On Changing Seasons

One of the many reasons I love living in this area is the beauty of the change of seasons. The amazing colors and crispness of fall, the serene beauty of winter, the resurgent excitement of spring and the glorious greenery and sunshine of summer are things that we in Minnesota look forward to each year. Of course, being Minnesotan, we have to complain. With each climate shift - we always find several reasons to quibble, question and qvetch (actually Kvetch - yiddish for complaining).

Take a look at this picture. Well, two weeks ago, we got dumped on. SNOW - well, not major league dumped on; we Minnesotans handle that well, but we don't like winter to invade our 'Indian Summer' days. That reference is attached to days in October and early November when we get sunny and warm days after the first hard freeze. And we had several hard freezes this year already - way too early in all our collective Minnesotan opinions.

Then again, bright and sunny days may be well and good in October. But it does bring with us several tasks for us homeowners. Told you I wasn't done complaining! With the change of seasons comes the time for leaves to shed. And with several trees in our yard, it is quite a chore to get all of the leaves raked, picked up, and hauled away to the compost area. We have way too many leaves to compost right in our own compost bin. So this past Saturday, with help from Cindy and Vinay, we raked and hauled three packed trailer loads of wet leaves. In a way, even though wet leaves are a pain to rake, it packs down easier in the trailer and I had to make half the number of trips to the composting site. In the picture above, you can see Cindy raking the leaves behind the canoe - and this is outside our fenced in area. We try and get to as many as these leaves because they otherwise blow into the lake, decompose and become nutrients for the weeds.

Then yesterday, Sunday, with the winter approaching we decided to split all of the logs of wood we had gotten over the past 18 months. The wood pile looked dismally low and with the kids and Cindy using they fire place and fire ring often, the need to replenish the stock became imperative. So, after many attempts to beg, borrow and (not) steal a woodsplitter, we decided to find a place that would rent us one. I picked it up in Maplewood, hauled it home and then got to work. It took us seven full hours - and there were three of us working the first three-hour shift then Vinay left to work on his school project - and then cindy and I spent four more hours, chain sawing large logs to size and the splitting the logs into nice sized pieces of wood. I wish I had taken a picture of us splitting wood, but I was too damn tired to even think about pulling the phone out to take a picture! We now have LOTS of wood. I am hoping that the kids will use the wood by the fire ring sparingly and make it last the winter. They have a tendency to have big fires. On the other hand, the other pile of wood, for the fireplace has been neatly stacked about five feet high and about 14' feet long x 2 rows. I think that should suffice for a few months.

Now as good Minnesotans, we are dreading that set change in the climate - the time when it is cold enough to snow, but warm enough to make it melt and make it like a skating rink in some areas. Then the snow will come and there will be more complaining on our collective parts followed by increase in the vehemence when the temperature really begins to take a dive into the sub-zero range. That will be for another day.

At this time, let me take the time to wish you all a very happy diwali! It is a grand time to be in India around the holidays. So much joy and enthusiasm - a bit like Christmas here in the States. People put aside differences, the grim facts of financial despair and other woes just to enjoy the lights, offer prayers and best wishes and if at all possible, finish the evening with an array of fireworks - firecrackers, sparklers and all!

On Columbus Day, snow, baseball and Gourmet set dinners

Greetings from a rather bleak and cold Monday morning. It is Columbus Day. And a holiday for some of us. I really was looking forward to sleeping in this morning, but life got in the way. Not too many folks celebrate Columbus Day. There is a strong opinion among many that Columbus was a racist, not native friendly and an opportunistic voyager who stumbled up the Americas (Hispaniola to be precise) just because he took a wrong turn. Oh, obviously that makes him a bad sailor too! However, I did not worry too much about the Nina, the Pinta or the Santa Maria. I was more concerned about giving my Hyundai Tuscon to my 18 year-old to get to work as he found a nice little tack in the back tire of police super charged trooper car.

My concern revolved around the fact that on Columbus Day, 2009 we folks in Minnesota got a bunch of snow. It was a wimpy snow as snowfalls go, but nonetheless it bore down upon the psyche of the hardy souls who gird their loins for the tough months ahead sometime in after the next holiday we government workers get - Veterans Day around Nov. 11.

We knew the snow was coming as it got cold this weekend. The temperature dipped below freezing and when I got up to get Vinay ready to go umpire in Inver Grove Heights, the temperature was hovering at the freezing point. He seemed confident and pleased that it was cold as he felt sure that he could get to the field and as an umpire - make the decision to call the games because of cold weather thus saving the agony of having to umpire four games on that cold and blustery morning.



I guess Vinay does not read or listen to Garrison Keillor when he talks about the hardy folks who live in Minnesota. When we got to the fields some 45 minutes away, we saw a happy bunch of players leaving the park. Vinay casually (and concealing an inordinate amount of glee) asked if their game had been cancelled because of the cold. The response was, "Oh no, we are the team that got eliminated in the first round of games at 8 a.m., the next set begins in 10 minutes! The dark, gloomy, dank and cold day only grew danker and colder for Mr. Vinay. He resolved to speak to the coaches of both teams only to find both coaches vigorously working their teams into a lather and getting them set to play. I drove home and drove back at 2 p.m. to pick Vinay up as Naveen (who was to umpire all four games but gave up the first two as he had to work the early shift) came to take over from him. The picture above is one of Mr. Vinay umping the final inning of the second game, so four hours after he took the field.

The day before all this - I am working my way back chronologically - was Saturday, Oct. 10 which also coincidentally was Vinay's 17th birthday. We 'talked' him into staying home from the Home Coming dance so he could participate in get together with a bunch of our friends and one of his buddies. We did give him the opportunity to have his friends over, but he chose not to. Some kids think that their parents are so uncool. I guess we are one of them. Reality will strike some years down the road, just as it did Mohan our eldest! Anyway, we had invited an eclectic group of friends for dinner to enjoy a uniquely Dutch pastime called the "Gourmet Zet" dinner. It basically involves cooking your own meal at the table.


This is how it works:
Cut two pounds of steak,pork, and chicken into thin bite sized pieces. Cut a packet of bacon slices into half, take 1.5 pounds of ground beef and make mini-burgers, slice liver into bite-sized pieces (optional), and uncooked shrimp and scallops. Then chop carrots, green onions, broccoli (into small florets), chinese pea pods, some corn, chopped garlic, thin slices of ginger and cilantro (chives and parsley are optional)and a dozen eggs. Set all of this on trays on the table. Each dinner guest will have a small frying with a burner below. The table is set with a number of different sauces - we had ketchup, teriyaki sauce, sriracha hot pepper sauce - carambola sauce, Barabados hot sauce, pick-a-peppa Jamaican sauce, Thai sauce, Barbecue Sauce, and three or four other hot sauces and a homemade bottle of serrano chillies and capers in vinegar. Once the pan is hot, the guests were asked to make their own meals using any or all of the ingredients they could fit in their fry pan. We had lots of wine and beer and a large pot of rice. It was a blast! We must have been at the dining room table for more than two hours, chatting as each small portion got cooked. Everyone was responsible for their own meal and all present enjoyed their meal immensely.


The evening was topped off with folks wish our birthday boy all the best and we served ice-cream cake to cool off all the lively palates that had come alive with the different sauces available for the gourmet set meal.

All in all, it was a busy weekend. Oh, I did get to visit the dentist today and she said my teeth looked great and that I was doing a good job following instructions. If she only knew! And before I wrap up, I was looking for some extra set of keys that Naveen had made and for some reason we were unable to find it and as I looked through the back of my chest of drawers - lo and behold, I found my wedding band that had been AWOL for about four years! We had gone through the house with a fine tooth comb and had not located it all this time. All is well that ends well. I have to go teach now. Catch you on the rebound! Sorry about the disjointed thoughts. Have to get to school fast!

Raising girls vs. boys in India...

Last night a friend of ours, a non-traditional student - and someone who has endured school and is set to graduate next May, came by to interview me for an assignment on cultural diversity. Her Emic interview was to focus on 'differences and similarities in raising girls vs. boys' in a culture other than her own. Are they given similar or different expectations about how they will relate to their parents in adulthood? In what ways are a "good girl" and a "good boy" the same, and in what ways are they different?

Having lived in the US for some 34 years, and having/and still trying my darndest to be the best parent I can be, I found it intriguing as I stepped out of my American-Indian shoes and slipped back into Indian-heritage to reflect upon this rather interesting interview. It is true that I did not grow up in a traditional Indian home. I believe we were fairly exposed to western ways and my parents didn't lean too heavily on traditional ways of getting things done. So, in some ways, I had to look beyond how I was raised and look at some of bigger cultural values and norms that guide many Indian homes.

So, are children raised differently in India. Of course! I do believe that in a traditional home, outside of large metropolitan areas, roles for males and females are pretty well defined. India is after all a fairly collectivist nation. In the collectivist state, the smallest group of survival is the family. Each member of the family has a role and the importance of the group is more important than that of the self. It is this value that defines what boys can and should do and girls can and should do. Unfortunately, in trying to keep true to these values, parents often chose very narrow path for their children to follow. Straying from that path can lead to very serious and severe consequences not just for that one person, but for the entire group - often the family. Thus the concepts of saving face, harmony and consensus adds to pressure of conforming to the roles assigned.

Traditional parents raise children with the hope that their reward would be that their children would care for them in their old age. Unfortunately, there is still a notion that boys are less expensive to raise and care for, while girls are seen as expensive and a bane to the prosperity of the family. Kumar Nilendu, the general manager of Child Rights and You goes on to say, "In India, the girl child faces four heinous crimes – foeticide, child labour, child marriage and abuse. In addition, she suffers three key deprivations: she is deprived of an education, of the right to health and nutrition and the right to develop.”

Do I need to aplogize for the Indian culture? No! Cultures develop on their own, in isolation, and people arrive at norms, values and believes through trial and error. Cultures do appear strange to outsiders, but for the most part, they do work for that particular group of people.

Then, do I agree with these practices? No, and there are many in India who also believe as I do and are doing their best to change the notion that India is the 'land of the rising son.' One such example is the 'ladli' scheme in New Delhi where the state government intends to deposit Rs. 100,000 in the account of every girl child (of parents whose income does not exceed Rs. 100,000 a year) by the time she attains the age of 18. The goal of the ladli scheme is to ensure that no girl child is a burden on her parents. This, it is hoped, will prevent the menace of female foeticide. As Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit emphasized, "Every girl child is now a symbol of prosperity of her family."

On my recent trip to India, I was in several metropolitan areas. I saw many young men and women freely move about with little restriction. Women operating scooters and motorcycles, driving cars, socializing in clubs and pubs, and leading demonstrations. Woman politicians lead major parties, serve in several cabinets at every level of goverment and are slowly making their way into what would have been completely male bastions just a couple of decades ago.

Seeing all of this, it would be hard to think of India as anything but an egalitarian society. But, the truth is that the deep roots of hierarchy are hard to uproot. Although all of the signs exist that society is slowly but surely moving in that direction. I hope so. But disturbing statistics do exist. I just saw a report that 40% of the current female domestic help in Mumbai are young girls ages, 8 to 16. Children who have followed in the footsteps of their mothers to help ease the ever-growing demand for domestic help in large metropolitan areas of India.

I do believe that everyone should have an equal chance to express themselves and be who they wish to become. I wish India the very best. It is truly an amazing nation.

Wow - I did not mean to get that serious. Last night was a mellow night. I did get to the gym and had an exceptionally hard workout. Maybe that helped cleared my mind as I sat to do the interview. Or was I mellow because I did not have the opportunity to get too excited at the way the Minnesota Twins were faring at the hands of the New York Yankees. The final score was lopsided. The Twins lost - end of story (#1/5).

Until the next time!

To advertise or not to advertise

Advertise: 1: to make something known to: NOTIFY 2a: to make publicly or generally known b: to announce publicly esp. by printed notice or a broadcast c: to call public attention to esp. by emphasizing desirable qualities so as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize (Merriam-Webster College Dictionary).

This is my latest dilemma. My one and only follower (a loyal follower, I might add) suggests that I advertise my blog on Facebook. I wonder! I wonder what desirable quality should I emphasize? Or, is there one that would make folks buy any arguments I may put forth or patronize an establishment or thought process that I may have. That, dear reader(s) is causing me great consternation. I am human, make mistakes, err in spelling and grammar and generally ramble. Are these all qualities that I should hang out there like dirty laundry?

I wonder if people come and then leave, what kind of message would that send? Knowing the strange and convoluted mind that occupies the large balding sphere atop my face, I may drawn any number of conclusions. Will that lead to acid reflux? I already experience that. Possibly make more powerful acid? Oh my – a picture of hole-ridden stomach is very unappetizing. I better skip that thought. Or, will it lead to a fall down that deep precipice of no return, where I languish for days on end wondering what is this blogging all about? And what good do inane blogs bring to the general populace?

Then again, as my faithful reader(s) states – blog and they shall come. Maybe there is fame and fortune in blogging. A large and faithful audience that clamors for more. Picture me, sitting at my laptop, at 1:36 a.m. plucking away at the keyboard dispensing pearls of wisdom, all glistening and strung in such dazzling fashion that the faithful will have but no choice but to log on at 5:38 a.m. and soak in what pops up as they seek and find the link from their favorites (I assume they have all added it to their favorites).

POP! What was that? Oh, just a bubble of reality bursting. I lunch hour is up and I better get going. But, I can’t do that without telling you all (including you, my one and only faithful follower) that the local team – playing their 163 game of season, did pull off a miracle the only way they know how! The Twins came back, time and again, from depths of despair to take one away from the Detroit Tigers. The thousands that attended and the more of us who followed the game on our televisions, radio sets and computers came away ecstatic, drained and thrilled that we could fight yet another day! Today, the Twins are in New York City playing their first game of the best of five series against the much-hated NY Yankees. On paper, the Twins appear to be a push-over. No one gave them a chance three weeks ago, let alone this past week. Today, they have made us proud. I hope they keep on winning like their predecessors did in 1987 and 1991. Go Twins!

Yesterday I did try and upload a picture of the Minneapolis City Hall, but was not able to. However, this morning, I was able to 'sneak' in a picture of the Minneapolis City Council Chamber. The city, with a population of about 380,000 (St. Paul, our other Twin City has 240,000)is divided into 13 Wards and each ward is represented by a full-time City Council member. They are compensated pretty well and make about $68,000 a year (or thereabouts).

We also have a Mayor who works alongside the Council. Since we have a 'weak' Mayor, strong Council format, all Mayoral initiatives have to be passed by the City Council. In other words, to get anything done here, it is imperative that the Mayor and Council get along. Fortunately, there are 12 democrats one one Green party member (more left leaning and liberal than even the democrats) on the Council and this allows our democratic Mayor to work fairly well with them.

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, the Cities are agog with sports mania and during my walk through the skyways of Minneapolis (a post for another day), I saw many folks with team jerseys and other paraphernalia - most probably set to go to the game at the Metrodome. The dome is only four blocks from here and my bus goes directly past it. I am hoping that the bus I catch at 3:46 p.m. will make its way through the hordes headed for the dome at that time. On second thoughts, I don't think that should be problem as most Minnesotans are pretty docile folks - a somber value that they have hung on to from their Scandinavian heritage. I guess the Swedes are wilder than the Norwegians - but only by teeny-tiny bit. You could never tell - unless your were a native like Garrison Keillor.

Until tomorrow when I hope to update this blog with the good news that the Twins won their one playoff game (who thought that after 162 games that Minnesota and Detroit would be tied with the exact number of wins and losses)! And for those of you (I guess I have only one follower) interested in American football - Minnesota Vikings beat their hated next state rivals, the Green Bay Packers 30-23 at the dome last night!

Until then!

Sports musings

We are a bunch of fair weather fans, here in Minnesota. Minneapolis does have some very decent professional teams that fare from fair to middling - they always seem to take you to the edge, but never that leap into that other class of winners. There was such a string of success some 22 years ago and then again four years later. Ever since then, faithful fans hang on to hope that their team will again make a run for fame, fortune and community pride.

I bring this up because these past couple of days it has been everything sports around town. The Minnesota Twins (baseball) performed very well by sweeping another team in their division to tie the top team and forcing a play off game that will be played tomorrow to decide the division champs. Then, the Univ. of Minnesota played and lost to Wisconsin (in American football)in a close game that they could have won if the all the balls bounced their way. I guess they were one bounce short. Then, yesterday, Sunday, we had the Twin Cities Marathon - one the nation's prettiest marathons with the course running past several of lakes that dot our landscape. And today is the biggest game of all - the Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and their arch-rival The Green Bay Packers. What makes it so interesting is that the quarter for Minnesota, Brett Favre, played for many years for the Green Bay team and the bane of many a Viking season playoff hopes. But this time around, fans are rejoicing that he is our side and that they will beat the Green Bay Packers.

Who knows how many of my students will show up for class today? Who knows how baseball fans will be present at tomorrow's class? Regardless, as much as I would like to put my feet up and watch both games, I guess I am being paid (and paid well, mind you) to teach and that is exactly what I plan to do. Well, okay, I will have the game updates on my computer and I will also get updates from the many students who do have laptops in class.

Sunday was supposed to the last game the Twins played in the Teflon baggie (they are moving to a brand new stadium about 1.5 miles or 2.5 km for this place) - the Metrodome and there were big celebrations. But the team did manage to tie, so there will be one more game tomorrow and that will decide where the teams play. The only way they will play again here is if they win and go on to division finals. Then they may have one or several games depending on how they play/win.

I am off to class.

Acknowledment

I have wanted to do this for so long, but I never seemed to find the time to sit and pen a few thoughts down to paper. I have been accused by my spouse of spending hours dispensing advice to the forlorn on many a chat site on the Web but never to share with others in general. So, at the outset, I do have two people to thank. First an acknowledgment to my spouse, Cindy, for nagging me over the years to put these thoughts on paper/the web; and second, my dear sister, Radha, who over the past few years has blossomed into an amazing scribe, blogging her thoughts and her recipes for her loyal fans and has truly become my inspiration!

This blog will be of random thoughts about this wonderful area that I live in – Minnesota. Actually, more about Minneapolis, the largest city in the state which shares the metro area with St. Paul, the capital city, and some 80 odd suburbs. I do live in Shoreview, a St. Paul suburb of about 24,000 and commute in to Minneapolis by car and bus – a distance of about 18 miles or approximately 29 km.

You will find thoughts, ideas, and random rambles with an occasional spicy tip or
recipe (ones that I will also share with my sister). Hopefully, I will continue to blog on regular basis and at the same time try and entice some of you to come visit the great metro area of Minneapolis - St. Paul and keep us company.
I work for the largest local government in the state – the City of Minneapolis and also have found great pleasure (and a decent second income) in teaching at a couple of community colleges in the northern suburbs of the metro area.