By Rohini Mohan 

It’s a dark October night in Belgium. My son and his Fresh-off-the-boat-from-India mother are alone at home, in an American expat dominated Brussels suburb . The doorbell rings and I open without checking. A scary ghost and a wicked witch are at my doorstep. I belt out a terrified (and terrifying) scream. The ghost blanches and the witch jumps out of her skin. My astute 3 year old calmly asks “Mom, do we have any candy?” And so begins my inauspicious acquaintance with Halloween. Call it baptism by fire, 8 years of Jack’ O Lanterns and Trick or Treating later, I am now resigned to this yearly journey to the land of the dead. More »

Most of us living in the Bay Area felt the earthquake at around 8 p.m. Pacific time. Details on the quake can be found here. The 5.6 magnitude quake, centered 7 miles east of Milpitas, registered as just a quick shudder here in Fremont. For those of you still behind on your earthquake preparedness, do check out our earthquake article for tips and and a list of supplies.

Let us know whether you felt the quake and what your reactions were.

By Vidya Pradhan

Half-Indian, half-Japanese, stand-up comedian Dan Nainan has an act that is considered second only to Russell Peters. An ex-employee of Intel, Dan took a comedy class to help him lose his stage fright during technical demos and found his calling.(scroll down for a video of his act)

WNI caught up with Dan when he was in town recently to perform at the Home of Hope’s 10th annual fundraiser. In person, the comedian is affable, unassuming and approachable. More »

Foreword: The generation that grew up in India was privileged. We had the unconditional, loving care of our grandparents who practically raised us and played a big part in shaping our everyday lives. The generation that is growing up here in a nuclear, close knit environment has different memories - short visits separated by long absences, fleeting moments of being totally pampered, excited phone calls late at night and early in the morning, about spelling bees and and school trips and college admissions, sweet smelling gifts from back home of Amar Chitra Kathas and kaju katlis and Kurta pajamas. But the bond is as strong for them, the memories as sweet; it is the nature of this very special relationship between grandparent and grandchild….

Shalini Ramachandran remembers her grandad who would have turned 92 this October. More »

By Arvind Srinivasan

Gears of War is the greatest game ever invented. No joke. Graphically destroying an enemy in full armor with advanced weapons, stealthily moving undercover, could only have been the brainchild of a true genius. Indeed, the advent of violence in movies, video games, the internet, and the general media has been a blessing to my generation and the bane of parents. In fact, the prevailing theory is that it fosters a mindset of violence in my generation.

Furthered by irresponsible car accidents, school shootings, and DUIs that are blown up by the media, the popular belief seems to state that the availability and appeal of violence actually increases the likelihood that an impressionable teenager will commit a violent act. More »

By Rohini Mohan 

Religion is a way of life in India. Secularism was constitutionally thrust upon us and for better or for worse this intimately exposed us to the history and the ritualistic details of the various religions that have found a home there. In India, religion is in us and all around us. There is a temple or a mosque or a Church at every corner. Religion comes blaring out at us as devotional music from loudspeakers. It is in our textbooks in school; it is a big component of our cinema and is a huge part of our upbringing at home. We grow up with all these religions and we wear ours on our sleeves. More »

By Vidya Pradhan

“Look at it this way,” said a friend recently. “Text messaging has made written English irrelevant and learning historical and geographical facts has become unnecessary in a Wiki-world. That just leaves….math!”

While the Indian community has always been ahead of the curve in its obsession with math, public school education in the US has not always kept up with our interest in this department. A study by the Program for International Student Assessment showed that the 15 year olds in the US ranked 24th in the world in math literacy. By contrast, a story in Business Week titled “Math will rock your world” suggests careers in math are exploding.

No matter where in the US they find themselves, no matter what the quality of the neighborhood school is, Indian parents take the initiative to ensure that their children build a strong foundation in math. Here we take a look at some of the tuition options available to make sure your child is not left behind in the race to compete in math. More »

By Vidya Pradhan

“Californians should have the same attitude towards earthquakes that Mid-Westerners have towards tornadoes,” says Mary Biggs. “They will happen. We will move on.” A born and bred Californian, she has seen more that her fair share of earthquakes big and small. Mary is the Assistant District Coordinator for the Ardenwood Community Emergency Response Team(CERT) program. She helps the Fremont Fire Department and the Red Cross to train all the leaders in the community in how to run a shelter after a disaster. She is also a ham radio operator.

WNI talked to Mary about what to do when the big one hits. Her suggestions are useful across a broad range of emergency situations, where help from government agencies may not be immediately forthcoming. More »

By Vidya Pradhan

Subtitled ‘The Journey of a Woman’, LCMD is director Pradeep Sarkar’s second film after ‘Parineeta.’ After that film received critical and commercial acclaim, the director moved up, budget-wise, to helm his second directorial effort under the banner of Yash Raj Films.

In brief, LCMD traces the story of a young girl from a small town who is forced to become an escort after her family finds itself in dire financial straits. How her secret life impacts her family and future is the subject of the movie. More »

By Rohini Mohan

I’m a Wren & Martin kind of girl. Good grammar, perfect punctuation, the Queen’s English. That’s how I was brought up. So I had a different kind of culture shock when I moved here. If I were to describe American English I would say it is very ‘fit for purpose’. Pithy, funny and bordering on the hyperbole. But it communicates. More »