Installment 2 of my India Travel Journal

⊆ Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by Donia | , , , . | ˜ 0 comments »

You can read the first part here.
And if you want an Indian Travel that is a feast for the eyes, check
out my photographer friend Robert Stoetzel's 100 days in India blog.
Part II:

30 hour express
A short stint on the Purushottam "Express".
Making all the local stops.
3 tier a/c.
Good for reading, thinking
and looking at the country and people around you. The man across from was a real gentleman.
He sat with Guruji and discussed philosophy and various ancient prayers.
Before sleeping the second night we had a picnic of salad and chickpeas with puris.

He wouldn't let us wash our plates afterwards.

Bhubaneswar Jan 6-9th -

Mint Chocolate Chip
My little room with cool green walls, brown door and ceiling fan (reluctant to work). Wealthy in its simplicity. Austere but not uncomfortably so. Rooming with weavers who ride their webs, clinging tightly. At the mercy of the wind and their own creation when the shutters are open...patient, waiting, waiting, waiting when outside airs do not come in. The sounds of the neighborhood drift in, especially the slap of feet on concrete as dance practice convenes next door.
This beautiful picture is by Anne Whitman. It can be found here.

The Search for Sweet Grass and the Short Cows
In Vrindavan my home is a peninsula -
cows on three sides.
Orissa's cows are short
(2/3 the size of others)
with big tummies,
as though big cow parts were put in
little cow bodies.
They chew cud with distended bellies
even if underfed.
They seem a bit more adventurous
than the average bovine.

Out the back window i see a group grazing.
one leaves, walking towards me and longer grasses
her legs sink into marshiness,
she continues despite great difficulty.

Riding on the back of a scooter that evening
I see 3 other cows stuck and eating
as the light was leaving.

from here
Annie
From the front window i see and more often hear a raggedy version of Sandy. He - always tied up, never knowing grass - only a half moon of concrete - walking in circles, never touched or softly talked to, only teased by a 5 year old boy.

Old Friends
Next door at Guruji's
A treasury of poems,
not recognized as such by his daughter.
But for me,
a meeting with old friends
Blake, Keats, Wordsworth,
and good old Will.
Poignant and powerful
encountering them here.


Making Good on a Promise

⊆ Saturday, March 28, 2009 by Donia | , , , . | ˜ 0 comments »

Round about Christmas time (ok, it was actually on Christmas, there was no round-abouting about it) i gave my mom a present. Actually, it was a picture of a present that i intended to give her.


When my brother saw that she was receiving a postcard with a picture of said intended present, he groaned a little, recalling the year i presented all of the family with booklets of "i owe you" coupons to be redeemed at my discretion. I assured him that this was different. What our dear momma held in her hands would indeed manifest itself in the very near future...and now that time has come!!!

So, what was the picture of, you ask?

A Composter, of course!

Our family has been composting in more free-form kind of way until now. We have had bins that do not rotate, piles of compostables along the wooded edge of our property, and have contributed to more official compost piles of others.

I have been researching different compost bins - both ready-made and DIY. But it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that i had my composty "Aha" moment...

it came by way of this...

Do you remember me talking about this little gem of a volume as part of my wish-list from Acres USA? You can refresh your memory here...

Wishes do come true (music swells in the background)!!!! A few weeks ago our dear friend Cecilia gifted me this volume while expressing her love and admiration for the denizens of the ground beneath our feet (and houses, gardens, parking lots, etc.)

In reading Stewart's book, my own admiration for the wormy-sort grew tremendously. They are an extraordinary sort - the real movers, shakers, and sculptors of the planet. Feats quite extraordinary for a critter that is deaf, dumb, and blind.

The Earth Moved was surprisingly engaging. It drew me in and left me wondering about soil and what lies beneath all day. Stewart's enthusiasm and knowledge are contagious. This is true especially when she speaks of the worms she has at home. The ones she has come to know and love. The ones in her......................

WORM COMPOSTER! (of course i added red for dramatic effect. Red Wigglers are more often than not the resident of choice in ye ole' worm composter.)


The worm-composting world is pretty darn enormous. I am digging through slowly. But we are getting a worm composter. Hope my mom likes it. And soon these hands will be mine...


Selections from My India Travel Diary, circa 2005

⊆ Monday, March 23, 2009 by Donia | , , , , , . | ˜ 3 comments »


Last night while speaking to a dear friend of mine about India, Odissi Dance, creativity, life, the universe, and everything, a small remembrance kept on tugging at my brain...

Hadn't there been some travel notes that i had shared with family and friends while dancing in India one time? Didn't i still have that email some where?

So today i looked and found what i had written. So, i am sharing it in installments here, 'cause why not?
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:31:38
If you travel through America, states tend to blend into one another, of course there are distinguishing features between them in the form of regionalisms and topography. But going state to state in India can be like traveling to different countries. Nearly every state has its own language with a unique script. Cuisine, style, favored deity, customs and even truck art are all quite distinct.


Two shots of Bhubaneswar's famous Lingaraj temple

For the next three weeks i am a resident of Bhubaneswar. This city, the capitol of Orissa (an eastern coastal state - partially affected by recent tsunamis but before i arrived and not in his area) is famous for its many temples dedicated to Shiva (in the Hindu trinity - the demigod in charge of destruction). Some ancient texts say that at one time there were 10 million deities of him worshipped here. Apparently, it is not uncommon to find remnants of old temples while digging here. Actually, Bhubaneswar is another name for Shiva.

Orissa is particularly famous for is arts: textiles, painting, and dance
are its specialties.
The latter is why i am here...to study Odissi dance intensely (much to the dismay of all my muscles, who have become sore to the touch). There are 7 more forms of Indian classical dance. All of them are based on an ancient text called the Natya Shastra. Originally, they were all exclusively performed in temples and the dances would elaborate on devotional themes.






Here are some pieces of my mind these days...

Noida - a town with all the letters needed to make me
Dec. 31 - Jan. 4
Here - near Delhi - for five days with Guruji (my dance teacher)

Can't buy me love:
in a big house with love
locked in a mirror
like moisture-sucking wall paper
makes you pull away quick
nauseous and eager for the sun's water

The Sweet Smell of Poison
Teeny, buzzing, whining, biting aggressors.
Better to tolerate them
and maybe tolerate malaria
or experience a "Good Knight" with the friendly perfumy household insecticide. Itching to choose the latter (the citronella oil from back home isn't holding up)
I wonder what my lungs think of the decision.


Bird watchers Delight
You cannot imagine the variety...

In Vrindavan (the "hometown" of Krishna, 90 km from Delhi, where i just was for three weeks):

The green feathered red-mouthed parrots travel around town at 4 pm chatting about the day.

One full moon night i got up, stepped outside and heard the peacocks meowing, as is their habit when nights resemble days.

A shock of blue on the clothes line and the king of fishers returns to his court. Of course, there still are crows and pigeons, there always are...
Noida has a bird previously unbeknownst to me. It sings only when a car is put in
reverse then its song resounds - like a parakeet on steroids. And there are auto
rickshaws that quack when their horns beep.

Nostalgic confusion:
In the 6th grade i was under the impression that my statue was just that, impressive. my illusion was sustained by the thought that if you could see some of the top of someone's head then you were taller than them. A class walk past a reflective window clarified my short status. Here the reverse has occurred. Assuming myself among the smallest, the dance studio mirror has revealed otherwise.

The Oldest and the Youngest:
Dancing
All the other students call me Didi (older sister)
asking me how long i have been studying
Smiling, i call them Didi.

Good Care
At the art center - where Guruji stays and classes are held is one humble uncle. He maintains the place. Pious, unassuming, and attentive. One cold evening he gave hot herbal tea and peanuts. Three times he walked me home not wanting me to go unaccompanied. On the way, speaking sometimes in English sometimes in Hindi he told me about his hometown, the site of one famous ancient university (he will travel the 1600 km there in February), remembered his one visit to Vrindavan and spoke of when he lost his mind for a time after being suddenly rejected from the airforce academy because of a defect with his ear.


Collaborating with Yo' Momma!

⊆ Thursday, March 19, 2009 by Donia | , , , , . | ˜ 1 comments »

Just found out about a very cool artist/naturalist who muses with Momma Nature to create his works. His name is Andy Goldsworthy. Check out this interview with him for Time Magazine.

Here is more of his words, "I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and "found" tools--a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn.

"Looking, touching, material, place and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. It is difficult to say where one stops and another begins. The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within. The weather--rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm--is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it. It is not independent of its surroundings, and the way it sits tells how it came to be there.

"I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material in itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue.

"Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.""The underlying tension of a lot of my art is to try and look through the surface appearance of things. Inevitably, one way of getting beneath the surface is to introduce a hole, a window into what lies below." from here

There is a documentary on him called, "Rivers and Tides". Part of it can be seen on YouTube.

And now just a small sampling of his work. All the sculpture and photography is by Andy Goldsworthy.












2, two, too, to

⊆ Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Donia | , . | ˜ 1 comments »

Taken on the eve of 2 (yesterday). The "on the eve of" is borrowed from a sadder post on a dear friend of mine's blog. here is a happier eve.






Protein and Veggies

⊆ Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Donia | , . | ˜ 0 comments »

Protein Art by David S. Goodsell,
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology
at Scripps Research Institute

I was asked a question recently about which Veggies have the most protein...
I came across this article by Dr. Fuhrman. It is a selection from his book, Disease-Proof Your Child. Thought it was share-worthy.

When you eat to maximize micronutrients, your body function will
improve; chronic illnesses like high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, and
high cholesterol will likely disappear; and your youthful vigor will last
into old age. Heart disease and cancer, the major killers of modern
societies, would fade away and be exceedingly rare occurrences if the
population adopted a cancer-preventive diet style and lifestyle. And we
would hardly ever see any overweight children.
Maintaining a population of normal-weight individuals can be efficiently accomplished only by eating more high-nutrient foods, foods with higher nutrient-per-calorie ratio. The foods with the most nutrients per calorie are vegetables and beans.
Vegetables are also very rich in protein and calcium. Most vegetables have
more protein per calorie than meat and more calcium per calorie than milk.
Nobody can consume too little protein by eating less animal products and
substituting vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds.
The focus on the importance of protein in the diet is one of the major reasons we
have been led down the wrong path to dietary suicide. We were taught to equate
protein with good nutrition and have though animal products, not vegetables,
whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds, are our best source of protein. We bought
a false bill of goods, and the dairy-and-meat-heavy diet brought fourth a heart
attack and cancer epidemic.
If we hear something over and over since we were young children, we just accept it as true. For example, it is myth repeated over and over that plant proteins are "incomplete" and need to be "complemented" for adequate protein. In fact, all vegetables and grains contain all eight of the essential amino acids (as well as the 12 other nonessential ones).1 While some vegetables have higher or lower proportions
of certain amino acids than others, when eaten in amounts to satisfy one's
caloric needs, a sufficient amount of all essential amino acids are
provided. Because digestive secretions and sloughed-off mucosal cells are
constantly recycled and reabsorbed, the amino acid composition in the
bloodstream after meals is remarkably complete in spite of short-term
irregularities in their dietary supply.
It is interesting to note that peas, green vegetables, and beans have more protein per calorie than meat.
But what is not generally considered is that foods that are rich in plant protein are generally the foods that are richest in nutrients and phytochemicals. By eating more of these high-nutrient, low calorie foods we get plenty of protein, and our bodies get flooded with protective micronutrients simultaneously. Animal protein does not contain antioxidants and phtyochemicals, plant protein does. Plus, animal protein is married to saturated fat, the most dangerous type of fat.
Protein Content From
Selected Plant Foods
Food Grams of Protein
Almonds (3 oz) 10
Banana 1.2
Broccoli (2 cups) 10
Brown Rice (1 cup) 5
Chickpeas (1 cup) 15
Corn (1 cup) 4.2
Lentils (1 cup) 18
Peas--frozen (1 cup) 9
Spinach--frozen (1 cup) 7
Tofu (4 ounces) 11
Whole wheat bread (2 slices) 5
Even a professional body builder who wants to build one-half pound of extra muscle
per week only needs about an extra seven grams per day over a normal protein
intake. No Complicated formulas or protein supplements are needed to get
sufficient protein for growth, even in the serious athlete. Exercise
increases hunger, and as the athlete consumes more calories to meet the
demands of exercise, they will naturally get the extra protein they need.
Many world-class athletes thrive at world-class competitions on vegetarian
and vegan diets.
When you reduce or eliminate animal protein intake and increase vegetable protein intake, you lower cholesterol radically. Vegetables, beans, and nuts and seeds are all rich in protein, and they also have no saturated fat or cholesterol. But the clincher is that they are higher in nutrients than any other foods. We must structure our diets around the foods that supply the most micronutrients.
The cholesterol-lowering effects of vegetables and beans (high protein foods) are without question. When adult subjects are feed a vegetable-based diet, cholesterol levels drop radically, much more than with the most powerful cholesterol-lowering
drugs.2 These foods also contain an assortment of heart disease-fighting
nutrients independent of their ability to lower cholesterol, and they fight
cancer, too.
1. Young VR, Pellett PL. Plant proteins in relation to human protein and amino acid
nutrition. Am J Clin Nutr 1994;59 (suppl 5): 1203S-1212S.
2. Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Popovich, et al. Effects of a very-high-fiber vegetable fruit and nut diet on serum lipids and colonic function. Metabolism 2001:50(4);494-503.
*Got this from here*


Smoothie Report and An Easy and Yummy Raw Pie!

⊆ Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Donia | , , . | ˜ 0 comments »

Didn't get to make the Green and Gone smoothie mentioned in the St. Patty's day post yesterday (Instead, i got busy making a Sweet Green Pie for dinner with friends. For this recipe see my Alterna-blog!) We got to the smoothie today with some modifications.

Here is the original recipe:
1 quarter to 1 half fresh pineapple
3 leaves of Kale - I use deep green "dino" kale,
1 ripe banana deveined (can use frozen)
4 fresh mint leaves,
optional-to taste1 quarter to 1 half inch of fresh ginger root (can use dry),
to taste2 to 4 cups water
Preparation:This makes from 32 to 64 fl oz.Place all ingredients in blender.
Start out with only enough water to cover everything about half-way (allows it to blend to a creamy consistency)
After all creamy, add more water to get to the thickness you prefer

Here is what i used:

1/4 fresh pineapple
1 pretty ripe banana
2 big handfuls baby organic spinach
1/2 inch fresh ginger root
1 TBS Hemp seed protein
4 caps Aquazon (blue-green algae)
2 cups water

Blend and enjoy!

*Full Disclosure and Review*

1. it was delicious, fresh, revitalizing and had a bit of kick to it because of the ginger.

2. i just now realized that i forgot to add the mint!

3. it is better to use a traditional blender with this recipe instead of a hand-held blender with a low battery because a lot needs to be broken down to get the right consistency (trust me on this...we had more of a chunky than a smoothie!)

4. Looking forward to trying this with kale and other greens.


A Couple Green Drinks for St. Patty's

⊆ Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Donia | , , . | ˜ 0 comments »


I am a big fan of green. Especially, green by way of Chlorophyll (see my earlier blog post). So in that spirit, here are a couple of Verdant-hued beverages.

Here is a Green Shamrock Smoothie courtesy of Nicole of the blog, Nicole Raw and Awake

"You will need:

1 Apple
2 Frozen bananas
Handful of fresh cilantro
4 Leaves or more of Romaine lettuce
1 date1 tsp of vanilla
1-2 TB of Nutiva's Hemp protein powder (mine has fiber too)
A little water to help blend

Blend and Enjoy!"

And the 2nd Green Drink is a recipe i came across recently while browsing through GoneRaw. i am planning to make a modified version of it this evening. i am going to add some of this and a scoop of this. Will let you know how it turns out.

Here it is, the Green and Gone Smoothie (recipe courtesy of Christine):

"Ingredients:
1 quarter to 1 half fresh pineapple
3 leaves of Kale - I use deep green "dino" kale,
deveined1 ripe banana (can use frozen)
4 fresh mint leaves,
optional-to taste1 quarter to 1 half inch of fresh ginger root (can use dry),
to taste2 to 4 cups water
Preparation:
This makes from 32 to 64 fl oz.
Place all ingredients in blender.
Start out with only enough water to cover everything about half-way (allows it to blend to a creamy consistancy)

After all creamy, add more water to get to the thickness you prefer

YUMMY!NOW, DRINK UP!!!
Except for the color, which is an intense green if you use dino kale, you would never know it had greens in it !! Your body will love you for it !!"


Horti-Sculpture

⊆ Monday, March 16, 2009 by Donia | , , , , . | ˜ 0 comments »

Just came across a course i would love to take...The Art Of Horticulture (at Cornell University).

Now i just have to get into Cornell.

Really, it looks like a fantastic course. and they get to do living horti-sculpture as a final project!

Simulation

Reality.



And check out their tasty reading list (they are just required to read 2):

Ackerman, Diane. 2001. Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden. NY: HarperCollins. (This lady keeps on showing up in my life! see Mad Book Dash!)

Druse, Ken. 2003. The Passion for Gardening: Inspiration for a Lifetime. NY: Clarkson
Potter/Publishers.

Kingsolver, Barbara. 2007. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. NY: HarperCollins.

Masumoto, David Mas. 1995. Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on my Family Farm. Harper San Francisco.

Mitchell, Henry. 1981, 1999. The Essential Earthman. NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Orlean, Susan. 1998. The Orchid Thief. NY: Ballantine.

Pollan, Michael. 2001. Botany of Desire. NY: Random House.

Stewart, Amy. 2007. Flower Confidential. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.


Mad Book Dash

⊆ Friday, March 13, 2009 by Donia | . | ˜ 0 comments »

Every year our local library has book sale. There are beautiful and unusual (plus plenty of usual and not-so-beautiful) volumes a-plenty. The sale lasts a week and as it gets closer to the end, the prices drop. By the last day you can get a box of books (as long as you can carry it) for 4 bucks! Shocking, i know...

We were out of town for most of the brouhaha. But at 3pm on Sunday, my mother reminded me that it was the last day. My little sprout and i headed on over ('cause we don't have enough books as it, and you never know when you are going to find a gem). By the time we arrived there was an anouncement that the booksale would end in 15 minutes.

Needless to say there was a MAD BOOK DASH made by yours truly. In that short time span i managed to wrangle in 28 books...yes, i am serious...28 books.

my offspring overwhelmed by the fruits of his momma's Mad Book Dash!!!

Here is the bounty of our library sweep (and my analysis after actually looking at the books at home):

1. Guide to New Medicines of the Mind - ed. by Jeffery Berlant and Ira Extin (this was a dud for me, i thought it was going to be cool alternative techniques for caring for the mind. instead, it is a very pharma-centered volume.)

2. The Tale of a Pond - by Henry b. Kane (awesome kids book with great descriptions, cool old black and white pics, and neat illustrations - a good catch!)

3. A Natural History of the Senses - Diane Ackerman (a guide to the senses - interesting and intriguing. i totally dig the optical nerve, don't you?)

4. Hand Analysis the Diagnostic Method - by Edo Sprong (Palmestry with thorough photos and illustrations. Good Find)

5. Black Hawk - by Black Hawk edited by Donald Jackson (Autobiography by Native American, my mom was really happy with this addition)

6. Iambic and Dactylic - by Floyd W. Jefferson (a dud that seems to be redeeming itself. i grabbed this one thinking it was penned by Thomas Jefferson, not Floyd. But the poetry seems read-worthy.)

7. The Buildings of Byzantum - by Helen and Richard Leacroft (Great kids book with terrific illustrations. Neat Architechtural food for the brain)

8. Essays on Prayer by A.W Jozer and others (the dimensions of the book and cover photo caught my eye. the essays? not so sure.)

9. Social Studies for the Young - Asia Book House (a dud, an already filled out notebook. i picked this up because there was an indian dancer on the cover. )

10. Gods, Demigods, and Demons - An encyclopedia of Greek Mythology - by Bernard Euslan (Couldn't pass this one up. Who doesn't want to know this stuff???)

11. A Bengali Book (i don't know what the title is, i don't know what it says in side, i don't know what i was thinking!!!)

12. The Sands of Kalahari - by William Mulvihill (The title got me, has anyone read this?)

13. An Intro to Native North America - by Mark Q. Sutton (Good Find!)

14. Lullabies - by F.E. Budd (Great stuff to read to my munchkin at night.)

15. Mother and Child - Edited by Sheila Pickles (Lovely pictures and many nice selections although some make me sad.)

16. The Moon is always Female - by Marge Piercy (Cool title, right? That's what got me. i hope the poems are good too.)

17. Ten-Minute Field Trips - by Helen Russell (Lots of good ideas and ways to get little ones engaged and thinking in the world around them.)

18. Childcraft Vol. 4 - Nature in danger (a photocopied volume, not sure what i think of it yet. could well be a dud.)

19. Women Rites and Sites, Aboriginal Women's cultural knowledge - ed. by Peggy Brock (Looks super interesting. Great Find!)

20. Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - by Thoma Hale (Doctor's stories about his time in nepal. i have been to nepal, so i got this book.)

21. Laughing at Gravity, Conversations with Isaac Newton - by Elizabeth Socolow (a collection of poems. it seems i was feeling very poetic sunday.)

22. Bible Picture ABC book - by Elsie E Egermeier (volume published in 1950s, quaint and kitchy pics, sweet stories, who could resist? Apparently, not me!)

23. The Way of All Flesh - by Samuel Butler (Had to have a counterbalance to the Natural History of the Senses...)

24. Lets Explore Beneath the Sea! - by William Knowlton (Lovely drawings and pics)

25. Women Who Run With Wolves - by Clarissa Estes (I had to get this. All about the wild woman archetype. Seemed like a totally tuff book.)

26. The Adventures of an Illustrator - by Joseph Pennell (Neat old volume with lots of drawings by various illustrators at the turn of the 20th century.)

27. Seeds of Change - by Herman Viola and Carolyn Margolis (Thought this would be about the history of seeds and agriculture. The cover photo - see below - seemed to indicate this with 3 men holding corn. At home i found out it is about the changes that occured with the meeting of cultures from Columbus on. Fantastic pictures. There was an exhibit in the Smithsonian with the same title that the book is based on.)

28. Both Sides, New Works from the Institute of American Indian Museum - by various authors (Good find. Should be an interesting read.)

So what do you think? Was it $4 well spent?



Coming Attractions...Tonight and Tomorrow

⊆ Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by Donia | , . | ˜ 0 comments »

This evening i am attending a special yoga class taught by Wah!! It should be fantastic...


Its happening at the Integral Yoga Institute of Princeton. Wah! is playing there tomorrow night...and my dear friend Kala Devi (aka, Andrea Brachfeld) is accompanying her on the flute.


check it out if you are in the tristate area and are eager for upliftment!


And then tomorrow night, my dear Nalini (seen here and here) invited me to see the unbelievably talented, breath-takingly graceful (and hardworking) Odissi dancer, Sujata Mohapatra!!!! This will be the first time i see her perform live. Super excited!!! You can find clips of her on YouTube.


dispatches from not here...

⊆ Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by Donia | , , , . | ˜ 0 comments »

The shift back to the east coast has been relatively smooth. The sound of the ocean is missed though and my little one keeps on asking to go to the beach...who can blame him?







Akumal, the place of the turtles and this amazing art gallery!


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