DECEMBER 2020
INSIDE
COVID IMPACT: WOMEN ON WORK FROM HOME WOES
PLUS
FOOD, FESTIVE SEASON,TRAVEL & MORE
A Sterling
Advocate For
SCIENCE
MAYA AJMERA
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Auriel Majumdar Celebrating Your Spirit page 22
Partying in Place page 44
Jewelry Trends to Try This Season page 58
CONTENTS 4 CONTRIBUTORS
44
Partying in Place
WELLNESS
5 BEYOND LIMITS
47
Our Favorite Holiday Markets Across the US
60
In This Together— Mental Health Guide
50
Serenity Reserve: Ties That Bind with Women Housemates
62
How to Have A Meaningful Vacation?
ARTS—BOOKS AND TV
6
Election Results 2020
PIONEERS 8
Maya Ajmera: A Sterling Advocate for Science
14
Auriel Majumdar: Celebrating Your Spirit
FEATURES 22
Newsmakers 2020
28
Women Working from Home Woes
HOLIDAY SPECIAL 42
Celebrating the Season with the Bene Israel
FOOD 52 Sweet Nothings FASHION 56
SEEMA RECOMMENDS: Key Fashion and Styles, for the Season
58
SEEMA RECOMMENDS: Jewelry Trends to Try This Season
70
SEEMA BOOK CLUB: 5 New Books for the Holidays
ON THE COVER
Maya Ajmera
8
MEET OUR
CONTRIBUTORS FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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SEEMA™ ISSUE 006 | DECEMBER 2020 EMPOWERING SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN GLOBALLY SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER
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EDIT | SEEMA
GOING
BEYOND LIMITS
T
here is something special about the holiday spirit that even that Grinch called the pandemic cannot ruin. Of course, with COVID cases surging, we must observe safe practices and celebrate the season sheltering in place. That means a major edit to the typical extravagance we have become used to — shopping, partying and traveling to exotic places. But this year we can go back to the core of what the season is all about: the traditions of greeting, gifting and giving, and enjoying the warmth of the fireplace with chestnuts, chocolate and cheer. With some imagination and creativity, this season can be as merry and happy, and, most importantly, as safe as those of yore. Let’s face it. Do you really miss the overthe-top gatherings, the shopping mania in crowded malls, and the long lines at the airports? Isn’t it nice to be back to basics? I, for one, am looking forward to putting my feet up and looking back without regrets at this extraordinary year of trials, tribulations and triumphs. Yes, it has been one hell of a year and we’ve all learned to cope and pivot in our own ways, especially as women who bear the biggest
brunt of this epidemic. We have learned countless life lessons and have had a crash course in work-life balance like never before. We have scars to show, and the stories to share. In this issue we bring you a bevy of such stories of women sharing their work-fromhome woes. It is also been a mega year for us South Asian Women from a news perspective. While Vice-President elect Kamala Harris was the biggest newsmaker of the year, becoming a role model for young brown girls, there were many others who blazed trails and set new standards for leadership. We also bring you a collection of newsmakers from around the world: politicians, performers, and the she-roes on the front lines of the war against the pandemic. Finally, it has been a year of reckoning, of paying attention to what matters, of learning to be kind to yourself and others, and of inspirational stories of scientific success, hope, self-love, and inspiration involving women who are giving back and coaching others. As a vaccine against COVID gets ever closer, let us celebrate the spirit of the season with hope, and wish ourselves a healthy and happy new year. d
SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 5
ELECTION RESULTS | SEEMA
Pramila Jayapal SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT 1, IRVINE RANCH WATER DISTRICT DIVISION 4
CALIFORNIA
Jhansi Kalapala
Ranjana Rao
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 48
WASHINGTON
MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON
NEW JERSEY
FREMONT UNIFIED BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT 6
CALIFORNIA
Priti Dave
SAN RAMON MAYOR
CALIFORNIA
Nithya Raman
NORTH DAKOTA
OREGON
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 4
SOUTH DAKOTA
IDAHO
CALIFORNIA
NEBRASKA
NEVADA STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 64
CALIFORNIA
UTAH
Susmita Nayak
COLORADO
SAN RAMON MAYOR
CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA
Habir Bhatia
Sabina Zafar
CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA
SANTA CLARA CITY COUNCIL
NEW JERSEY
WASHINGTON
WYOMING
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION
NEW JERSEY
MONTANA Aparna Madireddi
Parul Patel
WESTFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION
MINNESOTA
Aarti Kaushal
Vandana Slatter
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 7
ARIZONA
KANSAS
NEW MEXICO
OKLAHOMA
SAN RAMON MAYOR
TEXAS
Naz Mahika Khan FREMONT MAYOR
CALIFORNIA
Satinder Kaur Kang TRUSTEE AREA 4
CALIFORNIA
Nisha Sharma
Sameera Rajwade
CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 11
Sudha Kasamsetty UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT
CALIFORNIA
6 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
SAN RAMON CITY COUNCIL
Vedica Puri
SAN FRANCISCO SUPERIOR COURT SEAT 17
CALIFORNIA
Radhika Kunnel
Hiral Tipirneni
NEVADA
ARIZONA
STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 2
Farah Khan MAYOR OF IRVINE
CALIFORNIA
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 6
Pooja Sethi
AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 10
TEXAS
Donna Imam
Dimple Malhotra
TEXAS
TEXAS
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 31 TRAVIS COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 4.
Rupande Mehta Smita Nadia Hussain STATE SENATE DISTRICT 25
BLOOMINGTON BOARD OF EDUCATION
NEW JERSEY
Smitha Raj
Ramya Kasthuri
NEW JERSEY
NEW JERSEY
SOUTH BRUNSWICK BOARD OF EDUCATION
NEW JERSEY
BERKELEY HEIGHTS BOARD OF EDUCATION
Padmaja Chinta
Nishita Desai
EDISON BOARD OF EDUCATION
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION
NEW JERSEY
Sonal Patel
WESTFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION
NEW JERSEY
NEW JERSEY
Padma Kuppa STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 41
MICHIGAN
MAINE Sara Gideon
Lakshmi Kode Sammarco
U.S. SENATE
VERMONT NEW MAINE HAMILTON COUNTY CORONER HAMPSHIRE OHIO MASSACHUSETTS NEW YORK
WISCONSIN
PENNSYLVANIA MARYLAND
NEW JERSEY Kesha Ram
STATE SENATE CHITTENDEN 6-4 DISTRICT
VERMONT
KENTUCKY TENNESSEE
ARKANSAS ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA
PENNSYLVANIA
NORTH CAROLINA
Raaheela Ahmed
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 5
SOUTH CAROLINA
MARYLAND
GEORGIA
Anjali Boyd
DURHAM SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT SUPERVISOR-
NORTH CAROLINA
FLORIDA
Meg Hansen
STATE SENATE FROM BENNINGTON COUNTY
VERMONT
South Asian Women in Politics
Manga Anantatmula
©SEEMA
OHIO
WEST VIRGINIA VIRGINIA
MISSOURI
NEW HAMPSHIRE
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 11
VIRGINIA
Nima Kulkarni
STATE HOUSE, DISTRICT 40
KENTUCKY
Jenifer Rajkumar
Ragini Srivastava
Sarita Bhandarkar
NEW YORK
NEW YORK
NEW YORK
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 38
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 16
STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 99
Infographic: Sajid Moinuddin / Text: Bhargavi Kulkarni
IOWA INDIANA
STATE HOUSE HILLSBOROUGH 25
STATE AUDITOR GENERAL
CONNECTICUT
MICHIGAN
ILLINOIS
Nina Ahmad
Latha Mangipudi
DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 7
PIONEERS | SEEMA
A Sterling
Advocate for Science Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science, discusses social innovation, public education and STEM
D
espite her varied career, Maya Ajmera’s life has been stitched together with one simple thread: social impact. In her current role, she is the president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public, an organization best known for founding America’s oldest and most highly regarded high school science competition, the Regeneron Science Talent Search, which was for many years best known by the sponsor, 8 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
Westinghouse. She is also the publisher of the biweekly, award-winning Science News, a magazine she transformed from a staid, debt-laden institution to one with the financial freedom and journalistic ability to chase down the latest STEM stories and present them to the public. We spoke with her only weeks after she was announced as the recipient of the National Science Board’s 2020 Public Service Award. Honored for her work in STEM ad-
PHOTOGRAPH BY: SHRAVYA KAG
JORDANA WEISS
DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 9
PIONEERS | SEEMA vocacy and public service, she joins the ranks of other distinguished awardees like Ira Flatow, Alan Alda, Oliver Sacks, and Jane Goodall. However, when we asked about the honor, she was quick to divert praise elsewhere. “I felt elated and it felt very good for us as an organization to be recognized for the extraordinary work the team has been doing,” she said. “This award is not about me; it’s about my team, the Society for Science & the Public, and the important work we do.” We wanted to get a sense of how she got to where she is today, what drew her to social entrepreneurship and STEM education, and how her unique combination of skills made her the perfect choice to take over the nearly 100-year-old Society for Science & the Public. To fully understand her remarkable career trajectory, let’s start at the beginning.
“THIS AWARD IS NOT ABOUT ME; IT’S ABOUT MY TEAM”
Maya, President & CEO of the Society for Science & the Public, pictured with her 7-year old daughter, Talia 10 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
Growing Up in the South Ajmera was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the daughter of Indian immigrants from the Indian states of Bihar and Rajasthan. Brought up in eastern North Carolina, she considers herself a Southerner at heart, but maintains a strong connection to her extended Jain family in India, spending most summers there as a child. “I remember in elementary school, my mother would pull me out in April,” she said. “They would let the teachers know in January, so I would get all this homework and stuff I had to do in order to move into the next grade. My summer holidays went from mid-April to August, and
my mother would take me and my brother to India. We’d spend time with my nani and nana [maternal grandmother and grandfather], my aunts and uncles, and loads of cousins in Gaya, Bihar. Those were the happiest times of my life, actually.” Another fond early memory involves Ajmera and her dad going to Sheppard Memorial Library, once the family settled in Greenville, North Carolina. “We had this ritual,” she said. “My father would leave me at the children’s library downstairs and go up to the reading room. Afterward, I would check out my large stack of books with my precious library card, and we would go to Hardee’s to eat, and he would ask me about what I read that morning. I would talk about Phillis Wheatley, and he’d tell me about Rabindranath Tagore.” It was this exchange of ideas that sparked an early love of learning. During her senior year in high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Ajmera worked in a laboratory at Duke University, eventually entering a project titled “Isolation and Characterization of a Tetracycline-Resistant Plasmid of an Animal Isolate,
Baby Maya pictured with her mother and father, who immigrated to the United States from the Indian states of Bihar and Rajasthan
Streptococcus faecalis, SF2” in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. Ajmera was a member of the Honors Group —the top 300 competitors. Later, under Ajmera’s leadership, that competition would celebrate its 78th year. The Moment of Obligation Ajmera received an undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Bryn Mawr College, a leading women’s liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and was awarded a
Rotary Graduate Fellowship to study in South and Southeast Asia in 1990. During her travels, she found herself on a train platform in Bhubaneswar, an ancient city in India’s eastern state of Odisha, when she was hit with something that she calls her “moment of obligation.” As she stepped into the station, she noticed a small makeshift school that had been set up to serve the children who lived and worked around the train platform. When she asked the teacher how much it cost to operate, she was shocked to learn that the school could pay two teachers to instruct 50 children for only $500 per year. Initially, she thought: “How do I help? And, how come I don’t see more train platform schools everywhere?” To her parents’ horror, Ajmera put off her planned MD/ Ph.D. and went to Duke for a graduate degree in public policy. This gave her the confidence to ask pertinent questions like “How do I get small amounts of capital into the hands of really innovative grassroots organizations?” With these questions in mind, she founded the Global Fund for Children (GFC), with the goal of supporting community-based organiDECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 11
PIONEERS | SEEMA
Maya on stage with students from around that world at the International Science and Engineering Fair opening ceremony
zations serving the most vulnerable young people around the world. To date, GFC has awarded nearly $50 million to over 700 innovative grassroots organizations in over 80 countries, touching the lives of over 11 million children worldwide. Along with founding GFC, Ajmera is also an award-winning children’s book author, including titles like Every Breath We Take, Children from Australia to Zimbabwe, and To Be a Kid. Millions of children globally read her books and learn about the similarities that tie them together. Her writing, much like GFC’s mission, conveys the important message that no matter where a child is born and raised, they share the same hopes and dreams. Despite her success at GFC, Ajmera felt that founders should step away after a period of time. She also wanted to balance her personal and professional life. After 18 years at GFC, Ajmera took a sabbatical and became a visiting scholar and 12 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
“IN 2015, WE PILOTED A PROGRAM CALLED ‘SCIENCE NEWS IN HIGH SCHOOLS.’ AFTER FIVE YEARS, WE’RE NOW IN OVER 5,000 HIGH SCHOOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.” professor at The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins. She also welcomed a daughter with her husband David H. Hollander, Jr. The Society for Science & the Public In 2014, Ajmera discovered that
an executive search firm had been tasked with identifying a new CEO for the Society for Science & the Public, one of the nation’s most respected science institutions. Despite being an alumna of the organization’s Westinghouse Science Talent Search, Ajmera confesses “I didn’t think I had a chance in the world.” After a lengthy interview process, she was offered the job and was on board in August 2014. During her six years at the helm, Ajmera has shaken up this 99-yearold organization, enacting huge changes that transformed the society’s journalistic crown jewel, Science News, from a consumer magazine drowning in debt to one that is not only sustainable but increasing its readership by leaps and bounds. “What we realized is that science teachers needed excellent, evidence-based content for teaching,” she explains. “They didn’t know which sources to trust, and their textbooks are really old. In 2015, we
piloted a program called ‘Science News in High Schools.’ After five years, we’re now in over 5,000 high schools across the country.” That isn’t the only forward-thinking, positive change Ajmera and her team have made in the last few years. Instead of going on a lengthy hunt for investors once Intel’s term as the sponsor for the Science Talent Search expired, the society put out a call for proposals. After all, what company wouldn’t want to lend their name to a competition that’s turned out (so far!) 13 Nobel Prize winners? After receiving more than 50 proposals, Regeneron was selected as the winner. The company, which was founded by fellow Westinghouse Science Talent Search alums, went on to invest more than $100 million in the society’s suite of science education programs. Looking Forward The rise of COVID-19 in the United States has shown us just how easy it is for misinformation and distrust of
science to fester and grow, especially when it is encouraged at the highest levels of the U.S. government. The society has actively worked to combat this by making their robust COVID-19 coverage entirely free and open for republishing by smaller, community news outlets. “What we look towards is making sure the next generation of young people in this country are STEM ambassadors. Everything from our outreach and equity programs to Science News, they are the ones that we have to reach,” Ajmera said. Ajmera’s incredible drive to bridge her two loves of community-focused activism and science advocacy gives us hope that with increased access to STEM education and resources, the future of the next generation looks bright. d For objective coverage of COVID-19 from the nation’s only newsroom that is broken down by sub-fields of science, check out the Science News.
Maya speaking to a Broadcom MASTERS competition alumna at a Society event
Maya is an award-winning children’s book author of more than 20 titles with more than 5 million readers worldwide DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 00
PIONEERS | SEEMA
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Celebrating Your Spirit Creative coach, thinker and poet Auriel Majumdar discusses how to put heart back into working lives. SEEMA KUMAR AND RADHIKA IYENGAR
L
istening to Auriel Majumdar is like listening to a piece of music by Bach. Calm and contemplative, creative coach Majumdar’s technique invites you to reflect on your insecurities and examine them objectively. “It’s very easy to judge ourselves harshly,” she says. “Like, ‘I’m not trying hard enough’ or ‘I’m not working hard enough’, and that can trap us into staying in the same place.…Using reflective practice means sitting down and looking at what’s going on in your life and doing that without judgment.” For the last two decades, creative coach, thinker and speaker, Auriel Majumdar has mentored individuals to lead rewarding, fulfilling lives. She has enabled them to tap their DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 15
PIONEERS | SEEMA inner potential and take control of their life’s narrative. Majumdar opens up about the personal experiences that have helped her become who she is, while also doling out extraordinary wisdom to younger career women who are grappling to find a work-life balance. Through creative personal development techniques, she encourages them to take the reins and pursue what they truly desire. Edited excerpts: To begin with, could you talk a bit about where were you born? What was your experience growing up? I was born in Winchester, which is in the south of England, I have no memory of it, because my dad was, at that point, a surgeon. So, in the UK health system, you build up your experience. You move around rapidly, getting different positions until you get to wherever it is that you want to get to. So, we moved a lot. We went up to the northeast of England, and then we ended up in Yorkshire when I was about four. So, my memories of growing up are from Yorkshire, which is in the north of
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“SHE HAS ENABLED PEOPLE TO TAP THEIR INNER POTENTIAL AND TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR LIFE’S NARRATIVE” the UK. However, I was brought up in a town called Rotherham. I grew up in the mid-60s, through the 70s, and Rotherham at the time, was a coal mining and a steel town. Highly industrial, but also quite depressed. Towards the 70s and the 80s, there was a real decline in industry in the UK, particularly in the north of England. I belonged to one of the very well off families, and was one of the very few Asian families. My mum was from Wales, she’s white, my dad was from Cal-
cutta, India. We were a bit of an anomaly. We were highly unusual and highly visual. It was around the 70s when there was a rise of a right-wing fascist group called the National Front. Those were tough times, really. There was a lot of racism—there were racist comedies on the telly (television). It was kind of acceptable to make racist jokes and people were called – I wouldn’t even say the word – but the P-word and the N-word were used. It was pretty tough being around all of that. There was a kind of pervasive threat around in the town. One of the memories of growing up was just being different and seeing myself different, while not really mixing with other Asian families, because there wasn’t really any community. It was quite isolating to be who we were. At home, however, life was great. I’ve got three brothers, so it was always busy, full of life. I remember my dad being away, always working, because he was by that time a very senior orthopedic surgeon. So, he
wasn’t around much. However, my mom was around a lot. I also think that my parents tried to keep us safe by making us more ‘white’. My brothers, for example, have all got English names—Rob, Robin, Simon and Jeremy. I don’t know where Auriel came from. It’s not an English name. We also adopted very English habits. My mum was very young when she got married and had to live at my father’s family home in India. There she had learned how to cook fantastic curries and we grew up with that kind of food culture in our house. There were Indian things, but we weren’t brought up to speak Bengali. We weren’t really taught about our roots. So, there were family stories, but there weren’t stories about India or about Indian culture. I think my parents wanted us to be safe and not different. So, they tried to minimize the difference. You talk about the far-right group and how racist comments were acceptable back in the day. While growing up, did you understand that this was wrong; that this is was a political thing and that it’s something needed to be done against it? I’ve always had a very strong sense of injustice, of what is right and wrong. I remember being very young when something to do with apartheid came on the telly. And my mom said to me, “Well, if we went to South Africa, me and Jeremy would stand on one side of the fence, and you and Baba, Robin and Simon would have to stand on the other side of the fence.” I was tiny when she told me that and I remember thinking, “Well, this isn’t right.” And I never lost that sense of wanting to fight injustice. I attended the Black Lives Matter protests and I do my best to be actively anti-racist. I’m constantly educating myself. In college, when I was 17-18, I was
pretty politically active because my dad had been a communist in India, and his father had been highly politically active as well. So, it was somewhere in us. Unfortunately, fascism is rising again and it reminds me of what it was like living in the 70s. In the UK, we’ve had Brexit, which has been an opportunity for divisive forces to come in and set people against each other. It’s kind of disappointing.
were really important to him. So, at home, I couldn’t cut my hair. Later on, my dad went absolutely mad; that moment was purely symbolic. You know, it’s like, I was just trying to break away. So yes, university was great. I used to go to all sorts of lectures that weren’t on my curriculum–just exploring and trying different things, meeting new people. I was very, kind of, directionless—although, my career had already been set for me–I How did university life transform was expected to be a doctor. My you into understanding yourself mum had been a nurse and my dad better? didn’t really know what else there At the university, I had this great was out there. Although I was loving kind of blossoming. I really enjoyed learning, I had no sense of what I myself and wasn’t very obedient. was going to be, what kind of job I I cut my hair – I’d had very long, wanted, what my career would be, beautiful hair and my dad wouldn’t or what my what my path was really. let me cut it. Although he wasn’t It took me many years to find out traditional in lots of ways, he was the what that was. classic upper-middle class, intellectual kind of a person. He wasn’t an Your key messages to other womold-fashioned Indian, but because en about making a career or a life he’d come away from his Indian cul- pivot: One is don’t wait that long. ture, he still had some very old-fash- But the the other is, it’s never too ioned things about him. He wasn’t late. So, talk a little bit about that. oppressive – he didn’t beat me at I was always quite courageous. So, home or any of that – but there it wasn’t that I wasn’t brave enough, were things like hair, you know, that but I was very constrained by what DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 17
PIONEERS | SEEMA I thought was the right thing to do. I think those childhood habits of being obedient, made me suppress my own voice. I wasn’t really listening to myself. For me, it was like, “What’s the right thing to do?” At the time, I thought the right thing to do was work hard and look after my family. So, all those messages I’ve had in childhood, I kept with me for a long time. What that means is that I wasn’t listening to the things that were really speaking to me. If I’d listened to myself, there would be something in me that would say, “No, there’s more, there’s more to life than hard work and diligence”. I think there’s something rewarding about listening to yourself, but also finding spaces where you can reflect. I am a highly reflective practitioner now. I spend a lot of time sitting with my own stuff and thinking about learning from it. Reflective practice means you use your own material to decide what the learning is and what you want
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to do with that. It’s sitting down and looking at what’s going on in your life and doing that without judgment. We have to have a compassionate and neutral stance to our own experience, which might sound a bit mystical, but what I mean, is that it’s very easy to judge ourselves harshly. Like, “I’m not trying hard enough” or “I’m not working hard enough”. And that can trap us into staying in the same place, which might not suit us. Why is reflective practice important and how do we exercise it? Developing that reflective practice, even if it’s for five minutes at the end of the day, is important. Reflect on how your day went: What was good for you, what wasn’t so good? What would you like to change? What did you learn that you’d want to take forward from this experience? These reflections don’t have to be neurotic and dark, but you can constantly check in with yourself by asking: “How was that? How are
things going for me? Is this bringing me joy?” I also think, stop comparing yourself. It was a huge gift to me when I stopped seeing myself through other people’s eyes. You know, what are they thinking of me? And I actually started just thinking: Does this work for me? Does it suit me? Do I feel purposeful in this? So, judging my actions against my own intentions, rather than aligning myself to these ideas of success or growth was very important. That’s very beautifully said, because through these reflective practices it’s almost like you’re coaching yourself. But how do you avoid the voices that come from others? I think you have to develop a filter, like you would develop a muscle. The reflective practice becomes a muscle that builds and strengthens. For example, I was very sensitive as a young person. If somebody said something to me, it would cut right through me. And, I had no filter at all. I just assumed that anything that anybody was giving me was true, or whatever I was hearing in my own head was true. But with time, you can learn how to treat these things more neutrally and say, “Okay, so that person doesn’t like me, or they’ve criticized this piece of work. Now, what do I make of it? Do I want to own some of that and improve myself, or do I reject it?” By doing that, you can be more thoughtful about how you want to react to something. I did a mindfulness course a few years ago and the guy who was running it was a Buddhist. He told me about the two arrows. The first arrow is the hurt that comes to you— somebody who has said something critical about you. The second arrow is the way you use that on yourself. You have the power to deflect the second arrow. I found that really
helpful. I think, it’s important to be the author of your own life. To me, that’s hugely creative. That’s why I think coaching is creative, because in my mind, coaching is making a space where people can decide on their own authorship, they can decide how they want their lives to be, the choices they want to make, the things they want to listen to and take into account. How did your journey into as a coach begin? When I came into coaching maybe about 10 years ago, I came to it through my own personal experience. I was coached as part of a leadership program, and had entered it quite reluctantly, because there was a perception (even just 10 years ago) that it was somehow “remedial” or for people who were “underperforming”. So, I was a bit reluctant. However, I ended up having such a positive experience. For me, it didn’t feel in the slightest remedial. I worked with a super talented coach, whom subsequently I now associate with. I do some work for her company and she does work with me and she worked in a very collaborative, empowering way. I was very fortunate really to have a role model and to be able to see how coaching could work. She would not try to force me down one path or the other. Today, I work in a part of the coaching landscape where it’s about helping people to consider their options and to think about things like identity. I work within an approach called Gestalt which comes out of psychology and it’s a very subtle and beautiful practice. In a nutshell, it’s about raising awareness. The whole aim of coaching (of a Gestalt framework) is to raise people’s awareness and to help them take different perspectives. The theory being that you’ve got increased choice. So, if you can see more of the landscape
or more of the bigger picture and take a different view on it, then you can change your mindset or make different choices. I work in organizations, I work with teams, I do coaching and supervision, so I really like coaching education. I teach, I used to run. In fact, the Masters I ended up doing if you fast forward a few years, I ended up being the course leader. So, I had a couple years working in the university. And now I teach as a visitor, which I absolutely adore. That whole kind of cluster of helping other people have the journey that I had is super fulfilling. Could you give an example of someone that you have coached who perhaps just had a similar sort of revelation? Often organizations will bring me in to work with high flyers or people who are not quite fulfilling their potential. For example, I’m working with a woman in a big charitable sector organization. She’s young, tough and very talented. She’s been given this huge program management responsibility and her boss was someone I’d worked with in the past.
He said, “We really want to support this young woman, because we think she’s a superstar within, she’s going to do an amazing job. She’s just seems to get very stressed. Can you have a talk to her?” We arranged to have four sessions. We’ve had three of them and it’s interesting because what I’m doing is just holding reflective space for her. At the beginning, I asked her, “What do you think you’re going to get out of this?” And she said, “I can’t delegate”. She was all about perfectionism. She couldn’t delegate because nobody could do it to her standards. She couldn’t take her foot off the gas, because the standards would drop. Also, she’s got no boundaries. She can’t say no to things. She can’t switch off from work at the end of the day, especially during Covid-19. She’s built this cage for herself in which her talent then is suffocated, because she’s so constrained by all these things and she’s exhausted. She’s got some limiting assumptions or limiting beliefs. The process involves her having to dismantle these beliefs, not me telling her. So, it’s not me saying, “Come on, don’t be daft. You don’t have to take all DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 19
PIONEERS | SEEMA this on yourself ”. She has to do it on her own. This process involved doing little experiments. After each session, she’d commit. I’d say, “Let’s try these things, you know, try delegating. If you don’t like it, you can always go back to how you were.” Then she comes back and we look at the data and she decides what she wants to do. So, rather than she being at the mercy of all these beliefs and ideas she’s got about herself, she’s actually now in the driver’s seat. She can think, “Okay, do I want to be like that? Is this how I want it to be, or should I reshape it?” So, this is where the creativity comes in, because she can be the author of our own life. It’s very empowering in that sense. Now, she’s starting to see the untruth of some of the things that she was assuming were true, and because she’s a super smart woman, she can do that logically with someone patient alongside her. And what happens is, you see the penny drop. So, it all comes from the work she’s doing herself.
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It’s interesting because women often have a hard time asking, especially male bosses or even female bosses, for a raise or for time off. They feel somehow that they’re letting people down. And in this particular example, I think that it’s similar where they’re not delegating, because if the quality of the product is not good, the boss is going to hold them accountable, and therefore they can never let go. Absolutely. There’s a particular theory that talks about drivers. We develop internal voices that we developed from childhood or from educators who’ve been around us or primary caregivers, and some of the drivers are things like, work harder or be the best. And, I think, to have someone like a coach or a mentor working alongside you and encouraging you and supporting you, while you’re doing that can really help, because it can be very scary to do that on your own, especially early on in your career. And let’s face it, women are under more scrutiny, black people are under more scrutiny—so, there are high standards expected. And I’m
really believe in this whole idea of self-authorship, where you start to be in charge of your own destiny. You talked a bit about resilience, especially during times like Covid-19. How do you coach people about resilience? I’m thinking about Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, who wrote the book called ‘Option B’. It’s called ‘Option B’ where you can actually choose a different option, rather than the option that you are focused on. How can we be resilient, not just during Covid-19, but throughout life? During Covid times, it has been especially difficult for people, because things have not been in control. I think control is one of the major issues. We’ve seen a spiraling uncertainty and anxiety in the UK, because people feel powerless. There’s a whole heap of stuff out there to be worried about. And I know that all of this is easier said than done, but I’m thinking about Stephen Covey who wrote, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It talks about circles of control and circles of concern. For me, there is a self-awareness and the self-authorship comes into it again. So, I need to take time out to reflect, or do a practice in the morning to just kind of look at what’s been going on and think about, “So, what’s in my circle of concern? What are all the things I’m worried about? Of those things, what can I influence or what can I control?” And the rest, you know, you just put on a watching brief. It’s also a lot about setting boundaries, really. Boundaries are really important for resilience, especially during Covid. So, for me, zoom and stuff are great, but they’re really intense and direct. You’re basically asking someone come into your room, and I think that it’s then that we have to be really thoughtful about physical boundaries. d
GIFTING | SEEMA
GIFTING FOR A CAUSE: DESIGNER MASKS A Bangalore-based entrepreneur’s ‘Let’s Mask India’ campaign has touched thousands of lives while showcasing some of India’s dying embroidery traditions ANITA RAO KASHI
A
s the pandemic swept through India and the country went into lockdown, businesses shuttered and almost everything came to a standstill. But as livelihoods went into freefall, stories of incredible resilience and humanitarianism emerged; one of them even led to the evolution of Diwali special gifts. Bangalore-based entrepreneur Deepa Chikarmane heads Pretinterpret Clothing Private Limited which has been around for over 20 years, exporting garments. She specializes in embellishing garments with hand-embroidery for top designers in North America. At the heart of her operations are karigar (craftspersons) from all over the country, especially home-grown ancient traditions handed down through the generations. “But with the lockdown everything came to a standstill. However, quite apart from our own workers, there were plenty of garment factory workers everywhere who were unemployed and struggling to make a livelihood,” Chikarmane says. The team looked around for ideas and within 15-20 days decided to design a simple mask, not a designer face
mask, one that anyone could make with a sewing machine at home. Chikarmane, who employs about 70 people, opened up the factory for other garment workers as well, and people could work but with social distancing and masks. She also gave away extra machines they had so people can work from home. “We gave out fabric for tranches of 300 masks, which the workers could bring back the next day or whenever they could finish,” she says. The initiative gained momentum because everyone wanted work and it became a movement. Impressed with her work, a philanthropist stepped in to distribute the high-quality masks to underprivileged people across the country who would otherwise not have access to them. “So we started a campaign called ‘Let’s mask India’ supported by sport stars such as Rahul Dravid, Sunil Joshi and Rohan Bopanna,” Chikarmane says. “But our other karigars, about 200-300 who are all over the country, also wanted to work,” she says. “So we thought we’ll talk about this powerful story, one that resonated with everyone, about people coming together and reinforcing faith in humanity.” The next step
was designing pretty masks that also talked about the rich tradition of the country. “We decided to make a set of six masks with fabrics and embroidery traditions prevalent in different corners of India,” Chikarmane said. “We put it together and called it the Festival Edit, which makes for ideal special gifts. So there are masks that showcase kasuti (North Karnataka), kantha (West Bengal), Kutch and Kashmiri embroidery... Pretty much from the four corners of the country. We want people to buy into this idea.” Woven distinctive woven fabrics from Assam to Kancheepuram were also used to lend uniqueness to the designer face masks. Proceeds from the sales go to support the karigars and workers. So far more than two million masks have come out of this movement and the project has touched the lives of about 5,000 people. With the pandemic showing no signs of abating, and with masks now an unequivocal requirement for safety, stories like Chikarmane’s are incredibly touching. The heartening thing is that anyone, anywhere can buy into it and support a cause as well as use them as special gifts. d DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 21
FEATURE | SEEMA
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2020 NEWSMAKERS:
HIGHLIGHTING WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE YEAR GONE BY AND RAISE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE 2020 has been an unprecedented year. As it draws to a close, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging, with a second surge threatening to create more havoc than the first on people’s health and the economy. However, with a vaccine on the horizon, the New Year is expected to bring hope and some relief. The past nine months have been challenging, but people the world over have stepped up to help communities and the most vulnerable. There are health care workers, scientists, firefighters, grocery store employees, aid workers, vaccine trial participants, and ordinary citizens all caring for their neighbors. BHARGAVI KULKARNI
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FEATURE | SEEMA
SPORTS
2020 NEWSMAKERS
Sonia Raman became the first Indian American woman to be appointed assistant coach to an NBA team – the Memphis Grizzlies – and Seema Rao became India’s first woman commando trainer.
2020
BUSINESS
NEWSMAKERS
Women like Jayshree Ullal, CEO of Arista Networks, and Neerja Sethi, vice president of Syntel, were among the 10 wealthiest Indian American billionaires in 2020, according to Forbes Magazine. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon, was named EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 for her contribution in improving universal access to affordable life-saving medicine and transforming the world.
Jayshree Ullal
Neerja Sethi
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Sonia Raman
ENTERTAINMENT
Seema Rao
NEWSMAKERS
As the world adapted to the “new” normal, streaming services became a prime source of entertainment, and ‘Netflix and binge’ took an entirely new meaning. Sima aunty (matchmaker Sima Taparia) and Aparna Shewakramani became household names, thanks to Netflix’s “Indian Matchmaking,” and fashion designer Masaba Gupta, star of Netflix’s “Masaba Masaba” became a hot topic in family WhatApp groups or weekly Zoom catch-ups with friends. The audience also got a taste of India’s hinterland – the crime, the locals, the crude language – via series like “Sacred Games” and “Mirzapur.” Among those behind the success of series like these, is Bela Bajaria, head of Netflix’s global shows. The 48-year-old is one of the highest-ranking Indian Americans in entertainment.
Masaba Gupta
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2020
Bela Bajaria
Sima Taparia
2020
SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
NEWSMAKERS
Women were in the forefront in education and science as well. Nineteen-year-old Anika Chebrolu of Frisco, Texas, was declared ‘America’s ‘Top Young Scientist’ after discovering a potential therapy for COVID-19. Dr Naseem Rangwala, a project scientist at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) at NASA, was part of the team that discovered water molecules in the Clavius Crater, one of the moon’s largest craters, and one visible from Earth. In education, Nergis Mavalvala, a Pakistani American astrophysicist was named dean of MIT’s School of Science; while Kavita Bala was named dean of computing and information science at Cornell University.
Anika Chebrolu
Dr Naseem Rangwala
Kavita Bala
US POLITICS KAMALA DEVI HARRIS: BREAKING THE PROVERBIAL GLASS CEILING No Newsmakers list for 2020 will be complete without Vice President-elect Kamala Devi Harris, who, this August, became the first African American and first Indian American woman to be chosen as a presidential running mate. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, came from Tamil Nadu in India; her father, Donald Harris, is a Black man from Jamaica.
PRAMILA JAYAPAL: FIRST AND ONLY INDIAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN U.S. CONGRESS This November, Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), comfortably won her third term in the U.S. Congress. A strong liberal and a member of the famous ‘squad,’ she made history in 2016 by becoming the first South Asian American woman to be elected to Congress. KESHA RAM: A BROWN GIRL IN A VERY WHITE STATE Kesha Ram, 34, once again made history on Nov. 3 by becoming the first woman of color elected to
Nergis Mavalvala
the Vermont Senate in the state’s most hotly contested Chittenden District. Once a preschool teacher at the Burlington Children’s Space, Ram currently works as a consultant for towns, school districts, and organizations seeking to improve equity and inclusion in their organizations. NIMA KULKARNI: DETERMINED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN KENTUCKY Kentucky State Representative and Democrat, Nirupama ‘Nima’ Kulkarni is DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 25
FEATURE | SEEMA “comfortable” serving her district, despite being “less optimistic and more determined,” after her party “took a beating” in the Kentucky State House. Her career experience includes working as the founder and managing attorney of Indus Law Firm, and at organizations like Louisville Public Media, the Community Foundation of Louisville, the Rotary Club of Louisville, and the Greater Louisville International Professionals. NIKKI HALEY: FROM MADAME AMBASSADOR TO MADAME PRESIDENT? Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the UN and former governor of South Carolina, is speculated to be a strong contender for Republican nominee for President in 2024 unless President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence step in. Gambling.com gives Haley an “implied probability” of 7.69% to win the White House in the 2024 presidential election. Haley created controversy during her address on the first day of the Republic National Convention on Aug. 24, where she defended President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and foreign policy, and painted a picture of a dystopian America under Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s leadership. “Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first,” she said. “Donald Trump has always put America first. He has earned four more years as president.” Haley, 48, was the only Indian American leader to be featured in the list of RNC speaker. This year, 26 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
there was a buzz, although shortlived, that Trump would replace Pence with Haley as his running mate for the 2020 elections. Haley, however, quelled the rumors. During a tour last November to promote her book, “With All Due Respect: Defending America With Grit And Grace,” Haley told Fox News, “It’s amazing how this vice president stuff still keeps coming up.” Haley’s parents — Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa — emigrated to South Carolina from Punjab. They were the first Indian immigrants in the small town of Bamberg, South Carolina, about an hour south of Columbia. The New York Times reported that when Haley and her sister, Simran, entered the Little Miss Bamberg pageant, they were disqualified because the judges typically crowned one white and one black queen, and they didn’t know what to do with the Indian girls. She graduated from Clemson University with a degree in accounting and briefly worked in finances before entering government. She was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004 and served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017, when she was appointed to her role in the Trump administration. After leaving her post as U.N. ambassador, Haley went on to serve on the board of directors of Boeing before she resigned from the lucrative position in March because of disagreements over airline bailouts amid the pandemic, according to National Public Radio (NPR). She has been working as the founder of Stand For America — an “issue advocacy group” promoting “freedom at home and strength abroad” — since leaving office. To read more about women newsmakers in US politics, log on to www.seema.com
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS NIRMALA SITHARAMAN: INDIA’S FIRST FULL-TIME FEMALE FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed as India’s first full-time woman finance minister in 2019. She holds two important portfolios — the finance ministry and the corporate affairs ministry — in the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in its second term at the federal level. Always in the spotlight for her oratory skills and clarity of thought, Sitharam generated much media mention when she presented her first budget on July 5 with the longest budget speech in history. PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: NEW ZEALAND’S FIRST INDIAN-ORIGIN MINISTER Last month, Priyanca Radhakrishnan created history by becoming the first Indian-Kiwi woman to become a minister in New Zealand. Radhakrishnan, 41, was one of five new ministers inducted into the cabinet of freshly reelected Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who also unveiled a revamped cabinet that she has described as “incredibly diverse.” Radhakrishnan is minister for the community and voluntary sector, minister for diversity, inclusion and ethnic communities, minister for
youth, and associate minister for social development and employment. PRITI SUSHIL PATEL: BRITAIN’S CONTROVERSIAL POLITICIAN Priti Sushil Patel is a British politician serving as the country’s home secretary since 2019. An important member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet, Patel, 48, a member of the Conservative Party, is responsible for overseeing key issues such as immigration and law and order. She apparently impressed Johnson when she campaigned beside him for “Vote Leave” in the 2016 EU membership referendum. She has been in the headlines over allegations of ministerial misconduct and bullying in the workplace. She has voted against introducing same-sex marriage legislation and has expressed support for restoring the death penalty -- although she has since rowed back. In 2018 she was sacked from the cabinet for secret meetings with the Israeli government.
COVID-19 SHEROES K. K. SHAILAJA: KERALA’S CORONAVIRUS SLAYER Popularly known as ‘Shailaja Teacher,’ K.K. Shailaja is the current minister of health and social welfare of Kerala, and the current MLA representing Kuthuparamba
constituency. The 64-year-old has been involved with coronavirus rescue efforts since the beginning of the year, and is credited with flattening the COVID-19 curve in the state. When the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its first statement on the spread of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 18, Shailaja began work to bring students from the state who were in the Chinese province. One of the first states to have a COVID positive case as early as January, Kerala is among the states that has high recovery rate, low death rate and slow progression, of COVID-19 cases in India. With effective management Shailaja contributed to bringing COVID-19 under control there. SHILPASHREE A.S: BANGALORE’S STAR COVID-19 TESTER Since the coronavirus pandemic has been spreading in India, Shilpashree A.S. hasn’t been able to physically meet her children, or hug them. Despite this occupational hazard of being a COVID-19 tester, the Bangalore-based Shilpashree says there is no other job she would want to do. “Even though this involves risk, I love this job. It brings me happiness,” she says. Shilpashree was highlighted as one of seven unsung heroes of the pandemic in a blog post by Bill Gates. Every day, Shilpashree dons personal protective equipment, including a protective gown, goggles, latex gloves, and a mask, and then steps inside a tiny booth with two holes for her arms to reach through to perform nasal swab tests on long lines of patients. She has a critical job during
this pandemic, but it comes with many hardships: the uncomfortable protection gear, long hours and isolation from family and kids. Also recognized in the Gates Notes is Laxmi Rayamajhi, a service provider in Sunaulo Parivar Nepal/Marie Stopes Nepal. Rayamajhi, a visiting service provider of the Long-Acting Reversible Contraception team from Kavre, hikes for hours over hazardous terrain, crossing rivers and landslides to reach villages where she spreads awareness about COVID-19 and other health concerns. RANJANA DWIVEDI: GOING DOORTO-DOOR TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS Ranjana Dwivedi from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district is the lone representative from India to be featured in NPR’s documentary of 19 women from across the globe who are overcoming challenges during the pandemic. Called Asha Didi in the village where she works, Dwivedi has served the hilly and remote Gurguda village in Jawa block of Rewa district, home to 500, for a decade now. What distinguishes Dwivedi from the rest of the volunteers is her use of paintings by her and her son to educate residents of the village about various government health programs, particularly involving COVID, immunizations and birth control. To accomplish that, Dwivedi has been traveling more than 15 miles daily from her home to Gurguda, a trip that involves crossing the mighty Tamas river in a boat. “I twice fell in the river, but it has failed to jolt my duty and commitment to the villagers,” she told NPR. d DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 27
FEATURE | SEEMA
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WORKING FROM HOME
WOES
Indian American Women Reflect on Life in Quarantine BHARGAVI KULKARNI
I
t is an understatement to say that the coronaviThe Brookings Institute says that “COVID-19 is hard rus pandemic has upended the life we once knew. on women because the U.S. economy is hard on womSince March, the health hazard has abruptly en, and this virus excels at taking existing tensions and changed not just the way we work, but the way we ratcheting them up.” play, party and ponder as well. Video and FaceTime Of course, the disruptions to daycare centers, schools, calls are de rigueur, as social distancing mandates and after school programs have been hard on working have led to a more virtual existence, both personally and fathers, but a July 2020 Women In Academia report professionally. reveals that “working mothers have taken Kids are at home, studying virtually, on more of the resulting childcare responwhile parents are juggling with their sibilities, and are more frequently reducing Despite the own work – and all the other stuff a their hours or leaving their jobs entirely challenges, life in quarantine has been throwing at in response.” them. From assisting kids in their virDespite the challenges, several women several women tual classes to fixing computer glitches; have chosen to look at the positives: a slowhave chosen to look er pace of life, more family time, more time from being their play date to fixing them a quick snack or a gourmet enjoy the outdoors, so on and so forth. at the positives: a toGiven meal, parents have been performing the unprecedented times, SEEMA multiple roles for the last eight months asked a cross-section of Indian American slower pace of life, and counting. women the ways they are coping with the more family time, new “normal.” Are they burned out, tired It is no surprise that the biggest burden falls on women. Although the pandemic more time to enjoy and stressed? Or are they hopeful and has posed challenges to people of all ages, determined and thankful for a job, family the outdoors several studies suggest that women have and friends and roof under their head and been bearing the brunt of it. food to eat? Here’s what they had to say. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 29
FEATURE | SEEMA
FALGUNI SHAH,
GRAMMY-NOMINATED MUSICIAN Since COVID-19 hit, musicians have lost a lot of work and I myself had 30 shows canceled this year. To survive the pandemic, I had to learn to create online shows and work virtually with other musicians. I started teaching online through my Carnegie Hall portal. I taught myself recording programs like Pro Tools and Logic Pro to keep recording and creating new musical content. I also made a nice room in my house to do live music virtually and painted my own walls to make it pretty so I learned some cool techniques on YouTube on how to paint a wall in your house and studio. I bought recording gear and created a home studio. One major setback is that as a band we cannot play in one room together. That is really heartbreaking. We have to now either do shows alone or with people who are local and can come over with a mask, keep social distancing in mind and then do some performances but music is such that a soul sings and a soul hears so without more souls in the room it is hard to sing for yourself. But I have learned to become my own audience.
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CHITRA DIVAKARUNI, AUTHOR As a professor, writer and speaker, my life has been impacted quite a bit by COVID. For one thing, I have had to move all my teaching online: lectures, exams and student conferences are all being conducted via Zoom and Microsoft Teams at the University of Houston, where I teach. This has been quite challenging as not all students are comfortable with online teaching. I, too, had never taught online before, so I had a steep learning curve. However, after several months, we have all become used to this new format. As a writer, my work has not been impacted too much, except for research. I cannot get books as easily, or do in-person research in the library or on location. Most importantly, I cannot travel to India to do research as needed for my books. As a speaker, I often gave talks on my books at schools, universities and festivals, but with COVID, these have been cut down. I am doing some events over the internet, but the impact and the audience interaction is just not the same. However, overall I am very grateful that I am still able to work, and do it safely, because many people I know have been laid off or have been infected by COVID.
MANEET CHAUHAN,
CHEF, ENTREPRENEUR AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY AND AUTHOR OF NEWLY-RELEASED COOKBOOK “CHAAT” At our four restaurants, one of the most frustrating parts of the “new normal” has been how unexpected each and every day is. You can plan something in the morning and by evening, everything is completely different. But, there has been a lot of creativity, so we can come back stronger. You see the hospitality industry rallying together in an effort to make sure everyone’s entire team is taken care of. That is one of the cornerstones of the hospitality industry. It is all about nourishing — not only your stomach, but also your soul. On a personal note, since my usually crazy travel schedule has lessened, I’ve had extra time to get in touch with my husband Vivek’s and my families in India to gather authentic recipes that I am using to put together a cookbook to pass down to my children when they are older. I have been making recipes like my grandmother’s mango achar (an Indian mango pickle) and milk chicken (a chicken and potato dish with Indo-Chinese flavors), my mother-in-law’s almond sherbet and my aunt’s Indian fudge for my family each week. All these recipes are nostalgic and hold special memories for us, so I loved having the time to document them and prepare them for our kids.
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FEATURE | SEEMA ORKING FROM HOME OES
KESHA RAM, VERMONT STATE SENATOR
Like many Americans, my focus is on those most affected by the pandemic and supporting their recovery and resilience. Both of my grandparents tested positive for COVID-19 and my grandmother was hospitalized five times due to COVID complications. We are approaching the holiday season, when some will feel the painful loss of a loved one who is no longer with us, or the sting of isolation from spending the holidays alone. Since March, my campaign has been focused on those being left behind in the pandemic recovery. Even in Vermont, a predominantly white state, Black and Brown Vermonters are deeply disproportionately affected in terms of COVID infection rates and economic impact. New Americans are struggling to access resources and information in their own language. When I take a seat in the state senate as the first woman of color in Vermont history, I will continue to do what I have done throughout the campaign and for much of my life – uplift the voices of the unheard.
SUJATA DAY, ACTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR
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As a writer, nothing much has changed for me. I wrote a pilot script and my second feature film during the quarantine. Meetings and pitches have moved to Zoom and I prefer it to getting ready, driving to an office, finding parking, and sitting in the waiting area. As an actor, the “new” normal is weird. I’ve been in
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Zoom producer casting sessions where all the producers have their videos off, with sound muted and you are expected to give your best performance. Voiceover auditions are busier than ever. The industry has pivoted to what is safest to produce now and animation production is booming. Of the few productions hooting, most are getting shut down due to COVID-positive tests among the cast and crew. As a filmmaker, I premiered my first feature film, “Definition Please,” on the virtual film festival circuit. I miss the excitement of traveling to film festivals and watching my film on the big screen with an audience. Our team has adapted by participating in a lot of virtual panels and podcasts. I’ve taken this time to watch films and TV shows that always come up in meetings and conversations, that I’d never seen before. I am lucky because watching movies and TV qualifies as research for “work.” I write when I’m inspired and feel driven to write. I still make my pot of chai in the morning and drink it throughout the day, as I’m writing, watching and reading. I have more time to read books through the public library’s Libby app. I take long hikes around my hilly block, which I never did before. I make sure to get enough sleep and I am eating better, doing a lot more cooking at home. All of these habits allow my work productivity to flourish. In the meantime, I am fleshing out a couple pitches and outlines for my next scripts, prepping for post-COVID when all the projects can go straight into production.
SARINA JAIN, FOUNDER,
MASALA BHANGRA WORKOUT Being in the fitness industry for nearly 30 years and celebrating 20 years of Masala Bhangra this year, I can tell you that I have never seen this level of change before in my entrepreneurial life. I have had to adapt to this new norm by bringing all of our fitness classes virtually. We offer classes virtually via video conference (i.e., Zoom) and social media. These classes have been better than I expected and very well attended. I have instructors from around the world teaching virtually. Also, we now offer Masala Bhangra Virtual Gym, where our students take more than one class with us. Because of this pandemic, I will say that it forced me to work quickly to get my instructor training done to offer it virtually. This was probably the best thing that happened. I can now train virtu-
ally anyone who wants to learn how to teach Masala Bhangra. It’s been a fantastic experience, and I am learning to become an expert in this new way of life. Also, being in the fitness world, I have adapted to intermittent fasting, which I have been following since March of this year. I cannot exercise as much as I used to, so I have had to change my diet to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Staying fit allows me to motivate my students best and act as a positive role model. Offering virtual Masala Bhangra classes has helped many people stay mentally healthy and has helped students from outside of NYC attend classes. I also had the opportunity to grow Masala Bhangra with a new, dynamic community of people. Doing virtual classes together has kept us connected and in a youthful mindset. With all the horrific things happening globally, I believe Masala Bhangra offers a pathway to health, a dose of fun, and unity.
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FEATURE | SEEMA
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ADITI PAL KARANDIKAR, MARKETING LEADER AT A TECH STARTUP IN SILICON VALLEY
First off, I am grateful to still have a job while many have lost theirs. Also, I must acknowledge my privilege in being able to work from home as a marketing leader with a hi-tech startup in Silicon Valley. Even in the IT sector and although I work with geographically distributed teams, there have been many layoffs so job insecurity combined with lack of FaceTime has led to much uncertainty. Gradually realization has dawned that deadlines and deliverables are what matter and people have learned to relax and trust their colleagues. Gym breaks at lunch being a thing of the past. We fit in a brisk walk around our respective meetings schedules. I have set up a standing desk (at the kitchen counter guarding the junk in the fridge from the teen) as well as a bike work station for rainy days. Trying to eat healthy is still a struggle. As an Indian woman the brunt of the housework does also fall on me. Like, making sure meals are ready in a timely fashion, when the kid has lunch break or between meetings.
ANU GHOSH, SPECIAL EDUCATION ELEMENTARY TEACHER
I had thought our virtual life would last three months at best. Nine months later, the novelty has worn off and the frustration has set in. As a special education teacher, every morning as I greet my class of five sweet boys. I see their frustration. It is palpable. The tantrums are starting. Cameras are being turned off and kids are walking away, letting me know their day is done. Their parents, who are stretched thin between juggling careers and demanding children, cannot wait for the kids to return to school. They have picketed the Board of Education, taken to the streets, and hit social media hard. But as the numbers of the infected rise, schools remain shut and we remain virtual. I am getting more dejected. I feel my ability to teach and support these children is waning. I, too, am frustrated. Living with daily headaches and eye strain is hard. I hate that I cannot hug these children, when some days I know that is all they need. Yet, the rising numbers scare me and I am glad we are all safe at home. Being torn like this makes me feel I am a horrible teacher. Yet somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I know this is the right thing to do. My own children are tired of the social isolation and the long hours on Zoom. They want to walk the school halls and hug their friends. They want to whisper and giggle, heads close together and eat lunch not virtually (as these creative kids have been doing), but sitting side by side in the cafeteria. I tell them as I tell my class and myself, “Be patient, this too shall pass.” And with Thankgiving almost upon us, let us be grateful for good health and friends and family…. even if they are virtual. 34 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
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ZARNA GARG,
STAND-UP COMEDIAN I’m a stand-up comedian. A performer who needs an audience that I can look in the eye and connect with. Until March, I was walking a pretty established path, working the NYC comedy clubs, producing my own shows, applying for festivals. When COVID hit, I watched all my live shows get canceled one by one. My heart sank deeper and deeper with each email and phone call. I knew my audience still existed. They were just locked in their homes but they definitely needed a laugh more than ever. So I pivoted my strategy and I soon started booking online shows across the country, across time zones, and across the world. I found a connection in my online shows, booked by old and new fans in India, as each one brought friends, co-workers, and family closer, even though they were apart. When the New York City restrictions eased, I produced free outdoor comedy shows in Central Park, each with more than a hundred (masked and socially distanced) audience members. And now that the weather is getting cold again, I recently signed up
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DIANA ROHINI LAVIGNE,
CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER AT A GOVERNMENT HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND A CALIFORNIA NATURALIST Since my work revolves around residents’ health and wellness, changes to my work started in the first few weeks of 2020. The new normal was oper-
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with the number one online entertainment platform, Geniecast, a home for world-class virtual events. I am fortunate to still be working full-time. A lot of my comedian friends cannot say the same. But make no mistake, online comedy is even more demanding than club comedy. In a club, you walk into a room that’s buzzing with excitement and anticipation, where a single joke can blow the roof off the place! On Zoom, it’s much harder to cultivate that sense of shared experience. There are many lessons to be learned during this crisis and I am keeping an open heart and mind so I can receive them all. ating under a high-stress, fast-moving, high-stake environment while navigating the new normals in my home life, including distance learning for two kids under 10. The physical toll was significant, but the emotional toll was beyond my wildest imagination. I have made two significant changes in my work habits to support my success. Historically, I felt my communications team could not be highly productive unless in the office. I was wrong. To protect my staff, we decided to try working from home early on, and we found effective ways to work as a team remotely successfully. Secondly, I started to look at my work more as a marathon and less as a race. I began to prioritize time for self-care like eating right, getting a daily dose of nature, meditating, and sleeping enough. Prioritizing this has made me a better leader at work, a better mother and wife at home, and a better person to myself. As natural caretakers, I think most women leave their care for last. While I struggle to prioritize my selfcare on occasion, I am deeply committed to my self-care these days. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 35
FEATURE | SEEMA
AYESHA HAKKI, FOUNDER, EVENTS BY AYESHA, AND PUBLISHER, BIBI MAGAZINE
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SONIA BANOTA, REALTOR My year started with a canceled contract days before the transaction was going to close, and I thought that was a bad omen. COVID came along just when the spring markets usually took off. But instead of the frantic listing we rely on, the real estate businenss was at its slowest in New Jersey. I was worried about whether I would achieve all the targets that I had set for my business this year. I used my lockdown stay-at-home days to catch up with my past clients and refresh old relationships. But once the lockdown ended, we faced huge demand in the summer for suburban homes. Buyers wanted to move out of apartments in and around cities. Interest rates kept dropping, fueling the demand. I was swamped. I had to be careful, keeping my family in mind. I had a COVID test result at hand at all times. I did virtual buyer consultations and virtual showings of homes using the latest technology tools available, like 3D tours. I got more comfortable shooting video tours, too. In retrospect, 2020 turned out to be a better year than expected. 36 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
Yes, 2020 has been life-changing, especially for an event planner and bridal magazine publisher like me. My businesses lost 80% of their revenue overnight. I panicked, and lay awake at night wondering how I would survive this. On the positive side. I used the time to earn professional certificates, including one in contract law. I decluttered and organized my “stuff.” I am reimagining and preparing my businesses for the future normal. More importantly, I am taking time for me: to paint, garden, read, nap, try new recipes, sit in the sun, relax, slow down. I have created more meaningful connections with friends, and I video-call my mother every day.
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It is not always easy. I miss hosting dinner parties, planning a gorgeous wedding or cool party, I miss traveling and I miss social interaction. I hate wearing a mask, and I hate having to sanitize everything. In the end, I am trying to remain grateful and positive while waiting to emerge from this pandemic ready to get back to life, healthy (hopefully) and with a few new life lessons under my belt. administrators at all levels of government. I also helped develop a crisis communications plan for the township to ensure that residents had the information they needed to stay safe and healthy. In my public presence, I tried to exude a sense of normalcy and consistency through live meetings and videos. As mayor, I continued to work on infrastructure projects like participating in a groundbreaking for Montgomery Township’s new library and municipal center. Though it has been a tough year, women professionals have done an excellent job adapting to the needs of the hour. My thanks to all the women out there for their hard work! ORKING FROM HOME OES
SADAF JAFFER, MAYOR,
MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY As mayor of my town, the COVID-19 crisis changed almost everything about my work. I had to prioritize the best way to protect the community from the virus by participating in many virtual meetings And calls with elected officials and
NEHA MAHAJAN, RADIO
JOCKEY, RADIO MIRCHI, US Dolly Parton, the American singer-songwriter, said “If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” That’s how I see 2020, an opportunity in disguise. Instead of lights, camera, action, a radio jockey’s life is more about entering the studio, checking the switchboard or the console and pushing the on-air button, something I did every morning leading up to March 23 2020. That was the first time ever I broadcast my show from home. Never before had I heard of an at-home radio station. It seemed impossible. As a team, we explored how to recreate the same studio level quality from home, running multiple test-runs before finally succeeding. These past 8 months of working from home have felt like a fever dream. In-studio I’d be in my zone, talking my heart out, blasting music, and dancing to the tunes. At home, these things
INDIRA MAHAJAN,
SOPRANO AND OPERA STAR
ORKING are just not possible. FROM Blasting music and HOME talking my heart out OES
would wake everyone up, and dancing would make me look crazy. What is worse is that the landscaper shows up every week for every adjoining house around our property to mow the lawn. The garbage truck crosses my street at the worst moments – when I am recording a piece and struggling against delay. There are days when I have woken up the tech team and programming head at 5 a.m. because of a technical error, only to realize it was because the editing software was accidentally on mute. I’m LIVE on the show every day between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and record for five minutes before you hear me on air. There have been times when a family member has walked in while I am recording a client interview or recording a caller interaction! Over time, they have adapted for me, and I for them. It’s just like they say, “the show ORKING FROM HOME OES
Life as a musician in the age of this pandemic has been incredibly challenging. Most performing artists have lost their income almost entirely. Broadway theaters, opera houses, and orchestras have been closed. Theaters cannot operate safely during this time. The number of people required to keep a production running can be in the thousands. This includes musicians, stage management, crews, the staff managing costumes, wigs and make-up, and the audience members. The number of people involved is just far too great to maintain or guarantee safety. Even opening to a smaller capacity would not generate enough revenue to pay for itself. It has been a financially devastating time for people in the arts. In the meantime, artists have come up with many ways to express their creativity. This year, I participated in my first virtual recording.
must go on!” Mirchi Mornings has been going on every single day, no matter the obstacles it’s had to jump through.
This is an opportunity for many artists to come together and record from their own homes using iPhones, Zoom, tripods, stacking boxes, or whatever elseo is available, to collaborate with other musicians to create recordings and videos. Many artists have also started podcasts. Music lessons, including my own and my daughter’s, are now virtual. Ironically, musicians have been able to reach a wider audience this way. Many previously recorded productions have been streaming online, giving far more people access to the theater from the comfort and safety of their own homes. The pandemic may have slowed down life in the creative arts, but it has not stopped it completely. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 37
FEATURE | SEEMA ORKING FROM HOME OES
TANYA DEEPESH,
CLINICAL PROJECT ASSOCIATE I have adapted by making more FaceTime calls to my friends, spending more time with family, and pursuing hobbies that I did not focus on before. For example, I have been exercising more frequently by doing strength training, yoga, going on walks. I’ve also been able to create a platform for my interest in cooking and baking. I think all of this has definitely helped me cope with any COVID related stress. I work in the clinical research industry. Ever since I’ve been remote, I think my productivity level has been the same. I cannot really compare to how it would be in the office because I started my current job during the pandemic. However, I notice that I take less breaks and am not able to make the same connections I did with my previous co workers when we were at the office. My coworkers and I would usually go for lunch together and chat about our day but now I quickly throw some food together and eat it while I work. I have definitely tried to be more mindful of getting up in between tasks and getting some steps. I think the biggest change for me has been to check up on my coworkers by scheduling a few minutes every week to catch up instead of simply stopping by their cubicle.
RAGINI JAIN, ACTRESS As an actress in NYC, I was always on the go. Now my personal and work lives have drastically changed. Film sets have shut down for now, the production company I worked at also shut down temporarily. I lived near Elmhurst Hospital, in one of the worst-hit areas of NYC. Every five minutes I heard the sirens of ambulances bringning in new patients. It was scary and depressing. I moved to my parents’ home in upstate New York. After two weeks in quarantine, my life became very ORKING challenging. I was stuck at home with nowhere to go. FROM The exciting thing to do was going to the grocery with HOME my brother. Every other store was open only for a few OES hours - or closed. I have not seen my friends in person for eight months. The only events I go to are on Zoom, which at least help me stay on top of the entertainment life. Since my office is still closed, I work on creative projects from home. 38 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
FEATURE | SEEMA
RIMLI ROY, FOUNDER &
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, SURATI FOR PERFORMING ARTS
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Being the founder and artistic director of award-winning nonprofit Surati for Performing Arts, we have had to promptly adapt to a completely new system and approach. Since we produce large scale original staged shows and productions, concerts, events and programs, we have had to rethink all our programming ever since the lockdown started. We have produced some small-scale, socially distanced, in-person events with help from supporters, and also presented a series of online events. With online programming having a universal outreach we have changed our approach for good. We will be including an online component for all future events and shows so that we can reach out to a wider audience outside our area. The pandemic hugely impacted our classes, in-per-
son concerts and events. With some funding support, we are continuing our programs virtually, but in a very limited way. It is a challenge conducting dance and music classes online - especially dance when parents are looking for in-person interaction with their children, Because there is so much screen timeit is hard to push online programming. However, a huge plus with that is that we have been able to reach audiences not only in the U.S but also outside. I have had to rethink presenting and producing performing arts and cultural festivals in a different way. Rehearsal space has become a challenge, so I have restructured rehearsal space by converting some outdoor areas to workable spaces. However, ths is harder in winter. We are now working on a series of online concerts, documentaries, programs and educational projects. We are also working on some pre-recorded concert materials, In a way, it is probably going to be a good thing as we are adding a new medium to our work and exploring different ways of presenting. I have also been working on some online concerts, short / documentary films and music videos. I am in India now, so dancing outdoors will probably be easier, given the weather. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 39
FEATURE | SEEMA
NIDHI KHANNA, POLITICAL
AND ADVOCACY STRATEGIST.
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COVID-19 has proved to be a challenge across the globe. Even for those of us fortunate enough to work from home, it can still be hard adjusting to months later. This year, I began working as a census manager for a community-based organization that received a grant to help direct census outreach in Staten Island (one of the five boroughs of New York City). The government uses census data to allocate proper funding and resources to communities across the nation. My team and I devised a comprehensive outreach strategy to make sure folks would complete their census questionnaire, but the pandemic halted all those efforts. As local officials were still deciding to implement mandatory stay-at-home orders in early March, I wanted to ensure that my staff in the field would be safe. Our team needed to find creative ways to conduct outreach for this important decadal count. We immediately shifted to an all-virtual operation and relied on digital tools such as social media, YouTube videos, and even peer-to-peer texting applications to educate members in the community about the census. My team members also created informative graphics, public service announcements, made thousands of calls in multiple languages, and organized virtual panel events with experts. Educating the community and encouraging people to complete their census was already difficult. Many people distrusted the government altogether and the misinformation about the census created hurdles. Nevertheless, we 40 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
were still determined to exceed expectations. As COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in early summer, we started producing new informational materials in the form of fliers, pens, and buttons and circulated them to restaurants offering delivery services. Partnering with other comunity organizations was vital and allowed my team to provide informational materials during the public distribution of personal protective equipment or food. Despite the pandemic, our organizing efforts contributed to the highest census self-response rate in the city: 66.1%. It outperformed many major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. The pandemic did make it harder for me to find a balance between work and my regular life – I needed to be available outside “traditional work hours” to support my team and coordinate efforts with other partners working on this project. Nevertheless, I believe this pandemic has changed the way people think about organizing in the issue advocacy or political world. The integration of digital tools in any outreach strategy is key, even after we return to the “new normal’’ and can continue to do in-person outreach safely. Many of these digital tools were available in the past, but everyone was not actively using them or strategically incorporating them to the overall goals of their organizing operations. This pandemic forced everyone at varying skill levels to leverage digital tools and to virtually meet people more frequently online. The online space can be used to serve the greater good. It is vital that we meet people where they need to effectively organize – now and in the future.
AMRUTA KULKARNI,
FINANCE PROFESSIONAL, TRANSFORMATION AT WALMART ECOMMERCE This pandemic has fortunately not been life changing. I have not lost anyone in the close family to the virus, my husband and I still have our jobs and can still work from home. However, life has indeed altered! I am now full-time working from home or living at work. I need to sync up my husband’s work calendar with mine as our 3-year-old needs help while she is distance-learning so we cannot have meetings at the same time. Being a full-time working mom of two, I used to get help with cleaning and meal prep, which I had to completely stop, thus putting a lot of additional work on my plate. We have resumed the cleaning
PRADNYA HALDIPUR, VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT FOR CODE.ORG
Every call starts with, “Please let me apologize in advance for barking dogs and interrupting children!” My plea for understanding either elicits a shrug, a laugh, or a knowing, “Oh, me too!!” These are strange days in any line of work. Any veneer of formality or a business-like tone is long gone. We are all feeling a disruption of work-life balance and the anxiety of living through a global pandemic. I am a professional non-profit fundraiser. Success is borne out of building strong and authentic relationships with donors. Typically, this has been done through face-to-face meetings, coffee
services and have re-allocated household chores between my husband and me, so there is some relief. But between the two of us we are still doing five full-time jobs. I am also worried about kids not being able to socialize with their friends and its long-term impact. The biggest drawback has been not being able to visit the parents in India. As taxing as it has been mentally and physically, there have been a lot of positives, too. I have been able to get back to dancing, learn new dishes, introduce kids to yoga (which has helped channel their energies), start biking again, eat a lot more home-cooked food, catch-up on reading, and, of course, bingewatch on Netflix. The biggest positive has been the veggie garden we created from scraps! ORKING FROM HOME OES
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or lunch, attendance at special events, and other meaningful engagements with the organization. We have always assumed that “in-person” is the most effective. So, imagine my surprise when connecting with donors, prospective donors, and colleagues became easier through technology.
So overall I think that I as an individual, and we as a family have adapted pretty well to the “new” normal though I cannot wait for this pandemic to be over. Why? Perhaps because we have gained time in forgoing a commute. Maybe quarantine has made us more willing to engage beyond our four walls. Ultimately, I believe that shared vulnerability opens hearts and minds. When speaking to donors about our mission, I find that they are eager to look to a hopeful future. Being more “human” together (oh, those dogs and kids!) makes for a more relaxed conversation. This understanding is the silver lining I hope to take away with me even when we can sit across from each other, coffee in hand. Look for more stories of women working from on SEEMA.COM DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 41
FOOD | SEEMA
Celebrating the Season with the Bene Israel Traditional sufganiyot are filled with fruit jam, but modern bakeries have been getting creative with both sweet and savory fillings
This ancient Jewish group has lived in India for millennia, and has become part of the colorful cultural mosaic that makes modern India
Latkes are made from shredded potato and sometimes onion, then deep-fried until golden brown and shatteringly crisp
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I
JORDANA WEISS
ndia has been home to Jewish groups facing persecution for centuries. One of them is the Bene Israel, which boasts a legacy lasting more than 2,000 years. Of course, India has been open to a variety of faiths. It is the home or birthplace of at least three major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism – and Sikhism and a refuge for many others. Among those who came over were St. Thomas of Biblical fame, the Zoroastrians fleeing persecution in Iran, and the Bnei Menashe (one of the lost tribes
of Israel that found their home in northeast India). India still remains the largest religiously pluralistic and multi-ethnic democracy in the world. That is perhaps why a Jewish group like the Bene Israel could thrive there for centuries. The Bene Israel are a small sect of Jews that have lived in India, primarily along the Konkan coast, for the last 2,100 years. The group’s history is murky, and has been shrouded by legend and myth in an attempt to explain how ancient Jewish traditions from the Middle East made their way to the western coast of India. One story claims that the founders of the Bene Israel were seven men and seven women who survived a shipwreck, while others believe that their ancestors were one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who came to India after being persecuted by Assyrians. Whatever their origin, the Bene Israel people have thrived in India over the last millennia. They adopted Indian surnames, which traditionally ended with ‘-kar’, and primarily worked as oil pressers – a job that served them well when they began to celebrate Hannukah.
INTRODUCING HANNUKAH
The majority of Jews around the world have always celebrated Hannukah. This holiday celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, after it was recaptured from Greek control by a group of Jewish warriors known as the Maccabees. To reconsecrate the temple, a special lamp was lit, but there was only enough oil for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days and nights, which inspired the eight-daylong celebration we know today. Around the world, Jews celebrate this miracle by lighting a special can-
A traditional Indian hanukkiah, with space for oil lamps to fit in front of the Star of David
dle holder known as a menorah, or a hanukkiah, which has eight branches along with one taller branch, to hold the candle known as a shamash. The shamash is used to light eight separate candles, starting with one on the first day, and increasing to eight on the last day of the holiday. Jews also celebrate by eating oil-rich foods like latkes (fried potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (deep-fried jelly doughnuts). One of the most unique aspects of the Bene Israel tradition is that they did not celebrate Hannukah before they made contact with other Jews. Some historians believe this is a sign that their arrival in India predates the destruction of the Second Temple. However, the holiday gradually caught on, and now the Bene Israel light oil lamps on Hannukah and share festive food with family and friends.
FESTIVE FOOD FOR HANNUKAH
Malida is one of the most beloved foods in the Bene Israel tradition. This sweet dish is made with pohe (flattened rice) that’s mixed with religious and culturally significant
Malida is a delicious sweet dish eaten by the Bene Israel of India which contains several Biblically significant fruit
ingredients like figs, pomegranate seeds, dates, nuts, and other fruit. Laced with jaggery, it tastes deliciously sweet. While latkes remain popular in Israel and across the Jewish diaspora, Indian Jews like the Bene Israel prefer celebrating Hannukah with deepfried treats like onion pakoras, vada pav, or aloo makala. Aloo makala is particularly easy to whip up since it’s made from a large piece of potato, which is boiled then deep-fried in oil until golden brown and crisp. Whether you celebrate with latkes or aloo makala, halwa or sufganiyot, there’s no wrong way to ring in the joyous season of Hannukah. d DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 43
FESTIVAL | SEEMA
PARTYING IN PLACE
This Christmas is best spent at home, but you can still party and have fun while you usher in the New Year BINDU GOPAL RAO
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C
ome December and there is a palpable sense of cheer. This year it may muted a bit by the pandemic but there is more reason to celebrate and have a good time at home. We tell you about some holiday party theme ideas and virtual Christmas party ideas here. Read on. PARTY EATS This Christmas, why not give a healthy twist to the season’s festivities? Well, if that is on your mind, try immunity building and super delicious Party Popsicles. “Take a bit of slices of strawberries, raspberries and a tall glass of water. Mold the berries to the bottom, then grab a hold of Chicnutrix Glow and Chicnutrix Super C, easily available online and combine both to add an abundance of vitamins and nutrients to this tasty treat. Freeze the concoction for an hour and enjoy a delicious holiday dessert. What’s amazing is its vegan and sugar free too and you will light up the room with your glowing skin,” says Shilpa Khanna Thakkar, founder of Chicnutrix. And there you have it: a super holiday party theme idea. Or you could simply buy the organic popsicles from Goodpops. GUZZLE IT DOWN The virtual party is a digital get-to-
gether where people meet virtually or online using video conference platforms like Zoom or Google Meet and share cocktails, play games and have fun. Cocktails, music, games and most importantly friends – that is all you need to have a zoom party while maintaining social distancing. But arranging all this can be a lot of work and you might probably end up doing nothing. “What if someone arranges live music, cocktails and games for you and your friends,” asks Vrinda Singhal, founder of Swizzle, India’s only com-
pany to deliver cocktail kits at home. “Swizzle, a fresh, yet ready-to-drink cocktail brand, has this concept of virtual parties featuring live music, games and obviously cocktails. We offer a multiple location cocktail kit delivery service to host successful parties while maintaining social distancing.” Or you could simply log on to Cocktail Courier to order your cocktail with a recipe as well. SWING IT The best way to enjoy the holidays is a Digital Disco with a DJ. “A virtual party with a DJ playing all our favorite dance numbers which will make us groove the night away,” says Lavang Khare, senior vice president at Adfactors PR. “It will be a coming together of friends in what better way than with the dance and music and food we love? The food of course will be shared virtually. But the fun will be that there is a theme and snacks decided in advance – dancing coffee, tipsy punch, lazy bean burger, frizzy corn cutlets, dancing chicken in teriyaki sauce and, most important, a festive online jamming session to finish the DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 45
FESTIVAL | SEEMA
entire celebration.” Certainly, a great virtual Christmas party idea. COOK TOGETHER According to Saru Mukherjee Sharma, mom blogger and digital content creator, Diapers & Lipsticks, “You can host a virtual cook-off. Get the same ingredients, set up a timer, set some ground rules. All you need is culinary skills and a stable internet
connection. Cooking games are super fun and cooking virtually is great fun. Cook something you are already a pro at, or try your hands at something new. Trust me, this will be so much better than those potlucks. Or you can just Zoom over good old games like Bingo, Tambola or Housie. They are equally fun even if they are hosted virtually.” Just use your creativity this season and you can
come up with many virtual Christmas party ideas as well as holiday party theme ideas. After all the fun in a party is planning it right. Stay safe and stay home – but party on. These are some ideas for quarantine parties by Aashumi Mahajan, co-founder of The Luxe Maison, India’s premiere haute couture e-boutique: • In cities and small towns, terrace parties of limited people have gained popularity • Netflix parties work in cities. • Create videos for birthdays and watch them together from your respective homes. • Hold Zoom card parties. TIPS • Shake elbows instead of hands. • Keep hand sanitizers handy, and soap, paper towels, tissues and spare masks at the ready. • When you send invites, list precautions. At the entrance put up a sign with the precautions listed again. • Keep outside eatables to a minimum. d
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FESTIVAL | SEEMA
Our Favorite Holiday Markets Across the United States A new way: While many markets are canceled, some continue with the right safety measures, and some have online options to help you shop for gifts JORDANA WEISS
W
ith COVID-19 spiking across the country and public health officials urging caution, families need to be very careful about planning their holidays this year. Unfortunately, this means that many of our favorite holiday activities have been canceled, or extremely curtailed to ensure that all the participants are as safe as possi-
ble. After seeing COVID-19 numbers spike this spring, none of us are eager to return to those dangerously high numbers. Thankfully, there is still one tradition that many cities have been able to continue safely: the holiday market. Every year, cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., Denver, and New York City host dozens of small Christmas and holiday markets, with
vendors selling gifts, food, and other treats for the festive season.
OUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY MARKETS TO VISIT IN 2020
Since they’re outside, organizers have been able to promise that some events will continue this year, along with safety precautions like social distancing, temperature checks, and DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 47
FESTIVAL | SEEMA
strict capacity limits. Here are some of our favorite Christmas and holiday markets around the United States. If you are visiting, be sure to wear your mask whenever you are not eating or drinking, and be aware of your surroundings so that you can properly distance yourself from other shoppers.
BRYANT PARK WINTER VILLAGE – NEW YORK CITY
Bryant Park’s Winter Village has been a beloved holiday tradition. This year, organizers have worked
tirelessly to keep it going for the 2020 season, with enough public health measures to ensure the safety of vendors and attendees. Visitors can still come and skate in New York City’s only free admission skating rink, as long as they book a time in advance. Afterward, tired skaters can buy gifts from vendors in open-air kiosks, and eat treats like gingerbread, mulled wine, and hot crepes. The market is already open, and runs until January 3.
DOWNTOWN HOLIDAY
MARKET – WASHINGTON, D.C.
This year, Washington, D.C.’s Downtown Holiday Market is taking over two city blocks to ensure that their shoppers and vendors have enough space to enjoy themselves safely. More than 70 vendors will be present, including many with ‘Made in DC’ products created by Black and minority-owned businesses. Safety measures at the market include widely accessible sanitizing stations, social distancing, and contactless payments. Visit the market 12-8 p.m., November 20 to December 23.
CHRISTKINDL MARKET – DENVER
Denver’s traditional German Christkindl Market will be held this year in Civic Center Park, to give vendors and visitors plenty of room to spread out and shop safely. To warm yourself in the cold Denver winter, pick up a hot cup of Glühwein or hot chocolate, and shop your way through their artisan marketplace. 48 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
The market opens at 11 a.m. and goes on until 7 p.m. on weekdays, and upto 9 p.m. on weekends. Be sure to visit it before it closes on December 23.
CHRISTMAS VILLAGE – PHILADELPHIA
If you are looking for authentic and delicious European food, plenty of vendors, and a gorgeous historic carousel, head to Philadelphia’s Christmas Village. This year, it opens on Thanksgiving Day and will be bustling through Christmas Eve, with shoppers eager to buy jewelry, ornaments, and other gifts. COVID-19 safety protocols include mandatory face coverings, adjustments to the layout to encourage social distancing, and helpful social distancing ambassadors to guide the crowd safely. For adults looking for a bit of a break, the Philadelphia Christmas Village also hosts a Beer Garden featuring tasty grilled sausages, beer, and more. d DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 49
Serenity Reserve: Ties that bind with women housemates
R
Equals yet in a shared space to enjoy life to the fullest
etirement can be exciting and life-changing. As a woman, you have spent your life working, taking care of others, and looking forward to getting to this point. Now that it is here, where will you go? You may want to relax on a tranquil beach, take walks in the woods, or start afresh in a sunny state with like-minded women. Whatever you desire, there is always a serene place that has just what you need. Getting ready to retire in a destination that suits your style is key. This includes a place that fits your budget, has reliable healthcare, and is safe for women! Speaking of budget and support, if there may be two of you who want to share there is only one place among all of the Active 55 plus adult community that provides an equal private yet shared space. 50 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
Serenity Reserve is proud to introduce a new niche to serve the notable need of providing luxurious homes for women. Women housemates living together, such as sisters, mother and daughter, aunt or even your best friend and share a gorgeous home. This will add several unique and practical benefits to your lifestyle Strengthening ties: For many of us, the recent holidays meant family gatherings, getting together with friends, and participating in special religious, community, and workplace activities. Such occasions are an opportunity to check in with each other, exchange ideas, and perhaps lend a supportive ear or shoulder. Now is a good time to strengthen your ties throughout the years to come.
RESPONSE FEATURE | SERENITYRESERVE.COM
A plan that will give you equal private space and yet the benefits & convenience of sharing!
Benefits • Financial Benefits: - Live in a gorgeous home of your choice and share the purchase costs, HOA fees, utilities cost, etc. - Share the costs of property taxes and home insurance - Divide additional monthly household expenses such as groceries and household items. • Convenience: - Overcome loneliness, enjoy companionship, support, friendship and share conversations such as nostalgic stories, creativity, and hobbies. • Taking care of the home with the help of each other, decorate together and share the household chores • Housemates enjoy separate suites in a luxurious home within a resort themed community offering lifestyle, friendship, and safety. • Enjoy separate Bedroom suites and a Guest Bedroom for each of you ready for your children, grandchildren, family and/or friends when they plan to visit.
• Enjoy shopping, traveling, and simply staying home and watching a movie together. • With constant companionship, enjoy the feeling of support in case of physical problems or emergency. • Share family celebrations together and live an enriching life • Love to travel? Satisfy your wanderlust while SR takes care of the exterior of your home while you and your housemate are off on another adventure. • Safety: Living alone can make one feel vulnerable, but having a housemate creates a feeling of safety and security. Sharing a home in SR provides additional safety with our gated community surrounded by a six foot concrete wall and in-home security system. • Fun: Area amenities are practically endless for women to explore and enjoy together. Theme parks, restaurants, festivals, sporting events,
concerts, art galleries and much more can be found in Orlando with only a short 20-minute travel. Outdoor activities in and around Orlando abound from beaches, natural springs, parks, nature preserves in plenty for women who crave the call of the wild within a 45-minute drive. • Connect - At SR, connect with other like-minded people and expand your friendship group. • Breathe - Join other active adults in our Yoga/ Meditation Studio. • Flex - Build a strong body in our state-of-theart fitness center. • Splash - Soak up the sun all year in our resort-themed swimming pool. • Nourish - Dine on a healthy nutritious meal with SR’s Nonprofit HOA Managed Daily Meal Plan. • Swing - Play a lively game of Pickle ball in SR’s Events Park. • Relax - SR’s gated community provides the safety and security active adults need. • Indulge - Everything you could want, or need is a short distance from SR. • Fly - SR is only 15-minutes from Orlando International Airport. • Venture & Explore – Outdoor activities close to home. Last but not least, enjoy all of the beautiful amenities together. Whether you are related by blood, best friends, chosen sisters for life, or simply walking through your golden years together, Serenity Reserve provides a safe, luxurious resort-style experience. • Having a network of important relationships can also make a difference. A large Swedish study of people aged 75 and over concluded that dementia risk was lowest in those with a variety of satisfying contacts with friends and relatives. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 51
FOOD | SEEMA
Sweet Nothings
Holidays are that time of the year when you indulge in sweet treats and traditional desserts that come with a festive twist
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BINDU GOPAL RAO
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umpkin Cake Roll, Sugarplum Christmas Candy, Spiced Fruitcake with Brandy, Gingerbread Men Cookies, Christmas Yule Log, Stollen, Panettone, Rum Balls, Baked Alaska, English Trifle and Christmas Pudding. Well the list is longer, but these are just some of the sweets that will send you to dessert heaven. And why not for Holiday is that time of the year when there is a clear sense of cheer. And this year, some much-needed cheer during the pandemic.
season and spices (symbols of the spices bought by the Magi) were added. The cake was originally eaten not at Christmas but on the Twelfth Night, the Epiphany. With the slow decline in popularity of the Twelfth Night and the gradual increase in Holiday festivities in the 1830s, the cake was eaten on or around Christmas Day. They became very popular at Christmas parties. By the 1870s the modern Christmas cake had evolved.
‘TIS THE SEASON
Christmas is a festival of joy and family gatherings and cakes are a traditional symbol of teamwork and the warmth of the family. Chef Beral Polekironi, chef de cuisine, Mövenpick Resort Kuredhivaru Maldives, recollects his childhood in Tamil Nadu where his grandmother would cook her version of Christmas cakes on a homemade wood-fired oven. “Other than using the traditional ingredients such as rum, raisins, nuts and orange, we also make use of ‘pandan leaves’ which gives it a very authentic Maldivian touch and renders a unique flavor to this cake,” Polekironi said. “We mostly boil the leaves and extract the essence in our Maldivian version of the cakes. The flavor is well balanced with coconut.
Christmas cake or the traditional Christmas cake is a merger of two very well-known dishes – the plum porridge, or pottage, and the Twelfth Night cake. The plum porridge was traditionally served on Christmas Eve. That was the origin of the Christmas pudding. With advancing technology and the industrial revolution, ovens became household conveniences and the age-old method of boiling or steaming the pudding underwent change, according to Neelabh Sahay, executive chef, Novotel Kolkata Hotel & Residences. He added that flour, butter and eggs gave it the shape of a cake. In the olden days, it would have been eaten at Easter. The Christmas cake evolved when dried fruit of the
FAMILY BOND
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FOOD | SEEMA
We have also experimented by using these leaves as a cake liner, lending a unique taste.”
SPIRIT OF YULETIDE
The festive season is all about celebration and Christmas is a time when you indulge your sweet tooth. According to Watcharavee Rujeechotiphat, executive chef, Pimalai Resort & Spa, Koh-Lanta, Krabi, “At Pimalai, we prepare a wide selection of cakes and desserts on Christmas, such as mince pie, Panettone, Christmas pudding, and fruit cake every year. Of course, one traditional Christmas cake we do not miss on that night is Log Cake. It is a symbol of joy and happiness in life. Moreover, we also do a traditional Log Cake and [include] other flavors, such as passion fruit, pandan and tiramisu.” A yule log is a traditional dessert served near Christmas, especially in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Canada, Lebanon, Syria, Spain and the United Kingdom. It is also known as a buche de noel, which originally referred to the yule log itself and was transferred to the dessert only after the custom had fallen out of practice. Kevin Miller, head pastry chef at The Lanesborough London, has his own special version. “I would usually make a yule log using a chocolate sponge and dark chocolate ganache but decided on something a little different this year,” he said. “Typically, this would use flour, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract (cocoa powder if making a chocolate sponge) and for the ganache usually chocolate and cream. Another option is usually the fruit Christmas cake which is made months in advance and marinated with brandy for flavor and preservation covered in a layer of marzipan and then a layer of fondant icing.” 54 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
Dundee Cake courtesy Novotel Kolkata Hotel Residences
TIPS TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS CAKE • The butter and sugar mixture should be creamed properly so that no sugar grain remain undissolved. The mixture should be pale yellow in color. • Eggs should be added one by one and allowed to mix properly. The eggs should not be added all at once. • After baking the cake, sugar syrup should be sprinkled on top to keep it soft and moist longer. • The dry fruits should be soaked at least for a week in dark rum, so that the flavors seep into the fruit and provide a full-bodied flavor. If you avoid liquor, orange juice can be added for flavor instead.
YULE LOG (courtesy The Lanesborough London) You need no specialized equipment beyond a shallow baking pan. “You can use recipes as a base to follow but you can also add some small twists with spices or subtle flavors to make it unique, as well as being creative with your own garnishes to fit the season,” Miller said. “Take your time to follow the recipe and you won’t go wrong. Have fun when making it, maybe with some Christmas songs in
the background and a glass of mulled wine, perhaps.” Components: Swiss roll sponge, White chocolate ganache and cherry gel
• • • • • • • • •
SWISS ROLL SPONGE Sugar (1) 1.8oz Egg yolks 5.3oz Sugar (2) 7.4oz Egg whites 3.5oz Flour plain or cake 3.2oz Baking powder 0.7oz Whole milk 1.8oz Vegetable oil 1.8oz Vanilla extract 0.2oz
METHOD • Whisk the egg yolk and the sugar (1) together in a kitchen aid mixer until light and fluffy and set aside • Whisk the egg whites and the sugar (2) to a stiff peak meringue • Gently fold the meringue into the egg yolk mix until combined. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the egg mixture ensuring there are no lumps • Take a bit of the mix and add in the oil, milk and vanilla, then fold this into the main mixture • Spread the cake batter on to a
greased tray, 24x16 inches, lined with baking parchment. Bake at 338ºF for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the cake from the tray and allow to cool on a wire rack WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE • White chocolate • UHT cream • Unsalted butter • Passion fruit puree • Cinnamon powder • Ginger powder
7.1oz 7.1oz 2.7oz 1.5oz 0.2oz 0.2oz
METHOD • Melt the white chocolate in a bowl, either in the microwave in 30-second bursts or over a double boiler and set aside. Bring the cream to boil and pour the cream into the melted chocolate and mix until smooth and combined • Warm up the passion fruit puree and add to the chocolate at 122ºF • Cut the butter into cubes and add to the chocolate ganache at 140ºF • Add the cinnamon and the ginger powder and mix well • Let it cool in the fridge. Remove from the fridge to bring it to room temperature for assembly CHERRY JAM • Cherry puree • Frozen cherries • Glucose syrup • Caster sugar • Pectin NH
until smooth and keep aside for assembly ASSEMBLY • Remove the baking parchment from the Swiss roll and put it on another piece of baking parchment atop a chopping board. • Spread the white chocolate ganache over the cake in a nice even layer, leaving some behind for the outside of the log. Allow to set in the fridge for 10 minutes. • Remove from the fridge and spread the cherry jam on top of the ganache. Take one edge and fold in slightly and begin to roll the cake into a Swiss roll, either all the way or to the size of your choice. • Spread the remaining ganache on the outside of the Swiss roll log and garnish with chocolate shavings to make it look like a wooden log. Allow it to set in the fridge. Portion and serve as desired.
Chocolate Matcha Truffle Forest courtesy Sante Spa Cuisine
18.1oz 4.5oz 3.6oz 3.6oz 0.8oz
METHOD • Bring the puree, frozen cherries and glucose to a boil • Mix the sugar and pectin together and add to the cherry mixture and continuously mix until it reaches 221ºF. Pour into a container and allow to set. • Place into a blender and blend
Fig and walnut ice cream courtesy Sante Spa Cuisine
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SEEMA RECOMMENDS | SEEMA
KEY FASHION AND STYLE PIECES FOR THE HOLIDAYS JORDANA WEISS
Even in these isolated times, you can still make a strong fashion statement JORDANA WEISS
56 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
ENSEMBLE FROM NEETA LULLA’S COLLECTION AT LOTUS MAKE-UP INDIA FASHION WEEK, SPRING SUMMER ‘21. PICTURE COURTESY: LMIFW
OUR FAVORITE FASHION PIECES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
We love that this time of the year allows us to get dressed in our best clothes, showcasing the best pieces in our closet. Instead of getting frustrated that this year’s holiday celebration may look a bit different, let us focus on the positive. We can still dress in gorgeous saris, anarkalis, lehengas, and other formal clothes, and wear new jewelry and accessories. Here are some of our favorite fashion and style pieces that are a must-have for this year’s holiday celebrations.
A BRILLIANTLY COLORED OUTFIT
The best outfits to celebrate the season’s explosion of colors, which we see in everything from decorations to sweets. There is a time and a place for somber, understated outfits – and this isn’t it! This year, if you do not already have a bright, cheerful sari, lehenga, or anarkali, invest in a gorgeous outfit that will last for years.
Gown from Amit GT’s collection at India Runway Week
Start the search at a local Indian boutique, or scope out the work of high-end designers like Amit GT or Neeta Lulla. Their gorgeous outfits are made with the season’s newest colors and styles, including traditional and modern methods of embroidery done in stunning modern shades.
COORDINATED FAMILY OUTFITS
If you’re going to be spending this much time at home with family, why not lean into it? Coordinate matching or complementary family outfits for the next holiday party you are invited to, whether in person or remote. Even if it is on Zoom, everyone else in the call will appreciate the care and attention you put into your family’s outfits.
ACCESSORIES THAT MATCH TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN OUTFITS
Women of the Indian diaspora are adept at mixing and matching Indian and Western-style garments into a unique style all their own. If DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 57
PICTURE COURTESY: INDIA RUNWAY WEEK
I
t’s no surprise that this year’s holiday celebrations are set to look quite different than they have in previous years. Instead of eating sweets, partying and dancing the night away with family and friends, we are all in separate households (or social pods), wishing we could be together. Fortunately, just because huge group gatherings and in-person dinners are out does not mean you cannot enjoy holidays with your loved ones. We can still celebrate good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance even if we are temporarily separated. We just have to modify our expectations a bit.
SEEMA RECOMMENDS | SEEMA Brothers concert, she traded her sari for a simple white T-shirt, but kept the traditional accessories.
HEIRLOOM JEWELRY
The holidays are a fantastic time of year to look out heirloom jewelry and pick the best set to go with your new outfit. If you’re seeing family, it is always lovely for them to see the jewelry they have passed down actually being worn and appreciated. If you do not have heirloom jewelry yet, it is never too early to buy your own. You can always treat yourself with the knowledge that you are starting a beautiful cycle by passing it on in time. We love the work we have seen from Divya Dasari, who operates Tarkshya Jewels. Dasari crafts beautiful heirloom pieces in traditional Hyderabadi, Kundan, and Navaratan styles that expertly detach into separate elements, so you can wear each individually.
A BEAUTIFUL MASK
Just because you should wear a mask in public does not mean you have to ruin your outfit. Shop around to find a mask made from recycled sari fabric, or decorated with beautiful embroidery. Etsy has a lot of stunning options, so you can find one to match every outfit. d
you are planning a more low-key celebration this year, why not create an outfit that combines Indian accessories and jewelry with a sleek, elegant evening dress or even crisp T-shirt and jeans? In this, we were inspired by Priyanka Chopra’s 2019 Karva Chauth outfits. For the initial festivities, she wore a deep red sari, accompanied by a simple mangalsutra and sindoor. Later, when she attended a Jonas 58 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
SEEMA RECOMMENDS | SEEMA
JEWELRY TRENDS TO TRY THIS SEASON
Make sure that bijouterie really sparkles these holidays
PICTURE COURTESY: NITAARA
JORDANA WEISS
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FASHION | SEEMA
T
THIS SEASON’S MOST FABULOUS JEWELRY TRENDS
One of the little joys that COVID-19 cannot take from us is jewelry. You may be wondering what styles and trends can possibly keep up with the tumultuous year we’ve had so far. We explored some of this year’s biggest jewelry trends, and are bringing you our findings, along with tips on how to make your jewelry shine, even if you are wearing a mask.
layered necklaces. Even if your style is more minimalist, you can still take advantage of this trend by mixing and matching dainty chains until you find a combination you love.
MULTICOLORED GEMSTONES
If you’re a fan of gorgeous, juicy gemstones, we’ve got some good news for you: You do not have to stick to just one color per outfit any more! In 2020, we are seeing many style icons wearing gemstone jewelry in multiple colors with one outfit. Jewelry pieces such as cocktail rings from Dhanvi Diamonds that feature a diversity of gemstones also celebrate the season’s riot of colors, and are a great choice for any festive celebration.
LAYERED NECKLACES
If you’re anything like us, you have probably spent a few hours in quarantine trying out different combinations of necklaces, earrings, maang tikkas, and bangles. These layered pieces have become a major trend for 2020, with celebrities like Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Deepika Padukone, and Rihanna sporting a variety of 60 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
DHANVIDIAMONDS: RING FROM DHANVI DIAMONDS. PICTURE COURTESY: DHANVI DIAMONDS
Earrings from Nitaara
CONTEMPORARY SHAPES
If you have a traditional jewelry set from your wedding or even passed down to you, the holidays is a great time to break that out of storage. However, if you are buying a new piece for yourself or a family member, consider a new spin on a classic. India’s newest jewelry designers love to mold traditional materials into new and innovative designs. One of the best examples of India’s rising design talent is Suhani Parekh, the creative director of jewelry brand Misho who recently designed a new jewelry collection for the Delhi boutique Bhaane. Plated with 22K gold, Parekh’s collection would be the perfect modern counterpoint to a traditional necklace or maang tikka.
PICTURE COURTESY: NITAARA
his year, the holiday season could not come soon enough. For many of us who have been trapped inside for months, unable to see family or friends or engage in social activities we love, this festive season could be bittersweet. Many of the celebrations we love, or the parties we usually attend, have either been canceled or changed to a different format. These online and socially distant events will hopefully pull us out of our usual routine, but they cannot replace the handshakes, hugs, and huge festivals that we previously enjoyed. However, the change in this year’s format is no reason to ignore the positives completely. Buying gifts, making sweets, meditating, and dressing in festive clothes and jewelry are all still possible. You just have to plan your celebrations carefully, to ensure you adhere to public health guidelines.
COMPLEMENT MASKS WITH MAXIMALISM
PICTURE COURTESY: SELEN DESIGN
Are you going to an in-person event where masks are required? Make sure your jewelry stands out. Choose pieces that make a statement even with a mask over your face. Think tiered earrings and distinctive maang tikkas rather than shorter necklaces your mask may obscure. If you’re joining family or friends on Zoom, make sure your jewelry is concentrated in areas that will be visible. Otherwise, all your hard work selecting the best pieces and coordinating your outfit accordingly will go to waste.
SELEN BAYRAK: PICTURE COURTESY: FORET
Creating bold jewelry in pewter
Accessories from Foret
SUSTAINABILITY
When we’re buying new jewelry for an occasion or event, often we are under such pressure to pick something quickly that we never get to learn more about individual brands, designers, or collections. One benefit of having more time at home is an increased opportunity to dig into these details, and really learn where your jewelry comes from. There are tons of fledgling Indian jewelry designers offering beautiful pieces, made using fair-trade, eco-friendly materials and sustainable business practices. For instance, FORET makes necklaces, earrings and much more from cork. d
With all the challenges of 2020, we haven’t forgotten the warmth and positive collective spirit we generate when we’re all together, so we hope to bring smiles upon as many faces as we can this year. Since 2002, Selen Design is a boutique jewelry and accessories company specializing in bold and artisanal antiqued pewter and bronze statement pieces, and dazzling home decor. We continue to blossom with fresh and lively concepts and an array of elegant and unique materials, keeping us at the forefront of design. Selen’s work can be found in many fine boutiques and museum shops throughout the USA and internationally. Her jewelry is often sought after for NYC’s famed Fashion Week, worn by many recognizable runway models. Additionally, numerous recording artists and celebrities are fans of her work, including most recently the Grammy-winning stars Vanessa De Mata from Brazil, and Australia’s Kylie Minogue. Selen has designed custom pieces for nonprofit groups and special occasions. Unifem, the women’s chapter of the United Nations, commissioned Selen to design a lapel pin that is still currently worn by its members. Her studio is located in Long Island City, NY. The Selen Design team is extremely excited to participate in this year’s Grand Central Virtual Holiday Fair. For the past 15 years we have been honored to be part of the Holiday Fair and we’re looking forward to connecting with our many friends and fans, and the entire community of shoppers and staff we’ve come to love over the years! https://www.grandcentralterminal.com/vendor/selen/
DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 61
PIONEERS | |SEEMA WELLNESS SEEMA
In This Together
Sumi Raghavan, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at William Paterson University, has a mental guide for desis to beat the pandemic MANMEET SAHNI
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lowing through the pandemic has not been easy. A study by the Pew Research Center stated that minority groups, including Asian and Black communities, have reported facing racism since the pandemic hit. Other studies also suggest that there has been a surge in racist attitudes toward
00 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020 62 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
people of color. Often, socio-economic disparities in minority communities are tied closely to lack of health care access, including care for mental health issues. The U.S. Department of Health’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) stated that communities of color
experiencing structural racism have been more vulnerable duringthe pandemic.. In an interview with SEEMA, Dr. Sumi Raghavan, a South Asian American clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at William Paterson University, discusses issues involving mental health and minorities. Raghavan, who focuses on the cross-cultural aspects of mental
health in her practice, discusses how the socio-economic milieu is crucial in determining the disproportionate impact of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color, and what folks can do to care for themselves during this unprecedented time. Per the Economic Policy Institute, people of color make up for at least half of all essential workers – health care workers, grocery store and general merchandise employees, workers in production and food processing industries, maintenance workers, and drivers, among others – which leaves them more exposed to COVID-19. “It is a difficult time to be a frontline essential worker. You’re exposed to more risk, often working longer hours with less support, Raghavan said. “Many of the resources we’d normally access in non-pandemic times are not available to us, but it’s especially important for front line workers to take care of their mental health and wellness,” “First, a daily mental health scan – when you get home, check-in with yourself,” she said. “The way you might scan the body for aches and pains, scan the psyche… Are you feeling down? Anxious? Physically tense? Tired? Do you find yourself getting short with people or feeling like you don’t have emotional energy or space for things? These feelings are normal, but you can’t work on them if you’re not aware. Then, communicate with somebody – perhaps a work buddy who shares some of your frustrations or understands your working conditions. It can be validating and reduce emotional isolation to hear somebody say, ‘yes, that’s happening to me too.’” Dr. Raghavan suggests to bring in something “positive or pleasant into each day,” like spending time outdoors, taking breaks during the workday to step outside. -- “Even a few minutes of activity or fresh air can reduce stress, she said, adding that steering clear from news, so-
cial media, or potentially triggering information during breaks could also prove beneficial. It has become far more common to express racist views and sentiments since the coronavirus hit. In April, NBC News reported that at least 30 percent of Americans had witnessed someone blame Asians for the coronavirus. “Psychologically, being on the receiving end of bigotry and racism can elicit a variety of reactions including shame, anger, a sense of isolation and othering, and helplessness,” Raghavan said. “There is evidence supporting race-based traumatic stress that is similar to PTSD; people can feel hypervigilant and emotionally numb.” She added that finding allies and support from people who can validate your experience can reduce isolation, she said. Finding a therapist of color who deals with racial and ethnic issues will be fruitful when looking for professional help or counseling, Dr. Raghavan said. “While we know that the majority of therapists are white, there’s increased awareness of the need for culturally and racially matched therapists,” she said. “There is a Black Psychologists Association and Asian American Psychologists Association, both of which maintain directories of licensed therapists of color.” According to an American Psychiatric Association report titled “Mental Health Disparities: Diverse Populations,” health care providers’ lack of cultural understanding may contribute to underdiagnosis and/or misdiagnosis of mental illness in people from racially/ethnically diverse populations. Some factors that contribute to such misdiagnoses include language barriers between the patient and the provider, stigma about mental illness in minority groups, and cultural presentation of symptoms. The pandemic has aggravated conditions such as depression. A total
of 70% of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care were diagnosed with PTSD, according to the U.S. Office of Minority Health. Suicide was the leading cause of death among Asian Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 in 2017, long before the pandemic hit, according to the U.S. Office of Minority Health. A September survey by the American Medical Association’s JAMA network showed that Americans in general exhibited more depressive symptoms during COVID-19 than before the pandemic. Asians saw an 18.7% spike in symptoms of depression during the pandemic, the survey reported. Economic stressors such as low-income wages and lack of job security, among others, are some of the most pressing issues for minority communities. When it comes to the informal sector, people of color are overrepresented and therefore are more vulnerable to layoffs. “The economic stressors during the pandemic can be very frightening, particularly because of the intense uncertainty.” Raghavan said. She suggested working with a financially savvy friend or a family member to help ensure effective budgeting and seeking help with domestic responsibilities from friends and family. “Have friends help with childcare or ask somebody to drop off a meal once in a while. Communities of color have long-standing social scripts for these behaviors partially borne out of economic precarity,” Raghavan said. As the pandemic continues to take a toll on us, taking one day at a time and marshaling on is the way forward. “Above all, remember that you are in a highly unusual and extreme situation and try to practice self-compassion: you don’t have to function the way you did pre-pandemic, Raghavan said. “You just have to function.” DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 00 DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 63
WELLNESS | SEEMA
How To Have A Meaningful Vacation?
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The pandemic has thrown all our well-laid travel plans out of the window. But there are other ways to break the monotony and have a fulfilling vacation ANITA RAO KASHI
D
o you remember when you desperately needed a break from schlepping to work or whatever other monotonous things that made your routine? Now it appears that one needs a vacation from the sheer monotony of the home having become an allin-one space. Consequently, lock-
downs and shelter-in-place mandates have also made the yearning for travel that much more intense. Yet, among the several things that the pandemic has taught us, the foremost has been about not taking things for granted. Travel is bound to look very different this year but that does not mean there cannot be meaningful travel experiences. For most of us, the changed travel
perspectives has meant examining how we live and travel, taking into account the carbon footprint of air travel and the consequences of climate change on tourist destinations. Fortunately, there are some fantastic ideas for making travel safe and relaxing, and they come with an added feel-good factor. From road trips to countryside picnics, from staycations to house-swapDECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 65
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ping, the sky is the limit.
ROADTRIPPING
The best way to leave home without leaving the safety of your quarantine bubble is, of course, to take it with you. Pile into a car with your loved ones, and stay away from others as far as possible by minimizing stops in public places and socially distancing when you do. From the legendary Route 66 to the leisurely Blue Ridge Parkway or the sun-drenched Overseas Highway, there’s an option for everyone. If more isolation is what you required, head to Nevada to traverse the Loneliest Road in America, and visit the UFO region while at it. Many hotels and rentals are implementing rigorous COVID protocols to keep customers safe – such as sanitizing surfaces or even leaving rooms empty for days in between customers. Still, it is probably best to do a little research in advance, and maybe bring along some sanitizer to be as confident in your safety as possible. An alternative to staying in such shared spaces is an RV, which 66 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
takes care of both meals and wheels for the entirety of your trip. You will probably still want to make your eating stops at outdoor camping spots, though. As always, any good road trip requires an abundance of snacks, so stock up before you leave. Then roll down your
windows, play some loud music, and remember to have fun! Picnic or outdoors If elaborate planning is not your thing, then there are plenty of places nearby for picnics, something that is badly underrated. Not only will this remove the stress of having to find hygienic accommodation but also
take away the hassle of having to find dining options. So pack some eclectic eatables, either homemade or sourced from the nearest trustworthy bakery or deli, and you are all set. Do not forget to pack a cozy blanket or those handy camping chairs. Head for the nearest park, beach, waterfall, woodsy area or any other stunning location and kick back for a few hours or even the entire day to get some meaningful travel experiences. Several places are already adapting to the new conditions, and providing facilities to accommodate visitors.
CAMPING/GLAMPING
Roughing it out is not for everyone. But then again, there is also glamping, or camping that has gone posh. While campgrounds are the preferred places, it is even better to camp in the backwoods where safety is assured though it might require a bit more effort. The effort of strapping everything up and backpacking into the wilderness in search of the perfect spot does take some effort, but the rewards are well worth it.
Take your pick from such scenic spots as Heart Lake in Yellowstone National Park and North Cascades National Park in Washington. But inquire ahead of time since these places have their own rules and set of accessible facilities, so make sure you are not caught on the wrong foot after traveling the distance. For those
who want the camping feel but do not really take well to the rusticity of a tent, some campgrounds offer cabins. For those who prefer their modcons intact, look out for such places as Cozy Glamping in Oregon, and Cherry Blosson Yurt on Lookout Mountain in Georgia.
STAYCATIONS
Staycations are always a good way to break the monotony of work and routine. But now more than ever, they are the overwhelming favorite. While exploring your own town or backyard like a tourist might be the obvious step, mix it up a bit with jumping in your vehicle and heading to a hotel, homestay or AirBnB at a spectacular location. Stay in and minimize contact. But choose wisely so there is enough diversity and variety to the routine. This can work well as a workcation too if you have the luxury and privilege of working from home. Opt for places such as Atlanta or Portland, which offer the best of nature and urban life, so you can choose what you want to do and how much you want to mingle. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 67
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NATIONAL PARKS
For those who love traveling and have had their travel plans quashed these last few months, things cannot be more frustrating. And that feeling of getting stir-crazy is all too real. So why not take in some natural beauty? For every well-known national park in the U.S., there are several more that are less known and hide incredible treasures – such as Congaree National Park in South Carolina, or Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. It is likely that something spectacular is right next door or at least within a few hours’ drive. Any which way, you are sure to rack up some meaningful travel experiences. Make sure you carry marks, wipes and sanitizers, and do check ahead for opening times and changed guidelines in view of the pandemic.
HOUSE-SWAPPING
By far, this is one of the most exciting ways for a break. This could be trip and staycation rolled into one. Of course, this presupposes the fact that you have like-minded people amena68 | SEEMA.COM | DECEMBER 2020
ble to the idea. The idea is just that – swap your home with your friend’s for a certain duration. Not only does it bring the novelty of a new place but there are so many things to explore and do there, even with
pandemic restrictions in place. If you live in different towns or even several hours away, as long as you can drive to each other’s places, this should be a good break. If you are a bit more adventurous, then sign up on one of the many house swap sites such as homeexchange.com and lovehomeswap.com d
On it.
Ending racial injustice requires all of us to work together and take real action. What can you do to help?
Educate yourself about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist. Commit to actions that challenge injustice and make everyone feel like they belong, such as challenging biased or racist language when you hear it. Vote in national and local elections to ensure your elected officials share your vision of public safety. Donate to organizations, campaigns and initiatives who are committed to racial justice.
Let’s come together to take action against racism
and fight for racial justice for the Black community. Visit lovehasnolabels.com/fightforfreedom
SEEMA BOOK CLUB | SEEMA
5 New Books for the Holidays Looking forward to some great reading during the break? Here are some recently released books handpicked just for you! Looking to add some new books to your ever-growing reading list? Getting into the habit of reading can seem daunting, but anyone can transform into a bookworm with the right book. Very soon, you’ll start consuming page after page without even noticing how time passes by!
Credits: Goodreads Genre: Literature & Fiction Release Date: November 3, 2020 The prize-winning Chinese-American author brings another coming-of-age novel that showcases the life of a young immigrant who moves to Boston. Ivy Lin, the book’s central character, is a young woman with a dark obsession with her privileged classmates and resorts to thieving in her effort to fit in. The book follows her journey and focuses on the conflicting feelings that resonate with most immigrants who have moved to a different country.
Image Credits: Satsang Foundation Genre: Spirituality Release Date: November 5, 2020 A Padma Bhushan awardee, Sri M is known to bring to fore some great stories of the spiritual realm, and his quintessential no-holds-barred style has won him several fans. The upcoming book combines short stories that help you delve deeper into the human spirit and get a glimpse of a world far beyond the one we live in. The book will not just highlight the positive aspects of spirituality but also some intriguing storylines. Can a thief ever give up his old ways? What happens when a disciple finds a dark secret about his guru? These questions and more will be answered in this book.
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BINDU GOPAL RAO
THE HOMECOMING AND OTHER STORIES BY SRI M
WHITE IVY: A NOVEL BY SUSIE YANG
To help you rekindle your love for reading, we’ve collated a list of some recent titles, which should be on your reading list this season:
Rujuta Diwekar is a well-known name among South Asians for her insights that have helped her clients become fit and dramatically lose weight. A fitness consultant for Bollywood celebrities and other elite clientele, Diwekar, in her upcoming book, talks about her fitness mantra, ‘Eat local, think global,’ which is all about blending grandma’s wisdom with the latest nutrition science. The health advocate mentions how, instead of going by trends and quick-fix diets, long-term lifestyle choices and an understanding of superfoods, health tips, and seasonal food choices ensure sustainable good health for all. So if you are ready to embrace a change in lifestyle that can do wonders for your health, this book is a must-have.
Image Credits: Goodreads Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy Release Date: November 24, 2020 If you are someone who is fascinated by all things futuristic, Ready Player Two is the ideal book. The sequel to the worldwide bestseller “Ready Player One,” which was released in 2011, the new book takes you through the unexpected quests and new realities of the future. As per the author, the upcoming book will have a different storyline, bringing in new elements. The book has garnered more attention because the first installment inspired the Steven Speilberg movie of the same name released in 2018. Fans are waiting for another film in the series. Books can add great value to your life and help you understand various perspectives and enhance your thinking. If you like this list or have recommendations that we should know of, please comment below!
READY PLAYER TWO BY ERNEST CLINE
EATING IN THE AGE OF DIETING BY RUJUTA DIWEKAR
Image Credits: Amazon Genre: Health & Fitness Release Date: November 16, 2020
A PROMISED LAND BY BARACK OBAMA
Image Credits: Obama Book Genre: Biography & Memoir Release Date: November 17, 2020 The former US president is still one of the most popular global figures, largely due to his acute understanding of global politics and opinions. Barack Obama puts together this first volume about his presidential years, taking the reader on a journey, from his earliest political days to being elected the 44th president of the United States. The book chronicles the journey of the first African-American to become president. and provides insights into some of his tenure’s most important decisions. If you would like to get an inside view on what it’s like to live in the White House, manage the most daunting of responsibilities, and enjoy moments with the family despite it all, this book is highly recommended. DECEMBER 2020 | SEEMA.COM | 71
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