The Punjabi diaspora in Virginia.

 On 21st May, 2018 attended the Punjabi diaspora in the US. I was really fascinated by this event held in US soil and in my various visits to US this was the first time that I saw so many women in colourful attire the salwar kameej of India, otherwise most of the time, I see women in business suit or in dull colours. My daughter in law has spent most of her life in Punjab and she was instrumental in taking us here . There were thousands of people dressed in Indian clothes, women were sporting the latest fashion with designer Patiala salwar and fancy suits,colourful and beautifully embroidered dupatta, pgulkari work being the dominant one, most of which must have been bought on trips to India, I think. Food and clothes stall selling their ware and Pizas with a Punjabi tadka, Jalebi and Chole Bhature  were selling like hot cakes. Some one had gifted free water and cold drinks, fans for the weather was sultry. The children performed Gidda, Bhangra and many more young children performed the various dance forms of Punjab.They had invited four Punjabi pop singers from Punjab and every one was swaying to their songs though I did not find much variety in the songs, most of them with the same rythym and tone. There is a Virginia school of Bhangra that trains the children here and teaches them dance. The community here is helping many NGO organisations in Syria too with money. There was  talk of Nigeria and also  how a bus had fallen into Beas river. They also spoke of how Delhi is getting polluted and the soils in Punjab are being badly affected by the use of plenty of fertilizer and how drugs is becoming common among youths.All the conversation was in Punjabi. The community here was keeping in touch back home. Many of the children are born and brought up here and I could see a lot of difference in the way the girls were walking. Unlike in India where girls walk slowly, here the girls walk very briskly and take big big steps and have a different style of walking. A very interesting peek into how the community out here keeps in touch with its roots and yet is also becoming Americanised.

Swamy Narayan, Akshardham temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey

 On 25th May, 2018, visited the Swamy Narayan, Akshardham temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey. This was the second  temple  of Swamy Narayan that I visited abroad, the first being in London. Both these temples have a similar story. The temples are constructed with Italian marble, Turkish lime  stone and Indian pink stone. The marble for these temples was quarried from European mines and shipped to Rajasthan. Here many artisans crafted the individual pieces and these were shipped back to London or New Jersey, with a numbering system and the pieces were assembled together. There is exquisite carvings in marble and some thing worth visiting. Even the lights that were being used for Arati did not have any smoke and were smokeless. However, by and large, I found the temple too gaudy and one where the attention moves away from God to the embellishments.This is an amazing structure and resembles more a museum piece. Though the temple is built in accordance to the principles of temple construction found in manuscripts, yet in terms of spirituality and the atmosphere  it did not match some of the other modern temples,  that I am aware of.

Morning in Odenton

 The mornings in Odenton are very  foggy, Misty and cold, with temperatures at 15 degree Celsius. The weather is going to be cloudy and rainy for the next four days. Sankalp Pande and Pande Nidhi, my son and lovely daughter in law gifted me  a beautiful picture frame for Mothers day. I do not even recollect, where and when this picture was taken and how they got it.

Travel to Washington DC

 12th May, 2018, Etihad, now enjoying your hospitality. Getting ready for a fourteen hour trip in the air from Abu Dhabi to Washington Dallas, with back to back Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood movies. I have few books and magazines. My laptop and mobile are connected to Internet in the air. What more do I want and what more  can I ask for? Holidays begin!!!!

Being woman, a dance festival

 Being woman, a dance festival organised by the Centre for Women's Studies in collaboration with Mythili and Raman arts on 5th th May, 2018. This was a beautiful evening of classical dance. All the dancers in their beautiful dance forms of Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam, Tandav Nritya and Kathak interpreted what being a women meant. There was a discussion with the artists in the end. Amazing work by the artists of combining traditional dance forms with modern day women's issues. A beautiful evening worth remembering.

A write up on the Centre for Women's studies

Very happy to share with Family, relatives, friends, students and well wishers a write up about the

Centre for Women's Studies in the University of Hyderabad, in the Deccan Chronicle

of 19th April, 2018.

 

Aurovillo Ashram

 No trip to Pondicherry can be completed with out a visit to Aurovillo Ashram. Hence visited here on 16th April, 2016. The green and vast expanse is very soothing to the eyes. This is said to be a place of divinity where people from different nations, religions, caste and creed live together as humans first. It is not a, touristic place but a place of divinity. The Golden globe or Matra Mandir is really very peaceful and one can meditate in silence and really connect to one's inner self. I found the environment really very beautiful. The place is dominated by foreigners and I found very few Indians in administrative positions. Photography is not allowed so we could only take photos from outside.