Bura na maano, holi hai! (Don’t mind, it’s Holi!)

In the week leading up to Holi, a bunch of bananas sits on the island reaching a peak over-ripeness that is perfect for malpuas. Early in the morning on Holi, the tantalizing aroma of the freshly fried “banana pancakes” wafts through the house. Only about half the batch sugar-syrup drenched yumminess makes it to the evening family visits. The first one or two are consumed in the name of quality control — we can’t possibly serve imperfect sweets to the aunties and uncles! No one fesses up to having sneaked the rest throughout the day, but you know dad had at least one.

Maybe your family makes gujias instead? Or mathris? Whatever you make, Holi is an opportunity to indulge in all sorts of sweet delicacies after a day of playing with abeer (colored powder) and gulaal (colored water).

To the uninitiated, we introduce Holi as the festival of colors, a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, a welcoming of the spring season. A crazy fun time with friends and family. At its core, I think Holi is a celebration of the perseverance of faith.

According to the Puranas, King Hiranyakashipu’s faith is rewarded with a boon that makes him nearly invincible. But his faith is selfish, born of an ego that makes him forget that no one is above God (Vishnu). His son, Prahlad, on the other hand, has an unwavering faith in Vishnu. Spoiler alert, Prahlad’s faith in Vishnu triumphs over Hiranyakashipu’s narcissism.

In other mythology stories, Kama (the Hindu Cupid), interrupts Shiva during a meditative state and is immediately vanquished. Rati, Kama’s wife, meditates for 40 days, demonstrating her faith. This convinces Shiva to revive the God of love, and Kama’s return is celebrated as Holi, 40 days after Vasant Panchami.

Holi 2016 - a tamer celebration than usual

We smear color on each other because Krishna was afraid Radha and the other Gopis wouldn’t like him because of his blue skin, but his mother had faith the girls would see past his color and love him anyway.

As with everything in India, Holi is celebrated in a unique way in each state. From a seven-day mela (fair) in Kanpur (outside of Braj), to the Dol Jatra in West Bengal, where images or statues of Krishna and Radha are paraded through the town on a decorated swing, to Lathmar Holi in Uttar Pradesh where the ladies get to “beat up” the men with laathis (long sticks) in jest, and Holla Mohalla, a display of martial arts prowess of Sikhs in Punjab, Holi brings together entire communities in the spirit of forgiveness and uninhibited happiness.

Whether you’re in India, the USA, or Guyana, nearly everyone starts the Holi celebrations with a bonfire on Choti Holi, the night before the colorful celebration. This is a nod to the story of Holika, King Hiranyakashipu’s demoness sister who tried to destroy Prahlad in a pyre but ended up perishing herself.

If you’re celebrating a tame Holi, with polite smears of dry color on each other’s faces, you can deck out in whatever you like. If you’re like me and plan on taking a long shower afterwards, wondering how you still have color in your hair days later, you might have a designated set of “Holi clothes” that come out once year, faint patches of color a testament to past years of fun.

The day’s not over until you’ve washed away the colors, gorged on too much food and mithai, and enjoyed a silly, relaxed time with family and friends. The lighthearted day is our annual reminder that as long as we hold strong throughout the year, there will always be something to celebrate.

I'm a cheap thrifty Indian, so I end up reusing and recycling by default. This works out especially well since I'm living a solo life in hotel/dorm off of my parents earnings (grad student = no money, brown kid = parents pay anyway .. it works out).

I do the usual save the butter and yogurt containers and use in lieu of Tupperware. But I've also adapted a few other throw-aways into household items. If you're a broke college student, or just plain cheap thrifty, like me, here are a few ideas you can incorporate:

1. Soup tin can as a pencil holder. I'm talking about the kind of cans where you pull a tab and pop the lid off - it's safer than the ones you cut open with a can opener. Make sure to rinse the can clean and take off the wrapper (make sure to cut out any box-top labels that might be on there..drop it off at your grocery store the next time you go in). You can leave is plain like I have or decorate the can with comics/cutouts from old cards/gift wrapping paper/etc. Now you don't have to go out and buy a $10 lamp with a pen holder that can only accommodate 4 pens.
You can vary things up by using tomato paste and pasta sauce cans for different sizes. You can even use Pringles or Lays chips plastic cans and use it in the same way. Just make sure the cut edges aren't sharp or jagged or you'll end up hurting yourself every time you go for a pen.

2. I don't have a proper kitchen, ergo, I don't have any utensil drawers. Soup cans, Pringles and Lays containers could work here as well. But I'm avoiding chips so I went with the Styrofoam cup I had from a trip to McDonald's (it was a diet drink!). I keep my kitchen scissors, forks, spoons, spatulas, etc. in the cup. It's a handy way to keep things organized and contained in a limited space.

3. I've been eating a lot of Healthy Choice frozen meals lately. They come in convenient little plastic containers which I've ended up using in many different ways. They're great as a basket for the potpourri mix, for the keys and misc items you need to grab on your way out the door, as a drawer organizer and on the dresser for your make up, jewelry and other items. I use the small cups that the applesauce comes in to keep my jewelry, lip glosses, and loose change. Use your imagination and see where else you can use the plastic containers in lieu of baskets, boxes, etc.. They're compact and come in neutral colors of black and clear so it's not jarring to any decor/theme you might have going in your place.

 

4. Another great recyclable is an egg carton. The individual pockets are perfect for storing pairs of earrings. Slip it in a drawer and close the lid to have a great storage and organization system for your jewelry. Again, feel free to decorate with magazine cutouts/wrapping paper/etc..

5. Plastic bags are considered evil these days. It doesn't matter which shop you go in to, they are all selling alternative paper and cloth bags to take your purchases home in. That's dandy, but it doesn't work for me since I usually buy in bulk and would need about 20 of those (not free) bags to take my things home. Plastic works just fine for me. But I do reuse them as garbage bags. Why buy a box of plastic bags to throw out my garbage in when I have a whole bunch (to the point where an entire corner or my room is dedicated to the bags) at my disposal for free. Use the bags to wrap breakable items such as glasses when you're packing, or to seal liquids and lotions to avoid messes in your suitcase on the off-chance something leaks.

Did I mention I don't have a real kitchen? I also don't have a real back-splash behind my table-turned-kitchen counter and skillet = all-purpose stove. So I taped up a few plastic bags to avoid stains on the wall from the inevitable splashes cooking results in.

6. Shoe boxes are awesome! They can be used to store anything that'll fit in them. Tennis balls, socks, cards, receipts, extra stationary, extra anything. They also make great medicine boxes - pack up bandages, gauzes, ointments, etc. and keep on hand. Since most medicines and ointments have a shelf-life, limiting your purchase to what will fit in your box will ensure you always have only fresh supplies on hand.

Weight Loss attempt - Take 2

So the last attempt at having a workout routine failed rather miserably. No shock there; I wasn't totally committed and was trying to introduce a new activity to the schedule during exam week.

This last visit back home was a wake up call. My weight went up by 3lbs, the first in 2+ years. 3 pounds sounds insignificant, but for me, it was the tipping point. I'm at a place where I am not happy with my body weight, size and shape. All of that must change. But how!? I've gotten all sorts of advice: cut the carbs, exercise more, go on a low cal diet, etc. The truth of it is, no one fad diet or out-of-the-ordinary effort is going to work (not in the long term, healthy way). In order to lose weight and keep it off, I'll have to incorporate bits and pieces from all sources.

As I'm doing research, it turns out that I almost never hit my target caloric intake. I'm usually either grossly below the mark, or above it (typically when I'm home for break). I'm not much into the whole low carb/high protein deal. I'd much rather eat my aloo paratha (which, incidentally, is only 290 cal) and work with the number of calories I'm taking in versus expending. The basic deal is, you should burn more than you consume in order to lose weight. If you consistently consume more than you use, you will end up gaining about 1lb/2weeks.

Honestly, so far, it's been quiet mind-boggling. I definitely can't figure it out for myself, so I'll be taking help from a friend who used to be a physical trainer. The goal here is to lose 20lb in the next 7 months. I'm hoping to greet 2011 with a leaner body, healthier lifestyle and still satisfied stomach (yes, I know the actual satisfaction is actually, only felt in the brain...).

First step in all of this is more research. I need to figure out where I can cut back and where I can add on, what foods are good for me and how many calories are in the 50+ pounds of frozen food I brought from home for this semester. Being Indian, it has been frustrating to figure out how many calories my daal-chawal, bhindi and chicken jalfrezi have. Recently, however, there's been an increased awareness from the public sector and people are finally doing the math and posting it online. Additionally, companies are becoming more health savvy and putting nutritional information on the maggis and frutis out there (doesn't stop me from eating that stuff!).

Second step is to adjust my eating habits as best I can (I'm eating Special K cereal with 1% milk - ew! - as I type this up). I'll also be keeping a food journal to keep track of my daily caloric intake - this will help in the adjustment part of things.

Lastly, I'll be adding more exercise and calorie-consuming activities to my routine. Did you know, you burn 11.4cals for every 4mts of brushing your teeth? Somebody's about to have really white teeth in 7 months ;) I'll also be cleaning my house more often, ironing more clothes and washing dishes for free for the entire neighborhood (just kidding!). It's amazing that the simplest things can burn a significant number of calories. Of course, those are just regular activities. I'll also be including about 1 hour of exercise into my routine. Yoga, Tae Kwon Do and jump roping for 20mts each burns about 430 calories. Add to that 45mts of (hard-core) dancing and you total a burn of 688 calories. Oh and I'll have to adjust the crunches and leg raises into that as well...I don't suppose they count as yoga? I'm suddenly starting to get concerned about the time limitations imposed by the little factor of attending medical school while I try to get my weight/size/shape under control. 24 hours just aren't enough!

The math is a little hard to work out since regular activities like putting on your clothes and shoes are part of the equation; the real trick is in figuring out how much goes towards keeping my body functioning throughout the day and how much "leftover" goes towards weight loss. I'm anticipating a second journal will be involved - hurray for Excel!

If I haven't confused you, you are amazing! For the moment, my cereal is finished, as is my brain's capacity to comprehend much more of this calorie in versus calorie out game. At 10-something, I'll call it an early night and get cracking on a fresh schedule on a fresh day =)

I fail as an Indian woman

It is not that I don't respect, love, cherish and admire my country. I strive to be a good daughter, sister, granddaughter, cousin, niece, etc., etc. I aspire to be a good wife, daughter-in-law, and mother. I respect my adults, greet them with a polite namaste, am seen and heard as required (more or less depending on the company), and I help my mom out in the kitchen. I can make chai, having learned to brew a near-perfect cup by age 9. I have accomplished a full and proper meal, received approval from my fathers critical taste buds and joked that now we can, finally, call the ladke-waale over.

But the one thing, the one quintessential act that, in my mind, defines an Indian woman, and that I can not accomplish, is wearing a sari. The last time I had a sari wrapped around me for longer than 5 minutes, I was 4feet something tall, had an abominable boy-cut hairstyle, and was wearing a t-shirt instead of a blouse. Since then I have made two separate attempts with saris of two different materials and failed miserably at wearing and carrying the beautiful garment properly. The yards of material sit awkwardly on me, slipping and tugging and falling every-which way. Instead of feeling elegant and poised, I feel bulky like a great war-ship, ungainly as if I have forgotten how to walk, and very uncomfortable as I am not used to having half my torso exposed (covered as it is with material that has come loose from I don't know where!).

It's a silly thing, perhaps, especially in the modern world. I am, after all, living in America, on the path to becoming a doctor and have grown up in jeans and t-shirts for most of my life (except for the frock-years, oh lord!). I like dressing up and being girly, but I would any day rather wear my jeans or salwaar kameez, and I always complain about the lack of pockets in dresses and desi clothes.

But a part of me feels incomplete as an Indian woman. How can I call myself such, when I can't even don the traditional garment, in pubic, for any length of time. Even my younger sister has worn a sari through an entire puja function.

Yes, I have grown up in America. Yes, we are a fairly modern and liberal family. Yes, nobody has ever expressed specific expectations of my wearing a sari. But I am still a bit traditional at heart. I would like to wear a sari when I go with my parents for a formal talk with the to-be in-laws. I would like to wear a sari when I am getting married. I, too, want to feel elegant and beautiful, not clumsy and awkward, in a garment that millions of Indian women have been wearing for centuries now. The sari may not be the most important identifier of an Indian woman, but for me, it is an essential part of her life.