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NurtureShock

If you have kids and even if you don't, you must read this book - NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  My goodness! This is a fascinating read.  I kept thinking back to my own childhood to see how it all applied. 

Written in a totally engaging style, it is full of research regarding the development of a child's brain and psychology.  Each chapter addresses a particular childhood trait and describes current ongoing research into its various manifestations.  What we know about child-rearing is turned on its head in many ways.

Topics include -

• How you can praise a child too much - that it can backfire and make the child take less risks
• Importance of sleep and how it affects learning - the more you learn during the day, the more you need to sleep at night.
  
• Lying - How and why kids lie (all kids do), how they keep doing it, and how to change your behavior so kids lie less
• To recognize that kids see race differences and how to talk to them about it
• Sibling Rivalry - what are siblings really fighting about
• What happens to a teenager and how arguing with parents and asserting themselves is essential to becoming an adult

Be prepared to be changed. 

Tamim Ansary

We heard about Tamim Ansary's book 'West of Kabul, East of New York' on the radio, on the Writer's Almanac.  What he said about writing got me really intrigued.  I wanted to read this book, a memoir about a place and a culture that we know so less about. 

He said - start writing, one memory leads to another, go where it goes, and in the process you might remember more than what you thought you would.  That the process of memory is the process of letting go.

Ansary is of Afghan, Mongolian, and Finnish descent.  He writes about his early years, about growing up in Kabul in a traditional large extended family.  Descriptions about the dynamics of a large family reminded me of my own growing up in India.  Though the circumstances of his growing up are very different, there are vivid parallels.

The book then leads to his arriving in America as a high-school student, graduating from college, and taking an amazing trip back to countries neighboring his homeland where his father still lived.  He writes with a unflinching view of his own thoughts and actions and tells a story where things are broken and mended all the time. 

Ansary wrote an email a day after Sep 11, 2001 which was widely circulated.  Although most of the book was written in the decade before, it was completed in 2002, and the email is included in the book.  His frank assessment about the state of Afghanistan in 2001 seems true even today.

His life, his work, his feelings of ambivalence of being between 2 cultures, his skepticism and his big heart - all comes through beautifully in this book.

Hearty Dal

A dal is a constant in our house, specially on cool fall evenings. 

Like chai, dal (lentils and spices) is specific to a family and the recipe varies greatly across India.  However it is ubiquitous in most regions, and remains a staple and a daily occurence,  It is eaten with rice or chapati or bhakri (millet bread), or dosas (steamed rice bread) among other things.

This recipe has more ingredients (the carrots and spinach) and can also be eaten as a soup with crackers or a piece of toast.

If you only have one kind of lentils mentioned below, just use those.  No need to have the 2 different ones listed. 

Hearty Dal - Serves 4

1/2 cup red lentils

1/2 cup yellow split mung beans (available in Indian markets)

3 cups of water

For the spices:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/8 tsp asafoetida (available in Indian markets)

1/4 tsp tumeric (available in Indian markets)

1/2 tsp ground red pepper 

2 tsps freshly grated ginger

Salt to taste

For the veggies:

1/2 cup diced onion

1 finely diced green serrano pepper

1/4 cup diced carrot (optional)

3/4 cup chopped tomato (I use Muir Glen Ground peeled tomatos)

1/2 cup chopped spinach. loosely packed (optional)

For the garnish:

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Finely chopped celentro

Mix the 2 lentils and the water and bring the water to a boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer till the lentils are cooked - about 20 minutes.

When the lentils are almost ready, in another pot, heat the oil, cumin and mustard seeds, the asafoetida.  The mustard seeds will pop lightly. Add the onion, the serrano and the carrot.  Stir and cook till onions soften.

 

Add the cooked lentils, tomatoes, tumeric, and the red pepper.  Add another cup of water.   The dal will be golden yellow at this point. Cook for 5 minutes.

 

Now add the chopped spinach and the grated ginger.  Add salt to taste.  Cook on low to medium heat for another few minutes, stirring once in a while.  If it seems too thick, add more water.

Turn off the stove.  Now add the lemon and stir.  Serve piping hot garnished with celentro.

Red, Yellow, Blue landscapes of the US Southwest

Nature can do so much with just 3 primary colors.  Traveling the American Southwest in search of scenery, adventure, art, big open skies, weather, and color.

Red - East Zion National Park

Yellow - Cottonwood with Fall color

Blue - Highway 160 E in Navajo Tribal Land, AZ

George's Sugar / Blood Pressure Experiment

Introduction

An experiment is changing a variable to see if something else, a result, also changes. Science means (i) providing an explanation for the result that (ii) can be tested by additional experiments. I am constantly doing experiments on all sorts of things, and I am always interested in the science. One recent experiment was removing sugar from my diet to see if it resulted in lower blood pressure.

Eliminating sugar lowered and stabilized my blood pressure

.. when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind – Lord Kelvin

This table gives a summary of my blood pressure readings over the past few years.

	No	June 2008		Jul 2009		Sept 2009
	Meds	Medication		Isometric		Six Weeks
	Sys	Sys	Dia	Sys	Dia	Sys	Dia
Maximum	190	160	90	150		128	81
Average	150	139	78	130	80	117	76
Minimum	130	101	58	95		102	66
Max – Min	60	59	32	55		26	15

The first column, No Meds, gives my systolic blood pressure readings with no medication as seen in about 2006 when I reported to my doctors office not feeling well at all with a systolic pressure of about 190.

The second column, June 2008, shows the effects of 10 mg / day of Lisinopril.  The average systolic dropped by 11 points, and the maximum readings have been lowered.  I am "living well with controlled hypertension."  This seems be the criteria for successful treatment, but my goal is living well with no hypertension.

The third column, Jul 2009, shows the effects of a simple hand grip isometric exercise. The Lisinopril has been reduced to 5 mg / day, and I still saw an additional 9 point reduction in the systolic.

Finally, the Sept 2009 column shows the effects 6 weeks after eliminating added sugar and excess fruit from my diet.  An additional 13 point reduction on the average systolic pressure to a very satisfying 117. I am still, for the moment, taking 5 mg of Lisinopril / day.

The difference between the high minus low reading has also dropped in the no sugar column.  There used to be a great deal of short term variation in the pressure readings, and this has disappeared.

Getting rid of sugar appears to have been the single best thing I have done for my blood pressure, and it had other, even better effects.  More in a few days.

Rana Dasgupta, Ruchir Joshi, Akhil Sharma

They are 3 wonderful Indian writers (2 of them living in India) who I have read in the last few Granta magazines. 

Rana Dasgupta - he wrote a journalistic piece called Capital Gains - about contemporary Delhi and the rise of the rich and super rich and mega rich in and around Delhi.  Amazing work, bold writing, and a strong voice.  He mentions Tehelka - a radical publication in India investigating and reporting on politics and current issues.

Ruchir Joshi - My favorite one.  He wrote a piece about his father and mother called 'Tracing Puppa' - growing up in Calcutta (originally from Gujrat) and about how he grew up to be an artist.  His family life, his father's struggles, the time they had together is beautifully woven into this piece which is both honest and deeply touching.  A short video where he talks about the piece.  I called my own father 'Puppa' and this inspired me to write about my own growing up and my father's determined and loving presence in it.

Akhil Sharma - his is a fiction called 'Mother and Son' - the story in Granta a small exerpt from a book he is writing. Read it and be stunned by the utter 'Indianness' as well as the universal theme of this story.

Lastly - about Granta - it is a quarterly magazine I have read for over 15 years.  It is both cutting-edge and full of new and searing writing - both fiction and non-fiction.  Each issue has at least one photo essay and I have found many wonderful writers in its pages.

Samuel Johnson

We visited the Huntington Library and Museums for the first time.  The highlight of the trip was an exhibit about Samuel Johnson.  Apparently, he was the first English person to make his living as a writer.

He compiled 2 extensive volumes of the first English dictionary and one of those original ones were on display in glass cases.  Large books in their original binding!  It took him 10 years to do that and he defined 'lexicographer' in the dictionary as 'a harmless drudge'!

Much of his work is still in print. 

I copied some of his quotes that were printed on the walls of the room.  Such contemporary language! 

If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone.  A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.

He, who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing anything, but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he proposes to move

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilizations

Welcome to Sajjanpur

Welcome to the amazing art of Indian cinema.  Just when I was feeling miserable about not seeing one good Indian movie in a long time - along comes a sweet thoughtful movie by Shyam Benegal called 'Welcome to Sajjanpur'.

It literally took my breath away and that was how I was feeling a few days later.  A nice simple premise, an uncomplicated plot of a young writer living in a village making a living writing letters for the other villagers who cannot write for themselves. Sub-plots abound - each little story rich in its own way.  Supporting characters are drawn into focus time and time again.  The village is a small place, everyone knows everyone's business, and the movie manages to move along, telling the story of this young man. Songs, common in Bollywood, are stories in themselves.

Just when you expect it to get corny, it delivers wit h a seriousness that sets your mind ablaze.

See this move. It may change your thinking about many things about India and about the whole world.  But more important, it will make you appreciate creativity.

I mean, how many movies have you seen that celebrate writing as a central theme?

This one combines so many ideas in simple, even comedic, ways - poverty, politics, comedy, romance, discrimination, blind faith in religion, nuclear power, technology, and basic humanity.  To do all this and still remain true to a story is just an awesome achievement.

I have no idea why this movie has not become a sensation!!

Seriously - this movie made me want to move back to India and not miss out on the stimulating artistic community that is alive and kicking in my home country.

Peter Ferry

This is becoming a happy habit - browse in the new books section of the library and come home with a few treasures and find a really cool book among them.  Wish everything in life were that easy!

My latest find is Peter Ferry's book called Travel Writing.  I admit I bought it home just because of the title and it was much more than that.

Ferry has combined many genres in this book - travel (of course), murder mystery, romance, philosophy, teaching, etc.  He is a teacher and has sprinkled classroom scenes through the book and I felt as if was one of the students. 

Now Ferry has done something I haven't seen before - the story is in first person - the name of the protagonist is Peter Ferry, other characters in the book seem to have kept the names they have in his real life, the travel writing chapters seem as if done for a publication, etc etc - but it is still fiction!  Using parts of real life and then making things up - keeping in mind that there is story (which sometimes becomes the back-story) and that the telling of it is important to keep the book going.

It was a great read and I dare say that I got some lessons on writing as well... One keeps hearing that we should write about what we know, about our experiences and about our observations and this was a wonderful example of how to do that while still writing fiction and actually telling a story.

“I call that man rich,” Henry James’s Ralph Touchett observes in “Portrait of a Lady,” “who can satisfy the requirements of his imagination.”

Chai Recipe

There must be a joke that there are as many chai recipes as there are families.  Everyone has a special way of making their regular cup of this mild drug and apparently even a small change in the amount of ingredients, the brand (type of milk, type of tea leaves, etc) of ingredients, or the process can produce a different tasting brew.

This recipe is just what has been going on at my place for the past few years.  Of course it originates from my home in Ahmadnagar, India - and has been changed to replace a complex mix of spices (called chai masala) to the addition of a few individual spices. And maybe cardamom - if its that type of a morning (not sure what that means) or if its that type of company.  Since this spice is an acquired taste for some people.  I grew up with a cousin who has never acquired it, which can become a serious predicament because cardamom is used in most Indian sweets.  So she has had to seek out special stores who will accomodate her.  But now I am digressing.

To the chai recipe then.  This makes a good sized cup recipe - which I have decided is actually 2 cups if you were in India.  Portions are smaller and more often in my birth country....

Ingredients and Steps:

1 flat tbs black tea leaves - Lipton would work ok if you cut off the bag and dump the leaves in the pot.  I have also tried Darjeling Black tea which was ok too.  I use this old time Indian brand, available easily in Indian grocery stores. 

 

1 tsp fresh chopped ginger - if you dont like ginger, skip this part.

2/3 cup water

1 cardamom pod crushed - totally optional - try it with and without.

Sprinkle of cinnamon - I can go over the top sometimes and crush a tiny stick of cinnamon and cardamom together in a mortar.  Luxury!

Boil these ingredients till the water boils and then some. 

 

1/2 cup milk - I use 1% - works fine.  Skim milk, soy milk, rice milk - have tried them all - dont work at all.  Lactose free milk works ok - not so great.

1/2 tbs sugar - Change as needed.  I once spent many months with no sugar in the chai - got used to it in a few days. 

Add milk and sugar to boiling tea water and wait till that boils.

 

Have a fine strainer and cup ready.  Here is my old and worn out trusty one from India.  Has served me well for many years.

 

Let me know how it went if you try it.  Best enjoyed with a savory cracker or cookie.  Not fruit as shown in below picture!