Sulekha's India Smiles

The list of 60 short listed articles are rolling in 2 per day in Sulekha. I just started briefly looking at them. Suprisingly many of the authors have chosen the theme of a railway station, train, the journey. Well, having spent 20$% of my college life travelling in trains, it was amusing for me to try and connect to these articles. Sure, trains do offer a more colorful way of travel, better than even flying. Where else can one hear "chai chai" early in the morning at 4.00, get 10 bucks chocolate icecreams at 3.00 pm in the afternoon in under 3 secs (remember Nagpur station?), have a totally tasteless "pongal" (for the innocent, an Indian recipe made of rice and grams seasoned with black pepper)and even after completing it, assume it was upma(well, its another Indian snack). Where else can you get endless supply of munchies, sleep,eat,read,chat,play,stare all sitting at one spot. I wonder how many romances have bloomed over train journeys (I know a bunch that did during my college times). I can remember the endless anthakshiri, "literacy", books devored, blast of fresh air while standing near the door, the apple juice at delhi station that kept me alive. A train journey can sure paint thousand pictures of different moods, colors, people, language, cuisine (?). One of the things that make living in India a more interesting experience..

travel bug

spring break, was travelling. Visited my cousin in New Jersey, took a short trip to toronto :). Would be back at school tomorrow.
Never knew I would enjoy winter so much. Oh, canada! was beautiful, snowy whitey and cold. Do not miss the Niagara falls in winter. It is roaring white :).
more soon

The Call

Grr..some people!
Sitting at work, I am working against a deadline. My phone rang, and I noticed a 011 number. Thinking it might be mostly from home and something important, I answered my phone.
-Ms.Amrutha Ragavan?
--Yes
-I am calling from you XXX credit card company and I would like to talk to you about yuada..ayda..yaday..da.a.da.a.da (for approx 3 mins 12 sec)
--Err, what?
-Ms.Ragavan, do you want me to repeat it?
--(horrified) no no, is there a specific reason you are calling me?
-Well, Ms.Ragavan, we want you to be aware of our policies and that you can transfer..dada..dada..daad.(for another 3 mins)
--Well, great, but I am at work right now and I cannot take this call any longer
-It won't take another 10 secs and can I read to you(in more faster tone)dadaadada...dadadada..(another 5 mins)
--(after trying to interrupt him several times, but in vain, at the end)Well, I think I just told you, I am at WORK and I need to get BACK
-ok Ms. Ragavan, we would like to confirm your first name, last name..dadaad
--(already shades of orange turning to red)Yes please (well, I thot they do this at the BEGINING of the conversation!)
Confirmed my details and finally said
-Thank you Ms.Ragavan, I am going to mail you all the materials that we just talked (???dude, did I say anything beyond hmm,yes,ok?) about!!!!
--(grrr...grrowwwl)Yes, thank you
- You can call us at...
I couldn't take it anymore,
--THANKS, will find that from website, BYE

I don't understand if these guys are really trying to help me. The call costed me an unnecessary word from my boss :(

I-week Culturals

Friday saw a wonderful display of Talents from across the world! The programmes commenced with their dance. It was mindblowing. They had these little fans in hand that they flapped open and close so much in sunc and co-ordination. All of them had the grace of their martial arts counterparts, so lithe and graceful! I don't clearly remember the other programmes in the right order. A quick recollection of the rest:
Indonesia had a wonderful dress parade. The women had exquisite ornaments that they wore on their heads! I liked their talent show too, where they performed a small piece from the Ramayana. It was the part where the monkeys find Sita (the heroine of the story) and surround her to protect her. Now the beauty of the entire piece is that the only music was the cacophonous chatter that people chant on stage. There was rhythm that made hair rise and adrenaline rush. Turkey had live music! I don't remember if it was El Salvador or Peru that stunned everyone with their dress parade. I don't think we had any of the west european countries. Oh yes, African dress parade was fantastic too. One can easily see how dresses also are only slight modifications of one another across cultures. I was surprised to see that Africans have heavy head gear for women that resemble bonnets of the English. The african talent show was energy filled and pumped with enthusiasm. So many cultures, so many talents, so many people, such beauty in difference..it is just amazing.
Promise to post the pics asa I get them, you can too feast your eyes and experience a slice of what I did!
oh yes, Indian association:For the talent show, the theme was bride and her friends teasing her before her wedding..the colors, gaiety, festivity and all. For the dress parade, we showed the five elements of nature through colors and sarees. Sans doubt, won both the dress parade and the talent show!
till later!
ps: Happy Women's Day to all the lovely women out there!

Kid in a Candy Store

well, ok, woman in a chocolate shop :D. I got the speakers at my desk finally working! Listening to this minute: RaviKiran's Chitra veena recital..ahh, such a relief to have them finally working! Would save me from the monotony of work here at SAPO. Would be listening next minute to cheriefm.fr.
Vive La Musique!
ps:sudden interest in spanish music since last evening. Did you guys know that with a US visa one can visit Puerto Rico? Shoot, wish I had come to know of this before my spring break plans had finalized!

I-week

Sorry, couldn't pen as much as I wanted to. I had an exam yday (after giving which I realize I could have penned anyway) and been a little bz with this I-week prep.

Its International Week here in A&M. There are booths set up by different associations of students from different countries. We had the I-buffet on thursday. I-buffet is where different countries delight your taste buds with exotic cuisine from their region. India had Gobi Pakora, Dhokla and Gulab Jamoons. The experience was wonderful. Being a vegetarian, I was a little apprehensive about what I would get to eat, but I was surely in for a surprise. I tasted Turkish, Egyptian, Colombian, African, Isralien, Iranian, German cuisine..and all I can say is ..wow!

It is very strange, but a lot of cuisines are very similar. I found turkey and egyptian had same kind of dishes.We know of course, Indian, Bagladeshi, Srilankan, Pakistani are close. I was in for a surprise when a broken wheat dish in Turkish was called Pilav (and yes, tasted like pulav). A couple of years ago, I had made Kheer for my French friends. I was surprised to learn that there is a similar Egyptian dish, a french one and here at A&M one of my friends from Panama said that she tasted something similar in Spain! Man, payasam has sure travelled a long way. (And yes, Kir is a cocktail in france). Such similarities in cuisine give this strange feeling of oneness. It suddenly dawns on me that no matter where you come from, what your culture is, we all, after all belong to this one community-humans. And with all the people from over 70 countries, big and small, with all the different colors, races, languages ..all in one room conveying to each other one simple gesture: smile. It united all of us in that room. As people indulge in wars, bloodshed, not just against other countries but against their own people too sometimes, as people get into this regionalistic row (ref. my prev blog), we need to realize. All we have this is one little earth to live in (and trust me, every time I think of this, it scares me). This is our only place to live in (oh please, there just cannot be any life anywhere else), and it is in our hands to keep it safe. No ET will be as good as us. Lets not consciously do anything to harm this only place to live or better, lets consciously do something to make our lives better here at home sweet home.

At the end of all the eating, tasting and laughing, I was quietly bit by the travel bug again. I am now craving to visit South America. The colors, the people, their cuisine has completely captivated me now. I am trying to learn about their culture. It is interesting and the exciting part is when I find some similarities between our cultures.

Of language and region

This happened just the past sunday. I innocently went for a team meeting to one of my groupmates place. I have nothing against hindi speaking people. I know one cannot generalize and that generalizations might not hold for everyone. Well, let me narrow this general statement to this, the hindi speaking community here where I live have a strong attitude. It comes to be as a big surprise that these people find it shocking when someone doesn't understand or speak hindi. Coming off as strongly as "I do not consider South Indians as Indians at all" is a big jolt. I do not know whom to blame (or if there is someone to be blamed at all).
Herez both sides of the coin: People I know who do not speak hindi feel:
1. they are fine without knowing hindi
2. even when they try to learn and speak the language, their accent is ridiculed at, which pretty much takes the pleasure out of trying to learn a new language
3. There is not any enthusiasm from the other party to learn their language and they refuse to converse in any other language besides hindi inspite of the fact that it is not understood by all.
The people on the other side of the Tropic of Cancer feel:
1. hindi is the national language and is a MUST for every Indian
2. Since they speak hindi, there is no need for them to learn any other language
3. Only if they continue to speak in hindi even in the prescence of non hindi speaking folks would the nhsfolks make an effort to learn hindi.
I am surprised at the attitude of both the groups. Agreed, I can never take it when some dilty-dolt calls all South Indians as Non Indians (what a nerve!). I do not see the reason why everyone should learn Hindi by compulsion. Given that it is the language spoken by a good number of people in India, but is this the only reason to learn this language? Efforts to spead the word is having a negative effect (trust me, I have seen it in my college in India too!). At the same time, hindi could be learnt for the same reason stated above. In any case, a new language is a new tool for thinking. I wonder how Europe lives in harmony. Atleast in India, we still use English extensively..may be we need a little more lesson on Unity in Diversity.
Mera Desh Mahan
BabelFish
ps: I am learning a new language, I can tell these things help:
1.don't laugh at the accent of the learner. You might sound funnier when you speak their language
2.correct the mistakes, never ridicule it.
3.encourage them to speak in the new language (careful, dont force it!)