When I first read the Joel Stein article the only thing that came to my mind was "funny". Nothing more or less and then when I slowly saw how the rest of my friends were reacting through social networking sites, my opinion formed. Why did everyoe get so hurt when Stein called our Gods multilimbed or our food spicy??
I think all of us have a little bit of racist streak in us. The tamilians dont like to be called telugu, the North Indians have their own opinion on the south Indians and the mallu & Singh jokes are never ending. There used to be a friend in grad school calling me chicken-worshipper.(Muruga swamy) And we dont stop there, the china-china's accent and food jokes, the jewish - well lets not even go there. Neverending. Its Ok to make small non viscous jokes. Its OK for someone ELSE to make fun of us. The indians here boast about their kids doing well in math and sci, being attached to their family and culture. Its OK if someone jokes about something like this. The whole point is, we are different. We cannot force Americans to acept and like our culture all the time. We dont either, thats why we have innumerable Patel Brothers, Hindu temples and Movie theatres. I am not asking everyone to shut up when a racist group attacks us, but just take a small joke.
The article was more on the lines of how a certain Deepa or Madhu would feel if T.Nagar is infested with... well even just plain vada naatu makkal (we dont even have to imagine outside India). Racist jokes will be all over the place!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The untold story....
To laugh a little bit harder....
To dream a little more wilder...
To live with a lot more spirit and
To die with a lot more content
Is my untold story, nobody ever listened to.
She was a 21 year old woman, raised to live with humility. To not think about beauty as though she possessed it. Marriage to her was not about an adrenaline gush. It was to hold hands and patronize each other. Her mind involuntarily decided what was suave, responsible and right. She grew up in humid Madras where Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar soared in the air and the discussion of mathematical patterns of music was as rampant as the monsoon, manga bathai and filter kapi. She grew up amidst cousins who let her feel intelligent and responsible. She entered trusting; willing and malleable. She entered with no skepticism. She lacked the skill of looking at life with it.
After decades of being happily married she still held her childhood memories tight and close; MS, Mohammed Rafi and the smell of nithyamalli on the porch and her story unfurling in her heart.
To dream a little more wilder...
To live with a lot more spirit and
To die with a lot more content
Is my untold story, nobody ever listened to.
She was a 21 year old woman, raised to live with humility. To not think about beauty as though she possessed it. Marriage to her was not about an adrenaline gush. It was to hold hands and patronize each other. Her mind involuntarily decided what was suave, responsible and right. She grew up in humid Madras where Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar soared in the air and the discussion of mathematical patterns of music was as rampant as the monsoon, manga bathai and filter kapi. She grew up amidst cousins who let her feel intelligent and responsible. She entered trusting; willing and malleable. She entered with no skepticism. She lacked the skill of looking at life with it.
After decades of being happily married she still held her childhood memories tight and close; MS, Mohammed Rafi and the smell of nithyamalli on the porch and her story unfurling in her heart.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Loneliness....
You always believe you are something unique. You can handle more than whats on the plate. You have handled long distance and loneliness pretty well; staying in another country and working your ass off on something that you love. Then it hits you, suddenly out of nowhere. When you have nothing to do; You have finished checking for the tenth time if the banana peppers have bloomed and if the photo on the wall is straight. Other women annoy you because you aren't like them waiting for you husband to be back for dinner. You are waiting for the random HR guy to call you back. You have a car and you can drive but you have none of those girl friends to hang out with. Its a city that you know no one in. No grad school buddies, no school friends, no athai, akka or anna either. Then your playlist tunes to playing Bharathiyar's lines in D.K.Pattamal's voice "Naam Irukkum Naadu Namathenbath Arinthom..Athu Namakke uriyatham endru unarnthom...." and then tears roll down uncontrollably.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Its Cancun Baby!
Hola! Buenos dias! Welcome to turquoise blue, white sandy beaches of the Carribean right on the shores of the Yucatan peninsula! Our ten day trip to Cancun was a well deserved vacation and a long awaited honeymoon. And we were not cheated even for a minute.Equipped with books that we wanted to read in a long time, shades, bathing suits and sun screen we hit the Carribean.
A must do thing at Cancun is to get lost, to experience true Mexico. Otherwise the "Zona Hotelleria" a part of land extending into the ocean as a narrow strip, is Las Vegas on one side and Hawaii on the other. Its buzzing with activity of swimmers, surfers, water skiiers during the day and party on the beach during the night. Not so much into dancing away till 2:00 AM, Sai and I would stroll into a leisurely walk by the ocean after dinner. Sometimes with moonlight, others with hooters and dancers.
Everyone you speak to will say, "Don't miss Chichen-itza" one of the wonders of the world. Taking their advice and wanting to tick mark a wonder, we visited Chichen-Itza - representing the left over of the Mayan civilization. With a guide who will not give up until he has provided an exaggerated version of Apocalypto, I for one ended up with a terrible migraine . It was a wonder nevertheless, could have been prettier if the temperature was 60 instead of 80.
In my opinion a must see spot was tulum, Mayan ruins by the beach. Mayans built it to protect their city of Coba from invaders and like other forts, was beautifully encrypted and felt like the walls had a story to tell.
While in the Carribean don't get carried away so much by history that you fail to jump into the ocean with your snorkeling gear. There were three things that I did for the first time in Cancun. One, snorkel, two para-sail and the third was to swim in the ocean. If you get over the initial fear of claustrophobia underneath the snorkeling gear, its a paradise of a world underneath. The coral reefs with schools of fishes, star fish spotting etc snorkeling is a must do. Fighting waves and trying to stay in place in the middle of the ocean, is a skill I haven't mastered yet though.
Locals in Mexico, are extremely warm and we were the target of many of their light hearted jokes. Being the only brown around, the "namaste" never missed our ears. But we truly felt at home with friendly and "nakal aduchufying" hotel hosts.
Shopping is a must thing in downtown Cancun at market28. Not for their prices but for the sheer experience of the colors and musicians on the street. With sai's poquito knowledge of Spanish and extremely warm shoppers/vendors around, we had no bad experiences.
And with that and list of things that were particularly special during the trip, I recommend Me-hi-co to all my native Indians.
1. We got lost after our natural aquarium trip and came to the hotel changing two local buses. The second local bus ( A little bigger and cleaner than Thiruvalluvar) drove the bus after his shift was over for almost forty five minutes - and the passengers were just us two!
2. Mangai (green kacha mango) is eaten with mexican hot sauce, and its lip-smacking.
3. Jose, the guide who complimented Sai extravagantly and respectfully for his "wife's beautiful eyes" left us behind on our way back from the natural aquarium park and we almost had to hiked our way back.
4. The four Mexican guys who accompanied us on our trip to Chiceh-itza, saved us from buying local road side tequila and were a lot of fun to hang out with.
5. The most beautiful dinner in a fancy restaurant by the harbour on a deck watching the yachts.
6. The pool which had lazy under water seats and Fernando to get our drinks and food. I miss that the most I guess.
7. Hard Rock Cafe, and Coco Bongo by the beach. So margaritas, awesome desserts and music by the beach.
8. Giant sea turtle sighting from 250 feet above the ground on our para-sailing expedition. By far my favorite. With bright light and an almost transparent bluish-green water, under water life can be seen so well from up above.
So here is a toast to well spent ten days. No visa required to Mexico if you hold a valid US visa!
Adios
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Fridays....
Friday is the day....
that usually starts with a brain storming lab meeting at nine followed by breakfast of donuts and coffee
that progresses into a seminar which ends in an extended gossip session followed by free Pizza lunch and a chattering bunch of us clearing them away
when there as a late afternoon discussion with the "big name" scientist - thouroughly refreshing and reinstalling our faith and fantasies in research
when Frank swings by to give in greenhouse news and more interestingly a few quick treats from the field
when I feel I have more time in the world to think about work, take breaks, read a book, walk around the lake and take the liberty to slip out of back door into the lawn to be on the phone
when an international movie is screened in studcenter
when Rec center is brimming with badminton players;so we vettis wait around for our turn to play squatted on the ground discussing - mostly people
when the evening air is filled with barbecue smoke from the latin american students
when geetha and I definitely watch a late night lousy movie with olive oil,fried food and a homemade shake
Fridays are definitely my favourite in Carbondale and today was special, being the last one here. Its almost three years since I moved into Carbondale. This place has seen my loneliness, joy, heart-breaks and success. I made my worst enemies and hand picked my friends. Its also the first time I got over my fear of water and learnt to swim, learnt to cook, learnt to bike uphill and learnt to handle stress(i think). Its by far the most beautiful place I have ever lived in with twilight falling through tall coniferous trees, huge lakes, deep dark woods and plenty of sunshine in spring and summer. Its the first time I have lived and enjoyed the four seasons. It is also the first time I survived without a television, for that matter with no means of entertainment inside the house. Here is where I learnt to let go of small things and hold on to bigger things. For the first time, had my own space, my very own home. For the first time learnt to appreciate myself, to be in peace with myself. I am going to miss everything about this place.
that usually starts with a brain storming lab meeting at nine followed by breakfast of donuts and coffee
that progresses into a seminar which ends in an extended gossip session followed by free Pizza lunch and a chattering bunch of us clearing them away
when there as a late afternoon discussion with the "big name" scientist - thouroughly refreshing and reinstalling our faith and fantasies in research
when Frank swings by to give in greenhouse news and more interestingly a few quick treats from the field
when I feel I have more time in the world to think about work, take breaks, read a book, walk around the lake and take the liberty to slip out of back door into the lawn to be on the phone
when an international movie is screened in studcenter
when Rec center is brimming with badminton players;so we vettis wait around for our turn to play squatted on the ground discussing - mostly people
when the evening air is filled with barbecue smoke from the latin american students
when geetha and I definitely watch a late night lousy movie with olive oil,fried food and a homemade shake
Fridays are definitely my favourite in Carbondale and today was special, being the last one here. Its almost three years since I moved into Carbondale. This place has seen my loneliness, joy, heart-breaks and success. I made my worst enemies and hand picked my friends. Its also the first time I got over my fear of water and learnt to swim, learnt to cook, learnt to bike uphill and learnt to handle stress(i think). Its by far the most beautiful place I have ever lived in with twilight falling through tall coniferous trees, huge lakes, deep dark woods and plenty of sunshine in spring and summer. Its the first time I have lived and enjoyed the four seasons. It is also the first time I survived without a television, for that matter with no means of entertainment inside the house. Here is where I learnt to let go of small things and hold on to bigger things. For the first time, had my own space, my very own home. For the first time learnt to appreciate myself, to be in peace with myself. I am going to miss everything about this place.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Say You're one of them
After realizing I was going to be stuck in Charolette Douglas Airport for eons, I decided to spend a chunk of money on an airport book store. I dont regret any penny spent on Say You're one of the them by Uwem Akpen. The cover of the book reminded me of "Nowhere in Africa", a German movie that I loved and that was one of the reasons for picking it. The book is a collection of short stories written by a Nigerian author and every story was worth at least 5 minutes of after thought.
All of us were victims of parents' poverty or wealth, experienced riots or war, made and broke friends along the way. All along, as kids, we thought we were responsible for everything that happened. Guilt always stayed. As adults we are able to shake off bigger sins than the small ones we could not as kids. In this tone, street life and human trade is captured well in this book with a hidden positive streak. It made the "shallow me" think a lot about how certain childhood incidents took different turns in my life, and how those turns dont not matter at all.
It was a wonderful read after a long time; and self picked too. I did not feel the 8 and a half hour flight delay!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Sixth sense?!
"Between the two of us either you stay or I stay, and I definitely want to stay” therefore shot him between the eyes and there he went.
My friend's neighbor’s pet had to therefore go. Her neighbor was a nice and friendly gentleman. Dean of a university, a “very intriguing person” she often says and really fe Until she discovered his pet. The entire neighborhood plotted against this innocent creature and killed him. That is some serious offence; you can’t kill someone’s pet. “That aint no freaking pet” she retorted... Didn’t they go to school, partition a page and learn the differences between wild and domesticated animals??
He is not the only one f’shore. I once met a really nice and sweet couple, who loved their hot summer morning sweat. Loved hiking and biking, fishing and camping. They have a nice and cozy home and were so normal that even my sister would not call them bi-polar. They have a tiny pond in their yard, where I first met their pet. She had often me told how her baby had a “nice personality”. When I saw the baby alligator, I said, “she better keep her nice personality. I don’t want to know otherwise”.
My cousin once had a run for his life when a dog chased him. Recalling was funnier than the dog chasing scene from Mozhi. He got seriously offended when we laughed at the story. I empathize now. Here, in the United States if you vaguely mention putting down an animal you become a bigger villain than all those Taliban put together. You feel judged. You can get away saying, “so can you drive to India or you HAVE to fly?” but you can’t get away saying, “I don’t like pets”.
My friend often says animals have a sixth sense that humans don’t. You need to just take a moment to “connect” and they cannot hurt a thing. Seriously, is there a surety, like AVTAR? I don’t want to make a wrong connection here with my four and a half sense.
I rest my case here. There needs to be paperwork done, and routine EPA checks to let people keep their “pets”. I can live with Christmas gifts and birthday cakes for dogs and cats, even make friends with giant squirrels, possums and rabbits. But a boa constricter?
My friend's neighbor’s pet had to therefore go. Her neighbor was a nice and friendly gentleman. Dean of a university, a “very intriguing person” she often says and really fe Until she discovered his pet. The entire neighborhood plotted against this innocent creature and killed him. That is some serious offence; you can’t kill someone’s pet. “That aint no freaking pet” she retorted... Didn’t they go to school, partition a page and learn the differences between wild and domesticated animals??
He is not the only one f’shore. I once met a really nice and sweet couple, who loved their hot summer morning sweat. Loved hiking and biking, fishing and camping. They have a nice and cozy home and were so normal that even my sister would not call them bi-polar. They have a tiny pond in their yard, where I first met their pet. She had often me told how her baby had a “nice personality”. When I saw the baby alligator, I said, “she better keep her nice personality. I don’t want to know otherwise”.
My cousin once had a run for his life when a dog chased him. Recalling was funnier than the dog chasing scene from Mozhi. He got seriously offended when we laughed at the story. I empathize now. Here, in the United States if you vaguely mention putting down an animal you become a bigger villain than all those Taliban put together. You feel judged. You can get away saying, “so can you drive to India or you HAVE to fly?” but you can’t get away saying, “I don’t like pets”.
My friend often says animals have a sixth sense that humans don’t. You need to just take a moment to “connect” and they cannot hurt a thing. Seriously, is there a surety, like AVTAR? I don’t want to make a wrong connection here with my four and a half sense.
I rest my case here. There needs to be paperwork done, and routine EPA checks to let people keep their “pets”. I can live with Christmas gifts and birthday cakes for dogs and cats, even make friends with giant squirrels, possums and rabbits. But a boa constricter?
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