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Archive for May, 2008

Whenever I visit Washington D.C I try  to visit some it’s wonderful museums. Usually, I am showing first tlme visitors around the city and wind up going to the same museums over and over again– Air & Space, Natural History etc. This time I was on my own and , at my daughter’s suggestion , decided to visit the National Museum of the American Indian ( NMAI). It was a good choice. Initially, my niece and I had thought of starting out with the NMAI and then squeezing in a visit to another museum but we liked the NMAI so much that we spent our entire afternoon there.

The museum  is unique in it’s construction particularly for Washington D.C which is noted for it’s monumental , functional, severely rectangular, gray buildings. Constructed of buff colored sandstone it’s flowing lines are intended to evoke the cliff dwellings of the Indians of the SouthWest and they do. Visitors are directed to start their tour at the fourth ( and top) floor where the main exhibits are and work their way down. On the first floor is the Mitsitam Cafe , a pleasant place to repair to when one feels hungry. But more of that later.

The fourth floor is devoted to Native History (“Our Peoples”) and Native Beliefs ( Our History”) and the Lelawi theater which offers a 13 minute film of Indian Life. Exhibits consist of photographs, short videos, maps etc. and every visitor will find something to interest him. I was particularly taken with the converted Bombardier schoolbus used by Indians for icefishing on the St. Lawrence River. A short video showed the whole process of icefishing from boring the holes to hauling in the net and it was amazing to see the size of the fish that were harvested. The third floor featured designs and artifacts of the Native Americans, dresses,weapons, jewelry, tools etc. One dress was adorned with a hundred  elk teeth which doesnt sound like much until you read that each elk has only two teeth ( I didn’t know that ; did you?).

One criticism of the museum is that it tries to cover too much and thus spreads itself too thin. In addition to the hundreds of Indian tribes in North America such as the Sioux, the Apache , the Kiowas  etc, NMAI also attempts to cover the Indians of Central and South America. It is an impossible task. Their experiences and history and customs are widely varied. The only thing that they have in common is that they were the inhabitants of the land that Columbus mistakenly thought was India. The exhibition lacks a sense of perspective and could be characterized as being ” a mile wide and an inch deep”.

This is not to say that it is a failure. The exhibition left me with two lasting impressions. One was the shameful way in which Indians were treated , cheated, lied to and betrayed by the U.S in one of the sorriest episodes of our history. The other was the reverence that the Indians had for Nature and her bounty. One exhibit told of what happened when the salmon were running and the Indians in the Northwest were catching them and preserving them for winter. It was the job of one old Indian woman to keep track of how many had been caught. When she judged that enough had been caught to tide them over the winter she would call an end to the fishing. How different from modern day fishermen and hunters who are never satisfied wih their haul.

The exhibitions at NMAI may not be comprehensive but they give us some idea of what Native American lives were like and create in us the desire to learn more.

In mid – afternoon, we took a break and lunched in the Mitsitam Cafetaria on the first floor. Mitsitam means ” Let’s eat” in one of the Indian tongues and eat we did__ very well.There were separate counters for Native American foods from different regions, South American, Meso -American, NorthWest Coast, Great Plains etc. The Indian tribes lived a nomadic life and their fare was plain ; to our modern tastes, it would scarcely be palatable. The dishes on the menu were made from ingredients that were available to the Indian tribes though the dishes themselves were not ” authentic. Among them; Pulled buffalo BBQ sandwiches, Glazed salmon flavored with juniper and sage., tamales, cornbread made from blue corn, and salsas.My niece and I made the rounds of the various counters before we made our choices. We shared each other’s dishes so I don’t quite remember who ordered what ; nor do I remember everything we ordered . Some of our choices… glazed salmon ( Very good), Beef Shortribs Wrapped in Banana Leaves ( Not as good as it sounds), Quinoa ; A salad of Jicama, Yucca and Pineapple ( excellent ) ; three different salsas. She had a Coconut- Guava drink which she liked very much; I had a Pumpkin -Strawberry Drink which was interesting. Well…. actually, it was pretty bad ! The desserts were both excellent : SouthWestern FryBread drizzled with Honey and dusted with Sugar ( $ 2.75 ) and Pine Nut – Rosemary Tart ( $ 4.50) Depending on what you choose, lunch will set you back about $ 20- $25. It’s well worth it because the food is unique and you will not be able to get such food anywhere else. By the same token, because it is so unfamiliar, you would be well advised to take your time selecting your dishes. For children, there is also an array of fast foods to choose from.

 To know more about the Museum , click on  www.nmai.si,edu .

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1.Spurs – Hornets. That old saw about the importance of playoff experience was certainly proved yesterday as the Spurs played with poise and the Hornets didn’t. I could hardly believe that this was the same team that had dominated the Spurs in the first three home games. It was as if Chris Paul, David West and Co. suddenly realized that this was the seventh game of the series and tightened up. All of a sudden, Paul stopped penetrating , the outside shooters went cold and the Spurs beat the Hornets to the loose balls. Even the home crowd seemed to be doubting their team’s ability to pull it off.After Bob Horry’s hard foul on David West I had been rooting for the Hornets but it wasn’t to be ( Okay, okay, I admit it. In the back of my mind I was also thinking the Lakers would be better off playing the Hornets rather than the Spurs.) Still , Byron Scott and the young Hornets can look back on the season with satisfaction. They will be a force for years to come and Chris Paul will be the MVP very soon.
 
2. Celtics- Cavaliers. Not having watched the Celtics in the regular season, all I knew about them was their glittering NBA-best record and their trio of superstars. However two successive series in which they were pushed to a seventh game have exposed the cracks in their arsenal. The papers here are calling the 7th game of this series a ” game for the ages’. I didn’t think it was. Am I the only person who thinks this way ? Is my antipathy towards the Celtics ( as a die-hard Laker fan ) clouding my judgement ? I don’t think so.Paul Pierce had a magnificent game as did LeBron James but the others ( except for Kevin Garnett ) stunk. Essentially it was Pierce and James going at it while the others stood around. There was no passing to speak of and the Celtic defense consisted of fouling anyone that got close to the basket. Ray Allen in particular looked very old.
 
3. Lakers. Before the playoffs started, I didn’t think that the Lakers, in the absence of Andrew Bynum, could advance beyond the second round. As the playoffs have progressed they’ve made a believer out of me. Gasol is not having monster offensive games but he has been quietly effective.For a big man, his passing is superlative and while he can be pushed around by beefier centers there aren’t any of those left in the semifinals. Gasol’s defense is better than expected , Odom has come into his own, Fisher provides stablity and Bryant is unmatched in his determination and will to win. If the bench is able to play up to it’s potential and hits it’s outside shots, the Lakers can go much further… Maybe all the way ?
 
4. Eastern finals. Once the Pistons got their act together they’ve looked very good, winning on the road in Orlando and then closing out the Magic with Chauncey Billups in street clothes sitting on the bench.They also have a pretty good road record to offset Boston’s home court dominance. If Billups is healthy, I look to the Pistons to upset the Celtics. Pistons in 6.
 
5. Western Finals. Yes , the Spurs are the defending champs and they are a formidable opponent. Manu Ginobili is in his prime , Parker will give the Lakers fits with his speed and Duncan, while on the downslope, is a smart player who picks his spots. Bruce Bowen will play Kobe tough and the bench with Michael Finley ,Robert Horry and stealth bomber Ime Udoka is very good. However, the Lakers match up well with them except in the Parker-D.Fisher matchup and Phil jackson will not be outcoached by Popovich. Trevor Ariza is back and hopefully will add to an under-rated Laker defense. IF the Laker reserves can hold their own, I look for a Laker win in a hardfought series… Lakers in 7.

Any  comments ? 

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Until it ceased publication in 2000, I used to read Asiaweek regularly. Published out of Kuala Lumpur and modeled on Time magazine , it gave me interesting insights into life in East Asia. I never missed reading the Proverb of the Week which was slotted in at the end of Letters to the Editor. Sometimes profound, sometimes funny, sometimes mystifying , rarely familiar, these proverbs were often the first thing that I turned to.

 Proverbs are folk wisdom passed down through the ages  and ,sometimes , it was easy to see the parallels with  familiar English proverbs.

Dig the well before you are thirsty ( Chinese).        A stitch in time saves nine . (English)

I really don’t think that one is a ‘copy ‘ of the other. These proverbs have been with us for a long time and the two cultures were very far apart geographically for one to have influenced the other.Human experience is the same the world over and the different societies must have arrived these conclusions independently.

Many of the proverbs were uniquely Asian , not only in thought but also in the way in which that thought was expressed. Some examples:

Pride and poverty are ill met, yet often seen together.  (India)

A tiger leaves it’s skin when dead, but men live by their fame instead. (Malaysia)

Never kill an ox or thow away a piece of paper that has writing on it . (China)

Though he eats alone, he calls the whole village to help launch his boat. ( Vietnam)

Some ,frankly, made no sense to me but that did not make them any the less interesting.In fact, they gave me food for thought as I struggled to decipher their meaning.Two examples :

Every faultless person has seven peculiar habits. ( Japan). Really ? Why not six? Or eight ? Or none ?

The flight of a bird leaves no trace. ( Thailand ). So ?

Over the years, I’ve read many Asian proverbs and enjoyed them all but I think the one I enjoyed most was this Chinese proverb that I read in a travel book by Paul Theroux.

A peasant will have to stand on a hillside for a long time with his mouth open before a roast duck flies into it.

Meaningful, funny  and, once heard, never forgotten.

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47 Japanese Farms: Japan Through The Eyes of Its Rural Communities -- 47日本の農園

A journey through 47 prefectures to capture the stories of Japan's farmers and rural communities

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