September 2017 by Nirupama Vaidhyanathan

YouTube: The Accepted Drug By Eesha Ramkumar

Searching for Satyajit Ray’s Iconic Room By Robert Hirschfield

A Mother Loses Her Child By Jaya Padmanabhan

Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence

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2 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

Racism Of The Every Day Kind

couple of weeks ago, we witnessed a racially charged demonstration on the grounds of a premier American University at Charlottesville, Virginia. White supremacists, Klansmen and NeoNazis marched with torches spewing hatred. To most Americans, the march was an abomination to the ideals this country holds dear. Charlottesville was but a flash point that drew national attention. If you were surprised by what you saw and heard at Charlottesville, then you have not been paying attention to the systemic racism that undergirds American democracy at many levels. White supremacy simmers brightest in the uneven hand of justice. “People of color are disproportionately represented at every stage of the criminal justice system,” says Edwin Grimsley, Innocence Project Case Analyst. An analysis on 297 exonerations where DNA evidence helped in overthrowing convictions found that 70% of those proven innocent belonged to minority groups, with African Americans forming 63% of those exonerated. When justice is unevenly applied, lives are lost. You probably have not have heard of Kalief Browder (1993-2015) profiled in a New Yorker article for having spent three years in Riker’s Island prison without being convicted of a crime. Jennifer Gonnerman wrote, “He had been arrested in the spring of 2010, at age sixteen, for a robbery he insisted he had not committed. Then he spent more than one thousand days on Rikers waiting for a trial that never happened. During that time, he endured about two years in solitary confinement, where he attempted to end his life several times.” When he got out, he tried to turn his life around but committed suicide in 2015. And, the initial crime that he was accused of? The theft of a backpack. A backpack. How many minority men and women are being incarcerated in our country’s prisons for crimes they never committed? All the studies in the world can never pinpoint the exact number. In that number you can see white supremacy. White supremacy is alive and well elsewhere in our school system. Schools today are more segregated now compared to a few decades ago. In 2016,

the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigators found that from the 2000-2001 to the 2013-2014 school years, both the percentage of K-12 public schools in high-poverty and the percentage comprised of mostly African-American or Hispanic students grew significantly, more than doubling, from 7,009 schools to 15,089 schools. The percentage of all schools with socalled racial or socio-economic isolation grew from 9% to 16%. Researchers define “isolated schools” as those in which 75% or more of students are of the same race or class. Such schools, investigators found, offered disproportionately fewer math, science and college-prep courses and had higher rates of students who are held back in ninth grade, suspended or expelled. Overall, investigators found, Hispanic students tended to be “triple segregated” by race, economics and language. This is what we have to pay attention to—the systemic undercurrents of racism in society which have a debilitating

chokehold on our country. When we rob a generation of students of hope, based on their skin color, we are setting ourselves up for flash points big and small years hence. When justice is denied or delayed based on skin color, we are going against the principle of equality under the law. By focusing our collective energies in only thinking about Charlottesville without addressing racism in our schools, criminal justice system and healthcare delivery, we risk confronting yet another moment of racial insanity. Our thoughts should be filled with combating the far more sinister, everyday pernicious racism that exists and flourishes around us. n

Nirupama Vaidhyanathan, Managing Editor

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Racism Of the Everyday Kind By Nirupama Vaidhyanathan

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LIFESTYLE 18 |FICTION Alcatraz By Vrinda Baliga 26 | BOOKS Review of Murder Between the Lines By Jeanne Fredriksen 28 |RELATIONSHIP DIVA Three Signs That He's Worth The Wait By Jasbina Ahluwalia 34 |FILMS Review of Toilet: A Love Story By Aniruddh Chawda

8 | FEATURE A Mother Loses Her Child: Fact and Fiction Coalesce By Jaya Padmanabhan 22 | DESI LENS I am the "Other" By Kalpana Mohan 78 | LAST WORD Is The Handmaid's Tale a Feminist Tract? By Sarita Sarvate

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letters to the editor Wedding Videos in Capsule Format

Your cover story (The Big Fat Indian Wedding, August 201717) clearly shows that weddings enter a new space and take on a more personal tangent. Every year the wedding season springs surprises, with the big fat Indian wedding taking on various avatars, and constantly morphing its shape. Each wedding is documented and captured in an entire range of video clippings of different duration. The influence that movies have in shaping our perception of a big, fat Indian wedding cannot be dismissed as minor or insignificant. Our society borrows fun wedding rituals from other cultures and constantly strives to give a modern interpretation to the idea of marriage itself. As far as wedding photos are concerned, life has become so fast that people don’t have the patience and time to watch a 2 to 3 hour long wedding video. Instead, they prefer a capsule format for the video that captures the finest moments of the function, with a lot of cinematic elements thrown in. Vinod Dixit, email

Engaging Wedding Ceremony

This is in response to Vijay Rajavaidya’s article (Demystifying a Hindu Wedding, August, 2017). When I got married, our priest provided not only the significance of the prayers, but did it with humor. I, for one, definitely appreciated it as it made the wedding more fun and kept the attendees engaged during the ceremony. Enakshi Singh Gutkowski, web

A Widower’s Perspective

This is in response to Saroja Viswanathan’s article (Should Only Sumanglais Be Involved in Wedding Rituals? August, 2017). Having been born and brought up in a Kerala Iyer family, I have seen the incidents of alienating widows on several occasions. The fact that it is happening even now is very surprising. My wife died in January 2003 due to complications arising out of a road accident. We had one son Vivek who was just 13 years old at that time. After she died, I made it a point not to attend any

social functions whether it is a birthday celebration, upanayanam, marriage or any other family function. Everybody started questioning me about why I am opting out of these family functions. My answer to them was very simple. If I was dead and my wife was alive, would they have invited her for all these celebrations? My nephew was to get married. My sister came personally and insisted that I should attend. As you are aware, there are certain rituals to be performed by the maternal uncle during the wedding. I told my sister that I cannot perform any of those rituals because her husband’s family (they are conservative in nature) may not like a widower performing those rituals. Because of my sister’s insistence, I attended the marriage but kept myself away from all the rituals. I just sat in the back row in the marriage hall. At my behest, my maternal uncle performed the rituals. My son decided to get married in December 2016. His bride belonged to the Kerala Christian community, from the CSI group. Therefore, there was no problem with rituals. We registered the marriage first and then had a very simple Church blessing ceremony, followed by a reception. When widows are not allowed to participate in auspicious functions, how does the Brahmin community allow widowers to perform all rituals and participate in all these functions? I have tried to find out the basis for following such customs of alienating widows. There is nothing written anywhere in the Vedas or Upanishads. These are manmade customs. It is high time we changed all these archaic customs. Kannan Raju, Bengaluru, India

Indian Weddings Were Simple

This is in response to Sarita Sarvate’s article (Are Indian Weddings Too Ostentatious? August, 2017) Indian weddings were traditional and not so ostentatious till a few decades ago. In those days, most weddings were ritual centric and performed mostly within homes. Relatives were invited a few days in advance and most of them helped in the preparations. Most of the food was prepared at home and desi chefs (halwais) were booked to prepare bulk food for few days before the D-day. Celebrations in hotels and marriage halls (Baraat Ghar or Janj Ghar as it was called in Delhi) started in the 70s but still they were

6 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

not expensive. In Gujarat, a trend started in the early 70s to hold wedding receptions in a hall where only icecream was served and no gifts/ presents were accepted. The trend died sooner than expected and the generation of black money opened the flood gates of ostentatiousness. Today, there are theme-based celebrations ahead of the wedding day with drinks dresses, dishes and displays killing the very spirit and romance of Indian weddings. Suresh Mandan, email

Extends to All Celebrations

This is in response to Geetika Pathania Jain’s article (Reel Weddings and Real Weddings, August, 2017). This phenomenon of copying from reel life is not only tied to weddings but now extends to celebrations for Diwali, graduations etc. Mary Joseph, web

Sincere Writing

This is in response to Shumit DasGupta’s article (The 4-Photo Wedding Album, August, 2017) I l o v e d t h i s e s s a y. I t f e e l s s o uncomplicated and sincere. Our stories are never straightforward, but they are our own. My marriage is mixed religion- Jewish and Christian, but the true diversity comes from tying Midwest vs. the East Coast. Really enjoyed reading this. Melissa Star, web

Traditional Route Not For All

This is in response to Shumit DasGupta’s article (The 4-Photo Wedding Album, August, 2017) The traditional route isn’t for all people. I think your way is what worked best for you. And you got a down payment for a house, a bonus! The most important part of life is your relationships with others around you. Thanks for sharing! Nancy Scadden, web

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. letters@indiacurrents.com

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 7

feature

A Mother Loses Her Child: Fact and Fiction Coalesce In-depth Investigative Report By Jaya Padmanabhan

LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York. 472 pages. Hardcover. $27.00

ith Lucky Boy, Shanthi Sekaran performs a literary cantata that is as dazzling as it is soul-searing. Two disparate threads converge unluckily in Lucky Boy. One spools together the story of Kavya and Rishi in a reasonably stable marriage. Kavya is a graduate of UC Berkeley and works as a sorority chef, while Rishi works for a tech company. They lead a somewhat stereotypical Indian American life, balancing their biketo-work Berkeley lifestyle with an India imported sensitivity to cultural expectations. The other has eighteen-year old Solimar Castro Valdez, an undocumented immigrant from fictional Santa Clara Popocalco, looking for the kind of stability that Kavya takes for granted. Lucky Boy traces Soli’s journey from naïve optimist to gritty survivor and elevates the book by shining a light on the deeply contested issue of undocumented immigration. “It all started in 2010,” said author Sekaran, “I heard about this case on NPR about a Guatemalan woman who was fighting for custody for her child. She had been picked up in a factory raid, she was in detention, and her son was being adopted away from her,” Sekaran summarized. The case was that of Encarnacion Bail Romero who lost her child to the Mosers, a couple she had never met, all while she was in detention. As fact meets fiction in Soli’s story, the writing is deft and centered. Soli makes her way to the border by throwing in her lot with a ragtag group of young boys and men, one of whom she falls in love with. But by the time she makes it to America, Soli has “met and loved and lost her man in a matter of seven days.” Carrying the memory of her love, Soli arrives in Berkeley, and discovers she is pregnant. She procures a fake social security number and

begins to work as a nanny/housekeeper for the Cassidys, who demarcate the line between privilege and poverty. Soli gives birth to a son, Ignacio El Viento Castro Valdez, and the turbulent inner landscape of Soli’s feelings for her son is described with seamless fluency. “He was smallest at night, when shadows lapped at his edges.” Later, through a streak of poor timing, Soli is apprehended and put in detention and Ignacio ends up in state custody. The set-up prepares the reader to face the collision between Kavya and Soli. Even so, it creates a resounding impact. Kavya meets baby Ignacio at an overburdened foster home and Sekaran’s prose engages sentiment with blazing eloquence. “Kavya and Ignacio weren’t born in that room on that evening. An outline of her desire had been building for years now; it was clearly delineated and multidimensional and lacked the one thing, the real thing, the child at its center. Ignacio climbed quietly into that outline, and Kavya knew she was his.”

was completely taken with Soli and Checo (her love) and felt that my reaction as a reader was Sekaran’s inflexion as a writer. “That’s interesting because I felt further from them when I started,” Sekaran remarked. “You know, of

8 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

course, I can basically extract my life and make Kavya. Kavya comes from me. Soli, I had to really build from the bottom up. So maybe I made myself understand her fully because I had greater distance from her myself.” The details of Soli’s life in detention were brutally honest and shaped itself into an editorial on America’s inhumane immigration incarceration policies while marking the disconnect between family courts, immigration detention and child welfare processes. On the morning of the adoption hearings when it was imperative that Soli make contact with the court, she was told that there was a facility shut-down with no access to phones allowed. “Senora, they are taking my son away from me. I need to call the court. I will lose him,” she pleaded with the guard desperately, but was sternly told to get back to her cell. As immigrant genre novels go, there typically is a sentimentality, a yearning if you will, that inhabits the first-generation Indian American story and a jaded cynicism that pervades the second generation one. Sekaran manages to get beyond both tropes. Perhaps because she is not telling the Indian American story in isolation to other stories. “That’s something that I was a little bit hesitant about; whether I have the right to tell the story that was not of my community, not of my experience. I was basically taking someone else’s experience and making a story out of it. I was very aware that I was doing that and that it was a privilege to do that, to be able to sit at my nice desk and write this, while other people were living this. And I stuck with it, because I felt like it was an important story to tell, and it was one that I really cared about,” said Sekaran. Sekaran’s use of fiction to tell a dramatic story has left me feeling awed by the powerful role that writers play in our society. Thank you, Shanthi Sekaran for calling out a case that remains an eyesore in America’s judicial system.

An Immigrant Mother Loses Her Child: True Story States is better for children than returning with a parent to a poorer country, such as Mexico or Guatemala.”

A Mother Loses Her Child: How It Unraveled The fictional novel, Lucky Boy, is based on the actual case of a Guatemalan immigrant Encarnacion Bail Romero. The following account of this case is based on facts using research into legal briefs. Unless stated, the quotes are from legal briefs and court documents. ****** Encarnacion Bail Romero, a woman from Guatemala, crossed the border into the United States and gave birth to a son, Carlos, in Missouri. She obtained false documents to gain employment, and on May 22, 2007, after an immigration raid at the poultry processing plant where she worked, she was rounded up and taken into custody. Instead of deporting Romero, Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecuted Romero for aggravated theft identity. She pled guilty and was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Immediately upon being detained, Romero arranged for her sister Maria and brother-in-law, Geronimo, to take in her six-month old baby, Carlos. The couple struggled with looking after Carlos along with their other commitments. Laura Davenport, a “Parents as Teachers” educator, who became aware of Maria’s situation, suggested that she use the help of Jennifer and Oswaldo Velazco, a clergy couple who had assisted another mother with her child while she was in prison. Maria accepted the offer of “free childcare” and started by dropping Carlos off in the mornings and picking him up in the evenings, but soon the Velazcos began keeping the child during the week. The situation unraveled rapidly after that. On September 19, 2007, Davenport visited Romero at the Osceola jail and attempted to convince her to allow the Velazcos to adopt Carlos. Romero “steadfastly refused and professed her love for Child.” A few days later, on September 25, 2007, the Velazcos introduced Carlos to Seth and Melinda Moser of Carthage, Missouri. “By October 7, 2007, the Mosers began caring for Carlos full time,” without any involvement of child welfare services. Two weeks later, there was a transfer of

custody hearing by the Missouri Juvenile court, with only one day’s notice, and without informing Romero. The hearing “lasted 106 minutes.” Later, on October 9, 2008, the Missouri Juvenile court granted the adoption of Carlos, terminating Romero’s parental rights.

The Verdicts

The court found that the mother had “abandoned” the child because she had not made adequate arrangements for the child when she was in prison; that she had not established any contact or communication with her infant while she was in jail; that there were only two letters on file to indicate that she was against the adoption; that she was unable to submit proof of her capability to take care of her child in Guatemala; that since she had a pattern of illegally entering the United States, she would be unable to provide any stability for a child. “A child cannot be educated in this way, always in hiding or on the run.” Thus, Encarnacion Bail Romero lost the first court battle. It was to be a portent of things to come. One of the two letters on file from Romero read: I have suffered too much by knowing nothing about my little one, asking God to take care of him for me and let me be reunited with him soon. Please, Mr. Dominguez, [lawyer] look for the means to send my son [Child] with my family in Guatemala. This is the telephone number of my sister in Guatemala, I spoke to her and she will welcome him in my country. Anita Ortiz Maddali, Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University’s College of Law, wrote an article for the Spring 2014 issue of the Indiana Law Journal, in which she declared that in numerous instances the “courts terminated the parental rights of undocumented parents because of biases about the parents’ immigration status, language, race, culture, and the belief that life in the United

n July 21, 2010, the Missouri Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the Juvenile court decision stating that “[i]t is clear from the record that Mother did not consent to the adoption and did not give anyone authority to place Child for adoption.” Seven reasons were given for their reversal. l. The Velazcos had no legal authority as adoption intermediaries l. Romero was not sent any notice on the transfer of custody hearing l. Romero did not have counsel ap pointed till after the transfer of custody hearing l. No investigation was done into Romero’s abilities to care for the child l There was no evidence that the Mos ers were licensed foster parents l There was no report on Carlos’s rela tionship to his mother l The transfer of custody of Carlos to the Mosers occurred prior to a court order granting the transfer The case was then transferred to the Missouri Supreme Court. On January 25, 2011, the court upheld the Missouri Court of Appeals decision. Every member of the [Missouri Supreme] Court agree[ed] that this case is a travesty in its egregious procedural errors, its long duration, and its impact on Mother, Adoptive Parents, and, most importantly, Child.” However, since the seven justices were “split on the remedy,” they called for a new trial back to the Juvenile court. “The case continues to haunt me a little bit,” said R. Omar Riojas, one of the lawyers who worked pro bono on the Romero case. “What we were arguing was for a complete and outright returning of the adoption that would then allow us to have Carlitos (an affectional appellation) back to Encarnacion. We missed that by one vote.” It was a 4-3 split. It is likely that the court’s decision hinged on the fact that Carlos had been with his adoptive parents for two to three years by then. Painfully for Romero, the initial decision to grant the adoption was upheld by

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 9

the Juvenile Court on July 18, 2012, and affirmed by the Missouri Court of Appeals on October 7, 2013. Unfortunately, this case is not unique. Race Forward published a report titled “Shattered Families,” authored by Seth Freed Wessler, estimating that in 2011 there were at least 5,100 children in foster care, whose parents were either detained or deported, and that if things continued as they were, that number would balloon to 15,000 additional children by 2016. Undocumented parents nationwide are losing their parental rights, with immigration status playing an inconsistent role in adjudications by state courts. And, as the Missouri Supreme Court observed in a 2004 case involving K.A.W. twins, “[t] he termination of parental rights has been characterized as tantamount to a ‘civil death penalty.’” In Maddali’s opinion, “Crossing the border unlawfully and living in the United States as an undocumented person can be precarious for children and parents, but characterizing this as parental unfitness ignores the complicated choices parents face and the limited options available to pro-

vide for their children … In Bail Romero’s situation, though she was convicted of a felony for using fraudulent documents, she used these identity documents to work and provide for her children.” It’s hard for some of us to really get the full scope of an undocumented person’s life. Davenport testified that Carlos was weak because Romero gave him whole milk instead of 2%. When Romero explained that she did not have a ride to the city to pick up free formula, Davenport expressed skepticism, because Romero did get a ride to go to the city to work every day, to which Bail Romero replied that undocumented people are afraid to drive. Then there’s the accusation of not calling her family often enough. Initially Romero did not call her family because she did not have access to a phone, and when she did call, her family members did not accept her collect calls. Yet, she was penalized for this. Encarnacion Bail Romero lost her child because she was undocumented, because she was poor, because she was incarcerated, and because she did not have a working knowledge of English or Spanish. n

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Jaya Padmanabhan was the editor of India Currents from 2012-16. She is the author of the collection of short stories, Transactions of Belonging. 1. Writ of certiorari to the Missouri Court of Appeals. No 13 2. In the Supreme Court of Missouri. Re The Adoption of C.M.B.R., Appeal from the Circuit Court of Jasper County Appellant’s Substitute Opening Brief No. SC91141. 3. In the Supreme Court of Missouri. Re The Adoption of C.M.B.R., Appeal from the Circuit Court of Jasper County Appellant’s Substitute Reply Brief No. SC91141. 4. Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District Division 2 2010 WL 2841486 re adoption of C.M.B.R. 5. Case brief in re K.A.W., Supreme Court of Missouri, 133 S.W.3d 1 (2004) 6. Indiana Law Journal, Spring 2014, The Immigrant “Other”: Racialized Identity and the Devaluation of Immigrant Family Relations by Anita Maddal.

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 11

DIGITAL Dispatches from those who know how By Shumit

work in education. I was recently asked to “tweet” in order for our department to gain visibility within our own organization, something I have been consciously avoiding. I quickly discovered three previous Twitter accounts which I started and abandoned after my ADHD kicked in and I got bored. I started a new account. I have 38 followers.

Suffice to say, I do not have a lot of digital influence. I’m not a digital native—I’m old enough to remember when if you wanted a loudspeaker for your opinions, you needed to get on television, the radio, or write for newspapers. Media was in the hands of professionals, and you had to know someone or be someone to get access. I can even remember when email was novel, rather than being the norm of business and personal communication. Things have changed. When the editor asked me to do a piece on Digital Influencers, I hesitated. Was she aware of how unsavvy I was at this sort of thing? Since I’m a science person, I wondered if she made the not-unreasonable assumption that I had some amount of tech literacy, something that is patently false. Still, though, I was curious. I did need to beef up my Twitter numbers. Maybe I could learn something if I could converse with somebody who did know something about this world wide web that the kids are all on these days? And who wouldn’t want a little more digital influence? I decided to say “yes.” Then I was asked to talk to some pretty important people. By pretty important people I mean people who attended or work with premier universities, who podcast, who manage global networks of communication online. They have their own Wikipedia pages. These people count followers in the thousands or millions. I’m not sure what to ask them exactly. But I decided to give it a shot. n

Sramana Mitra of 1Mx1M

had the pleasure of speaking with Sramana, easily the most intense of the three interiewees. Case in point: When my $10 phone app that I was hoping to use to record our conversation failed to work on my kludgy iPhone, she quickly dialed me in to a free conference-call website within five minutes, four of which were spent with me trying to type and work a laptop, with a phone in my other hand. This is why she’s the CEO of a multi-million dollar incubator, and I have—as of this morning 43 Twitter followers. Sramana’s clearly passionate about what she does, and I wasn’t quite prepared for the intensity 10. Sramana Mitra she displayed, as I had seen some of her videos and Founder, One Million by One Million heard her podcasts. It’s the same content, but she is very measured in public presentation. Get her on the Sramana Mitra, Top 10 Digital Influencer, phone, though, and she will tell you exactly what she LinkedIn 2015. thinks, with a vigor usually reserved for skewering politicians. The word “opinionated” doesn’t quite suffice. This you put in money, and expect that hyper-growth will just deliver could be construed as criticism, but it is anything but that. We itself. In some cases it does—Facebook, Google, Apple—they want people who have good ideas to be forward with them, and grew at an amazing pace. But this is not normal. These are the as far as I can tell, she is making a whole lot of sense. outliers.” The one notion she explodes for me is that biggest is always The whole notion behind 1Mx1M is that it is just fine—and, best. in fact, preferable—to have reasonably sized, profitable compa“Hyper-growth is not a natural state. You can’t expect that nies that have done their homework, boot-strapped at least a siz-

12 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

LEADERS to increase your digital influence DasGupta able amount of their own capital and assets, and don’t necessarily subscribe to the prevailing Silicon Valley notion that you have to be infinitely scaleable. “I consulted on all sides of the equation—small, medium-sized and large start-ups—I worked with every single part of the food chain. A striking observation was that over 99% of the companies that apply for venture capital get rejected, for very good reasons.” The idea behind this is that medium-sized, profitable, and sustainable business models not only have a place in the global economy, but that the long-term sustainability of the global economy actually depends on it. “We’ve built a society where there is too much wealth at the top of the economic pyramid. The numbers are staggering. About 42 people own 50% of the world’s wealth. Do look that up” So how does 1MX1M help move capital to the middle of the wealth pyramid? The company is virtual. You can be anywhere on the globe and sign up for their curriculum, which is their mainstay, augmented by Sramana’s significant digital presence on the podcast, on video, and in books and articles. They walk you through how to bootstrap your company, when and where to look for funding, and most importantly, how to avoid the notion and the pitfalls of the hyper-grwoth mindset. One million dollars sounds like a lot of money to one person all at once, but on company-sized terms, it isn’t huge. But when you multiply that by 1 million entrepreneurs—her stated goal, whether or not that is hyperbole—still amounts to a lot. And she is the figurehead for all of it. Being under the giant microscope of the public eye 24/7 was something I hadn’t yet considered. I wonder what it must mean to be available to that many people with only 168 hours in every week. She still has to sleep, sometimes. I ask—she has to have some boundaries, otherwise I imagine she would go insane. “We have a round table you can visit every week. It’s free, and the only time I avail myself personally.” It seems a sensible technique, and perhaps something that I wouldn’t need to do. I’m beginning to question the notion that we all take for granted—fame is great, success is measured solely by volume, and the limelight should be on all hours of the day and night.

Vivek Wadha, Professor Emeritus

ivek, according to his bio “researches exponentially advancing technologies that are soon going to change our world,” which is a pretty open statement. Our opening bid in the conversation that we had was—what the hell does that

Gaining Purchase in the Digital Sphere: How to Go About it This is a condensed list. No one thing is a direct quote, rather, it is a synthesis and amalgam of the themes shared with me by the heavy hitters in the digital realm. Here’s my best effort at distilling the advice they gave: Offer Something of Value Everything is free these days, especially information. A lot of it is cloaked in a sales pitch, and everyone can see through it. Don’t do that. Give something out that people want and need first. If they like it—and find it useful—they will come to you. Include People Social media, for good or for bad, is a real thing these days, and understanding the motivations of how people share information matters. If they feel empowered—if they are vested in your project, and get a voice in it—they will share it, with their loved ones, their neighbors, their networks, who will share it with theirs—there is real power in that. Don’t Make Assumptions That uncle? The grumpy one you were with at family gatherings, who occasionally says weird and inappropriate things on Facebook, because he didn’t grow up with it? Guess what—he has a network, and a powerful one. He knows some important people. And since he isn’t obsessed with posting his own opinion or ego, when he does post content, people will listen to him precisely because he is not that person. Get him to post your stuff. You’ll have to impress him first, though, and that’ll take some work. Go Niche A smaller network means a tighter web of contacts. Example: if you are a musician, it’s easier to get a local following than to tour giant cities where no one has heard of you (I speak from personal experience on this one). Follow the Leaders Your own bullhorn will be heard for only so many meters. Talk to people with larger bullhorns, and convince them your message deserves to be heard through theirs. If they like it, they will. Google was built on this notion. Put it Out There Anyone can publish now. Give it a try. Throw a blog post up; if you get a positive reaction, go for a larger bullhorn, like LinkedIn. Less is More Over exposure is a real thing. In the new landscape of constant information bombardment, our brains have largely learned to filter out background noise. Don’t do that. Put out only what you need to say—and give people a reason to learn more. They will find it if they want to. n September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 13

14 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

Vivek Wadhwa, Professor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon

mean? OK, that was my question. He obviously knows what he does, and I’m actually more diplomatic than that. I said that in my head, but offered a more professional version of the question. We’ll get to that. Here’s what he actually does: he researches AI (artificial intelligence) robotics, driverless cars, advances in computer processing capacity, and anything that could be construed as exponentially growing technology. I was just flummoxed about how you actually research the impacts of technological developments on society that haven’t actually been developed yet. And, I asked him just that—“How do you research the impacts of technological developments on society that haven’t even been developed yet?” His answer was simple, if I may paraphrase: “You look at how technology has been advancing in the last few decades—and you extrapolate.” Vivek does not mince words. Now, anyone that can carry on a serious conversation about how we as a society deal with technological advancements and can effectively illustrate their point with a “Rosie the Robot” reference from the Jetsons wins in my book. I can understand that. I remember Skype coming online, and actually thinking, “Whoa! The Jetsons are here. I wonder when we get to eat meals in pill form, and ride sky-walks? Must be soon.” Still, technology has its dark side, and I wanted to ask him about that. “We can’t keep up—people are not ready for the change that’s about to happen.” He is speaking of the sheer speed at which technology is advancing, and our diffidence in acknowledging that, or even being aware of it. Here’s something I didn’t know: “With computing power doubling every 18 months or so, we are about 7 or 8 years from Rosie being a reality.” Rosie is a comical and benign notion, but with the advent of fake news—and our ability to disseminate it—we suddenly, in the here and now—have problems we couldn’t have anticipated six months ago. And we have new technology to deal with. The podcast Radiolab just featured a piece on Voco, new software that let’s you not only edit vocal tracks, but literally insert words into the mouth of anyone in their own voice. That, coupled with new software that lets someone control the facial movements from any video clip in real time means we can now manufacture fake news on a whole new level. I asked him if he saw any of this coming, along with the rise of social media. “Things are moving even faster than I expected. I expected social media to be uplifting mankind. I didn’t expect it to be un-

leashing demons. Rather than being used to educate, it is being used to keep people dumb, and to mislead them. People are going to be putting words in Obama’s mouth. Literally.” It’s scary, and even more so to hear this from an expert in the field. But, at this point, we all know it is true. I ask him if he ever feels like he is preaching to the choir, that the folks that might listen to him are already informed. “I have the opposite problem. 90% of the time, I have people saying—Oh my god. I had no idea.” I’m surprised by this, and strangely heartened by it. It means that there is value to using a digital bullhorn—if you have something important to say, it is likely there is an audience that needs to hear it. We move into a conversation about how you do that. “Your strategy needs to be not to say what you want to say, but say what people need to hear.” I don’t quite get this at first. Why would you be saying anything if you didn’t want to say it? He elaborates by talking about the tech companies that created this massive exponential growth in, for lack of a better term, digital alacrity for everyone. He believes that the onus for considering the implications of the technology resides on them, and that they largely didn’t know or didn’t care about those implications, and he is just fine saying that out loud. Does he need to? Not for himself. He is well established, to the point where he now has to leave his immediate vicinity if he wants to go out to eat without being recognized. “My wife doesn’t like going out with me, with people saying ‘Oh! You’re Vivek Wadha!’ So we go to different places [farther from his home] so that doesn’t happen. That’s about it really.” I ask him what he does when he doesn’t want to talk to people. “Oh you can’t do that. People took the time to contact you, so you have to reply. You just have to do it. You can’t be arrogant.” I’m beginning to get a notion of his attitude towards this digital fame, and consequently why he has it. Anything solely ego driven—your opinion for your opinion’s sake—isn’t interesting to anyone, unless perhaps you are still under 25. Despite the rather dark begining to our conversation, this is where we end, and I can get behind it. It feels both hopeful and positive, and doesn’t feel fake—we’ve acknowledged that we are in a tough place right now, as a species, and yet it still feels like a universal truth. I would even invoke a cliche—“Do unto others as they would do unto you.” Cliches might be cliche, but they have staying power because they prove true, over and over again.

Sriram Emani of IndianRaga

ndian Raga, from what I can best discern, is solely a digital platform that seeks to promote Indian classical music and dance forms. If you find them on Facebook or Youtube, you will find numerous music

Sriram Emani

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 15

Indian Raga Recording

and dance performances artfully recorded and filmed. They look professional, no doubt, but what may strike you as odd, at first, is that the performers just look like normal people, having fun. There are, as well, a lot of kids. They are wonderful performances, but you get the feeling that you could run into them at the grocery store, or that they might be some distant cousin that you met at your aunty’s wedding. And that is more or less true. It is, in fact woven into Sriram’s business model. Sriram is a musician of note himself. He grew up in Mumbai, and learned to sing in the Carnatic style from a young age, first from his mother, and later as a dedicated student of the Carnatic tradition. But it is music after all—it’s tough to make a career out of it (as a former semi-professional musician with a degree in biology I can corroborate this) so he did what many of us do— elected to pursue studies in something more reliable, and sideline the music. He attended IIT in Mumbai, went into management consulting, and started working as a high-performing consultant in New York City, where—my favorite part of the story—his trajectory was thrown off course by Broadway musicals. “I was sitting there watching Phantom of the Opera and my life just instantly changed; this is insane, I thought.” Phantom of the Opera may have been the initial eye-opener for Sriram, but he went on to see eight more musicals in the next two months. He took a few years to go work for the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai—this was his “break”—then he went on to complete his technical education at MIT, but the drama and music bug still tugged at his heartstrings. “Even there, it was all I could talk about,” says Emani. With encouragement from one of his professors, he formed a business plan, the last deliverable as a final project at MIT. It took off. It took off largely because Sriram was savvy about how he set everything up. His company actually depended on small circles of people who loved to play music. Here’s the thing—we all love music, and if you don’t, I don’t understand you. But you probably do, and Sriram understood that. We also love to share music that we play ourselves—I do. I play and then, I want to share that. He grabbed onto that— how about making a platform for people who love performing, and give them a place to plug into an ecosystem of like-minded people? I’d explain more, but I will take a page from his advice, and 16 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition |September 2017

not say too much—aren’t you curious already? Do you know someone on Indian Raga, whom you’ve seen perform? Because actually, you might. He was tactical—Indian Raga launched with reputable, known players—and went from there. They actively sought out talent—if you can play well, you get in, with a small fee, sure, but you get something for that. You get mentored, you get recording time, you get filmed, and you get plugged into the digital ecosystem. Is it worth it? I can’t make that judgement for you, but, I’ll be more explicit than he is online. I thumbed through his videos—both classical Carnatic, and good ole’ pop music, stuff my daughter would love—and one video struck me. It’s a bunch of high schoolers some in college— mostly, although I do use that term from a vantage point—they are young, I am old, but nonetheless, the talent level is huge. One kid—a young kid that looked like me when I was growing up, awkward, finding his place, and really having a hard time fitting in—can rock it. A short burst of percussion from his fingertips leads you to think “Hell, who is this kid?” And now he’s got a place where 5 million people have seen him play. I could have used that growing up, so thanks to Sriram for giving that kid that huge platform—the Indian Raga way!

fter talking to all these important people—these digital influencers, as it were—I’m thinking about this landscape made of 1s and 0s. At the end of the day, I have to ask myself—how can I leverage the little digital influence I do have? Do I need to? I try and put my best out on the Internet when I can, but I’m also known for posting some mediocre stuff from time to time—I think we all do. I marvel at the sheer number of people these influencers reach, to be sure, and I’m aware that I don’t have to worry about whatever I said on Facebook last night, because my mom will ding me for it the next morning. Before all seven of my friends read it at work. I can delete it without consequence. Still, I think we all should say what we feel is important out loud. For myself, I think I’ll tamp down my expectations to something more modest—I won’t expect zillions of followers. The 78 Twitter followers I now have mostly won’t read this article—and that is fine. Twitter might not be the best place to reach them. If they do read it, though, I’ll be more motivated to make something they want to hear. I’m reminded of one last thing Vivek said. “You have to give before you can take. As in life, the more you give, the more you get. This is an important lesson that people need to learn. It’s always about giving. You have to go into it not saying ‘I want to be popular’ or ‘I want to be a digital influencer,’ but ‘I want to help people. I want to share knowledge. You do for others. That’s life. ” All said and done, I think I’ll take a page from these influencers' books, and only say something when I have something valuable to say. I’ll make it count. Without necessarily counting numbers. n

Shumit DasGupta is a Senior Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, and is a writer, teacher, husband and father. His work has appeared in magazines, radio and television. You can follow him on Twitter at @das_shumit if you care about science, education, IndianAmerican issues, bicycling, and cool things to do with LEGO®.

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 17

fiction

Alcatraz

Katha Fiction Contest 2017 • First Place By Vrinda Baliga Katha Fiction Contest 2017 was co-sponsored by India Currents and the Wellstone Center. Founded by Sarah Ringler and Steve Kettmann, the Wellstone Center is a writer’s retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Entries this year were asked to adhere to a theme of “California Fiction.” A substantial part of the story should be drawn from California and/or should reflect the ethos of what it means to be a Californian. This story has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming 2018 Best California Fiction volume by Wellstone Books. The writer will receive a weeklong India Currents residency at the Wellstone Center i(at no charge) and a $300 cash prize from India Currents.

spouses, whereas, in truth, it is the other he tour has not even started in earway around. nest and Priya already regrets comOnce again, she wonders if she made ing. The ferry slicing through the a mistake coming to San Jose. Maybe surf towards Alcatraz Island is stirring the Sridhar and she should have gone directly first waves of nausea in the pit of her stomup to Seattle where their daughter awaits ach. Tourists crowd one side of the ferry, them. She had thought this stopover jockeying for the best pics of the Golden would help; she had pictured those long, Gate Bridge, and she is at once envious of midnight conversations that Veena and she and irritated by their enthusiasm. Almost once used to share, that helpless laughter there, she mutters to herself through gritover the most trivial of things, the heartted teeth as the wind lashes her hair across to-hearts after which everything used to her face. Perhaps she should suggest they seem somehow—right. But, all that was get out of the sun and wind and go downdecades ago, and the present-day Veena stairs, but here’s Veena sitting next to her, seems to have other things on absently recording a seagull her mind. Oh, it’s not like she’s or whatever with her phone camera, and there, in the She had pictured those long, midnight con- been less than exemplary in her row of seats in front, are Nitversations that Veena and she once used to welcome. If anything, it’s her insistence on playing the perish and Sridhar, immersed in share, that helpless laughter over the most fect—too perfect—host that conversation. “Corporate hyperbole trivial of things, the heart-to-hearts after grates on Priya’s nerves. Veena seems to have erected this imrules the Valley,” Nitish is saying. “Forget ‘customer fo- which everything used to seem somehow— permeable membrane of courtesy between them that their cus’, it’s now all about ‘cusright. But, all that was decades ago. friendship cannot penetrate to tomer obsession!’ I mean, find the familiar, comfortable that doesn’t even sound contours of old. right. Sounds kinda creepy, if Priya suspects that Veena’s you ask me, like they’re into safest way is to write it down with pen and keeping her at arms’ length has something stalking customers or something.” paper and pop it into the nearest postbox. to do with the distinct sense she’s been Sridhar grins. “For all you know, they I mean, who would even think of reading having that the two—Nitish and Veena — might be. Your phone keeps tabs on you, anyone else’s snail mail these days? Heck, are in the midst of a marital spat of some your search engine knows you better than I don’t even open my own mail.” sort. It isn’t in anything they say or do, you know yourself. And going by the latThe conversation between them flows of course. But, there is a brittle air to the est Wikileaks, when you’re watching teleeasily, whereas Veena and she seem stuck way Nitish and Veena sit carefully apart, vision, your television is watching you.” in an obstacle course of awkward siin the way she handed him his teacup that Nitish claps him on the shoulder, lences. An outsider might easily assume morning, just so with scarcely a glance, in laughing. “That’s right. You can invest it is the two men who share the closer, the way each avoids the other’s eyes even in all the high-end security software you older friendship, carried on from college, when they refer to each other by name want, but if you really want to get somewith Priya and Veena having the acquainin conversation. Priya steals a sideways thing across without anyone snooping, the tance thrust upon them by virtue of their 18 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

glance at Nitish. Suave, glib talker, his eyes always shrewd and business-like even when his manner was light and friendly—that’s what she’d secretly thought of him when she’d first been introduced to him all those years ago. She shakes her head in amusement now as she watches him laughing with her husband, wondering if there hadn’t been just a tiny bit of jealousy at play in her poor opinion of him. She had been wrong to assume he wasn’t right for Veena. After all, they had made a beautiful life together—the immaculate home in one of those communities that looks like they’ve been transplanted in their entirety from India, groceries, restaurants, movie theaters and all; a son away at MIT; myriad vacations, successes and milestones all assiduously documented on Facebook. The ferry jolts over another wave and Priya’s stomach lurches, swinging her thoughts to the uncharitable side once again. The Veena of old would have known immediately that something was wrong. She would have wormed it out of Priya in no time, let her talk or cry it out of her system, and soon have her laughing at the funny side. There was always a funny side, no matter what, and Veena could be depended upon to find it. Where was that Veena when she needed her most? She wants to grab her by the shoulders and shake this new starched politeness right out of her. Oh, get over it, whatever this petty quarrel is about, she wants to yell. There are people with real problems in the world. ***** But, of course, Veena doesn’t know. She couldn’t know how, back in India, on a day just as sunny as this one, a sheaf of innocuous-looking papers had torpedoed Priya’s life. You see all kinds in a hospital waiting room. For some, it is the first time their body is betraying them, ungraciously jerking the veil of complacency aside to show them a glimpse of their own mortality, and they riffle through the pages of their diagnostic reports again and again in outraged disbelief. For others, it is an old betrayal, the files on their laps thick with the evidence of an ongoing infidelity, and they are wearily reconciled to the injustice of their body’s flirtation with death and disease. The rows of metal seats, the forcefully cheery colour of the walls, the racks of brochures for diagnostic tests and vaccina-

tions, the woman irately telling the nurse that yes, her bladder was full and could she please get the abdominal ultrasound now, the young couple sitting in the corner, comparing results of their annual health check-up like they were exam scores. All these details are perfectly recorded in Priya’s mind, but she has only the faintest recollection of somebody finally bringing their reports, of Sridhar opening the envelope and unleashing a whole new set of hard, metallic-tasting words into the quiet vocabularies of their life. Even the one word that was familiar had mutated into an unknowable beast. For the longest time, Cancer was only her sun-sign—the column at which her eyes paused in astrology sections, to read humdrum, generic predictions—travel expected, hard work will reap great success this week, good time to start a new venture, things like that. Always benign. Not anymore. This is the first time they are coming to the United States, though their daughter Nina has been pestering them to visit for years. Sudhir has always hated all the hoops one is made to jump through for a simple visa. This time, though, he didn’t protest. Nina, of course, is puzzled and upset. They should have come not now —in the sixth month of her pregnancy— but towards the end, like all good Indian parents, to provide a whole six months of support when the baby arrived. They have come to tell her the news in person. But now, Priya wonders if they should. What’s the point? Nina can’t travel to India in the near future, not in this stage of pregnancy, nor with a new infant. Why drag her into the circle of helplessness? The whole thing feels unreal, anyway. If they don’t give it the shape and credibility of words and tears and plans of action…then maybe, just maybe, it will simply go away… ***** The ferry docks at the island at last and they line up to disembark. There is a steep climb to the prison complex and Priya finds herself getting out of breath. Veena calls from up ahead, “You two okay back there?” Priya nods and waves her on. “Tell me again, what are we doing on this tour?” she mutters to Sridhar. He shrugs as if to say “your friend.”

“You have to hand it to the Americans though,” he comments, glancing around at the steady stream of selfie-stick-toting tourists. “Back in India, there are all those centuries-old sites going to rot and barely given a second glance, and these folks will take just about anything and package it into a tourist destination, complete with an exit that leads through a souvenir shop!” Priya peers balefully against the sun at Veena striding up the steps. They were scarcely up and about that morning when she whisked them off to San Francisco. A hurried breakfast at Fisherman’s Wharf, a cursory halt at Pier 39 to click the inevitable pictures with the sea lions, and here they are on the Alcatraz tour she has booked them all on. The main prison complex looms into view at last. They are handed audio guides at the entrance. Passing through rooms with a variety of prison paraphernalia on display, they enter the main cell block. Rows of cells, three tiers high, stretch before them on either side. Tourists mill around, glancing this way and that in response to the narration in their headsets. Priya plugs in her headset and the audio guide launches into a history of the prison. She notes with irritation that Veena is following the guide studiously, pausing at each display and listening to the narra

Katha 2017 Results FIRST PLACE: Alcatraz by Vrinda Baliga Hyderabad, India

SECOND PLACE: Subterfuge in the Septagon by Mahanth Joishy, New York THIRD PLACE: artya, Cherry Blossoms by Sandhya Ach San Francisco Bay Area S: TWO HONORABLE MENTION Exaptation by Samantha Rajaram an Garden of People by Neerja Ram

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 19

tion. There she is now, examining a prison regulation sign that states imperiously, “You entitled to food, clothing and shelter. Anything else is a privilege.” Maybe she should put up that sign up in her precious home—Priya grins to herself at the snarky thought, then is immediately overcome with regret. When did the distances set in? Haven’t they always made it a point to keep in touch? Yes, but the once-copious letters and emails that had deteriorated over time to a half-hearted exchange of forwards and birthday greetings were perhaps symbolic of the fact that, somewhere along the way, they had allowed the fabric of their friendship to fray from the personal to the generic. It wasn’t merely by coincidence, after all, that all their conversations over the years, whether online or in person during Veena’s whirlwind India visits, always fell back on the past—on anecdotes and recollections of past follies and foibles, adventures and misadventures. The others have moved on, and Priya hurries to catch up. The audio guide is listing some of the prison’s most infamous occupants. Hardened criminals, all of them. Yet, being here, within the same walls that once confined them, it is strangely easy to separate man from deed and to feel, first-hand, the horror of incarceration. Priya stops at a cell that has some personal effects on the shelf—a picture, a pack of cards, a board game. They’re only props, but suddenly she can’t breathe. This is the reality of a life circumscribed by four walls. Where rising from bed to go to the toilet is an event. Where privacy is unheard of, and the most basic of human functions are subject to the schedules and interventions of others. Where the body is thus confined, even as the mind remains free to contemplate the full horror of what is being done to it. Claustrophobia clutches at her throat and she can’t wait to get out of the place. ***** As Sridhar predicted, the exit is indeed through a souvenir shop. Priya is examining a metal “prison-issue” mug that reads “I Escaped Alcatraz,” when the others join her.

“Found it boring, huh?” Nitish asks with a grin. “You shouldn’t have left midway,” Veena says, an undertone of accusation in her voice. “The part about the prison escape was quite interesting.” “I…just…,” Priya gropes for words. Sridhar comes to her rescue. He takes the mug from her hand. “I suppose that’s for my morning cuppa,” he quips, putting his arm around her and giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. Priya glances up to catch Veena looking at them, a strange expression on her face. She turns away the moment their eyes meet. *****

Priya and Veena sit side by side, gazing across the bay at the city skyline. They have an hour before the ferry back to the city and the men have gone for a walk around the island. The silence is oppressive, yet Priya can’t bring herself to once again dig up some incident from the distant past to break the ice. And the simple truth is that she doesn’t have a clue about the minutiae of Veena’s life any more than Veena can guess at how Priya’s chic clothes, bought just for this trip, hide the ravages within. Perhaps that’s what all friendships come to in the end. Homes, lives, even bodies— much like Alcatraz, the version packaged for others becomes, somewhere along the way, only tenuously linked to the version actually lived in. According to the audio guide, over the course of its history, the prison had seen thirty-six escape attempts, all ending in capture or death. What is surprising is that they had even tried, considering the heavy odds against success—the tight security,

20 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

the icy waters, the rip tides. Sitting there, though, Priya understands. The city looks so close, it almost feels like you can reach out and touch it. So close, yet so impossibly far. Veena seems to sense her thoughts. She turns abruptly to face her. “I’m leaving him,” she says. Priya blinks in surprise. “What?” “I’m leaving him,” Veena repeats, with a short nod, as though she’s telling herself as much as Priya. Priya looks at her wordlessly. Years ago, they had sat together just like this in Priya’s room. “I think he’s the one for me,” Veena had said then of this very man, the man who would be her husband. The fact, so plainly put—Veena discovering it almost the same time as Priya—had sparkled in the air between them like a freshlymined diamond, and they had examined it in delight, dusting it off, tilting it this way and that in their palms, secure in the knowledge that there would be many more such diamonds to be mined together, shared secrets and confidences, lying in store for them. They had not known then that the years would see their paths diverge, and they would one day have only chunks of coal clutched in weary hands to offer each other. Then, as now, Priya had wanted to say, “Are you certain?” But now, as then, she sees the look on Veena’s face, her features shorn of all artifice, the truth of her words in her eyes, and she says nothing, simply reaching over to squeeze Veena’s hand. n Vrinda Baliga lives in Hyderabad, India. Her work has appeared in the Himal Southasian, New Asian Writing, Commonwealth Writers adda, Muse India, Reading Hour, Out of Print, India Currents, Temenos, The Shine Journal and several other literary journals and short fiction anthologies. She has won prizes in the FON South Asia Short Story Competition 2016 and New Asian Writing Short Story Competition 2016. She is a 2014 Fellow of the Sangam House International Writers’ Residency and was selected for the Nonfiction Writing Seminar conducted by The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 2015.

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desi lens

I Am The “Other” By Kalpana Mohan

he Silicon Valley is a bubble,” my daughter said when I tried to apply the logic of the valley to the rest of the country. My children live on the opposite coast and they have told me often that the Bay Area coddled and insulated us from most events that skewed the rest of the nation. Aside from its diverse population, the lives and livelihoods here have typically revolved around the dominant theme of technology. And if anything defined the people who made a life here, it was not their racial differences but how innovative and driven they were. In the last year, I’ve realized how philosophically estranged the San Francisco Bay Area is from much of the country. We’re a planet away from places like Charlottesville, Virginia, where, according to New York Times reporter Jenna Wortham (who attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville) Southern gentility is a way of life. In Charlottesville, “people dressed up for football games, boys wore suits, the girls wore pearls,” and the stunning campus embodied that ethos. For Wortham, too, the events of August 12 and the aftermath were very jarring—although she, as an African American, could believe that it happened there. Not so long ago, when we had men with decency and integrity in the White House, my husband and I binge-watched House of Cards. When Frank Underwood, the fictional Vice President of the United States pushed journalist Zoe Barnes onto the train tracks, my husband turned to me, his face incredulous. “Such things can never happen! This is the dumbest show I’ve watched.” But with the hate march in August, I believe all Americans, my husband included, have found that truth is so much stranger and gorier than fiction. Three days after the events in which a nationalist protestor killed Heather Heyer, my daughter sent me a video made by a reporter at Vice. I watched the first few minutes of it and then decided I would not, could not, watch the rest. I decided that I would not share it on social media either. That day was August 15th, the day of India’s Independence. Around the same time that I received the Vice video, another friend shared an old radio recording of India’s national anthem that had been recorded in the fifties. I listened to that over and over. The anthem reminded me of my parents’ first home in Chennai, our verandah, our gargantuan Marconi radio and my late parents. Pitted against my love for the country of my birth and the nostalgia, the hate speech of the video disturbed me on several levels. How would Christopher Cantwell, who helped organize the “Unite the Right,” react if he were to meet me? If he had a problem with Jared Kushner who, in my books, was as chalk-white as Cantwell himself, how would he react to my skin which was hopelessly tanned? What choice adjectives would he have for us if he happened to drop in on a concert at South India Fine Arts in San Jose? And how would he react if he saw the results of a genetic test which would likely inform him, as it would most of us, that his ancestors hailed from Africa? Did he and the Klansters wish to submit their saliva for testing? But what was the point? They 22 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

On my walks through Berlin in the fall of 2015, I noticed how the country had ensured that there were no statues of Hitler. The swastika sign was illegal across Germany. So too the Hitler salute. didn’t even remember their history lessons that began with how, just about 400 years ago, their ancestors wrested America from brown-skinned native Americans. I’ve been the target of minor and major transgressions by others through the course of my life. When I was barely 11, I was told by a Tanzanian that I was a thief, “like all Indians.” Over my years in Dar-es-Salaam, however, I’d learn that Tanzanians were some of the warmest people. Yet that sentence of hate still stings, years later. Hate has no place in civil society and monuments that rise from divisive intent must be interred. On my walks through Berlin in the fall of 2015, I noticed how the country had ensured that there were no statues of Hitler. The swastika sign was illegal across Germany. So too the Hitler salute. The city supported the Stolpersteine (tripping stones) initiative; there were plaques on street pavements, usually outside a house’s main entrance, commemorating deported Jewish residents. A line made of stones threaded through the city where once the wall used to be. I was awed by how a city could impose its views on its people subtly and subliminally. I recalled George W. Bush who said in a speech at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D. C., that “a great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaws and corrects them.” Much later that week in mid-August, I remembered that I hadn’t finished watching the entire Vice video report. I’ll never forget the last few minutes of the footage by when reporter Elle Reeve looked visibly shaken. That was when, in the privacy of his room Cantwell fished out each of his weapons from his person, calling out the weapon by its name—there were several pistols and assault rifles—and bragged about how well he had been prepared for the protest. “And oh…there’s the knife,” he said in the end, throwing the knife on the bed. Life has been surreal since January. A toxin has been injected into the minds of people; it informs me that I am, literally, a resident alien, the “other.” I wonder: Will I be safe anymore in the country that nurtured me and gave me the freedom to express myself? n

Kalpana Mohan writes from California’s Silicon Valley. http://kalpanamohan.com

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 23

NOT DONE YOUR TAXES YET?

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 25

books

Murder Mystery Goes Back 100 Years By Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Murder Between the Lines by Radha Vatsal. Sourcebooks Landmark: Naperville, IL. 320 pages. sourcebooks.com. Radhavatal.com. Available in paperback and as a digital book.

t’s 1915, before the United States entered what we now call World War I and became a superpower. Women were cared for by their fathers or husbands, and those who wanted to work were allowed to choose from a handful of socially-acceptable jobs. Women could neither vote nor sit on juries as peers, yet women were speaking out and marching for their rights. It was an exciting time for America as the country was changing socially and politically. This is the world of Capability “Kitty” Weeks in a twobook-old mystery series written by Radha Vatsal. Smart, spunky Kitty traveled the world with her widowed father and was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland. When her father settled down, he chose the bustling mecca of New York City and brought 19-year-old Kitty to live with him in a comfortable Manhattan home with a housekeeper, cook, and driver. In the first book, A Front Page Affair, Kitty secures her dream job as a reporter for the New York Sentinel although the Ladies’ Page isn’t quite what she had in mind. Assigned to cover a society picnic, her charm and comportment allow her to gather the details required. However, when a murder occurs at the event, Kitty decides she’s far more interested in ferreting out the truth behind the incident than reporting on who wore what and who was in attendance. Meanwhile, a shooting takes place at the home of J. P. Morgan, the Lusitania is torpedoed, and shocking revelations about her father surface, forcing Kitty to juggle work and home issues to interesting conclusions. Murder Between the Lines is the followup book set shortly thereafter. In this caper, Kitty’s proper and staid editor of the Ladies’ Page, Miss Busby, assigns her to write a story about an esteemed girls’

boarding school, Westfield Hall. There she meets Elspeth Bright, a gifted student interested in science. Tragically, Elspeth dies over the school’s winter break, found frozen to death in Central Park. Because there is no indication of foul play, the girl’s known sleepwalking is determined to be the cause. Kitty doesn’t accept that for a second. In her quest to discover the truth behind Elspeth’s death, Kitty rubs elbows with some of the movers and shakers of her time. She learns about the Naval Consulting Board and that Elspeth’s father, Dr. Bright, and Thomas Edison are on the Board. She interviews Alva Belmont, the face of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, and she educates herself about the National American Woman Suffrage Union, the Women’s Political Union, and the suffrage movement itself. Kitty attends

a banquet featuring Margaret Sanger who discusses her Family Limitation program, an early push for birth control. Meanwhile, during a stop in New York City by recently-married President Wilson, Kitty snags the scoop as the only journalist in the room when he speaks to the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage about his views on its cause—leaving Kitty disappointed because he said it’s a states’ matter that isn’t as important as other issues. And through the process of questions, answers, and deduction, the curious Kitty is able to connect all of that together, stop a plot against the life of the President, and unearth the cause of Elspeth’s death. Vatsal, who earned a Ph.D. in film from Duke University, says her degree influenced the kind of writing she does in terms of subject matter: the 1910s and women’s roles at that time. Her focus was American silent cinema, and her fascination with the time period is the link from academia to mystery writing. What makes this series so delightful is not only the incorporation of well-and little-known historical events and persons but also the Kitty Weeks character. This vital young woman embodies the promise of excitement in a new age of possibilities, and who can resist that? The sights, sounds, and events of 1915/1916 New York City and the world are experienced in real time through her eyes and through the main source of news of the day, newspapers. Vatsal’s attention to the details of daily life bring alive the Manhattan of a century ago. She relies on primary sources and the actual words of historic figures. While the series unfolds Kitty’s coming of age, it also represents the coming of age of women in

The details of daily life bring alive the Manhattan of a century ago. “I spend a lot of time reading period manuals, self-help books, etiquette guides and so on, so I feel immersed in the period,” Vatsal says.

26 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

the United States as well as the coming of age of the country as it moves into war and a new position of world power. As for the difficulties of carefully maintaining the time period as she writes, not just from the perspective of the historical events but also the voice, the feel, the manners, the social norms, Vatsal shared her secret: “I spend a lot of time reading period manuals, self-help books, etiquette guides and so on, so I feel pretty immersed in the period.” It’s interesting that in the 1910s America was involved with the suffrage movement, and now, just over 100 years later, women are seen marching in the streets for many of their rights. In an e-interview, I asked Vatsal what that meant to her. “I think that Kitty’s experiences will resonate for readers because while much of it will seem different, in many ways things are the same... or they haven’t changed as much as one might expect given the 100 years that have passed,” she said. An example of Vatsal’s attention to detail comes via another parallel: electric cars. I asked her if the electric cars are mentioned in the story because of this par-

allel today or in contrast to the standard cars of the day? “A bit of both,” she said. “I think it’s interesting to realize that sometimes progress can also take steps back. Electric cars existed in the 1900s and were then slowly phased out as gas cars became more popular. Now, we’re trying to develop better electric cars.” Kitty is strong-willed but not without a modicum of respect for the decorum expected of her. Still, she harbors a decided craving for adventure, which makes her fun and engaging. Even though her father employs a driver, Kitty’s pride and joy is driving her yellow Stutz Bearcat, the first high-end American sports car. “Kitty is daring and fashionable in her own way, and a yellow Stutz Bearcat makes a statement about her personality,” Vatsal said. “It’s sporty, attractive and fun. Just the sort of car that single young woman might like to whiz around town in.” Kitty Weeks is everything we need her to be as tour guide and reporter. There are no fancy forensics, no high-tech sleuthing. Kitty only has her powers of observation, listening, and deduction. She’s not afraid

to ask questions and is less afraid of the answers. Kitty’s goal is to be a full-fledged journalist, but the norms of the day prevent that. Newspapers hiring women relegated them to the typing pool, the secretarial pool, or the Ladies’/Society pages. They weren’t even allowed to step into the newsroom. What a contrast from today, but Kitty has a mind to change that. It can be said about Kitty Weeks in modern day parlance “nevertheless, she persisted.” She is inquisitive, independent despite her financial dependence on her father, and intrepid without being thoroughly reckless, plus she’s as charming as any proper single woman in society should be. One can only imagine what she would be doing and writing about in 2017!n Jeanne E. Fredriksen lives in North Carolina where she is the Managing Editor of a newspaper, a Books for Youth reviewer for Booklist magazine/American Library Association, and Publicity Director for WCPE-FM The Classical Station’s Music Education Fund.

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relationship diva

Three Signs That He’s Worth The Wait

By Jasbina Ahluwalia ere are 3 ways to tell if the guy you’re holding out for deserves your patience:

for the heck of it, or even just to let you know he’s thinking about you? If he’s getting in touch to offer you something, then it may be worth sticking around to see what happens with this one.

1. He gets in touch as least as much as you do.

2. He’s interested in more than just the physical.

Relationships aren’t games, and your man shouldn’t treat yours like one. If you’re constantly trying to track this guy down and always texting or calling him instead of the other way around, then this guy may not be worth waiting for. If your instinct says the relationship is nowhere near the top of his priorities and that you’re putting a lot more into it than he is, you may be wasting your time. It’s not just how often the guy gets in touch with you either. What’s the intent of his contact? • Is he asking about your day? • Is he saying something kind just

Are you okay with being a booty call? Yes, men (and women) have needs and desires, and it’s okay for two consenting adults to honor those needs. But if he only seems to care about the physical aspects of your relationship, then don’t expect him to eventually become interested in the way that you’d want a committed partner to be.

3. He’s honest about what he wants.

A relationship-ready guy knows what

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he wants and is honest about this with his partner. So, if your man can kindly but confidently tell you what he’s looking for when it comes to romance, you’ll know whether it’s worth your time (and his) to wait around and see what happens. So, how can you tell if he’s being honest or not? Listen to his words and make sure his words match his actions. Otherwise, the relationship may not be worth your emotional investment. Talk to him about what you want from the relationship. If he can respond honestly, then you’ll be able to make an empowered decision as to whether you want to continue dating.n Jasbina Ahluwalia is the Founder-President of Intersections Match by Jasbina, the only premier dating coaching firm for Indian singles in the US, Canada and the UK. Jasbina@Intersectionsmatch.com

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youth

YouTube : The Accepted Drug By Eesha Ramkumar

d seen it before, I’d laughed at it before, I’d even sent it before, yet, there was this dying urge inside of me to see it, to laugh at it, to send it once more. It had occurred to me that maybe I was addicted, maybe I couldn’t get enough, maybe I couldn’t stop. Despite this, I continued, hour after hour, failing to remove myself from the unholy grave known as YouTube. YouTube was supposed to be my escape, my freedom, an uncertified ritual. It seemed to remove me from the fears, the nerves, and the piling homework on my desk. YouTube was the unofficial language of fun and culture, consuming me with words, dance moves, comic sketches, literally everything. Throughout school, it seemed like everyone was addicted. People would talk about the latest video they saw, the YouTuber with the most subscribers, or the clip of a celebrity who lip synced. It seemed almost cruel to have not watched those videos, especially when you had nothing to contribute to the conversation. It became the reason kids got an hour less of sleep, the reason their mind could not fully grasp the new concepts at school, the reason their eyes looked like two big shop-

YouTube was supposed to be my escape, my freedom, an uncertified ritual. It seemed to remove me from the fears, the nerves, and the piling homework on my desk. YouTube was the unofficial language of fun and culture, consuming me with words, dance moves, comic sketches, literally everything.

ping bags every morning. YouTube was the accepted drug. Knowing that every other kid was doing it made it somehow acceptable for me to do it. It became alright for me to procrastinate till the very last day, alright for me to keep clicking on recommendations, but, most importantly, it allowed us to fit in. The thought of not fitting in was a whole new universe that I did not want to think about. I’d never been there, never experienced it. I decided to deny that fact. No, that’s not the reason I watched YouTube. But, as my addiction grew, I realized a lot of the videos I watched were about pop music, or celebrity gossip, and none of them truly interested me. I watched gossip channels, because students in class would talk about it. Maybe I wanted to be a part of the conversation and seem cool. Maybe I wanted people to think I was hip. Maybe I wanted people to believe that I was some sort of multi-tasking-superhero, who had time to not only excel at school but, also be up to date with every single new trend. Maybe, it was just peer pressure. Come to think of it, like most drugs, peer pressure was the cause. Peer pressure was the reason most kids, teenagers, or even adults started obsessive behaviors.

30 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

YouTube was just like that. Remarkably, it was then, I started thinking like a rebel. What if I didn’t accept the rules of the social norm? What if I decided to do my own thing? Watch my own videos, items that interested me? Follow my own path of social freedom? Fast Forward a Few Months Later…. With the constant reminders from mom, I finally quit my YouTube addiction. Free from the so called “ paradise,” I began to go to school unaware of latest gossip, dance moves, and trends. Believe me, it was hard at first. With the excess time on my hands, I was bored. I would often wonder about what people at school were watching, if I was missing anything. But months later, I realized that nobody really cared. Whether or not I knew the celebrity gossip didn’t matter to anybody. It didn’t matter, anymore. Actually, it had never mattered. Students at school continued to talk, continued to discuss about the videos they had discovered, continued to diss youtube stars. But, I was free. From the trouble, the anxiety of the YouTube addiction. n Eesha Ramkumar is a freshman at Monta Vista High School. She enjoys writing and classical dancing, often getting caught reading books or watching dance videos!

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September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 31

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32 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

NOT DONE YOUR TAXES YET?

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 33

films

From the Hood Without A Loo By Aniruddh Chawda

TOILET: A LOVE STORY. Director Shree Narayan Singh. Players: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Padnekar, Anupam Kher, Sudhir Pandey, Divyendu Sharma, Subha Khote. Hindi w/ Eng. Sub-tit. (Viacom).

he lack of indoor plumbing in some rural areas of India, and more specifically the lack of indoor toilets in many rural Indian homes, has been singled out as a key roadblock to India joining modernity. Not having such facilities at home is often a practice carried over from an era when a large agrarian populace spent longer hours in the field than in towns or offices. What do we do? In comes Toilet: A Love Story. While visually striking, romantic and even funny, the movie falls short of fully exploiting the complexities and nuances demanded by the lack of indoor facilities as indicative of a larger social gap. Bad news often travels in pairs. For Keshav Sharma (Kumar), pining away running his father’s small business in a village in northern India, calamity strikes on two fronts. On the one hand, at thirty something, he is yet to find a suitable bride. That reality is only exacerbated by his second problem. As luck would have it, after meeting the woman of his dreams, the outspoken beauty Jaya Joshi (Padneker) and marrying her, the other shoe drops. Because Keshav’s household lacks indoor facilities, his vivacious new bride refuses to use outdoor facilities and threatens to move back to her parents’ house unless Keshav installs an indoor toilet. Toilet’s premise does not lack urgency or merit. There are enough up close and personal encounters of folks —mostly women—out in the field making a pre-dawn nature call. Urination in public—mostly by men—also gets screen time. That some women are harassed—or worse—out in the field is also hinted at by gawkers—mostly men—out on inexplicable pre-dawn pleasure rides. These elements also add to safety concerns high-

lighted by some well-publicized news stories involving attacks on women in the field. These are valid touch points in the yet developing national story of the Indian government’s call to build enough toilets to support 100% of the rural population’s needs over the next few years. As much as the writers posit this as a gender issue, however, it is not. Buying into that would validate the movie’s view that is primarily women who are inconvenienced because men can, ahem, go anywhere. Biological imperative—and hence bodily functions—would be pressing for men as much as for women. Also, regardless of when and where toilets are built and what decision-making authorities consider when granting such construction permits, happiness—unlike how Toilet would have it—cannot be legislated. As leads, Kumar and Padneker offer elevated romantic pairing that has certainly helped boost the huge box office gains Toilet: A Love Story has garnered. Toilet is also shouldered by an ear-worthy musical score, lined up by Vickey Prasad’s “Hans Mat Pagli”—a folksy tune in tandem with Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghosal versions and “Bhakheda” by Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghosal. The earthy score, penned by Siddharth-Garima, has no Bhangra wedding tune and no neo-disco tent events and succeeds in underlining the romantic

34 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

and non-satirical appeal of the story. Compared to, say, Peepli: Live, however, where Aamir Khan staged the acutely bitter reality of suicide rates amongst rural farmers played by lesser known players who did a remarkable job in channeling unassailable economic forces tearing apart their lives and then resorting to suicide as a way out, Toilet: A Love Story struggles from a lack of that same anonymity. An A-list superstar such as Kumar inside a character that struggles with lack of indoor plumbing does not flow. Toilet: A Love Story, may be too big a stage for this intimate rural social story. The mainstreaming of vox pop events of the day have become standard fare for Hindi movies. At an extrinsic level culturally, the rise of religious fundamentalism jabbed at by PK, the search for elusive high profile international terrorists fictitiously chronicled in Phantom and Baby, the always-tense relations between India and Pakistan taken up in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Filmistan and Hasina Bhaag Jayegi are but a few examples. While it is indeed refreshing to have lack of proper indoor sanitation taken up as a cause in such a big banner project, Toilet: A Love Story misses the mark in effectively telling this story. EQ: B Aniruddh Chawda Globe trekker, aesthete, photographer, ski bum, film buff, and commentator, Aniruddh Chawda writes from Milwaukee.

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ask a lawyer

Binding Immigrant Spousal Contract By Indu Liladhar-Hathi

I am a US Citizen and intend to sponsor my foreign spouse to join me. I understand that I need to submit an affidavit of support. What are the risks of signing this?

The I-864 is a binding legal contract for 10 years between you and the United States government. By signing the I-864, you promise to ensure that the immigrant (your spouse) has income at a level equivalent to 125% of the federal poverty guidelines (Review Form I-864P). Note that by submitting the Form I-864, you promise to repay the government for the cost of any “federally funded, means-tested public benefits” paid to the immigrant. These include such programs as Medicaid, but does not include general medical care, such as emergency room visits. If your foreign spouse receives public

benefits, you can be sued by a government agency for the cost of those benefits. Although it is uncommon for agencies to take this step, they do have the legal ability to take this step if they choose to. Your foreign spouse has the legal ability to sue you in court if you do not maintain support. If there are multiple I-864 sponsors, the foreign national has the ability to sue any one or all of these sponsors. This liability should be taken seriously. I-864 sponsors have been successfully sued many times across the country. Divorce does not end your I-864 support obligation. In a recent case, an immigrant spouse sought to enforce her contractual right for support, based on the Form I-864 that her American spouse had filed. The appellate court found the affidavit of support to be enforceable, and indicated that the former wife was under

36 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

no obligation to mitigate her damages and look for a job. The case in question is Re: the Marriage of Ashlyne and Vikash Kumar, and can be read online. It is therefore critical that U.S. sponsors or immigrants speak with experienced U.S. immigration counsel about this important issue and understand their obligations before signing the I-864. The affidavit states, “If you do not provide sufficient support to the person who becomes a permanent resident based on the Form I–864 that you signed, that person may sue you for this support.” With regard to pre-employment practices, it is unlawful to ask an applicant to disclose his or her marital status as part of a pre-employment inquiry. n Immigration and business attorney Indu Liladhar-Hathi has an office in San Jose. (408) 453-5335.

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September 2017

his column carries final action dates and other transitional information as taken from the U.S. State Department’s Visa Bulletin. The information below is from the Visa Bulletin for September 2017.

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Preference Dates for India 1st July 22, 2011 2A Apr 08, 2016 2B Sept 01, 2011 3rd Dec 01, 2005 4th June 22, 2004 NOTE: The Department of State has a recorded message with the cut-off date information for Final Application Action which can be heard at: (202) 485-7699. This recording is updated on or about the tenth of each month with information on final action dates for the following month.

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1754 Technology Drive, Suite 143. San Jose, CA 95110 September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 37

music

Coke Studio Pakistan: “What Are You Feeding Your Soul?” By Priya Das

t the age of 30, Rohail Hyatt, a Pakistani rock musician and founder of the band Vital Signs, woke up one morning to realize that he could not bear to hear the music he had been making since he had come of age. How could it all sound wrong? He could not deny the healing, rejuvenating, soul-replenishing effect that the other kind of music, ethnic music had on him, even the physical effects: he’d stopped needing eyeglasses, hair on his head was growing faster without any extra effort. Even so, how could he accept that his previous identity had nothing to give him anymore? This conflict was the genesis of what we now know to be the phenomenon of Coke Studio Pakistan, which is currently in its tenth season. It is a music program that presents orchestrated jamming sessions by musically diverse, vernacular and Western, emerging as well as established musicians that had its first season in 2008. Perhaps the most enduring and endearing aspect is that it revitalizes the “other music” that Hyatt had discovered in his own journey—ancient and folksy repertoire—but fashioned into a modern setting while still retaining the authentic sound. Today, it is an iconic format of music programming that has youth re-engaged into ethnic music and thereby culture. It is a fair guess that youth comprise the majority of the 7.4 million Facebook likes. Coke Studio Pakistan’s impact is far-reaching: Inspired by the compelling pull of this music-discovery-fusion-harmony-universality movement, India, Africa, and Middle East have since launched their own avatars. In 2015, a Harvard professor presented Hyatt and Coke Studio as an antidote to the “rhetoric of extremism” that had been reverberating through Pakistan. It “stresses the common humanity of people,” when the “nation-state in terms of ideology, has failed.” Coke Studio as a concept, originated in Brazil where, per the Coca Cola company website, “musical performances were held

Coke Studio Pakistan

on a concert-like platform.” Hyatt and his wife, Umber contributed to its being adapted to an actual studio-style presentation. The first season aired to a live audience in the studio. Yes, it furthers Coca Cola’s market share and diversity goals, but there is no denying that it brings together disparate listeners by drawing upon that which is already familiar to each. When set against the chaos of ideological (musical, social, or political) strife and each country today has some of that, it serves as a mechanism for mediation, albeit covertly, by bringing about a softening of attitudes. One Coca Cola video states that Coke Studio Middle East’s “Two Worlds, One Song” idea attempts to bridge the two worlds that Middle Eastern teens reside in—one where they identify with their Arabic heritage, the other where they enjoy the connectedness of the Western world stating finally, “Music truly makes the world go around.” As mentioned earlier, the genesis for Coke Studio Pakistan is the outcome of Hyatt’s intense personal conflict a decade ago, which was seeded when an unidentified “Eastern musician” told Hyatt that his ears weren’t sensitive enough, that they could not even hear some sounds. That led to a challenge: Could Hyatt produce a specific sound that this musician played? To Hyatt’s astonishment, he indeed could not produce it. He started a year of learning and attuning, a process that was as revolutionary within Hyatt’s psyche as it was evolutionary in his understanding of the “other” music. As he started playing more of the new sounds, the plant in the rehearsal space started flourishing like never before. It was proof that this music was one with nature.

38 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

In Hyatt’s own words, his “reality got a reality check.” His research led him to discover that up until a hundred years ago, all musical instruments were tuned to naturesounds, even church organs. Then “somebody divided the octave into 12 equal notes,” which eventually became common in Western music as we know it today. Moreover, in the 1950s, 440 Hertz came to be the standard frequency that formed the basis for creating that music. In the interview from 2015, Hyatt says that this frequency is unnatural and that the symmetry in say, piano music today as it is studied, is also not natural, explaining, “The Big Bang was a perfect imperfection. Nature throws random dice into everything, a seed of uniqueness.” Musically, this plays out as a note becoming an octave, that’s how you get two notes. However, the octave is not divided equally (in uncommon or non-Western music) there is a dominant fifth note. He continues, “There is no center in an octave, there is a dominant fifth note, a 3:2 split. Had it split in the center, the two halves would annihilate each other.” That unequal shift causes propagation and perpetuity, the reason we exist, the reason we are each unique. Even as fascinated as Hyatt was by the new realizations, he could not simply disown who he used to be. “Coke Studio has a sense of it somewhere,” he says. The goal is not just to achieve creative or technical brilliance, rather it is to together seek and be touched by ancient, instinctive, universal truths. The program was his way of manifesting the truth that everybody and everything is in vibration: he believes that this “root frequency” is what the Hindu Om and Islamic Kun is about; the concept of Divine Sound in spiritual and mystical traditions. n Priya Das is an enthusiastic follower of world music, and avidly tracks inbtersecting points between folk, classical, jazz and other genres.

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 39

40 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

South India Fine Arts Fall 2017 Concert Schedule

Sep 10, 4 p.m. Sri. Abhishek Raghuram - Vocal Sri. H N Bhaskar - Violin Sri. Patri Satish Kumar - Mridangam Santa Clara Convention Center

Oct 1, 4 p.m. Bharatanatyam Duo Sri. Renjith & Smt. Vijna Santa Clara Convention Center

Oct 1, 2 p.m.

Sep 15, 8 p.m. Naatak - Mela '17 A festival featuring theater classics from around the world in Tamil, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and Hinglish Cubberly Theater, Palo Alto

Smt. Ananya Ashok - Vocal Sri. Vignesh Venkatraman - Mridangam Smt. Lakshmi Balasubramanya - Violin Santa Clara Convention Center

Nov 4, 4 p.m.

Oct 15, 4 p.m. Violin Duo Sri. Lalgudi G J R Krishnan & Smt. Lalgudi G Vijayalakshmi Santa Clara Convention Center

Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar - Veena Sri. V V S Murari - Violin Sri. Tanjore Murugaboopathi - Mridangam Eagle Theater, Los Altos

Please visit www.southindiaﬁnearts.org to sign up September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 41

viewpoint

Searching for Satyajit Ray's Iconic Room By Robert Hirschfield

Director Satyajit Ray

A still from the Apu Trilogy

was in Calcutta to find a specific room among its millions and millions of rooms; a room that touched down in America in my early twenties via the magical Silk Road of cinema. I’d previously seen the first two films of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. They gave me my first glimpses of India: the hot, dusty villages of Bengal, the ghats of Benares, and of course Calcutta, the big city of the young writer Apu and his dingy room with its torn curtain that let in the monsoon rains. For years, I visited that room every summer at the Thalia, the art movie theatre on West 95th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, my home away from home. Apu’s room, in Apu’s Sansaar: The World of Apu was my birthing room as a writer. How was this possible as a New Yorker? The books I read as a young man and internalized ranged from Bernards Malamud’s The Assistant to Franz Kafka’s The Trial. What made me, an alienated urban Jew in the tradition of Kafka, fail to glom onto one of his sinister courtrooms tucked away in rundown residential areas

of an unnamed European city where it had no business being? Why hadn’t I chosen one of those rooms instead? In my mind, two answers to that question rub against each other. One enduringly strange, the other more practical. When I was nine, an aunt brought me a globe. I was drawn immediately, obsessively, and for no apparent reason, to the map of India, and to the place names on that map. Later on, to my father’s dismay, I graduated to Saeed Jaffrey and his weekly program of Indian music on WMCA Radio. So Satyajit Ray’s entrance into my life was accompanied by

a bizarre sense of inevitability. But probably my embrace of Apu’s room had as much to do with wanting to shed the complex and tragic bond with the Jewish historic burden as anything else. Entering Apu’s room meant leaving my ancient nest of anxiety and suffering and taking my place in a spare cubicle in West Bengal with a poor, free-spirited writer soon to suffer terribly himself from the premature death of his young wife. For fifty years, I carried his room around in me, with its books, its flute, it’s rain-lashed verandah. The monsoon Apu awakes to, in our first glimpse of his room, was my first glimpse ever of monsoon in India. What amazed me about it was how Apu rejoiced in it, was renewed by it. I had previously related to rain only as a dreary necessity. Seeing the writer smiling, face gratefully upturned, my take on rain began to change. Early one morning, in January of 2010, my Air India jet tipped its wings over Calcutta’s Dum Dum Airport, and I was in the city of Satyajit Ray. I handed the customs official my secret smile along with my passport before offering my exhausted body to taxi drivers collapsing around me like wasps.

I felt a piece of my past plunge into the abyss. It made me realize that Apu’s room could never be found in actual space, but in transcendent time like all great works of art. It was always, more than anything, an indwelling presence, not a conventionally located artifact.

42 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

Standing on Mother Teresa Sarani, the crowd around me large enough to fill a stadium, I found myself wondering where it could be, the room that was more than just a room to me? In Calcutta, Ray himself was easy enough to find despite being long dead. His strong, grainy face stared back at mefrom the covers of Bengali movie magazines. His Feluda mystery novels were still selling briskly at the Oxford Book Store and the Calcutta Book Fair. When he died in 1992, a million people filled the streets to pay him homage as his body was taken to the crematorium. In New York City I grieved with them. For them, his death meant, among other things, that a vital piece of Bengal’s vaunted culture would vanish in smoke. For me, quite simply, the father of my artistic sensibility was gone. I asked Calcuttans who looked like they would know for the location of Apu’s room. They hadn’t a clue. A few asked me why I didn’t prefer to see Dalhousie, or the Victoria Memorial in the Maidan. My heart carried the raw ache of the serious pilgrim. The work of the pilgrim was to seek, and seeking, I discovered, was a hard and desolate undertaking. The day came, as I knew it would, when I met someone who knew the exact location of Apu’s room. He was a young director, and he offered to take me there. “Where in Calcutta is it?” I asked. “It is not in Calcutta,” he said. “It is outside Calcutta.” The director laughed. I wanted to cry. I felt a piece of my past plunge into the abyss. It made me realize that Apu’s room could never be found in actual space, but in transcendent time like all great works of art. It was always, more than anything, an indwelling presence, not a conventionally located artifact. The director poured me chai. He asked me if I had any other questions. I set his tea aside. “No,” I said quickly, “just that. Question answered. Thank you.” n

Robert Hirschfield is a New York-based freelance writer, who has made seven trips to India. When he is not in India, he writes about Indians abroad for Khabar, India Abroad, Outlook India, and other publications.

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travel

Having a Ball in Bali By Melanie P. Kumar

Natural surroundings near temple entrance

ali as a tourist destination is made even more popular because of the easy access through direct international flights from most countries. However, I opted to fly into Denpasar from Jakarta, after breaking journey there for two days. The 30 day free visa on arrival offer makes travelling to Indonesia a breeze and the formalities of the visa stamp at Jakarta airport are over in no time. The choice of cheap fares to Bali on Lion Air turns out to be a bit irksome, as both on the onward and return journeys, my flight faces inordinate delays. I request to be put on an earlier flight for the journey back to Jakarta, on the plea of a connection back to India and the attendants quickly oblige. The last row that I am assigned is no fun though and on a stormy rain-battered night, I find solace in all the prayers that I can recall! The reason I decide to set out for Bali a day after what is called Silence Day

The artistry of the Balinese is visible everywhere and I am able to pick up some very unusual creations like a fruit basket with a netted covering and other knickknacks. The wood carvings are exquisite to behold and the artisans manage the most original of creations. (Nyepi Day) is because on this day the whole island falls silent and the airport shuts down. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world of incessant chatter, it is fascinating to learn that for 24 hours, television and radio stations go off the air and that the use of electricity and lighting is forbidden. This is taken seriously; nobody ventures out on the streets and everyone speaks in hushed whispers, whilst physical activity, including cooking is frowned upon. Even stranger to find is that this date coincides with the Balinese New Year, which the Hindus there use as

48 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

a time for self-reflection. On the run-up to Nyepi, Hindus follow cleansing and purification rituals including the Melasti ceremony the day before, which involves throwing offerings into the sea. On my next visit to Bali, I think that I will make sure that I am around to experience this day of silence, as it is a rarity to experience this, except if one were an ascetic who has disappeared into the forests. When I walk out of Denpasar Airport, I immediately get the feeling that I am in the land of holiday-makers, looking at the

Ritual Bath at Holy Waters temple

casual wear and open slippers of all visitors. Huge statues greet me at the airport and on my journey to Hotel Muthiara Bali, I discover to my surprise that these are of Hindu Gods. It appears odd to find this Hindu island peacefully co-existing in a Muslim country with a population that is upward of 95% Muslim. Everywhere in Bali, I get used to being asked, “Are you Hindu?” whilst a gentleman at Jakarta Airport enquires if I am going to Bali for “religious tourism,” as the term is now called, for people who choose to visit places with the sole purpose of worshipping at religious shrines. This term is not reserved for any one religion though. Since I am travelling off season, I manage to get a good rate at a hotel called Muthiara Bali. I am greeted with a welcome drink in the reception area and then have to walk a short distance to reach my private villa. The exciting part is the exclusive swimming pool available to guests which one can use at any time. Another advantage is that the villa comes equipped with a kitchenette, crockery, cutlery, a fridge, microwave and a gas burner, for those who plan longer stays and tire of local food. This will be of immense help to vegetarians, many of whom have told me that they travel with their rations. Indonesian vegetarian fare is limited and how much “Gado Gado” (a salad) or “Nasi Goreng” (an Indonesian pulao) can one partake of? But the streets of Seminyak are dotted with restaurants and there is a wide variety with menu cards being prominently displayed along with the rates. I find myself opting for Italian food quite often, since it offers an array of vegetarian choices. On the first day the chef comes out to have

a chat. He has worked with Indian chefs elsewhere and the sign is visible with a dish on the menu titled, Madras Chicken Curry Pizza! I find that a lot of the restaurants are run by expatriates who have decided to make Bali their home. This makes me wonder as to how much the locals benefit from the foreign exchange that comes in. The exchange rates in Bali are certainly better than in Jakarta and money-changers are a dime a dozen. But it might be prudent to visit reputed well-lit places. Once I find myself in a dimly lit alley where I am led in for an exchange. Luckily there is some confusion about the condition of the Indonesian Rupiah handed to me and I decide to beat a hasty retreat. Later, I hear of tourists who have been gypped of a couple of 100,000 Rupiah whilst involved in a money exchange. 100 USD translates into 1 million Indonesian Rupiah, which does go a long way. Food prices are reasonable as are clothes, which are procured at sales. Though the Rupiah is a weak currency, nobody seems to be in poverty here nor are there signs of great wealth. There is not a beggar in sight, nor do shopkeepers chase you and force you to buy. One of the greatest advantages of Bali is that everyone speaks English, making it possible to carry on a decent conversation with your driver, unlike in Jakarta where I have to resort to sign language! The Balinese have their own language and one gets a sense that they feel that they are the best thing to happen to Indonesia. The driver who takes us around keeps plugging for Bali saying it tops in food, drink, artefacts and clothes. No doubt, the Balinese are extremely artistic and signs of their creativity are visible everywhere. I visit a Batik factory and see the processes. The Batik here is different from what one would see in India, or even

in Jakarta or Sri Lanka, but it is definitely attractive. The artistry of the Balinese is visible everywhere and I am able to pick up some very unusual creations like a fruit basket with a netted covering and other knick-knacks. The wood carvings are exquisite to behold and the artisans manage the most original of creations. Driving through Ubud can be such a thrill, as everything seems so close to nature. There are no glass and concrete structures as are visible in Jakarta and other South Asian cities. It is as if man and nature have decided to peacefully coexist, as posh hotel buildings appear cheek by jowl with paddy fields, where one might even spot people working. On the main road from Kintamani to Ubud, I stop by to see the Tegalalang Terraced Rice Fields. There isn’t time to go around so I just take pictures of the superb views. What is of concern in Bali is the desire of the locals to charge for things like walking down the terraced rice fields or to charge for visits to certain beaches like the Pandawa beach. To me it seems a bit unfair to levy a fee for viewing nature’s bounty. For a small charge, one can enter the Holy waters temple in Ubud. Walking around certain areas is permitted whilst there are private areas used by locals for actual worship. Wearing a sarong is compulsory here, as well as at another temple that I stop by en route. These are available for hire, along with a sash, with an optional donation box. For those who have brought a change of clothes, there is the possibility of a holy dip in the pool. It is a surprise to see many Westerners following this seriously, as the priests tell them stories linked with the temples and the prevailing deities. The colorful statues visible all around make for interesting photo opportunities. But the Hindu gods

Traditional Loom September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 49

here are more akin to Buddhist figures and I find it hard to place them with the more familiar outlines from back home. The place exudes tranquility and one does enjoy a sense of peace, as the cool breeze wafting through the trees blows on to one’s face. Wherever one goes in Bali, it is a common sight to see offerings placed on palm leaves. These are visible outside shops, hotels, houses and are offered several times a day. One wonders whether the ritual preoccupations of Gateway at the Holy Waters temple Hinduism are as much a priority in Bali, as they are with Hindu Indians. swap stories. The beach is nothing to write But I do not get an opportunity to ask home about, as I am told is the case with anyone so it might be unfair to speculate several beaches in Bali. on whether there is a deeper understandSeminyak, where my hotel is located, is ing of the philosophy of Hinduism. a happening place and the evenings come A visit to Bali is incomplete without alive with the myriad lights of restaua visit to the beach, and one morning is rants and shops. It is fun to walk around devoted to a walk to Seminyak. It is a bit and look for bargains and sales. Like in of a trudge, especially on the return when Thailand, massage parlours are a dime a the sun is out, but worth it, as I stop to dozen, so on my last day I have a shot at make small talk with fellow travelers and

50 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

this too. In comparison with an Ayurvedic massage back home, it pales though. Bali depends solely on tourism and is perhaps the greatest tourism grosser for Indonesia. Though I visit during off season, there are tourists all around. Initially, I keep saying “Makasi,” which is the Indonesian word for “thank you” until I am corrected and told that in Balinese, it is “Sukhsom,” which appears to have shades of Indian languages and could be interpreted as, “May you be happy,” as people join their hands when they use this

phrase. Undoubtedly parts of Bali offer different things to different people. It is little wonder then that people go back there again and again. “Sukhsom” to Bali for all the happy times spent there! n

Melanie Kumar is a Bangalore-based writer and literary fiction reviewer who has been freelancing for more than 15 years now. She holds degrees in English and mass communications.

NRITHYOLLASA DANCE ACADEMY (Artistic Director: Indumathy Ganesh)

Vijayadasami Celebrations Saturday, September 30 Sunday, October 1

September 10 @ 3:00 pm Akshatha Silas Bharatanatyam Arangetram Jackson Theater, Ohlone College

October 8 @ 3:00 pm

Bharati Tamil Sangam presents Madurai R Muralidharan's Silapadhikaram,

in association with NRITHYOLLASA DANCE ACADEMY Dublin Center for Performing Arts

November 11 @ 2:00 pm Student Showcase

Jackson Theater, Ohlone College

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 51

Kalapeetham Foundation Established in 1990

Director: Smt. Kalyani Shanmugarajah (Alumnus of Kalakshetra, 1974) Offering Classes In:

Kalakshetra style of Bharathanatyam, Traditional Folk Dances and Theory Class Locations: Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Northridge, Simi Valley,

Valencia, Santa Clarita, Palmdale/Lancaster, Santa Monica, Irvine

(818) 892-4890 â&#x20AC;˘ KalapeethamFoundation@gmail.com www.Kalapeetham.com â&#x20AC;˘ www.facebook.com/Kalapeetham

Shivam arts ol of Kath ho Sc

ak d a

n ce

Artistic Director:

Punam Kumar

(Holds a master's degree in art of Kathak)

Special adults class: learn light dancing and Improve grace and flexibility of body.

New classes coming to Santan Mandir, Norwalk Classes also offered at:

Cypress

Diamond Bar

Irvine

714-293-4539 714-891-3799 Punam.kathak@yahoo.com www.shivamarts.org

NRITYODAYA KATHAK ACADEMY Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself~ Havelock Ellis

BHAIRAVI KUMAR

Founder/Director Since 1989 Contact: 909-630-8558 bhairavipkumar@yahoo.com www.kathaksocal.com

Kathak classes offered in Walnut/ Diamond Bar, Tustin/Irvine, Santa Ana

Affiliated with Hindustan art & music society, Calcutta. Students receives official accreditation, diplomas and degrees from India.

52 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

dance . music

Nupur Academy LA Inc.

Institute for Indian Clasical Performing Arts - A Not For Profit Organization

Geeta & Sanjiv Munshi Arts Academy “Bringing you Music & Dance for 25 successful years!” Call us for LIVE MUSIC & DANCE PERFORMANCES!

• Vocal Classes • Instrument Classes • Dance Classes

Prachi Dixit Founder/Director Kathak | Tabla | Vocal Torrance, Cerritos & Venice

Call for classes in your location GSartsacademy@yahoo.com www.GSArtsAcademy.com

(310) 872-7061

Nishi Munshi

nupuracademyla@gmail.com • www.nupuracademyla.org

Miss India California

(562) 946-0496 (909) 556-6070

CELEBRATING DANCE 1977 to 2016

Viji Prakash Founder/Director

70,000+ FOLLOWERS!

Shakti School of Bharata Natyam Classes in West Los Angeles, Torrance, Cerritos, Orange/Irvine, Woodland Hills

“dance is the song of the soul” www.shaktibharatanatyam.com info@shaktibharatanatyam.com

n n n

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ACADEMY OF KATHAK DANCE Classes offered at La Habra Heights, Whittier, Cerritos, Yorba Linda ( Classes can potentially be offered in your area - inquiries welcome)

Visiting Artist and Teacher Abhay Shankar Mishra Aarti Manek

Head of Kathak Department (Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, London, UK)

Contact: 1.714.595.3735 1.714.299.3525 shankaradance@gmail.com www.shankaradance.com

Bharata Natyam Folk Dances Classes: Duarte,Cerritos, Riverside,Chino Hills

Paulomi Pandit Recipient of Post Diploma from

Kalakshetra, India paulomi@rangashree.com www.rangashree.com

626-590-5547 September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 53

54 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

A FUND RAISING EVENT FOR OHM CULTURAL CENTER

SHAKUNTHALAM (A KOODIYATTAM DANCE PERFORMANCE) 5:00-7:00 PM

PANCHALEESWAYAMVARAM (CHAKYAR KOOTH PERFORMANCE) 8:00-9:30 PM by

Nepathya

MARGI MADHU CHAKYAR, DR. INDU G & NEPATHYA TROUPE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

OCTOBER 28, 2017 5:00 PM 14451 FRANKLIN AVE, TUSTIN, CA SPONSORS $500 COUPLE VIP $100 PERSON DINNER INCLUDED

GENERAL $30 PERSON

STUDENTS $15 (WITH ID)

RAVI (949) 419-7115 REEMA (714) 402-9368 WWW.OHMCALIFORNIA.ORG DINNER: 7:00-8:00 PM WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE OHM IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION UNDER SECTION 501(C)

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 55

56 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 57

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 Saturday September 2 : Afternoon at 2.00 PM, Navagraha homa / Sri Saneeswara graha homa, Special Guru Peyarchi homa, Transition homa from Kanya raasi to Tula raasi Chithra pada 3,4, Swathi, Visakha Visakham pada 1,2,3, Sri Navagraha abhisheka / Sri Saneeswara Graha abhisheka aarati and manthra puspa. nd

Wednesday September 13 : Sri Madhya Ashtami, Sri Munithreya, Vaikanasa, Sri Pancharathra, Sri Jayanathi. th

welcome to participate with family. Friday September 29 : Sri Saraswathi pooja. th

Saturday 30th: Sri Vijaya Dasami. Temple will be open at morning 6.30 AM with Sri Venkateswara suprabhatam. Continued with Sri Venkateswara abhisheka, Continued with Sunday September 17th: Pradosham, Sri Vishnu sahasra nama chanting aarati and Evening at 4.00 PM, Shiva Sri Rudra Pariha required raasis: Thula raasi, Vrishchika abhisheka, Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi abhisheka, manthra pushpa. raasi, Meena raasi, Rishabha raasi, Kataka Sri Valli Deva Sena sametha, Sri Subramanya st raasi (Karkataka raasi), Simha raasi. Sri Aksharabhayasa will begin at:1 Batch abhisheka aarati and manthra pushpa. nd rd 7.00 AM, 2 Batch 8.00 AM, 3 Batch 9.00 th th Parihara not required for the following raasis: Tuesday September 19th: Sri Sarva AM, 4 Batch 10.00 AM, 5 Batch 11.00 AM, th th Dhanur raasi, Kumbha raasi, Mesha raasi, Mahalaya amavasya, Pitru paksha / Mahalaya 6 Batch 12.00 Noon, 7 Batch 1.00 PM, th th th Mithuna raasi, and Kanya raasi. 7 Batch 2.00 PM, 8 Batch 3.00 PM, 9 paksha ends. th Batch 4.00 PM, 10 Batch 5.00 PM. 7.00 AM 1st Batch Monday September 4th: Weekend timings, nd Please bring the following items for the 8.00 AM 2 Batch Vonam Pandigai Thiruvonam festival. Aksharabhyasa: Turmeric powder, Kumkum, 9.00 AM 3rd Batch Sandal powder, Beetle leafs 4 Nos, Beetle 10.00 AM 4th Batch Wednesday September 6th: Mahalaya th nuts 2 Nos, Agarbathi, Camphor, Coconuts 1 Paksha, Pithru Paksha begins evening at 5.30 11.00 AM 5 Batch No, Banana 6 Nos, Flowers, Variety of fruits, 12.00 Noon 6th Batch PM, Shiva Abhisheka aarati and manthra Rice 1 Pkt, Coins 15 Nos, Slate, Pencil, pushpa. Evening at 6.00 PM Pournami Vratha / Pooja Sri Sathya Narayana Swamy Vratha / Please bring the following items for Mahalaya Writing materials, New vasthra / dress for the baby and any sweet Prasadam for naivedya. Amavasya, Pitru Paksha tharpanas: Rice, pooja aarati and manthra pushpa. All are Dhall, Jaggery, Beetle leafs 4 Nos, Beetle welcome to participate with family. Night at 10.15. PM, Sri Durga aarati and Jai nuts 2 Nos and Black sesame seeds (Black th Ellu, Nalla Nuvulu / Black Till), Fruits, Flowers, Jagadeesha Hare aarati for Balaji Ekantha Saturday September 9 : 12.00 Noon, Sri Seva and the temple closes. and Prasadam for naivedya. Setting of Golu. Nava Graha Homa / Sri Saneeswara Graha homa. Continued with Sri Nava Graha th Tuesday October 3rd: Evening at 6.00 PM abhisheka / Sri Saneeswara Graha abhisheka Wednesday September 20 : Navarathri Pradosham, Shiva Sri Rudra abhisheka aarati begins at 8.00 PM, Sri Lalitha sahasra nama aarati and manthra pushpa. and manthra pushpa. archana by ladies (Daily Sri Lalitha sashra nama archana by ladies starting September Afternoon at 2.00 PM Sri Venkateswara Thursday October 5th: Evening at 5.30 PM, abhisheka. Continued with Sri Vishnu 20Th, 21St, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, Shiva abhisheka aarati and manthra pushpa, Sahasra Nama chanting aarati and manthr 29th). Evening at 6.00 PM Sri Pournami Vratha/ pushpa. th Tuesday 26 : Night at 8.45 PM, Sukla Sashti Pooja Sri Sathaya Naraya Swamy vratha / pooja aarati and manthra pushpa. All are Evening at 4.00 PM, Sri Sankta Hara vratha, Sri Valli Deva Sena sametha, Sri welcome to participate with family. Chathurthi, Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi Homa / Sri Subramanya sahasra nama archana. Lakshmi Ganapathi abhisheka aarati and th th manthra pushpa. Monday October 9 : Evening at 5.00 PM, Sri Thursday September 28 : Evening at 5.00 Sankata Hara Chathurthi Sri Lakshmi PM, Shiva abhisheka aarati and manthra th Ganapathi homa / Sri Lakshmi Ganapathi puspa, Sunday September 10 : Sri Maha Bharani. abhisheka kritika vratha, Sri Valli Deva Sena th sametha, Sri Subramanya abhisheka aarati Evening at 6.00 PM, Sri Durga Ashtami, Sri Monday September 11 : Kritika Vratha, and manthra pushpa. Chandi homa / Chandi path Special pooja / Evening at 6.30 PM, Sri Valli Deva Sena homa aarati and manthra pushpa. All are Sametha, Sri Subramanya abhisheka.

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

GANESH SHASTHRY

880 East Fremont Ave #302, Cupertino Villas, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

(408) 245-5443 / Cell: (925) 209-7637 E-mail: srikalahatheeswara@yahoo.com

Home:

58 | INDIA CURRENTS |West Coast Edition |September 2017

INDIA CURRENTS GRAPHICS (408) 324-0488

Thursday September 14th: Sri Avidhava navami, Sri Mahavyadeeya padam.

dance . music

BharathaKala Kutiram

Music Performing Class Enrich it by listening to Dr. Madhuwanti Mirashi

Artistic Director:

Jayanthi Sridharan

(disciple of Pt. Omkarnath Thakur) Available for performances for all occasions.

offers Bharathanatyam Classes in Berryessa, North San Jose

Vocal Music: Light and Classical Instruments: Tabla, Harmonium, Synthesizer (Casio, Yamaha) Music Appreciation: (Hindustani) Voice Culture: (Indian Method)

Call: (408) 251-3438

Phone:(408)

e-mail: bkkdanceschool@gmail.com

246-1643

msmirashi@hotmail.com

Private Lessons ALL AGES & LEVELS

MUSIC Lessons with Peter Block

ENGLISH Lessons with Sita

• Saxophone, Guitar, Flute, Clarinet Writing, reading & speaking skills • Classical, Jazz & Pop styles • Prepare for high school and college • Includes comprehensive program of playing, • Word choice, vocabulary, grammar, diction rhythm & ear training, theory, recitals, etc. • Essay, academic & creative writing • Qualify for local youth symphonies, wind ensembles, jazz bands, & college music. Peter: (408)

839-2476

music_lessons@comcast.net

1/2 or Full Hour Lessons

Sita: (408)

253-1051

s_tyar@comcast.net

Bansuri Bamboo Flute

Jeff Whittier

Latest news Exclusive content Digital extras

INDIA CURRENTS Celebrating 30Years of Excellence

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Srividya Eashwar

• Lessons in North Indian Music in Palo Alto & Fremont

Artistic Director and Choreographer

l Classes offered in a combination of style

including Indian Folk, Film and Fusion.

l Multiple Locations in San Jose and Cupertino.

• Video Instructions Available

Now starting at Saratoga!

• Light Classical Music for Indian Weddings E-mail: Bansijeff@aol.com

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Dances of India

• Flutes of the Highest Quality

(650) 493-2187

70,000+ FOLLOWERS!

l New Session for kids and adults and Summer

Camp Registrations now accepted.

408-838-3079 / 408-246-3005

www.facebook.com/xpressions.sanjose

www.xpressionsdancemusic.com

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 59

events SEPTEMBER

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events Edited by: Mona Shah List your event for FREE!

OCTOBER issue deadline: Friday, September 18 To list your event in the Calendar, go to www.indiacurrents.com and click on Create Event

Check us out on

special dates Bakr Id

Sept. 2

Onam

Sept. 3

Labor Day

Sept. 4

Navaratri

Dussehra

Sept. 21-29 Sept.30

Mahatma Gandhi’s B’day Oct. 2 Sharad Purnima

Oct. 5

Karva Chauth

Oct. 8

CULTURAL CALENDER

Finding My Voice with Mallika Sarabhai and Company

September

2 Saturday

Bharatanatyam Arangretram of Preethi Kishore. Student of Vishal

Ramani, Artistic Director of Sri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vishal Ramani (choreography), C.K. Vasudevan (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), M. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), N. Veeramani (violin). Organized by Sri Krupa Dance Company. 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. http://www.shrikrupa.org/skdfmain/upcomingevents.html.

enowned danseuse, choreographer and activist Mallika Sarabhai will be performing in the Bay Area with her troupe from the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. In this performance Finding My Voice Sarabhai and her team will use bharatanatyam to focus on this century’s burning issues such as intolerance and global warming. She addresses our myriad problems through the centuries with lyrics in many languages besides the ancient Tamil. The performance will also feature Revanta Sarabhai, Sarabhai’s son who has

60 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

established himself as a truly contemporary choreographer and dancer. Hosted in collaboration with three organizations devoted to the arts and social causes - Indians for Collective Action (ICA), Art Forum SF and The Montalvo Arts at the Villa Montalvo Art Residency Program.n Saturday, Sept. 16, 6 p.m. Menlo Atherton High School Performing Arts Center, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton. $35-$200. https://www.facebook.com/ events/2021721341447381/

events MUSIC

Mahesh Kale, Live in Concert

ay Area-based Indian vocalist and recipient of a National Film Award from the President of India, Mahesh Kale, along with an elaborate ensemble of stellar instrumentalists from India, will take us on the musical adventure that has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide. In Sur Niragas Ho - Pure. Soulful. Transcendent, Kale will be accompanied for this concert by a group of exceptional instrumentalists from India, each one of whom has accompanied leading Indian musicians. The ensemble includes tabla players Vinayak Joshi and Vibhav Khandolkar, harmonium player Rajiv Tambe, violinist and sitarist Kedar Gulavani, and percussionist Suryakant Surve. n September 16, 7:30 p.m. Flint Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. www.icmafoundation.org. (919) 622-0922.

EXHIBIT Divine Visions, Earthly Pleasures: Five Hundred Years of Indian Painting

rom the very earliest times, a range of stylistic possibilities was open to Indian painters. Highlighting many appealing styles and trends found in this rich tradition, the exhibit showcases more than sixty works, most of them drawn from a group of more than three hundred paintings and drawings. Indian artists constantly play with various, sometimes conflicting approachesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as realism and abstractionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;often within a single work. This layering of artistic conventions can be subtle and sophisticated. From the earliest paintings on paper executed in the fifteenth century up to modern times, line is consistently strong and expressive. The artists use multiple conventions to create space, often including a number of different points of view in a single work. The architecture can recede into depth in parts

of a painting and appear two-dimensional in others. Although the conventions of Indian portraiture are not always fully realistic, the painters often manage to convey a sense of their sitters, and Surajamala, Son of Rao Nirandasa is a good example. The stylized figure of Surajamala convinces as a portrait of an actual person. In this painting, the artist has managed to instill the background with great animation while suggesting both a recession into space and a basic flatness. The handling of the rising sun topped by cloud forms is a tour de force. At first glance the play of color may suggest an abstract treatment, but on closer examination it reveals itself as fully representational. n Sept. 1-10. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA,) 2155 Center Street, Berkeley. http://bampfa.org. September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 61

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events Curatorial Tour of Indian Paintings Exhibition, Divine Visions, Earthly Pleasures. Led by guest curator and noted scholar of Indian painting, Robert Del Bonta. Organized by SACHI, Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India and Berkeley Art Museum. 11:00 a.m. - 9 p.m. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), 2155 Center Street, Berkeley. (650) 349-1247.

Dandiya Raas events throughout the Bay Area.

Surmayi Shaam. A benefit by the

Trichur Brothers. Organized by Nandalala Mission. 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. CET-Soto Theater, 701 Vine St., San Jose. nandalala@ nandalala.com (408) 681-9454.

September

3 Sunday

Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. www.naatak.com.

September

9 Saturday

Contemporary Indian Art Masterpieces. Exhibition and sale of rare early

A national event to raise awareness and funds in the fight against global poverty. Organized by Aga Khan Foundation. 7-9 p.m. 180 Woz Way, San Jose. http://support. akfusa.org.

works by some of India’s most sought after contemporary artists. The exhibition is curated by Ashish Nagpal of Metropolis Gallery, Mumbai. Organized by Anu Singh. 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Mitralaya 19306 Pinnacle Court, Saratoga. https://facebook. com/indianartmasterpieces. (408) 981-8712.

Bharatanatyam Arangretram of Prashanti and Saishri Rayapti. Stu-

September

Aga Khan Foundation Walk/Run.

dent of Vishal Ramani, Artistic Director of Sri Krupa Dance Company. Accompanied by Vishal Ramani (choreography), C.K. Vasudevan (nattuvangam), Kaushik Champakesan (vocal), M. Dhanamjayan (mridangam), N. Veeramani (violin). Organized by Sri Krupa Dance Company. 3:30 p.m. McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Ave., Saratoga. http://www.shrikrupa.org/skdfmain/ upcomingevents.html.

September

4 Monday

Mela 17—6 Plays in 6 Languages.

A Tragedy in Kanchi Tamil; What Will People Say?, Bengali; Everyone Loves an Errand Boy, Gujarati; The Window, Hindi; The Mad Man On the Fifth Floor, Marathi; Naatak Improv, Hinglish. Organized by Naatak. 4:00 p.m. Cubberley

10 Sunday

Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Akshatha Silas. Student of Indumathy

Ganesh, Artistic Director of Nrithyollasa Dance Academy. Accompanied by musicians, Indumathy Ganesh (choreography and nattuvangam), Vidya Iyer (nattuvangam), Sindhu Natarajan (vocal), Aditya Ganesh (mridangam) and Vikram Ragukumar (violin). Organized by Nrithyollasa Dance Academy. 3-5 p.m.Jackson Theater, Ohlone College, 43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont. www.nldance.com, (510) 789-3295.

Classical Vocal by Shubhada Paradkar. Accompanied by Satish Tare (tabla),

Manoj Tamhankar (harmonium). Organized by Tabla Niketan. 3- 5 p.m.Sai Temple Milpitas, 1221 California Cirle, Milpitas. www.tablaniketan.com, (408) 792-7014.

62 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

Carnatic Vocal Concert. Featuring Abhishek Raghuram (vocal), HN Bhaskar (violin) and Patri Satish Kumar (mridhangam). Organized by South India Fine Arts (SIFA). 4:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. http://www.southindiafinearts.org/. Hindustani Vocal Concert by Jayateerth Mevundi. Accompanied

by Keshav Joshi (tabla) and Narendra Nayak (harmonium). Organized by Swar Sudha. 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Louis B Mayer Auditorium, SCU 1063 Alviso Street, Santa Clara. http://www.swarsudha.org (408) 398-8160.

September

13 Wednesday

Dance Workshops by Mallika Sarabhai. Learn bharatnatyam, folk

dance and contemporary dance. Organized by India Community Center and Art Forum. 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. India Community Center, http://www.indiacc.org/ DanceWorkshopbyMallikaSarabhai, (408) 934-1130.

September

15 Friday

ICC Dandia Night with Sharvari Dixit and Group. 7:00 p.m. - 10:30

p.m. India Community Center, 525, Los Coches St., Milpitas. http://www.indiacc.org/ dandia2017.

September

16 Saturday

Bharatanatyam Performance by Shruti Abhishek and Meghah Vup-

events palapaty. Followed by Bhavanubuthi, celebrating Kshetraya by Divya Devaguptapu along with live orchestra—Savitha (vocals), J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and Ranjani (violin). Organized by Yuva Bharati. 4-6 p.m. Mission City Center for Performing Arts, 3250 Monroe Street, Santa Clara. http://www.yuvabharati.org/home/ index.php (650) 565-8859. Hindustani Classical Music Concert—Surmala. Bhadrapad Melodies

by Ashwini Khaparde, accompanied by Vivek Datar (harmonium) and Satish Tare (tabla). Organized by Sangeet Dhwani. 5-8 p.m. Milpitas Library Auditorium, 160 North Main Street, Milpitas. www.sangeetdhwani.org, (408) 394-0554.

Carnatic Vocal Concert. Featuring Aparna Thyagarajan (vocal), accompanied by Vignesh Thyagarajan (violin) and Vignesh Venkataraman (mridangam). Organized by SR Fine Arts. 5-7:30 p.m. Community Of Infinite Spirit, 1540 Hicks Avenue, San Jose. www.srfinearts.info, (408) 569-0860. Sarod Recital by Arnab Chakrabarty. Presented in the traditional

baithaak style, accompanied by Sanju Sahaai on tabla. Organized by Karim Shariff. 7-9 p.m. Clubhouse of the De Anza Oaks Complex, 22970 Surrey Circle, Cupertino. https://www.facebook.com/ events/1447178058706909/ (408) 5684658.

Mahesh Kale—Live in Concert: Sur Niragas Ho. Accompanied by tabla

players Vinayak Joshi and Vibhav Khandolkar, harmonium player Rajiv Tambe, violinist and sitarist Kedar Gulavani, and percussionist Suryakant Surve. Organized by ICMA Foundation. 7:30 p.m. Flint Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. www.icmafoundation.org, (919) 622-0922.

Onam 2017 Celebration. Organized by SanGaMa. 10:30 - 5:00 Lakireddy Auditorium, 1232 Arrowhead Ave, Livermore. http://www.sangama.us, (925) 261-6601.

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events Sid Sriram Carnatic Concert. 25th

anniversary production of the Sri Lalitha Gana Vidyalaya, Artistic Director Latha Sriram. Organized by Sri Lalitha Gana Vidyalaya. 4:30 p.m. CET-Soto Theater, 701 Vine St., San Jose. https://slgv25.yapsody.com/ event/index/118421.

Bollywood Dandiya. Organized by Sri

Shankara Cancer Foundation. 6:00 p.m. Centerville Jr High School, 37720 Fremont Blvd., Fremont. (650) 930-6975.

Dandiya and Bollywood Night.

Cricket for Cubs, a non-profit organization established to promote youth cricket in local schools and communities having established the cricket in Tri-Valley Middle School as P.E activity conducting the community outreach program to bring the awareness of youth cricket in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon. Organized by Cricket For Cubs. 6:00 p.m. Harvest Park Middle School Gym, 4900 Valley Avenue, Pleasanton. (925) 351-8365.

Finding My Voice with Mallika Sarabhai and Company. The per-

formance brings to audiences thoughts on global warming, life in relationships, an atheists relationship with the Goddess, sexual preferences and the growing intolerance in the world, all in the strictest and most complex pandanallur bharatanatyam vocabulary. Organized by Art Forum and Indians for Collective Action. 6:00 p.m. Menlo- Atherton Performing Arts Center, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton. https://www.facebook.com/ events/2021721341447381/. Saratoga Dandia 2017. Live music and entertainment by Sangeet Sargam Group. Organized by Saratoga Hindu Temple and Community Center. 7:30 p.m. West Valley College, Large Gym, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga. (408) 634-0295.

Saratoga Raas Garba 2017. Music by DJ Gunjan Patel. Organized by SIAN. 7:30 p.m. Joan Pisani Community Center, 19655 Allendale Avenue, Saratoga. http:// events.sulekha.com/saratoga-raas-garba_ event-in_saratoga-ca_318519.

Foundation For Excellence Gala

he Foundation for Excellence (FFE) fundraising gala “Journeys of Transformation,” will feature dinner and entertainment by Nitish Bharti, a sand artist and kathak dance by Leela Dance Collective. FFE is a not for profit organization that awards scholarships to well deserving but under privileged students in India keen to study medicine or engineering. This then enables them to pursue successful careers in these fields that would otherwise have been unaffordable to them. Since 1994 17,000+ students have been granted 42,000+ scholarships, across 27 states in India amounting to over $2.85 Million in yearly scholarships. FFE supports 4,887 active engineering and medical students. FFE operates from offices in Sunnyvale, CA and Bengaluru, India. The typical FFE scholar represents the top 15% academically but the bottom 15% economically. Their parents are household servants, street vendors, landless laborers, etc. A thorough diligence process verifies the eligibility of the prospective student by means of a strong volunteer base across India. Post college, some FFE students continue their education in the United States, at their own expense and merit, for a Masters and/or PhD. Many end up working at blue chip companies like Intel, Microsoft, Google, eBay, Cisco etc. across the globe. All donations received are fully disbursed to the scholars since administrative and operational costs are borne by the Foundation of FFE founder, Prabhu Goel. The multiplier effect will reverberate into future generations and help in upward mobility. A gift given through the auspices of FFE will thus not just be evergreen but will spread hope. Join today and make a difference.n Sunday, September 24, 5-10:00 p.m. Crowne Plaza, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. www.ffe.org, (408) 985-2001.

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 63

events September

17 Sunday

Bharatanatyam Performance by Pallavi Sriram with Sid Sriram. 25th

anniversary production of the Sri Lalitha Gana Vidyalaya, Artistic Director Latha Sriram. Organized by Sri Lalitha Gana Vidyalaya. 2:30 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. https://slgv25.yapsody.com/ event/index/118441.

September

19 Tuesday

An Evening with Mallika Sarabhai. An opportunity to meet Sarabhai at a special fundraising event for Montalvo’s Lucas Artists Residency Program. The night begins with an engaging conversation with the artist discussing her creative process and career. Afterwards, enjoy a delicious three course dinner with wine held on the front veranda of the historic Villa, provided by Jalsa Catering & Events. 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Montalvo Arts Center, 15400 Montalvo Rd., Saratoga. http:// montalvoarts.org/eventshttps://tickets.vendini. com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=5af9bce82dae4ca1b5dd490fa57944da&coupon= facebook&vqitq=0dad6c3d-ae50-411f-b5be3eeac9f28948&vqitp=d1a91c29-929c-4.

September

20 Wednesday

Garba Nights. Organized by Global Women Power. 7-10:15 p.m. Mulakat Hall 6170 Thornton Avenue, Newark. www. globalwomenpower.com. (510) 830-8771.

September

22 Friday

ICC Dandia Night with Tahuko and Sharda Cultural Group. Orga-

nized by ICC. 7:00 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. http:// www.indiacc.org/dandia2017.

CFC Dandiya 2017. Live music by

Sharvari Dixit and Troupe. Organized by Care For Children Bay Area Chapter. 7:30 p.m. Prospect High School, 18900 Prospect

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events Road, Saratoga. www.careforchildren.org/ sfba/cfc-dandiya.

September

23 Saturday

Anubhav Pal—Alive at 40. What is it like to be an ageing man in contemporary young India? Anuvab Pal tells us how middle aged Indian men delude themselves into wanting to be younger, and the tragedies that await them. Organized by EnActe Arts. 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Opal Event Venue, 251 Castro St., Mountain View. http://enacte.org/. Durga Puja 2017. Organized by

Agomoni. 10:00 a.m. Alcosta Senior and Community Center, 9300 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon. https://www.facebook.com/pg/ bayareaAgomoni/events/?ref=page_internal.

Durga Puja 2017. Dance, music, performances and food. Organized by Sanskriti. 10:00 a.m. Newark Pavilion, 6430 Thornton Ave., Newark. http://www.sanskriti.org/migrate/. Evergreen Valley High School PTSA Dandiya Night 2017. Orga-

nized by Evergreen Valley High School PTSA. 6:30 p.m. Evergreen Valley High School, 3300 Quimby Rd., San Jose. http:// events.sulekha.com/evergreen-valley-highschool-ptsa-dandiya-night-2017_eventin_san-jose-ca_317265.

Laser Dandiya. Live band by Sharda

Music Group. Best dressed contest and best dancer contest. Organized by Induz. 6:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Centerville Junior High School, 37720 Fremont Boulevard, Fremont. www.sulekha.com/ induz.

SEF Dandia, Santa Clara. Music

by Preetysha and Sameer. Organized by Sankara. 7:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. www.giftofvision.org, 1-800-Sankara.

September

24 Sunday

Bharatanatuam Arangetram of

64 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

Shreya Ganapathy. Student of Mythili

Kumar, Artistic Director of Abhinaya Dance Company. Accompanied by a live orchestra. Organized by Abhinaya Dance Company. 4-6 p.m. Mission City Center for Performing Arts, 3250 Monroe St, Santa Clara. www.abhinaya.org (408) 871-5959.

FFE 11th Annual Gala. Celebrating Journeys of Transformation. Featuring Nitish Bharti, a sand animation artist and a dynamic Kathak performance by Leela Dance Collective. Organized by Foundation for Excellence. 5-10 p.m. Crowne Plaza, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. eventregistration@ffe.org (408) 985-2001. Wind Whisperers From India. Featuring Ronu Majumdar (bansuri), Rajhesh Vaidhya (veena) with Vinod Venkataraman and his ensemble of North and South Indian percussionists. Organized by Swar Sudha. 5:00 p.m. De Anza Performing Arts Center, Cupertino. www.sulekha. com/swarsudha. (408) 806-9142.

September

26 Tuesday

Durga Puja 2017. Tradition and at-

mosphere of a traditional Bengali Durga Puja that will bring back memories of your childhood. Five days of worship, cultural programs, fun and frolic, food and shopping. Organized by Paschimi. 10:00 a.m. Unify Event Center 765 Story Rd., San Jose. http://www.pashchimi.org/.

September

27 Wednesday

Outsourced Comedy Tour Starring Kabir Singh. Organized by KO Com-

edy. 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Kirby’s Sports Bar, 42312 Fremont Blvd., Fremont. https://www. eventbrite.com/e/outsourced-comedy-tour2017-starring-kabir-singh-live-in-fremonttickets-37232860488, (510) 299-0788.

September

28 Thursday

Zee Bangla WomenNow Bay Area Durga Utsav 2017. Organized by

Women Now TV. 8:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. 5155 Stars and Stripes Dr., Santa Clara.

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events

http://www.womennow.tv, (650) 440-9905.

September

29 Friday

ICC Dandia Night with Madhvi and Asim Mehta. Organized by ICC. 7:00 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Coches St., Milpitas. events@icc.org.

SEF Dandia, San Mateo. Organized by Sankara Eye Foundation. 7:00 p.m. San Mateo Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Dr., San Mateo. https://www.giftofvision.org/ events. (800) 316-8559.

September

30 Saturday

Diwali—Festival of Lights, Multicultural Event. Fashion show on saris

of India, food, shopping, storytelling, pictures with Hanuman, Ravan and other mythological characters. Organized by Cupertino Chamber of Commerce and Asian American Business Council. 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Memorial Park, 10185 N. Stelling Rd., Cupertino. http://cupertinochamber.org/?.

Cupertino Dandiya Nite. Music by

Piyush Nagar and Parul Damani. Organized by Net Effect Media, Inc. 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Dynasty Banquet, Vallco Shopping Mall, 10123 North Wolfe Road, Cupertino. http://www.neteffectmedia.com/ events/. (408) 573-7307.

Santoor and Sitar Concert by Tarun Bhattacharya and Indrajit Banerjee. A Jugalbandi concert accom-

panied on the tabla by Subrata Bhattacharya. Organized by Basant Bahar. 5-7 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Coches Street, Milpitas. www.basantbahar.org. (510) 651-6386.

Fundraiser Flute Concert with Bansuri Master G.S. Sachdev. Ac-

companied by Nikhil Pandya on tabla. 7:30-9 p.m. Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, 1185 Vicente Street, San Francisco. http://www.sivanandasf.org/course/7117. (415) 681-2731.

Durga Puja 2017. On Saturday (Sep

Durga puja events throughout the Bay Area.

30) there is a unique opportunity for local members to show off their talent (need to be a Prabasi member to participate). On Sunday (Oct 1) Soumendra and Soumyojit will present a musical program Bombay Meri Jaan Celebrating Music of India. Food and shopping stalls. Organized by Prabasi. 10:00 a.m. Chabot College, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward. http://www.prabasi.org/events/durga-puja-2017.

SEF Dandia, Santa Clara. Music

by Preetysha and Sameer. Organized by Sankara. 7:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. www.giftofvision.org. 1-800-Sankara.

October

1 Sunday

Carnatic Vocal Concert. Featuring

7307.

Falguni Pathak Dandiya and Raas Garba Live. Organized by Instant

Karma and Dhoom Production. 8:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara. sulekha.com/falguni. (408) 579-9426.

October

7 Saturday

SEF Dandia, Santa Clara. Music

by Preetysha and Sameer. Organized by Sankara. 7:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. www.giftofvision.org. 1-800-Sankara.

October

8 Sunday

Ananya Ashok (vocal), Vignesh Venkatraman (mridhangam) and Lakshmi Balasubramanya (violin). Followed at 4 p.m. by a performance by Renjith and Vijna, the bharatanatyam duo. Organized by South India Fine Arts. 2:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. http://www.southindiafinearts.org/.

McDonald’s Education Expo. Understanding the college process, how to get accepted into top universities, guidance on how to secure financial aid and scholarships. Keynote speakers: Sabina Chaudhury and Ishan Puri. Organized by India West. 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. India Community Center, 525 Los Coches Street, Milpatas. (510) 383-1147.

October

Vibha Disco Dandia 2017. Entertainment for the evening provided by Dimple Patel and Troupe. Organized by Vibha-Help Them Grow. 7:00 p.m. Centerville Junior High School, 37720 Fremont Boulevard, Fremont. (408) 634-2869.

6 Friday

Cupertino Dandiya Nite. Music by

Dimple Patel and Parul Damani. Organized by Net Effect Media, Inc. 7-11 p.m. Dynasty Banquet, Vallco Shopping Mall 10123 North Wolfe Road, Cupertino. http:// www.neteffectmedia.com/events/, (408) 573-

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 65

events

California’s Best Guide to Indian Events Southern California CULTURAL CALENDER

Shantecha Karta Chalu AaheMarathi Comedy Play. Directed by

Vijay Kenkare, starring Priyadarshan Jadhav, Vishakha Subhedar, Sunil Tawde, Mugdha Karnik and Vijay Kenkare. Organized by Swar Sudha. 3:30 - 6:00 p.m. Mission City Center for Performing Arts, 3250 Monroe S.t, Santa Clara. www. swarsudha.org www.sulekha.com/SwarSudha, (408) 461-8390.

October

14 Saturday

Atul Purohit Navratri Dandiya and Raas Garba 2017. Organized by

Javanika Entertainments and Jagruti. 7:00 p.m. Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, 344 Tully Rd, San Jose. http://www.javanika.com/ events/authentic-traditional-live-garba-withlegend-atul-purohit/.

October

15 Sunday

Violin Concert. Featuring Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi G. Vijayalakshmi. Organized by South India Fine Arts. 4:00 p.m. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara. http:// www.southindiafinearts.org/.

September

1 Friday

The 4K Restoration Rerelease of The 1983 Merchant Ivory Production of Heat and Dust. Blending

east with west, and moving effortlessly between the vibrant world of modernday India and the magnificent splendors of the Raj, Merchant Ivory Productions’ acclaimed Heat and Dust intertwines the contemporary story of Anne (Julie Christie), a young woman drawn to India by her desire to unravel a mysterious family scandal surrounding the seduction of her great-aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi) in the 1920s by a handsome and charismatic, if not entirely scrupulous, Indian prince (Shashi Kapoor). For Anne, it proves as much a journey of self-discovery as the opportunity to solve an enigma. Like Olivia, she too is drawn deep into India by an allure that, in a different way, has remained as sensual and romantic as it was half a century before. Organized by Cohen Media Group. 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 Laemmle Royal 11523 Santa Monica Boulevard, 1st Floor, Los Angeles.

September

9 Saturday

Onam and Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi. Kerala Hindu style Onam feast

with 25 vegetarian dishes served in organic banana leaves followed by a variety entertainment program, thiruvathira, dance, music, speeches. Chief Guest Shri Rohit Rathish Deputy Consul General of India, San Francisco. Organized by Organization Of Hindu Malayalees (OHM). 11:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Santana Dharma Temple Dining Hall And Auditorium 15311 Pioneer Blvd., Norwalk. www.ohmcalifornia.org (949) 419 7115.

September Fundraiser Flute Concert with Bansuri Master G.S. Sachdev, Sept., 30

16 Saturday

17th Annual Singing Competition.

66 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

For all ages in Hindustani vocal and light vocal. Organized by Indo American Community Theater. 2-8 p.m.Curtis Theater 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea. (714) 203-8671.

Kamalanjali and Sangeet Sankalp Samaroh. A morning of classical concert featuring Gaurav Mazumdar (sitar), Arup Chattopadhyay (tabla), Suman Laha (veena), Joita BoseMandal (vocal), Jyoti Prakas (tabla), Nawund Kumar (harmonium), Apurva Mandal (vocal), Rashid Binnur (tabla), and students of Kamalanjali. Organized by Joita BoseMandal. 9:30 - 1:30 p.m. 6911 Verde Ridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes. (314) 520-8831.

September

23 Saturday

Wind Whisperers From India.

Featuring Ronu Majumdar (bansuri), Rajhesh Vaidhya (veena) with Vinod Venkataraman and his ensemble of North and South Indian percussionists. Organized by The Music Circle. 7:00 p.m. John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd E, Los Angeles. fordtheaters.org. (323) 461-3673.

September

24 Sunday

Narayana—A Bharatanatyam Based Dance Drama. Organized by Rangashree Dnaces of India. 5-7 p.m.William Bristol Civic Auditorium, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower. rangashree.com.

September

30 Saturday

Kumar Sanu Live in Concert. Organized by Dakshini Bengali Association of California. 8:00 - 10:00 Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. www.dakshini. org (310) 462-2241.

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 67

68 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 69

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healthy life

Gifts From Nature Superfoods From India’s Nutrition Guru By Ashok Jethanandani

Indian Superfoods. By Rujuta Diwekar. Published by Westland Ltd. Paperback, 174 pages.

ou have probably read about superfoods that will boost your health. Blueberries, kale, almonds, broccoli, sweet potato, goji berries, and many more are roundly praised. While these foods are indeed rich in nutrients, they have been so heavily promoted that now they have a cachet that facilitates their wholesale transportation to markets thousands of miles away. In this scenario, Rujuta Diwekar’s book Indian Superfoods comes as a breath of fresh air, for she advocates that we rediscover the superfoods from our own cultures and lands. Diwekar has chosen 10 foods that are quintessentially Indian. Some, like ghee, sugar, and rice, were once highly regarded, but have lately fallen out of favor. Others, like banana, cashew, and coconut are widely consumed and enjoyed, but with some ambivalence about their health benefits. And yet others like kokum, jackfruit, aliv, and ambadi are well kept secrets, known only in their local markets.

Quotes from book For me superfoods are foods that, like true love, have stood the test of time. They have at least these five things in common: 1. They grow naturally in the same land you live 2. They are rich in micronutrients and taste 3. Every part of the crop/plant can be used in unique ways 4. They encourage diversity in your diet 5. They lead to a sustainable lifestyle,

help the local economy and make sound ecological sense. Unabashedly, she rescues ghee from its vilification by medical science, and endorses its pride of place as the fat of choice in ayurveda. Ghee helps to reduce blood glucose, break down body fat, is excellent for memory, and is an important part of diet during pregnancy. Diwekar takes other positions against conventional thinking by promoting rice, especially hand pound or single polished rice. She cites its ease of digestibility, and complete amino acid profile, including an essential amino acid called lysine which promotes restorative sleep. Indeed, these recommendations are consistent with ayurveda. Traditionally, rice is aged and combined with pulses, vegetables, meat, and ghee, which lowers the glycemic index of the meal. Another controversial food is coconut, which went out of favor because of its high saturated fat content (not cholesterol, which is present only in animal foods). Diwekar counters these doubts, pointing out that the fat is mainly medium chain triglycerides (MCT), which is preferentially used by the body for fuel, thus increasing stamina and endurance. Also, it increases satiety and reduces blood glucose. So there is little reason to avoid this delicious food that lends itself to so much variety in the form of coconut water, tender coconut flesh, dried coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil. Diwekar writes in a conversational style, often switching to Hinglish. She is both provocative and persuasive. Although she mentions health benefits both from ayurveda and nutrition science, ultimately her tone is motivational, like that of a gym instructor. “You want a

72 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

flat stomach, you go ghrtam pibet.” (relish ghee) The writing is original and sounds authentic because the author shares her own personal relationship with each of these foods. She tells stories about how she learned to cut open a jackfruit and crack a coconut from her grandfathers. She talks about hand pounded and single polished rice grown in her family farm. She explains how she uses kokum to help kids overcome their candy and cola cravings. This slim volume is also full of traditional recipes and home remedies like making ghee at home, using raw kokum butter as a foot cream, and making laddoos from aliv (garden cress) seeds. This book is aimed at readers in India with a view to appreciate their own locally grown, traditionally consumed, but sometimes forgotten or misunderstood foods. So what can readers outside India get from it? Some foods like ghee, rice, sugar, banana, and cashew are widely available wherever you are. Jackfruit is grown in many tropical regions. Ambadi (in Marathi) is a green leafy vegetable that is now grown in California and sold in farmers’ markets as gongura (its Telugu name). Rich in iron and folates, it can be steamed or sautéed into delicious dishes. But one does not have to be limited to the superfoods listed here, or indeed in any other publication. The most valuable message I got from this book is that superfoods are everywhere. You don’t have to look far to find them. Explore your local farmers’ market, and learn from local tribal cultures about local plants. You will discover plants that thrive in their native climate, have been utilized for ages, and are available fresh to you. This way you support not just your own health, but also local farmers who produce and preserve a diverse number of native and heirloom foods.n Ashok Jethanandani is a graduate of Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar. Jethanandani now practices ayurveda in San Jose. www.classical-ayurveda.com.

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September 2017 | West Coast Edition | www.indiacurrents.com | 75

dear doctor

Accessing Different Sides Of My Personality By Alzak Amlani

People see me as a balanced, kind of mellow, non-reactive, reasonable and sensitive guy. This is all true in a way. I tend to not stand out and am not that assertive. I am starting to feel frustrated in being that kind of a person. I feel ordinary, repressed and at times passive. I know there is a more aggressive, angry and dominant side to me, but I can’t seem to connect with it and express it when I need to. How do I begin to let this part out more?

It seems something is occurring currently that is making you focus on this dimension of your personality. I am curious what that is and why now you are feeling more frustrated and interested in looking at and expressing your “aggressive” traits and feelings. Are you noticing these limitations at work, in your friendships, intimate relationship, athletics or elsewhere? It can be all or some of these areas. We all have a range of qualities, energies and feelings that

need acknowledgement, development, integration and expression. To be a full human being is to open ourselves to this spectrum. Some aspects of us are more mirrored, supported and drawn out, while others can be forgotten, discouraged or even traumatized. As we go further into mid-life, we notice how we curtail, hold back and do things to fit in, rather than be genuine, strong and bold. There is a kind of deadening that starts to happen for many. Waking up to this is a significant step in our human journey. It’s worth understanding how you were shaped into the person you are now. Who were the primary caregivers and what did they expect from you and model for you? Did you have an aggressive side as a kid? Some kids who are bullied or had an aggressive parent, will vow to never be like them. Others were so intimidated and scared that they cut off their anger. When you are not so reasonable, what are you like? What

76 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

comes out when you are frustrated? That’s a good starting point. Do you pay attention to your fantasies or dreams? What are the characters in those scenes like? Are there certain people in your life or in films, politics, etc that you are really drawn to? Beginning to understand these characters around and within you is a powerful way of integrating these sides of you. Putting yourself in situations where you are in a more dominant role will bring out your strength and aggression. Some people play a role in a play or athletics where they get to express these feelings. Others write short stories that fully flesh out deeper layers of themselves. What are some creative ways for you to get in touch? n Alzak Amlani, Ph.D., is a counseling psychologist of Indian descent in the Bay Area. 650-325-8393. Visit www.wholenesstherapy.com

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the last word

Is The Handmaid’s Tale a Feminist Tract?

By Sarita Sarvate

have always had difficulty with Margaret Atwood’s writings, perhaps because her visions of the future are too dark. Listening to the audio version of The Blind Assassin, I got thoroughly confused. No surprise then that I hadn’t read her classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, until after it had been adapted for Hulu. Reading the book recently, its poetic, precise, and evocative language took my breath away. Surprisingly, the adaptation managed to translate her words into striking, yet faithful visuals, a rare feat in itself. Yet the book left me dissatisfied. For those not in the know, the story is set in the not too distant future where the environment is so polluted that the human race is struggling to reproduce. Young women are made into instruments of breeding, while older ones serve as guardians of a newly formulated patriarchy. If this description makes you think of the Republicans’ decades-long struggle to take control of women’s wombs, you are on the right track. Atwood wrote the book in the early 80s, when the moral majority was on the rise. No wonder then that women dressed as Atwood’s handmaids protested a slew of anti-abortion bills in front of the Texas legislature recently, the Hulu television production having provided them with designs for their costumes of red robes and white hats. I was heartened by the news of the march, until I heard an interview with Atwood on the radio. She sounded cautious, even conservative, calling herself a feminist only so far as a feminist was in favor of equal opportunities for women in education and employment. In other interviews, she has labeled feminists as people who are against makeup and bras and shied away from including herself in that group. Her ambiguity is clearly mirrored in her book, which I found constrained, even troubling at times. The main character, June is a fertile young woman who receives certain privileges simply because of the condition of her body. Yet, she seems to feel no compassion for the “barren” wives or the matronly “aunts,” whom she describes in the most ruthless of terms. I must issue a spoiler alert here; not only does June have no sympathy for the menopausal women in the story, she uses her sexual allure to earn favors from men who are in control. June’s background too is hardly feministic; we learn that she carried on an affair with a married man, even conceived a child by him, before the country’s takeover by the fundamentalists. Yet, American feminists are claiming that The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist tract, even protesting the refusal of Atwood as well as the producers and the cast of the TV show, to label it as such. The feminist movement is desperate for literature it can herald, I suppose, but as someone who considers herself a feminist, I found no inspiration, no hope, no guiding light in The Handmaid’s Tale. The moment of unease came early on for me. It was when the Commander, whom June serves as a breeder, offers her a women’s magazine. She accepts it gratefully; it reminds her of an earlier era when she used to put on lingerie and have sex with whomever she wanted. Had I been in her position, I thought, I would have flung the rag across the room, as being another vehicle for subjugating women by teaching them how to catch a man rather than how to claim autonomy. 78 | INDIA CURRENTS | West Coast Edition | September 2017

Why are African-American single mothers never labeled as feminists, only as objects of pity and charity? Other, more troubling scenes follow. June’s identity is almost wholly tied up with her role as a mother; she sorely misses her daughter who has been taken away from her. The book makes no attempt to create a larger awakening in June. Only her lesbian friend Moira serves as a proxy for the kind of revolution that the reader expects June herself to contemplate. Similarly, June’s mother is depicted as a lonely, divorced hippie, a caricature of a feminist whom June views suspiciously and with some aversion. Thankfully, the TV series seems to realize these flaws in Atwood’s book and attempts to cast the “barren” wife in a more sympathetic light than the book does. It also provides a hint of the rebellion that is to come in future seasons. Of course it needs to do so if the TV series is to go on for years. Atwood’s novel, on the other hand, ends on an ambiguous, even fatalistic note. June sleeps with the Guardian, who is in charge of keeping law and order. She relishes the slinky clothes the Commander makes her wear to an underground brothel. She even asks the Commander for a jar of lotion. Lotion for Christ’s sake, not a weapon or a book or even a way out. The problem with feminism today, I think, is that it is mainly driven by white, upper-class women who are prisoners of their own privilege and status. Why are African-American single mothers never labeled as feminists, only as objects of pity and charity? Why is there a compulsion to label June or Margaret Atwood as a feminist when in fact the former is simply using her natural gifts to survive and the latter has perhaps only suffered at the hands of patriarchy in her imagination, never in real life? American feminists, why are you so desperate? Why do you feel a need to clutch on to any symbol you can find? Does this tendency indicate a paucity of good female role models in real life as well as the life of the imagination? The recent debate over The Handmaid’s Tale made me wonder about examples of truly feminist books. The only one that came to mind was Virginia Woolf ’s A Room of One’s Own. Or perhaps Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, whose clueless heroine provides a lesson in feminism by her very lack her awareness of it. Instead of projecting their dogma on to Margaret Atwood or Elizabeth Moss, the actress who plays June, feminists would be well served I think, to write their own literature. 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 publications.

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