Ekam

Last weekend, there was a show in town that was a conglomeration of Gospel Music, devotional Hindu songs, Muslim music and Sufi music along with the portrayal of spiritual wisdom through movements of Kathak dance.
The show was a combined effort of Rita Mustaphi and Robert Robinson and their respective teams. It was a show that would stand for the antithesis of what is making headlines in these chaotic times, a sort of island of peace, a respite from our intense focus on differences and embracing the common bond. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quoted, “Music is the universal language of Mankind” and this show depicts the quote in a physical form for those who need something more tangible to grasp at while they travel to the intangible that runs through all of us.








Along with the Gospel music sung by Robert Robinson, these following songs/poetry (favorites) along with others were featured on the show.


- The Reed Flute’s Song by Rumi

 - Kabir’s Poetry, Saahib mera ek hai

 - I hope you dance by Lee Ann Womack







Depiction of Durga, goddess of power killing the evil Mahisasur

Despite the soul wrenching music, my favorite piece was a tihai (technical kathak dance piece repeated in patterns of three)


It showed the search of human for the divine that is constantly in tune with us and present around and within us. I feel blessed to be able to see this piece first in classroom and then again on stage with the understanding of the interpretation.









If you get an opportunity to see this show don't miss it...

Manipulating in photoshop

I don’t believe in manipulating pictures to make them perfect. Don’t get me wrong, I shoot in RAW so I have to make minor adjustments to bring it to .jpg and share online but to overtly change the nature of a photograph is not appealing to me at all. That said since I am writing about this topic, there must be an exception to this rule; contradictions create drama and needs explanation which often makes it a nice topic to write about.

This picture was taken in an early October afternoon, while the leaves were still gathering fall colors and summer still had an upper hand over winter. It’s a posed picture, as you can probably tell, and we precariously balance the camera on the edge of a picnic bench to use its self- timer and make this shot. Well at the last minute a father-daughter duo jumped in our orchestrated background making it rather unpleasant but for some reason I didn’t delete it.

It was Sunday afternoon and we had to get back to the following week’s preparation so we skipped taking another picture and relieved the camera of its precarious balancing misery. Fast forward to six weeks later when I was looking for a picture of DH and I to share online for announcing our 12 years of matrimony. I ended up using Photoshop to creatively eliminate the extra people in the picture. My Photoshop skills were rusty and I had limited time to fix the picture so it’s not the best editing possible but I am glad that I was able to make it work.

We received many compliments on the picture and later as I was trying to make peace within me since I crossed a new boundary, it occurred to me that what I did with this picture is exactly what marriage/relationship is all about. There is bound to be distractions in life but as long as the two people in relationship are committed to keeping each other in focus and central, other fade away in the background anyways...

Here's to our 12 years together.... 

A beautiful Autumn day...

23 October 2011
A drive through Wisconsin country side generated these series of pictures. It was a beautiful fall day and a drive to our recent favorite place was warranted.  With this post I also confess my most recent instagram (photo app for iphone users) addiction and warn you of several more of such posts.  We started south on Hwy 61 up to Red Wing and then crossed over to wisconsin via this bridge and drove along the Mississippi on Hwy 35.

Red wing bridge, a photo by shalini_devesh on Flickr.

We came across 'Swan song' art gallery in Maiden Rock during our visit for the 'Fresh Art Tour' last month. I do hope to get to that post some time but now lets discuss just this trip. The owner is a practicing Hindu and it is so fun to see her idols collection, which is of course not for sale. She has a big dog and girls like to pet him till him till he kisses (licks) them back. 

Another one of our great find is the 'Smiling Pelican' bakery. It is only open on weekends and usually by two most their bread are sold out. I am stating that to emphasize its popularity and absolute deliciousness. The pies that we have tried so far (passion fruit and cream, banana and cream, mixed berries and apple) are out of this world. 'Must try'... and the ambiance in the outdoor garden on a perfect fall day seemed like heaven. 

After that we took a short drive south to the city of Pepin, to visit the home of  Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was a pioneer and the author of the 'Little house in the big woods series'; and my 2nd grader absolutely adores her. So this little detour made the trip extra special for her.



Laura Ingalls Wilder's house from late eighteenth century

We stopped on the way back at Bay city to eat some ice cream and this Boo (Soo) line engine was on display and we ate ice cream (green apple ice cream topped with slighted salted caramel) inside this caboose.

Frida Kahlo + Chef + Witch.... this halloween

I feel very excited when my girls can look beyond the popular culture and let their true self show.
My older one wants to be an artist when she grows up and so it wasn't surprising when she asked me that I dress her up as Frida Kahlo for halloween but secretly I did a happy dance that I was able to break away from the traditional princess and other party shop costumes.

 

My dad thought that I did a pretty authentic job with the rolled up braids, flowers on the head and the classic eyebrows. That pretty much made my day.

It was kind of bumming that a lot of people didn't know who she was dressed as even when she said 'Frida Kahlo' except a few neighbors but she took it in stride...

The costume required a lot of imagination and I ended up customizing a lot of my accessories to give it a more layered look and of course save her from the colder weather when she went trick or treating...

My younger one decided to be a chef, which entailed wearing an apron and a chefs hat and carrying a mixing bowl around. The cutest thing she said was, Mom, "I was chef this Halloween now what will be when I grow up".

And I dressed up as a witch to hand out candies to the trick or treaters...

All in all a good halloween with a big dose of sugar rush.