African Violets

      With this I am all fired up to start the business of blogging for 2012. So here is what you should expect in this blog, organized categorically. (Think of it as ‘my want to do list’ )

READING & REVIEWING:

The following books would be read and reviewed this year:

• The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success………..Resume on Steroids!
• ‘Magic School Bus’ series…………..When Frank Gehry meets Lady Gaga
• When I Grow Up
• Steve Jobs: so as to understand how do the elements of being an adopted child, school drop-out, drugs, calligraphy, Zen Buddhism and Apple CEO fuse into one coherent story called Steve Jobs.
• Parallel review of two books: ‘Historic Conversations on Life with JFK’ and ‘Sonia Gandhi: An Extraordinary Life, An Indian Destiny’. This would be titled ‘From Jackie to Sonia’.

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WRITING:

• Volunteering in America
• What to expect when you are not expecting
• Nehru meets JFK: Review of Trader Joes (this has been in my mind for over a year!).
• Picture postcards from Shanghai: Comparing traditional architecture of China and India with examples from Shanghai and Jaisalmer.

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PAINTING:

      Many people have an inner calling to do something specific in life. Believe it or not, for me it has been to paint leaves. The context of living in a very leafy environment contributes to the same! Yesterday while eating some gourmet lettuce leaves in purple, green and white colors I was tempted to use them as subjects for a painting! Talk about an inner calling! Anyway this year I shall be painting with a mix of acrylic and watercolors. Here is what I have in mind:

• Nasturtium and Sycamore leaves in green and yellow colors. Guess I have not had my fill of these two colors
• Sweet Gum and some complex leaves e.g. Japanese Maple in yellow, orange and red colors.
• Tropical leaves in a mix of warm and cool colors, if time permits.

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GARDENING:

      To bring the joy of cultivating Ranunculus, Glaminis, Mums, Ferns, Lavender and Mint to this blog. This is of course subject to their performance in my garden.

      These articles will be published in random order, depending upon the season e.g. book reviews etc in winter and spring, gardening in summer, painting in fall. What else? Besides this I will be writing some articles that are socially useful, by processing information from the media. Last year one such article was ‘Sculpting Pumpkins’. I really enjoyed writing it and many people sent me e-mails to let me know how much they enjoyed reading it. Such articles are sparked by the spur of the moment and capture the energy of the rapidly changing times. Hope the above list makes all the new visitors to this blog happy since most of them cannot wait to read the next post. How exciting for a writer like me!

      With this I thank all of you for your continued support and look forward to blogging towards 60K hits and many more milestones ahead. Once again, spread the word, spread the joy.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 50,638 hits

For all new comers to this blog: check out my book.

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Success is a journey, not a destination.

- Deepak Chopra

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Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

      In my neighborhood there is a forest of Maples, in which there is one tree, that is the first to smile with the breath of life in spring and the last to turn yellow in autumn. With a long and leafy cycle each year, it works the hardest, outperforms and outshines all the surrounding trees. Great qualities for a role model, even among humans! Below (left) you can see it in its yellow glory.

      Anyway, its performance inspired me so much that I decided to paint leaves in yellow. But since I had painted Maple leaves earlier, I chose a much larger and far more complex subject to paint, namely Sycamore leaves. So above (right) is my latest painting of Sycamore leaves. From Maple to Sycamore, it has been a crazy autumn this year. As I wrap up this post and begin preparations for winter, it would suffice to call this painting autumn’s last hurrah, from this blog.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 49,332 hits

Last year in this blog: Stretching the Mind

For all new comers to this blog: Top Twenty Posts & Pages

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Autumn is a solitude

Winter is a fortitude.

- Elaine Equi

      Recently two articles appeared in NYT (about two weeks apart) that shed light on two educational systems, that were poles apart in their approach. The first was titled ‘A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute’. Here are the pertinent facts from the same:

• It subscribes to a teaching philosophy focused on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks.
• The school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles, mud etc.
• The day starts with a recitation or verse about God that reflects a nondenominational emphasis on the divine.

      What kind of parents send their children to such a school? Among the parents are the CTO of e-Bay and employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and HP. Quite a revelation! The second article titled ‘Silicon Valley Wows Educators, and Woos Them’ is about how high-tech companies are changing the way students are taught, by wooing a market (schools) where their products will be sold easily. Here are a few highlights from the same:

• There is a geek culture that very much worships Apple, and they are feeding into that to get more contracts.
• The companies say their products engage students and prepare them for a digital future, while some academics say technology is not fulfilling its promise.
• One video showed a 10 year old talking about creating podcasts with a MacBook.

      To sum up the essence of these two long articles, it would be fair to say that the first one advocates using the right side of the brain and the second approach mainly uses the left side. And here I am, a blogger who thrives on using both sides . My suggestion to the world is to find your own golden mean. In the past I have written two articles that tell you how I found mine. They are as follows:

• Watercolor Painting
• The Parallel Universe of Digital Technology and Hands

      In her book ‘If You Want to Write’ Brenda Ueland has said that a God resides in the heart of every artist. When an artist uses his hands, he tries to draw the God out. No wonder the best pieces of art feel divine, then be they be paintings, music, sculpture etc. What an eye opener in this debate! Miracles can be created with technology if children are taught to master the use of their hands first.

  ( All photos in this post are by SMD.)

       As a grand finale to this debate, I would like to shed light (see above) on a local, seasonal craft that glorifies the use of hands by sculpting pumpkins. The event is called ‘The Blaze’ where 8,000 hand-carved pumpkins are kept on public display and viewed by over 80,000 people! Now isn’t it cool to share digital pictures of a local craft with the world, on a blog ?

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 48,322 hits

Last year on this blog: Indian Corinthian

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Here is a joke that I find very appropriate to share with this post. LOL

A little boy goes for a walk with his dad. He runs ahead of his father and upon reaching a T-junction asks which way to go.

The dad says, ” Go right”.

The boy asks, “Which is right?”

The dad answers, ” The one with which you use the mouse”.

      When I moved from the East to the West, I missed the vibrancy of tropical colors found in the East. It was only when I witnessed the first fall season, did the colors in nature relieve me . In the past I have captured some of these in paintings and shared them with all of you, in this blog. Last year I took a fancy for the transformation of color from green to yellow. So I decided to paint a series of leaves with interesting shapes, to trap this energy from green to yellow. The leaves were purposely drawn in a flat position and not sculptural, so as to display the clarity of form and the transfer of color in its fullness. So here are five of these paintings, that are perfectly well timed to release now, as the nature outdoors has mostly these two colors. The title of this exhibition is Rang De Basanti, which in Hindi means color it yellow.

      So much for color, nature and divinity in the East. Since these paintings blend eastern painting style with western subjects, I find it fitting to wrap up this post with a poem by Mary Granville P. Delany, that blends craftwork with plants and divinity:

Hail to the happy hour! when fancy led

My pensive mind this flow’ry (leafy in this case) path to tread;

And gave me emulation to presume

With timid art to trace fair Nature’s bloom: (leaf in this case)

To view with awe the great Creative power

That shines confess’d in the minutest flower: (leaf)

With wonder to pursue the glorious line,

And gratefully adore the Hand Divine!

      To enjoy and understand this post in its totality, I strongly recommend all of you to click on each and every link given here. With this I hope that art will be better understood if every artist left a written statement about their creations.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 47,557 hits

Last year on this blog: Farewell to Summer

      Now is a good time to review this blog’s performance. In the first year (2007-08) there were 91 posts, second year 53, third year 38 and 19 in the fourth year. So over the past four years I have affectively streamlined the number of posts from 91 to 19 and still received 10,000 to 14,000 hits each year! With fewer posts the readers get more time to enjoy them at leisure and I get more time to synthesize more substance into each post. So it is mutually beneficial As for this past year, here is the gist. Out of 19 posts:

• There were 8 book reviews.
• 2 dealt with architectural analysis.
• One product review.
• Two posts that brought the joy of cultivating white Peonies and the bounty of Lilies to this blog and
•  The rest  were about nature and painting.

     The most popular post of this past year was ‘Stretching the Mind’ followed by ‘Indian Corinthian’. Although I read many books each year, this year I chose to review some books that tapped into the energy of the rapidly changing world, that we live in now. So what has all this blogging led to? Here are the results:

• All the posts made it to the bulletin for ‘best in the WordPress community’.
• A book review written in this blog was voted as ‘ the most helpful favorable review ‘ on Amazon’s web site.
• An article from this blog was republished on M.M.N.Y.’s web site (page 26). In the future one article will be published in each issue of their web magazine i.e. 4 articles per year.
• Got a job offer to be a ghost writer that I have declined.
• Celebrities have graced this blog with their remarks e.g. Cevon (whose gravatar led me to the talk show host named Montel Williams), the actress Kelli Garner, the billionaire Bill Bartmann. Please excuse me if I forgot to notice any other.
• There is an ever increasing deluge of comments on the page titled Architecture.
• The most popular image in this blog turns out to be an old painting of mine. If you google (images section) ‘red and yellow leaves’ then this is what you get. That explains why ‘ Democratic race in red and yellow colors ‘ is the highest ranking post in this blog, so far
• Many of the paintings and photographs in this blog have been appearing on ‘Google Images’. So a lot more people can view them.
• Many more advertisements have started appearing, over which I have no control. They are either in photo or YouTube format. It is interesting to see what ad. appears on which post. On the post titled ‘Red Hot Summer ‘ there was an ad. of a red colored mini cooper
• Somebody left a comment wanting to buy space for advertisement. That makes me wonder if I should privatize and monetize his blog.

      As for the future, I shall be posting 12 posts each year ( i.e. one post per month). For a writer to shine, you need many readers and good topics to write about. To bring in new readers, this blog’s link will be planted in forums where the topics are socially relevant. Also if you as a reader of this blog enjoy any particular post then please feel free to share its link with people who might enjoy it. As for good topics, Neal Gabler says “we are drowning in information, with no time or desire to process it.” Hence I shall continue to write on topics that process the information of the world and the nature lover in me will try to fuse it with the gentility of the changing seasons.

      Before I wrap up this post I would like to thank all of you for your time and attention and special thanks to Lata for reading each and every post, to Kanchan for being this blog’s foremost cheer leader and to Nanabhau for leaving the most thoughtful and eloquent comments. Lastly, to all, spread the word, spread the joy.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 46,743 hits

For all new comers: Top twenty posts and pages

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Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

- Golda Meir

      In the current climate of a deep recession in U.S.A., double digit unemployment and an election year looming in 2012, most politicians are beginning to talk about jobs, jobs and jobs. With nobody coming up with a sure fire strategy about how to create them, here comes a book that makes a classic case study of job creation.

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Book Review of: A Fistful of Rice (Author: Vikram Akula)

      We are living in strange times. In the past, people moved from the east to the west, in search of better opportunities. Now the new-age kids of these immigrants are starting a new trend. They are moving or travelling from the west to the east, in search of better opportunities. Some examples of these are:

• Anand Giridharadas who lives in USA and wrote a book about India.
• Meenal Hazratwala who lives is USA but spent considerable time in India to write a book about her family’s history.
• Somini Sengupta lives in USA but writes about India and other topics for New York Times.

      And now comes Vikram Akula’s book titled ‘A Fistful of Rice’. This book takes the reader on a journey from Schenectady, New York to Hyderabad, India; from where the author’s ancestors originated. Vikram grew up in NY state and spent summer vacations in India. During each visit he was moved by the poverty there. On his first visit to India at age seven, an incident moved him very deeply. While staying with his aunt, a poor woman came to sell steel pots at her door. After accepting a few, his aunt paid the woman not with money but with a fistful of rice in her stretched garment. The author say ” a few grains – maybe fifteen in all, fell to the floor…to my astonishment, the woman reached down and pressed her finger against each grain to pick it up. This woman was carefully scouring the floor, making sure she hadn’t missed a single grain. This, I suddenly realized, was what it meant to be truly hungry.”

      This incident laid the seeds of what Vikram would do when he grew up. In his freshman year “in a moment of teenage zeal” he wrote that “he wanted to eradicate poverty with the discipline of a marine.” Sounds like Miss Universe saying she wants to promote world peace Fortunately Vikram’s were no famous last words because he actually worked towards his goal by studying, working and going back and forth between U.S.A. and India. He started work at D.D.S. (Deccan Development Society) in Hyderabad. With experience he realized “that the poor must control their own ascent from poverty” and that ” money was the root of all self-empowerment solutions.” He then melded these two powerful ideas into one solution for eradicating poverty, namely microfinance. So he went back to U.S.A., collected $52,000 from friends and family and returned to India to set up a company called S.K.S. (Swayam Krishi Sangam: a Sanskrit phrase meaning self-work society).

      From here on the book becomes a classic case study into the workings of a rapidly growing and very efficiently managed company, that provides micro loans to the poor in Indian villages. It was interesting to read about everything a founder has to do when you start from scratch e.g. hiring loan officers, spreading the word using town criers, explaining the concept of microfinance to the poor via plays, goat economics etc. As for the growth, in 2004 S.K.S. had 25,000 members, by 2005 it had 120,000 members, by 2006 it had 300,000 members and nearly $75 million in loan disbursed.

      As the company grew, it diversified into many other causes that would emancipate the poor e.g. setting up low-cost schools that teach English to the poor, distribution of medicines through the loan officers’ network to prevent disease, mobilize disaster relief when there are floods and cyclones, giving free gift baskets to the new poor i.e. senior citizens, widows and handicapped youth etc.

      With the attention of Rahul Gandhi, Vikram gained recognition in India at the national level and has won many feathers in his cap since. In 2006 Time magazine named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people; in 2008 he was given the World Economic Young Global Leader award etc. Vikram has proved to be a very hard-working idealist with a vast vision. As he says, “Microfinance is a thriving world-changing business, and we don’t intend to stop growing until every poor person in the world has access to it.” Now he wants to expand to other countries including U.S.A.

      With his hard work Vikram has clearly demonstrated that there is fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. In C.K.Prahalad’s obituary David Leonhardt wrote that Prahalad argued that companies could earn vast profits by turning their attention to the billions of impoverished people around the world whom businesses typically ovrlooked. Cell phones, detergents, meals, even popsicles in the scorching heat of his native India: all were opportunities to make money and to improve lives…a touchstone for global do-gooders looking for alternatives to traditional foreign aid.

      By writing this book and telling the world about it, a new age kid has come of age. This is a book that I would strongly recommend to the following:

• Economists.
• New age kids and their parents.
• Politicians who want to get re-elected and create jobs.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 46,071 hits

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Bahujan hitaya, bahujan sukhaya (For the benefit of many, for the happiness of many).

- A saying in Sanskrit

• From green to red
• From green to yellow
• From white to green
• From white to red.

      With this as the back drop, its time to tell you about red.

      It has been an unusually hot summer in most of U.S.A. Here in the Northeast we have had record breaking heat in July with 104 degrees (F) in New York city! While the heat wave was on here I was on vacation in Canada. In the butterfly conservatory there, they plant a lot of tropical plants that bear exotic flowers in bright colors, to attract butterflies. Much to my delight, I found a lot of exotic red flowers blooming in the heat, making it a red hot summer. So as to share this joy, here are a few pictures of the same.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 45,324 hits

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We should enjoy this summer, flower by flower, as if it were to be the last one we’ll see.

- Andre Gide

      Much to my joy they surprised me. This year they all grew 5′ to 5′-6″ in height. The star performer among them (see above) was 6 feet tall last year but this year it is about five feet tall. Last year it bore two shoots with about forty blossoms. This year it bore seven shoots (septa mom!) with over 120 blossoms  . This was the first year when the deers ate the flowers (although it is deer-resistant). Inspite of that there are still plenty left for us to enjoy and share.

      They are truly a miracle and bring a touch of class to the garden with their enthralling scent and elegant beauty. So as to share this joy, here are a few pictures (photo credit in this post: SMD).

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 44,645 hits

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For all new comers to this blog: Gardening

]]> http://creativejoys.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/fourth-year-of-lily-tree-septa-mom/feed/ 3 creativejoys IMG_0995 IMG_1435 IMG_1425 IMG_1426 http://creativejoys.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/from-hydrangeas-to-tiger-mom/ http://creativejoys.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/from-hydrangeas-to-tiger-mom/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:02:50 +0000 creativejoys https://creativejoys.wordpress.com/?p=3028 ]]>       While gardening one learns many lessons about life and parenting. In the past, I have written about some of these e.g.:

• Sapoot & Kapoot
• Parenting Nasturtiums
• Reflections of Life (from my book)

      Now it is time to tell you about what the Hydrangeas have taught me this year. Four years back I planted nine saplings of Hydrangeas. In order to have a colorful rhythm, they were arranged by the color of their future blooms i.e. blue, white, pink, blue,white, pink, blue, white and pink. Famous last words! A few took to the soil well and started growing. Four to five died in the following year and had to be replaced. Last year two bloomed. This year after four years of trials, all nine are thriving well and have bloomed, showing their true colors (see below).

 All photos in this post are by SMD.

      The color of the blooms is dictated by how acidic or alkaline the soil is. Well most of the blooms are pink or white. None are pure blue. There are a few lavender and some have light shades of pink, blue and white mixed. There are so many shades of pink that from a distance it looks like an Estee Lauder lipstick counter (see below).

      My planned rhythm of B,W and P is gone but I am happier with this unexpected outcome. It is delightful to look at and the lavender (mix of pink and blue) is magical As a parent, I gave them the best environment to grow. Watered them regularly, pruned them, removed dead flowers on time, covered the base with fabric and mulch to prevent weeds etc. Although the outcome was not in my hands, they had the freedom to grow and express their true colors. In the pastiche of these thoughts, I am going to review a very controversial book that I read recently.

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Book Review of: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom (by Amy Chua)

      This book is a window into the parenting style of a mother in a Chinese-American family. The author, Amy Chua is the daughter of first generation of Chinese immigrant parents in America. They have four daughters, out of which two go to Harvard, one goes to Yale and the last ones participates in Olympics. Amy’s father wanted her to study at UCB and marry a Chinese man. She went to Harvard and married a Jew. She studied law at Harvard, teaches at Yale, has written many books. So far so good. She has two daughters whom she chooses to raise in the Chinese way, so as to continue with the tradition of academic excellence, hard work and discipline in her family. Hence the book is really about raising over-achieving kids. In writing about it, she has compared parenting in the Western way and in the Chinese way and generated many thought provoking issues.

      As a parent she focuses on the studies of her two daughters (Sophia and Lulu). In order to give them a well-rounded childhood she makes Sophia excel in Piano (Carnegie at 15!) and Lulu in violin. But the way she achieves her goals reveals the inhuman pressure she puts on her children to perform well. She micro manages even the practice sessions, cuts off vacation time and invests it in piano and violin, makes reservation in hotels that have a piano so that the practice time for piano is not missed! In many ways she takes extreme measures leading the reader to feel that it’s not good parenting but child abuse. By controlling her childrens’ lives so strictly and creating a pressure cooker in their home, she has killed all the spontaneous joy and magic of their childhood. To the world her children might be child prodigies but in reality they are like human bonsais who are constricted and programmed to perform well.

      Like the Hydrangeas, to bring out their true colors one has to give children the freedom to grow and pursue the passions they are born with. Only then will they grow happily and shine with a brilliance that is naturally magical. Cokie Roberts has said that once you come to America the rules of the old world don’t apply. As an educated parent Amy should have raised her children by giving them the best of the two worlds. Good Chinese values and the freedom of opportunities in America, instead of sticking to just the Chinese way. Maya Lin and Christie Yamaguchi are classic examples of this mix. In India there is a saying I am glad that Gandhi is the father of the nation. But I am happy that he is not my father. Similarly after reading this book every Chinese kid in America will say that I am glad that Amy Chua is Chinese. But I am happy that she is not my mother Before I wrap up this post, here are a few pointers for Amy Chua:

• Read Momfulness to soften your heart as a mother.
• See Three Idiots
• Read The Paper Garden since you think craft is a waste of time and
• Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.

Ratna

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Blog Stats: 44,357 hits

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On children:

They come from you but they are not yours.

- Khalil Gibran