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.

Namesake

Our names play a great role in our lives, It has been a favorite, interesting subject for me. New interesting names with unknown meaning arouse my curiosity.

But, here my topic of concern is the role of a name in females lives. When a girl gets married, first thing changes is her name. She adopts the family name of her husband and with this her identity changes. And in today's global world, it is not just about the name change, this change needs to be reflected at so many places like your identity card, driving license, etc., and it is an expensive affair.

And, in today's modern society, where relationships are so fragile, that if someone gets divorced or remarried, again need to change the name and go through so much paperwork. So who says, what is in the name...

Money is such a crucial player in all these processes. When you date a boy or girl, you spend money on your loved one. Again at the time of marriage, and nowadays, breaking a relationship is an equally expensive affair.
 

I mingle with people of different nationalities, so get to know many stories or customs related to the name. In southern India, people have usually long names as it is customary there to include the names of their father, and grandfather as well. Recently I came to know that this is also true in some German regions as well, where instead of the father, mother's name is included.

When you get to know oriental people from China, HongKong or Thailand, they do have 2 names, one Chinese or Thai and the other English name.

Headache

Headache seems a very common problem. We all experience it. Popping down the medicine for headache it is not a wise decision until it is a very severe one. Many things may cause headache, but there are some easy techniques that we can try to relieve from it. And one of that technique is head massage, reflexology point on our hands and feet and pressing the pressure points.
 Share with me your tips and tricks to get instant relief from the headache.

Are you a meat lover

Different cuts of meat:

1. leg cut of Pork:
1. Ham: Back of thigh 
2. Bacon: sides, belly or back of the pork; it is usually the belly cut.
3. steak: a thick, flat piece of meat, usually from a cow. I always believed steak is only from the cow. But, it is not. We can get the steak from the fish as well like Salmon, Swordfish, Tuna.
4. Fish Fillet: 

Doneness of meat:

1. Rare: very red
2. Medium rare
3. Medium
4. Well done
5. Overcook

My experiments with Swimming and Bicycling

I learned swimming a decade ago and now I am revising my skills on my own and with friends by practicing in the lake or pond. I will keep you updated step by step process which I followed and observed while these practice sessions.

1. Sculling: keep your palms open and all fingers held close to each other without any gap. Move your hands at 45 degrees under the water without disturbing the surface. The wrist should straight and stiff, without any bend.
2. Floating on your back: do the skulling, keep in mind do not disturb the water surface. and keep your toes together and pointed out.
3. flutter kick: toes pointed out and kicking one after another. The only foot can come out while kicking, but knees should always be underwater. Hands should be up backward and touch the ears, this is called the streamline position. 
4. Lungs filled with air always add to the buoyancy
5. For back float: bring your shoulder blades back, tighten your stomach, engage your rib-cage. ear in the water
6. finning:
7.  Eggbeater kick: circling the water with legs, one leg in clockwise direction and another in anticlockwise direction.

When you are beginner learning swimming, you might need the assistance of some personal floating devices (PFD) like a kick-board, floating dumbles etc.

When you go swimming in the pool or in open waters like a lake, sea, ocean, then there are a few things that we need to understand:

1. There might be a water snake
2. If there are green or blue fungi on the surface of the open water like a lake, so avoid better going into it.
3. If the pool is not clean and clear, not go swimming in it.
4. If the outside temperature is very high, so there is a high probability that the water in the open pool or lake would be equally warm, and it attracts some kind of flies, so better avoid going into the water.

Bicycling: When you are in Europe, you need to experience the riding the bicycle. And, if you are in Switzerland which is surrounded by the Alps and small hills here and there, then a bicycle with gears is a must.

Baby ko Bass pasand hai

Music is one of the gateway to the soul. And, when life is so stressful, listening or playing music makes us calm and helps to release the stress.

You might have got the chance to attend a music band. Guitarists play a very important role in the band. There are different types of guitars(ranging in the pitch) like

1. Electric Guitar
2. Classical or acoustic Guitar
3. Steel Guitar
4. Bass guitar
5. electric bass guitar

The major contributors of a band are a lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, drummer, keyboard player, and a vocalist.

The important element of any pop or rock music are:

1. Percussion or drumming
2. chords/String: Guitar
3. Vocal: singing, screaming, spoken words, rapping 
4. Bass line
5. Wind instruments: saxophones, trumpets, flutes
6. Orchestral string instruments: violin, cello, viola 

Other musical instruments:

1. Handpan

There are different styles of music

1. Jazz
2. Blue
3. Dub
4. Funk
5. Electric
6. Classical
7. Acapella: without a musical instrument. 

There are a few important things to understand

1. Melody
2. Rhythm
3. Harmony
4. Improvisation

Musical Genre

1. pop (popular) music
2. Rock
3. Blues
4. metal
5. jazz
6. rap
7. R&B: Rhythm and Blue

Dance genre

i. rock and roll
ii. hip-hop(rock, jazz, soul)

iii. disco music
iv. Salsa(Cuban dance): Social dancing
v. Kizomba
vi. Zumba
vii. Bachata
viii. Rumba
ix. Latin American dance
x. Cha-cha-cha
xi. Ballroom
x. Ballet: Swan Lake

Singers

1. Eric Clapton
2. Toni Braxton
3. 
   

Exercising and gym

Being healthy not only makes you look and feel good, it is the gateway to a happy life. There are various ways that can keep you healthy and happy.

1. Walking/Hiking/Trekking
2. Running/Jogging
3. Exercising in the gym
4. Cycling/biking
5. Sports
6. Swimming
7. Strength training
8. muscle training
9. weight training
10. resistance training
11. dumbles
12.  Pilates: muscle relaxation and strengthening
13. PIIT(Pilates intense interval training)
14. Yoga: muscle flexibility
15. BBP(belly, legs, buttocks)
16. CX WorX: An efficient workout that strengthens the entire trunk area and activates the deep muscles.
17. kickboxing/TosoX
18. BodyPump
19. 
    
20. 
    

Common Facebook trends

If you ever happen to attend a motivational talk, the most common question they ask the audience is that 'close your eyes and think what are your passions' what is that thing that comes first to you. It seems very easy but I have encountered many people, including myself, who find it challenging to answer what interests them the most, what are their passions. I am gifted with this trait that I am good at analyzing the things. I have observed what we want to show the most is the thing that attracts us the most, and social media is one such platform where we portrait our happiness, our proud, our resentments, our realizations, our reflection, and learning. And, what matters us the most, which we want to show, to protect, and to cherish are actually the things of our passion. Passion is not an out-worldly thing that will appear in our life one day, it is right here in our hearts, we just need to recognize it. Following are the common FB trends which I have observed on social media over a period of few years:

1. Relationships: 
1. Birthday and Aniversary wishes: It seems quite superficial, but nobody feels bad to see the birthday wishes on Facebook. It takes time and most importantly intention to stop and write a word. 
2. Children: No matter how much money we earn or save, irrespective of our social status, family earnings, there are a few feelings of happiness that are priceless and precious, like our children, their well-being and achievements. 
3. Friends
2. Sports and games
3. Movies
4. Books:
1. Born to run by Christopher Mcdougall 
5. Online games
6. Travel
7. Festivals:
1.  Holi
1. Puran Poli
8. Seasons.
9. Get-togethers
10. News
11. Money
12. Cooking
13. Gardening
14. Baking
15. Tips and tricks
16. Wisdom, motivational talks and quotes
17. Patriotism
18. Religion
19. Spirituality
20. Marketing
21. Music
22. Health and Fitness
1.  Yoga
2. Reiki
3. Gym
23. Mobile
24. Technology
25. Food
26. Art and craft
27. Adventure
28. Nature