Halloween

the 31st of October was Halloween. For the past month, stores everywhere were decorated in the spirit of Halloween with cobwebs, spiders, vampires, carved pumpkins aka. Jack-o-lanterns,....Halloween is not an American tradition and was started here by the immigrants who moved from Ireland, England....It started of from All Souls Day. They believed that evil spirits were out that day and would put out food for the souls roaming around. it slowly moved to dressing up in scary costumes to fool the evil spirits so they wouldn't be harmed.
Anyways, we visited the Halloween Parade in New York ( not the ideal way to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on the same day )......didn't know what to expect when we left home...but was really fun to look at people dressed and guess what their costume was....We got to see dressed as kings, queens, witches, Harry potter..a couple of Marilyn Monroes, the fat guy in 'Family Guy', pirates, Lady Gaga, Roman emperors, and a whole lot more...special mention of the cutest baby dressed as Batman. the rain played spoilsport..so couldn't really focus on clicking pictures.
The parade was on 6th Avenue from Spring Street. I was amazed to see how people really spent time and money on costumes, make-up, etc. zombies with blood spattered all over, ladies in Victorian costumes and venetian masks.
I even saw quite a few Indians who were dressed up for Halloween. Some of these people don't seem to celebrate Indian festivals with the same fervour. I say this because an acquaintance mentioned that the Indian children in their building went around trick or treating...but a month ago there was no special celebration for Diwali. I also noticed on my facebook live feed that some of the Indians I know in the US have put up photos of Halloween celebrations and none at all for Diwali. It is appalling to see these people embrace this culture and forget their own roots.

Reality Television....

In the past week i have been watching the drama of the Balloon Boy Hoax....for those of you who haven't heard of this here's what happened....In Fort Collins, Colorado a couple with 3 sons realised that one of their boys was missing. The father had invented a balloon which was filled with helium and the family would test it everyday and see how high it could fly. On this fateful day, they thought their son was on the balloon when it took off. The Sheriff's department undertook a massive search operation. A couple of hours later the boy was found in the attic of their home. After a series of media conferences, appearances on all the news channels the Sheriff's department began to believe that the whole thing was staged. The parents were questioned, their house was searched and finally it was confirmed that the parents had been planning this for 2 weeks.
This family had already appeared on the show 'Wife Swap' twice and were shopping around for a new reality series.
On other reality TV news....Jon deposited the $ 200,000 he had taken from his joint account with Kate. He is also filing a petition to stop filming the show as he suddenly believes that it is detrimental to his kids' development.Jon doesn't want to work in a regular job. He is going to be in a new show called Divorced Dad's Club.
The Octomom Nadya Suleman is also going to be in a reality series.
TV Networks need to have an Ethics Policy. These new age parents want to make money off their children while subjecting their children to abnormal surroundings.
Networks need to have a policy that at any given time only one Reality show can be aired or stop having reality shows altogether.
it is sad to see all these children who seem to be surrounded by cameras all the time. wonder what their future has in store for them...

My belief...

Having done my entire schooling in Chinmaya Vidyalaya in bangalore where prayer was an integral part of the curriculum, I now look back and think about my belief in GOD
Where and when did it start ??
In School we begun the day with prayers. We prayed before lunch and again before leaving school to go home. I do not know how many of us took it seriously and prayed sincerely. As part of our regular tests and examinations we even had a test for this - Chanting. We were given specific portions which would include verses from the Bhagavad Gita, Bhajans, Vishnu Sahasranamam, etc. There were even inter-school competitions. Even before our Board Exams in Class 10, our hall tickets were given to us after an elaborate pooja ritual.
At home both my parents were deeply religious. During vacations we were taken to temples in Rameswaram, Kanya Kumarai, Madurai, etc. Festivals were celebrated with poojas at home and visits to temples. As kids my siblings and me were asked to help out - stringing flowers, cleaning the pooja room, anointing the threshold and the Tulsi Maadam with fresh turmeric and kumkum, cutting cleaning banana leaves for the special meal were some of our chores. My brother and I would watch the Ramayana and Mahabharatha serials on TV every week. We also read a lot of Amar Chitra katha books.
Some Saturdays my mom would light a Til lamp inside the Navagraha enclosure in the Ganesha temple near my house. Sometimes she would make Kesari Baath or Sundal to distribute as Prasaadam for Sankatahara Chaturthi at the same ganesha temple. I remember closing my eyes and folding my hands and reciting the prayers I learnt in school....but i don't know what I prayed for. There were annual trips to Tirupati. I remember the long queues and being impatient and constantly asking my parents when were getting out of the temple.
I remember my dad praying very hard when my mum was ill. I also remember very well the day I sincerely prayed to God when i couldn't bear to see my mum suffering. That same night she passed away after 4 years of battling with cancer. I wondered if God heard my prayers. Was that the day I truly began to believe in HIM ??
Today, I still remember some of my prayers from school. I pray everyday. it gives me peace and calm. I pray for good health, prosperity and harmony for my family and for everyone I know. In school we began the day by chanting the MahaMrtyunjaya Mantra.
Om Tyramabhakam Yajamahai
Sukhandim Pushti Varadanam
Uruva Rukamiva Bandhanaa
Mrutyor Muksheeya maamrutaat

Flushing

This past weekend I went to the MahaVallabha Ganapathi temple in Flushing, New York. After a really long train ride we had to take a bus. The temple is beautiful with Lord Ganesha being the main deity. Along the sides of the temple are other deities such as Shiva, Murugan, natarajan, Ayyappan, Lakshmi, Kamakshi Amman, etc. The temple's Gopuram is in the process of construction. The Navagrahas are yet to be consecrated and have temporaraily been placed in rectangular tray. On a Sunday afternoon, it was wonderful to see so many people at the temple. The temple also has a canteen which was even more crowded than the temple. The canteen had a menu which was mostly South-Indian fare, the dosa being most popular. I noticed that for many families it seemed like a popular destination for a full meal. We ordered the Mysore Masala Dosa and the Pondicherry Masala Dosa. After a 45 minute wait for our dosas to arrive, we devoured the dosas and thought of Home. We headed out of the door and bought some kumkum and Vibhuti from the shop next to the temple. We had to wait for our bus. Meanwhile I noticed another temple opposite the Ganapathi temple and went inside. This was a Raghavendra Swamy temple. After a brief prayer we were back outside waiting for our bus. The Q-27 took us back to the Metro station in Flushing where we caught the No.7 train to Times Square. The train was really crowded with lots of people returning from Baseball games and the U.S Open. Anyways, our trip to Flushing was quite memorable.

SRK

recently read about SRK's security check at Newark's Liberty International Airport....why is he making such a big deal out of this ?? I am currently living in USA and came here very recently....on my flight to New York there were many people of Islamic origin....at the immigration counter...there were many people who could not even converse in English with the immigration personnel....but they weren't put through any unnecessary frisks or checks...each of them was given the same amount of respect...Just last night Barack Obama hosted a Ramzan dinner and was talking about the contributions made by Muslims to America...everyone is treated equally here. why is it that the whole Bollywood brigade is talking about this ?? SRK, when u enter or leave any country...u r just another visitor to them...don't expect everyone to know who you are....When there is a security threat everyone needs to cooperate.....you are no exception

settling down.....

am still settling down in the new house......it has been a tough 2 weeks....finding it hard to not cry everytime i speak to my family back home....hoping that everything is fine with them....most difficult when i speak to dad...i sometimes feel he has so much to say but he also worries that I have been on the phone too long and am spending too much money....anyways the new house is nice...just a 15 min. ride to new York from here....nice to see the river from my window...take long walks on the riverfront....am i beginning to like living here ???

Memories of my mother.....

August 14th 1997
12 years have passed since my mom's demise......For 4 years she battled with cancer and she lost. I was 17 when she passed away. I still remember the day my parents came back from the doctor with the diagnosis and broke the news to my brother and me...my sister was really young..i don't think she understood. My mom broke down that day...she was scared because she didn't know who will look after us. That day changed our lives forever. Although I couldn't have understood how much pain she was in.....I did know a little bit of how it made her feel emotionally. Most of the good memories I have of my mother are before the cancer was found.
As a child i remember my mother with her face freshly smeared with turmeric, the trademark big, round bindi and wet hair tied into a knot. She was a really good cook. Before any festival she would start preparing sweets and savouries. I remember helping her when she made sweet poli and adhirasam. She would store them in big steel containers and distribute them among friends and family after the festival was over. When I was in my teens she would force me to wear pattu paavaadais/half sari for any function and fuss over me to wear the appropriate gold jewellery. She would force me to wear big, gold jhumkis which hurt my ears.
As children we were always made to help in household chores. I remember when my mum would take us to the market and we had to carry back baskets of fruits and vegetables. During vacations when our cousins would stay with us she would make us all sit around her in a circle. She would have a plate of food and she would make small balls of them and place them in our hand. When I was 10, I had an accident and my mum took such good care of me. These are some of the best memories I have of my mother.
I miss you, maa.....
I missed you when I got married. I missed you when i had problems and didn't have anyone to speak to. I missed you when your grandson was born. I miss you when other people talk to me about their mothers. I missed you when I saw dad feeling lonely. I hope someday when I have kids of my own I will be able to instil in them the values I learnt from you. It has been 12 years.
I still miss you, maa.....

friendly....

this weekend i went shopping........sounds exciting doesn't it ?? will blog abt the excitement later...anyways....what is it with Indians here ?? are they all this friendly ?? during this shopping trip complete strangers(Indians) approached us wanting to know where we were from.....how long have we been here ?? where do we stay ??....It was so weird......they would offer us their visiting card......invite us home....I am quite friendly by nature but I don't think I am comfortable giving my home address and phone number to a complete stranger.
In India I lived in an apartment building for the last few years and often felt that the neighbours weren't friendly enough.....the family living across from my flat wouldn't even smile at us when they were face to face with us......whereas the people i ran into during shopping were complete strangers who invited us home.......maybe living in a foreign country they yearn for contact with other Indians....yeah it is nice to hear someone on the train speak the same language as you....anyways all these NRI's are so friendly....it is nice and maybe they can teach a lesson or two to unfriendly neighbours back home...

far away from home....

it has been a month since I left India.....feels like it has been a long time since i said my goodbyes to my family and friends back home. Eventhough i email and call people back home and try to stay in touch.....the homesickness doesn't seem to go away.....there are days when it is really bad and some days i manage it well. When i wake up in the morning, I miss the smell of freshly brewed filter coffee wafting through the window from a neighbour's house, the smell of jasmine, the bell ringing during the Arati in someone's home, the Suprabhatam playing on a loudspeaker at a nearby temple and the list goes on........i miss my friends who would stop by for a chat....i miss my family who I would call everyday....i miss the sounds of everyday life in India.....I can hear the lawnmower and want to shut the window......Life in America

Child

Living in Chennai for the past 5 years, I have been seeing this beggar woman at a traffic signal near my house. She sleeps on the pavement while her baby is wide awake sitting next to her. I often see this and get worried that the child may crawl on to the road. Sometimes I see this woman at another signal feeding her baby with a bottle of milk. She takes great care to rinse out the bottle first. Once I bought her a packet of biscuits. She haggled me for money. I walked off. Another time I bought her some buns. Again she wanted more. In the last 5 years I haven't seen the baby grow. Is it the same baby she's been carrying around for the last 5 years ? Is this a beggary racket ?? I wonder who is behind this. At the traffic signal, there are children on their way to school in two-wheelers or cars. Their parents are giving them instructions to eat their snack, jot down the homework, etc. The children are accessorised with the latest in schoolbags....PowerRangers, Dora the Explorer, Barbie, etc.
I wonder what the child on the pavement is thinking........will he/she ever experience a normal childhood ??