June 2004 Archives

The last few days I haven't been able to write. I found it incredibly difficult to focus on any particular topic. Things were moving so fast. So much was happening. My mind was also distressed from watching the movie "House of Sand and Fog". I have always prided myself on being able to withstand a lot of despair but some parts of this movie were just too close for comfort in the issues it adressed. It left me shocked and sad. Anirvan's objective analysis of the movie did make me step back a little and not be so emotional about it. If you have the power to withstand pain the movie is worth seeing also for the way it captures the almost ethereal beauty of San Francisco as it peeks out from behind the fog. But I still find it difficult to accept the gun violence in the movie. Why would people want to carry such deadly objects? Why do cops shoot to kill even when they don't have to? I still have to process a lot of what I saw. Maybe I should stop seeing such movies. Easier said than done.

Because last Friday, Anirvan, Mukul, Akhila and I went with Jane & Tom and their friends to the opening night showing of "Farenheit 911". It was a great feeling as I stood there in front of the Grand Lake theater, whose marquee said that they would not be enforcing the 'R' rating on the movie. Oh! What joy and hope to be surrounded by so many left-minded people. The joy didn't last that long. I had expected the documentary to be mostly funny and ironic. But the scene in which members of the black caucus step forward one after the other to protest the election process in Florida is the one that stayed in my mind. They were all silenced by the fact that they didn't have the signature of atleast one senator that was required to make the protest official. I am not sure what the thought process of the Democratic party was, who I have heard discouraged senators from signing the protest. Maybe they didn't think that Bush was that bad. But seeing the scenes in the documentary of people- all kinds of people- Iraqis, Americans, soldiers and civilians dying for an unecessary war made you wish that someone had signed the protest, that someone had tried harder to keep the villainous Bush coterie out of power.

To top it off,the next day we also watched "The Weather Underground" - a fascinating documentary about the militant faction of the "Students for a Democratic Society" that was active during the protests against the Vietnam war. Their motto- "Bring the war home". One of the things they did was plant bombs in public places to remind people that their country was still at war and they could not just go on with their normal lives while innocent people were being killed in Vietnam. It's a cliche- but history does repeat itself. Will Iraq become another Vietnam? Help?!

The only light moment in my visual journey of the last 2 weeks was watching "21 Dog Years" performed by Mike Daisey at the Berkeley Rep. It was funny and ironic and performed with panache. Wonder what Amazon has to say about it?

I hope that not all my posts will be depressing. You can help me there too by not mourning with me but organizing.Vote this November. If you can't vote make sure you talk to all your friends who can. Not seeing, not hearing and not doing anything about evil is the worst thing one can do. Join the move(on)ment.

I discovered Odissi when I saw it performed at Vasanth Habba- a dusk to dawn dance and music festival held annually in Nrityagram on the outskirts of Bangalore. Surupa Sen and Bijyani Sathpathy performed two Odissi pieces. I was completely captivated. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted to learn more about it and maybe even learn it. That was in February of '99. But I found my teacher, Asako Takami, 2 years later in Berkeley. My friends Brinda and Akanksha had both started learning with her and had really good things to say. By then my love for Odissi had overcome all my fears of learning a dance that people usually start learning when they are 10 or 12 years old, at a ripe old age of 28. I always joke about how a then 28 year old woman had to come all the way from India to Berkeley to learn Odissi from a Japanese teacher. Only in Berkeley!

Learning Odissi is one of the best things that has happened to me.

One of the biggest things was probably the discovery of my feminine side. Though with time I have discovered that its basic forms -- the chauka and tribhangi have helped me invoke both the male and the female energies in me.

I also don't feel guilty about not working out health club style. The bland, sweaty aggressive atmosphere never did it for me. A sun filled studio, lyrical music and beautiful movement is more my style. The movement is also intense and requires building strength especially in the legs. It works out your body (even your eyes!) and your mind.

It's the best way to spend a Sunday morning. Before I started Odissi classes I would sometimes spend the whole day lying in bed watching bad television. Now I get out of the house, ride my bike to class, dance for at least an hour and a half and then ruin everything by eating at Viks!

Learning Odissi also found me Anirvan. I met him through Chaitee who I met at dance class.

In April one of the most influential figures of Odissi, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, passed away. I regret that I never saw him perform but I am thankful that I had the chance to meet him on my last trip to India.

In April I also had my first performance with our newly formed dance group, the Pallavi Dance Group. But that is not the culmination of my learning as anyone who practises any art form would know. It is only one little step towards Moksha.

Hot summer days call for cool summer salads. You don't want to break out into too much of a sweat over it though so I like the ones that are quick and easy.

Try this one out.

Assemble the following ingredients into a bowl.
Serves 6
2 cans of organic garbanzo beans
1 med tomato deseeded and finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 grated carrot
Juice of 1 med lemon

Toss, chill in refrigerator for 20 mins and serve cold.
Add Salt to taste before serving.

For a healthier dish use sprouts instead of garbanzo beans.

To add some zing add 2 finely chopped, deseeded green chillis.

Last year was marked by 4 weddings of very good friends. This year is marked by 4+3 babies. There were a few last year too. Kiran (Shanta & Ian in Berkeley) and Diya (Kuru & Anu in Cochin). Looks like babies come in bunches! Tia (my niece) and Miles (My friend Krisztina and Bryant's baby boy) arrived early this year. In June in Ottawa will arrive Alejandra and Stephane's second baby. Then look for 2 in September (Satya & Anil in Bangalore, Savitha & Pramod in Berkeley), one in November (Rekha & Alec in London) and one more in December (Pratibha & Raj in Seattle). At work too, our year end report boasted 4 babies!

It is interesting to observe babies but sometimes even more interesting to observe what babies do to adults. The most obvious thing being the difference in the way we talk. What is it about babies that morphs perfectly articulate adults to "babytalking" heads? One of my favorite websites "The Secret Life of the Brain" gives this explanation.

Babies learn to speak by listening. And all of us all over the world help them, modulating the sounds of the quicksilver flow of speech in fundamentally the same way. Put simply, when we speak to infants we speak in a very funny style. When confronted with a baby, adults produce a signal that is raised about an octave in pitch and slows down very carefully and creates these swooping contours. It's not a job interview voice. It's a very distinct voice that's fetching to a baby. Why would every person on the planet do it if it's not important?

Doctors and scientists have analyzed it every which way, and learned that adults make an unconscious effort to stretch the signals, exaggerate the acoustic components that are exactly the dimensions that the baby needs to pay attention to in order to form the maps for speech.

I am looking forward to practising my baby talk.

Fascinated by the brain? Then look through the eyes of a newborn and then discover the world of optical illusions that play on the adult brain.

Sometimes for over 6 hours a day I will listen to This American Life. I constantly explore the archives to mine for episodes that suit my particular mood that day.

As described on the show's website...

"It's a weekly show. It's an hour. Its mission is to document everyday life in this country. We sometimes think of it as a documentary show for people who normally hate documentaries. A public radio show for people who don't necessarily care for public radio."

I am in so deep that my everyday conversations, observations, language and way of speaking constantly references the radio show.

In fact for Anirvan's birthday I went so far as to compile the 'Anirvan stories' that his friends had written, into "This Anirvanian Life" including a prologue in Anirvan's own words. It was missing the musical interludes between the 'Acts'and of course Ira Glass's signature voice. His friends did a great job of reading it aloud though..

The addiction started the evening we had dinner at Wendy's place not so long ago. After a delicious dinner she put on the cd she had of the classic 'This American Life' episode of the Squirrel Cop. I was first completely awe-struck by the absurdity of what was a true story. By the end of the 14 minutes that the story lasted I was completely hooked.Being a person who responds to visual media more than audio I was quite surprised by my reaction. But then maybe that was it! The story telling was so brilliant that it brought visual life to the non stop action that takes place.

Wendy even gave us her 'Paint by numbers' squirrel on fire drawing.

The listening hasn't stopped since then.

Another episode I really enjoyed is called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Act 2 is especially perceptive of the way diplomatic phone calls work.

After the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. diplomats had to start working the phones... to assemble a coalition of nations to combat this new threat. Some of the calls, you get the feeling, were not the easiest to make. Writer and performer Tami Sagher imagines what those calls were like. (6 minutes)

Enjoy!

First entries are intimidating. Glad this is over with.