Category Archives: Features

IPL tamasha – The Indian Premier League

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By Geeta Padmanabhan

Traditional cricket: five leisurely days (just days), white flannels, elegant shots, polite applause to copybook boundaries, verbal exchanges well within the parliamentary side of language, compliance to a flesh-and-blood umpire’s decision. Think David Gower. Or the great Sobers.

Radical cricket aka Indian Premier League’s 20T: evening & night shows, designer clothes, shots – over, above, across, beyond anything around the stadium (Elegant? What is it? Copybook? Which one?), verbal spats, fines, suspensions, sledging as an art form, electronic umpires, mind-boggling statistics and analyses, computer graphics, slick promos, glitz, movie glamour, cheerleaders, on-field commentary (yes, Parthiv Patel and De Villiers answered questions even as they were fielding, and controversies one-a-day.

Shock and awe for some. But for a nation thirsting for instant gratification, the IPL tournament is a perfect sun-downer. Continue reading →

A musical meeting of communities – Jashan-e-Baharan

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By Vidya Pradhan 

Given the fact that South Asians in the US have much more in common with each other than they do with their American neighbors, it is rather surprising that Indians and Pakistanis rarely intersect in the social stream. We have different celebrations, different grocery stores and different gatherings.

Gungun Kapoor Padala and Tariq Masood are taking a small step on Friday, May 2nd to bring their communities together in the Jashan-e-Baharan Musical Dhamaka at Chandni Restaurant in Newark, CA.

Gungun, who has been singing since she was a child, came to the US from Canada to work for a public relations firm. She took a musical hiatus when she married till she was asked to sing at a wedding and got rave reviews. While looking for a keyboard player who could accompany her professionally for other wedding shows, she came across Tariq Masood and his wife Shani who were bowled over by her talent.

Now the two are collaborating towards a musical evening in the season of Basant (spring), a season celebrated in both countries. Calling themselves IndoPak Basant, the group has put together an evening of eclectic performances from Gungun and Harjeet Mehndi( Daler’s brother). They plan a 3 hour non-stop performance of a variety of music from the subcontinent – from ghazals  to Bollywood songs to dance numbers. Afghani singer Farhad  Zada will present Rafi songs while kids perform choreographed dances in the background. Poet Noshi Gilani, whose verses have been put to music by artists like Ghulam Ali, will recite some of her work.

Check out this musical ensemble on May 2nd. Tickets are available at major Indian grocery stores and also at Sulekha.com. Here is Gungun singing Tu Meri Zindagi Hai

[mp3]gungun.mp3[/mp3] 

Jashan -e- Baharan 

When:May 2, 2008 at 7 p.m.

Where: Chandni Restaurant, 5748, Mowry School Road, Newark, CA

Tickets:  Presale $40 adults/$15 kids. Door $45/20. Dinner Included. Contact Shani 510-461-8463/ Kanika 510-456-5121/ Tariq Insurance 510-744-6900 WNI readers, mention Water,no ice and get your last minute tickets for just $30.

More info on Gungun can be found here. 

The BIG move back…..

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By Rajeev Minocha

Perhaps the x= x+1 syndrome has been around from the time desis started coming to the US. For the uninitiated, the x is the year in which the desi targets to return back and of course the value on the right side keeps changing and so does the time to return!Of late, however the value on both sides has become a constant and many are actually taking the plunge to return and many more are actively exploring. It is difficult to estimate the actual number of moves that have taken place, but a couple of sources have pegged this as 20,000 to 25,000 in the last 2 years.

The reason for this desire to move back is not hard to identify. Although some may cite personal reasons such as ‘my parents are aging’, ‘want to get the kids to understand the Indian culture before they become too old’, etc. but that is NOT the true reason. Parents have always been aging and the kids have been growing older. Continue reading →

Trends in Hiring in India

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Shreyasi Deb examines the trends faced by employers looking to hire a professional workforce in India. She is the HR manager for a start-up in Mumbai. 

There is a sea change in the way the new generation of Indians is joining the workforce. Though the larger socio-economic changes have affected all age groups of workers, there is a distinct generational difference between those who started working in the last decade or so and are in their thirties and the ones who are entering Indian workplaces now.

Continue reading →

A crusader for street kids in India- ADAA

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By Vidya Pradhan

Street Kids helped by ADAAWhen your car stops at a traffic light in India, invariably a swarm of street kids collects around it. Maybe you are an IT professional. Maybe you are a tourist. Either way, your pockets are jingling with change from your last meal or chai; change that is, for all practical purposes, useless to you.

It is so tempting to hand over that change to one of the raggedy street urchins. Maybe it will buy them their next meal, save them from having to hold their hand out for an hour or two. You get the warm glow that doing a good deed creates; they get a reprieve from their unhappy lives, even if it is for a short while.

What is wrong with this picture? Continue reading →

Incredible India

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By Isheeta Sanghi 

   Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Amritsar, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Mysore. That is the comprehensive list of cities that my friends and I visited last summer. It was a crazy trip, to say the least, not only because we crammed in Agra, Delhi, Amritsar and Jaipur into four days but also because of the lessons that were learned along the way. Continue reading →

Water, No Ice becomes more accessible

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Folks,

We have a new "Listen Now" button at the top of each post now. This is to make the website more accessible to people who may have trouble reading the print. You can also subscribe to the Odiogo feed using the button in the sidebar. This enables you to get our posts as a podcast or other auditory means.

There is bound to be some unintended hilarity as the American voice grapples with Indian names and our tendency to lapse occasionally into the vernacular. Also, videos embedded into the article will not be available through the feed. The best way to get around this is to keep the article open and cue the video when the spoken text gets to the point. Unfortunately, this is the technology that is available now( or at least as far as I can figure it out!) and we will keep updating as it improves. 

Do check it out and let us know how it works for you. And do spread the word to friends who may have hesitated to check out the excellent articles written by our contributors due to visual impairment.

Cheers,

Editor 

The Water, No Ice Honor Roll

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Folks,

We are a community that prides itself on the intelligence, talent and drive of its members. Our kids consider B's to be F's and one lone extracurricular activity to be a sign of sheer laziness. We are fast-trackers, entrepreneurs, marathon runners, volunteers, activists and entertainers.

To celebrate our overarching need to overachieve, Water, No Ice would like to start a monthly honor roll. We'll feature the milestones and achievements of you, your family members, your kids(especially your kids!) and your friends by featuring them in a post with the details you send us. It could be an academic, sports, professional or personal accomplishment.

Use our feedback form and don't forget to include the following –

– The name

– Achievement

– Location and date 

-As many details as you would like.

We look forward to spreading the pride! 

Community Calendar April 18th – April 24th, 2008

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Snippets

Water, No Ice is starting a monthly Honor Roll where you can send in details of achievements by friends, family and kids.

The India Community Center at Milpitas is planning a full time dedicated Table Tennis Center built to international standards. All donations towards the contruction of this center are tax-deductible. 

Essay Contest Update: The results are out! Check the Essay Contest page for the list. Prizes sponsored by Desi Knowledge, a great source for books, CDs and DVDs pertaining to Indian culture.

Registration for the Conversational Hindi Camp for the summer right away to ensure a spot for your child. 

It is also not too early to register for the Discover India Summer Camp, offered in three convenient locations in the Bay Area.

Tickets for Narika's South Asian Women's Conference are on sale now at www.narika.org. 

Aicon Gallery Palo Alto presents Middle Edge – A collection of contemporary  Indian artists.

Upcoming Events:

Tiruvidanthai – The Land of Divine Weddings

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By Swati Prasad Siddharth

The Lakshmivaraha Perumal temple at Tiruvidanthai in Tamil Nadu is one of the 108 Divyadesams – sacred places for Vaishnavites. The place is also called Sripuri , Varahapuri, Asurakulakaalanalloor, Nityakalyanapuri or Vamaghavipuri

About 42 kms of driving down the East Coast Road from Chennai, 16 kms short of Mamallapuram, we branch off to the right through a multicolored arch. A concrete road ends abruptly in front of a 15th century stone mahamantapam. Each of the 16 pillars in the mahamantapam is intricately carved. The dasavatharam or ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are very easily recognizable among the numerous figures.
Continue reading →