CC Manual Speech # 3 : The festival of Kites

Fellow Rhetoracles and guests. New Year has started and so have the Indian festivals. Yesterday we celebrated the first Indian festival in the New Year which is called Makar Sankrant. I miss my family and folks back home on such occasions. So, I thought the best way to celebrate it would be by sharing with you all about this Indian tradition!

So, tonight I am going to talk to you about the significance of Makar Sankrant, the variations of this festival all across India and how it is celebrated in my home state of Maharashtra.

There are 2 important reasons why we celebrate this day. Sankrant literally means transition. Makar means Capricorn. 14^th Jan is the day when Sun transitions from Sagittarius to Capricorn! So you would ask what is so special about it. If we trace the origins of this festival it was started to observe the Winter Solstice and fell on the 21^st of Dec. Due to the earth’s axis tilt at 23.5 deg the original event has now moved to 14^th Jan and falls on the 15^th  Jan in a leap year. What is interesting is that it is probably the only Indian festival that follows a Gregorian calendar as it is a solar event. Most Indian festivals follow the lunar calendar and therefore do not have a fixed date each year.

The second reason originates from the fact that India is predominantly an agricultural society. Sankrant also marks the end of northeast monsoon season and is celebrated as a harvest festival in most of the southern India.

India is a potpourri of cultures and we celebrate a lot of festivals throughout the year with equal fervor. Similarly Sankrant also finds its way into different states of India in its own way. The festivities mostly begin on the eve of Sankrant. The northern and most fertile state of Punjab calls it Lohri and they celebrate with great enthusiasm. Dressed up in the brightest clothes Punjabis light a bonfire and express their joy through singing and dancing around the Lohri fire.

In the southernmost state of Tamil Nadu it is called Pongal and is celebrated by boiling rice with fresh milk and jaggery in new pots, early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel. This new rice is then offered to Mother Nature during Sunrise to express gratitude for the harvest and pray for continued prosperity.

In the western state of Gujarat this is called Uttarayan and is also popular as the festival of Kites. Sun is considered to be the supreme God. With Sun’s northward movement days start becoming longer and it is the beginning of a warm season. All these are considered auspicious signs .To salute the son God beautiful colorful kites are seen touching the blue skies. Children enjoy this day by participating in various kite flying competitions. It’s a completely charged atmosphere.

And now moving to my state Maharashtra. Our tradition too worships the Sun God. Since it still mid-winter season it is a custom to wear black clothes – the color that absorbs the warmth. Again an exception – as wearing black otherwise is considered a bad omen. Black is a color of mourning but not on this day. Women organize a cultural gathering and exchange gifts. We also share the love of kite flying with our neighboring state of Gujarat.

So much for the rituals but what about food! Of course food forms the most important part of any festival and Sankrant is no exception. Though the rituals vary and the dishes vary the ingredients stay similar – mix of freshly harvested vegetables called bhogi or undhiyu and sweets made of sesame and jaggery – both help retain heat in the winter season and provide high energy.

In Marathi, my mother tongue it is called ‘til-gul’. On the night of Sankrant we distribute this sweet delicacy and there is an interesting greeting as we do this . It goes like ‘til gul ghya ani goad bola’

It literally asks the recipient to speak as sweet as the candy. The underlying concept is to forget any ill-wishes in the past and to maintain cordial relations. Now that you all know the significance of this tradition I offer you this tilgul and say ‘tilgul ghya ani god bola’

Call it Bihu or Sugi or Pongal or Lohri, Uttarayan or Makar Sankrant – the underlying concept is same and the zeal of those celebrating unmatched all over India. Just another wonderful example of India’s unity in diversity.

CC Manual Speech #2 : Embracing Differences

Fellow Rhetoracles and guests, good evening! The splendid Seattle summer is officially over and we are left with limited indoor options for recreation. As the raindrops create music against my window pane, I like to cozy up with a book and a steaming cup of tea. I’m sure a lot of you would agree with me that there is no greater pleasure than reading a good book and those of you who have not discovered this magic yet would at least be tempted to read one of my recommendations today!

15 year old Christopher Boone knows all countries in the world along with their capital cities; he also knows every prime number! Genius isn’t he?

He finds his neighbor’s dog killed and lying in the garden one night and runs to hug the dog fondly when get arrested on suspicion for murdering the dog. Poor child – gets released soon as the cops realize their mistake. But his love for the dog doesn’t let him sit quiet. This young Sherlock Holmes fan decides to investigate the case himself. And from there begins a roller coaster ride! What does he discover about his mother’s death? How does he travel alone to London? Does he really find out the dog-killer? Wait let there is one more trouble here – Christopher is a special child – he suffers from Asperger’s syndrome a form of autism. Now aren’t you all curious to know what happened? Then you must read this novel “A curious incident of the dog in the night time” written by Mark Haddon as Christopher would have narrated himself!

If you thought such adventures existed only in fiction then you have to meet Marjane Satrapi or Marji as she is fondly known. Marji grew in as Iran was going through a political turmoil when at war with Iraq. She was fortunate to be part of a well-to-do educated household with parents protesting against the government and Uncle Anoosh an actual revolutionary. Seeds of revolutions were sown in her mind at a young age.

As Iran went through political transformation teenager Marji’s mind also went through an ideological transformation. Her idols changed from the Shah of Iran to legendary revolutionists like Fidel Castro and Che Guevera Her discussion with friends revolved around socio-political reforms and led to her believing that revolutions are like bicycles – if they are not in motion they will stop. She could not see her dream of being a scientist fade away under the tyranny of the Shah. How did she achieve her dream? How her life changed when she went to Vienna for her education? How Iran had changed when she returned? All this is illustrated literally in this one-of a kind graphic novel – yes you heard it graphic novel just like a comic book called Persepolis

Our adventurous ride is just about to get more adventurous

Young Sabriye Tenberken’s contribution to the world is unmatched to say the least. She is a German scholar. She was 26 year old when she was drawn to the absolute neglected condition of the blind children in the far away eastern land of Tibet. In this Holy land of the Buddha, these kids were not only deprived of education but treated as cursed and segregated from the society as lepers and untouchables. Sabriye was courageous and selfless to single handedly go to remote areas in Tibet, convince the parents of these kids to send them to a school that she established, taught them Braille in Tibetan that she invented and successfully opened the gates of knowledge. She truly lit up their otherwise dark world. She had numerous challenges – geographical, social, financial, and cultural and above all- physical – Sabriye is herself blind!!! She narrates her inspirational story

In ‘My Path leads to Tibet’

3 books – 3 lives – 1 common thread – being different, being challenged.

Christopher from ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night time’ was mentally challenged. Marji from Persepolis was socially challenged and Sabriye from ‘My Path leads to Tibet’ was physically challenged’. We interpret the world based on our circumstances and to the best of our capacities. We all just have different points of views. None right, none wrong. People say these books are inspirational, adventurous, thrilling. For me above everything else these books are about ‘embracing differences’

CC Manual Speech #1 - What feeds my soul?

Fellow Rhetoracles and guests! Good evening! Finally the day for my first speech has arrived – after 4 months of joining the organization and about a couple of months after joining our elite club. Believe me I had to push myself for this one – I was still thinking of making some excuse to escape from this herculean task today and push it out to some other Tuesday! But here I am and we’ll see pretty soon if I really manage to break the ice!

As the requirement of the ice breaker goes, I’ll definitely introduce myself as to who I am, where I come from and my work. But beyond that I am going to tell you a little more about my interests and what drives me each day, each moment in life!

So, I am Ketaki Kulkarni and as most of you must have guessed it I come from India. I was born and raised in Nasik – a small town in the western state of Maharashtra. I completed my engineering in Instrumentation and control in Pune – the education hub of India. After that I tried my hand at software development for a couple of years at Tata Consultancy Services in India. Soon, I decided to pursue a career in management and landed here in the US for my Masters. I graduated with MS in Engineering Management last summer and started working with Ericsson as a business analyst in Dallas, TX. In the meanwhile in January this year I got married to Anubhav who was here for our meeting in the park . Since he is based here, I too relocated and now am part of this heavenly place Seattle!

I can go on and on about academic achievements and career but I don’t need a speech for that. I can email my resume if I have to do that! I think what makes my life interesting is my hobbies and passions. At the risk of sounding too boastful, I am a person with varied interests. I enjoy reading, dancing, traveling, cooking, acting, watching movies, learning new languages and so on. But today I plan to talk about the 3 things that I feel most passionate about in the order of the time in life that I encountered these.

There is an idiom in my native language Marathi that roughly translates like this – a baby’s talents are noticeable in the cradle itself! My mom truly recognized my ‘moves’ in the cradle and enrolled me with a Kathak academy at the young age of 7. Kathak is one of the many beautiful forms of classical Indian dance. I enjoyed other forms like folk dance equally well and loved participating in every cultural show in school and college. Having formally trained in this art for about 5-6 years dance is now my best workout, my best way to unwind and relax as well as my spirituality. It’s actually a remedy to any of my problems!  I’ll consider myself a dance student for life – although there has been a long gap in my training now, I tried to keep in touch by performing at my grad school, dancing in family events and just by attending concerts! The plan is to learn some form of western dancing – ballroom or Latin American may be! Dance is and always will be the first love of my life!

While I was discovering the joy of dancing my feet also liked the idea of exploring new places and new environments as my family started this ritual of an annual vacation as soon as I completed elementary school. I enjoyed the idea of meeting different people, uncovering new geographies, new cultures, relishing variety of cuisines and learning through traveling all across India. There are some challenges in fulfilling this hobby though. Someone has said - to plan your travel lay out all your clothes and all your money and take half the clothes and twice the money! – Yes money was a limiting factor in the student phase and so this hobby had to wait until a few months back till I found a job. And although I have resumed my hobby in full swing exploring different parts of the vast US, I also realized how much the notion has changed since my childhood! No offence to anyone here but there is an unstated peer pressure to upload your travel photos on Facebook and secure more likes than your friends/colleagues. I prefer not to jump into that and capture as much as I can in my eyes and my mind more than in my camera for I really enjoy the journey.

A more recently developed passion came more out of circumstances than out of pleasant discovery! Cooking and we all have enjoyed Naser’s wonderful narration of his cooking adventures last week! Being a vegetarian, I did not have a lot of choice outside in the small mid western university town in Missouri and being a student I chose not to spend on eating out! So, we roommates decided to have cooking turns and prepare homemade Indian food. There were the typical disasters that a first time cook encounters on my way too – curdling of the curry after adding yogurt, putting in salt instead of sugar, burning the veggies or leaving it half cooked and so on! But there wasn’t much room for mistakes for we had to cook for all the roommates when it was our turn and the law of reciprocity worked here as well! In fact more! Soon I overcame the initial hurdles and started experimenting with food – seeing that my friends loved my experiments I was motivated to try more. I’ve realized cooking to be more like an art than just the mere science of making a meal. I can say that I am decent cook now and have found the way to my husband’s heart by preparing delicacies for him! Or at least he says so – well, does he really have a choice!

Jokes apart I’ve found that these hobbies have helped me enjoy life better and I’ve made new friends and acquaintances through these. Dancing, Traveling and Cooking are the three things that feed my soul. I hope this tried and tested mantra has also helped me connect with you all today.

Thank you!