A Full Lake

The lake is full again. This ramp that connects the shore to the boat dock used to drop down about 50 vertical feet at the start of this year. Then you had to take a ferry from the end of the ramp out to the dock which was anchored in the sliver of water that was the original riverbed of the Colorado. Everything else was dirt. Aaah - water.

You'll see us on Travis a lot more. After seven years I have reactivated my membership on Siyagruva (thank you Jo - it was one of my birthday gifts!). I had given it up when Vivian was about a year old and I noticed that I hadn't been out sailing for a year. My dad and I sailed quite a bit together and now it's time to bring the little ones up to speed. Ahoy!

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

This is one of the many posts that have been circulating on Facebook. Jo grabbed it from one of her Facebook friend's shares last week for me. I am glad my eight year old and I had a conversation on logic. Apparently not everyone did.

Diwali

Diwali came and went mid-week last week without as much as a diya being lit at home. May be we'll pick some time this coming weekend and get the kids dressed in all the lovely clothes that Guri Uncle sent from Delhi and Sahiti bought for them in Hyderabad. This is what we looked like, sitting at the front steps of Preethi for Diwali in 2011.

Meanwhile, on Diwali, the Christmas cup flap was in full brew and our future president was haranguing us to boycott Starbucks for their flagrantly un-Christian ways. So I made a Diwali card. Happy Diwali, y'all.

Paris

This photo is my phone screen. It's also my phone cover. I see it a few hundred times every day. The City of Light shed some of its beautiful radiance on us for a few wonderful days during a trip a year and a half ago.

The loss of a human life so tragically is awful, made worse by the meaninglessness of it. In the 6000 mile stretch of land between Gaza and Lahore, there is death from war and terror every day. The Palestine-Israel conflict, the full fledged Yemen-Saudi-Houthi war, Lebanon's suicide bombs on Thursday, uncountable suicide bombs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, and the cluster fuck that is Syria.

I do not change my profile photo on social media for people dying in any of those countries. So why did we collectively pause and gasp and weep at what happened on Friday night in Paris? Are Parisians sufficiently like us while Yemeni are not (ironically untrue for me). Is Paris a New York, London, or Delhi?

This morning at the breakfast table, while Vivian and Evan hurriedly gulped down omelettes and English muffins, Jo and I cautioned them about discussing the news from Paris with their class mates. 

Vivian has just finished a unit about Malala at school. She and Evan saw the movie (thanks to our neighbor!). She has some context. I asked her to put her thoughts about Paris into words at the breakfast table.

"Who did it?" was Vivian's first question.

"They think it was muslim terrorists" we replied.

We discussed the dangers of not being logical.

"Fact: These terrorists were muslims" I said. "Question: Are all muslims terrorists?"

"No - because there are other types of terrorists too I think" replied Vivian.

"That answers the question 'Are all terrorists muslim?'. Good. Let's get back to the other question.

"Are all muslims terrorists?"

"No - because there are muslims who are not terrorists". 

Easy enough for a eight year old to follow. Then she asked:

"Why did they do it?"

"Why do people go to the dark side?" I countered, because before this we had been discussing Darth Vader. 

And then she misquoted Yoda, but beautifully.
"Because they are sad. Sadness leads to fear. Fear leads to anger. And anger leads to the dark side."

Dare we hope that our children bring more peace to this world than we have.