By P.R. Ganapathy
On my ride to work recently, I heard an NPR interview on the subject of fuel conservation. The experts on the panel offered some tips for improving fuel efficiency while driving, and so I decided to try them out. Like most people out there, when fuel climbs to $4.87 a gallon I can't change my car to a Prius; I'm just going to have to do more with less.
Here are some of the suggestions they offered, and my experience trying them out. More »
 Loading ...
|
Snippets
Here is a list of all the 4th of July events around the Bay, compiled by the San Jose Mercury News.
Put in your job listings for free in the Water, No Ice Job Board. Ask us how.
Don't forget to send in your entries for our July Honor Roll. We want to display the achievements of your friends, family and members of the community.
State Farm presents South Asian Spelling Bee contest in association with Western Union and Makemytrip.co. Be sure to register your child. Contest open for kids below 14 years of age. Registration ends July 27th for the Bay Area.
AICON Gallery presents the sculptures of Mayyur Kailash Gupta from June 13th to July 12th.
Upcoming Events:
Loading ...
|
By Jaya Murthy
When they hit a midlife crisis, men buy cars; women hike!
 At my 43rd birthday this February, Meena, another 40+ friend asked "So what are we going to do different this year? Let's climb Half Dome!" The rest of us, who have run no marathons, half marathons, triathlons or bike races, looked at her like she was nuts and told her so. That evening we laughed it off as an impossibly high goal and forgot all about it.
The Prep
But my friend persisted. And before we knew it, a bunch of us, convinced we were absolutely crazy, were shivering at the base of Mission Peak(MP) in Fremont on a freezing March morning in the pitch dark at 5:30 a.m. It was a nose-numbing 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Huffing and puffing, with some motivational spiel and lots of chattering, we made it up the boring switchbacks to the top of MP. The 360 degree views of the Bay Area communities, the water and its bridges and the verdant hillsides made the climb worthwhile. The near 4-mile hike did leave our untested muscles achy and tired the next day. More »
Loading ...
|
By Vidya Pradhan
 Manjula Gupta is no stranger to philanthropy. Once a software entrepreneur in the valley, she became involved with the American India Foundation (AIF) in its nascent years. As a volunteer Chair for the India Community Center, she worked to bring the community together by starting programs such as the weekly karaoke club. In the course of her varied experiences, she tapped into the rich vein of philanthropy that runs through the successful Indian American community in the Bay Area. “There are so many Indian Americans doing amazing work,” she says. “I found that there was a need to give them a platform.”
When the mayor of Milpitas approached her to start a community based program, she found her calling. "Chai with Manjula", a TV show focusing on Indian American good Samaritans, now airs in 11 cities throughout the area.( More cities are being added.) More »
Loading ...
|
By Vidya Pradhan
“15 bucks!” was my outraged gasp at the flea-bitten Cinedome East in Fremont yesterday. Yes, inflation is up all around, but over-pricing the already dubiously valued movie ticket is something really hard to stomach in these days of 5 dollar gas and 18 dollar atta sacks at Indian grocery stores.
The reason I discovered, courtesy the under-employed youngster at the movie hall, is that the filmmaker has decided this is what the movie is worth, going retro in the age of 99 cent songs and free movie downloads. Not surprising – the movie went over its budget of Rs.130 crores( about $30 million) and is now considered the costliest Indian movie ever made.
Well, I shelled out 30 bucks for my 12 year old and myself and entered the theater for a very private screening – there were just 2 of us inside. The same pimply youth at the counter had to be summoned to start the movie. We settled down with popcorn to see if we would get our “paisa vasooled” .
We did. More »
Loading ...
|
Sharanya Krishna Prasad
 Sharanya Krishna Prasad has been committed to environmental and animal causes since her early years. She is originally from Madras in south-eastern India, where as a student she volunteered with various community-based organizations that spread awareness on issues such as wildlife conservation and protecting Madras’ beaches from pollution. The more she learned from these experiences, the more simple yet effective lifestyle changes she chose to make for the sake of the planet and all its inhabitants.
There are many simple changes everyone can make in their daily lives. It is not as hard or expensive as it may seem. I am listing all the things that I personally follow as well as some ideas for people to think about. I have dealt with it in terms of each room in the home. More »
Loading ...
|
By Priyanka Gupta
 Walking into the Aicon Gallery in Palo Alto (previously Arts India West) I was confronted with numerous heads all staring back at me. Some mounted on the wall and some on the ground. The works of Mayyur kailash Gupta explore the inherent beauty in the most feature-filled personality-laden form of the human body: the face.
The artist Mayyur speaks of his works, ‘I always arrive at my work from my own temperament and environment. Faces always attract me. I pick features and faces from people I pass by everyday or during my travels. I believe in the tactile quality to my work. I want people to want to touch my works.’ He goes through the process of constant sanding and resting and sanding again to get the exact feel that he wants. His material too invites the viewers to touch them. The soft wood heads like ‘Apsara’, ‘Guardian’, foil covered heads like ‘two friends’, graphite painted ‘for her’ and ‘head on head’, they all invite touch. More »
Loading ...
|
By Vidya Pradhan
As a director, Ram Gopal Verma has been curiously schizophrenic. The maker of such acclaimed movies as Satya, Rangeela and Company tends to go off the rails whenever he goes on an experimental path or panders to his latest obsession (Antara Mali, Nisha Kothari). It can be hard to believe that the same guy who produced and directed Shiva could have come up with a clunker like Daud.
Luckily, Sarkar Raj falls in the former category. Anchored by the “inspiration” of the Godfather movies and exploring the familiar territory of Mumbai’s underbelly, the movie rings authentic and is a taut, compelling piece of work. More »
Loading ...
|
By P.R. Ganapathy
Like lots of Indians, I was brought up vegetarian by my vegetarian parents. When I reached adulthood, I stayed vegetarian, and even experimented for a few years with its more extreme version - becoming vegan. My wife is vegetarian too, so our 5-year-old son doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. At this time. Or so we think.
The first big dilemma we faced is whether we should bring him up vegetarian or not - at least till the age of 18, at which point he's free to make his own choices. Several friends (most of them non-vegetarian) feel we're being unfair; denying him choices and biasing him so that he's more likely to stay vegetarian at 18 than turn non-veg. If fact, for this same reason, some of our vegetarian friends allow their kids to eat the occasional Chicken Nugget.
The second, more frequently faced dilemma, is how to answer his innocent question about why he can't also get a plate of Chicken Nuggets when we're eating with friends at a restaurant. We grope for an answer that his 5-year old mind can grasp, and yet one that does not cause him to judge his meat-eating friends harshly.
There were several approaches available to us, ranging from diktat ("This is the way it is") to empathy ("We like animals and don't like to kill and eat them"). Explanations based on distant religious diktats ("We don't eat meat because we're Hindus") were unlikely to cut much ice, given that we're not at all religious in the first place. The health benefits are perhaps too complex for a 5-year-old to grasp.
We chose the empathy argument, and thus far, it has worked well. He showed a natural affinity for animals in general, and farm animals in particular. The occasional trip to Ardenwood Farm, Happy Hollow Park or Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay to gaze at the benign goats or chicken reinforced that affection. It also increased his recognition that these animals were sentient beings with feelings and emotions and therefore, killing them was wrong.
If fact, Vegan society websites recommend this sort of approach, but their tone strikes me as being too strident, too righteous. I fear that when he views his and his friends' actions through this lens, he'll end up judging himself "good" and his friends "bad". That's not the sort of judgmental attitude I'd like him to develop. I try to keep emphasizing that his friends are free to make their own decisions, but I dread the day when he asks a friend "How can you kill and eat an animal?"
Suggestions, anyone?
Loading ...
|
By Aarti Johri
Hindu mythology is overflowing with tales. From the epics, to the Puranas, to folk lore, each family has its own endless treasure. My own favorite is a no-name one, or one that my mother would simply call “Asha, Pyaas, Neend, Bhook”. This translates in English to “Hope, Thirst, Sleep, Hunger”. More »
Loading ...
|
|
|
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
