My Observations of USA

Now my daughter asks me all the time how i feel about America, what is my opinion.  

Its a great country. 

Any body from anywhere wants to come to America. 

Growing up I have my acquaintance with America only through the Span magazine which i used to read and see the beautiful photographs enthusiastically at the age of sixteen and later my sister who lived here for thirty years used to tell me about America. 

So for me America is well known place mentally.  I am not judging here any thing. A view point of a house wife who has keen interest, and critical about things and compares it with India thats all.

Politically what other countries feel about America is not the topic here. I have travelled well in India. I have a scrutinizing way of seeing things. You can say its a habit. In fact many of my daughter's friends asked me what do u feel about America. I had my own thinking in my mind but never thought of putting them in black and white. now here for four months stay, i should be able to see how, and what. 

Ya! i have my own observations. Scams, Bribery, Miss use, etc all these are there in every country in a higher level. I suppose it may be birth right of the people who are in the power. Here i am not talking  about of that. Basically how small things run, how easy or livable conditions are in a country. 

Here there is road sense of course, the beautiful roads, following, and abiding the law are immediately visible to a person who comes to this country. The people are very cheerful any time of the day also they wish u, even u do not know them. The work culture is very good. Any work will be done in a sinsear manner. Because I am involved in construction work in India of my father's house and my house so i know very clearly how painful it is to get done a repair. Here i have witnessed the bath room work ,  cabinet work  was done in such a methodical manner in my daughter's place after few days of my arrival. For me it was an amazing thing. In India for the same job, what all one has to face, how long one has to wait to get it done. either they do not answer the cell or promise to come and do not turn up, one does not know how long to wait. 

One more thing i liked in US is, where ever one goes you find the written sign boards which help you to travel easily, even in shopping molls.  just follow the given instructions u will reach. There may be one or two failures. Here i am talking only the general flow of life which is easy. All over the country it is same, which gives me a good feeling. may be that is the reason many Indians do not want to go back to their country. Out wardly they may not accept it, after all the Indian pride you see. For me the facts are important. I see from that perspective. 

I also appreciate the people who struggle and come up on their own to higher levels. They participate in lots of activities, prove themselves. I cannot go on giving examples for that but I do know a few people who have done wonders but the sad part is in India they do not do or achieve like this. Here the same indians are doing very well, not only in job in other aspects. I do not blame any one, maybe in India the lack of opportunities, encouragement etc come into the way, i suppose. 

On the other hand, i saw people are very practical. I did not see, showing any over compasionate feelings more than required. I think they feel it is not necessary to express overly feeling for one another. They are on their own. I can understand this because of their living alone or surviving on their own from very young age but in India, it is other way round. Parents protect the children till they settle, a girl untill marrage, a boy till he gets a job. families meeting and  spending days together talking, eating.. is very high in India. Its a way of life.  

One odd thing I felt and did not like is about paying your own bill when you were invited for a party at a restaurant! For this also my daughter enlightened the reasons behind it but I still do not accept this.

Plus they make a big deal about small things, when i went to Outer Banks they warned me about climbing the lighthouse, it was sooo easy but they were afraid for my age but in Hyderabad, to climb Charminar, it is more dangerous but no one cares!

Overall I liked America very much and I will definitely visit again.

I have not yet seen the Grand canyon so....  

Food and Parties

As i came to visit my daughter's place  in DC,  with in a week there was a surprise pot luck party in Maria's place which was planned by my daughter. it was Maria's birthday and it was the day of Yoga class for Maria. Evidently she did not have any idea of ten people coming over to her place with food. Her son tried to contact her by cell, but it was off, as she was busy exercising.
Since it was beyond 10.pm and people have a working day next, so it was decided to start warming the food and eat it. Almost all food was in the the stomachs, there comes Maria!

I was  introduced to her...then some talk before everyone said good night.

I met nice people . My hobby being to read or study the minds of people, I can sit and watch without getting bored.That was my first party with my daughter's friends, with in 2 days of my arrival to US. There was no knowing that I will be meeting different nice people and in the bargain I will taste variety of food. I enjoyed every moment of those parties I went with my daughter. At the same time  I enjoyed cooking South Indian food for them time to time. Of course they all liked my Andhra food very much. It is a different exposure compared to my diffence back ground and my crowd of people.

There was a lunch patry on a warm sunday, in Shirin's house. Shirin just had a baby who is 2months old. It was a sort of get together with her in-laws,and parents of course, friends. Her in laws  are Bangladeshi Pakistanies...her father is UPiate  and mother teaches at National School of Drama.  Her in laws are in US for about 30 yrs.Its was nice culmination of east and west, Hindu,Muslim and I had a  vegetarian food to my surprise! How much do i know any way ? When it comes to the basics , every one is good. After some wonderful conversation , we all came home by 4pm. 

Another party was in a Tamilian house. Which was not very far from my daughter's place.  Since it was a Friday I did not eat any thing. I am doing this fasting for the  last 26 years. They were feeling very bad, that if they would have known they could have had it  another day and all that. I am used to  such things for all these year. Since we were in central govt. job, we were always on the move. and there were parties all the time. either i attend or i will be giving parties. since the week end is on friday for central govt. the parties are always on friday only. so i am used to this. i will attend a party and i will cook for a party on friday but, do not eat. This has become a sort of topic to my friends. What else, God uses it to test my control over my tongue!

My daughter's wedding, House warming ceremony of our flat......what not all fall on Friday. Here i am very strict with my wow. You see this much explanation i give for my not eating food on fridays.  

Anjum a very nice Pakistani lady who is staying with her two nieces in US for a long time, gave us dinners twice. since the first time was friday again, i did not eat. so she invited us second time! Then was a pot luck in Surekha's place for the AID marathon we took cabbage cooked in Andhra style. Nileeni gave us meticulously cooked Mexican food. very tasty. Even Sujatha a Bengali gave us Mexican but hers was a different variety. Prasanna and Vandana  from Bihar prepared for us Sri Lankan  food !!! As usual very tasty. 

Now Andhra student Bala gave us typical Andhra dishes. I must confess that I enjoyed that the most!! After all, this tongue is from Andhra, how ever i like, enjoy other cuisine but nothing like your own. Prajaktha and Nikhil had us sample their Maharastrian food. Now Priya a Telugu gave us a Bengali khana. no doubt it was yummy. Lakshmi and Somu made a Telugu and Tamil combo. Tulika for her house warming ceremony gave us some more varieties of Mexican food!

Yolanda a South African and my ART teacher made some great American food....her way!

 ...........Indira cooks tasty Kannada Chaaru and Pappu etc. Apart from these dinners I had so

many  other kinds  in restaurants, Italian, Thai, Ethopian, Mexican again, etc.......After eating so much in three months time, you must be wondering I have bloated like Americans. but, can u guess what was my gain of weight.......just 2 lbs!!

I wanted to gain more weight .....am i blessed or cursed?

I am a under weight person you see, you tell me now.

My movies

Now i will talk about the movies i had seen in US .Of course on DVDs. My daughter sees that i should not get bored sitting at home. Coz i am an out bird in India with a lot of activities .She feels i may be feeling bored, though i tell her, i am very happy doing a bit of cooking, reading watching movies and sleeping, which i am found of.
Now coming to the movies........again mostly Iranian....but also
1. Iron Island.
2.The Return.
3.Takva.
4.Fireworks Wedssday.
5.Daughters Of The Sun.

These movies r good. Giving me lot of information about the different countries.
Basically i have a lot of hunger for knowledge, but i do not work for it!
I feel it should come to me easily.
I MUST know...everything...truth..of this and that.
How What Where, When Who...like this lot more....I think this is the time....
The man evolved, found out ways and means...to share the info..by Vedio, Audio.and by computer.A fantastic invention, by the man..Blog., Face Book..
What all i do not know my pc knowledge is very poor.

The Japanies movie was also very good ".Watching the Sea " it is about a prostitute who wants to marry a samurai. "Chushingura" is about the time in 1701, of Japan's ruling class and the civil wars.
Cuckoo.....is a name of a war widow who is a lapp. and two wounded soldiers...one is Russian, the other is a Finn Three of them do not know the others language. but they live together. She rescues them, She nurses them, and they love her. they leave after they become alright.Finally she has 2 sons from them and she she tells this story to two boys. Oh! very good.

My daughter is v.good in picking up nice movies, worth watching movies. thanks to her for what i am getting to know.Ya! there r more to read and to see...meet u later.

My reading.

I have lagged behind in writing the blog.
I am basically lethargic, though i think of writing so much, in my mind. but, to come to the system and sit and write is a big task for me. Any way today i said, i must. Otherwise it will take so long. i might forget that what i wanted to put in this blog. Its great to know about Blogs, who ever set up this software, thanks to them..
Now coming to my topics.Ya! Off late i am doing quite a bit of reading to pass my time in the US. I was a regular reader otherwise also. but I used to read a sort of philosophical books or the biographies of the gurus. Before that i was reading lot of fiction like James Hardly Chase. If i go further backwards in my life i use to read a lot my language books, both the novels and fiction in telugu.So this is the history of my reading habit.
Here i am reading more of Iranian stories and other types of books coz of daughter's suggestion.I am bad at picking books on my own but if somebody says that if a particular book is good , then i will read it.
Now i will name the books i read
1.The September Of Shiraz .....byDalia Sofer.
2. Roof Tops Of Tehran.........by Mahbod Serji.
These 2 boks r very good to read written with lot of grit and enthusiasm.
By reading these i could get a sort of understand a lot of the Iranian life style as well their country.
3.Finding Nouf.....by Zoe Ferraris. This book is about Arabian culture which gives the picture of a woman's life in Saudi Arabia
4. The Book Thief.......by.Markus Zusak.
This is about the second world war and how the Jews were treated at that time of Nazi ruling.
If i can go on with the details and about my feelings for these books, it might become by itself a small novel! i think i better stop here.
Meet u again next time with my marathon watching of different langwage movies.
Have a nice time.

Rockville Pike and some movies

At last after 10 yrs!

My daughter has been asking me to visit her for so long and i have been dodging with some reason or the other to come to USA. Anyway after finishing my so called occupational busy schedule in India, i came to a decision to buy a ticket to US. i landed in DC on the night of 3rd May 2009

It was a cool day and was raining.
My daughter showed me a cozy bed where i have settled nicely. I did not think of getting up for the first few days!!.

Kavita, my daughter is trying to keep me busy so that i will not get bored here, as every parent who comes to US from India keeps complaining about , they do get bored in US since their children do not have time for them.

But i told my kavi that not worry about me and i am fine i will never get bored in my life that is my motto.

She got me lot of DVDs of different languages, also some books from the library.
After 3 days of good sleep i came back to my old self, fit to do any thing.
Next day i watched few movies while i was alone at home .

'Cave of the Yellow Dog' :
this is about a mongolian family, who are nomads, they have three children whom they want to get educated. The elder daughter one day by chance finds a dog. and she loves it so much. But her father is not keen to have it. When they are leaving that place for better conditions to live they start their journey, on the way the third child a son drops off the cart and reaches his old place searching for his people and the child finds the dog , he starts to fondle it meanwhile some vulchers come in search of the dead animals, they are about to grab the child, and this dog saves the child. The father not finding the son in the cart goes in search of the son . When he sees the dog barking at the vulchers and the child is safe ,he agrees to have the dog with them and they all travel to their destination.
The story ends here It was so touching.The action of girl ...No it was not acting she just lived in the character. One must see the movie.

The Return:
The second movie i saw was a Russian one. It makes us curious and a bit sorrowful. it is about a father who returns home after so many years.He has two sons. they wonder how he remembered the family after so many years. He takes them for a long drive and then to a far of island, where they explore and do hunting and other things in the forest.The father does not show much of affection to the sons, he is strict with them. the elder one gets on ok with father but the second son do not like the father. They do get into arguments on and often.Finally the father falls from a tower and dies,When he goes to try and save the father, the younger son who is on the top of the tower cannot come down. only then the boy realizes the father's love and affection.
this movie made me feel sad, it was pathetic that the two sons have to sail back the ocean on their own and drive home without their father. It was really sad. but what a movie!

Another movie i saw is a Iranian one and it is very good.we cannot compare the Indian bollywood movies to these.The name is - 'Fireworks Wednesday'.It is about a girl who going to get married, and does work in a rich man's house as a maid.the lady of the house is suspicious about her husband.She tries to spy on him by evesdropping.She asks the maid to go the neighbour lady with whom her husband has the connection.asks her to find out.The husband make her believe that he does not have any contact with that woman.The wife thinks that she unnessarily doubted him. Finally when the the maid comes to know about the affair for sure tries to tell her the lady about the husband. But then the husband does not give her a chance, to let her tell and sends her back home. A fine movie with a simple and normal problem of any family, taken in a fine way.I enjoyed watching it very much.

Dubai Days

30th April 2009 to 2nd May

I was meeting my old friend whom i first met in 1967 in Gorakhpur UP, India.

She is like my elder sister, from whom i have learnt few cooking recipes as i was a new bride that time. I have a great respect for her.By chance she is in Dubai, staying with her daughter. She invited me for lunch, so i spent that afternoon with her talking about old times.
It was very nostolgic. By evening my another friend's daughter Suja came to pick me from the Al Sheb locality.

Evening with Suja's family, we all went to the Dubai Mall which they say is biggest in the world and of course it is no doubt BIG & we could not see it fully but we saw the Aquarium in the Mall!! It was very beautiful. Along with Suja's children i too enjoyed very much watched the different types of fish. I like fishes. We had good food in a restaurant and went home late at night.
It was a pleasant day to remember later.

Next day we left early to another Emirate called Al AIN which is abut 250 km. from there. We went by car, Suja's husband Lionel drove, on the way we went to an ice skating ring. There the children Natasha and Nikhil enjoyed themselves very much. Then we went to another mall,
for some food since every one was very hungry.But it is my friday fasting day so i did not eat. Then i went to explore the Mall by myself as Suja is like my daughter and encouraged me to be on my own while they are having their food, she also gave me some Dirhams to spend. I cannot explain how i felt for that gesture she showed me. Of course i did a little bargaining and shopping and forgot to pick up her cell phone, she was calling me after a few hours , very worried !!.

Then we all went further on our journey. we went to the Hot Springs where the water has got minerals and chemicals. We put our legs in it and sat for some time. My foot which had a sprain in Hyderabad healed a bit .On our return jurney we went to the Zoo,which is in a natural environment. Along with children we elders also enjoyed . Finally we reached home at 10.30 that night.

Next day I went to the famous Gold Souk with Suja and her neighbour friend Aseem who offered to drive us there. It is very famous in Dubai. One will feel that the whole world's Gold is accumulated here ! So many designs it is mind blowing.

In this way my stay in Dubai, with Suja and her family, left me with heartfelt affection.

...next day i took my flight to the great USA and to my dear daughters.

EDUCATING MYSELF

I am Radha I am 62 years old , I am not a working woman, but I always worked on something or the other and I have kept myself very busy, either it was helping someone or doing my own household work, always busy busy busy

This busy word is used very easily by young and old, in this IT age no one is free and no one has time for others and of course TIME IS MONEY

Ya, some way I am also busy like others but there is a difference

I am busy without earning a penny, I leave my home in the morning and reach back in the evening, whoever sees me going out on my scooter thinks I am a working woman, some employee somewhere, no I am NOT, but I go out regularly…

To do some pending bank work, paying the bills of my older sister who is 80 years and cannot go out by herself, or to take her to the doctor, some days I sit with a friend who is ailing with cancer, I also have to look after the construction of our ancestral building and manage the workers and their needs…

Weekly I also go to recite community prayers with my prayer group, another day of the week I also volunteer at the Medical Room helping the colony doctor,

This way all my week days are totally booked, Oh I also have to practice my music,

I joined a vocal music class at this age of 60 plus, some decision!!

That is why I have no time to spare.

Still, I thought, why not? When Mrs Sastry asked me to help read for someone ….someone special :

"Blind Students".

I married very young. I had just finished my high school.

Though I have always been fond of education and dreamt of having BIG BIG degrees and doing research work and other important stuff .

Here I am married to a person who was always getting transferred to remote places….where I could not do anything that I wanted, could not work to prove my ability…those days there was no distance education available and my desire to study remained unfulfilled.

There was no help or encouragement from my husband whatsoever, that was the culture those days. So alas! there seemed NO ray of hope for me in the near future. I remained a sort of a BLIND PERSON , though a blind person with eyes to see.

In my opinion, No Education = Blindness

So when my friend approached me about her Trust for the Blind , Samrita Trust, I immediately got associated with them four years ago.When they started this trust, I was not very sure how this would work but I became the member of the trust and it has now become a part of my life.

In India there are many Blind people, especially from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, these Blind people are very young and come from poor background, but they have enthusiasm to study, their underprivileged condition prevents them from joining good schools…if they have to write an exam, they need the help of a person who can read the questions for them.

The government has provided separate schools , also they have reservations in private schools but this is not enough…they need much more than that…when blind students want to study any subject to appear in an exam they need someone else’s help to read out the lessons for them but when the volunteers are busy and unable to give time to the blind it becomes a frustrating situation to that motivated blind person.

This is where the Trust takes over and I come in.

I am a Reader. I read lessons from undergraduate textbooks into a PC and make an audio CD , these CDs along with the CD players are then distributed among the blind students.

There have been some days where I read the textbooks late at nite sometimes after midnight so that the CDs are made on time….despite my very hectic life I make sure that this takes priority ….

This gives me a lot of fulfillment and I finally feel that my abilities are being utilized and I am also useful to someone….especially when I get a call of thanks from my students after they clear their exams….my heart breaks into a song!

My Travels 2009 - Hyderabad-Dubai

Today is 29th April 2009.

After giving a big thought and having a discussion with my own self i decided to travel to US via Dubai where my friend Pattam is staying with her daughter and my friend's daughter Suja is also there.They invited me to their place earlier.So, this is a chance to see a new place. I finally left Hyd. on 29th april by Emirates. It is a nice flight. In 3.30 hrs i am in Dubai. My friends are here to recieve me. I am very excited. In the evening Lionel takes us, Suja, Natasha, Nikhil and me : for a drive to see Dubai - by - Night. Oh! it is lovely. I go to bed tonite with the satisfaction that i have done some thing which I have always to do....travel alone, visit Dubai, see the world!!