Alice in Wonderland, from a child’s perspective. Alice wakes up from a nightmare and walks to her father who is talking with some business men. Thirteen years later, she was invited to a party which turned out to be her engagement party, that she didn’t know about. More… »
Alice in Wonderland- by Tim Burton
April 14th, 2010Junior Ms Fix It- Girl Scout Event
April 12th, 2010Harrell Remodeling has been hosting the badge: Ms. Fix It for over ten years. Two days ago, I got to go for the badge. We learnt how to make a hole and dent in the wall and then fix it. More… »
The Festival of Baisakhi (or Vaisakhi) is on April 13th!
April 6th, 2010
The Festival of Baisakhi 2010
The Festival of Baisakhi is a major event, particularly in Northern India, but is also celebrated across the country. This year, it is on April 13th, 2010. It is a religious festival, harvest festival and in April, is considered the beginning of the Hindu solar New Year. In fact, this day is celebrated all over India as New Year day, under different names. For the Sikh community, Baisakhi is very special, as it is thought that on this day, their tenth and last Guru – Guru Gobind Singh – organized the Sikhs into Khalsa or the ‘pure ones’. By doing this, he established that all human beings are born equal. More… »
Hindi for kids
March 31st, 2010Teaching Hindi to our Kids- easy and effective!
Following from the last post- teaching your kids to speak Hindi- I think parents should be on the same page in terms of their kids’ Hindi fluency level- do we want our kids to basically understand Hindi, or be conversant in it, or be able to write and read it as well… My husband and I agreed early on that we wanted our children to be able to understand Hindi very well, and be able to have a basic conversation. More… »
Kids speak Hindi
March 28th, 2010Our kids speak Hindi:
Well, not quite that well, but they are getting there. I wanted my kids to speak Hindi naturally and organically, without any formal classes or lessons, because they already have too much going on in terms of classes/activities etc. Plus, I can’t bear to drive them to one more class- and that too, on my precious weekends. Yes, we are very lazy parents…
Full disclosure: I did enroll my son in Hindi classes a few years ago, but discontinued after a year or so. Reason- the afore mentioned laziness.
The best way for children to pick up a language is to hear it being spoken around them on a regular basis. My husband and I are very fluent in Hindi, yet we find it difficult to conduct an entire day’s conversation in Hindi! So I have been doing a Hindi word/sentence of the week, and using those words/sentences consciously for a few days. I encourage them to use those words/phrases but don’t really push them. I find it has worked very effectively with my kids understanding every day phrases without any effort, and the older one is now speaking Hindi- well enough!
I am happy to share the words/phrases with other Amara Parents every week. Who knows, one of these days, your child may come to you one Sunday morning, and say the magic, unreal words in Hindi, “Maine apna kamra saaf kar diya’!! More… »
Easter 2010 in the SF Bay Area
March 24th, 2010Easter Celebrations in the SF Bay Area
San Francisco Easter events for kids
April 3rd and April 4th: Roaring Camp Railroads, Santa Cruz
Kids take the steam train to Bear Mountain, and hunt for lots of chocolate candy eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny in a redwood forest. There are prizes to be won, and Easter crafts and games for families and kids
April 3rd 10 am to 3pm : Easter Egg Hunt and Learning Festival, Berkeley
This free event is a fundraiser for underprivileged children and there will be booths filled with educational activities
April 4th, 10am to 4pm: San Francisco Union Street Spring Celebration and Easter Parade
This is known as the “Biggest Little Parade” in San Francisco, and according to KOFY TV20 Cable 13 is “wonderful, wacky, elegant and fabulous, with everything from roller-blading cows and creative self-propelled mini-floats to garden areas, sophisticated fashions and beautiful classic and art cars. It’s a special event for the entire family” More… »
Ram Navami 2010: Happy birthday, Dear Ram!
March 23rd, 2010Ram Navami 2010
Celebrate Ram Navami
Tomorrow, March 24TH is Ram Navami- Lord Ram’s birthday. I was aware of the Navratris going on, but had completely forgotten about Ram Navami- until a colleague at work described Ram Navami Celebrations at the BAPS SwamiNarayan temple in Milpitas. That,of course, brought back fond memories of Ram Navami celebrations at my grand ma’s home- of her fasting, prayers, kheer and stories about Ram’s greatness. The Ramayana is a mesmerizing story- which I could listen to endlessly- there are as many variations as there are narrators! More… »
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama: a children’s play
March 23rd, 2010Dalai Lama: A Compassionate Heart, The Life of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Last Friday, the family and I went for a wonderful theatre performance at one of the schools in the area- Living Wisdom in Palo Alto, CA. The performance was about the life of The Dalai Lama, and was enacted by the children of the school, ages 4 to 14!
The name of the production was: A Compassionate Heart, The Life of His Holiness, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama. I wanted to take the kids because my friend, who’s daughter used to study at the school, had raved about the productions of years past, and also because I have a strong leaning towards Buddhism and the theme appealed to me. More… »
Attention South Asians! Is white rice bad for you? It can be like sugar!
March 22nd, 2010Is white rice bad for you? PRANA says as bad as white sugar! Read why South Asians should pay attention
Now, who doesn’t like to sit down to a yummy plate of steaming, fresh white rice? With daal, with curries; biryani or pulao perhaps? For a lot of South Asians, across all parts of the culture, white rice is truly soul food. Today’s wisdom, however, dictates that the soul food of our past may be the thing we avoid in our future. PRANA (Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s South Asian wing) says:
“Sugar is the building block of carbohydrates. Since rice and grains are a rich source of carbohydrates, they are also a rich source of sugar. So, South Asians have quite the sweet tooth! White rice and breads are staple foods in the traditional South Asian diet, and eating uncontrolled portions often contributes to weight gain and associated health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Eating healthier varieties of carbohydrates can help reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes by lowering cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood clots. Read about which carbohydrates to avoid and which to encourage for a heart-healthy diet. More… »
Desis and Vitamin D
March 18th, 2010The Desi and Vitamin D
I was at my fun annual check up with my OBGYN (Dr. Katherine Sutherland at the Womens Physicians Medical Group – WPMG- in Mountain View, CA: highly recommeded, btw). Dr. Sutherland is more like my primary care physician; she really takes care of me, and has been for 14 years now. Wow. I feel old.
Anyway, back to my point. While I was getting all the usual pokings and proddings, she asked me how good I was about taking a Vitamin D supplement. Now, I do pop Vitamin B and omega 3 and all that from time to time, and calcium as well, but Vitamin D? More… »
