Link for the song dedicated to Anindita Nanda:

Afreen Afreen

Today’s post is dedicated to Anindita Nanda who is known as Anu to most of us. Posting a song for her with a link and a photo with an exquisite Odissi posture at OSA’s golden Jubilee celebration in Atlantic City, NJ.

No dancer ever became successful riding on their natural born talents only. … Dancers must work very hard to persevere keep dancing. They give years of their lives plus their sweat, tears and sometimes blood to have the honor and pleasure of performing on stage. Only people who are passionate about dance can sustain the vigorous training and routine. I feel very proud that not only she is dancing here but spreading our Odissi dance all over in USA and Europe. So here I give a big shout out to you Anu for your upcoming performances. Our state Odisha is lucky to have daughter like U who is making Odissi dance popular in every corner of the world.

What I like about Anindita is that she may be a prominent artist on the stage but she can come down as our next door girl whom I know for many years. She has travelled many places abroad and in USA for her performance. Unfortunately, I have not attended many of her performance but she is always ready to support me when I need to write about her in my fabulous fable post.

I know that dance is hard work and dancers lead very disciplined life. They get many invitation and call for their professional performances. Still she never stays away to answer my message or giving O.K that “Chandra bhauja go ahead with your story about her”. That simplicity yet aristocrat nature touches many people’s heart and so also mine.

I feel very proud to post this for her today and please support her next show on Sept 14th with her students performing .. details to follow: She is proud of each one of her student to be immersed in dance and spreading the light of the art Odissi.

Fulfilling my dream to help people in need (sickness).

Today’s post is done after I got a message from Usha Mahapatra (Berhampur, Odisha). She requested me to come and address in their conference to encourage nursing students at their University. My mind wondered to 1982 when I opted to register myself in nursing school rather than choosing to be an IT or accounting professional. This song encouraged me to become a nurse after I saw the movie “Dil apana aur Preet Parai”. Meena Kumari could not become a doctor due to her fy situation and thus became a nurse. So also was my story. My good friends Indrani, Rekha, Ira and Kamlini all became doctors due to their family support, intelligence and hard work. So also I could have since I was equally intelligent and a hard working student.

I am a Nurse

Far from my home land Puri, Odisha, India, I found confidence, comfort and hope that my dream to help people will be fulfilled at USA. It brought my future into focus and made a difference in my life. I remember when many of my friends loved the smell of sweets, talcum powder, nail polish and fragrance of jasmine flowers, I cherished the smell of freshly washed floor in our local hospital by phenyl detergent. Ha, ha. As a young girl, I wanted to get a science degree (perhaps get into medicine) but I knew for sure that with our conservative family and home situation, college was out of question for me in spite of being an A student all thru.

After I became 16-year-old my father, was looking for a suitable match for me, so he can complete his duty. I married when I was 18 yrs old and had 2 children by the time I came to USA. When my husband went to work and children were at school I started visiting a nearby nursing home to see some people and carry on a conversation. I missed having interaction and leisurely talk with fy and friends in India. I developed a penchant love for the older adults and my old desire to help people ignited each time I visited the facility. With lots of thoughts and dilemma, finally I registered for science courses hoping to get into the nursing program at the nearby college.

After 4 years of hard work I got my degree and became a nurse which may not be the thing for an Odia, Brahmin and married woman. To my knowledge, perhaps I am the first Odia registered nurse in USA from my generation. I worked at Intensive care, surgical, pediatric and geriatric units which was very rewarding to my soul. Now I work as a medical research scientist in Pharma industry doing similar work with drug invention research process which help sick people. For me USA is a land where my dream came true to help people when they are in need and nursing fulfilled that.

The Philadelphia Union is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania. Next up at home the Union battle D.C. United Saturday 8/24,7:30pm. We are all excited and hope to see our team win all the way.

It reminded me an incident when my son Sanjay played the position of goal the keeper in soccer at his high school team. He played soccer since he was 4-year-old. When little Sanjay started playing, he often asked me who I know played goal keeper position in our family.

I never played or saw much sports growing up back home in Puri, Odisha. I had no one but to pull out the name from our mythology character dear Hanumanji. Hanuman is the supreme keeper who saved us from many obstacles at difficult situation in our Hindu scripture. So my answer to Sanjay was to call upon Lord Hanuman, when he is at the goal post. Lord Hanuman always remains strong with his hand as the goal keeper must in a soccer (football) game. Did that help Sanjay? I don’t know but as a mother I felt good that I was able to answer his questions from my resource. I had no clue how the game was played and what is the job of a Goal keeper in soccer game. Sanjay did flourish all thru from grade school till high school being the goal keeper at NP high school which has 1110 students in the class. Every year almost 200 boys compete to become a member of the team of “North Penn Knights” where 11 boys play in the field and 18-20 are chosen. Only two goal keepers are chosen. One plays as the main keeper and the other one remain as substitute incase anything happens to the keeper.

Today it is different. I have learnt few rules and enjoy watching the game. I came to realize that one can’t sit as a spectator while your son or daughter is participating in the game. One must follow rules of game in case we need to defend for our children. So I borrowed the book ” Soccer Dummies” I churned many rules and was always on the guard when my son played in the field. I am glad that I did that which gave me opportunity to learn the game and now to enjoy as an entertainment.

Link for prayer

https://youtu.be/e_5jx52UeZ4

For my daughter

August 21 is one of my favorite day and will remain like this till I am gone from here.  Because it is my daughter’s birthday. Here is the post with a song for you all to enjoy.

There’s nothing quite like being a mother! “It’s an immense pleasure I felt when my daughter was born at Dr. Rao’s clinic at 05:15 PM Andheri East Mumbai.  It was a sensation of such happiness and warmth within me that mere words cannot do the justice. ” That moment when it was quiet just after she was born, she looked at me straight in the eye as if she was looking into my soul and said it is O.K. mom, now you will not be alone. I am here. Yes, I was alone in the delivery room since no one from my family could come to help me at Mumbai.

Every change for me is a feeling of loss because my mother was not there. Each new stage of my life revealed my loss: I didn’t have a mother. I felt it every time I approach a change in my life: a new baby, a new job, a new house. My mother died when I was only ten months old. Some twenty years later, as I had my first child, I discovered the peculiar paradox of my situation. Not only my childhood was stolen from me, so also was my ritual passage to womanhood which consisted of having my first child.

After my first baby was born I got to experience what mothers can mean for their children. Even though I did not know my mother well and have no memories of her being around. I grew more like her each day. My sisters say I look like her and talk like her. Genes have taken over where memory has failed, and it is as spooky as it is comforting to realize that I have, at long last, wrested some vestige of my mother for myself.

Same may happen to my daughter. She will carry some of my nature. I see that throuh my experience now. “While consoling his little brother over a ripped batman costume, I overheard my daughter said, “Don’t worry, just take it to mom, she can fix anything.” That reminded me of my lost childhood.

Happy birthday to you, my dear daughter today. You are a daughter, a friend, an advisor above all my life line to this world where I leave a part me after I am gone. With love – Mom.

Here is a song I tribute to Urmila Sahu after I ate the sweets she gave me at Arlington.

Mitha Mitha

“Santosh Dash what about your trip to Washington D.C?… we are expecting few lines on Bundi… 🙂 “ This comment in FB prompted me to pen today’s post. Besides meeting my son Sanjay who had a conference at D.C, I was lucky to meet Sanjay’s smart friend Duc Luu and his beautiful wife Zara. After having great Vietnamese lunch at “Four sisters” we said good bye and went to meet Urmila Sahu at the Starbucks. I have met her few times in big gathering and knew that she is a passionate cook. I love to eat and have a fascination and respect for people who can cook simple yet delicious food. Cooking has many benefits, including being a creative outlet and a stress reliever. As a cook, she has learned to add her own personal flair to recipes through extensive trial and error. There are no limits for her when it comes to make our traditional Odia “bundia” or oblong Gulab Jamun. She has mastered to make the rose cake a culinary art with her kind, compassionate hand and heart. In my eye she has become an expert who can put together the dramatic attraction of cooking procedure from selecting and preparing materials to cutting, steaming, and decorating the food. Posting here a picture of her delicious gift to me (yellow, red bundia rose cake and gulab jamun). From last night I have eaten 4 or 5 times each sweets thinking that it is Monday and I must do fasting and eat only sweets with some Indian chapatti. Oh, yes tomorrow it will be Tuesday and I have to look for some other excuse. Thank you Urmila for making my day so cheerful with your delicious sweets. Your bhaina says you made the best bundi and gulab jamun which means you have the A+. Ha, ha.

First overnight train journey with Sudhanshu and my introduction to hot Tea.

My dad was looking for a suitable match for me since he was getting older to finish his duty. While visiting our home Sudhanshu (whose brother was married to my sister) mentioned that an arranged marriage proposal for him did not materialize and he needed to go back to Bangalore within few days. A relative of mine (may be an aunt) quickly mentioned to my father that why not think of the match for Chandu with him? Then it hit everybody that it can be possible provided we all agree.

With some reluctance due to me being only 18 years old, he opted to ask me if I’d agree to this proposal. I said yes, provided I go to college and finish my study. Thus my fairy tale wedding was fixed within a week. My father and my husband’s father went to the Sakshi (witness) Gopal (our supreme Lord) temple and promised each other to make our marriage on June 4th 1969 which was only a week after our meeting. In front of fire God and our relatives and friends Sudhanshu took my hand in his hand and promised that he will take care of me. In return I also promised in silence that in good times, sickness, I will always be there for him.

After few days staying at Bhubaneswar, we came to Jharia where he was working as a grade 1 officer at Central Fuel Research Institute (CFRI) as a scientist.

I remember our journey so well because that was the first time I was taking an overnight journey by train. It was magical and something new was inside me trying to pop out. I did not know that one can eat, sleep in train. It was not internet age and I always traveled few hours by bus wherever I used to go anywhere. My knowledge of outside world was very limited. I never experienced closeness to someone from opposite sex, caring and sitting next to me before. From corner of my eye I looked and saw that he was handsome, well-educated and had a kind heart. I thought it was a dream and pinched myself. “No it was true”. Only a week before I was a girl at Pathuria Sahi Puri and now I am Mrs. Misra taking my first overnight train journey with my husband.

The station was coming near and so also the morning sun was spreading its beautiful ray. Sudhanshu asked me if I need to drink a cup of tea since the “chaiwala” was coming and selling hot tea. I smiled and said I don’t drink tea. He handed me his cup while paying the person. I sipped little tea from his cup. It felt good to my mouth and mind. I kept on sipping more. Looking me drinking the tea he smiled and ordered one more cup for him. That was my introduction to hot tea and now I can’t do anything unless I have a cup of tea in the morning. Ha, ha. My first lesson learnt from him. Many more to come. So long for today.

And link to another song follows:

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

The commonality that we share among us is the stories of who we are.

I spend a lot of time thinking about storytelling especially about what I need to convey you all in my fable story.

I often try to include small details in my story about my own experience. Most of the time I dig down deep to bring out my feelings in to the computer screen when I type. Often I write about my struggle to move beyond the limitation I faced in my childhood or my own experience being married and being a mother.

I never run away or hesitate to pen my story no matter how bumpy or interesting it is. I wanted to finish college and get married just the way other girls did at that time. Unfortunately, my dad being older and not having my mother was an obstacle for me to get higher education. After I finished high school they looked for a suitable groom for me. I was hoping to continue my study after I get married if possible.

When Sudhanshu came to see me with our marriage proposal my only question to him was if I can go to college. His answer to my question was, if you want you can and why not. So it happened and my life changed.

Here is the picture of us from 1969 when he came to see me for our marriage proposal.

Leaving Puri, Orissa, India I, have lost many things but gained plenty which has made my life very interesting.

Despite everything, I did succeed to achieve my goal which was to get a college education and work.

I have added link to a song from the movie Sujata which is one of my all-time favorite and shows how I felt after I met Sudhanshu.

Enjoy.