Festival of Colors

One of the things I love about the Indian culture is their extravagant festivals. Any festival celebrated in India is over the top – everything from the music to their attire to the food cooked is done with lavishness. This Wednesday, on March 27^th, was the festival called ‘Holi’, also known as a festival of colors. This is a huge festival that is celebrated all over the country to mark the beginning of spring. During this event, participants all wear white clothing and throw colored powder at each other. At the end of this event, you will not know the difference between yourself and the person standing next to you. This illustrates the other significance of Holi – it brings people of different backgrounds together to show that we are not all that different from each other.

Many of the festivals in India are in honor of the arrival of different seasons and have a great social significance but many times they also have religious influence. For example, the celebration of Holi also celebrates the conquering of good over evil. It has me wondering of how in India the religious and cultural aspects are intermixed and one aspect has an influence on the other. 

All though I am not in India to celebrate this festival, various cities are hosting this event and an organization at Texas A&M hosts this event every year and this year it will be on April 7^th from 12 – 4 pm on Simpson Drill Field. The whole event is free and is a tonne of fun. Just wanted to let you know if you wanted to come! 

Writing as a Foundation

When I lived in India, I attended Canadian International School (CIS) – this school had students from all over the world but the curriculum was based on the Canadian school system. My dad had my sister and I attend this school because he knew we would return to America in a couple of years and he wanted to make sure we would get an education that was close to the American curriculum.

I was back in Houston, TX for my eighth grade. While I was in CIS, I was one of the top students in my English class – I had good writing skills and could detect the basic structures and elements in English. We had to have introductory paragraphs, body paragraphs, and a conclusion but the writing style was freer. However, once I started my English class in eighth grade, we were asked to analyze books and write essays that analyzed the author’s techniques that were utilized to convey his message by using support from the novel. This formula of essay writing was completely new to me and I had trouble in writing this style of essays. I could analyze the book and understand the author’s message but I had issue in elaborating the author’s message in my essay. I thought providing direct quotes from the author’s book was sufficient in providing my analysis but I would always have my teachers urging me to elaborate more on my essays.

As I got into high school, my English classes were always focused on writing essays that revolved around providing analysis of an author’s work. Very rarely were we required to write narratives or poems (creative writing) of our own. I believe these writing styles are important as it builds on a person’s writing skills as well as their verbal skills that is useful in their life later on.

Hocus Pocus

I read an article on CNN about the witch culture in Romania. There are communities of witches and gypsies that the Romanian government is embarrassed of but many local civilians seek out the assistance of witches for various matters. They go to witches to ask for advice and talk to them about any problems they may be facing. In the article, one person said it does not matter whether or not the witch can really perform magic, it just provides comfort for many people to have somebody listen to them and support them – that is their ‘magic’. In Romania, the people are afraid to approach a psychiatrist or psychologist to get help because they do not want to be labeled ‘crazy’ but it is normal to have the witch’s aid.

I found this article very interesting because of the contrast between the American and Romanian perspectives of witches. In American culture, the witches are pictured in Hollywood movies and inspire Halloween costumes; they are often times the villain in many fairy tales and movies. You would be considered ‘crazy’ for seeking help from a witch or participating in any witch rituals and quite normal for seeking help from a psychiatrist. However in Romania, many seek a witch's assistance and are rather their 'hero' or 'mentor'. This article is a perfect example of showing how each country and region has their own practices and views on various subjects that distinguishes one culture from the other.

What do you think about this?

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/01/witch-reveals-heart-of-roma/?hpt=hp_c1