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Unlike bay area in California, reading physical newspaper is still in fashion in India. Surprisingly, the quality of the paper of the newspaper is much better in India than in US, which could be one of the reasons that people still like to read it. Look at the US newspaper below: |
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| And the Indian newspaper (its much glossier): |
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The newspaper of course is filled with politics, crime reports and advertisements. I am surprised to see a vertical half page color ad for a soap featuring Karina Kapoor on the front page of the newspaper. I would have thought that the front page is too precious for an ad, especially above the half fold but I guess that’s one way the newspapers survive.
Delhi newspaper has a daily life style insert called Delhi Times, which is full of juicy news like what are the fashion trends, what’s the night life in Delhi, which movie is being shot in Delhi, what are the hot restaurants and so on. I love it. Look who is publishing a full page ad on the second page of Delhi Times: |
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| Armani for Juniors! There is market for Armani, that too for Juniors in India? Wow! |
| Reading newspaper over morning cup of tea is a standard routine for most people in India but Brahma Kumaris (Brahma Kumaris) suggest something very different. They say that after a good night’s sleep, one’s mind is silent so its absorption power is at its max in the morning. Whatever we feed it early in the morning stays with it for a long time. If we feed it good peaceful thoughts, it will stay peaceful the whole day. If we feed it negative or violent thoughts, it will tend to be negative the whole day. Considering that the newspaper is mostly filled with news items like crime reports, bad politics and natural calamities, Brahma Kumaris suggest to avoid reading newspaper first thing in the morning (this applies to watching television, reading emails and web surfing too). The morning time should be devoted to positive thinking, be it meditation, reading a good book, listening to some spiritual discourse or just planning for the day. |
| We have all experienced this phenomenon in one form or another. Remember, we used to get up early in the morning to revise the important chapters during exams because we felt that we retain morning studies much better. What about that pesky song you hear in the morning and you keep humming it the whole day? In fact we have a saying for this phenomenon in Hindi – “Aaj kiska munh dekh ke utha tha”, which fundamentally means that your day depends on your morning experience. If you have an unpleasant morning, the whole day will go bad and vice versa. Now we know why 😉 |
| All these examples suggest that what one feeds to their mind early in the morning sticks. So why would anyone feed it negative thoughts knowingly? We don’t eat junk food early in the morning, we leave it for later in the day 😉 because we understand the need for good nutrition for our body. We need to apply the same principle for our minds. Start the day with good thoughts for a few minutes and avoid television, newspaper, emails, web for a couple of hours in the morning and your life will change, I guarantee that. |
Newspaper Special
Written By: ruchi
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Sep•
03•12
Ah, the rains…
Written By: ruchi
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Aug•
24•12
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Yesterday I took a rickshaw to go to a neighborhood shop. While coming back it started raining and I was scrambling to protect myself in that rickshaw with a very small hood when I realized that there is no need. It’s hot and I am going home. It does not matter if I get wet and suddenly I started enjoying the rains. That’s the beauty of rainy season in India, it happens just after the summers so they are very enjoyable. |
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| The other thing I like about the rainy season in India is the street vendors roasting and selling corn cobs. I remember buying these roasted corn cobs from these street vendors and enjoying their heavenly taste. These can be roasted in your own kitchen too but these street vendors slow roast it over the charcoals, which gives it a very distinct and smoky taste. |
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| So one day, just after it finished raining, Anil went out and bought a bunch of corn cobs for us to roast and eat. I was delighted. I quickly roasted one of them and took a bite. What a disappointment! It was hard and tasteless. I left that one and tried another one. It was the same. I guess, we are spoilt. Nothing can beat the California corn. Finally I gave up. I removed all the kernels and made corn fritters and they came out yummy. My father would have been very proud of me as he used to say, “Khan kya khata hai, apna paisa”, meaning you can’t waste money. If you bought something, use it ;-). |
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Of course rains have its own side effects too – some pretty bad ones. Most roads and sidewalks become muddy and slippery. Small puddles form in every nook and corner. In our childhood, we used to quickly make paper boats and enjoy those puddles but now decades later, we look at it as a hassle. Strange, how the attitude has changed.
Rains also flood the roads, which becomes a major problem because you don’t know if there is a real pothole under that water. If you are in a small car like Hyundai Santro, this is the time you start chanting Gayatri Mantra ;-). |
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| Another thing that I remember from my childhood and the rainy season is the small red velvet mites (Velvet Mites). They used to suddenly appear everywhere and they were so much fun to play with. If you touched them, they used to pull in all their 8 legs and basically roll like a bead. We used to pick them up and put them in our own shoe box filled with dirt. The neighborhood kids used to compete for the biggest collection of velvet mites. Nowadays you don’t even see these mites. I guess they are extinct at least in the urban areas. Sad! Do you still see these velvet mites in your neighborhood? Send me a picture, if you do.
The weather is getting better. Hopefully the summers are finally over. |
Janmashtami
Written By: ruchi
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Aug•
14•12
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It was Janmashtami last Friday, the 10th of August. We started our day with Kuttu Ki Pakori in the breakfast. No, we did not fast but who says that you cannot have Kuttu without fasting ;-). The pakoris were a hit and on popular demand, I had to prepare another batch starting from scratch again. In the evening we made Fruit Chaat and then Kuttu Ki Puri. Puris were too good, nothing was leftover for the breakfast ;-(. |
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| After dinner we went around the neighborhood to see the festivities. The temples were too crowded so we did not dare to enter the premises. Although we saw quite a few kids dressed up as Krishna and Radha outside the temples. |
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| The highlight was the roadside Jhankis, put up by the neighborhood children. Those who don’t know, Jhankis are basically recreating the scenes from past using anything you can lay your hands on like dirt, stones, figurines, toys and lights. It brought some sweet memories back from my childhood, when we used to set up Jhankis and have a friendly competition around the neighborhood for the best Jhanki. |
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| My elder brother Amit, used to be the architect for our Jhanki and I must say a fabulous one. I don’t know from where he used to get the ideas but he knew exactly how everything needed to be built. We knew from the beginning that he will become an engineer when he grows up. All the neighborhood kids used to get together and follow his directions to come up with a great Jhanki. We used to pool some money to buy lots of kite paper and pastel paper and rest everything was improvised.
We used to have Goberdhan mountain in one corner, from where Yamuna river used to flow down across the room. Bhaiya used to fit a water pipe in the mountain and balance a Ping-Pong ball on the water stream just for fun. On one side of the river we used to build Vrindavan and Mathura on the other side. Obviously, Vrindavan used to have huts, trees, cows and villagers and Mathura used to have high rises. I don’t know how my brother used to imagine all that because I know he had not seen any high rises before. We also used to build a power house to run the factories and lights on the roads of Mathura. A shoe box used to be converted into a power house with a chimney. We used to light a dhoopbatti under the box and my brother used to fix a small toy fan in the box to suck in the air and keep the dhoopbatti burning and releasing the smoke through the chimney. He also used to prepare roadside light poles using thick aluminum wires with small bulbs tied on one end of the poles and make them stand on the road in dough balls. He was amazing, a real engineer at work even as a teenager. The floor used to be covered with the wood powder colored in a variety of colors – green for the grass, black for the roads and red for showing the building compounds. The shoe boxes used to be covered with kite paper and we used to paste a lot of square papers on it for the windows. For people figures, we used to cut pictures from the magazines and stick card board on the back and make them stand like photo frames. Decades later, these roadside Jhankis brought all these sweet childhood memories back. That reminds me, I need to call my brother and tell him how amazing he is. See ya… |
Exploring Noida
Written By: ruchi
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Aug•
12•12
My niece dragged me to a mall in Noida to update my Indian wardrobe ;-). We took metro to go to the mall. First we hopped into a general compartment because the train was already at the platform when we reached there. It was too crowded, so we ran out on the next platform and got into a ladies compartment, which was much more comfortable. The platform and the metro was pretty clean and they had digital displays for the upcoming trains etc. Overall the ride was friendly and the experience was good and the main thing was that we did not need to wait too much even when we changed the compartments.
Next time, while going to Noida, I tried my hands on driving a stick shift after 20 years and no, I did not hit anyone. Sure, the drive was jerky and the car stalled a couple of times but I am determined to get better.
Visited an MNC office in Noida and was amazed to see the facility from inside. I couldn’t tell the difference between a US office and an India office. The office had break rooms with free beverages and snacks, nice cafeteria, Ping-Pong table (my favorite), nice décor, nice carpet and clean restrooms. One spends a large number of hours in the office, and a facility like this definitely makes it easier for the employees and I am sure it also boosts their productivity.
Saw a lot of apartments in the Noida area. The area is surprisingly green. You can see Magnolia, Kaner, Amaltas and Bougainvillea trees everywhere. The apartment complexes are pretty good with all the amenities but the rents are atrocious. I could never imagine Noida rents to be equivalent to California bay area rents. Having said that, we need to narrow down on an apartment fairly quickly as our luggage will arrive soon. The hunt is still on…
First week, after moving back to Delhi
Written By: ruchi
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Aug•
03•12
After spending 20 years in California, we moved back to Delhi. Staying with parents in law. It’s a big change in terms of weather, traffic and culture.
It’s the beginning of August so it’s hot and humid. In the very first week we saw two major power grid failures. Did not get to run AC for many hours, fortunately in the day time only. It’s 90% humidity, I can’t keep my hair down.
As soon as you step out of the apartment, the first thing that hits you is the unruly and really noisy traffic. Second, slippers or sandals do not protect your feet enough from dirt and everything else on the road, you need good walking shoes. Third, you don’t need a moisturizing cream any more. The weather is so humid that if you wear a cream, it will actually look too oily. Fourth, the door bell and phones don’t stop ringing ;-). Fifth, the maid is already complaining about the increased number of utensils she needs to wash. Oh well.
Having said that, I feel comfortable. I can talk to anyone in the neighborhood without feeling like an intruder. I am rediscovering the fruits that I haven’t had in years, like Jamun. I am enjoying the frenzy of festivals, the temporary sweet shops, the temporary rakhi shops and so on.
All in all, it’s a roller coaster ride. One moment I feel good and the next moment I feel frustrated. Hoping that it will become more feel-good and less of frustration. Only time will tell…