I wrote the poem titled "Neo-American Quilts",perhaps in 2013 in Austin.My friend ,Althea was (and is) a member of quilt club. She told that quilt was not only her hobby but her joy, her meditation. One day She took me to the guild show of quilt. There were more than 100 beautiful quilts on display. But none of them matched with my previously known concept of quilt.Before the civilization flourished,ancient people used bark of tree and hide of animals as clothes.When those became old and tattered, the ancient natives by cutting the different torn pieces and pasting them like patches to reuse.But those quilts on display were made of fine fabric with sophisticated print. No prints represent any image of ancient art, way of life of ancient people or animal skin in printed version. That impression nudged me to write this poem which i wished to give Althea as token of friendship, after copying it fairly in a clean sheet ,which never happened.
Before last week I noticed Academy of American Poets announced to submit poems for the contest. Deadline:30th September.I found the theme of poem suits well to the present time. So I tried to send it to the "contest" but did not find their E-mail address.
Finally I deposited it in Google blog,my favourite treasury box, to share with other readers.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Sipra;s Diary: Intergenerational theater Program of DOROT
Today the final program with the Summer Teens ended with the drama show. It was really exhilarating!
Different groups took different stories from their chosen genre. In each group there were four to five members, both seniors and young adults. First step was picture study. The wall of the hall was
decorated with multiple pictures. Each of us were asked to write down the essence, theme and emotion of the picture according to our own view. E.G. emotion part, love hate,jealousy, greed,friendship, apartheid, enemity, kindness, cruelty etc,etc.
Next step was -a break; to leave the hall empty for ten to fifteen minutes.
After the break as we entered, we saw on each table there was a card on which just one of the emotions was written: like 'friendhip' or 'jealousy',love; we surveyed all the table and selected one table to sit as per to our choice. Now there were different type of stories-in-picture were displayed on the wall:ghost story, fun story, fable, epic mythological, historical, etc .Then we were told to pick up any one of the story in consistence with the emotional instruction of the card on table.
In the second round the old group broke up and new group was formed according to the choice of story based on theme and genre. It was like a great game of fun to dig out the creativity part of two generations and weave a harmonious story:Like connecting two different wires from two sources and charging battery to lit up light.These summer teens were between grade 9 to grade12.
We got the famous story "Lion King" on the table.We needed to build a seperate story on the basis of "Lion King".We,the combined group with the teens sieved the emotios one by one and jotted down on paper: the emotional elements were 1.Jealousy, 2.greed,3. hatred, 4. rich and poor,5. nature in abundance with floura and fauna and also in scarecity causing famine, 6.leadership7.love and respect which are the foundations of community, 8.finally, conflict between good and evil, war and peace.
Next step was the THEME of the story to be set on the pillars of emotions :love and hate , greed and jealousy etc.
I have kept the script of the drama for future to display taking full time that needed at least 45 minutes and 14/15 characters.There were also some other events in the program and ended with health-hearty refreshments.
Different groups took different stories from their chosen genre. In each group there were four to five members, both seniors and young adults. First step was picture study. The wall of the hall was
decorated with multiple pictures. Each of us were asked to write down the essence, theme and emotion of the picture according to our own view. E.G. emotion part, love hate,jealousy, greed,friendship, apartheid, enemity, kindness, cruelty etc,etc.
Next step was -a break; to leave the hall empty for ten to fifteen minutes.
After the break as we entered, we saw on each table there was a card on which just one of the emotions was written: like 'friendhip' or 'jealousy',love; we surveyed all the table and selected one table to sit as per to our choice. Now there were different type of stories-in-picture were displayed on the wall:ghost story, fun story, fable, epic mythological, historical, etc .Then we were told to pick up any one of the story in consistence with the emotional instruction of the card on table.
In the second round the old group broke up and new group was formed according to the choice of story based on theme and genre. It was like a great game of fun to dig out the creativity part of two generations and weave a harmonious story:Like connecting two different wires from two sources and charging battery to lit up light.These summer teens were between grade 9 to grade12.
We got the famous story "Lion King" on the table.We needed to build a seperate story on the basis of "Lion King".We,the combined group with the teens sieved the emotios one by one and jotted down on paper: the emotional elements were 1.Jealousy, 2.greed,3. hatred, 4. rich and poor,5. nature in abundance with floura and fauna and also in scarecity causing famine, 6.leadership7.love and respect which are the foundations of community, 8.finally, conflict between good and evil, war and peace.
Next step was the THEME of the story to be set on the pillars of emotions :love and hate , greed and jealousy etc.
Each of us began to say, 'well,you start,' 'no,no you'!In my group all were teens except me and another one.
At first we started stories based on conflict between land-lord and tenant; between two cousin brothers; between two school-teams of school; but all the stories faced some blockage in midway without meeting end.
I was requested by teens to select some story from Mahabharata.But genre of Mahabharata is epic, quite different from the genre of our base-story...In the meantime the instructor announced 10 minutes left for each team to submit the stories.
Immediately the plot of a fantastic idea based on similar theme flashed in my mind. In a hurry we sketched the outline of a story imbibed with all those required emotions from the base story.To our surprise,out of chaos a completely new story proped up on the basis of 'Lion King'.
Then two of us were asked to write the script for drama and bring it next day for rehearsal.The script written by me was selected;Time for each drama was limited from 3 to 5 minutes;characters-3/4 to maximum 5/6. All total six dramas of different genre were displayed .Niether the teens nor the seniors were professional. But our joint product was quite enthralling; the audience and we both enjoyed the program.
I have kept the script of the drama for future to display taking full time that needed at least 45 minutes and 14/15 characters.There were also some other events in the program and ended with health-hearty refreshments.
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Sipra's Diary ;: Discussions on senior center.dated 10thhaugust.
Yesterday I went to participate in discussion's group of senior center. The topic was of my favourite subject :' language'.
Q::The US Government has never declared an 'official' language.Should there be an official language?
The top three languages in the united states,are: English,Spanish and Chinese.There are more spanish speakers in the United states than in Spain.
When someone comes to this country,no matter the reason, shoud it be there 'number one priority' to learn English?
According to figures from the department of Homeland security,1.o2 million immigrants were granted permanent residence in the US in 2014;In 2015 the number rose up to1.05.
** America, a superpowerful democratic country in the world has not yet declared its own 'official Language' ? It is hard to believe that the greatest land of diversity--- a multi-cultural, multi-lingual country has no official language!
A country means a Nation with its own Constitution , Parliament ,National flag , Central bank, own currency, and legally approved 'official' language.
Most of the attendees have no clear idea what is meant by 'official' language. I explained it because India went through long-time language -conflics as India is aso a multiligual country. In India, during the mughal reign 'pharsi' was established as court language ,replacing the previous sanskrit -related language.During the British rule ,they introduced English in place of 'pharsi. Now 'hindi'is designated as national language but English also remains parallaly because Hindi does not represent collective Indian culture. Hindi is like Greek for the people of south India.
Official language is a language given a special 'legal status' used within government in particular country ,state or other jurisdiction .It is used within the judiciary,lagislature administration of government to maintain uniformity.
But regional languages ,tribal languages ,remained undisturbed among people throughout the time.
The top three languages in the United States ,are English(237.8 million); Spanish (40.5) ,Chinese( including Mandarin and Cantonese) 3.4 million.
.
In my opinion, English must be declared as 'national language' as it is evolved as de facto:maximum people speak in English; Otherwise it will become a hidrance to maintain the uniformity of national standard in education, administration, business,legal, judiciary etc.
For example in our evertday life we can take road-map :if we need 2ft /4ft ft boards to write only in english for road direction , then for four languages a huge board of 8ft /16ft boards are required to be used and how many such boards are possible to set up every corner of the road? Moreover,besides the question of cost, it will be very much confusing as well as disturbing for DRIVING buses, cars, trucks through scanning of several languages. In airports stations or other public places spanish is already used almost everywhere of US simultaneously with english.
Russia, China, Japan France follow their own national language, and not any second language in all public places though all these countries also have become global.
In India, state language and english both are painted on the board in all staions hospitals and public places.In north India many stations and public places are marked by urdu language.
In London Punjabis claimed to use their language in some places for their own convenience. Bangladesis use bengali script (and no-english) for the names of staions, shops, schools, clubs restaurents in some of their colonies in London. It was so surprising for us to see native language in foreign land.
Since streams of immigrants are pouring in the basin of America continuously, political thinkers should take the issue seriously, before it causes tooth-ache. Like Spanish ,Mandarin, Russians and Urdu all languages are flourishing in US.
Each language is like gold mines and needs to keep alive But in a global society like US how can it be conserved?
From the grass-root, from the school.
The school should start with three languages: english, spanish and state or native language as third language. I think it is a primary necessity to acknowledge 'English' as official language.
Q::The US Government has never declared an 'official' language.Should there be an official language?
The top three languages in the united states,are: English,Spanish and Chinese.There are more spanish speakers in the United states than in Spain.
When someone comes to this country,no matter the reason, shoud it be there 'number one priority' to learn English?
According to figures from the department of Homeland security,1.o2 million immigrants were granted permanent residence in the US in 2014;In 2015 the number rose up to1.05.
** America, a superpowerful democratic country in the world has not yet declared its own 'official Language' ? It is hard to believe that the greatest land of diversity--- a multi-cultural, multi-lingual country has no official language!
A country means a Nation with its own Constitution , Parliament ,National flag , Central bank, own currency, and legally approved 'official' language.
Most of the attendees have no clear idea what is meant by 'official' language. I explained it because India went through long-time language -conflics as India is aso a multiligual country. In India, during the mughal reign 'pharsi' was established as court language ,replacing the previous sanskrit -related language.During the British rule ,they introduced English in place of 'pharsi. Now 'hindi'is designated as national language but English also remains parallaly because Hindi does not represent collective Indian culture. Hindi is like Greek for the people of south India.
Official language is a language given a special 'legal status' used within government in particular country ,state or other jurisdiction .It is used within the judiciary,lagislature administration of government to maintain uniformity.
But regional languages ,tribal languages ,remained undisturbed among people throughout the time.
The top three languages in the United States ,are English(237.8 million); Spanish (40.5) ,Chinese( including Mandarin and Cantonese) 3.4 million.
.
In my opinion, English must be declared as 'national language' as it is evolved as de facto:maximum people speak in English; Otherwise it will become a hidrance to maintain the uniformity of national standard in education, administration, business,legal, judiciary etc.
For example in our evertday life we can take road-map :if we need 2ft /4ft ft boards to write only in english for road direction , then for four languages a huge board of 8ft /16ft boards are required to be used and how many such boards are possible to set up every corner of the road? Moreover,besides the question of cost, it will be very much confusing as well as disturbing for DRIVING buses, cars, trucks through scanning of several languages. In airports stations or other public places spanish is already used almost everywhere of US simultaneously with english.
Russia, China, Japan France follow their own national language, and not any second language in all public places though all these countries also have become global.
In India, state language and english both are painted on the board in all staions hospitals and public places.In north India many stations and public places are marked by urdu language.
In London Punjabis claimed to use their language in some places for their own convenience. Bangladesis use bengali script (and no-english) for the names of staions, shops, schools, clubs restaurents in some of their colonies in London. It was so surprising for us to see native language in foreign land.
Since streams of immigrants are pouring in the basin of America continuously, political thinkers should take the issue seriously, before it causes tooth-ache. Like Spanish ,Mandarin, Russians and Urdu all languages are flourishing in US.
Each language is like gold mines and needs to keep alive But in a global society like US how can it be conserved?
From the grass-root, from the school.
The school should start with three languages: english, spanish and state or native language as third language. I think it is a primary necessity to acknowledge 'English' as official language.
Without preliminary knowledge,nobody should get permission to enter US / Western countries. To avoid the future problem US can follow the steps of China or Russia in this matter. Lastly, English is already recognised as an International language. I am leaving the topic unfinished. But I wish to write more on this issue.
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Sunday, August 5, 2018
Sipra's Diary: [Rep] Avocado-the -"Green-gold".
At the end of my everyday morning walk from two years back up to now, I used to enter Morton-William as finishing touch to pick up some bread or vegetable. I noticed avocado, banana, and zucchini are very cheap compared to other items.3/4 and sometimes 5 avocados for $1.I did not like avocado until I tasted a sandwich with avocado spread with a pinch of salt and pepper in some Jewish Party. It is popular as "butter fruit" in Mexican locality It is also the backbone of the local economy known as "green-gold" in Mexico to fetch money by exporting in a foreign land, especially in the US. I learnt that it is good for health. Since then I used to buy it; good for breakfast, both as a spread on bread instead of butter or as smoothy.
I was surprised to notice the sudden rise in price: $3 for one avocado. I told my daughter, "see, just as we started liking zucchini and avocado, their price goes up."
I learnt avocados come mostly from Mexico and Colombia. It had been cultivated in Mexico about 9000 years ago. Food magazines have made these items popular by propagating their food value so high that it became the fruit of global trade... As the demand goes up,price naturally rises...
But the story is something more. Avocados grow mainly in the volcanic rich soil of Michoacan state in Mexico. The high global demand for avocado has created a mafia group who plundered all avocados from the land of the farmers at night time. The farmers have to buy insurance to protect against the robberies which caused the prices to go up. Thus the mafia group now control the avocado business....
"Avocados are Nafta's(North American Free Trade Agreement) shining stars," said some economist.
... So the behavioural-psychology-cum-geo- economics etc. have been more complicated by the influence of the criminal bugs; high price is not due to a simple matter of the previously known theory of the demand-supply relationship of the see-saw.
Every time I toss the idea whether should I buy or not as I look at the price-tag of an avocado: a dark green, pear-shaped fruit, simple(but ugly and repulsive to look), too, trails a stained history! though it is neither gold nor diamond nor drug, still.......
' et too, avocado!'
You were fine so far,
In the lap of the volcanic father,
Throughout more than a thousand years;
Sheltered safely in shady leaves
And feeding the son of the soil.
Soon you will be invisible there,
As NAFTA blew your veil
In the open global market
To fill a global appetite.
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Sunday, July 29, 2018
Sipra's diary: Experience of 4th July in US
4thJuly,2o18
This year I went to upstate new york by bus for attending a religious retreat The big Academy bus was full of participants.It was like picnic party . we were practicing the choir music .The journey took about two hours.I occupied the window seat to enjoy the outside view. I felt the same vibrabation and echo of childhood-excitement of Independence day also here on 4th july:the national anthem in chorus with drum-beat and bugle....The bus ran through the City, Newjersy and then small towns. I looked outside with curiosity.I did not see any teacher guiding the marching of school-children or singing pariotic songs anywhere throughout the bus-journey; nor a single pedestrian walking on road; only few running cars moving now and then. Just a regular holiday scene;late rising ,wallowing in comfort on bed .
Why such a big democratic country is so silent in this auspicious Day?.......I remembered my past and first experience of 4 th July in US.
This year I went to upstate new york by bus for attending a religious retreat The big Academy bus was full of participants.It was like picnic party . we were practicing the choir music .The journey took about two hours.I occupied the window seat to enjoy the outside view. I felt the same vibrabation and echo of childhood-excitement of Independence day also here on 4th july:the national anthem in chorus with drum-beat and bugle....The bus ran through the City, Newjersy and then small towns. I looked outside with curiosity.I did not see any teacher guiding the marching of school-children or singing pariotic songs anywhere throughout the bus-journey; nor a single pedestrian walking on road; only few running cars moving now and then. Just a regular holiday scene;late rising ,wallowing in comfort on bed .
Why such a big democratic country is so silent in this auspicious Day?.......I remembered my past and first experience of 4 th July in US.
Sipra's diary:Stupefying Ad in the bus-stand...
I was coming back to home from the senior center after the music program was over. As I was walking towards the bus-stand I was quite stunned to see the advertisement on the huge glass -wall of the bus-stop,86 th street of columbus avenue,Mid-Manhattan,
"MUSEUM FOR SEX". Now I googled the meaning with etymology of the term . Most suitable meaning which matches with museum is "gender'or"male and female'. "sex"does not sound good. It will not attract standard audience; it should be replaced by"Museum Of Gender".
Museum is an institution, a home of muses,an adorable place almost like temple.People are so much sensitive about so many social issues but no voice is raised against using unparliamentary profane words in case of giving 'title'or advertisement.
"MUSEUM FOR SEX". Now I googled the meaning with etymology of the term . Most suitable meaning which matches with museum is "gender'or"male and female'. "sex"does not sound good. It will not attract standard audience; it should be replaced by"Museum Of Gender".
Museum is an institution, a home of muses,an adorable place almost like temple.People are so much sensitive about so many social issues but no voice is raised against using unparliamentary profane words in case of giving 'title'or advertisement.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
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