8x8x8.....

Lavs has tagged me again for this post on eights.

So here we go,

Eight things we are passionate about:

In no particular order the top eight are

  1. Dance
  2. Music
  3. Photography
  4. Travel
  5. Environment
  6. Books
  7. Food
  8. Life

Eight places we want to see before we die: (We are changing the tag a wee bit here)

We have a 400+ list of places to see in our list but the top eight are

  1. Galapagos
  2. Greece
  3. Alaska
  4. Masaimara National Park
  5. Egypt
  6. Angkor Wat
  7. New Zealand
  8. Kaziranga National Park

Eight things we say often:

  1. Crap
  2. Holy Crap!
  3. Shit
  4. Damn
  5. Take care
  6. Chee
  7. Aiya!
  8. Guess What?

Eight books we have read recently/reading:

  1. Getting Started Crochet (does reading instructions count?)
  2. India before Gandhi
  3. Palace of Illusions
  4. Indian Classical Dance -Tradition in Transition
  5. Selected poems of Ogden Nash
  6. The Namesake
  7. Frommers California (Obviously we are planning a trip to CA soon)
  8. Dubai Architecture & Design

Eight songs we listen to over and over:

  1. Kurai Ondrum ellai - MSS
  2. Aadi Kondar - Unni Krishnan
  3. Bee Gees - Words
  4. Thats why they call it the Blues - Elton John
  5. I wear my sunglasses at night - Corey Hart
  6. Another brick in the wall - Pink Floyd
  7. Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughn
  8. Hotel California - The Eagles

Eight things that attract us to our friends:

  1. Conversation
  2. Ease to laugh with and cry with
  3. Wavelength
  4. Wit/humor
  5. Helpfulness
  6. Getting everyone pumped up
  7. Emotional bonding
  8. Standing up for others
We are supposed to tag 8 people but that is really the hard part. So if you have not does this, you are tagged. Please take it up and post a link in the comments.

at Friday, March 07, 2008 6 Comments  

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Honk Honk goes the bus!

There was nothing normal about that day. It was the wrong time of the day to be on the road and she was heading off in a route she normally does not take. But like all stories, incidents and memories doing something out of ordinary made the difference. It did make a difference that day.

The jam-backed road she usually took at 5pm was empty at 9am. For once, she could let her mind drift and enjoy the music and not keep her eyes peeled to the highway. And then she saw it, 2 no 3 school buses painted yellow filled with laughter. The carefree laughter and the childish giggles filled the air. And she drifted into the time when she was on one of those buses.

Prim and proper in her strached and ironed, green pinafore and white top. The green and white tie and belt, the black shoes polished in a hurry this morning, the tell-tale hint of Kiwi black shoe polish on her otherwise white socks, the hair neat in two ponytails, with black ribbons on top. The prim and proper school girl.
Weighed down by the school bag on her shoulders, she walked to the bus stop every morning with her friends. It was the time for her to catch up with friends, the latest dress X got, the smile of the guy in the other class, the strict Math teacher, the tough Physics paper, the latest Bollywood music,the news from the grapevine and laughter - we drove the bus driver and conductor crazy.

Uncontrolled, carefree unless it was the morning of an exam.Exam mornings were sober days, eyes glued to the books. Somehow we mastered the art of eating, getting the hair braided by grandmother, walking to the bus stop, climbing the bus, standing in the moving bus all with the book open and the eyes scanning the words faster than ever possible. The bus was silent with muted whispers of equations and history facts. The bus driver and conductor lived for these days. It was their time to bully us, tease us and treasure the silence.

Evening rides back from school were much more fun. It is suprising how at 4pm she used to get hyper with no sugar in those days. Today, at 4pm she wishes desperately she had half the energy she had in those days. Evening plans were discussed with much gusto on the bus ride back home - hindi classes, music lessons, Oliyum oliyum on TV, special dinners menus, visiting friends, bike rides, a game of throwball... the list was endless.

And as I saw, the yellow school bus go past me, filled with kids laughing and giggling, I remembered picnics and school day-trips from long ago, the race between the old bus, the new bus and the yellow bus as we named them, the mesai driver, the jollu conductor and the list is endless...

Sweet memories of those by-gone days...lost in the layers of grey matter....

at Friday, March 07, 2008 3 Comments  

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Petty Politics

There are politics all around you. Put a bunch of strangers together, they'll divide themselves up into groups and bring out issues you never dreamed about. You try to get away from politics, office or community but you get sucked into it. And today you get a one-on-one into Houston's desi community politics. Some of the issues and examples given here are a few years old and why do I bring them up again today? That stupid email I received a few days back.

Let us start from the beginning. Houston has a big desi population and the obvious Indian organizations. There are just too many to count, each state has its own organization, a few cultural organizations and the big umbrella called Indian something something. What do these organizations do? That is other than gossip and create politics? A festival celebration. And most people align themselves to the organization representing their states. We do not belong to any of these organizations but we do attend events of interest organized by different people. Like the Nithyashree concerts by the Bharati Kalai Madram, the Republic day celebrations by ICC, the Malavika Sarukkai dance program by Kannada Vrinda, the Rama Vaidyanathan's program by Meru Education Foundation and so goes the list.

And there are some unwritten rules these organizations follow. The rules often stupid and not in anyway helpful in bringing people closer which in my opinion is the number one priority of any organization. The stupidest unwritten rule 1 is that members of X organization do not patronize shows/events conducted by other organizations. They consider that a crime. I call it stupidity. Art/culture/entertainment should not have boundaries. The second rule is even worse, if X organization is for members who speak X language, they will invite entertainers/artists who are native Xians. For example, if Malavika or Rama perform under the name of Malayalee Association or Kannada club or Andhra warriors it is a sin. After all, these top dancers are Tamilians. Are'nt we being frogs in a well?

This has for the longest time been the issues with the desi association scene in Houston and the biggest reason we keep away from them. But we happen to be on the mailing list of many of these associations as it helps us to get information about the events they organize and recently we received an email from organization C. This is the gist of the email (edited version of course)

The present committee members have received numerous phone calls and enquiries about soliciting registration and participation in XXXXX. We would like to inform you all that C is neither sponsoring or endorsing this event and no way connected. Registration, donation etc will not benefit C but may help the individual and/ or group to defray expenses involved in organizing this event. C is not benefitted in any way and we caution members to be wary about such repeated solicitations. This committee's policy is not to encourage or support individuals subtle divisive approaches in the name of promoting culture.

I am not bringing up names right now but the story is that some people, let us call them the Zs belong to more than one organization (A,B and C) and when they organize an event through A, they of course will invite friends from B and C. And members of B and C are educated and literate enough to know that Zs program is under the banner of A and if they want to attend the event they can attend it. It is after all a free world. Why make such a fuss out of the whole thing?

If we organize something, we would of course want our other friends who are interested in the subject to benefit from it. Why are we pushing them away? Over and above, I am surprised by the divide in name of states miles away in Houston. I remember college elections where we were told to vote for the candidate from our state or city but seven seas away in Houston aren't we supposed to unite as Indians and enjoy those rare visits by Malavika or Nithyashree or Yakshagana artists anyone else for that matter? And why are we behaving like kids? Why are we still drawing lines between ourselves? Has education, miles away from motherland, years of living alone in the US not made a difference in Houston desis?

What is needed to change? I firmly believe youth participation changes a lot. But in most of these organizations, the patrons are not the youth. There are so many functions where V and R have felt that they are the youngest in the room. What is needed to change the mind of old-timers who still believe in clinging to their state and statesmen and not be open to Indian art, Indian culture, Indian entertainment as a whole?

Have you faced such scenarios? In India, in US and anywhere else around the world? What are your suggestions?I would love to hear from you.

at Tuesday, March 04, 2008 4 Comments  

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