms. Organized by Badarikashrama. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama. org.

Guru Peyarchi/Guru Transition Homa Guru Transit from Kadaga Rassi to Simha Rassi. 2 p.m. Sri Lakshmi

Ganapathi Temple, 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgc.org, www.siliconvalleyhindutemple.com.

July

8 Wednesday

Beginners Yoga Course—Sivananda Tradition. Step-by-step instruction in the

practice of yoga asanas, pranayama and relaxation. Sivananda Yoga is a traditional practice, where yoga postures are held still while focusing on the breath. The practice is meditative, it balances the physical and energy systems, and prepares one for meditation. 8 sessions. 6:30-8 p.m. Vishnu-Deva-

nanda Yoga Vedanta Center, 3767 Union St., Fremont. $80-120. Pre-registration required.

(510) 273-2447. vishnuyoga@gmail.com. www.vishnuyoga.org.

Mind and Meditation. 7:30-8 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135328.

July

10 Friday

Ribhu Gita. Reading and commentary

by Nome. 8-9:30 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth, 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free.

(831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio.com. satramana. org/web/events/boundless-wisdom/.

Shiv Yog Workshop—Advait Shree Vidhya Sadhna. Shakti meditation to

create the destiny you want. Ends July 17.

Organized by Shiv Yog Emerging Infinite.

Chabot College Performing Arts Center, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward . $515-$750. (510) 681-0888, (609) 474-4808. california@shivyogus.com. www.shivyog.com.

July

11 Saturday

Happiness Seminar. 3:30-4:30 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@

Spiritual Growth

Om Sri Mathre Namaha Vaidica Vidhya Ganapathi Center SRI LAKSHMI GANAPATHI TEMPLE

(408) 226-3600

32B Rancho Drive, San Jose, CA 95111 (Capitol Expressway West and Montrey Road Junction, Opposite and 1 Block from Capitol Cal Train Station)

www.vvgc.org or siliconvalleyhindutemple.com

Wednesday July 1 At 5.00 Pm Shiva Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa At 6.00 Pm Pournami Vratha Sri Sathyanarayana Swamy Pooja/Vratha All Are Welcome To Participate With Family

Saturday July 11 Kritika Vratha At 4.00 Pm Sri Valli Deva Sena Sametha Sri Subramanya Abhisheka, Sri Venkateswara Abhisheka Continued With Sri Vishnu Sahasra Nama Chanting Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

At 8.30 Pm Sri Valli Deva Sena Sametha Sri Subramanya Swami Sahasra Nama Archana

Sunday July 5 Guru Peyarchi / Guru Transition Homa Guru Transit from Kadaga Rassi to Simha Rassi At 2.00 Pm Special Gurupeyarchi /Guru Transition Homa All Are Welcome To Participate With Family At 4.00 Pm Sri Sankata Hara Chathurthi Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Homa/ Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Abhisheka, Sri Valli Deva Sena Sametha Sri Subramanya Abhisheka/ Sri Shiva Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

Monday July 13 Soma Pradosham At 6.00 Pm Shiva Sri Rudra Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

Friday July 31 At 4.00 Pm Sri Bhuwaneswari/ Sri Lalitha Devi Abhisheka Continued With Sri Lalitha Shasra Nama Chanting Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

Wednesday July 22 Sukla Sashti Vratha

At 6.00 Pm Guru Purnima Pournami Vratha Sri Sathaya Narayana Swami Pooja/Vratha Aarati and Manthra Pushpa All Are Welcome to Participate With Family

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, LOVE ALL SERVE ALL LOVE IS ALL

For Pujas & Rituals Contact: PANDIT

880 East Fremont Ave #302, Cupertino Villas, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 — Home: (408)

GANESH SHASTHRY 245-5443 / Cell: (925) 209-7637 E-mail: srikalahatheeswara@yahoo.com

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 87

INDIA CURRENTS GRAPHICS (408) 324-0488

Friday July 17 Sri Dakshinayana Punyakala Aadi Pandigai Aadi Masa Begining Festival

Wednesday July 29 At 6.00 Pm Pradosham Shiva Sri Rudra Abhisheka Aarati and Manthra Pushpa

techniques for cultivating a positive attitude towards life and for creating a beautiful internal environment. Topics covered: The nature of thoughts and the mind, cultivating a positive attitude and thoughts, breaking negative thought patterns, transforming negative emotions, and turning challenges into opportunities. 6-sessions. 8-9 p.m.

Vishnu-Devananda Yoga Vedanta Center, 3767 Union St., Fremont. $60-$90. (510) 273-2447. vishnuyoga@gmail.com. www.vishnuyoga.org.

July Shiv Yog Worshop, July 10

us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135329.

Kritika Vratha. Sri valli deva sena sametha sri subramanya abhisheka. Sri venkateswara abhisheka continued with sri vishnu sahara nama chanting aarti and maha mantra. 4 p.m. Sri Lakshmi Ganapati Temple, 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgc.org, www.siliconvalleyhindutemple. com.

July

12 Sunday

Reincarnation: The Soul’s Journey to God. Sunday Service. Organized by

Self-Realization Fellowship. SRF Center Sacramento, 4513 North Ave., Sacramento. (916) 483-9644. SRF Center Los Gatos, 303 E. Main St., Los Gatos. (408) 252-5299. Berkeley Temple, 3201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 984-0084. www.yogananda-srf.org. Contact temples for times.

Sri Bhagavad Gita Talk and Kirtan.

In this monthly lecture series Suman and Sargam Shah will present the eternal teachings of the Bhagavad Gita in a fun and meaningful manner along with kirtan. 11 a.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro. Free. (510) 278-2444. badarik@ pacbell.net. www.badarikashrama.org.

July

15 Wednesday

Mind and Meditation. 7:30-8 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135330.

Positive Thinking Course. Explore the nature of the mind and learn creative 88 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

17 Friday

Sri Ramana’s Self-Realization. Medita-

by Self-Realization Fellowship. SRF Center Sacramento, 4513 North Ave., Sacramento.

(916) 483-9644. SRF Center Los Gatos, 303 E. Main St., Los Gatos. (408) 252-5299.

Berkeley Temple, 3201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 984-0084. www.yogananda-srf. org. Contact temples for times.

Sri Ramanama Sankirtana and Meditation. In a peaceful group atmosphere

devotees will offer melodious chants to Sri Rama. Followed by meditation. 11 a.m.

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

July

22 Wednesday

tion, readings by Nome, puja to Sri Ramana Maharshi with devotional singing of bhajans, followed by prasad. 7:30-10 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth, 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio.com. satramana.org/web/events/festivals/sri-ramanasself-realization/.

Mind and Meditation. 7:30-8 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135332.

Sri Dakshinayana Punyakala Aadi Pandigai Asdi. Masa beginning festival.

July

Sri Lakshmi Ganapati Temple, 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgc. org, www.siliconvalleyhindutemple.com.

July

18 Saturday

Happiness Seminar. 3:30-4:30 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135331.

International Gita Conference— Bhagavad Gita in Modern Times. The

goal of the conference is to learn perennial teachings and practices of the Bhagavat Gita to find solution to every problem of your life in the modern time; to enrich our life with eternal love, peace and abundance in all aspect of our living; to connect with divinity within, function at higher conscious level and reach our full potential; to connect the body, mind and soul for health, happiness, prosperity and enhanced family and social relationships. Organized by Path to Anandam. Sunnyvale Hindu Temple and Community Center, 450 Persian Drive., Sunnyvale. www.pathtoanandam.org/gita-conf/, www.pathtoanandam.org/gita-conf/register.

July

19 Sunday

Universal Steps That Lead to Godcommunion. Sunday Service. Organized

24 Friday

Ramana Darshanam. Reading and commentary by Nome. 8-9:30 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth, 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 425-7287. sat@cruzio. com. satramana.org/web/events/ramanadarshanam/.

July

25 Saturday

Happiness Seminar. 3:30-4:30 p.m. Art of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@ us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135334.

July

26 Sunday

Great Saints and Illumined Teachers: God’s Messengers of Truth. Sunday

Service. Organized by Self-Realization Fellowship. SRF Center Sacramento, 4513 North Ave., Sacramento. (916) 483-9644.

SRF Center Los Gatos, 303 E. Main St., Los Gatos. (408) 252-5299. Berkeley Temple, 3201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 984-0084. www.yogananda-srf.org. Contact temples for times.

July

29 Wednesday

Mind and Meditation. 7:30-8 p.m. Art

of Living Center, 555 Mowry Ave., Suite C, Fremont. Free. (510) 730-0265. fremont@

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 89

God's Unfailing Love……

D

o you have the real Joy, Peace and happiness in your life? Have you ever asked this question What is the purpose of my 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 90 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

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

us.artofliving.org. www.artofliving.org/us-en/ program/135335.

Pradosam Siva Sri Rudra Abhisheka.

6 p.m. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple. 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgc.org. www.siliconvalleyhindutemple. com.

31 Friday

July

Sri Bhuwaneswari/Sri Lalitha Devi Abhisheka. Continued with Sri lalitha

devi abhishekha continued with Sri lalitha Shasra nama chanting aarti and maha manthra. 4 p.m. Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Temple, 32B Rancho Drive, San Jose. (408) 226-3600. www.vvgc.org, www.siliconvalleyhindutemple. com.

Sri Guru Purnima Celebration. Puja

with bhajans by Krishnapriya Kashyapa accompanied by Abdull Sulltan. 6:30-9 p.m.

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

Guru Purnima. Meditation, reading by Nome, puja to Dakshinamurti, Adi Sankara, and Sri Ramana Maharshi with devotional singing of bhajans, followed by prasad.

7:30-10 p.m. Society of Abidance in Truth, 1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Free. (831) 4257287. sat@cruzio.com. satramana.org/web/ events/festivals/guru-purnima/.

August

2 Sunday

Lecture on Integral Yoga, Neuroscience, Brain Health and Aging by Brant Cortright. 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Cul-

tural Integration Fellowship, 2650 Fulton St., San Francisco. (415) 668-1559. culturalfellowship@sbcglobal.net. culturalintegrationfellowship.org.

August

8 Saturday

Sri Akhanda Ramayana—Sri Ramacharita Manasa of Goswami Tulsida.

Based on the practice of bhakti, shradha and seva. Ends Aug. 9. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Badarikashrama, 15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro.

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

August

9 Sunday

Advanced Study of Raja Yoga Sutras.

KRISHNA RESTAURANT PURE VEGETARIAN FOOD DAILY LUNCH

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Chapati or Puri Vegetable Dal & Rice Farsan & Chatni Pickle Sweet Dessert

Served From: 11 am - 2:30 pm

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Chapati or Puri 2 Vegetables Dal or Kadhi Rice or Pulav Pickle & Papad Sweet Dessert

Served From:

SUNDAY SPECIAL DINNER • • • • • •

Rotala Khicadi & Kadhi Vegetable Bhaji or Bhartu Pickle & Papad Sweet Dessert

Served on Sunday Only:

5 pm - 8 pm

5 pm - 8 pm

Take Out or Eat In

Take Out or Eat in

Gita Conference, July 18

This course is open to all students who have taken the beginners course and all practitioners of Hatha Yoga and Meditation. Study of Raja Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and it’s applications to the teachings in the context of daily life. Ends Aug. 17. 6 a.m.-4 p.m. Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, 14651 Ballantree Lane, Grass Valley. $400. (530) 272-9322. yogafarmregistration@sivananda. org. yogafarm.org, sivanandayogafarm.org, sivanandayogafarm.org/course.php?course_ id=1101. © Copyright 2015 India Currents. All rights reserved. Reproduction for commercial use strictly prohibited.

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healthy life

Skyrocket Your Energy Level

By Puja Mukherjee

D

o you ever watch a group of kids at play and wonder where they get all that energy? If you were able to bottle all that vim and vigor, you would make a fortune selling this elixir at offices in early afternoons or at the juice bar in the local fitness center.

You are not alone when you get that sagging feeling in the early afternoon, or when you just don’t have quite enough oomph to finish your exercise routine.

There has been a proliferation of energy drinks and “healthy” granola bars in the market, as the solution to replenishing that empty fuel tank.

However, most of these highly sweetened liquids and foods use sugars to give your body a quick energy boost. The catch is, not only do you exhaust the sugarsupplied energy very quickly; it also slows your metabolism down and can further hinder you’re the progress towards your fitness goals.

The good news is, there are a number of other things that you can do to increase your energy levels...naturally. Some of it has to do with shift in dietary habits, while others involve lifestyle changes, and then there are exercises that immensely help fill up your energy reserves.

Dietary Energy Boosters Reduce your sugar consumption

Sugar causes energy fluctuations that contribute to fatigue. Eat foods and snacks that are high in protein and good, complex carbohydrates, the source of energy.

Increase your iron intake

An iron deficiency is responsible for much of the chronic fatigue. Eat foods that are high in iron and take a good, natural iron supplement.

Drink lots of water

A dehydrated body tires easily, so stay hydrated with frequent glasses of water.

Eat smaller and frequent meals

Large meals, particularly lunch, will contribute to that groggy feeling in the

92 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

early afternoon. More frequent meals stabilize insulin levels and keep your metabolism up throughout the day.

Eat brain food

Consume healthy fats like those in fish and green leafy vegetables to boost your brain function and provide energy.

Eat healthy snacks

A snack of protein, complex carbohydrates, fresh fruits and vegetables will keep your blood sugars at a consistent level all day long. Protein combats fatigue and builds muscle mass to appear toned.

Whole grains take longer for your system to metabolize and give a steady supply of energy, not the quick, short-lived burst that sugars supply.

Enjoy your cup of coffee but don’t over do it. The initial rush from caffeine is not long-lasting and will leave you fatigued and dehydrated.

Eat lots of fiber

Fiber promotes satiety and the slow release of sugar will give you sustained energy throughout the day.

Lifestyle Changes for An Energy Boost Practice deep breathing

Breathing with your abdominal muscles will increase your oxygen intake to improve your lung capacity and increase overall stamina overtime.

Start your day with a big breakfast

Your body needs a jump-start in the morning and a good, well-balanced breakfast rich in protein and complex carbohydrates is the best way to start the day and feel fresh for a long time.

Stop smoking

Smoking depletes oxygen and in turn reduces stamina to leave you feeling fatigued.

Sleep with the sun

Sleep hormones are linked to natural light. Going to sleep early helps you awaken naturally without requiring an alarm. If it is still light outside, create the illusion of darkness by using heavy curtains to block off sunlight and streetlights, switching off laptops, cell phones and other gadgets to

health prepare your body for a restful night of sleep.

Read before going to bed

Establish a sleep ritual like reading before retiring. It helps block out other noise in your mind and helps you fall asleep faster.

Avoid sleeping with pets

Pets on your bed will disturb your sleep if you keep bumping into them. So get the dog and cat to sleep in their own beds. That way everyone wakes up feeling fresh.

Exercises That Provide Energy Boost Get up and stretch

It is important to take a break to stretch from sitting down for too long to maintain a good blood flow to your body and brain.

Stretch your body out will keep you from sagging into lethargy and bad posture.

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This will shake off your sleepiness, rev up your metabolism and get your blood flowing for most of the day.

Play competitive sports

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youth

GANDHI CAMP

By Divya Desale

I

t’s the middle of summer and The more I learn from Bhaiji’s fables dance, music, and costumes to here I am, meditating with forty celebrate to the numerous lanother kids in a retreat house. and experiences, the more I realize how guages and cultures that popuThat was the first thought the the Indian subcontinent. The similar the religions are. At its core, late ten year-old me had running through newsletter publishes works and her head at seven o’clock that morn- each religion preaches the same set of highlights from each year and the ing. Eight years later, and you can environmental committee implestill find me in the meditation room principles—love, peace, mercy and faith. ments ecofriendly tactics to minias the sun rises for an entire week mize camp waste. No matter what in August. I’ll be at Gandhi Camp. age, no matter what interest, any religious turmoil and violence in the world?

Gandhi Camp is not your average sumcamper can find an activity to participate in.

Bhaiji’s mission is to prevent this for fumer camp. Rather, it’s a truly unique experiEvery year, parents ask me why I come ture generations. As a member of the Gandhi ence. Led by Dr. S.N. Subba Rao, more comback. There’s no simple answer—maybe it’s Peace Foundation and founder of the Namonly referred to as Bhaiji, the camp teaches the service, the people, or the independence. tional Youth Project, he leads camps all over Gandhian principles. Kids grades 5-12 learn I like to say it’s because Gandhi Camp is the world, often for thousands of youth at a Gandhiji’s values such as self-discipline, reliunique and everything I learn is applicable to time. Bhaiji’s activism began when he was gious equality, and of course non-violence, life outside of camp. This year, as we head to only 13. He joined the people in the streets but any kid can memorize and recite a list Chinmaya Mission’s retreat center in Piercy of India to protest Gandhi’s imprisonment, of vows. Gandhi Camp not only teaches the for the first time, I look forward to all the yelling out slogans of freedom from British principles, but also how to live them out new campers, all the returning faces, and occupancy. Like many others, he was arwhen we return home. For instance, removall the memories I’ll add to my collection. rested. Once again inspired by Gandhi, years ing untouchability may seem obsolete in Bhaiji envisions a world with religious later, he gave up a promising career in law modern-day American society, but nightly harmony and peace, and, as future leaders, to spread his message of peace—an invaludiscussions bring forth marginalized individuals and simple actions we can take to dedicate our services in order to bridge the gap between us and them. Strict vegetarianism and alternating kitchen shifts teach control over the palate. Gandhi would set aside time each day to perform an act of physical labor.

In a similar fashion, we work for three hours each morning to assist the caretakers of the retreat grounds, engaged in activities such as mending fences, tending to gardens, pruning and trailblazing. And every morning, without fail, we see Bhaiji working alongside us, likely raking leaves out of the road.

One of my favorite aspects of the camp is how Bhaiji teaches religious equality. I was raised in a Hindu household, educated at a Catholic High School, and had attended my Performance at Gandhi Camp fair share of various other spiritual ceremonies. In my mind, I was already well eduable, pertinent message for today’s youth. we are his army. We’re young; we’re optimiscated on the practices of different religions.

We are truly fortunate to be inspired by him. tic; and we’re often underestimated. Gandhi But each time I return, Bhaiji shows me all Over the past eight years, I’ve also enwas just one man dedicated to his principles, that I have yet to learn. Each evening, we rejoyed the more typical camp activities, most yet he transformed the world through his cite prayers from the world’s major religions. of which are camper-run. The talent show civil disobedience. Who’s to say we can’t? n Each morning as we walk out to the tool is always an entertaining medley of musisheds, a mural depicting each of the symbols cians, dancers, magicians, and skits, Indian Divya Desale is a recent graduate of Archbishop from each religion welcomes us. The more I and American alike. Gandhi Camp Jeopardy Mitty High School, set to attend the University learn from Bhaiji’s fables and experiences, the never fails to elicit the competitive nature of California, San Diego this fall. She has volmore I realize how similar the religions are. of the campers as we cram in the hours unteered with many other organizations besides At its core, each religion preaches the same before, memorizing prayers, allegories, and her eight years at Gandhi camp, including the set of principles—love, peace, mercy, faith. biographies. The final program includes Girl Scouts. She is planning for a career in inSo why do we still see elevated levels of Bharat ki Santan, a tribute complete with ternational law.

94 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

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dear doctor

Getting To Know Yourself

By Alzak Amlani

Q

I am in the midst of numerous decisions and changes at work and at home. They are exciting and daunting. I start to feel anxious and overwhelmed when I think about them all. Yet I tend to seek out more challenges and creative projects that take time and require a lot of preparation, decisions and thinking through. At times I wonder why I am doing any of it—expanding my career, remodeling my home, starting a new relationship and planning a backpacking trip in the mountains. I feel this drive inside me that wants to do these things and then when I get overwhelmed, I just want to be quiet and have a simpler life. I go back and forth and don’t know what’s really going on with me.

A

Sounds like you are in touch with both sides of your nature: the part that wants adventure, expansion, stimulation and challenges and the part that wants simplicity, peace, gets overwhelmed and seeks the familiar and comfortable. This is not an uncommon struggle at any stage in life. Expansion brings with it challenges and chaos. However, it is also a deep part of human nature to want to do more and

98 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California |July 2015

have new experiences. First, allow yourself to have this range of interests and feelings.

Take a deep breath into all of who you are and notice how that feels.

Reflecting upon your motivation to do certain things is worthwhile. What makes you want to do more with your career and start a new relationship? Is it a drive that comes from outside you—boss, family, employees or friends? If so, what do you think about their suggestions or interests for you?

Do they feel supportive and creative or that you have to fulfill another obligation or impress people? Sometimes this is difficult to sort out. Whatever clarity you find with these questions will be valuable to you. Losing yourself in others’ ideas and desires for you, will leave you disconnected, anxious and ultimately resentful. It will also lead to a feeling of unfulfillment at the end of all of your hard work. So, the first task is to dive deeper into yourself and think about what is moving you to make these changes. Then taking in the feedback of others will enhance your own inner knowing.

Even when you are clear that having

intimacy in your life with a partner is what you want, there will be cycles of feelings that you will actually move through. Some will be exciting and meaningful and others will be frustrating and scary. Rather than resist the feelings that you don’t like or that don’t feel so good, lean into them. Feel them so you can build more capacity to be with whatever arises inside you. This is a truer and more dynamic way of being and living.

Nature is always changing with the time of day, weather and seasons. The changes makes it interesting, beautiful and refreshing. So, we are a part of nature and will also undergo these natural rhythms and shifts in our daily lives. By observing the mountains and meadows around you on your backpacking trip, you will come to know yourself more fully. n

Alzak Amlani, Ph.D., is a counseling psychologist of Indian descent in the Bay Area.

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recipes

Baked Samosa Triangles

By Shanta Sacharoff

A

ll cultures have tantalizing, cherished foods that are usually served before or at the start of a meal. Known in the United States as appetizers (appetiteteasers), hors d’oeuvres, or antipasto, they are called dim sum (touch the heart) in China, and antojitos (little whims) in Mexico. In Gujarat, where I am from, they are called farsan. A farsan is usually a light but elaborate snack or appetizer that can be served as a first course before the main entrée, or alone as a lunch or a light supper. A chutney is a must to accompany the farsan.

Many farsans are deep-fried and not suitable for people who wish to cut down on fat.

Deep-fried foods are not healthy for any of us. When I decided to cut deep-fried foods from my diet, out went the chips, the French Fries, the pakoras, and oh no! my favorite, samosas! Looking for a healthy option, I replaced traditional fried samosas triangles with Samosa Pie. (You can find this recipe in the December 2013 issue of India Currents.)

For the samosa pie, I sandwiched the filling between two crusts and baked it, but making the crusts is time-consuming, so I created this recipe for baked samosa triangles using store-bought Greek pastry dough called phyllo (or filo).

Baked samosa triangles are quick and easy to make, and the resulting samosas are fluffy and light. The filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until you are ready to assemble the triangles, and the unbaked triangles can be refrigerated or frozen for future baking. Samosa triangles are perfect for a picnic or a pot-luck dinner as they taste great served hot or at room temperature. Don’t forget the chutney! n

Illustration by Serena Sacharoff

Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff, author of Flavors Of India: Vegetarian Indian Cuisine is a coowner of Other Avenues Food Cooperative in San Francisco. Serena Sacharoff is a chef, an illustrator and an art student.

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Ingredients for the filling:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 tablespoons finely-chopped green or yellow onions 4 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2” cubes 1 cup grated carrots ¾ cup shelled peas, fresh or frozen and thawed ¼ teaspoon each cumin, turmeric, and coriander powders ¾ teaspoon garam masala or a mixture of ¼ teaspoon each ground cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro leaves, freshly chopped ½ cup water juice of one lemon 1 teaspoon (or to taste) salt ¼ teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne powder

Ingredients for the wrapping:

1 8-ounce box of frozen phyllo dough, available in the supermarket freezer section 3 to 4 tablespoons of cooking oil Phyllo dough is brittle and delicate to work with, but once you get used to it, there are endless ways to use this light magical pastry. After purchasing, store the phyllo in your freezer. The night before, or several hours before you wish to use it, move it from the freezer to the refrigerator to allow it to thaw slightly. Always keep phyllo chilled; it will dry out and break if allowed to warm to roomtemperature.

wide strips. Using a pastry brush, spread a very thin layer of oil onto each of the strips.

You will use four strips of phyllo for each samosa triangle. You can take out more phyllo as needed from the refrigerator once you have used up sheets from the kitchen cloth.

Place a tablespoonful of filling at the lower left corner of one strip, and fold the corner diagonally to form a triangle. Fold again, and continue folding and wrapping the triangle until the entire strip is used up, as shown in the illustration. Brush the top of the triangle with oil and set it on the lower left corner of a second phyllo strip. Fold and wrap the triangle as before until the second strip is used up. Repeat the process using a third strip and the fourth strip. Place the finished triangle on the baking sheet.

Then cut another sheet of phyllo into four strips, and repeat the process of filling and folding. Continue this process until all of the filling is used up.

The samosas will puff up as they bake,

with ripe tamarind pods, which are often available in Mexican or Southeast Asian markets, or from dried and compressed tamarind pulp that is sold in a brick-like package and is widely available year-round.

If using fresh pods, choose 1/2 pound of fresh ripe pods. Remove the brittle outer shell and the stringy fibers. Rinse the pods and then soak them in one cup of warm water for at least 30 minutes. After soaking, rub the softened pods between your fingers to separate as much of the pulp into the water as possible. When the water becomes a thick sauce, strain it through a large-holed colander into a bowl, leaving the membranes and seeds behind. Discard the fibers and seeds and set the bowl of tamarind sauce aside.

If using dehydrated pulp, break approximately 1/2 cup into small pieces, discarding any strings or seeds. Put it in a blender or food processor with one cup of warm water and process into a sauce.

Prepare the filling

Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions until limp. Add all the vegetables, spices and cilantro. Sauté uncovered for several minutes until the vegetables begin to soften and the spices are well-distributed.

Add the water and lemon juice, cover, and cook over a low heat until the potatoes are soft but not mushy. If too much liquid is left at this point, uncover and stir-fry the mixture to dry it. Stir in salt and cayenne to taste. Transfer to a platter and set aside.

Assemble

When you are ready to assemble the samosa triangles, lightly oil a couple of baking sheets and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the phyllo from its box and cut open the inner foil of the package. Take out several phyllo sheets from the foil, roll them up and immediately wrap them in the damp kitchen cloth or a napkin. Put rest of the package back in the refrigerator.

Carefully remove one sheet of phyllo and place it on a clean flat surface, keeping the rest of the strips wrapped in the towel. Cut the sheet of phyllo lengthwise into four 3-inch-

A Creative Commons Image by Adrigu so allow some space between them on the baking sheet. This amount of filling makes approximately 18 triangles. Freeze any unused phyllo for future use.

Bake the samosa triangles for 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees, until golden brown.

Serve hot or at room temperature with a chutney.

You can wrap the unbaked samosas with a plastic sheet and refrigerate for a day or two, or freeze for longer time and bake when desired.

Variation: Potato and spinach samosa: Follow the above recipe, but replace the carrots and peas with 2 cups of finely chopped spinach.

Makes 18 to 20 triangles

Date and Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind chutney is best when prepared

You will need only ½ cup of sauce for this chutney. Thr rest of the sauce can be refrigerated for later use, to flavor a soup or a dal.

Ingredients for Chutney: 1/2 cup fresh tamarind sauce 1 tablespoon finely-minced ginger 1 cup dates, pitted and chopped ¼ teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne pepper ½ teaspoon salt To make the chutney, place the tamarind sauce, date pieces, ginger, salt and cayenne pepper into a food processor or blender.

Blend to a smooth puree. Serve right away or refrigerate. This chutney will keep for a week refrigerated in a tightly-closed container.

Makes about 1½ cups chutney. n

July 2015 | Northern California | www.indiacurrents.com | 107

On Inglish

The House Of Teak

By Kalpana Mohan

teak, noun. A large East Indian tree, of the verbena family, yielding a hard, durable, resinous, yellowish-brown wood used for shipbuilding, making furniture, etc.

I

animal, were always colleagues working towards a common n 1956, when my parents were building a new life for themselves goal. They became inseparable when, in the middle of the 19th in the city of Bangalore (now called Bengaluru), my mother’s century, the obsession with teak began to rival that of gold brother arrived at their doorstep with a gift from my maternal and herds of elephants and “teak-wallahs” (teak inspectors) in grandparents.

Burma and northern Thailand carted timber for processing.

My uncle had brought with him a set of three low-slung sofas Demand for hardwood in the west skyrocketed when European crafted from the best teakwood. On the flanks of each chair, the ribs stocks of oak waned; teak became a worthy substitute, lining emerged in a radial formation, like the rays of the morning sun. My the interior and exterior of ships and residences. parents received the gift that would become a prized possession in While the world was discovering teak, one artistic young their living room outlasting both of them: two single chairs and a loveprince in the Travancore kingdom of Kerala, Maharaja Swathi seat, custom-built, stained and buffed to a fine gloss by a carpenter in Thirunal, decided to build a house, a vast palace called Kuthiramy mother’s ancestral home in Kerala. malika, with 122 prancing horses carved into the wooden wall “Thekku” was the Malayalam term by which my parents had albrackets that supported its southern roof. I walked through ways referred to teak. I found out that the native term was, in fact, the twenty rooms of this 80-room palace—lavishly ornamented in origin for both the Portuguese (“teca”) and English (“teak”) references teak, rosewood, granite and marble—that took 5000 artisans to the tree. My parents would always extol the wood’s durability and four years to complete. I was flumappearance. I learned that teak repelled moxed by the elaborate carvings in termites, making it invaluable for use I noticed that the teak tree (Tecto- teak: sixteen rooms of the palace were both indoors and outdoors. constructed in sixteen different patterns, Teakwood framed the doors and na grandis) was never the tallest with each coffered ceiling a paean to the windows of our old bungalow in Chenversatility of teak and to the skill of the nai. Our doors, too, were fashioned from tree in the forest but it rose towards who molded the wood. solid teak. When I reflect on the sale the skies with nary a hesitation. artistes A few years ago, I discovered some of the home my father had built with of the same artistry with teak wood in the breath and hope of his salad days, I my husband’s home when, years after wince at the dismantlement and, later, my first visit, I walked into his ancestral property in the vilthe jettisoning of all the teak reinforcements that had once made our lage of Esayanur. It was the first thing that accosted me when house a home.

I stepped under the eaves of the old home: a doorway ornaOf late, on all my travels, I’ve found myself sighing often at the mented lavishly in teak with mythical annapakshi birds perched stretch of an orchard or pondering the beauty of wood in both its naon swaying branches. As I did on every visit, I ran my fingers tive and its man-made form. On our walk through Galle, an old Dutch over its fine edges and shot yet another photograph of the same settlement in Sri Lanka, I couldn’t believe the fine craftsmanship—with doorframe. local jackfruit, neem and teak woods—in the form of windows, doors, A photograph stanches a deep-seated fear of the evanestables and seating. I stopped to feel artfully appointed wooden doors, cence of a particular moment. If I assumed an animistic perspecbenches, gates, settees, beds, headboards, shutters and windows. I tive, I would argue that the spiritual world is intrinsically tied asked questions about the type and origin of a wooden artifact. During to the material world and that the wood in the doorframe is my recent stay in South India, I drove through miles of semi-arid couninvested with the spirit of the people, in this case my husband’s tryside where Tamil Nadu conjoins Andhra Pradesh. I rolled through ancestors, who touched it. Even in its inanimate avatar, wood is jungle thickets in Kerala on an overnight train. Wherever I went, a invested, I believe, with the power of the touch, of the transferphalanx of teak trees pierced the skies between rows of coconut, banana ence of energy from one person to another. and rubber plantations.

In fall, when I receive three pieces of teak furniture whose I noticed that the teak tree (Tectona grandis) was never the tallest grains were burned with the warmth of my parents’ bodies for tree in the forest but it rose towards the skies with nary a hesitation. over a half of a century, I’ll sink into one of the chairs on a rough The coconut hunched over, depending on the sun and the wind. The day. My hands will glide over the arms of the chair knowing palmyra seemed harsh, rugged and temperamental, dotting India’s completely, as those of us do who seek their loved ones in every landscape in an unpredictable manner. The stodgy banana was a object they own, that while one of its arms belongs to my late ubiquitous clump of stumps, constantly birthing babies, often keeling mother, the other must surely belong to my over with a ponderous hand of fruit. But the teak, whether in a casual recently departed father. n occurrence or in the formal mode of cultivation, maintained a stiff 70foot stance, occupying little space close to the ground and sprouting a shower of leaves where no one could reach out to touch them—imKalpana Mohan writes from Saratoga. To read placable and unshakeable on its lofty, one-track, pencil-point journey more about her, go to http://kalpanamohan.org towards the blue yonder. and http://saritorial.com.

The teak, in my view, seemed like the elephant in the jungle. The comparison is not farfetched, I think. The two, the plant and the 108 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

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the last word

Does a Corset a Woman Make?

What makes a woman?

By Sarita Sarvate

Y

jostled by men; I rode bicycles late at night and got molested in ou really have to worry about the future of feminism when the dark; I did many things girls and women simply did not do in Jon Stewart, a white guy, has to point out the pervading India. I developed the brain of a man. I was forced to be aggresgender stereotypes in our culture. I am talking of the sexy sive, outspoken, courageous, and adventurous. I was encouraged picture of Caitlyn Jenner plastered all over the media. When I first to take risks. These are qualities generally associated with men. At saw it, I felt a distinct sense of disquiet. I could not quite put my the same time, I had to conceal my intensely sensitive, emotional, finger on the reason, however. Until Jon Stewart ridiculed the and vulnerable female psyche behind a tough façade. The result acolytes the media was piling upon Bruce Jenner for his successful was a dichotomy I have had to live with all my life. My outward transition to womanhood. The message then became clear; wearappearance, complete with knee-length hair, high cheekbones, ing a corset made you a woman. My confusion was compounded and a petite physique, projected an image that at times was the by the fact that I had always thought that a corset was something opposite of what I felt inside. Even after I came to the United Scarlett O’Hara had worn to shrink her waist, not an outfit a States and cut my hair, I suffered indignities like being modern woman could wear in public. I began to wonder if ignored in professional meetings and receiving patronI had failed as a woman by not ever putting one on. Sure, But my izing treatment. The worst came when women, too, I have sported sexy lingeries and stockings on occasion, message to Jen- sometimes treated me as an outsider because of my but only for my partner. of girlish banter. Even today, I feel like an odd After Jon Stewart—how I miss him already— ner and the media lack man out in certain all-female groups with cliquish, stated the obvious, women writers jumped into the fray. But the damage had already been done. We had is simple. Under the exclusionary vibes.

All such experiences could make me sympabeen told that women were only concerned with guise of promoting thize with people like Jenner, if only they could gossiping and looking sexy. refrain from prescribing to me the Hollywood A New York Times op-ed articulated my misgivtransgender rights, ideal of sexiness and femininity, if only they could ings. A white man who had been adored as a hero for decades could never understand what it was like don’t reduce me to avoid telling us the psychological qualities that make us feminine. to live an entire life as a woman, Elinor Burkett wrote, a body in a white There is a continuum of male and female attriparticularly a woman born in a certain era. butes that we all have, I think. Some men look physiI could not agree more. corset. cally masculine but are shy, emotional, and sweet, as my Burkett did not stop at deriding the gender stereotype sons sometimes can be. Some women are warriors because evoked by the Jenner photo, but went on to criticize the transthey have had to fight all their lives. gender community for pushing its agenda on all women.

Besides, I cannot help but be suspicious of someone like CaitHer comments gave me pause. I recalled a writing workshop lyn Jenner, whose motives for the media splash seem questionable. not too long ago where a transgender who was biologically a Is money and fame the object, I wonder, particularly since I have woman but chose to live as a man accused me of “not getting it.” just discovered that Jenner was on a TV show with the KardashiI felt he had insulted my intelligence. Of course I got it. ans, a family known perhaps to every American but me? TransWhat I did not get was why the entire workshop had to focus genderism is no doubt the latest bandwagon on which the media on this person’s “in your face” sexual agenda. The transgender is jumping. But my message to Jenner and the media is simple. community has no doubt suffered discrimination for centuries.

Under the guise of promoting transgender rights, don’t reduce me Still, I believe that every individual has a right to prioritize his or to a body in a white corset. n her own political agenda, and not everyone puts gay marriage or transgender rights at the top of their list. Particularly if they have suffered discrimination in various forms, not only from men but Sarita Sarvate (www.saritasarvate.com) has pubfrom women too. lished commentaries for New America Media, Take me, for example. Growing up with a psychologically KQED FM, San Jose Mercury News, the Oakland troubled mother, I looked up to my father for a role model. The Tribune, and many nationwide publications. oldest and the strongest child, I was forced to act like a male in a very traditional society. I stood in lines at railway stations to be

110 | INDIA CURRENTS | Northern California July 2015

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