Congratulations, Mr. President

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For once, the cool and calm Barack Hussein Obama tripped over his words as he took the path of office as the 44th President of the United States. Congratulations Mr. President, you take office at a momentous time, an enormous burden on your slim shoulders.

The hopes and dreams of not just 300 million Americans but the entire world, beseiged by terrorism and beset by economic failure, rest on this humble but confident man, who genuinely believes he can bring us all together.

Such are the expectations from the new President that, on the eve of his inauguration, a poem from Yuddha Kanda, the Ramayana’s book of war, describing Rama’s reign seems appropriate-

And tis told by ancient sages, during Rama’s happy reign,
Death untimely, dire diseases came not to his subject men,

Widows wept not in their sorrow for their lords untimely lost,
Mothers wailed not in their anguish for their babes by YAMA crost,

Robbers, cheats, and gay deceivers tempted not with lying word,
Neighbour loved his righteous neighbour and the people loved their lord!

Trees their ample produce yielded as returning seasons went,
And the earth in grateful gladness never failing harvest lent,

Rains descended in their season, never came the blighting gale,
Rich in crop and rich in pasture was each soft and smiling vale,

Loom and anvil gave their produce and the tilled and fertile soil,
And the nation lived rejoicing in their old ancestral.

Good luck Mr. President, we are with you.

Eternal vigilance

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As a terrific article in Vanity Fair points out, eight years ago –

On the day of the inauguration the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, declares a moratorium on the Clinton administration’s last-minute regulations on the environment, food safety, and health. This action is followed in the coming months by disengagement from the International Criminal Court and other international efforts.

And as the Bush administration slinks away in shame –

As the administration prepares to leave office, it promulgates a raft of “midnight” orders to weaken environmental, health-care, and product-safety regulations. The unemployment rate is nearly 7 percent and rising. Income inequality is at the highest level since the 1920s. As of a week before the election, the stock market had lost a third of its value over a period of six months.

This is the circle of political life – a constant battle between opposing forces that is fought with human and environmental chess pieces. The Nation has a reprint of an article from March 8, 1933 which is eerily prescient of this battle. The article is called “A Farewell to Republicans.”

For twelve years the Republican Party has been in power. During ten of those years it controlled the executive and legislative branches of the government. When, a few years hence, an attempt is made to minimize the disaster of this last quadrennium, and to point to a preceding eight year period of material development and growth, let it be noted that in a purely material sense the American people are much worse off today than they were twelve years ago. Far more than was gained has been swept away. Savings have been dissipated, lives have been blasted, families disintegrated.

Misery and insecurity exist to a degree unprecedented in our national life. And spiritually the American people have been debauched by the materialism which made dollar-chasing the accepted way of life and accumulation of riches the goal of earthly existence. The record of Republicanism must be judged as a whole, although, in fairness, the consequences of the World War and the major responsibility of the Democrats for putting the United States into it must not be forgotten. The Republicans were as eager to make war—and both parties continued, until well after the crash, to be proud of their attitude in 1917. Moreover, economic disaster has been only a part of this sterile decade’s legacy, the burdens of which will descend to unborn generations. Our worthiest traditions have been impaired; vital tenets of American life have been destroyed.

On his first day in office, President Barack Obama will face a challenge much like the one FDR did 75 years ago. His first few acts will be to swiftly unravel the executive orders of the previous administration that embarrassed a once-glorious nation and endangered the world. He will put in motion orders to close Guantanamo, end the Iraqi occupation, restore environmental protections and sanctions and reintroduce regulations that check corporate greed and malfeasance. Maybe the valiant efforts of his administration can pull America out of the abyss it is in right now.

So can we expect that eight years from now,  the American public will once again succumb to the honeyed promises of the Republican Party as they, in their selective amnesia, fault the Obama administration for massive government spending and increased government interference in business? I can just visualize a scenario where the country, once again on a even keel, will be ripe for a message of fiscal conservatism and lower taxes from the same bunch of crooks that brought us to our knees today.

History is proof that we never learn our lessons. With a 278 billion dollar surplus in 2000, we chose not to continue with the administration that kept America safe and strong, getting distracted like children by the three-ring circus of the Clinton impeachment trials. Be sure that these distractions will continue to be manufactured, because that’s all the Republican Party in its current shape is capable of.

Don’t believe me? Here’s what Ken Blackwell, RNC Chairman candidate and former Ohio Secretary of State argued in his opposition to the reinvestment and recovery stimulus plan promoted by President-elect Obama.

…most federal employees, that are not political appointees, vote Democrat. Since Washington, DC is the seat of government, whenever new federal bureaucrats are created many live in Maryland and Virginia. In 2008, Virginia went Democrat for the first time since 1964, and Mr. Obama won it by 130,000 votes. Creating 600,000 new jobs might help cement Virginia in the Democrat column, making it harder for Republicans to retake the White House.

The only way we can stop history from repeating itself is vigilance. The interest and activism we brought to the this election cannot die down as American corrects course. While there is a strong temptation to put the Bush years behind us as a bad dream from which we are slowly awakening, we must never, never forget. And we must stay engaged in the business of governance, in our communities and in the politics of this re-emerging phoenix.

Take the first step today. Log in to USAService.org to find a community event near you that you can participate in, however briefly. I plan to take my kids to a book drop-off event in Palo Alto – an event that benefits one of the poorer schools in the community. If you have more time, you could participate in a clean up of local parks or volunteer at a shelter. Take that first step.

The kindest people on earth

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H/T Balloon Juice.

Leon Logothetis, whose show “The Amazing Adventures of a Nobody” airs on Fox Reality Channel, is a Briton who travels around the world on a really, really low budget( in the US it is $5 a day). He describes his adventures roaming the US hinterland in an interview with The New York Times. An excerpt:

What’s the most stunning act of generosity you’ve received?
I arrived in Indianapolis. I’d met an old lady on the train with her husband, and they put me up in a hotel. But that wasn’t the act. I woke up the next morning and I was chatting with this younger lady who had a 1-year-old son, and it turns out that she lived in Chicago. And she said to me — and this was within the first five minutes, I’m not exaggerating — she said to me, “If you can find your way to Chicago, I will give you the only set of keys to my house. You can stay in my house. I will be back the next day. Leave the keys in the flowerpot, and you can stay in my house. There’s chili in the fridge.” At the end, when she gave me her keys, she then said to me, “So, sorry, what’s your name?”

Do you find you get more help from tourists or from locals?
In America, it was primarily locals. And in England. In Europe, it was primarily tourists. American tourists, believe it or not, they saved me so many times, to the point that I would wake up in the morning and I’d be like, “O.K. guys, we’ve gotta find some Americans.”

Americans have been the butt of jokes for the last few years as our beloved leader steered the ship onto one set of rocks after another. It has been easy for outsiders to point fingers at the US for the foreign policy bungling, the financial irresponsibility, and the political extremism. At the same time any newcomer to this nation will have a story to share about an act of kindness from a complete stranger. My first neighbors in California were the sweetest family I have ever met. Their daughters still babysit my kids occasionally. I have left my wallet behind at many, many grocery stores and restaurants and have had it returned to me every single time.

We immigrants may consider ourselves superior because of our advanced interest in math and science, but if there’s one thing we would do well to emulate, it is this spirit of community and sharing that Americans have. That is what makes this the greatest country in the world.

The Great Mathematics Experiment: The Other Side of the Coin

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By Enakshi Choudhuri

An oft used idiom, ‘there are two sides to every coin’ seems an appropriate way to start my current and last post on the integrated math curriculum in K-12 schools. It is obvious that a large number of teachers and school officials are in favor of integrated math as it has been approved in over 200,000 classrooms across the country despite protests by parent groups.

In my search for the positive aspects of integrated math, I approached a number of current and former school officials or teachers. Surprisingly, many of my requests for comments were turned down. Those who agreed to talk to me requested absolute anonymity. Consequently in writing this column, I have utilized material from my own independent research and drawn on some very general points that came up in conversations with various people. I have not quoted anyone directly.

The most striking aspect of integrated math appears to be its focus on helping students learn multiple methods and concepts simultaneously or in a spiraling fashion as well as being able to integrate or pull these all together to solve problems. As many proponents have observed, math in the future is not going to be about computation or memorization of basic facts to be used to solve standard problems. In the future, math will be used primarily as a conceptual tool to aid in analyzing, estimating and formulating solutions to practical problems.

To that end, students must be aware of, and be familiar with, a vast array of methods and concepts and be able to weave together disparate topics to come up with a plausible solution, the computational aspect of which will be performed by computers or other machines.  This is the main argument that drives the use of calculators even in first grade and the focus on students being able to construct their own solutions to problems. The integrated approach to mathematics enables students to develop highly creative approaches to problem solving.

Another point that was stressed over and over again is that the integrated math curriculum actually teaches math the way kids think. For many children standard algorithms such as carry over addition or long division are abstract meaningless concepts. The alternative methods endorsed by the integrated curricula, however cumbersome, provide a clearer picture of the math concepts underlying the process.

For example, some children find it difficult to comprehend that 2 in the tens place is actually 20 or that 5 in the hundreds place is actually 500. So when they are adding 526 + 210 using the standard ‘carry over’ algorithm, they add 6+0 = 6 in the units place; 2+1 = 3 in tens place; and 5+2 = 7 in the hundreds place. Using the standard algorithm, they are basically adding in terms of ‘units’.  The Everyday Math partial sums method on the other hand clearly shows them that they are adding 500 + 200 in hundreds place, 20 + 10 in tens place and 6+0 in the units place to arrive at 700 +30 + 6 = 736. This is what a partial sums solution looks like:

526
+210
Add hundreds – 500 + 200         700
Add tens – 20 + 10                      30
Add units –  6 + 0                          6
Final sum                                     736
The math process is simplified in a way that students find it easy to comprehend and learn, even though it may take a little longer to arrive at the solution. So students really ‘get the math’ and do not have to rely on rote memorization of abstract concepts.

Integrated math also emphasizes the application of math to the real world. Many of the problems are context-rich and students are constantly being asked to connect the math concept to a situation that they may have encountered in their day to day lives. For example, a student may be given an open-ended objective to construct a subtraction problem using bananas as a unit. The student constructs a number story about buying a crate full of 50 bananas in the grocery store, eating 6 bananas for lunch and being left with 44 bananas to share with his friends in school. In addition to math skills, the student also needs to use language skills to build this story problem and the real world context is evident in the story line. Each student constructs his or her own story problem with the only commonality being ‘subtraction’ and ‘bananas’. So in a class of 20 students, the teacher gets 20 different story problems of varying levels of complexity. This method engenders creative problem solving balanced by a real world context that does not occur in traditional math curricula.

These are some of the positive aspects of integrated math curricula that I have not dwelt upon in my previous posts. I would like to point out that while many proponents of integrated math emphasized the advantages of this system, they also acknowledge that such curricula are weaker in promoting mastery of basic facts and skills. The spiraling method also seems to interfere with retention of concepts over time. However, if you were to ask them, the favorable aspects of integrated math far outweigh the slight imperfections that exist. So, while I can perceive the beneficial aspects of integrated math, and even as curriculum developers are ironing out the creases in this system, I still continue to believe that we as parents have the responsibility to help our children by supplementing their math curriculum at home to compensate for the existing deficiencies in the system.

Before I conclude, I would like to discuss the state of Minnesota’s efforts to address math and science proficiency in the K-12 educational system. In the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) the state of Minnesota opted to be treated like a ‘mini nation’ so it could be ranked among all the other 60 participating nations from around the world.  Minnesota in the last twelve years has established rigorous state wide standards for math and science that school districts have to abide by regardless of the curriculum they may have chosen to be implemented in their schools. These standards have resulted in increased classroom time for math and science in all schools, especially at the elementary level, and stringent graduation requirements in both math and science.

As a case in point, three years ago, Carver County elementary schools in Minnesota had the worst performance among schools with similar demographics on math achievement tests (http://www.startribune.com/local/east/37480764.html?page=1&c=y). With small changes such as increased math instruction (up to 75 minutes a day), specialized teacher training in math and the addition of a math specialist, they now rank 15th among the 52 schools in the same category. Their decision to increase daily math instruction time using an integrated math curriculum and more content based training for teachers seems to have resulted in big gains.

To get back to the TIMS Study, in 1995 Minnesota’s performance in grades 4 and 8 was not significantly different from the overall US performance. However, in the 2007 TIMSS, Minnesota’s scores at both 4th and 8th grade level were significantly higher that that of the US (i.e. the rest of the 48 states as Massachusetts also opted to be treated like a ‘mini nation’).  At 4th grade level, Minnesota’s rank in mathematics (2007) was 5th after Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Japan whereas the overall US rank was 12th. At the 8th grade level, Minnesota was ranked 6th in comparison to the US at 10th place.

The overall gains by Minnesota students point to the fact that despite the variations in individual school district math curricula, students succeeded at an international level primarily because Minnesota chose to implement strict state-wide yardsticks that are comparable to some of the nation-wide math standards set by top performing countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan. In addition, Minnesota developed accountability assessments that would reduce the variation from one school to another in terms of what teachers teach and emphasize and instead focus on what students actually learn. Thus, the winning mantra for Minnesota schools seems to be an increased focus on math, more time spent daily on math instruction, additional teacher training in math and science and the use of rigorous state-wide standards to establish tangible objectives regarding a child’s progress in learning various math concepts and skills.

Minnesota’s gains in the TIMS Study makes a significant case for state-wide or nation-wide benchmarks in key subject areas such as math and science. Such standards will ensure that every child is expected to reach certain benchmarks at different age levels and at that point curriculum and methodology will become secondary to the actual content and focus of math instruction. For example, if the standards require every child to have mastered multiplication by third grade, then it is immaterial which curriculum the school follows or what methods are used to teach multiplication. The more important issue becomes that of mastery of that specific concept by the requisite grade level. Maybe this is what different states and the nation as a whole should focus on in developing K-12 proficiency in math and science so that eventually our children will be able compete effortlessly on an international platform.

Frisbee on the beach

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By Geeta Padmanabhan

“Frisbee should be in the Olympics,” said the guy, between swigs of Red Bull and shouts of “Come on DOD, come on LTF, SDS, CU, MU…” Which team was he rooting for? “All,” he said in ad copy lingo, “I’m for the disc game, are you?”

It’s amazing how Frisbee has caught on in Chennai. Seven teams (one of them Sri Lankan) with players from scattered geographies (Indians, Americans, Canadians, Spaniards, Brits, Germans and Australians) chased the disc under floodlights at the International Beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament at the Besant Nagar beach. “Beach Ultimate tournaments happen in only two other places – Bali and Thailand. Ours will be an annual event like those,” said Manu Karan, project head.

Informality must be Frisbee’s greatest charm. The Mumbai Storm Chasers(MSC) became a combo of disc buddies only in September 2008. “We play for 45 minutes each week-end,” said a Hrithik Roshan look-alike. “For losing weight, you can’t beat it.” This young team took a train at Dadar on 26/11 just after they heard of the CST attack. “We had to show we wouldn’t be defeated by violence,” said team captain Sunal.

The friendship here is unbelievable, said the MSC. “Balaji from a rival team gave us tips on using the wrist for better throws.” Pritham flew down from the US to join Learning to Fly(LTF), another team. “Word usually spreads though e-mail, facebook and blogs,” said Pattu Subramaniam, BMW specialist. “They would’ve played in the rain.”

It’s fine recreation, said Venky of Disc O’ Diwane, a group of tall (ave. 5’10) rock climbers in Bangalore who throw around the Leo disc after climbing sessions. They Googled for info, found LTF, formed the all-Bangalore cell. “At the Kodai tournament in July we were babes in the game, now we are in the semis.” The game is dynamic, but “we are adventure sport faddists.”

Pure enthusiasm drives the Sri Lankan Serendiscity, who practice at Colombo’s Victoria Park on Sunday afternoons. The group is truly diverse – young, old, men, women, novices and veterans. The playing crowd is transient, as expats are on short term contracts, making it a different game every week-end. Possible only in this disc game.

“We have been frissing around since November 2006,” said Chenoa, one of the three women in the eight-member squad. Said team-mate Jesse, “Colombo is choked up  with international NGOs.  It has an equal number of Sri Lankans and expats. Frisbee affords us a great op to know people.” Work in Sri Lanka is intense; they don’t have an easy time. “Back there everyone talks about Chennai,” said Chenoa. “We’re glad to be away from the sound of guns. Fun to be here.”

For Delhi’s Stray Dogs in Sweaters, the appeal is undoubtedly gender equality. “It’s a beautiful game, men and women can play together without making contact,” said Troy Duffield, a globe-trotting teacher, here with colleagues from the Embassy School. SDS is an all-expat team except for Mahesh. He picked it up easily, he said. “You could join at any level. Frisbee eliminates the gender imbalance in sports like basket/volleyball.”

“In spite of gender or athletic ability you can be competitive,” added Troy. “There is beauty in the co-ordination not found in games like soccer and football. There’s so much you can do with a Frisbee – hammer throw, scoober, fore and back hand, pizza pie. When a ball has a dream, it dreams of being a Frisbee.” It’s convenient as well. Troy packs this light equipment and flings it anywhere he finds an open space and a group of kids. “I’ve done it in Peru,” he said.

Frisbee is a generous, non-referee game. The penalty is to go back and start. Its greatest draw is the friendly culture it creates and supports. Chennai Ultimate is grooming a team at the Olcott Memorial School. You’ll find teams in Gandhi Ashram on the Sabarmati, and KFI, Adyar, said Srivatsan Murali.

Bryan Plymale, teacher and coach at Kodaikanal International School says: “The flying disc symbolises the spacecraft we travelled in to reach planet earth, represents Vishnu’s disc destroying ignorance and darkness. Ultimate is a sport that combines the best of sports like hand ball, water polo, futbol (soccer), basketball, lacrosse, kabaddi, rugy, Ultimate is a metaphor for community cooperation, excellence, integrity, honour, joy and play. In the end it’s just a silly game played by brainiacs with a plastic pie plate!”

The end of an era

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Soon to be ex-President Bush is everywhere these days; I haven’t counted but I’m sure that he has given more exit interviews than he ever did during his 8-year reign of constitutional abuse. What you see is the beginning of a furious rewriting of history happening right in front of your eyes.

“Some days were happy, some not so happy, but all were joyous,” says this incredibly obtuse man. Joyous when 9 insane men destroyed the Twin Towers? Joyous when thousands were stranded in stinking Superdome benches during Katrina? Joyous when coffins of patriots came back from Iraq?

I remember a scene from a movie where a character says “Only people who are not self-aware can be successful.” There is no better  example than Dubya, who blithely rides off to the sunset feeling like he did the best he could, even though when pressed to name a single accomplishment of his 8 years in office, the best he could come up with was that he tried to privatize Social Security. This, after the collapse of the Dow has everyone offering a fervent prayer of thanks that that particularly bone-headed idea didn’t go through.

Even the Smithsonian has got into the act, stating that Bush’s tenure was “…marked by a series of catastrophic events” including “the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Uh, no. If a highly reputed institution like the Smithsonian can start getting revisionist and connecting the 9/11 attacks to the invasion of Iraq, you can be sure conservative writers like Karl Rove and Bill Kristol, so kindly given op-ed space by the New York Times, will be busy creating an alternate reality for the history books. After all, as our Commander-in-Chief said last month, “I believe when people objectively analyze this administration, they’ll say, ‘Well, I see now what he was trying to do.’”

To be fair, the crises of the last 8 years were not entirely his fault. Like a puppy, W happily went about peeing on the carpet. As any pet owner can tell you, there is no point tapping its cute little nose with a newspaper long after the deed is done, it has just forgotten and moved on.The thing to do would have been to question the administration’s actions while they were happening. Congress dropped the ball, the Senate dropped the ball and we, the people, dropped the ball when we forgot that we were the masters and our representatives in Washington the puppets and not the other way around.

Suddenly I see a resurgence of political activism. After 8 years of profligacy, the Republicans have rediscovered their dislike of deficits,  and the media have discovered their cojones. The stimulus bill is being picked apart for any hidden earmarks and every political appointment is being hyper-scrutinized. I would be more reassured if the same set of people had wondered a dozen years ago what qualifications a horse breeder had to become head of FEMA or what the limits of executive powers were.( What would you bet that collective amnesia once again descends when a Republican President comes to power?)

For now, I’m just glad the long nightmare of the last few years is over. George Santayana famously said, ” “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. I solemnly vow to never forget.

And taking one last bow, heeeeere’s George:

Gana Bajana – a piano book with Hindi songs

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If you’re a Silicon Valley parent, chances are your child or a child you know is learning the piano. Evenings are spent listening to broken versions of Row, row, row your boat or, if it’s been a few years, Fur Elise and the Star Wars Theme. Suddenly you’re wondering if the only musical connection you’re going to have with your children is Bollywood.

Not to worry; mother–daughter team of Nikita and Natasha Parikh have figured out a unique way for your child to straddle two musical cultures. They have collaborated on a book of Hindi songs for the piano called Gana Bajana, childhood rhymes that should easily sweep you right back into nostalgic memories of your childhood.

The idea came about because Natasha, now 16, started learning Indian classical music when she was around 6 years old and later developed an interest in Western classical( she sings in the choir at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont.) Having the opportunity to experience both strands of music, she looked for similarities and fusion possibilities. Nikita, her mom, had also enrolled in the Music for Minors program, which brings music to public schools. “I was trained on Indian classical music,” says Nikita, “and never learnt to read sheet music.” She had run several music classes for the India Community center in Milpitas but the skills were all imparted by memory. “I started researching for ways to bridge the gap between Indian and Western music,” she says.

In her music classes at ICC, Nikita used bags of puppets, different instruments and Natasha accompanied her sometimes on the piano. When parents came to her asking for the notation to the songs so they could help their kids with the lessons at home, Nikita and Natasha decided to work on a book of popular Indian children’s songs with notations for the piano. They worked for 2 years, finding artists who would understand their concept and a format that would be accessible to both parents and kids.

The result is ‘Gana Bajana’ a book of songs like Jala Ki Pari and Chanda Mama, popular tunes you might remember from your younger days.

Or not. One problem Gana Bajana’s earlier readers faced was that they were not very familiar with all the songs. And as any parent who has helped out his/her child with piano lessons knows, it helps to know the tune. Nikita and Natasha have figured that problem out now by providing mp3 versions of the song on their website so you and your child can familiarize yourself with the song.  I tried out Jala Ki Pari with my kids and they were quite intrigued and interested that you could play a Hindi tune on the piano. The songs are simple and easy to follow though they follow a G-Major key and the Hindustani notations are provided on the facing page using ‘Sa, re, ga, ma pa,’. The songs are all written in English.

Sudipa, whose daughter Madhulika learns music from Nikita, had this to say: “Madhulika loves the book and in her free time she picks the songs out on her keyboard. She is familiar with the songs already.  I also think the book is very good. The cover reminds me of my childhood books.”

Says Nikita, “Indian music is open to interpretation and cannot be learnt without a guru. Through our book and future projects, we want to try to bring the essence of Indian classical music in a simple and easy way to second and third generation Indian Americans.”  Check out the songs and buy the book here. It makes for a great introduction to Indian music for young piano enthusiasts.

Cowboy doctors: "Private Practice" takes on vaccinations vs. autism

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So I got an email from a friend alerting me to yesterday’s episode of the ABC show “Private Practice”. Apparently, the autism community was up in arms about an incident on the show.

I’m embarrassed to say I record the show, so I decided to watch it.

What followed left my jaw on the floor. The story arc goes something like this – A mother with 3 children brings her kids to the clinic since the middle one has a high fever. Turns out the kid has measles. The mother has not had the child vaccinated because the older one exhibited autistic behavior and was diagnosed with autism shortly after receiving a set of vaccines.

That was not the shocker. What was horrifying was that the child with measles develops awful complications and dies( in speeded up television time) and the doctor, traumatised by the death of the child, forcibly vaccinates the remaining child. “I am going to sue you,” screams the distraught mother. Viewers with experience of autism must have felt the same sentiment towards the producers of “Private Practice” and ABC.

The show was wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. Let me share some personal history first. At the age of 4 my son, who had eczema since birth, was showing some signs of improvement. A visit to the doctor and multiple vaccines later, his eczema worsened severely to the point that at the age of 12, he still struggles with it on a daily basis. So you might say that I have some sympathy with parents of autistic children who see some correlation between vaccines and a sudden deterioration in their child. I have at least 2 close friends who swear the experience happened to them – overnight appearance of symptoms of autism and loss of verbal ability. Both have eschewed vaccines since then.

So let’s take the show’s many egregiously inappropriate elements and discuss them –

– The doctors sit in a round table and wonder if the mother should be reported to Family Services: Considering this show is set in Los Angeles, I wonder if the producers are aware that parents in California are allowed to take a religious exemption if they chose not to vaccinate their child. I chose to do so for my second born, who is six and has happily avoided all childhood illnesses except chickenpox, which I was happy for her to have.( We’ll get to the wisdom of parental choice in this matter later..suffice to say that the law as it stands, allows it.)

– The child dies horribly from complications from measles: The death scene is particularly gory, a purely fear-mongering tactic. The actual statistics of death from measles? 1 death in the US in 2001. You might argue that this is because 92% of the population is vaccinated and you would be right. However, by the same logic if one particular parent chose to not vaccinate her child because of his/her unique circumstances and experience, she is hardly putting the other children at risk. After all, shouldn’t the other child’s vaccinations keep it safe?

– The doctor takes matters into his own hands and vaccinates the remaining child: This is cowboy medicine at its worst. First we have doctors refusing abortions because of their religious principles. Then we have parents advocating for the prolonged life-support of a comatose daughter( who can forget Terri Schaevo) and now we have a doctor clearly overriding the wishes of the parent. Forget about the ethical issues – this is not the forum for them – but whatever happened to rule of law? You don’t like the laws about a certain subject? Work with your representatives to change it. You don’t get to play God.

What would be deeply satisfying to me and other outraged parents would be if the mother actually went ahead and sued the pants off the pediatrician in question and as a result the clinic had to declare bankruptcy and shut down. How’s that for a storyline Ms. Rhimes?

It is really unfortunate that a popular show should promote such behavior. As it is parents are uncomfortable making such a difficult choice for their child. I remember when the pediatrician came to see me at the hospital following the birth of my daughter 6 years ago. I was in a Motrin induced haze, but I still had the clarity to hold off on my baby’s shots( how smart is it to inoculate newborns anyway?) till I could think about it and make an informed decision. Just a hint that I might not completely vaccinate my child and I was subjected to a 15-minute harangue from the doctor which made me feel small and stupid. Now parents are going to be more cowed than ever, thanks to this irresponsible show.

I grew up in India with some basic vaccinations like DPT, polio and smallpox and survived. This may have been partly due to luck and partly due to the fact that my parents were good caregivers and would have immediately taken me to the doctor if I was sick. Yes kids do die in developing countries from childhood illnesses but this is as much due to the lack of immediate care as it is the disease itself.  And I come back to the rule of law – if the law gives me the right to choose to not vaccinate my child – back off!

On my part I have taken off the show from my list to watch. If you want to call ABC and protest here’s some general information

ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
(818) 460-747

To find your local station, go here and click on the map. Another contact page can be found here.

This is the advice I have offered ( as one parent to another) to friends who have wondered what to do about their child’s vaccinations  –

– Educate yourself about each vaccine, the risk of the disease it is supposed to prevent, how well it protects against it and its side effects.

-If your family has a history of chronic conditions that are related to the immune system, proceed cautiously.

-The newer the vaccine, the warier you should be.

-If you want your child’s vaccinations to be full and up-to-date, space the vaccinations so that your child does not get more than one vaccine at a time. Beware of combination vaccines. It is in your doctor’s interest to get it all out of the way at once – stand your ground and insist on separating the vaccines and returning to the clinic month after month. The downside is that your child will come to associate going to the doctor with getting a shot and that is not pleasant. The upside is that you will avoid overloading the immune system. Worth it, don’t you think?

"The President is coming"

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Reuters reports that a Bollywood movie called “The President is coming” is due to hit theaters Friday. The movie is set in 2006, when soon to be ex-President Bush made a visit to India.

Adapted from a play of the same name, “The President is coming” tells the fictional tale of six Indians vying for a chance to shake hands with the visiting head of state. According to Reuters, “shot in a mock documentary style, the English-language film depicts a series of farcical tests conducted in a room at the U.S. consulate to single out a young Indian worthy enough to meet Bush.”

From ThinkProgress, an exchange from the movie –
ACTOR: “You’re crazy, man. A narrow-minded chauvinist who hates people from different cultural backgrounds.”

ACTOR 2: “But that is just like Bush!”

The movie is directed by Kunaal Roy Kapur and stars Konkona Sen Sharma, among others. Here is the trailer –

Movie review – Sunset/Goodbye

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By Lehkikaa

The thing about writing a review is that it does set an expectation for constructive criticism. So while I enjoyed the two films and applaud the entire Krea team for treating us to their creations, I gotta do what I gotta do.

Sunset struck home, it was very easy to identify with the story. The complex bond that marriage is- made of respect, love, banter, sharing, bartering, bargaining; pickled into an steadily thumping undercurrent by ages of being together- was instantly brought to life by TAR’s sensitive dialoges, aptly ‘un’-acted by Mama as Mithran and Geetha as Lakshmi. It was a great start to the film.

Mama was the typical mama in India (characterized by an ease, a sense of belonging), the typical taata to his grandson, typical older NRI walking along somewhere in the Bay area (characterized by a reserve in demeanor), and the I-don’t-want-to-interfere-in-your-lives attitude that parents adopt when living with their grown children in their homes. It was a seamless portrayal by a green actor, superb.
The penny-drop moment however was not the end, it was the stilted nature of the three adults in the 2 minutes of screen time they shared- Sukanya playing Ashoks’s wife, Naveen as Ashok, and Mama, as they sit down to dinner. It was in sharp contrast to the emotionally charged warmth created by other scenes, and spoke volumes about the change in Mama’s life. We get a glimpse of the formality underlying the relationships, a void one could cut through; Sukanya’s asking her father-in-law for chapathis; Naveen is just coming to grips with what it means to be a family man, which the senior Mr. Mithran almost chokes on. That scene could very easily have been overdone, but it was not. Kudos to the director on this one, and in general, to maintain a tight reign on the acting. The art department did a good job on recreating an Indian room as well.
That said, let’s talk about the got-chas: Mark’s dialog was very Indian. An American could perhaps meet with such a twist in his life, but his choice of words would be different. Also, I agree with one comment made after the screening, the sunset should have been shown.
A big got-cha; Krea definitely needs to work harder on the carry-forward association of ideas in successive scenes- There were illusions of flashback, even though it was all in the present time. For example, Mrs. Mithran passing away merited at least a photo with a garland in the next scene- How is the audience to know that she was not at the hospital for just an observation like Mithran said, that what one just saw was not flashback? Also, not sure why the sun was lighting Mama’s eyes as he slept- for a few seconds, it made one feel like the next scene was a dream.
Good-bye was more a blank canvas for Vidhya Subramanian (playing the lead as Sudha) than a fully conceptualized film. There was no story, and unlike in Krea’s earlier stage- production- Rabbit Hole, there was no sensitive portrayal of family members trying to cope. Indeed, the film could easily be a monologue.  Dheepa, as the director, should have  insisted on TAR ‘finishing’ his characters and dialog. There were flashes of brilliance, like Sudha suggesting that she could just as well jump off the Golden Gate Bridge or planning the death-shower, so there is potential there. Perhaps TAR and Dheepa should work on building depth and consistency in the script before filming. Sure, it was an experimental project, but hey, you are sending this film to be judged around the world.
Vidhya continues to be watchable, but one is already tired of watching her cry or suffer. We get it, she can act sad. It will be nice to see her with a multi-faceted character or situations the next time. It did get me thinking though that perhaps instead of a lead, Vidhya should do a cameo instead. Aruna’s 2 seconds of screen time as the distraught relative/ friend of Sudha was spellbinding. Sukanya’s body-language in her 2 seconds instantly made one cringe for Mama. Interestingly, in Rabbit Hole too, Sukanya had connected with the audience in the instant she came onto the stage. Her body-language, costume, style, everything is illuminating at the get-go. By contrast, Vidhya flings her net out to the audience slowly, both while dancing and acting. In Goodbye, her body-language is aloof, non-committal even, till the scene where she holds on to the sink for support when hearing the voice-message.
However, the audio quality was so bad during the playback of the voice-message, one missed what it was about. Did the doctor actually impart bad news? Or did she simply say the reports were in- If so, then Vidhya perhaps over-reacted? Even so, that gesture was the highlight of the film.

The characters of the husband and daughter needed some screen-time, or else they shouldn’t have been introduced at all. Even a single scene would have sufficed. Or, instead of showing Sudha’s coping physically, we could easily have been given a glimpse into how she was coping mentally. Some private moments of her coming to grips with her imminent departure…one does not finish with the coping when one first hears bad news, the grief comes in waves. Also, the Carnatic refrain at the start was perhaps in Asha Ramesh’s voice? Or was the audio quality poor? It didn’t seem like Vidhya was singing at all.
To sum up, both films were held together by the lead-actors, with sometimes being uplifted, and at other times with no support from, the script. For her next project, Dheepa must not settle for flashes of brilliance, rather, should get immersive, and prod/ cajole /inspire / threaten her script-writer to make the characters live and breathe on an even flow.  And TAR, tease those flashes of brilliance into a stream of consciousness!

Sunset/Goodbye

Directed by Dheepa Ramnujam, Script and dialogs by Madhu, aka T. A. Ramanujam

My rating: Sunset – 3 stars out of 5; Goodbye – 1.5 stars out of 5.

Lehkikaa is the pseudonym of a member of the Bay Area community involved in the performing arts. She can be reached at lehkikaa@gmail.com and looks forward to your comments and feedback.