The Sweet Spot

This year would be the second Holi washed out by covid. The vaccine is out and many of us are starting to get it, which is building some level of confidence towards a path to normalcy. It is still not enough for people to engage in the regular color play, which is the essence of Holi. Given the restrictions, I decided to indulge in colors in a different way, by revisiting the colorful and vibrant Indian arts. A few years ago I had the opportunity to attend a unique exhibition of Madhubani or Mithila Art right here in Acton. I knew about this dedicated Madhubani Teacher-Disciple duo, Sunanda Sahay and her student, Anindita Lal, who had worked together for a Massachusetts Cultural Council program, and showcased her work at the Acton Discovery Museum, among other places. The exhibition, which presented the very traditional Mithila Ram-Sita wedding painting, to the intricate and brightly colored designs with birds and foliage, also showcased an unconventional piece of Aladdin on the magic ...

To newly migrated Indians in North America, huge hardware stores like HomeDepot, Lowes etc can feel daunting at first. But it doesn’t take too long for hobbyists, tinkerers and serious builders alike, who have some inclination to get their hands dirty and their feet wet, to figure their way around. And in no time at all, with a favorite DIY project tucked under their arm, these stores can make one feel like a kid in a candy store! To newly migrated Indians in North America, huge hardware stores like HomeDepot, Lowes etc can feel daunting at first. But it doesn’t take too long for hobbyists, tinkerers and serious builders alike, who have some inclination to get their hands dirty and their feet wet, to figure their way around these stores. And in no time at all, with a favorite DIY project plan tucked under their arm, these stores can make one feel like a kid in a candy store!  My cousin Rahul moved with his family to Canada recently. For most of his adult life I had seen him focusse...

As a child I found comfort in cuddling a soft, warm, dry and fluffy white mass. No, it wasn’t a puppy! It was my grandmother’s nine yard saree (“nauvari”; nau- nine, var - yard; in Marathi) stitched like a quilt. It was extremely soft, being well-worn cotton and washed hundreds of times, folded four times and stitched into a comfortable quilt of a little over 6 feet in length, hence named “chaughadi” (chau - four, ghadi - fold; in Marathi). In the Indian winters it would trap the body heat and provide just enough warmth, and in summers, the airy, light material was the perfect cover under a ceiling fan. Beyond the practical perfectness, it was my inseparable security blanket. So when I first heard the phrase “the whole nine yards” in the US, however bizarre it may sound now, I assumed it was borrowed from the length of the traditional Indian saree. To me the phrase made complete sense - to go the full length or detail into something, as compared to the more modern, and shorter, abridge...

This winter when my almost 90, otherwise strongly independent and self-reliant Aunt, Mrs. Medha Bhide, defied all odds and beat covid, I was reminded of the lady I received at the airport 6-7 years ago. We got caught in traffic and were late picking her up. From far, she looked frail, wearing the metal back brace, which she called “chilkhat” (body armour), over her Indian saree. When we reached closer, she had already managed to get her luggage and while waiting for us, in her strong voice, struck a conversation with the staff. She may have looked physically frail, but no, sir, it didn’t take long to realize how strong she was from within! We were blessed to spend the month with this coffee loving, full of life, willing to try everything new, kind of lady. As a child I was a little intimidated, maybe even a little scared of my Aunt Medhu mavshi's sparkling kitty eyes. But soon as I became old enough to engage with her, I saw the depth and the love in those eyes. She seemed like a c...

When Karen Collins, President of ABUW stepped in last minute for Christine Schuster, President and CEO of Emerson Hospital, during the “Neighbors” themed Storytelling event organized by AB-United Way, she opened the show and her debut act with a reference to her friend Christine’s favorite pearls, and how the evening would string in the many pearls in the form of stories.  Though this was only the second storytelling show I was attending in the US, the concept wasn’t new to me, having grown up listening to many in my mother tongue Marathi. Storytelling was literally called “Katha Kathan” (Katha - Story; Kathan - Telling). And the pearls brought back memories of the storytelling maestro Dr. P. L Deshpande (Pu La) . That evening had started with a bang, slowly stringing in the pearls, with a variety of content and interpretations of “neighbors”. Karen ended her story about overcoming her shyness and the confidence she mustered to approach a neighbor only after she saw a moving sign. ...

“When you do common things in your life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world”, said teacher, inventor, agriculture-scientist, botanist, nature-lover and my sustainability hero, Dr. George Washington Carver . An early proponent of composting, he said “Waste is man-made; nature produces no waste; whatever is consumed is returned to the whole in a reusable form. Man fails to utilize appropriately the bounty of nature”. While I am inspired by his words, work and philosophy of life, I started small, by doing common things in a common way. Such as separating my kitchen and organic waste in a separate bin than my trash bin.  We got a smell free, rust free, indoor composting pail with charcoal filters (there are other options). Instead of dumping kitchen and food scraps in with the regular trash, it was easy enough to separate it into this pail. We were already separating recyclables, so separating the wet waste reduced our trash to ¼ of the original, and much li...

It has done one round around the sun and “the Sweet Spot” has survived its first year. Now that the blog has survived one year, I thought it would be interesting to invoke my natural inclination to put the results in numbers. As Kai Ryssdal , the host of the award-winning radio show Marketplace would say, “ Let’s do the numbers ”.  This is the 40th blog post on “the Sweet Spot”. Blog analysts say blogs are known to gain traction once they reach 25 posts, with an average increase in readership by 30% after that. On my blog, I started seeing an upward trend around the 18th post, and saw a 50% increase in my readership beyond that point. My data does not include the readers who have subscribed via email to read at their leisure, or readers I know have bookmarked the site url and can get to the latest post via the homepage. I attribute the higher increase in readership due to increased shares, with each “share” contributing about a 5% increase. There is a concept of compounding blog po...