When the northerly winds blow in Calcutta

It's like "we have no jingle bells or sleigh, to display on Christmas day" in the tropical city of Calcutta but we have a city full of people who can cheer up any day of the year!

I don't want to write an article on Calcutta. How can I be judgmental and unbiased towards a city where I was born and spend the first 23 years of my life at a stretch? I have too many good memories for that. My home, my schools, friends, the bustling markets, walks by the "Lake" on summer evenings, visiting relatives, my college days, fests, shopping and going to movies with friends all contribute to those good memories. So I'll pick up a little part from my days of Calcutta for this article.

Calcutta is a "chance directed, chance erected" city "laid and built, on the silt" by the British. So till today it has some remnants of the British Raj scattered around the city and also in the hearts of true Calcuttans. (By the way, like Satyajit Ray, I do hate changing the name of the city as well as its streets. It takes away our history. So I'll continue calling my city Calcutta and definitely not Kolkata.) December brings a Christmas cheer to the people of my city, although the majority of them are non-Christians! The sultry warm days are over, a clear blue sky covers the half dome above Calcutta and a dry cool wind starts blowing from the north which we lovingly call "Uttore haowa" - the northerly wind. My memories of winter in Calcutta always takes me to our terrace on the third floor, where I'd sit in the late morning or early afternoon basking in the wintry sun, gazing at the blue patch of sky over the nearby hospital and dream of those lands which I've read about in Enid Blyton's books. Sometimes I would have an orange sitting there or perhaps read a book. Oh those lazy days!!!

When I was below the age group of teens, I used to go to a school famous for its century old buildings and a couple of great playgrounds. During this time of the year, we were done with our half yearly examinations and the girls would love to hang around outdoors. Playing badminton was an in-thing at that time!



Horses at Maidan

 On our terrace and roof, my uncle had lots of seasonal flowers. Ranging from roses in all shades of pinks, reds, oranges and some in mauve, yellow and white, dahlias as big as dinner plates and marigolds, antirrhinums, chrysanthemums that place became bright and colorful. For my parents' wedding anniversary, we did decorate the entire house with those flowers in pots!

Winter brings memories of cricket matches at Eden Gardens! Aah, how I loved them and how I loved the players clad in white with a v-necked sweater and bright cricket caps. I know the test matches go on and on and on but the good thing is everyone of the family (our family, including the domestic helps - not the standard "family of four") can go watch the match as it is spread over 5 days! The lunch baskets, oranges in paper bags, binoculars and bundling up in the morning are all parts of the game. Also, included are the spectators of Eden Gardens - famous for their love of cricket who gives standing ovation to players of the other countries as well and for their witty comments during the game.

Eden Gardens

Another thing that I must mention is the Calcutta Book Fair! Book lovers across the state visit it. The last one I went to was still at the old location of Maidan, I don't know if it is still having the same feel at its new location. It's hard to imagine that the fair is not to sell books, but to create an awareness of the love of reading. People who cannot afford to buy books for their kids can still bring them to the fair and the kids can read books at the stores. We pride ourselves on being book lovers and also in the exchange of cultures between Bengal and other countries. Book fair is definitely something we can be proud of!

Tram near Dalhousie square

A true Calcuttan loves trams. Those slow moving vehicles do not use petroleum and as a result do not pollute the environment, keeps to its tracks so doesn't increase traffic congestion either. The first class has fans and both the compartments have big, airy windows! People who complain that we need to get rid of trams because they are slow are not Calcuttans. They try to show off as "contemporary" people but have never boarded one ever on a lazy winter afternoon. Tram ride (especially the ones where you don't have a particular destination in mind) with someone from your family who knows enough and/or has enough memory associated with the passing landmarks, building, etc can be a memory of a lifetime. I remember one such ride with my mom, uncle and aunt on a cold, cold wintry afternoon - from Lansdowne to Dalhousie, bought food from all the vendors that boarded the tram and had tea from an earthen cup at Dalhousie standing right below the Ochterlony Monument. You'll feel the essence of Calcutta that way!!

Don't I sound nostalgic? Yes! The good thing is I'm off to Calcutta next week for "there's no place like home for the holidays" and also because "December এর কলকাতা তো কলকাতা নয় Calcutta!!"

Victoria Memorial Hall

I will miss them...

Sometimes I feel I would have liked to hold on to the past, to those things which I grew up with - especially those that are slipping away steadily. They are like familiar faces, old comforting stuff that make you feel like a child again. There are some things that will go extinct soon...and I will miss them!

Yesterday I signed up to "go paperless" with my bank. They told me from now on I'll have to open emails and not letters. I was relieved to think there'll be less clutter in the house and no fear of "where did I keep that?". Arnab said, "the trees will be happy", but the question is would USPS be happy too? What about those people whose families depend on us not going paperless? Is it more important to save trees than save jobs? I wonder! Post office is one of those things that will be a dodo quite soon and with it will go letters and stamps!

Those who used to collect stamps as kids would remember what an unusual stamp meant. I couldn't wait to dip those in a bowl of water to peel the stamp off and then put the hinge on and stick in my album. I asked so many people if they have stamps, peeled them off from my mom's international letters...what will our next generation do? Would they ever know what a "first day cover" means?

We don't write letters anymore. Why should we write? How long would it take to reach the person? Surely it can't beat the time an email takes to reach! The art of letter writing has vanished long back, so will "love letters" do. Lovers of the future would have 3D graphics on their "love emails" but that would miss the personal touch - the actual physical touch of the person, the scented inks, glitters and rose petals.

Another thing I can see deteriorating day by day is handwriting. We don't write, we type. I know many people who cannot write in cursive. Who knows if I'll be able to continue that for long? People nowadays grab the pen in such a horrid way that it makes me wonder if they ever learned to hold it right! I saw a six year old girl practise handwriting a few days back. "What's the use?" I wondered, "she only needs to learn how to use MS Word!"

Along with these, another long time friend of ours would be gone. That is the newspaper. Google news has already taken up the place of the newsstand in the corner. "Times New Roman" would be just another font in the MS Word dropdown. Sherlock Holmes would never have to differentiate between newspaper prints any more.

How many of you remember the desk phone with that special ring? And Kodak film cameras where we had only 36 shots per film?

The internet revolution, though good, has created strange things out of humans. I email and IM my co-worker who sits almost next to me, instead of walking to her desk and having a face to face chat. Will we forget how to talk even? Who knows if conversation would become a lost art too?

Rabindranath Tagore - the philospher poet

A few days back, I was staying with a Bangladeshi friend of mine. We were listening to Rabindrasangeet (Tagore songs) when she exclaimed. "Our Rabindranath was someone so truly amazing. How could he compose such wonderful songs?" That word "our" struck me. So a girl from a different country also considers Rabindranath to be someone from her culture? In fact, why wouldn't she when the national anthem of her country has been composed by Rabindranath too?

It is really difficult for me to fathom the depth of Tagore's literary works. However, what I understand and like most are his poetry and songs. Rabindranath's literary career spans over several decades and covers novels, short stories, articles, poetry, songs and plays. He wrote "Sahaj paath" (easy lessons) and many poems for children and on the other hand, his writings delve into the deepest philosophical thoughts. Some of his novels and other stories might have become time barred but his poetry and songs have transcended all boundaries of space and time.

Rabindranath was a true "internationalist". He travelled far and wide from the Unites Staes to the Far East and wherever he went, he mesmerized the people. It was not only that learned people like Albert Einstein, W. B. Yeats or Hellen Keller came to meet him, but common men of war torn Europe also came to listen to what he said. His feeling about the human race is expressed in his poem "Africa" where he wrote about the Dark Continent.

To love human race in general, one has to love his fellow countrymen first. Rabindranath was an inspiration to the nationalists during our freedom struggle. His patriotic songs and poetry, like "where the mind is without fear ans the head is held high" ("chitto jetha bhoy shunyo uchcho jetha shir") still insipre us. "Ekla chalo re" (if no one responds to your call then go ahead alone) was Mahatma Gandhi's favorite song. Rabindranath's play, "Tasher desh" (the land of cards) was dedicated to the revolutionary leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In the play, a young prince brings new rules to a kingdom stagnated by blind faith. Tagore was so shocked at the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre that he renounced knighthood and in the poem he wrote at that time "Proshno" (question), he asks God to pardon him because he cannot forgive those people who committed this sin. Rabindranath expressed concern for the poor and downtrodden in his writings. He knew that unless and until the caste ridden society uplifts its last, least and lost ("Sabar niche, sabar pichhe, sab harader majhe") the blessings of God cannot be hoped for.

When Rabindranath was in the autumn of his life, critics commented that he had nothing new to produce. It was at that time when he wrote "Sesher kobita" (the last poem), a story evolving around an unconventional love theme that is so very modern and so magical, that I doubt how many people really understand it.

Rabindranath's songs and poetry have the inner voice of the Upanishads. He faced grave sorrows in his lifetime. Untimely deaths of his wife and almost all his children left him in mourning. After the death of his wife, Mrinalini Devi, he composed a song which says, sorrow, death and bereavement come in our lives but the world goes on in its own pace. Let my mind rest at the foot of the Supreme Being where there is complete peace.

It is human nature to pray to God when we are in distress, but what Rabindranath said is different. He prays to God not to rescue him from trouble but to give him strength so that he is not afraid to face the reality.

He wrote many love songs too, which can also be interpreted as depicting the subtle relationship between God and the devotee.

Rabindranath Tagore was actually a philosopher and we find him relevant till date, because his songs and poetry are there fore every situation of human life. I shall end this article with one of Tagore's lines -

"Get rid of fear, have strength in yourself and win over yourself" ("Mukto koro bhoy,apona majeh shakti dhoro, nijere koro joy").

[Written in July 2008 for a magazine "Yuvak kranti" from Pune, India]

Home decor made (real) simple

From the time I walked into a just-drywalled house I started thinking of how to make that thing our "home". It took a lot of planning, drafting sketches, flipping through home decor magazines and tireless walks along the home section of supermarkets to come up with something according to both of our satisfaction. It doesn't take a lot of money or effort to decorate your house, little ideas can make a big difference!

A warm welcome

The front door, porch or entryway is the first impression of your house. A nice hanging on the front door or a cozy set of furniture on the porch is sure to extend a warm welcome to visitors and residents alike.  I love seasonal decorations (I'll come to those details later) so I always have a seasonal stuff hanging on the front door - a floral wreath in summer, small scarecrows saying good harvest for fall, simple things like that. For entryway, I prefer to have it snug and warm. We have a Tibetan sandalwood candle burning there in the evenings with a statue of Lord Buddha in meditation. The effect is very peaceful and calming when you come home after a long, tiring day.

Be bold

Accent walls in bold colors can not just brighten up a room, it can also break the monotony of similar looking walls. Washington remains cloudy for most of the year, so we chose to paint two of our living room walls in bright red in contrast to the other two light creamish walls. The white wood of the mantle looks very bright in the red background. If you don't want to make one wall stand out like that consider painting two walls with one shade and the other two a little darker or lighter than those. That also looks pretty.

Remember your roots

If you love your family and friends, show that! It is very nice to see family photographs displayed in beautiful frames. Some people prefer to use the wall by the side of the staircase as a gallery. A friend of mine has actually done that and it looks very nice. Two things to make sure though - do not overcrowd and keep in mind the line of sight of an average human! I have used a part of the living room wall for it and that works well for me too.

Light a candle

Candles have a wonderful soothing look. I don't know of anyone who doesn't like candles. Those tiny things can change the entire look of a place. Nowadays with the scented ones it's really difficult not to put one in every room. I generally have candles matching the colors of the rooms. One place where I really, truly love them are as centerpieces. Let me tell a little about centerpieces and seasonal decoration here. A candle smelling of sweet cinnamon pumpkin might not be very appropriate in summer because we normally associate colors and smells with seasons. So, stick to the seasons as much as possible. It will help you relax.

Homemade things

There's nothing more beautiful than handmade items. Frame pictures that you have painted or photographs you took. Keep that throw that you knitted on the couch or the little fleece blanket you made for your cats. Homemade things have an extra warmth to add to your home.
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Personalize

What else can you personalize more other than your own house? My aunt always arranges candles or vases in odd numbers. That's her style. You can also create your own style of folding napkins or arranging accent pillows. Going a little off track can produce very creative results but you have to be very confident about it. If you are not so sure about your creativity, stick to the basics. It's better to be less creative than put up something which looks hillarious. (I have seen stuff like that in some houses!)

Decorating a house is a continuous activity. There's no end to it. Cherish every moment of it and enjoy what you create!

Ilish - the heavenly fish

When Bengalis call it "Hilsa" to sound non-communal, that takes away half its taste. Ilish is the fish to be worshipped and not just eaten! Like salmon, it travels upstream to lay eggs and then eventually die. They come from the Bay of Bengal, get into the innumerous distributaries of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, get into India and Bangladesh and finally sacrifice their lives for fish eating Bengalis. When the first one of the season lands up on our plates, either fried or in a savory mustard gravy beside steaming rice, Bengalis get a glimpse of heaven! They wouldn't trade that experience for anything, not even for a one on one interview with God Almighty. I wouldn't for sure!

Why we love Ilish? Well, there's no question of liking or disliking Ilish. Ilish is not a fish like Rui or Salmon that you'd choose to like the taste. Ilish is a philosophy that you can only feel and cherish. Those who are yet to experience this philosophy are to be pitied and those who die without eating a mouthful of Ilish are sure to be born again!

Ilish can be cooked in many ways, from the delicate "Ilish biryani" to the slapdash fried Ilish but they are all awesome and have their individualities. "Shorshe ilish" is a very common and much loved dish where Ilish is cooked in a gravy of mustard seeds. So is "Bhapa Ilish" where the fish pieces are smeared with mustard paste, spicy green chillies and a host of aromatic spices and just plain steamed. My favorite is the simplest "Ilish bhaja". Here, the fish is rubbed with a little salt and turmeric and fried in mustard oil (to use any other oil is to do a sacrilege against Ilish). The great thing about Ilish is that it gives out it's own oil when it's about to be fried. That fish oil (just like salmon's) is revered also. To eat that with steamed rice and bite a piece off a green chilli with each mouthful is a phenomenon that can't be described.

Ilish paturi - wrapped in banana leaves

The only thing that goes against it is the gazillion fine fish bones. Only an expert can pick all those out. Most people actually chew and eat up the tiny bones. My theory of why Ilish has so many bones goes like this: "Ilish without bones would be 'all-perfect'. 'All-perfect' things don't exist in this physical world. That's why Ilish has bones."

There are multitudes of Ilish recipes, some hailing from rural Bengal like Ilish cooked in wrapped banana leaves or gourd leaves while others being concocted at fashionable restaurants in Calcutta but the final verdict is you can't be a true Bengali if you don't hail Ilish as the Heavenly fish!

 To end this article, here's my ode to the ethereal Ilish-

ইলিশ মঙ্গল কাব্য

এ মাছ দেখিবা মাত্র মন চঞ্চল |
কখন পাইব স্বাদ ভেবে কাটে পল ||
এ মাছের রূপ-গুণ জগত ভুলায় |
স্বদে গন্ধে ভরে ওঠে মনুষ্য হৃদয় ||
ভাজা মাছ তেল দিয়ে মাখা হয় ভাত |
দু মিনিট পরে দেখো ফাঁকা হয় পাত ||
সরিষার ঝোল হলে কিবা তার স্বাদ |
পাতুরি দেখিয়া মনে ধরে না আল্হাদ ||
বেগুন আর কালো জিরে দিয়ে হয় ঝোল |
বেশি ঝালে হবে কিবা পেট গন্ডগোল ||
বর্ষার বারিধারে বাঙালির মন |
চায়ে কেবল এ মাছের হরেক ব্যঞ্জন ||
খিচুড়ির সঙ্গেতে ভাজা যদি থাকে |
সোনায় সোহাগা যেন মনে হয় তাকে ||
রুপোলি এ মাছটি যে বাঙালির প্রাণ |
বর্ষায় বাংলায় এই মাছ খান ||
ইলিশ মাছের স্বাদ অমৃত সমান |
যে রাঁধে সে গুণী বটে, খায়ে পুণ্যবান ||

Martin Burn Ltd. to Research In Motion - a century of engineers

Those who know me well enough are also quite aware of the fact that I am immensely proud of my ancestral house! By ancestral house I mean a stoic structure in the heart of Calcutta that has continued to shelter five generations of our family for the past 85 years.

The house as it is today

I had read a while back that it does not matter how expensive a house is. What matters is how many people it has sheltered. In that scale our house, lovingly called 125 (because of the house number) would pass with flying colors! Now, 125 was built by my great grand dad, the late Sarat Chandra Ghosh whom we refer to as Appa-Dadu way back in 1926. Appa-dadu was born in around 1880 in Jessore of the then undivided Bengal. After his father, Ramendranath passed away at an early age, his mother Kshiradasundari sent him off to Krishnagar to his maternal uncle's house. It was customary in those days for boys to be brought up with the maternal uncle as a caregiver in the absence of a father. So, Appa-dadu finished his schooling and joined Bihar School of Engineering. He graduated as a civil engineer. I remember hearing this story from my great uncle, that one day Appa-Dadu was overseeing some construction work at Patna Rail Station. He was in his early twenties that time and was very enthusiastic about his work. Climbing the scaffolds, he was busily instructing some laborers when he noticed two men watching him from below. One was a British and the other, an Indian but dressed in western clothes. When he climbed down, the Indian guy beckoned him and asked about who he was and if he wanted to work for their company. Appa-dadu had no idea who those men were, so he asked them what their company was. Those men were Sir Thomas Aquin Martin and Sir Rajen Mookherjee, founders of Martin Burn Ltd. Martin Burn Ltd was one of the most famous construction companies in the British empire at that time! (It is equivalent to Bill Gates asking a fresh graduate if he wants to work for Microsoft Corp.)

Appa dadu with his 2 grand sons

So Appa-Dadu came to Calcutta and started working. In the mean time he got married to Sudhanshubala Deb from a village near Diamond Harbour (southern part of Bengal). They lived in a rented house in Bhawanipur and had seven children. The eldest two kids were daughters so they were married off quite early and then they moved to the "new" house in 1927. Our house is a 3 storeyed building with solid 25" walls and a super strong foundation. The rooms all have plenty (more than enough) doors and windows for cross ventillation and sunlight streams in almost in all the dozen rooms! Appa-dadu is one of those very lucky people who had a long life, a happy family, a grand house and a satisfied life! When he retired it was found that in his entire service life he had only taken 43 days off. He even went to work on the days of his daughters' weddings. Half the day off was fine on those days!

Dadun with his grand son

Keeping up with the engineering tradition, my grand dad Sailendra Nath became a mechanical engineer. His fascination was cars. Talking about our house, I can't miss out our WBD 2946 - the black Austin 40 that my grand dad (Dadun) owned. Even in his late 70s, I have seen Dadun standing on the 2nd floor balcony and saying, pointing to a car on the street below and clearly stating what's wrong with that car's engine. He lived and breathed cars. Driving that Austin 40 was a passion for him as well as for his 3 sons to whom it was not just a car, but a faithful member of our family.

3G

Generation 3, consisting of my dad and his two younger brothers didn't have to build houses for themselves but they are taking very good care of what they have been blessed with. We are popping out engineers in every generation though, my uncles are both mechanical engineers. All three of them are car crazy. They started with specs of Buicks and Austins and Morrises and are continuing to keep them updated with the latest models of Hondas and Nissans. There's no stopping them for sure. Almost every time I talk to them they ask me how my driving is coming along, which cars I have shortlisted and give me tips on how to park parallely within 6 inches of the curb!

My sister and I are the last of the Ghosh-s because we don't have any brothers and our kids would technically not have the last name of Ghosh. However, we are both engineers. My sister is one of those strong willed people who did not get on the IT bandwagon. Rejecting her job at Infosys, she went on to become what she did her bachelors on - to be a good architect! I'm carrying on in the mobile technology/wireless world now finding my way in the kingdom of smartphones. When I just started my first semester in engineering in 2003 and was working on a graphics assignment, my uncle was helping me with that. The set squares were my sisters, the wooden T my grand dad's and the book on engineering graphics had Appa-dadu's name written on the fly leaf with the date 1903! We are maintaining this tradition for a century!

PS: In the room which used to be Appa-dadu's bedroom, the latest addition to our family is crawling and trying to walk on unsteady legs... let's see what's in store for her :-)

Wireless 101

The Tech World is going crazy. Apart from medical science I don't know of any field that is advancing at such a supersonic speed. Just about two decades back we had a POT (Plain Old Telephone) which could do nothing more than make and receive calls. It had that dial which took almost 30 seconds to make a call (compare it to: if it takes more than 3 secs to load a webpage now we swear the browser, call it quits and change to another browser), that too might end in a wrong number or a hillarious cross connection! That POT, often in shiny black would have only one ringtone which was NOT customizable, no skins, no fancy headset or holster and it happily served 12 people of a family. No one had any issues with that!

In the last few years we have seen a sea change. With the advent of the internet era, people seem to have gone crazy. PC itself was a revolution but that too seems backdated now. Next were the laptops but the first gen laptops are huge and heavy compared to the ones we have now, say MacBook Air. Having a wire attached to stuff would limit your movement, get rid of that, make it wireless. Even better, have many wireless devices and make a seamless transition from one to another. Put all your stuff up in the cloud and get only that one which you need at the moment. You're not going to lose any data even if you format your hard drive! Devices are getting shipped everyday. You don't even have to go twenty years back for it. In the first few years of 2K when I was in undergrad I was one of the last people in my college to get a mobile phone. It was a Nokia 8100 with a small b/w display. Now, last year I had an iPhone 4 only to find that it has become backdated by now. I don't know where to stop.

Now in the wireless era when one person has multiple smartphones (I have separate ones for personal and business use and a tablet to meet both) - that do everything, check email, surf the web, take pictures, stream video, play games, read books, spend time on facebook, navigate, have millions of apps (some interesting, some utterly useless) and do make calls when you need it it's time we take a quick look at the person whom IEEE has named "The Father of Radio science".

This is definitely not going to be his biography, but it is about Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose as I see him. My first aquaintance with Acharya Bose was with the simple lesson that plants have lives. Sometime in my early childhood I was told not to tear leaves off plants because of this reason. Later, I read "Bhagirathi'r utso sandhane" which also had nothing to do with Radio Science, but I admired the writing and felt awe at the way he has described the Himalayas, the mountains I have always adored. I do not see him just as a scientist, I see him as a philosopher, a patriot and a wise man, like our ancient sages who has the power of knowledge. The way he always demonstrated his experiments and encouraged students to try and see practically what science has to give show how advanced he was for his times. When he became a victim of racism and was not given proper pay or a laboratory to work at, Acharya Bose fought against this by rejecting his pay check for three years! I admire this man for refusing to patent his inventions. Like other scientists like Roentgen and Pierre Curie, Acharya Bose also believed that "knowledge is free". He invented "Wireless telecommunication" but did not want to patent it. Later Marconi received Nobel Prize for the same invention. What value does a Nobel Prize have for someone who was at least 60 years ahead of his time?

So the next time you feel proud to own an iPad2, spare a though for this humble man who is at the base of modern wireless technology. To him, I repeat my favorite poet Satyandra Nath Dutta's poem "মনীষী মঙ্গল" :
"জ্ঞানের মনি প্রদীপ হাতে
ফিরিছ কে গো দুর্গমে
হেরিছ এক প্রাণের লীলা
জন্তু জড়ো জঙ্গম এ
অন্ধকারে নিত্য নব পন্থা কারো আবিষ্কার
সত্য পথ যাত্রী ওগো
তোমায় করি নমস্কার"

Fall

I wonder why fall is my favorite season... apparently there's nothing beautiful in the gloomy days that become dark quite early. The flowers in my yard are all withering away, the grass is soppy all the time due to this endless Washington drizzle... it's kinda depressing, isn't it?

Well no! Not just that. Last year when I was raking fall leaves in my yard I realized how many shades of yellows, oranges (my favorite color) and reds you can see in the dead fall leaves. Aren't these all warm shades? Fall, in spite of its gloominess has a warmth to it. That's what is amazing. When I think of this season, the first thing I see in my mind is our living room, candles lit on the coffee table and on the mantlepiece - smelling of sweet cinnamon pumpkin. A warm yellow glow around the house, made snug with the plush blankies!

This is the time to come home, be with the family. When it's cold and dark outside, get together to carve some pumpkins, decorate the house with fall branches and foliage, or just get a mug of hot coffee and curl up with your favorite book. Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving!

A gynoid speaks - women in science (and technology)

We all know what "Android" is - Google's OS for smartphones and tablets. But what does android mean? Something that looks like a human? Well, yes and no! Yes because that's how the word is used nowadays and no because it is wrong. Android means something that looks like a man, "Humanoid" being the right term for a thing resembling humans in general. There's "Gynoid" but no one has heard that much!

Science and technology has always been ruled by men. How many women scientists do you know of? Marie Curie, and? Umm, well...no I don't know. Well, if you don't know, then YOU are the one to be blamed because many girls grew up to be "women in science and technology". We don't know about them because of the gender bias. As simple as that.

This article is about those women who are less known but not less intelligent and about why there are fewer girls in science.

Wikipedia says of something called a "leaky pipe problem". That means the ratio between girls interested in science/maths in early years to the women who finally take up sci-tech as a career is too large. Why is it so? I think that women, even now have to face the stupid myth that "maths is not for girls" or "a PhD in astrophysics would not help get a husband". Also, studying science or engineering does not always mean that the person loves the subject enough to pursue it as a career. I know many girls who came to study engineering without any idea of why they are studying it. They didn't have any passion for the subject whatsoever. Finally, there are those women who, after spending years studying engineering decide to become home makers or leave careers in technology to become stay at home moms. Guys never become house-husbands or stay at home dads sacrificing their careers for the family.

As far as women in science are concerened, yes, there are fewer women than men, but for a gender who were not allowed inside science institutes, leave alone attending lectures, how do we expect that they would have equal share in success? When Mme. Curie was in Poland, she was not allowed to pursue a career in science, so she had to come to France. She was not nominated for the Nobel Prize at first only because she was a woman and so, not worth nominating. It was only after Pierre Curie insisted that he would not take the prize unless his wife is nominated as well, that Marie got her fair chance. At seminars, they were referred as Professor Curie and Madame Curie even when Marie was a professor too herself!

What about the other distinguished ladies in science? Do you know of Ada Byron? She was the first computer programmer and worked with Charles Babbage? Know of Barbara Jane Liskov either? She is the recipient of the prestigious Turing award (equivalent to a Nobel prize in computer science) in 2008. In between them, there are many others, whom we don't know about, whom we just expect to spend their lives in connection with Kinder, Küche, Kirche (the 3 K’s, is a German slogan translated as “children, kitchen, church”) but who have pursued truth for the advancement of humankind.

Take a look at this link for more details on women in sci-tech. For the leading women who are heads of states, CEOs, secretary of homeland security or leaders in tech companies like Google or Facebook, take a peek at Forbes power-women.

On a personal note, soon after I had my traditional wedding in India, many people asked my husband if he's going to take me along to the US. That means they already assumed that as a wife I was in a "dependent mode". I had to butt in and clearly mention that I am not tagging along with him and have my own independent life to lead in the US or wherever in the world I wish to. That I don't feel like changing my lastname after marriage is still a shock to many!

Girls, pull up your stockings. We have covered a long distance in a very short span of a few decades and we have a good chance of showing our mettle. Keep it up!

[Acknowledgements to many people in my life, especially my Dad, who made me solve maths problems like nothing, my Mom who's a PhD in International Relations and is a University professor and my female role model, my sis first prize winner at IIT in her Masters program in Architecture and my hubby in whom I can see the result of being brought up by a smart and wise Mom.]

Detective stories

I think I was in sixth grade when I first read an unabridged Sherlock Holmes' story. I had to look up the words in the dictionary, yes, but that was the beginning of my rendezvous with detectives. Then came the stories of Felu-da which is a part of every Bengali person's growing up, Byomkesh whom I think as my next door neighbor and a little later Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. I love them all but I wouldn't take a moment to think who's the best, for me it's no one but Holmes!!

After I started working as a Software Test Engineer and have to depend on developers' mistakes for my bread and cheese, I have grown a knack for details and suspect everything that my common sense detects as out of the ordinary. I follow Byomkesh's idea of "jekhane dekhibe chhai, uraiya dekho tai paileo paite paro amulya ratan". Wherever I see a strange thing in developer's code I poke there. Who knows if it may be a defect! Also, same as detectives, software testers have to suspect all users. We can't say "Oh we expected the user to put in his password here" when hackers get's past a security point. We should have suspected that behavior beforehand and thought of stopping that. So I have thought of detective stories from a different perspective.

There are various types of detective stories. With all due respects to Ms. Christie, even though I enjoy her books a lot (I read Nemesis this weekend) and do think that it needs a lot of "thiking outside the box" to create a detective like Miss Marple, her stories always have a lot of suspects each with motives and opportunities and one of them is the killer. Also, her stories sometime lack information. For example, in "Cat among pigeons" we didn't have enough information about the killer, Ann Shapland. In "Murder in the clouds" I simply don't see how anyone can put on a dentist's robe to pose as a flight attendant, nor can I imagine how in "Sparkling cyanide" she says that if you are sitting at a round table you only know your seat relative to the other people. No way lady, that's not how it works! The Christie novels I like are "Death comes as as the end", "Sleeping murder", "The mirror cracked from side to side" (this is the story on which Rituparno Ghosh made his movie "Shubho mahurat"), "13 at dinner" and a few more...but I do feel that picking from a pool of suspects is quite easy.

About Felu-da, I don't want to really compare him to others. The main reason would be the fact that Felu-da's stories are written for the young. They are interwoven with our growing up days, with summer vacations, with getting the thin hard bound books on birthdays and looking at the illustartions on the covers. Actually, I even used Ray's pictures from Felu-da to practice sketching. My art teacher said they were really great human figure sketches which would make my foundation strong. "Gorosthaney sabdhan" is my favorite. Not just that the plot is awesome, but also because I'm a a fan of Calcutta and of family histories, both. I don't want to watch the movie though. Arnab tried to persuade me to watch it but to not avail. I have a very strong imaginative power and it ticks me off to see a 50-yr old Felu-da. If you scrutinize stories that well, you'll see Felu-da stories don't have a host of suspects. They have very mature plots.

Now to Byomkesh. Saradindu is one of my most most most favorite writers. I need an entire article dedicated to him to say how fond I am of his stories, but for Byomkesh, he's one of the finest detectives. It's just that I can see an inspiration from Holmes somewhere behind his stories that makes him a close second to Holmes. Here comes the difficult to solve plots. Take for example "Seemontoheera". You know who the culprit is, you have permission to search his whole household but you have no clue to where the diamond is! Or consider "Pather kanta", what a fine story!! Byomkesh doesn't have a lot of people to pick and choose from, he has to hit the bull's eye. "Sajarur kanta", "Chiriyakhana" and to some extent "Bahni patanga" are I guess the ones where there are a lot of suspicious people. I don't know which one of Byomkesh stories is my most favorite. "Pather kanta" I super like. "Durgorahasya" might be next. "Chorabali" is awesome. I can't leave out "Agnibaan"...Naah, I should leave this here, no way can I pick out one as the best.

The most difficult stories are where all evidences point towards some one who is not the criminal though. Example, "Arthamanartham" where apparently it couldn't be anyone but Sukumar who killed his uncle or "The beryl coronet" where Arthur was seen with the coronet in his hands. Those ones ARE difficult. It needs a lot of knowledge and confidence on the writer's part to think of and solve something like these.

Why is Homes my favorite though? Firstly because he's the pioneer of modern detectives and also because Conan Doyle has a way of providing every single piece of information to the reader. Be in the form of diagrams or floor plans or whatever he thinks he can elaborate with. (Example, "The dancing men") If you have Holmes' brains you can try to solve them yourself! My most favorite Holmes' story is "The Hound of the Baskervilles". The mystery, the people, the family legend and the surroundings create a strange mysterious atmosphere in the countryside. To top it is the family portrait! Oh, if there was only one detective story in the world and that was "The Hound of the Baskervilles", I think it would have been enough for all!!

On a different note, last Friday we were involved in a hit-and-run accident when a guy rammed into our car from behind and then fled while we were calling 911. I had to remember his 7 digit (and letter) license plate number and guess what came to my mind? Felu-da's suggestion! Break the number up into two parts and it's easier to remember two blocks of 3 or 4 digits (or letters) than the whole thing together. Well, that hit-and-run guy is in jail now so you know the advantages of reading detective stories :-)

My son

I was turning in my sleep in the wee hours of dawn when I felt there was something heavy sitting on my right leg. I stuck my other leg out from under the blanket and it touched a soft, furry, warm thing. with the window in the background, I could make out an ovalish thing there. It was Mota, sleeping (and snoring) soundly. I got up and stroked his warm furry back, when he turned inside out showing his white belly and asking for belly rubs! That's how my day starts most of the time :-)

Mota's day starts early. He wakes up at dawn because that's their hunting time. Being a ball of fur he doesn't hunt but he still follows his habit. He'd roam around for a while and then from around 6 would start bugging us. Meowing at us, clawing the bed sheets, trampling all over us and chewing paper and plastic from the waste bin are his ways of getting us off the bed. He knows for certain that after 5-10 minutes of this behavior, one of us would invariably get up and say "C'mon Mota, let's give you something to eat."

The third drawer opens and out comes a can of delicious salmon or tuna or ocean whitefish. If it's salmon day he just can't control himself! When the food reaches his plate he rubs his head on our legs in appreciation. There he chomps away dreaming of the little fishies with eyes half closed. After breakfast, he meticulously uses his litter box and cleans himself thoroughly. When we come to breakfast, he usually potters about there or sits in front of the patio door watching the plants and green grass waving in the breeze. Sometimes he'll catch a glimpse of a birdie and get excited, but he realy doesn't get out and hunt.

If we are at home, he'll stick close to us. Chew papers and magazines, climb up on the back of the couch or just roll over for belly rubs. He goes crazy over stringy and feathery toys. Just tickle him with the feathery "blue bird" and he jumps into action. Crouching behind the sofa or even a pair of shoes, he'll keep watch and then spring at it like a mini-tiger. Arnab says, when God wanted to create tigers, He smoke-tested by making cats! Cats are just a scale reduced version of tigers :-) Another thing is the treat ball. Just put in some treats in the ball and Mota would patiently go on rolling it until all the treats have come out. He would push the ball with his head and control with the two front paws. It's amazing how he solves problems of the ball getting stuck, checking twice under cabinets for treats that might have rolled off...Domestic Shorthairs are intelligent!!

They can sleep soundly for 16 hours so on weekdays it really doesn't bother him much when we are away. He cuddles up on our bed or on his blanket and sleeps. The moment the garage door goes up in the evening, he runs downstairs. (I have seen this when I am at home and Arnab comes back from somewhere.) So, everytime we open the door, he's already there to greet us by rubbing his head. I love these moments!!

In the evenings, Mota and Arnab have their "guy time" when they watch WWE, wrestle with each other or Mota would carry on with "killing" the feathery bird. Sometimes he gets into the mood and play acts. There are "enemies" around whom he chases. Most of the time the "enemy" is a noisy plastic bag or a crumpled sheet of paper!!

It doesn't take much to amuse him but there are things he HATES. He hates me rubbing his fur with wipes because he thinks I am taking away his smell. The dental rinse is another such "bad thing". We have stopped clipping his nails at home because he started giving us a "bankrupt person" look and intentionally used our hall carpet as his litter-box. When we were cleaning up his bad deed, he was lying close by and craning his neck to see if we were doing it ok. So we get the vet's assistants to trim his claws, I don't care is he's mad at them! He takes care to sharpen his tiny clipped nails and scratches our ottomans and sofa regularly. Another scratching thing is out kitchen rug. We got him scratch posts but he couldn't care less for that!

I can't talk about Mota by not saying anything about Kedo. Kedo (actual name Peanut Butter) is our neighbor's cat. He is the biggest, fluffiest, bravest and friendliest cat I have ever seen and has a bottomless pit for a stomach. Here they are sitting face to face.

Kedo is not afraid of water or of fire (as he was sniffing our burning candles), nor is he bothered about rain (he comes with dripping wet fur sometimes) and last winter when there was not a soul out in the snow, we saw his paw marks right outside our patio door. Mota and Kedo have a love-hate relationship. I haven't yet figured out what exactly they think of each other. Kedo is a left-pawed cat and he has hit Mota quite a few times. His parents left him in the house for a week when they went on a vacation. Coming back, they saw the carpet scratched and shredded and all the blinds torn. Who can hold him back? He is independence personified (or rather cat-sonified) and I think is a worthy son of the "land of the free and home of the brave".

At around 10:30, Mota would come upstairs. Meow for a while and then jump up on our bed. Sometimes if he's a little late (maybe he was having a converstaion with Kedo downstairs) and we have turned off the lights, we'll see a pair of glowing orange eyes as he makes his way around and tries to find a place to settle down. Mostly that would be on my pillow close to my head. Sometimes he'd squeeze in between Arnab and me or would lie down near our feet. He feels safe near us and we feel incomplete without him in our lives. He's our furry son- Mota Mao!!

PS: We celebrated his 4th birthday in January, here's a pic!

Xenophobia

It has been 4 years since I moved to US as a Fresh Off Board grad student and by now I am kind-of settled in my adoptive country. In these 4 years I have come across many Indians (students like me, second generation kids, people coming to work here, etc) and I have seen some patterns in their behaviors. There are many Indians who are my friends and whom I really like but I have been recently quite upset about some comments from my fellow countrymen (and women) so I thought of writing this. Here are the behavior patterns:

1. The "haters": Yes, they hate. They hate Americans, Chinese (Asians), Afro-Americans and basically anyone who is "foreign" to them. They hate non-Indian foods, non-Indian cultures and are very articulate about their hatred. They think every other person is dumb, have loose morals and maybe they are doing a favor by coming to this country. They are proud of the fact that they don't have any non-Indian friends and give a weird look to those who do have. When I opted to live at our University dorm with a Philippina girl, I was asked why I was not staying with 4 other Indian girls. To me, broadening my horizon and making friends from outside my known world was more important than having Indian food for every meal and go ga ga over the same Bollywood movies. These "haters" think you need to cling on to your culture lest you forget that. And in order to make sure your own culture is great, you'll have to belittle others.

2. The "recliners" : They are clanish too, but they don't hate or complain. They have small groups of friends and wouldn't mix with new people, nor would they let others into their "group". They're sort of laid back. Would prefer to play indoor games and drink for the whole long weekend instead of camping/hiking or any other kind of activity. They'd want to do a lot of things but would end up lazying for the whole day.

3. The "ultra-moderns": To them living in the US is a dream come true. They think of general American life as those shown in Hollywood movies. They misuse their freedom once they step off the flight. They think you have to drink (in large amounts) to be social and "living in" is the ultimate fashionable thing to do. I have heard of people proudly saying that they are going to some "erotic festivals". Ironically, a majority of them come from very conservative families. When their parents do find out how they are leading their lives, they are almost forced to arranged marriages. They marry nice, soft spoken girls from India who have no idea of their husband's past lives. Some do find out later and then a whole lot of troubles come up.

4. The "Down the memory lane": They are really nice people. I don't have anything against them. The only thing is they cling on to their memories. They are very homesick and every time you talk to them they'll bring up old memories in conversations. They do come from loving close knit families but are unable to form nice, strong friendships in this part of the world. So they are lonely. I feel sorry for them :-(

5. The "Learn nothing, forget nothing": They are mainly from the older generation who are totally confused. They try to hold on to the values they grew up with, and most of them were in there 40s at the time of the "internet revolution" and globalization. They'd not forget what they learnt back and are definitely not able to keep abreast with new things. They say "my daughter can't speak in Bengali" quite proudly but then get ad at the very same daughter for having a non-Indian boyfriend. Though, this is nothing to do with age as I've seen many people my age having the same mentality and I know many "old" people who are actually very modern (and happy).

To them all, here's my message. If you are really proud of your own culture/tradition, you don't have to be clanish to preserve it. You need to tell others about your culture and what's the best way to do that? Mixing with people. Once you start having friends from other cultures, you'll be sharing (and learning) new things. Back in my university days, on Diwali party all my non-Indian friends dressed up in Indian clothes - sarees, salwar suits, lehengas. Even the guys wore sherwanis! Just imagine how fun we girls had when we were all dressing up!!! We had "international potluck dinners" at our dorm (where we didn't invite guys cause they'd eat everything up). My aunt, who is a Kathak dancer and truly an artist has taught school kids here to dance to old Bengali songs. I was so amazed when I saw kids of all cultures dancing (and some even singing) to those songs that we all learnt while growing up. If you read the works of Rammohan, Rabindranath, Vivekanada, Vidyasagar or Netaji you'll see how much they appreciated foreigners. How much they mixed with them, found out the best from the other parts of the world. They were stalwarts of our culture, they were those very people who have created the "culture" we are all so proud of. Rabindranath had said "in the human world giving is sharing." You need to give in order to share. This is how you expand your horizon and include everyone in it. This is how you live in a global village.

"Come to camp..."

"Come to camp girls, come to camp girls,
It's a jolly life and free
Sun and air girls, love and care girls,
It's a joy for you and me..."

- When my mom taught me this girl scout (girls' guide in India)song I didn't have any camping experience. I knew some people would go and live in tents, eat badly cooked (part uncooked) food and almost freeze at night. I was not much bothered. I started camping at 26 when I went to Bay View State Park in WA with Arnab for our first wedding anniversary. It was in western Washington, right beside the Pacific. It was cold and cloudy even in June and we didn't have air mattresses to sleep on so we almost froze!! But it was a great experience!!

The hall of moss trail at Olympic National Park

Luckily me and my husband have similar likes and dislikes and camping is definitely one of our "super likes" so this summer as soon as it started to get a little warm and sunny in WA, we got out tents and hiking boots out. WA is a beautiful state, I'm in love with the pines, spruces, firs and alders that have made WA the "evergreen state". With that when Mt. Rainier covers half the sky in front of you, Mt. Baker glistens in the sunlight with his two companion peaks, the Pacific stretches from end to end or Snoqualmie plunges a great height covering the foliage in a misty spray, it becomes heavenly!

While hiking or camping in the backcountry, where even the smartest smartphone doesn't have network coverage, the most techie person would have nothing to do but to admire Nature. Camping at Cougar Rock in Mt. Rainier National Park was awesome. At night when we were going to sleep, we lay awake for a while. It was dark in the forest, bears and coyotes were "loosed till dawn" and we could hear the sound of Nisqually river flowing nearby. Everything was calm but we knew the snow-capped-smoldering-inside "Restless Giant" Rainier was awake and was guarding us.

Pacific from Kalaloch Lodge

We have seen the diamond studded night sky in Olympic National park. It was the perfect night sky with the star gazer's rival (our big ol' Moon) not there so shine down her "borrowed light" on us. For the first time in my life I saw the Milky Way, and I saw innumerable stars, stars and stars studding the black half dome over us! All this time, Pacific was rumbling and splashing and going up in surf in front of us with his foamy, frothy waves. I had to sing Tagore's "Aji joto taara tobo akashe" and "Mahabishwe Mahakashe" at that time. It would have been an insult to Bengali culture if I didn't do that!!!

Breakfast 

Cooking a frugal meal while camping and living in the Spartan way shows us how little our true needs are. We just need a shelter, some food and enough clothing to keep us warm. That's it. Oh yes, and a companion to share this life with. Nothing more. Just like Jerome said in his masterpiece "Three Men in a Boat", "it's the lumber, man", everything else in life which we value so much is all "lumber". Throw them overboard, Jerome said, and your boat of life would be easy to pull through.

On a chilly, misty morning when a sizzling bacon is cooking on an open fire or when you're making s'mores, playing fireside games with your camper friends, or when you're hiking up up up on the trails with a furry marmot crazily whistling at you, a blue jay flying across white snow, you wouldn't want to trade those experiences for anything in the world. You'll realize what it feels to say "The sky thy roof, the grass thy bed and food what chance may bring"...

That's Nysqually glacier in the background

PS: We are going camping the next long weekend. Hopefully a furry friend would be coming along with us too this time :-)

Wedlock

Recently I was responding to some comments in Facebook where a guy was all about live-in relationships. I don't know why he is so facinated by the concept of live-in, maybe it makes him feel "ultra-modern". As you can already guess, I am not a big fan of living in relationships. They simply don't make any sense to me. People arguing in favor have only one point to state - "if you are already committed to someone, why would you need to have a legal bond?" In a famous Bengali story by Saradindu, "Bidrohi" (The Rebel), Debabrata, the protagonist says, "When there is love, marriage is unnecessary. And where it isn't, marriage is an inhuman exploitation". But that very rebel later when he was mature said "if not anything marriage has a value in society". Here are the points, why.

1. People who are lucky enough to experience true love in their lives know that it's human nature to express that love. You want to tell the world that you are in love. "I want the world to know that you're in love with me" is the way people feel. Wedding, even if that's a simple affair, gives the opportunity to show that publicly.

2. Legal marriage has a social value. If we didn't have this binding, anyone can go live with anyone else. Then they'll have a bunch of kids who will grow up without proper identity. Humans need the concept of a family to grow up. They need a father figure and a maternal caregiver, which is not possible in broken homes.

3. Unlike marriage, live-ins don't have a legal age. So, technically a teenager can decide to live-in with her boyfriend. Which is disastrous.

4. I don't know where to start from if I want to talk about kids of live-in families. They are given up for adoption, abandoned or brought up with a whole bunch of half siblings. Most of the time the parents are immature, young and don't have decent jobs to support them. All these lead to terrible parenting and bringing up of a generation on weak morals.

5. Also, if some people claim that they have a strong enough commitment that doens't require a legal binding, I ask them, if they are so confident in their relationship why are they scared to give their relationship a legal name?

6. If a couple gets divorced, the parents still have the responsibility of bringing up the kids. If they shun that, there is the Court. This is not possible in live-ins. Fights for custody can take ugly turns too. Most of the time single teen moms are left to fend for themselves and their babies.

7. In the pre-historic days people didn't have the concept of marriage, but then they decided that a formal bonding is necessary to thrive in the society. It is not for nothing that ALL religions, cultures and societies all over the world, so different in all other aspects are unanimous in this respect. They all rever the "holy wedlock". A married couple is looked up to. They are wished happiness and blessed by all. From the Sanskrit mantras saying that marriages last for more than one birth, and the famous Corinthians verse 1:13 of "Love is patient, Love is kind" to the general saying of "Marriages are made in Heaven" we see that marriage is still honored as the culmination of love.

9. On top of that, as marriage is a legal bond, you'll need to pay less income tax if you are married. Your life insurance would automatically go to your spouse if you are a WA resident. These are practical points not to be neglected :-)

10. Another point some live-in people said is, they want to stay and test if the person is right for them before they get married. How many people will they live with to test their "trial and error" process?

11. Why are same-sex couples fighting for legalizing their relationships? Just because they know that having a legal commitment is necessary to live in society.

I can only think of one reason in favor of a live-in is that when you already know you are going to marry this person and you are engaged, then instead of renting two different apartments, you can live together. Or, if you are waiting for your wedding after getting the marriage license!!

In my opinion, people who are not confident in their decisions and who want an easy way out from their responsibilities would want to live in. In that way they can gain the advantage of having a relationship but not the responsibility that comes with it.

There's nothing facinating in live-ins. So think about the pros and cons of marriage versus live-ins before you start to show yourself off as a so called "free thinker". Marriage has stood the test of time and I do believe it'll keep on binding the socitey as it has done always.

Knits and Purls

Isn't it really amazing how that fuzzy ball of yarn slowly transitions into a hat or scarf or blanket with beautiful designs on it? It's hard to believe that you only need two sticks and a yarn to do that. For ladies who knit, knitting is much more than just a pastime, it gives you the joy of creation and when you knit for a loved one or for charity, it adds and extra warmth to that knitted thing.
I learned to knit just a few months back when I was at home for a while in between changing jobs. I am just a beginner (I haven't yet made a sweater as I can't shape armholes and knitting a cabled stitch is still on my "to learn" list), but it is incredible how many things you can make with just knitting and purling.
My first project was a scarf and hat for myself. I always start experimenting on my own self and I did the same with my first cooking experiments as well. The scarf slowly got better from one end to the other. The hat was a funny 3 pointed one. I would rate it as a C+ at best, not more.

Next came a small blanket (the size of a crib blanket) for my furry four legged son, Mota Mao. I made four swatches and sewed them up together and added a garter stitch border to it. Since my son is a baby (and will always be a baby to me), I chose soft pastel shades of pink, blue, lemon and white for him. The four squares are in garter, stockinette, rib and broken rib - all that can be done by simple knits and purls. Mota loves this blanket that his Momma made for him and curled up on it the moment I laid it down :-)

I wanted to gift Arnab, my husband, an afghan for our anniversary but I realized that it is taking too long to make a swatch afghan. So I'll postpone this to his birthday for which I'll have five more months to work on it :-) This afghan is in shades of blue and the swatches are - 4X4 ribs, broken rib and moss stitches. I am sewing the swatches so that they look like diamonds instead of cliched square tiles.

My current projects are blanket and hat sets for preemies which I am knitting for charity. I am making the first blanket in broken rib stitch with a garter border. The matching hat will have a 1X1 rib border and a broken rib body. For the next set I have cabled designs in mind in baby pink and white. I also got a one-pound ball of yarn that looks like candies on white frosting and it is sooooft :) I'll need to make cute layettes and blankets and hats with that. One good thing about knitting for preemies is you can really finish a hat or booties over a weekend (if you can just knit for an hour or two a day at most). If you love to knit and do give your friends and family hand made knitted gifts, please make sure you knit some for charity too. Just imagine how great the feeling is when you think the first gift a baby would get after stepping into the world has been made by you. Also, when you knit for babies, they wouldn't care if a stitch is a little skewed or the pattern is not intricate. They will only appreciate the warmth (in both senses) your knitted gifts bring to them.

Happy knitting...

Free Spirit

The firebrand Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, the revolutionary leader of Young Bengal Society said - "He who will not reason is a bigot, he who cannot reason is a fool and he who does not reason is a slave." How appropriate this saying is! I have come across many people of the above 3 kinds - not speaking up thinking "what would they say?" or don't have the knowledge to participate in discussions or are just wondering "what's the use of me saying anything?". People going about their daily business without thinking, without opinions, just following what everyone else does. They don't make a difference to the world, they would never be missed. I'd rather have these people go extinct than the Polar bears or Royal Bengal tigers!

One needs to ask a lot of questions. One needs to be curious to try out new things. Those ventures might fail but nothing can beat the experience you've got. Don't ever take anything on the face value, try to sift to the bottom of everything. Ask yourself "WHY?" before following anything and don't do that unless you get a truthful answer that makes sense. If the answer to "why shouldn't I eat beef/pork?" is "I don't like the taste" or "I have high cholesterol and I need to stay off from red meat" then you are on the right track, but if it is "that's what my religion tells me" then you need to think more. Same about societal laws and family laws. "Daughters-in-law in our family have never pursued their careers" has been the end of many Indian girls' dream, but those girls who ask for reason, who simply say "why?" have an option to break free. Nothing has come out of "tradition" and "expected of" in this world. Nobody "expected" humans to fly, but the Wright Brothers had the courage to try and succeed. It wasn't "expected of" Marie Curie to pursue a career in science and get two Nobels, but she had the Courage To Know! Same for Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who started widow remarriage for Hindu girls in the dark days of the history of Bengal. There are many many such examples in the human race who have reasoned, who were not satisfied with "that's what we always have done", those who had faith in what is true and in themselves!

That doesn't mean you wouldn't need to fight. Actually you'll have to fight more as you try to row against the current but you'll achieve something at the end. Try to say "yes" to new things and new opportunities as Google's Eric Schmidt has said. You'll see a whole new world unfolding in front of you as you try out new things, meet new people and listen to new ideas! After all "it's much better to be a crystal and get shattered to a thousand pieces than to sit silently all your life being a piece of tile on a roof top"!!!

Housekeeping for the servantless working woman

Yes, I have been inspired by Julie Child's cookbook, but I don't intend to jot down my culinary skills here, I'll write about another aspect of family life, that is housekeeping.

Housekeeping, like most other things is an art. Some women are extraordinarily good at it, while others have to just manage with what they've got. All women are born with some instincts about housekeeping, the rest we have to learn and practice(as always).

Our houses don't always have to be fancy and well decorated. It can be a studio apartment in a busy city or a cottage style cozy little house in the town, but the housekeeper has the key to make it a "home".

Nowadays most families have both couples working. Even when the second salary may not be "needed", women are pursuing their dream careers (and why wouldn't they?) but that does never mean that we are any less good housekeepers than our moms or grandmoms. How ever much career oriented a woman may be, I am yet to know of someone who doesn't like to arrange fresh cut flowers for her centerpiece, doesn't want to knit a throw for her husband or doesn't care about packing a home cooked lunch. So here comes what I've learnt through my own (one year) experience at housekeeping:

The first thing a house needs to be is CLEAN. It does not matter if it is well decorated with costly furniture if the toilet stinks and the hardwood floor is greasy. Well, we all know this, but attaining the level of cleanliness we intend to reach sometimes seem impossible. So let's go through the bullet points.

0. The pre-req: You have to have a husband who co-operates in the cleaning/arranging process with you. A tip: Never leave cleaning to a guy's discretion. They have a tendency of being oblivious to dirt/dust/cat hair. So instead of telling them "clean the bathroom", point to a dirty place and say "clean this! NOW!!!"

1. Find out those major-cleaning regions of the house. 1. The kitchen and 2. The Master bath. Keep these two places scrupulously clean even if that means paying less importance to the other rooms. The best habit is to wipe the sink, counter tops, stove top with a pre-moistened cloth like Chlorox or Lysol. It cleans, takes off grease and disinfects too. Wiping off these smooth, straight places before going to bed would take very little time but would give you a fresh feeling the next morning! Also, you can spray some air freshner before going to bed :-)

2. The dining table: I am very traditional when it comes to having dinner. I strictly believe that "dinner time is family time". Obviously you cannot lay a table if it's full of bread crumbs, spilt coffee and cat hair (our cat loves to sit on the dining table looking like a china showpiece). So you've got to wipe the table before(and possibly after) every meal. When you brush off the crumbs, some would fall down. Pay attention while vacuuming the carpet below the table, it becomes very very dirty.

3. The master bedroom. The main thing in this room is--- THE BED. And that gives you the solution. Crumpled sheets, scattered pillows, laundry and wet towels on the floor and nightstands piled high with magazines would not make the room look pretty. When you get up in the morning, spend a minute in straightening the sheets and comforter. You'll yourself feel great later in the evening when you'll slip under smooth sheets :-) Also, don't forget the purpose of nightstands. They are meant to support a lamp and those things like a glass of water, spectacles, alarm clock (or cell phone) and a few books. So don't stack it up with things you just want to keep out of your way. If you have a dresser/mirror in your master bedroom, keep the top of the dresser clean. Also, don't dump everything on it. Perfume bottles, trinkets and photo frames look nice on it.

The most important thing to keep in mind while cleaning/arranging your house is to be grateful that you HAVE a house to clean/arrange/decorate. Enjoy your house and be happy!!