A Visitor from Portland

Another thrilling interview by Momo

Two weeks ago, when I visited Mustard Seeds I found new face in the library. It was Maura Aunty's friend, Shara Alexander, who was visiting India with her daughter for two weeks to explore Kolkata a bit. Since we have our blog going, and always need some new material I decided to grab a notebook and a pen, and get down to the business of interviewing our friend!

Shara comes from Portland, Oregon (northwest USA) and says that she likes India. This is, in fact, her second visit to Kolkata. In her previous visit she went to Darjeeling; and she visited Santiniketan during her stay this time.

When I asked her what she thinks of Mustard Seeds Library, she said that she likes the wide variety of books here, and she especially likes the relationship between all of the members.

I was wondering how Shara came to know Maura Aunty. Well, the answer to that is that Maura Aunty and Shara met in Japan twenty years ago, in 1988, in a Japanese-American exchange program in University. That's a good long friendship!

When asked about the PEOPLE of India, Shara replied, "they are humorous, intellectual, curious, innovative, and broad-minded." I also asked her about the population of India – and she said, "thank God she's going home!" What I think she means by this is that she is used to a less-populated place, so may get a bit claustrophobic staying on here. She also had some comments on the dirt and pollution here, when I brought it up, "Despite the fact thats India has a very rich culture, it has not developed from this angle of environment preservation and protection."

I asked her about Indian cuisine too. She said that she has taken up an addiction to the Bengali sweets, especially since the misti-wallah knocks on your door to sell them. One day he knocked just after she had finished a typical Bengali meal. That was synchronicity! She said Indian cuisine is one of the best in the world! In fact, she is planning to make a few dishes for friends back home upon her return.

I was also curious about where Shara came from so I asked a few questions about Portland as well. She taught me that Portland is also known as The City of Roses, and has probably the best transport system because everyone bicycles there. The city is primarily against the Bush government and there is a lot of citizen participation in making positive changes for the greater community.

What's her occupation? She takes care of rental houses, she looks after her two daughters, and she also designs gardens that are safe and intriguing for children to play and adventure in.

Since Portland seems like a very progressive place, and Shara seemed like a progressive thinker, I asked her what she would suggest about the problem of pollution in India - She replied that we should plant more trees, create more garden/green spaces, provide better mass transportation for everyone in the society.

Her final message to all the Mustard Seeds members (except for Maura Aunty) was... Keep Maura on her toes!

Patai talks about a big secret near him!

First I went to the shop in the complex where we live, and thought that we can make this place a secret hiding place! Then, I went insideit but I saw it was very dirty. So I called some of my friends and they said that they could help me. They asked if they could join me in cleaning it up. I said "Yes!" and "We can make a club but then you will all know the secret!" The secret is that cleaning it up was a special surprise for Maura Aunty.

Maura Aunty is my best adult friend in Vidyasagar and she always talks about cleaning the Earth, especially right around you. I think Maura Aunty will some day know the secret. Today is the best day to tell her.

* Patai (whose good name is Alokan) received an EARTHINKERS certificate for organizing the kids he plays with every day to clean up a section of our campus. Happy Earth Day!

We Did It!

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know this exciting bit of news since you have all been diligently dropping your coins in the RCFC coin caddy located atop the books on Japan in the library. Today we had a visitor from RCFC who came to pick up our contribution of Rs. 110. This money was not only collected from generous children who decided to pop in a portion of their pocket money, but also from the sale of our used stamps at the library.

Now the coin caddy sits empty waiting to be filled up again so tell people you know about the work of RCFC, which provides free medical treatment to village children with polio and other orthopeadic problems. They stay at the centre while recuperating and are offered food, education and rehabilitation that goes very far once they leave.

Keep up the good work!

Holi Fun!

by Tokai

This year, Holi took place on 3rd March...with the full moon. The people in our complex wore their old clothes and gathered together in the big park where all the kids usually play. Holi is the festival of COLOURS that celebrates the coming of the Spring season, and we smear color on people with powders, or spray them with powders mixed in water. It's messy fun! We should not use poisonous colours as they are harmful to the skin, we need to find safe colours to play with. We need to play safely too, not putting the colours in the eyes of other people. Holi is a time to have fun and it is a time to simply enjoy yourself – fun out with all of our friends. We wait eagerly for Holi to arrive every year. No one is fighting during Holi, we are all happy to be with each other.

Here is a photo Mauraunty took from her flat while some of the kids were playing!

Exams are here – and members are gone...

Things are a bit quiet at Mustard Seeds Library...exams are on.
Hope everyone is back soon.
Thanks for this great photo, Jojo!

That Winning Feeling

By Malini

All this month we have been practicing at our school, Calcutta International School, for our Sports Day, which happened
today. My class had two races and so did my brother Bapu's. One was a race that you didn't have to do anything, just run across. And one was a race that you had to hold a lemon on a spoon and walk across very fast. I won first in the lemon race. For Bapu's races, he tried very hard and ran fast, but not fast enough. He came in fourth for the clown race. In the clown race, he had to put on a party hat, run a little, then put on a paper clown collar, then a run a little more, the open up a
jar, dip his finger in red paint and put a spot on his nose! The other race he didn't have to do anything. That's called the Flat
Race. The clown and lemon races are called Fun Races.

Before the race, I knew that my friend Chianna was going to be second. I don't know why I knew but I had a feeling...and she was second! I wanted to be first and I knew I was going to be. I knew my mother was going to say, "I'm so proud of you, Malini!" I imagined all this BEFORE the race and it came true. The reason I won the race was because Chianna's lemon fell and I went ahead of her.

The medal I got was gold with a red ribbon. We are going to celebrate tomorrow for our Sports Day at a restaurant. We have invited my uncle and aunt to eat with us too. At school, my brother and I got ice cream. We bought ice cream for our friend Eunchon too. She is in Class III. I am in Class II. My brother is in Class I. That means 1-2-3 backwards!

I think I won today because today was my Grandma's birthday and she gave me luck.

I couldn't believe I won!

Tribal Dancing: My Own Experience

On 23December, our school took part in a cultural event at the Children's Book Fair held at Central Park right here in Salt Lake. It was a great experience for me because it was the first time I did something from school...outside the school.
The name of our group was "Matir Tane" (which means 'Attraction of the Motherland'). We did dances from tribal India, wearing their dresses, copying their culture, and copying their dancing styles, etc. It was really enjoyable for me to dance up on stage. We had to do a lot of practicing for it, but at last our labour was successful.
The full programm was telecasted live on television. And our teacher was also extremely proud of us -- which is always a wonderful feeling!

By Srijata

Writing Contest

Our Mustard Seeds member, Srijata, had her own jingle about plastics published in the brochure for BAL VIVIDHA, a festival celebrating alternate approaches to learning. Congratulations on such a well-written rhyme! It sure has a good message for us all to think about and learn from:

Plastic bags - Plastic Bags
Thrown everywhere --
Why not say, "No thanks to plastic,"
And show how much you care?

Banning plastic is just one step
But it's really up to you and me --
Start to imagine our Kolkata
Being clean and litter free!

If you must take a bag
Re-use it again and again --
Keep it from getting scattered,
Or going down the drain!
Mother Earth is asking
each and everyone
To change our bad habits --
So that she can have some fun!

- by S.R.

We don't know if Srijata won a prize or not but we are certainly proud that her jingle was picked to be published in the beautiful brochure that was put out for this festival. It was a great success.

An interview with our cooking instructor, Noriko-san

By Momo

Today at Mustard Seeds Library, we were blessed with a visit from Noriko Takemura who is visiting from Kyoto, Japan for about one month. We, the members of Mustard Seeds Library got the first-hand chance to learn how to prepare 'Soumen,' or Japanese noodles eaten in the summer with a Japanese person. We also learned how to use chopsticks, the traditional Japanese tableware...some of us were more successful than others on this front!

Q: So, how do we prepare Soumen, Noriko-san?
A: For the soup, boil the water, add the konbu powder (konbu is a thick seaweed that is used to extract flavor), soy sauce, sugar and salt to taste and let cool down. We make the soup quite strong because the noodles are a bit watery when we dip them in.
For the soumen noodles, first boil the water and put in the soumen bunches til they become soft. Drain off the hot water and let it cool down. You can also serve the noodles over ice but we didn't do that today.
We garnish the noodles with cucumber cut into very thin slices, omelette that has been rolled up and cut into thin strips (this was flavored with a bit of the clear soup and sugar), and 'nori,' which is another kind of seaweed that comes in sheets and sort of resembles thin film. The seaweed is cut up into small paper strips. 'Wasabi,' a horseradish-like root that is grated and served on the side of many Japanese dishes can also be eaten with the soumen.

Q: Where does one find these Japanese ingredients?
A: I don't think things like soumen noodles, nori, wasabi and dashi for the soup are readily available in India so Maura Aunty and I brought them back with us for today from Japan.

Q: Any particular reason to visit India?
A: Yes, I wanted to learn about the culture and also learn the languages and to learn cooking Indian dishes.

Q: How do you like India so far?
A: I like the friendly people, the clothes, the weather!

And now, let's ask some of the Mustard Seeds members to comment on their experience making and more importantly, eating SOUMEN WITH NORIKO??

Prerona: "It was super duper and I liked it very much."

Srijata: "Bettern than I thought!"

Takai: "Oishikatta!" (That means 'it was delicious' in Japanese, by the way)

Mauraunty: "Hey! Let's eat soumen every day!"

Bapi: "It was delicious."

Momo: "Soup-er and good for the first time!"

Bapu: "I love putting the nori seaweed in -- I put in too much!"

Thanks so much to Noriko-san for doing this presentation. Everyone who attended got to try something uniqu

A BOOK REVIEW ON "THE INDISPENSABLE CALVIN AND HOBBES" BY TIPU.

WHEN THE COVER OF THIS BOOK SAYS " INDISPENSABLE "-IT REALLY MEANS IT.THE COMPILATION,"THE INDISPENSIBLE CALVIN CALVIN AND HOBBES"CONTAINS SOME OF THE BEST CALVIN AND HOBBES COMICS ONE HAS EVER BEEN THROUGH.

WITTILY WRITTEN AND INTELLIGENTLY ARRANGED,THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR ALL COMIC LOVERS.

CALVIN IS THE HIGHILY IMAGINATIVE KID NEXT DOOR,WHO HATES SCHOOL,LOATHES GIRLS AND DISLIKES DOING HOMEWORKS . HE LIVES IN A WORLD OF CREATIVITY AS SOMETIMES HE IMAGINES BEING A "CALVINOSAURUS" OR"STUPENDOUS MAN"OR"SPACEMAN SPIFF".HE ALSO GETS INTO TROUBLE ALMOST EVERY DAY SOME WAY OR THE OTHER.

CALVIN'S BEST BUDDY IS THE CUDLY STUFFED TIGER, HOBBES,WHO COMES TO LIFE WHEN NO ONE IS AROUND , EXCEPT CALVIN.HE PLAYS GAMES WITH CALVIN,SLEDS WITH HIM AND SLEEPS WITH HIM AT NIGHT.HOBBES HAS A HABIT OF POUNCING ON CALVIN WHEN HE RETURNS HOME FROM SCHOOL.THEY QUARREL FREQUENTLY BUT TOGETHER THEY HAVE A BLAST EVERY DAY.

CALVIN'S MOM & DAD HAS A PROBLEM ,EACH DAY,WITH THEIR "BRAT"KID.BUT THEY LOVE HIM A LOT. CALVIN'S NEIGHBOUR,SUSIE DERKINS IS A FRIEND WHOM HE HATES TO CALL HER SO.MISS WORMWOOD IS THE STRICT TEACHER &CALVIN IS TERRIFIED OF THE TEENAGED BABY-SITTER,ROSALYN.

THE COMICS IN THIS BOOK ARE ADVENTEROUS & REALLY FUNNY. THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE EXCELLENT.ON THE WHOLE,HATS OFF TO BILL WATTERSON FOR COMING UPWITH SUCH A UNIQUE CONCEPT .

THIS IS A BOOK YOU ALL WILL ENJOY READING,I'M SURE & I WON'T BE SURPRISED ,IF THE NEXT DAY YOUR MOM SEES YOU TALKING TO YOUR STUFFED TOY!

T I P U

NO SMOKING

By MoBo

It is no joke

You will kill me
with your smoke

Please don't smoke

Or one day, you will surely choke

Never, ever try to smoke
But you can always take a coke*!

So take my advice
Or within years
Your lungs will get sliced
You'll be hated by your dears

Don't go smoking on
Or one day you will
be



gone!

* Tho these days also dangerous indeed!!

Welcome to Mango Smiles

We are speaking from the newly organized editor's desk here in Kolkata, India. This site is going to be all about how to make a mango smile!! No, but actually it's about that same feeling you get when you bite into the first mango of the summer season -- happy all over!

We promise to issue a copy of Mango Smiles in paper form at least once a year (we've had a long holiday...). This issue is supposed to be printed during the pujas and we aim to keep our environment clean and green as people tend to come and litter their wastes during this time of year.

We are urging all the members at our library to contribute their creativity in the forms of jokes, poems, stanzas, stories, interviews, paintings and artwork, reports, craft ideas, and much more! We also have a group called Earthinkers, that tries to learn about problems happening all over the planet and that tries to educate people on how to change things.


By (Your faithful editors and manager)
Momo, Jojo, Tokai
and Manager Maude