Jr. brings back memories

Jr. joined the Jazz band at her school. This is a group from the regular band that spends extra time practising Jazz music. They stay back after school and improve.

Last year she had a lot of other classes and refused to go audition. This year, she has more confidence in her playing and it has been an interesting ~2 months.

She asked me many times to come see her perform at an informal "Pizza Night" and I simply could not disappoint her.

It was great to watch her play so confidently and how the Jazz band did in this short a time. 

She definitely did not disappoint me. "Oye como Va" brought back so many memories from 25 years ago when I first listened to Santana's version of it. It was much later during my dancing days that I learned that the original was actually written many decades earlier. 

My sincere hope is that Jr. keeps playing the Alto Sax and enjoys it!

Designated bag

On our recent India trip, there were 14 people in a Tempo traveller! Needless to say, there was a lot of eating, sneezing, wiping hands, cleaning up spilled water, juice etc. going on.

Jr. drank a juice in a carton shortly after the Van trip started and asked grandma 

"Paati, where is the designated garbage bag?"

My mom understood what she wanted, because when we go on road trips in the US, we used to take a plastic bag and hang it on one of the hooks in the van. It would be our "designated garbage bag" till it got full and we would dump it at the rest area or at the fast food joint garbage containers where we stopped for a break. 

Sometimes, on the long weekend trips, one can see a pile of such "designated garbage bags" outside of the large garbage bin in the fast food places at Coalinga, given that everyone is trying to get their cars and vans smelling okay again as they get back on the freeway. 

Getting back on topic... my mom replied "there is no bag here. Use this small plastic cover". So that cover held for all of 30 minutes before it was full. 

When it was clear that there was not going to be a rest stop soon, Jr. got a recommendation to simply throw the bag outside the window on the side of the road, on top of an existing pile of garbage we were passing. She was not a happy camper because she thought all that effort went to waste. 

Recently Indian social media is abuzz with the "clean India" campaign and every alternate FB post on my timeline is about some politician, movie star or cricket player, showing how they are contributing to the campaign. Some just talk, some actually clean. Then there are the posts that say "we are like that only!" and just like any other issue which has folks torn on all sides, there are posts about "how Indians will never change", "why this is yet another fad and this too shall pass", "why this time it is going to be different" etc. etc.

One thing that did catch my eye, was a bunch of articles on why this attempt won't work because the concept of garbage bins and their regular clean up was not possible, given the poor security for the bins themselves.  

"A garbage bin needs security?" is what I asked myself! Why would anyone steal a garbage container? I have seen folks steal shopping carts here in the US but never garbage containers.

Wanted to find out what was so appealing about the garbage containers in India that was worth stealing and the answer was "they are made of metal" and "they are very large" and as irony would have it, "they have great recycle value"! Maybe the solution is to make them with the right material that has less resale value?! was the next thought...

The latest news feed items suggest that the campaign is trickling down, as are the posts about the campaign. Somehow this is not going like the ALS challenge as one looks at it from the other side of the world through social media. 

On a side note, we now have no plastic bags in Cupertino. I am wandering around the local Target, Trader Jo's, Safeway grocery stores etc. with a big cloth bag that says "Hari Agencies", Mylapore! 

Talk is that SFO is going to ban bottled water soon, as the plastic bottles pose a cleaning problem. 

We live in interesting times. . . Cupertino is forcing folks towards reusable cloth bags and stores in India are using plastic bags for everything from Mutka Dahi to Malli poo! Just 20 years ago, the opposite was true. I was amazed at how many plastic bags we used to come home with after a trip to the grocery store in the US and how we used the same Venkateshwara Coffee bag for grocery shopping for years at home. Even remember talking to my mom about this ten years ago. 

The times, they are a changing?!

The Devi is in the details..

The Navarathri festvial is in full swing. As with most things in the US for Indian families, all festivals that run a long time peak during the weekend. Usually the 9 day festival that culminates in Vijayadasami, overlaps two weekends. This year, we got only one weekend.

That meant, the algorithm that is used to juggle the 20+ evites, the open times to go visit various doll displays aka "golus", the travel time between the various locations, average time spent in each house, and other factors like number of possible dress changes, simply quit on us after throwing a few singularity errors and saying "you have only 24 hours in a day"!

This also meant there was tremendous pressure on Sangeetha to "dress up the girls and get dressed herself" and even more pressure on me to take perfect portraits on the first try within 10 minutes after they all got ready and even even more pressure on me to drive like a maniac on local freeways to ferry them to their destinations. 

Needless to say, the kids did their best to co-operate, which is another way of saying "they fell way short of our expecations". 

This year also marked the first time Jr. wore a davani (Half-Sari)! Before we know it, she will be wearing a full Sari. There is nothing that makes you realize your daughter is all grown up, than seeing her in a half sari. 

Please also note my hairline which is slowly going to a point where it won't be captured in portraits, unless we start taking aerial shots! I am tempted to plot my hairline vs. Jr's height and see if it is a linear, parabolic or exponential curve.

The only thing odd in that picture (not my hairline) is that yours truly doesn't dress nice for Navarathri!

I go in a T-shirt and Jeans with my camera on my shoulder, looking like Jane Goodall about to join the Chimps for an observation routine.

This year I came out with a half sleeve shirt and took some photos with the kids while Sangeetha was still dressing up, and the little one tells me "Daddy, you look like a auto driver. This shirt doesn't go well with what we are all wearing!" 

San chimes in with "If you are going to dress like this, please don't bother coming with us!" 

Funny thing is, it was a new shirt from the recent India trip. My mom got me two shirts for "casual wear"!  

Next year I have to go in a suit to match the girls!

We did Photoshop specials for Navarathri in recent years (2012, 2013). This year I get to be the model for the photomerges.

I am happy for the auto rickshaw drivers!

On a final note, the title was intentional.

Navarthri is a celebration of Shakthi in all her forms. We celebrate with displays of dolls, sweets and savories to get everyone, especially the kids engaged. In most houses there is just chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam or Soundarya Lahari by the ladies and a prayer. 

I wanted Jr. and the little one (at least Jr.) to learn Soundarya Lahari. It has been a long time since I recited it. As with anything else, I work on reciting things without a book, so they know that it has to be done by heart. That meant some homework for me. Sitting alone in a hotel room in Asia was perfect for this.

They say that once you recite this hymn and close your eyes Shakthi appears in the middle of your eyebrows!

One night I called Sangeetha and said "Last night, I recited the Soundarya Lahari and closed my eyes, and I saw you. Maybe I just realized that YOU are my ambaal!"

Her response was "The kids are fighting non stop. I am going through hell here. If I am a godess and this is my fate, I cannot imagine what my fate would be otherwise!" 

Did give that a lot of thought sitting on planes and going through airports.

Our Devi's are right in front of us. There is no reason to try and visualize a supreme divinity when she is all around us!

It was an "eye opening" experience!

ps. The golus are morphing over time in the bay area. Will post pictures tomorrow. . .