Dear Readers, Happy Mother's Day! On this beautiful day I'd like to share some good news with you: Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion, is a Finalist for the 10th National Indie Excellence Award. Check it out at http://www.indieexcellence.com On the NIEA website the book appears with its original cover: The new cover is: ...
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Reason # 2 Strip District Market In mid 1970s, when I arrived in Pittsburgh, there was not an International Isle in the local supermarkets. Vegetables such as okra (called lady’s fingers in India), turnip, long purple eggplants and kohlrabi were unfamiliar to the grocer. Goat meat was unavailable, and lamb available only during the week of lent. This was frustrating as I took as much pleasure in buying mouth watering raw ingredients as preparing scrumptious dishes. Couple of weeks after our arrival my sister, who had settled in Pittsburgh five years prior to the year we did, drove us to the Strip District. Driving through 13th to 33rd street on Penn Avenue she said in that market place I would find everything and anything I needed. And I certainly did. Before parking the...
Read MorePittsburgh, Tri-River State Pittsburgh, where three rivers meet (thus a sacred city according to Hinduism) has been my home since 1974. My husband and I have lived here for more years than in India where we were born. Our daughters were brought up here; they went away to college from here (Boston and Los Angeles) and returned to marry at the magnificent Hall of Architecture, Carnegie Museum of Art. With its 446 bridges over the rivers and countless hills and ravines, Pittsburgh landscape looks as breath taking as Srinagar, the capital of the Valley of Kashmir. I love Pittsburgh for its natural beauty, four distinct seasons, theatres, universities, museums, international restaurants, and numerous other sites. Let me begin with Phipps Conservatory. Each time I visit the green building I feel the thrill that...
Read MoreSatyavan wants to immigrate to America. Shanti’s mother and sister are frantic. “Do you want to go to a foreign land and leave your family?” Her mother asks. “Why did he have to move seven seas away?” Ganga says. But Gaurav, Shanti’s brother—who happens to like Satyavan, declares this to be a great career opportunity. What does Shanti think? To find out, read The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey, now available in print. ...
Read MoreGanga was sister of Shanti’s heart! Seven years older, Shanti admired everything about her. And Ganga loved her as much, if not more. A few months before her own wedding, Ganga purchased semi-precious jewelry sets, for herself and for Shanti. But there was a problem: Ganga did not like Satyavan. “What do you see in him?” She would say, “I tell you, something is not right with him!” Shanti was in love with Satyavan. What was she to do? Some of the jewelry pieces from Ganga's collection: [gallery columns="1" size="large" ids="41061,41062,41064,41059,41063,41058,41060"]...
Read MoreThe Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey is available on Amazon for pre-order. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CKCLD74 I am overjoyed, with a touch of nervousness, for the pre-sale release of The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey. The novel is about a labyrinthine journey of Shanti, an artist, wife and mother towards her Self. It is filled with the struggles, the trials and the ordeals she faces. Each step stretches her as she hopes and feels renewed. The Immigrant Wife: A Spiritual Journey is beautifully written. I loved it! The story weaves many small strands into an intriguing tapestry, much like the paintings of our heroine, Shanti. And it paints a picture of life in two places--the beautiful valley of Kashmir and the beautiful hills of Western Pennsylvania. Shanti’s quiet determination to stay true to herself, her...
Read MoreGood Morning Readers! Last month I shared more information about the novel. Now I have created a group on LinkedIn to share passages from various chapters of the book. It is also a place for you to share your input and start a conversation about topics such as art, spirituality, cooking, travel or any other topic that would come to your mind as you read the novel. The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey will be released in April. To begin, Login on LinkedIn Home Page Click on “Interests” Click on “Groups” Click on “My Groups” and search for "The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey" “Join” OR Join the conversation by cutting and pasting this link in your browser: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8478377 Thank you!...
Read MoreDuring the early 70s in art school, I learned an adage that goes something like this: A painting is “done” when an artist signs and declares it finished but it is “completed” in the imagination of its onlookers. Since my passion for arts shifted from painting to writing I have often contemplated on this adage. I believe what is true of painting is also true of novel. The process of reading is as pleasurable as the process of writing. When readers read they let their fertile imagination and creative flow stream with that of the writer’s. In other words, in their imagination they coauthor the novel. A novel’s setting, scenes and narrative capture reader’s creative power. Each reader’s version is unique depending on her or his social, political, religious and cultural background....
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I wrote my first collection, Chance Meetings: Stories about Cross Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion and the final drafts of the novel, The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey during the Mindful Writers Group weekly meetings. What a fine fellowship of writers! For almost thirty years I have begun my day with meditation and journaling. These two practices have dramatically improved my attention, deepened my insights, revealed ideas and enriched my imagination. Until 2010, I wrote alone in my study. I loved the room’s silence and solitude. Occasionally, I wrote in libraries, coffee shops or bookstores. There were days when writing in isolation was lonesome. But life of a writer is a lonely affair. I craved to write with fellow writers. Almost all writers groups available were critique groups. In absence of such...
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Why Behind The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey The beginnings of The Immigrant Wife came from two sources: first, the two journals I kept in 1997 on Semester-at-Sea, University of Pittsburgh. I voyaged around the world with undergraduates sailing to Bahamas, Venezuela, Brazil, South America, Kenya, India, China, Japan, Vietnam and Philippines. I taught history of Indian, Chinese and Japanese Art and Architecture. The second source was the story of a woman I met in Toronto, Canada. I had gone to attend the cremation of my young nephew who died a tragic death. At the last family meal in his apartment I met a newly married woman. When she discovered that I was an artist she said she was an artist too and talked passionately about her paintings. So much so,...
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