This weekend we went to D.C. to meet Ashu of Hindi University and his family. It was so lovely! A great experience. I can’t wait to see how the video interview turned out. We also got to have some great conversation with Ashu and his wife. Ashu also introduced us to the Director of Education at HAF (Hindu American Foundation). That was a surprise honor! I’ve heard people say before that there’s a struggle for young Hindus in America to... Read more
How did everyone enjoy my favorite romance? I first saw this movie about five or six years ago and it completely stole my heart. I’ve watched it again and again and used it to test my Hindi knowledge by watching without subtitles. At first I could understand one word in about twenty-five. Now I can understand about one word in three! One thing I still can’t get is an idiom. The subtitles translate Nandini’s aunt yelling at her father as... Read more
Part of using Twitter to practice my Hindi has been that I connected with the person who runs Hindi University on Youtube. It turns out that he is local to my area and tomorrow we’re going to meet up so he can interview me for his channel! I’m excited and nervous. As much as I have tried to be brave enough to use Hindi with people, I still never actually have (other than in writing). Wish me luck! I’ll post... Read more
It may surprise you to know that Brad and I have continued to have the Mormon missionary sisters over. We enjoy their company very much and they really do know how to have good, respectful, and interesting interfaith dialog. An interesting dichotomy I have observed during discussion is that human beings having free will is critical and super important to the Mormons. At the same time they are happy to obey the rules “because God commands it.” Sometimes when they... Read more
I hope I’m not the only one who has a notebook out for notes while watching Netflix when sick with the flu. I watched a lot of interesting things in the last couple of weeks as I’ve been recovering. Got caught up on things that I’d always meant to watch. One thing I watched was one of these “mystery of the Sphinx” shows. This one brought up lots of fascinating evidence for the idea that the Sphinx is many years older... Read more
You guys know how much I love wedding blogs and wedding stories. One of my favorite sites is The Big Fat Indian Wedding. As much as the big sites are great, they struggle to get weddings that aren’t western focused and so I like going to sites that are specific to Indian weddings. It’s also nice to have a site where the vendors and articles are focused on helping you throw an Indian wedding. They even have a series of... Read more
Having my blog here has been a great experience. I’m half way through year two and I’m so grateful for the help and support Patheos gives me as well as the opportunity to spread my wings wider and communicate with more people. Not to mention the amazing other bloggers, many of whom are famous in their faith (or lack of faith) groups. I am in fantastic company! For the four years previous my little blog got a small trickle of... Read more
I enjoyed this movie a lot. It was simple and sweet, not as dramatic as some Bollywood (I love dramatic films too, though!). I particularly liked the variety of couples and love stories. It showcased the wide variety of ways people end up married in modern India. Maybe it’s weird, but I most closely related to Aspi and Zara. I think Brad and I are that in sync even though we haven’t been together since childhood. The dance sequence with... Read more
When we offer flowers to the Gods during puja, one important element of ettiquette is that we don’t smell them ahead of time. The first smell of the flowers is reserved for the Gods. In order to have flowers for pujas, I started growing my own in my areogarden (I LOVE these things) Even though it’s so high up, the cat has finally figured out how to get up there and he sits on the flowers and smells them. Sigh.... Read more
I came across this CNN article on 9 Myths of Hinduism Debunked. It’s a good concept. I like the article. Yet there’s something about it that’s needling at me. It definitely sounds like the perspective of an American Hindu. Someone who wants to reassure whitebread neighbors that Hinduism isn’t that different from their lifestyle. We don’t really believe in lots of Gods. We’re not bowing down to cows. Really. We’re not that strange! And yet, does Hinduism need to be... Read more
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