From 'Lonely' to "Home"(ly)!

I came to Texas to pursue a master’s degree and spent two and half years achieving it! In December 2008, 2 + years of my hard work will be summed up in two letters at the end of my name =>

Poorva Narsapur M.S.!

I wonder what I will feel walking down the “United Spirits Arena” wearing the black robe and cap (that symbolize a judge...God forbid... I am the most biased human being ever who can be emotionally blackmailed easily.... that will end the concept of “aandha kannon”....giggles)!

Ironically the “hindi movies” (that almost never show anything remotely “real”) too depict the graduation ceremony in a similar fashion which predictably has always caught my fancy। Hence ever since I enrolled in the graduate school I have been awaiting the graduation day! To walk the walk and throw the cap high up in the air.... watch it as it swivels and jump up to catch it in mid air!

Sadly after my graduate date was extended by 6 months... I had almost lost interest in the commencement ceremony. Thankfully a surprise visit to the Spirits Arena reminded me of what I had been waiting for.... to get photographed in the over sized gown!!

Neither had I thought that I would be sad about leaving Lubbock! I had always imagined relief to be etched on my mind when I said my final goodbyes to flat, sunny, dusty, “hard watered” and lonely Lubbock!

On Monday the 17^th of November I visited all my professors and said goodbyes! Then I spent an hour touring Texas Tech trying to fix all the wonderful images of the campus on my mind! I have grown insanely proud of Texas Tech in these 2 years. It has a wonderful campus which is almost as large as a miniature city! The Tech football team too made us Red Raiders proud and we can actually mock longhorns (after 4 long years!)। The first American football game I saw was on campus. Our band was stunning and our players well prepared! I think my proudest moment was when the “masked raider” galloped across the stadium on her horse (yep it was a “she” this time... for those who are unfamiliar with this concept... a masked raider is another mascot of Tech who wears black and rides a horse at the beginning of each home game and some others as well... they alternately chose a girl and a boy to ride the horse!)

After spending 2 and half years in Lubbock..............I now call Lubbock home! Initially when I came here, I could not wrap my head around the deserted place which was seen as a group of circular farmlands from the airplane! I was afraid of walking on the desolate streets which were the opposite of the streets in Mumbai.

Not too different was the scorching heat that tanned all of us black (IT was August!)। To make matters worse, the dry weather peeled away our skin, the hard water messed with our hair and the cuisine made my life difficult as a vegetarian। But as time passed I started appreciating the peace and quiet and the wide expanse of nothingness! The hard water began to taste like bottled water and the heat toned down as winter approached! I began cooking better and discovered restaurants serving decent vegetarian food comprising of something other than fries and salad! All these things made Lubbock tolerable but I still called Bombay home. As the year passed I began to get used to the arid Lubbock and things started getting very familiar! I knew people and the shop keepers and made more friends! I learnt to optimize on the limited resources I had and the quality of living improved. This is where I learnt to be completely independent, learnt to trust no one while being amiable to all... this is where got my first job!

I started identifying with the slow paced life of Lubbock which was very different from where I grew up ! And then one day when it was time for me to move away.... I found there were tears in my eyes... just like when I was leaving Bombay! Bombay will always remain extremely special to me and no other place can take its place.... however I have now started calling Lubbock home because this is where I learnt some of the most difficult lessons in my life... thus this too is a place where I grew up!

FESTIVAL OF RED

Once there was a festival of Red,

To which there came

The reds of all the earth and skies..........

The perfumed redness of a soft rosebud,

The mystic redness of a funeral flame,

And the sad redness of the rabbit’s eye,

The redness of a sunset colored peak,

The live sweet redness of a baby’s cheek,

The hard rich redness of a parrot’s beak,

The redness of a warm fruit within a wood,

The redness in the eyeballs of a dove,

The lonely redness of a heart in love.

But when the festival of red began,

Outside a raving outcast, redness stood.

It was the redness of the rage of man!

-UNKNOWN!

Note: This was my favorite peom as a child! Finally found it and would like to share it with ‘yall’!

Something about dancing

I like dancing and think it’s a wonderful form of art...be it salsa or bharatnatyam.

I have learnt classical dancing for more than four years and have to thank my dad for that. He forced me to go to dance classes when I was in school. I have had 3 teachers in all of which the first one was my favourite one. She had the kindest and sweetest soul of all. I used to love learning from her because I think she guessed I was there only because papa wanted me to and did not judge me for it....she accounted for my mixture of lack of earnest interest in dancing and my not wanting disappoint to papa. So she taught me when I was in the mood and the rest of the times she let me sit and watch. Gradually I begin to join the dance sessions more and more with budding interest! I was all of seven then and adored her। Then the worst happened, she died of cancer. That was the first time I dealt with the idea of death but surprisingly it was not frightening. I think I was stronger as a child!

After her death, I lost whatever little interest I had for dancing। To make matters worse the new teacher who replaced her was not so understanding and did not like my apparent lack of interest in dancing. She did not agree with my attempts to learn dancing for my father’s sake and was pretty harsh. She even enforced a dress code in my least favorite color which did not help with her popularity (in my views)!

Thankfully we moved in a couple of years and I was relived as our new place was far away from the dance school. I thought that it would bring an end to my dancing sessions! But papa did not give up, he found me a new dance teacher. This new one was very much like my first teacher and I starting enjoying our lessons. We developed a rapport and my interest in dancing returned! That’s when I realized I had the sense of rhythm and dancing was not half bad!

Unfortunately she got married and moved to another state which brought another end to my dancing lessons! Afterwards, I was buried in 12^th grade examinations and engineering years which left little time for anything else.

Now that I look back, I am really glad I took classes. I think it was my rebellious trait (as I was forced to learn it) that prevented me from enjoying dancing in my earlier years! For the record my dad is the sweetest soul on earth and he seldom asks me to do anything. So when he does.... there is no other way about it for me!

From what I learn from my new roommate, dancing is frowned upon by some groups but in our society, dancing (bharatnatyam) is considered a form of pooja (worship). And I am really glad I had a chance to learn it!

Every year the Maharashtra Board of Tourism organizes the Elephanta festival of dance and music. I visited one such festival with papa. Elephanta island is a 30 minute boat ride from The Gateway of India. The program was on a full moon night which made the whole thing even more wonderful. The ambience was that of some stage set in the 16^th century. The Shiva idol forming the center of the stage was beautifully illuminated and almost stole the entire show! We were seated on the ground on “gaddis” and round cushions and the whole place was decorated with lanterns, rangolis and diyas. It had the grandeur of the "महल" of the olden days! This trip was probably the most memorable of all my excursions and I will always cherish it. For more information visit:

http://www.mumbai.org.uk/elephanta-festival.html

The only negative thing about the place is that it has to be approached via sea which mandates a boat ride. Ordinarily I adore the sea, however I am prone to sea sickness and can become a tad bit uneasy!

I plan to pursue dancing again someday and perform the “arrangetram”! That sure will bring a smile to my dad’s face which will be reward enough! Till then what I do is watch and admire Madhuri’s performances and also some parts of nach baliye!

The week that was!!!

Last week was a very important one for all Americans. A new commander in chief was elected who will have to hold answers to challenging problems of the war and the current financial predicament. So the whole country voted and watched as they counted the votes. Many of them prayed for an able leader who will take the reins of government and be the messiah for today’s America.

Not being a citizen I have little say in who should have won the post of the potentially most powerful man in the world, but I do hope that he is effective and finds a way to make peace with the Middle East and end the war without jeopardizing the safety and position of this country. I am a little ashamed to say that I am not too well informed about the middle east situation as it does not directly affect my life....but the way I see it... .at the end of the day people are dying both Americans and those in the Middle East. So if there was a magical way to fix this colossal problem I pray that the new president finds it.

IF by Rudyard Kipling

To my father and

For all the tough gals and guys out there

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

The festival of lights! दिवाली

Diwali is the Christmas of India...celebrated by one and all regardless of their religion. Diwali is probably the most popular of all Hindu festivals. It marks the celebration of Lord Rama’s victory over the rakshaas ‘Ravana’.

Smitten by Sita’s beauty, Ravana had abducted Sita and held her captive in Lanka {his kingdom}. Lord Ram the eldest of King Dashtra’s sons’ was sentenced to 12 years of ‘vanvas’ {live in the forest as a common man. He was accompanied by his wife Sita and brother Laxman}. It was here that Ravana saw and abducted Sita.

SriRama travelled all the way across to Lanka and defeated Ravana in battle. People welcomed Lord Ram when he returned with Sita by lighting diyas .

There were so many of them that when they formed a long queue they appeared as a line of lamps (avali: rows).

Every year that day in the hindu calendar is celebrated by lighting lamps and fire crackers and is hence the named “Deepavali”.

Deep(diyas or lamps) + Avali(rows) = Deepavali ; which has been shortened to diwali!

Over years the interpretation of this festival has changed making today’s version of Diwali pretty different. I am going to give you all a glimpse of celebration of diwali in present day India…or more so..present day Bombay and as its modified version in Lubbock, Texas!

True to that myth diwali is still celebrated across the nation, and now probably all over the globe by lighting diyas and hanging lanterns…aptly being called the festival of lights.

On a philosophical level, diyas spread the light of hope and happiness; driving away the darkness originating from all the negative things.

This festival is celebrated by creating beautiful drawings on the porch, using rangoli! Diyas are then lit at the main entrance and all over the place. Lanterns also popularly known as “kandils” are hung on the doorstep. On the day of lakshmi poojan all this is done to welcome Lakshmi the Goddess of wealth into our homes! That marks the first day of diwali. For some people, dhanteraas is celebrated on the day before Lakshmi poojan. On that day, money and ornaments are worshipped to honor the Goddess.

The third day of diwali marks the Hindu New Year when Lord Satyanarayan is worshipped.

Bhau-bheez a festival where siblings celebrate their bond and love for each other is celebrated on the fifth day. Traditionally the sister cooks and invites her brother for dinner. The brother in return gets her gifts and promises to help and support her by being her best friend.

The highlight of this festival for most is the fireworks. The magnitude of fireworks had increased tremendously; disrupting peace. The government has finally decided to intervene and has set up a time limit until which the fireworks can be used. Furthermore, an additional ban was placed on the type of fireworks being used, which are measured in terms of decibels of sound they produce!

Inspite of these obvious drawbacks... I adore the festival of Diwali। The entire city is dressed up in vibrant colors and the sky is full of lights emanating from the fireworks. Plus everyone is extra nice to each other owing to the holiday spirit; to say nothing about the goodies being cooked and served!

After staying in “beloved” Bombay for 23 years I moved to Texas, specifically Lubbock। Lubbock is a university town and has nothing exciting going on unless you have some fun people around. So for Diwali which invariably falls in the middle of midterms and submissions, we (friend circle) get together and do Laxmi poojan. It is fun, all of us cook a dish and get it to the get-together. This is popularly known as potluck, which is much more fun as you get a variety of dishes like the time when you were back home! This helps bring about some festive spirit and makes the day special inspite of being thousands of miles away from home!

WOOOOAA!

There is a certain green-eyed monster who visits all of us from time to time.... who lifts his ugly head when someone out there gets what he has been craving for! The green-eyed monster is a manifestation of a ingrained desire to achieve something at all costs। It is probably God’s way of making humans try harder when someone else beats them to it! So the question is.... does the monster have a villainous trait?.... or is he a friendly neighbor with obnoxious tastes?

I believe that as long as the monster behaves himself and does not hurt anyone in his presence..... he is a friend who is a little bossy but helps you work towards that something special to you!

My reference to the monster in the male form is ironical as the ladies are more likely to harbor these green-eyed creatures! My reasoning behind this is that the men probably don’t care much either way!