Culture, Religion & Heritage
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A New Home for My Stories: The Global Mzee
For many years now, this blog has been a place where I share whatever happens to catch my attention, from the serious to the frivolous. I’m grateful to everyone who has read along and, from time to time, left a comment. I have now started something new: a Substack publication called The Global Mzee. Over the years, several people have suggested that I find another outlet for my writing, one that might reach a wider circle of readers. Substack, which is designed for exactly that kind of writing and makes it easy for readers to follow along, seemed like a good place to do it. Mzee is the Swahili word…
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Where My Roots Run Deepest
The place of my ancestors Kerala is where my roots run deepest, and it is the place I have lived the least. Meet any Syrian Christian from Kerala of my generation and they will usually ask you three questions. Where in Kerala are you from? What is your family name, your kudumbam, as we say in Malayalam? And which church do you belong to? They do not mean the building so much as the particular branch of the Syrian Christian faith. I was born into an old Syrian Christian family, the kind that can trace its history back through many generations. Some of that history is written down. Some has…
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The Evolution of My Faith
My religion was something I inherited long before I was old enough to have an opinion about it. I was born into a Syrian Christian family in Kerala. My father came from an old Orthodox Syrian Christian family with roots going back many generations. The church at Kallooppara is part of that history; my paternal grandfather and great-grandfather are buried there in prominent locations. Religion was not something I chose. It came with the family I was born into, the traditions around me, and the assumptions of the community in which I grew up. But my relationship with Christianity was never as simple as that background might suggest. I left…
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Independence versus Interdependence
As I mentioned, we moved to the San Francisco area a little over two months ago, and we are currently living with our son, Amit, and his partner, Brett. When we first started planning the move, I assumed that living with them would be temporary. We would settle in, find our own place, and eventually establish our own household. It seemed like the natural thing to do. After all, that is what many of us in America have been brought up to believe. Parents raise their children, children grow up, go to college or find a job, and eventually establish a home of their own. Parents continue living independently, and…
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Twenty-Five Years After 9/11
It is hard to believe that this happened twenty-five years ago. I was 55 years old, and we were living in Great Falls, Virginia. In some ways it still seems like yesterday. I first heard the news that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. The general feeling at the time was that it might have been a small plane, and that it was possibly an accident. Not long afterward, the speculation shifted to pilot error. It was only when the second jet struck the other building that everyone realized there was no accident involved. America was under attack. I recall that my wife, Mini,…
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Tokyo City Tour – Part 2
We then proceeded to the Imperal Palace where the Emperor and his family live. Again, our timing was not optimal because much of the Palace grounds were closed since on the day following our tour – April 30th 2019 – the Emperor was going to abdicate and for three days thereafter there were events involving the abdication and the coronation of the new Emperor. What we learned is that although the Japanese follow the Gregorian calendar, they also have “eras” that are given a name – and each era starts with the coronation of a new emperor. For example the era associated with Hirohito who was the emperor during the…
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Tokyo City Tour – Part 1
We spent much of Monday – the 29th – on a city tour seeing some of the major tourist spots. Among the places we saw was a Shinto shrine: Shintoism is the major religion of Japan. It is a faith that has no religious scripture or founder. It is a difficult religion to describe – they don’t believe in proselytizing which is why it is not found outside of Japan. Here is a link that explains Shintoism: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2056.html
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Sake Festival
This was one of our major activities on Sunday – experiencing a wide variety of sake that was being served in the arena of a major shopping center nearby. It resembled a huge food fair but the emphasis was on different types of sake though there were some “upscale” food trucks serving different types of cuisine ranging from Japanese to German and Italian. Interestingly we did not see any Chinese which is a staple at such events in the US. There was something akin to burgers and hot dogs that we avoided.
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 6
Mount of Olives/Church of the Ascension/River Jordan/Dead Sea At the crack of dawn we were up at the hotel that we were put up, not due to any time constraints as it was in the previous days but because we wanted to explore a bit of the Palestinian side, and with Shyni’s friend and coworker mentioning that she was from Ramallah we had limited time to step out and try to get the feel of the city. As any traveller can attest, to step into just one neighborhood in any city especially in a foreign country is not really a taste of what daily living is, it was a cool…
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 5
Church of the Holy Sepulchre/Tomb of David/Last Supper/Western Wall As each day passed it became routine for us to start out early, as our two guides Bindu & Shehadi urged us to do so, after an early breakfast, usually by 6 or 6:30 in the morning. On this day in particular, we had a full itinerary starting with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As we combed our way through the old city of Jerusalem, with Shehadi explaining about the various quarters in the path of the Via Dolorosa (the way of suffering) where Jesus walked carrying the cross to the site of his crucifixion. One remembers that this is…
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 4
Cana/Bethlehem/Church of the Nativity We started our day after breakfast early as usual, on the bus the morning prayers and devotional songs were sung and chanted. Our trip for the day according to the schedule sent out to us was going to be first to Shepherd’s Field – as the name suggests it is where the shepherds “watched their flocks by night” when the birth of Jesus occurred. Many of the songs, Christmas carols, passages from the bible and our memories are closely associated with these illusory figures, the shepherds. It was a short walk from where the bus was parked and we managed to see what must have been…
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 3
Amman to Israel Again, an early start to our day after breakfast. Once settled in the bus, morning prayers songs were sung – our bus took us from Jordan to Israel and we started going through what would become routine on our travel security checkpoints, this one was at the Jordanian border into Israel. A TSA type of scan of all our luggage and our papers were scrutinized, with some questions thrown in to ensure that we were all part of the group. At this point we changed buses and guides, Talal the experienced guide was replaced by a younger man by the name of Shehadi a Palestinian who would…
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 2
Amman, Jordan Our day started out early, we had been forewarned by Bindu that this will be the trend for most of the days, the idea being to keep to the itinerary with some of the places that we need to visit being far apart. After breakfast, which was opened by 6 or 6:30 am at the hotel restaurant, again, the menu would be repeated throughout the trip, with slight variations. There would be a choice of eggs, bread, fruit, maybe even some meat such as chicken or beef in the form of sandwich slices or sausages, of course never any pork. We were in a Muslim country and later…
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Guest Contribution: Visit to the Holy Land – Day 1
Introduction by Rana: In 2013, we went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and I included several posts on our trip. Since then I have told quite a few people – mostly Indian Christians – that it was one of the more fulfilling trips that we have undertaken. My brother, Peter (Eapen Joseph Panicker) went with his wife, Shiny, and several others and used the same tour operator that we did – Royal Omania Tours in Kochi. He kept a journal of his trip to the Holy Land and he recently shared it with family and friends. He did a far better job than I did in recording the…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – Cana and the Church of the Nativity
From Nazareth we traveled to Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle and turned water into wine at a wedding where the hosts had run short on wine. According to John 2:1-11: “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – Church of St Peter’s Primacy & Church of the Annunciation
From the Sea of Galilee we proceeded to Tabgha to the Church of St Peter’s primacy. In John 21, Jesus appears to his disciples for the third time after his resurrection on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The night before, Peter and several other disciples had sailed out on the lake to fish, but caught nothing. In the morning, a man appeared on the shore and called out to them to throw their net on the right side of the boat. Doing so, they caught so many fish they couldn’t drag the net back into the boat. At this point Peter recognizes Jesus, and promptly jumps out of…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – site where Jesus was baptized and the Mount of Beatitudes
One thing to keep in mind when visiting the Holy Land is that some of the sites most important to Christians are based on tradition as to their location in the context of the life of Jesus Christ. Occasionally, there are differing opinions as to the correct location of a particular site. One such example of these differing opinions is where Jesus was baptized. We visited Yardenit that is viewed by some as the approximate location where Christ was baptized. There is an alternative location closer to the Dead Sea and there is no consensus as to which location is the right one. Frankly, it did not bother me. What…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – Crossing into Israel from Jordan
We stayed one night at the Amman Airport Hotel and left the next morning by bus for Israel driving through downtown Amman just in order that we get a glimpse of the capital since the previous day we were on the outskirts of Amman while visiting Madaba and Mount Nebo. We had wanted to visit Petra – which is not part of the itinerary of this tour but we were willing to pay the extra amount involved just so that we could see it given that we were within three hours of Petra while in Amman. Unfortunately there were logistical issues in doing so and therefore it will have to…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – Amman, Jordan
We flew from Cochin to Amman, Jordan. There was nothing remarkable or striking about Amman. It is essentially desert – probably akin to areas like Los Angeles and Las Vegas many decades ago before development occurred and sources of water were either found or redirected to those cities. Jordan is primarily Muslim but Christians live peacefully with Muslims and there is no tension between the groups – they socialize, work together and are respectful of the respective traditions and beliefs of the other group. Jordan also has a tradition of receiving refugees from other parts of the Middle East at times of upheaval in those regions. In the 70s’ there…
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Our visit to the Holy Land – Introduction & Overview
It has been months since I updated this blog so our visit to the Holy Land seems a good reason to restart the blog. We returned earlier this morning from our tour and I will try and capture the salient parts both in terms of our visit to the religious sites as well as other thoughts and observations. There is too much to cover in one single posting so I will break it out over multiple postings. A visit to the Holy Land is something that I have wanted to do for the best part of a decade. For one reason or another it never came to fruition until this…
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“Frugality is in the Indian DNA”
The title of this posting was the headline of an article in an Indian publication. Indians have a reputation for being frugal or thrifty …. though some would describe them as being cheap. Perhaps some of the explanation is because of the absence of any social safety net in India which causes people to feel the need to save and invest money for the proverbial rainy day. I know my father was quite disapproving of my more profligate days when I was single and a lot younger when saving money was a low priority. He, on the other hand, graduated from college about the time of the Great Depression and…
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The times are a changin’ ………..
I grew up at a time when men were not supposed to cry …… and certainly not to do so in a public setting. It really was somewhat absurd because the expectation was that it was not “manly” to show such emotions and the thing to do was to repress them. Perhaps it was British influence …… what with the “stiff upper lip” and all! Even as recently as the 70s’ a man displaying such emotion was viewed negatively. The Democratic candidate for president in the 1972 election, Edward Muskie, was leading in the race against the incumbent Richard Nixon whose popularity was impacted by the war in Vietnam and…
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Born in the USA!
Tony Blair in an address to British ambassadors who had congregated in London said: “A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.” Blair was not the first person to make such a remark about the attraction that the US holds for millions of people all over the world. George Will, the political commentator, in 1992 said something similar regarding how the US is a magnet for people all over the world. Blair who clearly had an admiration for the US and Americans when he addressed Congress in 2003 said: “But, members of Congress, don’t ever apologize…
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Khushwant Singh: About faith and aging
I am within spitting distance of reaching 67 years and although I don’t by any means obsess about aging, there are articles and discussions about aging that catch my attention in a way it would not have done a decade ago. It is in this context that a recent excerpt from Khushwant Singh’s latest book made for interesting reading and those of us who are seniors can relate to some or all of what he writes. I have always enjoyed reading Khushwant Singh’s writing – a combination of the thoughtful, the irreverent, the insightful and, occasionally, the vulgar. He has been a controversial figure over the years but even his…
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Random thoughts and facts about the Indian diaspora
Those of us who live outside of India occasionally express amazement because one can go to relatively remote locations around the world and one still finds Indians who reside in those countries. In fact – and I don’t know for sure if this is accurate – I read that Indians are to be found residing, either permanently or temporarily, in just about every country in the world with the exception of North Korea! But although Indians have emigrated and have settled in so many diverse countries what is surprising is that as a percentage of India’s population the Indian diaspora is actually relatively small. It is estimated that there are…
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Honoring America’s veterans and fallen
The US, like many other countries, has had a long tradition of honoring its veterans and those who have died in the line of duty. There are specific days in the US – Veterans Day and Memorial Day that are dedicated for that purpose. There are also hospitals dedicated to veterans and favorable financing available to veterans to purchase homes. After World War II, the GI Bill was introduced to offer those who served in the war to go to college – many who availed of the GI Bill were able to attain the educational qualifications to obtain gainful employment. My son-in-law’s father, Richard Stahl Snr, died in April 2012.…
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Much ado about nothing …….. or about very little
I was made aware about a huge controversy regarding some comments that Oprah Winfrey made during the airing of a documentary about India called “India: The Next Chapter”. Most of the criticism centered around a remark that Oprah Winfrey made while dining with an Indian family when she asked quite casually: “I heard some Indian people eat with their hands still?” It was this comment that caused umbrage leading to a tirade of criticism by columnists, opinion writers and many (mostly) Indian commenters. The criticism ranged from disappointment to being offended to outright racist comments about Oprah. Perhaps it was the use of the word “still” that caused offense but…
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Origin of some sayings we take for granted
It has been while since I posted …….. lots going on in my life and worthy of a separate post down the line. But this post is about common usage of some expressions and sayings we take for granted without knowing their origin. It came up when I was curious about the very American expression: “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” …. an expression commonly used today in the context of sports. It essentially means that until the game is over don’t take anything for granted. I wondered about the origin of the expression and there are several views though the most accepted one is a reference to…
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Blimey! Is this really what we want in the US?
The relationship between Americans and the British and how they view each other is complicated and interesting. For obvious reasons Americans feel they share a common heritage with the British more so than people from other countries. But I know from my days as a student in the UK, there is a mildly contemptuous attitude by many Brits to Americans and all things American. Americans are viewed as brash, materialistic and superficial. Americans, on the other hand, despite their common heritage and fascination with the royal family, British pomp and ceremony and some movies and television programs, view the British like they view much of the world – they are…
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To go or not to go to college ….. that is the question
One of the cultural divides that confronts immigrants to the US and possibly other Western nations is the perspective on career choices when it comes to their children. When I was growing up in Kenya and what happens to this day in India is that children are inculcated with a mind-set that one’s choice of college and educational pursuits is a blend of innate ability, spheres of interest and most importantly, the potential the course of study offers to find a job upon completion of college. This came to mind because of two news events: first, there is mounting concern about the huge student loan debt, in some instances guaranteed…