A Day of Mourning...

As promised, another holiday has arrived here in India. Unlike the holidays that I have described so far, this one is not a celebration, but instead a day of mourning. The Remembrance of Muharram is a Muslim holiday that marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala (in 680 AD) which took place in the present day Iraq. This battle involved two groups; one side supported the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali, while the other supported a rival of Islam. Husayn ibn Ali's group was small, consisting mainly of women and children, and fewer than 100 men (including many members of Muhammad's family), while the other group is said to have had over 30,000 armed forces (Western academics put this number near 4,000, but hey, who ever said that religious stories have to be historically accurate, you can get more butts in the seats with a good story, and the story is MUCH better when it is 100 vs. 30,000 rather than 100 vs. 4,000). The smaller group was surrounded and made to suffer without food and water for three days in the Iraqi desert before all of the troops were slaughtered following the murder of Husayn ibn Ali and his six-month-old son. The body of Husayn was subsequently desecrated. The women and children of the group were taken and imprisoned for one year before they were finally released. Though this massacre was a terrible event, it did have one upside for the burgeoning religion, Husayn ibn Ali's martyrdom brought many new converts to Islam (in particular, to Shiaism).




This holiday is observed mainly by the Shi'a sect, and the martyrdom of Husayn is remembered by the recitation of prayers and Islamic teachings, but in some places people go as far to beat themselves and self-inflict wounds in an acknowledgement of his suffering. I have not seen any type of observance of the holiday, unless one considers coming into lab on a holiday torture, in which case my entire lab is observing Muharram...

Happy Republic Day!!!

Surprise, it's another holiday here in India. However, this holiday is not related to any religion, but is rather Republic Day, which celebrates the day the India's constitution was instituted and India officially became a sovereign state (January 26, 1950). On this day, India finally realized the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and the others who fought for and gave their lives for an independent India.



Republic Day is kicked off the eve of the holiday by a Presidential address (called the Presidential to the nation) where the President awards both military personnel as well as citizens for outstanding bravery and also gives something like the State of the Union Address. The President here in India holds very little power (most of the power lies with the Prime Minister), and as such is usually a more likable figure. The current President of India is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a very popular and well-loved man (and also a scientist). On Republic Day itself, a large parade takes place in New Delhi where each year the Chief Guest of the parade is the head of state of a different country (this year it is Vladimir Putin of Russia). The parade consists of different regiments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force marching in formation in full regalia. Following the military display, each state is represented by a parade float or type of exhibit, which underscores the diversity and richness of culture here in India. The parade is televised (unfortunately I had to work so I missed it) and watched by millions, as Republic Day is the most popular of all of the national holidays (or so I read).



Happy Republic Day!!



P.S. Four days til the next holiday, and I am exhausted!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!!

Did you know that India is the only country in which all three: lions, tigers, and bears, are indigenous? I bet you didn't. Though you may be able to track down the animal here in India, you will have a considerably harder time finding anything related to any American sports teams that share their names. No Detroit Lions or Tigers, and very, very, very sadly, no Chicago Bears. There is absolutely no access to American sports, the only televised athletics is cricket, cricket, cricket, soccer, and very rarely golf or tennis, none of which are on my top 10 list of spectator sports. So naturally, this is the year that the Bears do what just a few years ago seemed impossible, win the division and end up in the Super Bowl. Boy, either we have crappy luck or it was us that was holding the Bears back for all of these years, not the offense.



I guess that it makes sense that American sports are not televised in India, after all, there are decency laws here for televised content, and with the chance of a brawl breaking out at an NBA game getting close to 100%, I guess better safe than sorry. We learned about these decency laws just a few days ago when our favorite channel, AXN, which broadcasts in English lots of great American shows like Fear Factor and Ripley's Believe it or Not (but also the Amazing Race), was banned for 2 months for broadcasting a show called "World's Sexiest Advertisements". Ummmmm, you would have thought that the title might have tipped off the network that it was a little too racy for a country that has broadcasting decency laws. The other English channel, Star World, is currently broadcasting The Sopranos, so it shouldn't be long before that channel is axed too. If you want to read all about what can and can't be broadcasted here in India, you can go to this link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/917697.stm) and read all about India's Cable Network Act of 2000. It is quite interesting, even advertisements for baby milk, along with alcohol and tobacco, are banned. I never thought that baby milk would require the same regulation as alcohol and tobacco, I wonder if there is a minimum baby-milk-buying age.... Anyway, to assure that "public morality" is not adversely affected, we will have to go without the Amazing Race for a couple of months, I am not sure that I will be able to bear it. Which reminds me, GO BEARS!!!

Lab Lunch!!!

Yesterday my lab-mates and I took a well-deserved break from the lab for a couple of hours to go together for a lab lunch. Mamta (a post-doc in the lab) had suggested that we try to get away from lab a bit more, so I organized the first official Hasan Lab Outing. We went to a nice little restaurant called Neels, which turns out to be just off of Sanjaynagar, the street on which Eric and I live. The entre lab went expect for Gaiti (aka Dr. Hasan) and Mamta, who was busy not taking her own advice about having a life outside of lab (she was preparing for Saturday's lab meeting). The lunch buffet was very good, it is quite a bit different than the Indian lunch buffets back home though (much better, obviously). My most favorite dish of all is one called gajar halva (a dessert naturally). It is a dessert that is made of carrots (gajar) cooked in butter with dates and sugar and topped with almonds. It may not sound like it, but it is delicious. The restaurant also served it with homemade vanilla ice cream, and it was absolutely to die for. I can't wait to go back with Eric and have it again! The lunch was such fun that we have already scheduled the next a couple of weeks from now. I have also included a couple of pictures so that you can all meet my new (and totally crazy) lab-mates. In the picture taken at the table, starting at the left, from front to back is: Senthil, Shalima, Gayatri, Neha, Rashmi. On the right, from front to back: Gayathri, Shantala, Me, Mani, Sandeep.

Another day, another festival

Happy Makar Sankranti, or Sankranthi, or Uttarayan, or Lohri, or Pongal! Depending on where in India you are, or where you are from, dictates which of these festivals you are celebrating. Since I am in Karantaka, I am celebrating Sankranthi, the harvest festival. I think that all of the festivals celebrated today have to do with the harvest, but in certain parts of the country, it is also the annual kite-flying day. Anyway, starting today the sun with respect to the earth starts moving towards north signaling the oncoming of summer, so the festival also recoginizes the day that the glorious Sun-God of the Hindus begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. This is how the kite-flying ties into the festival, people offer colorful kites to please the Sun God. At least in Karnataka, the festival is celebrated by eating sugar cane, so along the streets there can be found tall stands of sugar cane for sale. We didn't try any, I was told that you need extremely strong teeth to eat the stuff and I figure the last thing that I need is some broken teeth. Well, I have eleven days to prepare for the next holiday...

Bite Me

I am now a soldier in the War on Terror, my new mission in life is to find and kill the enemy; to seek out the terrorists where they live. To fight them over there so we won't have to fight them at home (except their home is also my home, oops). The violent, wily terrorist of which I speak is, of course, the mosquito.



Our first month or so of living in India passed with nary a mosquito to be seen. However, those days of relative peace are now gone, and war has been declared. It began by an appearance of just a couple of mysterious itchy bumps in the morning, and quickly escalated to a full-blown battle as the early scouts must have called for back-up. One morning I woke up with six new bites on my legs, and I decided that I had to respond. I went on a rampage, killing every mosquito that I could find, and walking around armed with my spray bottle of OFF. I thought that a cease-fire had been declared as I have been bite-less for about a week (but still not long enough for my old bites to disappear), but this morning I discovered four new bites. My poor legs are a mess. The bites here seem itchier than I remember at home, and are so itchy that I have woke up in the middle of the night and found that I have been scratching in my sleep!



I was sort of freaked out by the mosquito bites at first, as in India, mosquitoes carry some nasty diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya fever, and malaria, none of which sound fun. Now I am used to the bites, but they are just so itchy and they drive me nuts! The thing that is particularly frustrating is that all of our windows have mosquito netting covering them, and it is difficult to understand how they are breaching our defenses. I am grateful that I thought to bring a bottle of OFF, it has come in handy. Anyway, the war rages on, and those mosquitoes can just BITE ME!!!

Smashed!!!

Yesterday Eric and I received our very first care package from the U.S. (Hooray Jeff and Sandy, you are the best!). The package was sent on December 4, and took a full month to make it to our doorstep. We are so grateful that it survived the journey and customs, and the time that it took to arrive was well worth it, I almost cried when I saw the candy and other snacks sitting there on our table. It was kind of a strange experience though to see all the things that we would normally have in our pantry at home in Streamwood sitting on shelves here in our kitchen in Bangalore. Strange, but wonderful.



Though the contents arrived relatively unscathed, it is difficult to describe the state of the box upon arrival. I have an image of postal workers in a warehouse somewhere in Iowa reenacting the Iowa State vs. Iowa football game (using our poor box as a football) before finally kicking it onto a plane bound for India. I assume that the pilot transporting our box performed multiple aerial maneuvers over the Atlantic in order to assure the thorough jostling and hopeful destruction of all contents. I then imagine the customs officials in India tearing it open and kicking around the contents a bit before finally tying it up and sending it to the post office where the postal workers then substitute it for the ball as they reenact a India-Pakistan cricket match (remember that cricket matches can last for days) before finally delivering it to us. So if anyone had hoped to send us some fine china, I would not recommend it, as we would likely receive fine china dust. But smashed Doritos taste just as delicious as intact ones....

Happy Bakr Id!!!

Happy New Year and to our Muslim friends, Happy Id-ul-Zuha (aka Bakr Id)! I hope that everyone enjoyed the exit of 2006 and welcomed 2007 with zeal. In India, the new year is celebrated, but is not observed as a national holiday (bummer). However, this year, New Year's Day happened to coincide with Bakr Id, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.



Bakr Id commemorates the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham of the Old Testament), who agreed to sacrifice his only son, Ismael (Issac), at the behest of Allah. As you may or may not remember from Sunday School, an angel appeared just in the nick of time to spare Ismael from this act of paternal filicide by pointing out that there was a ram caught in some nearby bushes that might be sacrificed in place of Ibrahim's own flesh and blood (Hey, who says that the God of the Old Testament is full of wrath, the kid survived right? How many years of therapy do you think he needed after that though? It probably took some time before he was willing to take another walk with dear old dad.) The traditional way of celebrating Bakr Id is to sacrifice a bakr (sheep) in remembrance of the readiness of Ibrahim to sacrifice Ismael, and then the meat is distributed after the Id prayers at the mosque. Gifts and greetings are also exchanged and a feast is typical. This festival also coincides with the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.



I celebrated the New Year and Bakr Id (though at the time I didn't know that it was Bakr Id) by.... going to work. I am very fortunate that the NCBS provides free shuttle service from a main road near our house (about 2 km away), but it has 2 schedules; one for weekdays and one for Sunday and holidays (the schedule starts later on holidays). Since I had been informed that New Year's Day is not a holiday, I was up bright and early waiting for my bus on Monday, and I continued to wait for my bus for an hour and a half until it finally showed up (by which time I had figured that it must be a holiday after all). As it turned out, this year the two holidays fell on same day and so I ended up celebrating both waiting for a bus.



To avoid this predicament in the future, I asked for a list of Indian holidays and found that there are 18 nationally observed days (compared to 10 federally observed US holidays, not including Inauguration Day, which I didn't even know WAS a holiday. Who the hell celebrates Inauguration Day except for the one white guy who bought his way into the presidency anyway???) Jealous? Just another one of the benefits in living in a country where religious tolerance is really practiced. I mean, in the US we claim to be so accommodating of other cultures and religions, but here they put their money where their mouth is. Over 80% of Indians are Hindu, 13% are Muslim, and a whopping 2% are Christian. Regardless, the Indian government observes MORE Christian holidays than the US (Christmas and Good Friday)! Conversely, the US celebrates NO holiday from any other religion, despite having comparable numbers of Christians to Hindus in India and Jews to Indian Christians. Okay, I know what you are thinking, "In the United States there is such a thing as separation of church and state, that is why we don't celebrate religious holidays (ummmm, except Christmas)." My response is "Well, sort of, on paper at least (that paper being the Constitution, First Amendment)." The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment state "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." AKA: Separation of Church and State. Do I think that the separation of church and state is important? Absolutely. Do I think that separation of church and state is practiced? Not really. My evidence:

1) Christmas is a federal holiday while no other religion's festivals have that same status.

2) In God we trust, sound familiar?

3) One country, under God...

4) Christian specific prayers at federal functions...

These are just a few bits of evidence to support my point that while the separation exists, it is by no means complete and Christianity is unarguably the religion favored by our federal government. So my argument is not to take away from the Christians, but to acknowledge members of other religions. Think about it, this is a win/win situation! Christians get to keep what they have already established, other religions will get some well deserved recognition, we will be upholding our beloved Constitution, and everyone will get what they really want, a few more days off of work!!! Brilliant!!! So I think that you should all write your Congressmen/women and demand recognition of other religions, I would suggest that an observance of Yom Kippur, Bakr Id, and Diwali would be a great first step, and just think three more days away from the office! I think that more days off work is something we can all agree on.