From complete dependency to independence - A journey

This is middle of the week, just had a meeting and another is due in few hours, but suddenly a thought cropped up my mind and I thought what the heck let me take a break for few minutes and blog it...
This thought stemmed from searching a group email about some missing crucial info about certain social event that is going to take place this saturday. When I did not find it  in my mailbox I send a email to the group asking for the information and they quickly send the information back to me - which is much appreciated!
While growing up and even now when I go home to India, for any event/non-event, small event or anything at all, we immediately turn to someone for help or information. We are so used to it. If we have to find direction, we don't read maps, just stop and ask someone. We are just so quick in asking for help without thinking if we can do it ourselves. Few months back when I went to India, we went to a hospital for some routine check up, and immediately my mom made few phone calls to make sure that we know some doctor or atleast have some link at the hospital. For going out, we generally call a taxi cab we are familiar with.We go to a bank where one of our relatives  or friends work, we buy a product that someone known sells us. In other words, we do nothing without knowing someone. Deep inside, think about it, it comes from our dependency on the other person. We somehow refuse to live life independently.
Here, in this part of the world, things are culturally different. One has to learn to be independent very early in their lives, they need to learn how to read a map, read a bus or train schedule make a living of their own etc. When I was new in the US I made very annoying errors. I would not do my home work and search for a solution to my problems, but immediately go and ask someone about how to solve it. This is an extremely irritating behavior which I am realizing now. I have had my own share of brickbats too and now I tend to be less dependent on people and try to do my things myself.
In the academic world, I guess success also depends on how independent you are. I have seen a bunch of people from the same lab becoming successful quite easily while people like me still struggle. Underlying this probably lies the deep psychological phenomenon of dependency. The sooner you get over it, the sooner you will lead a better and independent life. I sometimes feel it is very difficult to shed your old habits and embrace something different. Is it a "Caught between two worlds" syndrome?...

While we were away

My blogs are slightly overdue. I have been thinking of putting together pictures and experiences of our recent cruise to Bahamas and stay at the west palm beach in Florida, but first things first. When we reached home almost after 9 days of absence, the first thing I did was; rushed to our backyard. To my pleasant surprise, the plants were green and healthy which means I programmed the sprinkler well (We have had drought declaration in Texas and only can run sprinkler on sundays and thursdays) which beat the Texas heat. Second thing, the Okra plant had okras as big as 10 inches and all were overgrown (Can't be consumed). Second thing, there were at least 4 big Laukis() and one of them is a 4 feet long!! There were over grown ridge gourds, but some were just right. There were pumpkin flowers, there were snake gourds again some over grown. It took me about half an hour to pluck them all and put together. It was overwhelming! Just a small note here, before we left for Bahamas, we plucked even the smallest of all vegetables assuming they will be the right size when we are back, but that was not to be. They just grow so fast and we NEVER had put any fertilizer on our garden, it is purely enriched by our own organic waste at home. I am so proud of our small vegetable garden.. Now I am thinking if people take care of their home garden, they may be self sufficient with their vegetable demand, but who cares...

Making the healthiest Lauki/bottle gourd/doodhi Raita

Lauki or doodhi is a nice, easy to grow, inexpensive and healthy vegetable. The english name of Lauki is bottle gourd and the botanical name is Lagenaria siceraria and it belongs to cucurbitaceae family(Family of gourds/pumpkins) . Here are some names in different languages:

• India: lauki
  
• Indonesia: labu
  
• Japan: hyotan, yugao
  
• Malaysia: labu ayer
  

• Philippines: upo
  
• Sri Lanka: diya labu
  
• Thailand: buap khaus, nam tao
  
• Vietnam: bau.
• Chinese:  po gua, poo gua, kwa kwa, dudhi, hu gua, hu lu gua, opo

While it has a large number of health benefits that can be found else where, this vegetable can be very delicious also. We have a garden and these vegetables just grow and mature in a weeks time and I really like to cook variety of things with Lauki since the supply is very high. Not to mention the freshness and the organic nature of the vegetable. After browing for suitable recipes, I decided to go my own way.

Ingredients: 1/2 a Lauki(Fresh is better).
3 green chillies
1/2 table spoon of Panchpuran(has a mixture of jeera, dhania, black cumin, mustard and fenugreek seed)
4-5 curry leaf(Murraya koenigii) either fresh or dry .
1/2 cup yoghurt (home made is better)
cooking time : 10 mins.

First peel the gourd and wash it in water then scrape it in a wide scrapper. Get the steamer on and start steaming the vegetable. Meanwhile heat a small pan, add 1/4 spoon oil and first add the panchpuran till the seeds burst. Then add the green chilli and the curry leaf to it, stir it for 10 seconds, then switch off the stove. Mix little bit of water in the yoghurt and add salt to your taste. Within 5-7 minutes, take out the lauki from the steamer and add it to yoghurt. Then add the saute and mix properly. If you wish, add little bit of jeera powder. A very healthy lauki raita is ready for you...

The G's of Indian politics

India is going through a very revolutionary phase - a combination of awareness among younger generation, information explosion and honest chief of public offices and social actvists and NGOs are driving this movement. I am truly awed by this mass movement and feel extremely fortunate that it is happening during my life and time...
The lethal combination of a honest supreme court chief justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, Chief of CAG Mr. Vinod Rai, social activist Anna Hazare, Prof. Subramanyam Swamy, Social activists Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan et al just to name a few, have unearthed a large number of scams that would have gone unnoticed. Last but not the least I would also like to mention Ms. Sucheta Dalal also for her awareness spreading campaign that makes all the difference. Then the medium such as twitter, facebook, blogspot, wordpress etc. are just the best thing that is happening to the country right now. Long live the whistle blower tribe and hope someday I can contribute to the cause. As someone just mentioned in the tweets that it is all 'G' now make news in India. That is; 2G, CAG, madam G and now Huji... Now waiting for more Gs...

Did you know this guy??!!

This morning started rather in a very anxious mode. Got up really early(4 AM) and thought shall do some quality work. As usual began checking my office email, and there was a mail by one of my ex-colleagues with whom I worked little bit before. The mail began with standard exchange of pleasantries followed by a link [Here] asking me if I knew or was in touch with this guy. I did not understand much, but opened the link and to my horror, it was about a murderer who killed an Israeli girl after an altercation. It was an extra-marital affair!! There was a photo of him on the news item with a Virginia Tech jacket on. What the heck!! This guy is from Virginia Tech?! I muttered to myself. Trying very hard to remember, I could barely have any recollection, but I think I may have seen him at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute. As we don't interact much with the students, I may not have talked with him. Now I am beginning to think what is going on? In the last 4 years, at least there are 3 incidences where I know students have turned into Psychopaths and went on in a killing spree. The first one was the infamous VT shooting in 2007, followed by a Chinese student decapitating a girl in a cafeteria in 2008 and this is the third one! This is very alarming and the trend does not look very good at all. Are these incidences occurring by chance or there is something big associated with it? Could there be a factor? Are we producing Psychos in our campuses? Hope not and hope the disturbed people get some help on time...

The art of fasting

Fasting is a very common thing among living beings mostly animals. Lots of animals undergo a period of hibernation, when they undergo metamorphosis, lot other animals fast during unfavorable seasons and when there is a food scarcity. We humans generally don't fast naturally, but some of us do so for religious reasons. Religion certainly imposes fast to lure people into prospects such as rewards in terms of wealth, happiness so on and so forth. But actually fasting does wonders to our bodies apart from saving food. Mostly we over indulge in food and consume much more than required by our body and most of them are built into fat and other reserves while our digestive system has to work non-stop to clear these unwanted things from our digestive tract and the large intestine works to expel it out. Fasting once in a while can do lot of good things such as:

1. rest the digestive system
2. allow for cleansing and detoxification of the body
3. create a break in eating patterns, while shining a spotlight on them
4. promote greater mental clarity
5. cleanse and heal "stuck" emotional patterns
6. lead to a feeling of physical lightness, increasing energy level
7. promote an inner stillness, enhancing spiritual connection

Now, how to fast? Is there a easy way to stop cravings. It may sound difficult in the first instance, but it can be easy if you practice. Initially you may feel hungry, but if you don't supply any food to your system, it will slowly retract and you will not feel hunger anymore. What you may need to do is hydrate yourself adequately.

Today we are observing fast in order to express our solidarity to Anna Hazare's fight against corruption. We hope that the food grains we save today will be put to better use...

Mind is like a Parachute: Functions well when it is open

Disclaimer: I have stolen this article from a friend's friend's facebook page. Found this to be incredibly interesting. This is an experiment conducted by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten who won Pulitzer prize for writing this piece of article.

Joshua Bell
PERCEPTION

THE SITUATION
In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. 

About 4 minutes later: 
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.
At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.


No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? 
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it? 
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . ..
 How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Enjoy life NOW .. 

it has an expiry date !

"Minds are like parachutes; they function only when they are open."