How I see it: Petrichor

Really?

Post by Aparna Kar.

I believe in you

This is a cup my mom got me in 2006. It was a time when I needed motivation the most. Even now, when I am down, I take it out of the cupboard and drink something in it. Even if it is plain water. Works like magic.

Travelogue: Los Angeles

Residence Inn, Marriott, Beverly Hills
Most of the times, I favor a home-cooked meal over eating out. This makes establishments with kitchenettes a preferred choice while traveling.(Try VRBO for vacation rentals by owners) This time we booked a suite at Residence Inn for our stay in Beverly Hills. A step down from the usual comforts at home but it can be managed for a week with some effort.

When we first reached LA, we got down at a Ralphs to buy some groceries. The  streets looked sprayed on by a drizzle. Petrichor filled the air. I never realized how much I missed the rains until that moment. California is in a state of drought emergency.

We checked in at about 2 a.m., leaving our car for valet parking for the night. All I wanted was to take a shower and slide into a bed. The porter who helped us with our luggage was a guy named Juan from El Salvador. SG made most of the conversation, I listened.

I wondered how the porter would manage to carry our luggage trolley over the steps. He asked us not to worry, so I left him to his proficiency- I was less experienced in practical matters such as these. I set to refrigerate the groceries at once. He asked us our names, enunciated SG's first name crisply and bade us good night when we paid him for his troubles. When I had settled the kitchen and washroom shelves to my liking, and lent a safe space to my suitcase, I took that shower.

SG discovered a curious thing. The sliding window in our bedroom had no bars/mesh. You could wake up and fall straight on to the street from the 7th floor, if you got up from the wrong side of the bed. The possibility worried me, and I asked him to sleep on the other side. He had to wake up early in the morning, I could roll over and get up safely. Keeping the window as a mere slit also helped.

Monday morning I woke up late, missing the complimentary breakfast (6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays). At first, I thought I'd go for a walk but I seemed surrounded by only dance academies, plastic surgeons and kosher meat.

The kitchen in Riverwood Cottage at Russian River was a dream- it had become the gold standard in my mind. However, it would be unfair to compare, and it would make me unhappy. I try to avoid unhappiness for my long-term health. So, when I came to terms with my new arrangement, I started to plan my meal. A friend was expected for dinner. I decided to keep it simple. Salmon, rice and a vegetable. At home, I'd be uneasy if I had anything less than 5 dishes to serve. But we must make the best of what we have. The stove has only two burners. And the knives suck. (We forgot to pack my favorite knife. Never again)

Getty Center
SG doesn’t heart museums much, so I visit them on my own- the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in DC, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and now the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, SG dropped me at the level P2 of the parking and I took the tram up the hill, which is essentially a horizontal elevator that takes you to the summit, 881 feet above the sea level in about 5 mins. I felt grateful at once. The view from the arrival plaza was one that your senses need time to devour.  I lost track of time browsing through years of history.

Museum Courtyard

 Timepiece

 Sketch: The return from the race
( A young athlete teaches his companion how to ride his vehicle. His victory at a competition is suggested by the laurel wreath hanging from his waist)

 The vexed man (from a series of 69 character heads)

I got out just in time to catch the sunset. It was a day well spent.

Random guy: Which one is this? It is a good camera.

Me: T5i

Guy: That's the body. The lens?

Me: 24-105mm. Luxury

Guy: Good camera. Great lens!

Me: Thanks :)

Guy (to his friend):Why didn't we bring our camera?

His friend: I don't know.

Maybe because you aren't allowed to take pictures at the exhibits which often feature private collection. Currently, they have two masterpieces of English medieval art: stained glass from Canterbury Cathedral and pages from the St. Albans Psalter, a book of psalms.

Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Pier
Wednesday evening we went window-shopping at the famous Rodeo Drive. That was all we could do anyways because the place has a curfew after 6 p.m. It didn't occur to either of us that a city known for its nightlife might have a prime shopping location close down so early. I am sure they have their reasons. It gave us ample scope for uninhibited photography though. I thought I was in a museum again. The display of the merchandise was nothing short of art: provocative mannequins, elaborate floral arrangements, crystal chandeliers, and wooden horses. Celebrity-spotting wasn't possible on the deserted streets so we decided to come back during the day. We had some time before dinner, so we drove to Santa Monica Pier. That, fortunately, is open 24 hours. Even if the local businesses close down, no one owns the ocean. What a comforting thought!

I wasn't dressed for a beach, but who cares. It wasn't too chilly. We parked a block away from the ocean and walked down the pier. Cirque du Soleil ‘Totem’ was on tour. We saw the yellow tent with blue stripes from a distance. A man was selling some sort of lighted chute that he threw up in the air. He wanted to peddle us one, SG was keen on it. It looked pretty, but I didn't think we would have much use of it later.

We took some pictures of the Ferris wheel and walked further down. A section of the pier was under renovation. After 100 years of existence, you need some mending. The waves lapped up suddenly and the first roar gave me quite a turn. It must have been rather comic because I saw SG laugh heartily. I am his 24 hours Comedy Central.

Paly Center, Spadena House and Hollywood Boulevard 
The best part of the trip was Saturday when SG was with me the whole day. First, he made breakfast: my favorite mushroom omelet and tea. We got dressed and headed for The Paly Center of Media. It was a surprise. He had planned the day’s itinerary. I love it when he does that.

Several props and costumes from Warner Bros productions were on display.

A lady named Betty Ashley went out of her way to make sure we enjoyed our time there and suggested the VIP tour of Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California (‘Maybe next time’, we said. We had already been to the Universal Studios on a previous trip). She even suggested some great ideas to click pictures. Before we left, we chatted for some time. She ran her fingers through my hair fondly and said, ‘My hair color was like this once.’

Next we visited the Spadena House, a house designed to look like a witch’s abode. On our way to Greystone Mansion, we cruised through a huddle of dream houses at Beverly Hills. Mouth agape, I wondered where else in US could I see such pretty houses. The Hamptons maybe, or Fisher Island. SG said it reminded him of Southern France. I like it when beauty and snobbery go together. I think it should. What is the purpose of exquisiteness if it is easily attainable?

At night, we walked on Hollywood Boulevard, it was chilly but walking kept us warm. I was reminded of the Fremont Street experience in Las Vegas, where people dressed up as famous movie characters. We strolled past The Joker who was having his dinner on the stairs of a closed shop. Batman had great teeth, and he didn't mind flashing it. There was Bumblebee from Transformers and Captain Jack Sparrow with eerie likeness to the original. I think I saw Superman and Elvis too.

I spent some time at Sephora where I found an eye shadow I had been looking for some time.Then we got little flowers for our home. The seller said that the flowers closed with morning dew or light mist and bloomed again when dry.

We went back to our parking after crossing TLC Chinese Theater where there were footprints, hand prints and autographs of celebrities on cement. It also houses the largest IMAX (seating capacity) theater in the world.

An attendant came to help us with our ticket at the paying station, though we didn't need any assistance. It was routine. We tipped him anyway, and as we got into our rental car he remarked, 'Great car'. SG said it was a rental, and it wasn't much for a week. He said,'Not for me. It is a lot.' I was suddenly reminded of the stark difference between the have and the have nots. And though we are not what I would call 'rich', I realized I was fortunate in many ways.

Downton Abbey

My expectations from Season 5.

Mr. Bates will be innocent of the murder of Mr. Green. He might have gone to London, but Green's death was an accident. That vile creature met poetic justice finally.
Anna Bates (née Smith) will have left the horrors of that night behind. Hopefully, she will be expecting a kid with Mr. Bates, not because I think it is important but because it was a sign of a happy marriage in those days.
Mary Crawley will become more down-to-earth and choose Blake over the others, not just for his impending baronetcy but his expertise in practical and theoretical farming which can help the estate become profitable. Also, she needs a strong-willed man like him, not a feeble one.
Tom Branson has been mourning longer than Mary. It seems unfair that Mary has a desire of suitable suitors while he gets approached by the most unlikely ones. However, Miss Bunting might provide fuel for his ascent in a political career. She speaks her mind and he needs to be a little more assertive instead of feeling grateful to the Crawleys all the time .
Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess I like her the way she is. Acerbic. I think she is Julian's favorite. She gets the best lines in the show and was in Gosford Park (for which Julian won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay). I wish she were kinder to Mathew's mother though.
Daisy Though I want her to stay till the end of the series, I hope she takes Mr. Mason's advice and looks after his farm, starts her own business of jam, jellies etc. and grows into an independent woman.
Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. It is about time those two were together.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham should be less of a pompous ass and become a pragmatist. He gets on my nerves sometimes. I was happy when he was away in America and Mary had an unimpeded say on the way things were run.
Isis should have puppies. Lots of them. And they should race each other on the green lawns and sprawl in the summer sun.

Ajju Dadu

I came across him on Facebook group  and the liking was instant. He is one of those people I sent a friend request to with the intent to know him better. Ajju dadu (dadu= grandpa in Bengali), as we lovingly call him,  is a fascinating person. He was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1933. After Rangoon was bombed, his family fled to Calcutta as refugees by boat, reaching in 1942.

Dui purush

When he was 11, he acted in Dui Purush (1945) and shared the screen with one of the most veneered actors of Bengali cinema- Chhabi Biswas. Fortunately, I found a copy on YouTube and played the movie for him when we had him over for lunch in October 2013. Sixty-eight years later, he still remembered how beautiful Chandrabati Devi was.

The wars

'During WWII, a lot of GIs on the Burma front got sick with tropical diseases. There was a U.S. Army hospital, close to my home in Calcutta. One evening, I was returning from a swim at the Dhakuria Lake (now Rabindra Sarobar) when I saw a lonely GI sitting by the water. I went up, spoke to him, and invited him for dinner. My mother was delighted. She had three sons in the Air Force (two had died in the war). Soon, our home became a center for lonely, young GIs. I was into pen-pals at that time and one of the GIs I connected with was from Lewiston, ME. We corresponded for several years.

In 1955, I was in Delhi. My pen-friend’s father sent me a letter letting me know that he and his wife would be visiting Delhi and they wished to meet me at their hotel. I did so and found out that he was an economist and was in India on a State department assignment. I told them that I wished to come to the U.S. and they suggested I sent them my resume.  I did so and I received a certificate sponsoring me to come to U.S. It was signed by Dr. Charles F. Phillips, President, Bates College, Lewiston, ME.

I went to the U.S. Consulate in Calcutta and the Vice Consul, a huge, affable African- American man, told me that the Indian quota was full as, until 1956, Indians could not become citizens, due to the Asian Exclusion Act.  Therefore, all the Indians in the U.S. were lined up to get their green cards. I was literally on my way out at the door when the official said, “If you were born in India, you'd have to wait six years”. I told him that I was born in Burma. He said, “That quota is open”.  I got my Green Card in a week.

I spent a semester at Bates College, Lewiston ME and then volunteered for the draft.  I served two years in Georgia and North Carolina, in the then segregated South.'

His first love

'I went to Northwestern to study journalism. I worked part-time waiting at tables at the Mather Home for retired women.  One of my fellow workers and students was a young woman. We were the most unlikely couple but we became friends soon.  Karen was my first love.  We celebrated our birthdays together, her twentieth and my twenty-sixth, on July 2, 1959, as she was born on July 1 and I was born on July 3.  Our parting was bitter.  She went on to become a famous Hollywood film actress.

Three years ago, I had a dream that Karen was sick and dying and I had gone to visit her. I dismissed the dream. In July of 2013, I googled her name and found to my horror that she was dying of cancer, was broke and was soliciting donation on “Go Fund Me”. I sent some money and also wrote a message to her private site. She replied with her personal email and included her phone number. It was a warm and loving message and she asked me to call her. I did not do so, to my eternal regret, for complicated reasons. She died early in August 2013.'

I came down with a back-ache and went to an acupuncturist, who asked me if I had been under stress. I told her about Karen. She had seen her movies and knew one of Karen’s close friends, who lived in New York. The next time I went to see Abigail, the acupuncturist, I took an album of photos of Karen that I had taken in July 1959, also one of me taken by Karen.  She asked me if I had considered sending them to her family and I said I did not know her family.  By the time my treatment was over, she called Karen’s friend in NY who called her husband, who said he would be delighted to have the pictures.  I sent the pictures to Stephen, a movie producer.  He called me and thanked me warmly. He said that Karen had mentioned me often and that I was mentioned in her memoirs, that she completed the night before she died.  Stephen had been married to Karen for 24 years. He was 23 years her junior.  Karen was 74 when she died.

I left Chicago in 1963 and lived 25 years in SF. I got married and my daughter was born in 1967.  I took an early retirement from working as a Unit Supervisor in Child Protective Services for 25 years.  I have had a number of jobs since then: nine years with severely emotionally disturbed adolescents at Lincoln Child Center, two years at the SF VA Medical Center, two years at East Bay Recovery, a year counseling federal parolees, two years at Community Health for Asian American. My last part-time job was with Catholic Charities in Oakland until my program was cut short due to budget problems.  Since then I have been working part-time with family survivors of murder victims. Presently, I work with three Latina families who have been victims of violent crime. I have also worked with a French-speaking Haitian refugee family.'

Swimming with the dolphins
Dadu suggested  that we should try Wild Quest: Swimming with the Dolphins in the Bahamas. He said, 'If you don't pursue them, they'll come to you.' He was on an island named Bimini, where incidentally, most people had Hindu names like Aatma etc. Explaining his love for dolphins, he said:

When I was eight, Rangoon was bombed and we fled to Calcutta, our ancestral city, as refugees. As our boat streamed out of the Irrawaddy River into the Bay of Bengal, a school of dolphins leaped in an arc out of the water. I asked my mother, "What are those?" and she replied, "Those are shushuk (Bengali for dolphin)." "What does it mean?" It means we shall have peace in our lives from now on."

Asha- an interview with Padmanava Sen

Millennials are often cited as the Peter Pan generation who prefer to delay their rite into adulthood, shun responsibility, and feel entitled to privileges they had while growing up- without having to work for it. But  I also know people about my age who commit their energy to several causes like: urban agriculture, sustainability, education etc.

One such person is Padmanava Sen, a batch mate of SG. I met him in California through common friends. This is an interview with him about volunteering in general and his association with an international non-profit called Asha.

1. Tell us something about Asha.
Asha, which means "hope", is dedicated to the support of basic education of underprivileged children in India. Asha for Education is an international non-profit organization and has around 50 chapters in US, nine in India and 5 elsewhere. Asha's primary focus is on education because we at Asha believe that education is the most effective means to solve the problems of poverty, population explosion, and to bring about long-term socioeconomic change. Since its inception in 1991, “Asha for Education” has supported more than 800 educational projects in India disbursing more than $26 Million USD. In 2013 alone, around 170 projects are supported with 13+ crores INR. Asha runs completely on volunteers and around 1000 volunteers across the World make it happen.

2. How did you get associated with it?
I joined Asha Atlanta Chapter in June 2006 after seeing a flyer in university notice board (Georgia Tech). After the first meeting, I was more or less sure I am not leaving Asha anytime soon. The reason that it is 100% volunteer driven, decentralized and non-hierarchical, made the decision very easy. I have moved out from Atlanta in 2010, I am still involved with almost all Atlanta projects (around 6 currently) till date. In 2009, I started my life in Central Projects Team with Cyclone Aila relief and currently coordinate across projects for RTE and other related issues being in India. In last 5 years, I have served 2 years in the board of directors as the Director of projects which gave a lot of exposure given the ~200 project portfolio of Asha.

Asha has not only helped me to stay connected to my country during my stay in USA it has helped me to realize the important things one can do in their spare time in the spirit of volunteerism.


3. What advice do you have for those who want to get involved?
Do not believe that everything will fall in place unless we get directly involved in the implementation of laws, in the education system, in women empowerment, to provide basic necessities to every human being on earth and in the process of giving equal opportunity to every child irrespective of gender, caste, birthplace and birth family.

Do not underestimate your own potential and overestimate the current systems in place to take care of everyone. Stop thinking about doing something and act; find 2-3 hours a week to volunteer for a good cause, a cause that you think is important. While you get involved, put the shoes of the underprivileged and think what is important to them. The definition of requirement should come from their side not from your viewpoint. Get the culture of giving and volunteering in your systems and teach the next generation to the same. Unless we help the unlucky ones, every success is tainted and every moment of happiness is incomplete.

Suggested further reading: His blog post Why volunteer