Yearly Archives: 2008

The Support System

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By Isheeta Sanghi

I read The Namesake when I was in my first year of college. It was a very delicate time in my life, as it is in the life of any college going student. I was separated from my parents, not simply by state borders but by countries and oceans. College is a very important time in life because we can reflect, and really think about what it is that we want for ourselves and our future. After reading The Namesake, however,  I didn’t think so much about myself relating to the character depicted by Kal Penn in the celluloid version of the story, but rather I thought more about Ashima and her story, and how I could relate all of her experiences to what my Mother must have experienced, moving to a different country after marriage.

Though my Mom grew up in the metropolitan city of Delhi, and had elder sisters who were married, two of whom had already made the journey westward, and was well educated, the fact remains that when someone is taken out from their natural surroundings naturally life becomes tough. I don’t know much about my Mothers past, but what I do know is that I could picture her standing by the stove cooking beef for the first time in her life, crying because she had grown up in a vegetarian household, and had to bear a smell that was devastating to her. I could picture her standing innocently by a street light not knowing that in order for her to cross the road she had to press the button on the pole. I had a sinking feeling in my heart throughout the book because Jhumpa Lahiri has so beautifully depicted those emotions that I’m positive had been felt by my own Mother. Continue reading →

Summer crafts for kids: Mixing Colors

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By Rennu Dhillon

Craft/Experiment 1

Goal: To learn about primary and secondary colors.
Materials: food coloring (red, yellow, blue), corn syrup, 2 paper plates (not
the plastic plates but paper plates)
Procedure:
1. Mix each food color with the corn syrup so you have 3 colors – red,
yellow, blue in 3 separate dishes or bowls.
2. Take each plate and using a pencil divide the plate into 4 parts or
quarters – e.g. like an apple into 4 parts.
3. Using finger painting techniques you will spread the paint in each
fractional part.

Plate 1 – finger paint red into one part. Now mix red and blue and paint thisinto the other part and see what color you make. Now mix red and yellow
paint into the 3rd quarter. See what color you make. Now mix all 3 colors
into the 4th quarter and see what color you make.
Repeat the steps using blue and then yellow.
Look at the different colors you have created. To be really adventurous, take
some white paint and mix in to create different shades or tints of the same
color. Write down the colors you make.
Yellow + Blue = Green
Red + Blue = Purple
Red + Yellow = Orange

Craft/Experiment 2


Goal: Make a Color Wheel using primary and secondary colors
Materials: Paper plate, red, blue, yellow paints, brushes, water.
Procedure:
1. Take a paper plate and draw a circle about the size of the plate. Now
divide the circle into 12 sections or slices.
2. Color code each section as shown in the picture.
R- red
RO –red Orange
O- orange
OY – orange yellow
Y – yellow
YG-yellow green
G-green
BG – blue green
B- Blue
BV- blue violet
V- violet
VR – violet red
3. First paint the main primary colors into the sections – Red, Yellow
and Blue.
4. Then mix equal part of red and yellow into the RY section and see
what color you get? It should be orange. Take that new color and paint
it into the section labeled O.
5. Repeat the exercise with each color and color combination.
6. You will create a color wheel that you can dry and keep forever.
Bonus: Experiment mixing several colors and create your own shades
and tints.

Rennu Dhillon is the founder of Genius Kids Inc, “Never 2 Little 2 Learn”. Dhillon has a
BSc. in Pharmacy, DSc. Naturopathy. She has combined her education and experience to
develop an award winning curriculum at Genius Kids, a very hands on learning program
incorporating a full academic curriculum to include public speaking, drama, science, art
and cartoon art to children ages toddlers to K.

Generation "O"

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By Vidya Pradhan

Her grandmother is Indian; grandfather Jamaican. Her father is Italian/Caucasian. No prizes for guessing who she’s supporting in this year’s Presidential elections in the US.

23-year old Meena Harris is part of Generation Obama, a media and technology-savvy group of young people who are changing the dynamics of politics and political campaigning in this country. Continue reading →

The Return of the Pishvee

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By Aarti Johri 

First things first, what is a pishvee? A pishvee, in Marathi, is nothing but a square piece of coarse cotton cloth, or jute, stitched together with a foot long handle, and slung on the shoulder. In other words, it is nothing but a re-useable, definitely re-cycleable bag that reduces the use of innumerable plastic or paper bags. In the city of Pune, where I grew up, it is slung carelessly over the shoulder of every housewife as she does her daily purchases. It is seen on bike riders, on overfull buses, on scooters, and in the energy efficient but pollution causing auto-rickshaws. I would dare to guess that even in the air-conditioned “Marutis” and “Toyota Quallises”, somewhere amongst the fancy Shopper’s Stop and Bombay Store paper  or plastic bags, there lies a folded “pishvee” made of humble cloth. Continue reading →

Obama vs. McCain – Foreign Policy and the Iraq War

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By Vidya Pradhan

It has long been a political cliché that Democrats are stronger when talking about the economy and Republicans own the foreign policy arena. This year, the Democratic candidate, bolstered by his prescient opposition to the war in Iraq, is taking on the Republicans on their home turf saying famously, “If George Bush and John McCain want a debate about protecting the United States of America, that’s a debate I’m happy to have, anytime, any place, and that is a debate that I will win, because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for,” As I write this piece, Senator Obama is in the Middle East, seeking to shore up his credentials against an opponent who is a veteran of the Vietnam War. 

With astonishing serendipity, recent events on the ground, notably Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s support, are bearing out Senator Obama’s longstanding policy position, namely that a withdrawal in Iraq is necessary if terrorism is to be combated in Afghanistan. A poll conducted on July 22nd showed that 60% of Americans agree about a timetable for withdrawal.

Here are the two candidates on foreign policy and Iraq. Continue reading →

Kismat Konnection – Missed Opportunity

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By Vidya Pradhan

An American on a steady diet of Hindi movies may be forgiven for thinking that most Indian men are called "Raj Malhotra" – a name that is popular in Bollywood these days in the way Vijay used to be a couple of decades ago. 

Even the heroines have some pretty standard names – Pooja for the A-list and wannabe A-list, Priya for the low budget movies and Aditi for the offbeat ones.  Kismat Connection tries very hard to be offbeat and quirky, though it does not seem very low budget, and is completely undone by pedestrian direction and a weak script. Continue reading →

An en'chant'ing CD for your kids

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By Vidya Pradhan

For Hindus, the single syllable “OM”, repeated the right way, represents the creation of the universe and the sum of all existence. Om is a mantra, a hymn( shloka) or phrase that is supposed to raise consciousness when recited over and over. Mantras have power and meaning independent of the understanding of the person chanting them if chanted the right way, so say the scriptures. Nina Patel has experienced this for herself.

Continue reading →

Making the most of game shows on TV

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Ok, I admit it. We are a family addicted to game shows.

In the TV pantheon, shows pitting contestants against each other in contests requiring obscure skills rank just above reality shows involving manufactured romances and dubious talents. They are cheap to produce, require very little intellectual input and if you hit the jackpot, draw viewers in the multiple millions.( “American Idol” is probably the best example.)

When the intellectual age aimed at by these shows it is pretty low, it is not surprising that kids are so strongly attracted to them. We started off becoming regular viewers of “Wheel of Fortune“, a game show somewhat patterned around the popular kids game of “hangman”where you have to guess a word by working out the letters. The rationalization was that anything to do with alphabets and the English language could not be all bad.

Now we have moved on to a couple of shows that are possibly the other end of the spectrum from WOF – “American Gladiators” and “Wipeout”, both shows requiring physical strength and agility on the part of the contestants. It happened when we left the TV on a few times after WOF, alas, the kids were quick to pounce on the opportunity afforded by prime-time television.

After much soul-searching, the mom in me has decided to make the most of my children’s affection for these shows. Having trouble getting my daughter upstairs to bed? Why, the stairs have become the “Travelator “( a steep slope that contestants in “American Gladiators” have to climb up just before the finish). My 5 year old is thrilled that she can beat her mom everyday! Dawdling at bedtime routines? Just put a time challenge. “I broke my 2 minute record today, mom” she crows delightedly. My frequent trips to the gym have convinced her that I am secretly training to be a “gladiator”.

I wish.

With my surly pre-teen, the rewards are more subtle. Having hit puberty a little early, the 12 -year old has decided that he, Garbo-style, “vants to be left alone”. Evenings are punctuated by the slamming of his bedroom door, behind which( I hope) he reads and listens to music. “Gladiators” draws him out of his cocoon, as he condescends to sit with his embarrassing parents and converse knowledgeably on the vital statistics of the steroidal super-humans on the screen. While watching “Wipeout”, he very astutely remarked that it was less a show about seeing contestants pit their skills against various obstacles and more a comedy about people making fools of themselves. Sniff..my baby is growing up!

So we come together as a family, starting 7:30 p.m. every weekday, and spend an hour or two putting aside our differences in age, temperament, inclinations and intellectual ability to revel in the spectacle of other people’s ambitions. Dinner gets consumed in record time and I am now given some serious respect as a word-guru( thank you Pat and Vanna) . My daughter gets plenty of cuddles from both parents and I have ventured to give my son a hug or two while he is still within reaching distance.

Maybe we’ll get tired of dumbing ourselves down one day. “Jeopardy”, here we come.

Obama vs. McCain – Energy and environment

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Now that the Presidential nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties have more or less been determined, we think it would be useful to compare and contrast the two candidates on their positions and voting records on various issues. Before we begin, though, here is a video for those who are wont to take this election season more seriously than it deserves( courtesy JibJab)

Here are the two candidates on energy and the environment.

Update( Aug. 15, 2008):Senator Obama, recognizing the importance of offshore drilling to the American electorate, has signaled his support for a bi-partisan energy initiative that includes a limited amount of offshore drilling. The initiative is brought by the group calling itself the "Gang of 10" and contains a fast-track approach to reducing American dependency on foreign oil. Sneator McCain has not yet backed this plan.

Update 2( August 24, 2008): Here is an excellent article that outlines McCain's voting record on key aspects of clean energy.

As Senator Obama's alternative energy policies( and consequent job generation possibilities) gain traction, we've been seeing a gradual shift by the McCain campaign towards the same. To the casual observer, it may seem that there is not much difference in the two candidates' policies ( even the pictures of windmills on their ads are the same!) so it is worth looking at their voting records on the environment and seeing if they walk the walk. It must be emphasized that the League of Conservation Voters give the two candidates very different scores on their voting performance.

Continue reading →