Power of Prayer

I have always believed in prayer,and  recently, I have had 2/ 3 incidents , which have proved the power of prayer to me. 

Last year, 2008. my husband was supposed to take up the ASQ exam-six sigma black belt exam. Was worried about hopw ough it might be. The exam day came. he was able to finish the exam within half the time it took the others to do it.  when he called and told me he has finished ahead of time,a nd was sure of his answers, I was saying my prayers.

then theresults of the exam came. he had scored among the top percentage of people . Again, when i received the news, I was praying. 

then again, last year, my husband also took up the PMP exam, that many of his colleagues had taken up. They told him it was very tough, took all of the 4 hrs to complete the questions etc. Thus scared, he worked harder for this exam. 

This one also , he finished in half time. he felt it was quite easy, after having appeared for ASQ exams, which have a higher degree of tough questions. This time too, when he told me this, I was in the puja room, saying the Guru Ashtottara shata namavalih. 

And 2 months later, when the results came,earlier than expected,  my husband had scored almost 90% in the exam. far more than what any of his other senior colleagues had scored. And they ahd all taken the complete 4 hrs to finish the exam. I had been praying again on this occasion. 

so as you can see, coincidence or not, I do believe taht prayer is powerful. And if sincere, will yield results. 

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Book talk

Dear bloggers / friends,

Having dinner at a friend's place today, talk centered around books and Indian culture. 

So I would like to broach the same topics here,and see how may responses I get.

First Topic: book by author Arthur Hailey.  The Money changers. A nice topic of discussion, at this time,when banks are failing, due to bad investments. A nice intriguing read, as I have read the book at least 5-6 times in my college days. 

I invite those who have read the book to share their views on it. 

Second topic: Indian culture: Your opinions on :

1. Is Diversity in India really helping India's progress? Or are we further deteriorating due to lack of a unified identity? We rarely identify ourselves as Indians, to any other Indian. its always punjabi, gujrati, tamilian, telugu, malayalee, etc. 
2. Cultural Domination by school textbooks: Until class 8th, I hardly knew anything about south Indian history..Chera's, cholas , pandyas, the literary poets, authors, their works,  Our history books mostly concentrated on Mughals, the slave dynasty, etc...in short, all about north India, rather than south. I grew up in Delhi, and later shifted back to Chennai. In fact, I am myself a witness to, how in the south, we learn about Indian history as a whole, not just north, or only south. 
   

My question: Is it because of the authors of history textbooks in the north? Or is it just that they feel that students in the north should know more about how their ancestors came about? 

Does this propagate the feeling of superiority among north Indians, compared to south Indians? Just because they have fairer skin, and look down upon anyone who cannot speak Hindi fluently?

I am quite ashamed to say that even in my school days, there were comments of "you madrasis" targeting all south Indians. whether you are a kannadiga, Andhrite, Tamilian, or Malayalee, everyone was , "you madrasis". 

What can we do to stem this problem to some extent? 

1. Review textbooks and make sure there is no prejudice against south Indian history, which was equally intriguing and beautifully developed culturally, while people in the north were still fighting invaders.  ?
2. Start telling students to identify themselves as Indian, rather than by state or language? 
   

I would really like to know what others think. So please do respond. 

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My cat has a new friend

 We, the ever cautious , guardians of Lego, have recently discovered that she has a new friend, a black cat, with a bushy tail. They try to have a rendezvous every night, while we , scatter brained humans, sleep. 

Once night fell, Lego used to run around the house like she had to catch a flight. Or more precisely, like  a cat on wheels. She would jump up on one window sill, then dining table, look out the windows in the hall, then run straight to the bedroom window and look out again. Moreover, all she wanted to do was sleep during the day, and go outside at night. We were concerned about letting her out, since it has been so cold at nights. She has managed to escape once o twice, albeit with her collar on, and we would hear her go" ching ching ching"....

Our cat just wouldn't listen, when we tried to keep her in. One day, my husband, discovered the reason for this "Night Rider-ism". There was a black cat, with a bushy tail, sitting outside our hall window, among the bushes. He / she was looking up at Lego, who was perched on the window sill, inside the home. And she was looking down outside at the cat. 

So that's why she has been acting crazy. We asked our neighbour, who has a black male cat, if her cat was let out at nights. She replied in the negative. so we assume its one of the stray cats that regularly find their way into our community jumping  across the wall. 

Once Lego was out, she would tease us by coming just till the gate,and running off before we grab her. She will be out all night,and then meow herself out in the mornings, wanting to get in, because she is hungry. 

I once had Frisky find her,chase her out from underneath the bush she was hiding. She crossed me swiftly,and before I could realize what had happened, she was atop the thick branch of a tree near me. It was not that high, but just out of reach for me. 

I immediately called Madhu, told him to come out, and look for himself. Was this the same cat we thought was too scared to climb a tree? Oh, that's another story altogether, about how we started teaching her to go up trees, after having been a house cat for one year. She simply amazed me that night, looking down at me from that lofty limb, swishing her tail, as if saying, " You can't catch me now". 

The end part of the story is, that Lego is acting like a truant teenager these days. She wants to meet the other cat. Its spring time, and love is in the air. She wants to go out at nights, and won't come back even if we call her 10 dozen times. If we don't let her go, she protests so loudly, as of she is being held captive by something and wants to escape. Her claws come out like a Swiss army knife, and she digs them into my t-shirt, and holds on.  

The wild horses of my imagination shudder to think what would have been our state of mind if she had been a human teenage girl. Thank God for small mercies, huh????

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Courtesy among people

What is with people who do rude things? Knowingly or unknowingly, they exhibit rude behavior and lack of common courtesy towards the other person. I had two instances in one day.

When i went to tell my neighbor about some information she has asked me for, in the past, she chooses to talk to me behind locked doors, not even opening her security gate a little bit.

Just as i was walking away after the conversation, feeling a bit annoyed, I chance upon my elderly neighbor, walking her dog. I stopped to chat with her,and in the meantime, her granddaughter comes up. She continues talking to her grandmother, petting her puppy, without even looking at me, giving me a smile, or nod of acknowledgement. Then they continue walking.
Now, what are these kids learning in school? why this lack of courtesy to another person? I am baffled

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BOOK REVIEW

Indu Sundaresan- In the Convent of Little Flowers
A compilation of short stories, this book caught me like no other compilation had previously. As I sat reading in bed, late at night, the 'Shelter of Rain', and 'Three and a half Seconds' seemed as if I had been a witness to these. It took a great effort to get to sleep, because Meha and Chander's lives were real, and the author has made them come alive for the reader. We share their pain, their worries, and hopes of a better future.

Traditional, orthodox India is beautifully reflected in 'Fire' and 'The Faithful Wife'. These incidents occurred in times when Indian society, though still conservative, placed a higher value on society's dictates and family honor than human lives. The winds of change have, slowly but surely, entered India too. In the busy cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, unmarried boys and girls live together, either as room mates, or (what is loosely termed) as "boyfriend-girlfriend" in Indian society. Seems like economic convenience, has taken precedence over age old morals and customs. Parents are shut off in old age homes, while children loll in the lap of luxury.

The 'Key Club' is a revelation of what the elite in India have started doing ,a new form of social entertaining, albeit going against everything that marriage in India has stood for. However, it is naive to believe that Indian women are so liberal, for 'Hunger' reveals a woman, battling her new found emotions with a sense of fear, going against society, and the structure that she has been a part of for so long.
A recommended read for anyone who wants to know how India has transformedfor the transition is clearly revealed in these stories. Indu Sundaresan's penmanship has the enigma to keep the reader riveted to the book, until curiosity is satisfied .

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tid bit info

Food and Cuisine in America is very broad based..There is no specific type of cuisine that Americans eat. Since America itself is an amalgamation of people from different cultures, different countries, they bring their culture, and subsequently , food, here. I must say that people here must be quite open minded.

Many believe Americans like non spicy, almost bland food. Not true. I have met many people who eat Mexican, Spanish, Indian food heartily. Many are vegetarians too. Some subtle differences I have seen is that their so called "white sauce" combines milk, eggs, flour, and butter. While we Indians use curd. That is our white sauce.

People have also started using basmati rice a lot in their cooking. Top chefs in the country, like Ming Tsai, Todd English, Bobby Flay, and others, have used basmati rice as one of the ingredients in their dishes. If you watch Iron Chef America, people do kababs, use garam masala, use a lot of cinnamon, clove, cardamom, curry powder, in their dishes. Bobby Flay is especially famous for his 16-spice chicken.

I haven't seen this variety of restaurants In India. Even if they were there, they were out of budget. Here, there are affordable restaurants,and high-class restaurants for every kind of food. Sweet Tomatoes, Olive Garden , are what I would call the affordable Italian restaurants, while Maggiano's is a fine dining Italian restaurant.

And it is precisely due to this kind of blended, broad based food culture, that there is a separate TV channel on food,and everything related to food.
We had dinner at Olive Garden recently, and found that the place was brimming with customers. People were either being seated or going out, every time I looked across the restaurant. And there , some of the Indian restaurants were running empty, on week ends, due to lack of customers.
Seated in Olive Garden that day, I was thinking, " Is the economy really down? How come these people have time and money to eat out? Or is there something really nice about this restaurant, that makes people want to come back for more?"

Well, for all my ramblings on this topic, our eating habits have to be changed . Thanks o India's ban on exports of rice, 10 kg/ 20lbs of Ponni rice is being sold at USD 40.00. One customer is allowed only one bag at a time. And Idli rice, is being sold for USD 35.00 To top it all, Basmati rice is till cheaper, going at USD 20/25 for the same 20 lbs. Seems like pulav and biryani are more affordable than normal rice and sambar. Rice eaters are turning to chapatthis. At least we are. I am making dosa batter at home after 2 months, just because every time we went to the Asian market, idli rice just wasn't available. As of December 2007, Ponni rice was 16.99, a 2 dollar increase in 2 months made is all whine. Now its 40.00, and we are speechless.

Thoughts and comments welcome!!!

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Thanksgiving and after

Friday, Nov 28th was the Thanksgiving Sale day. Madhu and i went to IKEa showroom to get some book shelves. turns out, at 7:30 a.m., when we arrived, we were the third couple in line. pretty early too, because the store opened only at 10:00 a.m. even on Thanksgiving Sale day. 

So we spent some time mulling around etc. Th parking lots were unnaturally empty. So we began wondering oif people weren't that interested in buying furniture on the sale day,and went for electronics and/ or clothes . However, today, Sunday, Nov 30th, we had to make another trip, because we had to returns some extra boxes. We were there on the dot of 10:00 a.m., when the store was supposed to open. Turns out, the parking lots had a whole lot more cars today, than Friday. Weird, how people could avoid buying on Friday, yet fill up two aisles of parking space on Sunday, before the store actually opens. . 

Economy in recession? Think again...

Other snippets from Arizona:-

A man was reportedly waiting outside a Best Buy outlet for 2 days before the sale day. He literally camped out there, with sleeping bag et al. He also reportedly had his family bring his Thanksgiving dinner there. Because he did not want to lose his spot as the first guy to enter the shop on Friday.  Due diligence!!!

Fry's electronics, one outlet, had people queuing up even before the store opened at 5:00. The couple in front of us at IKEA, had gone there at first.  They saw the queue, which snaked its way from the entrace of the shop, all through one wall, and beyond, decided to drop electronics, and came to IKEA instead. This , at 5:00 a.m. on a cold winter morning. 

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