The California Cricket Academy may have had its share of drama and controversy over the years but there is no denying that it is the premier training academy for kids interested in cricket in the Bay Area. The disciplined and dedicated approach to the game has brought the organization a tremendous amount of success and I am passing on Kinjal Buch’s report on their fifth anniversary celebrations held recently.

Cupertino Mayor Dolly Sandoval with CCA volunteers

The California Cricket Academy (CCA) for youth is celebrating its fifth year anniversary this year by hosting the first international U-15 championship between USA and Canada U-15 team during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Since its inception in 2003, the academy has grown from 23 players to over 150 players. In October 2008, academy completed its fifth annual KeyPoint Cup tournament ( sponsored by the KeyPoint Credit Union) and organized the award function at Quinland community center in Cupertino. Mayor Ms. Dolly Sandoval gave a proclamation acknowledging the Academy’s achievements and assured the city’s commitment to supporting cricket as an alternative sport.

During the ceremony, the academy recognized players with outstanding performances as well as several sponsors and volunteers; program coordinator Ms. Priya Pradhan, Mr. Zain Jeewanji of G1G insurance, Mr. Mahesh Nihalani of Cupertino, Mr. Prashant Mehta of Brookside Inn in Milpitas and Mr. Himasnhu Vajir of Days Inn, Sunnyvale.

“We are proud to support California cricket academy for youth and looking forward to a stronger relationship for years to come”, says Helen Grays of KeyPoint Credit union.

Details of the Thanksgiving weekend tournament details between Canada and US  can be found on the academy’s website www.calcricket.org.  A live webcast of the event is planned on 27th of November. We expect over 10,000 cricket fans to watch the event in different parts of the country and world. Games will be played at the W.A. Wilson adult education center ground in Santa Clara on Benton Street and Dilworth Elementary of Cupertino school district on November 27th, 28th and 29th.  The academy will provide hotel rooms, lunch, dinner for the visiting teams thanks to kind support from its sponsors.

“Five years ago, my wife Kinjal and I established the academy with the goal of taking cricket to schools in Bay area and start first youth league in the country. We studied how AYSO and other youth sports league operate. We are proud that we have achieved amazing results,” says academy founder and Chairman of the USA Cricket Association western region chairman Hemant Buch. Now after five years, the academy has won national championships for last 3 years. 8 academy players have represented USA in international competitions and the academy has conducted tours of India and England, has organized the first ever interschool championship for middle schools in Cupertino and trained over 250 players. The U-13 team from the academy is all set to go to India in December of 2008 and will play 9 games in 12 days in different part of the country.

I last wrote about Jaman, the internet movie site, almost a year and a half ago. Despite excellent picture quality and a good collection of NFDC movies, I had pretty much passed up on the site because of the small library of Bollywood films.

In the past year, though, Jaman’s movie collection has improved significantly. There are now over a 150 Indian films available now, including some really popular ones like Devdas and Seeta aur Geeta. The rental price varies from 99 cents to $2.99 and the rental expires in 7 dys from the moment you click play and 30 days from the day you rent.

I spoke to Geetanjali Dhillon, the Executive Producer for South Asia. She was reluctant to share growth numbers and financial data( a financing deal is in the works probably) but seemed upbeat and confident about Jaman’s prospects in a Hulu/Itunes world. Certainly the company has been constantly updating the technology to emphasize the social networking component that is Jaman’s USP.

One such development is the Cinemaslots, a randomizer widget that lets you pick and share a movie with friends via social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace or by email. Then there is the Subtitler, which offers clips from movies that you can then subtitle and pass along to your friends( reminds me of the hilarious Telegu/Tamil song subtitled songs on YouTube, except it is up to your creativity.) One feature that has been discontinued is the sale of movies..I guess it just wasn’t very popular. But now there are a number of movies that are being streamed free.

Tie-ups with Eros and Shemaroo have boosted the Bollywood content and more Indian movies are in the works. “Bollywood is one of our most popular genres,” admits Geetanjali. The appeal is across country and mother tongue. Rentals still take a while to download but if you are in a hurry to watch the movie, you can get started right away – the progressive download feature makes this a breeze. The picture quality is as good as the original print of the movie ( better than DVD for sure). I had deleted my Jaman Player sometime over the last year and reinstalling took just a couple of minutes.

The Jaman team has been adding so many features and promotions it is hard to find them all on the website. Use the links in this article to make your way to the widgets. And if you are interested in a couple of free movies when you sign up, click here. It is a great way to carry some movies with you on your vacation and if you want to watch a movie this Friday with the family, an S-cable from the laptop to your big-screen TV can do the trick.( Or so I’m told!)

The Onion, as usual, got it absolutely right( is it satire if it’s true?). A video published shortly after the elections was titled “Obama win causes obsessive backers to see how empty their lives really are” –

After 10 months of poring over polls, gaffes and campaign leaks, the day after seems unpleasantly empty. Sure, for the political junkies in search of a fix, the blogosphere is trying to procure supply in the form of transition team tidbits, but there is a sense of desperation, as sites expressly created to cash in on campaign fever are suddenly waking up to the fact that their lucrative revenue stream has been capped overnight. Nowhere is the despondency more evident than in  comedy circles, where comedians are discovering how patriotic they really were when they wished for an Obama victory. I sensed a quiet panic in Jon Stewart’s eyes yesterday as he realized how difficult it was going to be to make fun of an Obama presidency.

Meanwhile congratulations continue to pour in from around the world celebrating the wisdom of the American people. But let’s not forget the millions of foot soldiers who phoned complete strangers, knocked on hostile doors, emailed and talked to friends and family till their voices were hoarse and their fingers were numb. And let’s give a little credit to the man who inspired them, a man born with a disadvantageous color and an unfortunate name who still dared to dream the impossible dream. Only in America.

Will things really be different this time around? Is the nation’s 8-year long nightmare finally over? Now we know it is not a matter of passively waiting to see what happens. President-elect Obama( I suspect the other two parts of his name will recede into the background when he is doing well and surface only in recrimination) has already begun the process of communication and transparency by inaugurating a site called change.gov which will be used to communicate with Americans who are thirsting for a say in how their country is run. And after a brief rest, many of the 3 million people who dedicated 10 months of their lives into his( and their) campaign will be asking, “Tell us what we can do for our country.”

Apparently, according to the disgruntled old Punjabi lady at the sweet shop, the Livermore temple got it wrong when it “declared” the 27th of October as the date for Diwali. And so, ironically, a lazy agnostic like me trumped the devout yesterday!

Diwali as a day for celebration has been creeping up on the Bay Area for the last few years. Of course Indian Americans have been doing their best to observe it at home, replicating the customs of their childhood with the help of lamps and sweets bought at price-gouging desi stores. But it has been slowly entering the larger public consciousness.

Credit to this must go to a few pioneers like jeweler Mahesh Nihalani and his friends, who successfully persuaded the Cupertino city council a few years ago to allow an official celebration. From all accounts the last few celebrations, including artistic performances and food fairs, have been great successes and the 10 percent Indian population of that city has managed to bring Diwali into the mainstream.

I experienced this first hand when my daughter’s 1st grade teacher ( in Fremont) approached me to do ‘something fun’ for the kids for Diwali. Bucking the general trend in the semi-Indian-ghetto neighborhood where we live, her class has only 3 Indian American kids, so any event would be novelty for the majority.

We dressed in our best Diwali morning and arrived at school carrying our supplies. The kids sat in a circle expectantly. The teacher, who has been encouraging the kids to learn how to say “good morning” in various languages, asked my daughter to go around the room greeting her friends in the traditional way. I had a lump in my throat as I watched her circle the carpet. “Namaste Anthony,” she began, folding her hands and bowing. “Namaste, Lori,” he replied, doing the same. “Namaste Clarissa.” “Namaste Lori.” “Namaste Sammy.” “Namaste Lori.”

I then read the Diwali story(ies) to the kids. It was a learning experience for me too as I had quite forgotten that there were so many stories associated with the long celebrations. The kids then colored the clay pots and rangoli designs I had brought with glitter and sequins. We ended with a small snack that one of the other Indian moms had supplied.

Back home, in the evening we drew and decorated a rangoli with colored chalk and lit lamps. The kids met their friends for some bootleg fireworks saved from July 4th, praying like we do every year that the neighbors wouldn’t rat us out. Our prayers continue to be answered, though there was a tense moment when a new firecracker unexpectedly exploded, making the classic rat-a-tat sound. We all held our breath for a moment as we watched the clouds of noxious smoke pollute the sky.

It is not hard to see why Diwali can capture the imagination of the open-minded American. Sitting between July 4th and Christmas, it captures the best of both events, combining the fireworks with the lights to make a memorable  event that bridges the celebratory gap. Maybe one day we will see public fireworks on the scale of independence day celebrations and more houses will be lit up on our street. (After all, the lights put up now can stay on the house till Christmas – what a labor saver!)

Till then, a very Happy Diwali and good wishes for the year ahead to all.

I’ve heard that some of my socially conservative friends are voting YES on Prop 8, the proposition that seeks to overturn the California Supreme court’s decision to allow gay marriages. This is my last ditch effort to convince them otherwise. I’m trying the Socratic method of Q &A to see if I can get my argument across.

“Why aren’t they happy with civil unions? Why do they want to call it marriage?”

Contrary to what you may believe, civil unions and domestic partnerships do not confer the same rights as marriage. Defining the contract between two people as marriage (and yes, marriage is a contract) allows the couple to be legally joined in the eyes of the Federal Government, which means they have the same rights as the rest of us when it comes to sponsoring the immigration of a spouse, filing joint tax returns and many other benefits that are available for married couples. Here is a good page on about.com which goes into these differences in detail.

“My kids are going to learn about gay marriage in school.”

This is a stupid smear with about the same amount of credibility as that anti-Obama ad that accused him of promoting sex education in kindergarten. Prop 8 has nothing to do with education and in California, parents have the right to opt their kids out of any education on health and family issues. I know this because the first time the subject of human biology and reproduction came up was when my son was in 5th grade and I was allowed to review all the materials beforehand to decide if it was appropriate.
The incident referred to in the scurrilous ad is as follows – A teacher in Massachusetts read a kid’s book about same sex marriages to her kids in an effort to promote diversity.  After parents objected, a bill was proposed to allow parents to opt out, a law that already exists in California. Notice that the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association both agree that Prop 8 has nothing to do with teaching in public schools.

“A decision like this should not be taken by the courts but by the people.”

Decisions that have to do with discrimination and equality cannot be taken by majority vote for obvious reasons. The Constitution of this country was founded on equality and over the years, judges have interpreted it in ways that ended discrimination one step at a time. One such decision allowed inter-racial marriages; another allowed African Americans to vote and be a part of the electoral process. If you are voting for Senator Obama for President, ask yourself – would it have been possible today if the courts had waited for the will of the majority to prevail?

“I am concerned that such open acceptance of homosexuality will encourage licentiousness.”

On the contrary, allowing gay people to marry and raise children binds them with the same social mores as the rest of us, encouraging the concept of long-term commitment and family. It lets children grow up in a loving two-parent relationship sanctioned by society that is more stable and harder to get out of, just like the rest of us.

Finally, imagine if the Luce-Celler Act of 1946( look it up) were put up to a vote today. It is within the realms of possibility that furious Americans, upset by the fact that their jobs are going overseas to India and China, could overwhelmingly vote to repeal it. And, if you were an Asian-American, that would be the end of your citizenship in this country.

The right of gays to marry is a right that has already been granted by the courts which recognized discrimination against a segment of the population and sought to correct it. Do not take away that right. As an immigrant, discrimination is an issue that you should be sensitive about and fight to end, even if those discriminated against make you uncomfortable.

Vote NO on Prop 8.

I don’t know if this has filtered out of the blogosphere and into the traditional media, but there have been some pretty ugly things going on at the various Republican rallies.

–    In one incident, John McCain asks the audience, “Who is Barack Obama?” The reply comes back from the crowd – “Terrorist!”
–    At a Palin rally, as she accuses Obama of ‘palling around with domestic terrorists’ ( referencing Bill Ayers) a voice in the crowd shouts, “Kill him.” Unclear whether the directive is against Ayers or Obama.
–    Today at yet another rally there are references to “hooligans like Obama and (speaker) Pelosi. McCain pauses, then says, “I think you may be right.”

Politics is, has been and will be a dirty game. Not even the founding fathers of the United States were good role models for clean campaigning. Thomas Jefferson hired a writer named James Callender to attack President Adams who wrote that John Adams was “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

Even Harry Truman is supposed to have said as he campaigned for Kennedy, “If you vote for Nixon, you’re going to hell!”

This year’s mudslinging seems positively tame compared to the outrageous rhetoric of elections past. Nevertheless, a cold shiver is going down my spine. Maybe it’s because I am an immigrant and a minority in this country. A scenario comes unbidden to mind of November 5th, when the sensible voters of this amazing country may have voted President Obama into office. Will the crazy crowds, whipped up to frenzy these last few weeks, have collective amnesia about the middle name “Hussein” that is being bandied around at every single public event? Or will mosques and gurudwaras( nobody ever said these crackpots were smart!) have to be on high alert?

It is not surprising that there are elements like these in civilized society; that is to be expected. What is disappointing is that the veneer of civilization is so thin.

What is disappointing is that politicians, whose job is to lead the country through troubled times, are not even trying to pour oil on the troubled waters. I certainly don’t blame McCain or Palin for the behavior of one or two nutcases at their events. But there is every evidence that they heard what was being said, and instead of elevating the level of discourse, kept quiet or agreed with the out-of-control elements in their base. That is sad and not a little shameful. Their tacit approval of these tactics may yet win them the election, but it will be a pyrrhic victory that will be celebrated in the shambles of a once-proud and great country.

While the rest of the Indian crowd is flashing dandiyas and twirling around in their ghagra cholis these couple of weekends, the Tam-Bram community in the Bay Area is quietly celebrating Navaratri with Golus, the collection of dolls arranged in odd-numbered steps.

I write this while recovering from an overdose of shundal, badam halwa, murukku and kesari, a culinary orgy that is going to take more than a few visits to the gym to correct. All the pretty salwar-kameez outfits have been put back in the mothballs, having been properly shamed by the display of kanjeevaram and raw silk sarees.

In a whirlwind tour over the weekend, I visited several Golus, meeting and catching up with friends who had taken the time out of their ultra busy lives to set up and decorate their tableaus, cook delicious sweets and savories and shop at the local craft stores for the all important vettalaipakku, which has evolved from the simple fruit, betel leaf and kumkum to goody bag proportions, containing little crafts for the kids and small household items for the married women.

My mother has an interesting theory about the origins of this tradition. Since girls used to be married off pretty early (as young as 7 years sometimes!) they usually carried their dolls and playthings with them to their new house. During Navaratri, they displayed all their precious possessions in creative ways, showing off their talents in sewing, cooking, music and art.

Only married women and unmarried girls are invited to the Golus, with the men and boys hovering around in the fringes and enjoying the food! The women sing the classical songs they have learnt over the years as they sit at the foot of the Golu and admire it.

The Golu, which is tiered in 5, 7 or 9 steps, represents in its purest form the ascendancy of man. At the bottom is the householder, tied to the mortal plane by the ties of marriage and social interaction. The Chettiar, or merchant, plays an important role in the householder’s life and is represented by a bobble-headed paunchy man and his wife. Dolls depicting various married couples are also auspicious. In the higher tiers, mythological stories and characters are presented. It is a great opportunity to tell the kids Krishna and Rama stories. The top tier contains the Trimurti, or the holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, representing the highest plane of existence.

Golus in India are incredibly creative. There was a recent craze for current-event Golus, depicting figures of George Bush and Osama bin Laden. But apparently the dolls have reverted to the traditional now, just bigger and flashier. Imaginative ladies use wheat and mustard sprouts to create little gardens and zoos, populated by play animals, and often have displays that spill over to more than one room.

Of course, here in the Bay Area, limited by access to new figures, the Golus are simpler, but no less enjoyable. My 6-year old daughter and I had a great time going from house to house and she was even persuaded to learn a small bhajan so she could sing in front of the displays. We successfully identified the Ganeshas and the Hanumans and used the peacock-feathered crown to figure out which dolls were the Krishnas.

The nine days of Navaratri, which celebrate the manifestation of Shakti, or the divine goddess, in various forms, are an opportunity for women to socialize without the constraints imposed by familial restrictions. For us, it was a chance to take a break from the mundane chores of shopping, school drop-offs and soccer games and revel in the friendships and sisterhood that sustain us through the rest of the year. We dressed up, we chatted, we sang and we ate. Can one ask for more from a special occasion?