New York-400. New Amsterdam. Navaratri, Dussehra, Dutch East India Company

Hi,

Have been busy. Busy is good. Keeps your mind from turning into a devil's workshop. It's Navaratri (nine nights)/Dussehra season. Ends tomorrow with Vijayadashami, an auspicious day for new beginnings. A day of gratitude toward those who have been a source of wisdom in your life, particularly teachers.

An interesting article in today's New York Times about web cast lecture by a moral philosophy prof at Harvard(where else;-). Check out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/arts/television/26sandel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Professor%20Sandel&st=cse.

It's interesting how when we talk about morality we talk of extreme cases (E.g. Torture. Most examples in the professor's lecture deal with extreme cases). My dilemmas are really not at this level. They are much more mundane. In fact, faced with what's right and wrong, where is the dilemma? Yet, even if we do the right thing (e.g. being there for someone who needs your assistance on an ongoing basis) how committed are we? To me this is where I face a sense of guilt. I've never been faced with a situation where I needed to decide if I must torture someone to get something in return for this. I general, I find more people needing help on a more mundane level and this is where most of us are baffled and do not always do the right thing. Ponder a bit, my friends. You'll see what I mean.

All right, moving on, and backing up B & I went to the city to check out the conclusion of New York-400 (New York's City's 400th birthday). It was September 13 and a picture perfect day. One of the attractions was a mini Dutch Village selling Dutch wares, cheese, et al. The princess and prince made an appearance. We got to see them up close. Seem like nice folks:) In 1609 The voyage to Mannahatta (renamed New Amsterdam) by the Dutch by Henry Hudson (an Englishman) under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company.

The village and the Windmill were on Bowling Green Plaza and this allowed me to visit my old haunt nearby when I used to work at 55 Water St. Nothing had changed and it felt like just yesterday that I used to be there. One bug change, however: lots more eating places in the alley across from Goldman Sachs.

It's interesting how the Jewish Rosh Hashanah followed by Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) coincides with Navaratri almost every year. Interesting that Hinduism with its prevalent belief in karma doesn't seem to have a day of atonement. In other words once you commit a paapam/paap (sin), that's it. There is no redemption other than taking another birth (this in fact is the punishment) and do enough good karma to nullify the paapam. Interesting how each culture defines sin and atonement.

Got to go now.

Ciao!
Ro.

Racism, Movies, Nicole Beharie, India has got talent

Last night I went to see "American Violet," a powerful docu-drama on racism set in early 2000 (think election), in Melody (original name of place: Hearne), Texas. The main character's name was Dee Roberts (real-life persons' name: Regina Kelly) portrayed by the beautiful actress, Nicole Beharie (http://womenandhollywood.com/2009/04/17/interview-with-nicole-beharie-star-of-american-violet/comment-page-1/#comment-4336. I hope the movie gets to be seen by people in the millions. What a shame so many dud-movies are blockbusters while meaningful movies like "American Violet" could languish. I hope not. It's directed by Tim Disney (Walt Disney's grandnephew)

A moving e-mail landed in my inbox. Here it's (if you understand Hindi, you'll appreciate it more): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_NoGhvnsM. I was blown away by it mainly because of the background of the participants and of course the quality of their work. All the pettiness in the world evaporated in one stroke at the end of this video.

I don't want to post so infrequently. So even if it's just a few lines and nothing too profound, I plan to post more regularly.

Ciao.
Ro.