Settling life in a foreign land

In this global age, people keep moving from one country to the other. Immigration and emigration is part and parcel of life nowadays. Last decade of my life has also been like that where I need to move from one country to the other. Following are a few strategies that helped me a lot to make new land as my new home.

1. Always visit the local library, they always have helpful programs and events to integrate into the new land easily and quickly.
2. Always participate in local events and festivals.
3. Apostille stamp: When you come to a foreign land, you should also be open to learning some legal terms like apostille stamp.
4. Many religious organizations do conduct programs for the personal and professional integration like www.HEKS.ch in Switzerland. 

Before moving to a new country, there are a few important considerations/decisions that we need to make

1. Housing
2. Transport System
3. Local grocery store
4. Library
5. Gym and recreation
6. Local newspapers
7. Local events

Lord Venkateswara Kalyanam

India is a land of diverse culture, spiritual and religious beliefs. In each part of the country, you will find many folk stories.

I always stress on this that traveling makes you an interesting person because you get to know many things while traveling. When I was in Canada, then once in a year, at the Hindu temple, they used to organize a big Kalyanam i.e. marriage of Lord Venkateswara (a form of Lord Vishnu) with goddess Padmavati. This is a popular event in Southern India. The story or legend behind this goes like as follows:

Sages were performing the fire sacrifice and sage Narada asked them who is the patron deity of this fire sacrifice. Then, another sage went for searching the patron deity and concluded Lord Vishnu as the patron Lord for this fire sacrifice. But, in his event of searching the patron deity, in an incident he got so infuriated that he kicked the Vishnu on his chest, where his consort goddess Lakshmi resides. So, Lakshmi got angry and left her abode and came to the earth for the living. Lord Vishnu also followed her and started living on earth in an anthill without food. God Shiva and Brahma also followed him and started living in a disguise of cow and calf. The disguised used to feed the Vishnu residing in an ant hill and king started questioning the cow herder why the cow gives less milk. And, in a search for giving low milk by the cow, the cow herder attempted to harm the cow and dies himself out of shock when he witnessed Lord Vishnu appearing from the ant hill. Upon this incidence, Vishnu cursed the king. Upon pleading the innocence, Vishnu blessed him to be born as a king and asked him to give his daughters hand to him to end the curse.

So, this is why it is such a big religious event in Andhra Pradesh where the marriage of  Padmavati(i.e. the daughter of the king) occurred with Lord Venkateswara as Srinivasan.

Confusion

I believe everyone has a few things that always confuses them. Like one thing that has always made me confuse is the direction. I could never figure out which direction is north or south. But, no one ever told me that no one can exactly tell the direction unless they use the compass.

Ayurveda

The basis of Ayurveda is balancing of Vat, Pit and Kafa dosha.
Depression and syndromes are the most commonly heard term these days. In this series, I will consolidate all the information I have heard or read various sources, books, magazines, newspapers, and youtube or the internet.

Vat dosha symptoms:

1. When our body is too dry and cold.

Weather: I always heard that winter's gloomy weather affects our mood. But, knowing this much is not enough. Then, I pondered little further and came to know that it has a proper scientific grounding behind it. In winters, days are shorts, dry, cold, all these environmental conditions exaggerate the Vata dosha in the body. Due to this, we also start feeling gloomy i.e. difficult to fall asleep, feeling worried, irregular digestion, etc. It again confirms the point that our body and mind are connected.  

Depression:
When something bothers us or compels us to overthink over something, and we find ourselves kind of paralyze to take any action, nothing motivates or excites us, then this causes stress and may lead towards depression.

According to Ayurveda, when our body has vata dosha i.e. too much air, then it leads towards the brain. Too much thinking makes our brain dry and tensions the brain muscles, and finally causes depression. Depression can happen to anyone, it is a myth that only grown-ups are caught into the trap of depression. Teen depression is not uncommon these days. So, a good head massage is very helpful for rejuvenating our brain's nerve system as well as 3 drops of Almond oil into the nostrils.

Ek anar so bimar: Anar is tridosh nashak i.e it could be used for curing vat, pita or kaph dosha. However, it is cold in nature and also should be avoided by people who already are suffering from loose-motions.

Shiv Abhishekam

The monsoon month or shravan mas is going on and it is customary to do the pooja of god Shiva in this month. So, my friend and I did a small Abhishekam of Shiva at home.

For the Abhishekam, first, we prepared the panchamrit i.e. curd, milk, honey, sugar, banana,

2. two types of juices: strawberry and mango or orange

3. Honey

4. Made a sooji halwa for the prasadam (offering to the God)

First, we poured the fresh water on the shiv lingam. It followed with the abhishekam with panch amrit, then juices, and finally with honey.

Offered a white flower garland(like Kalanchoe) and sooji halwa. Put the tilak on the shiva lingam.

Bel patta in three leaves is offred to the lord shiva. Dhatura leaves and flowers are also offered to the lord shiva.

All this abhishkam was followed with the tandav srotam.

What I explored in Switzerland

I do not need to repeat it that Switzerland is such a beautiful country and I have been lucky enough to visit and stay there. This was my time visit to Europe as well. Having lived in the Indian subcontinent for the whole of my life, I found Europe a totally amazing experience.  I not only explored the food, traveling sites but also their routine, culture, and customs.

1. The assumption of Mary: This is a feat day and celebrates ascending of Mother Mary into heaven by angels. It is celebrated every year on August 15. In Switzerland, they celebrate it by presenting a bouquet of fragrant flowers and healing herbs indicating the purity and beauty of mother Mary.
2. Spaetzle: It is a comfort food popular in the German-speaking regions of Europe.
3. Hagenbutte and hibiscus tea: Rosehip tea.
4. Prehistoric pile-dwelling (stilt house): Near Lake Zurich and Lake Constance, there are world-heritage cultural sites found submerged in the lake water, which tell us the story of the bygone era.
5. As Switzerland's approximately 70% area is Alp mountains, it has got a wide variety of plants, flowers, and herbs.  And, Swiss people have quite a good idea about these herbs and plants as well. Some of the most common examples are:
1. Brennessel (Stinging Nettle)
2. Bärlauch: Wild garlic
6. Picnic eggs: You can easily spot the colored hard-boiled picnic eggs.
7. Bread is a very common food item here. I have mainly explored the German-speaking regions of Switzerland,  and bread and rolls of Germany are famous worldwide, so I find so much variety of bread here. Same is true for France and Italy, and likely the French and Italian speaking regions of Switzerland. These bread are made of different grains like wheat, Jowar: Sorghum or Milo flat, Jau: Barley or rye. There is a wide variety of bread available:
1. Ruckbrot: It is a rough, coarse bread and the cheapest bread.
2. Ciabatta: Italian white bread: no knead bread. Ciabatta means carpet slippers.
3. Baguette: French Bread or French Stick
4. Sourdough: made from the fermentation process from a starter: no use of yeast, heavy to digest for those who have a sensitive stomach.
5. Burli: like pav: small bread or a bread roll
6. cornet
7. Tessiner bread: distinguished by its shape and extra soft due to oil
8. Couronne or crown: French Christmas sweet bread.
9. Pumpernickel: dark Rye bread
10. Knusperbrot: crisp brot
11. Vollkornbrot or fitness brot: 90% whole grain
12. Zweiback or rusk: twice baked, so water content in a zweiback is only 4% while a regular bread water content is approx. 44%.

13. Knäckebrot – Crispbread

14. Stollen Christmas fruit bread
15. Wurzelbrot: Wurzelbrot is a hearty Swiss bread that is twisted along the longitudinal axis and therefore looks similar to a gnarled root. The taste is slightly malty. It goes well with a hearty snack and is a typical party bread.
16. Pannettone: Italian sweet bread enjoyed during Christmas.
8. Happy cows:
9. I find myself more close to nature, plucking berries, apples, walnuts, and hazelnuts from the trees. I buy my milk, eggs, and honey from the local farmers.
10. Muesli: Originated by a Swiss physician. It is a very common breakfast and muesli bar is a very common and healthy trail snack.
11. Edelweiss: A very beautiful mountain flower, and also found in the Himalayas
12. Traurig Baum or weeping willow tree: As when it rains and raindrops drip along its leaves as if the tree is weeping.
13. Maroni or chestnuts: winter starts with the chill air and with that the roasted smell of chestnuts or Maroni(in German). But, be careful if you take the chestnuts from the tree, as there are two types of chestnut trees: one is called sweet chestnut which is for human eating and second is called Horse chestnut and is not recommended for edible nuts.
14. Holunderbeeren sirup: All the farmers' markets are full of this syrup and juices during fall or early winter. This is a must in every Swiss home in winter for good immunity from the cold as it is a cheap, natural and rich source of Vitamin C.
15. Magenbrot(literally stomach bread): This is another winter delicacy famous in German-speaking part of Switzerland.
16. Butter Zopf bread: Swiss people could be stereotyped. Like typical swiss people eat butter zopf bread on Sundays in breakfast.
    
17. Nordic Walking: As Switzerland is surrounded by Alp mountains and people do love to trek a lot in the nature valleys. So, I saw people young and old alike taking sking type sticks and walking or trekking. Later, I came to know this is special types of sticks used for Nordic walking.
18. Spring, Summer, autumn and winter break: One thing, I have seen so explicitly in Switzerland is the summer and autumn breaks and everybody enjoys their summer and autumn holidays, irrespective of their professions whether it is a doctor's clinic or butcher's shop.
19. Sycamore Trees
20. Nature walks: In Switzerland, I developed the craze for Nature walks, irrespective of the weather.
21. Echinacea: Switzerland is a winter country and also its citizens are very health conscious. Here, people put so much emphasis on Herbal, natural and alternative medicines. One such popular herb is medicinal Echinacea flower to combat cold and flu in the winter season. 
22. cogwheel trains and Furnicular 
23. Geocaching
24. Flowers: Pancy, Echinacea, Sunflower, daffodil, Rose, Tulip, Marrygold, Lotus, Lily, Daisy(Calendula, Chamomile), succulent plant, Magnolia[ champa(Nag champa agarbati)], chameli (Jasmine);Juhi(Jasmine); Mogra(Jasmine); Tagar gach (pinwheel flower or crape jasmine); Shiuli (Coral Jasmine): a sign of Autumn, it sheds its flowers in the evening and it is the only flower that canbe picked from the ground instead of plucked from the tree itself to offer to the God.; Kolke(offered in Shiv pooja); Rajnigandha(Mexican tuberose)
25. Lawn bowls, boule / boccia / petanque
26. Irish Pubs: Irish traditional music, seperate cigratte area, no food, only alcoholic drinks.
27. Tapas: Spanish style of serving small portions of snack or appetizer with wine.