By Vidya Pradhan

“Why don’t we help our own people?” asks Amrita Lokre, who along with friends organizes bone marrow drives in the Bay Area. If you live in this community, chances are that you have received an email from this bunch of committed people about a drive somewhere close to you.

The big push to get Indians to join the bone marrow registry started when friends of Vinay Chakravarty and Sameer Bhatia started an online campaign to encourage members of the community to come and get typed for a possible match. Both Vinay and Sameer suffer from Acute Myelogenous Leukemia( AML) a cancer of the blood which is treated with a transfusion of healthy cells from a matching donor.

For a Caucasian, the chances of getting a hit from the nationwide registry are 1 in 15 whereas an Indian American has a 1 in 20,000 chance of finding a match. Given our population in the US, the numbers are already against us (there is no registry in India yet and the few data that are available are not connected to the registry here).

What stops us from becoming donors? WNI attempts to demystify the process of bone marrow donation to address the concerns typical donors have. Continue reading →

Water No Ice is in the business of good writing. It is also in the business of expressing an opinion. We have had many young writers communicate their views through Water No Ice in the last months; Arvind Srinivasan, Samyukta Suresh, Aparna Balakrishnan, Shalini Ramachandran, Shana Dhillon, Divya Valluri…

The very first of our literary events, WNI is kicking off its annual essay writing contest for pre teens and teens. Here are the details;

Category 1:
For students in Grades 5, 6, 7, 8
Topic: If I were President of America

Category 2:
For students in Grades 9,10,11,12
Topic: Is America ready for a minority president?

Word limit: 1000 words

1st prize: Gift Coupons/ books of a total value of $50
2nd prize: Gift Coupons/ books of a total value of $30
3rd prize: Gift Coupons/ books of a total value of $20

Each category will be judged separately
There is no entry fee, but entries must reach us by January 15 2008 to be included in the contest

You can upload your entry directly on this website using our feedback form or email it to rohini at waternoice.com or vidya at waternoice.com ( please substitute the relevant character to make the email address work). Online and emailed entries must have all the details required in the entry form below. For those opting to send entries by snail mail, please make sure you include the entry form details. Here is the address for the mail entries. Entries by mail must be postmarked no later than January 13, 2008.

Water No Ice
34972 Newark Boulevard #164
Newark
CA 94560

Entrants must be residents of Continental USA (Hawaii and Alaska are excluded) and must be studying in the grades specified. The Judges’ decision is final.
All winning entries will be published on Water No IceSo sharpen your pencils and your imaginations and get started. What do you have to lose?

Water No Ice is interested in the writer in you…

WATER NO ICE ANNUAL ESSAY WRITING CONTEST ENTRY FORM

NAME:

DATE OF BIRTH:

SCHOOL( with phone number):

GRADE:

FULL ADDRESS WITH ZIP CODE:

EMAIL ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER (1):

PHONE NUMBER (2):

ESSAY TOPIC:
TO BE FILLED IN BY PARENT/GUARDIAN:

I CERTIFY THAT MY CHILD/WARD ___________(SPECIFY NAME) WHO IS PARTICPATING IN THIS CONTEST IS A RESIDENT OF USA (EXCLUDING HAWAII & ALASKA) AND IS CURRENTLY A STUDENT IN GRADE ________

NAME OF PARENT/GUARDIAN:

SIGNATURE :

By Rohini Mohan 

Boy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali really has it in for Dostoevsky. Either that, or ‘Black’ sucked all the creativity out of him.  Continue reading →

By Rohini Mohan 

1980 – 1990; my wonder years. No rat race, no decisions to make, no fires to put out. Oh it was fun growing up in the 80s. So many defining moments in history that we were a part of.  The Berlin wall, Rajiv Gandhi, Reagonomics, Ravi Shastri of the ‘Chapatti Shot’ fame with his six 6’s in the over and the Audi, Boris & Steffi, Paul Simon’s  Graceland. Continue reading →

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. Continue reading →

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.