SVL 1.5: A weekend in Michigan

 Posted on August 11, 2015  |  3 minutes  |  464 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

<p> <img class="aligncenter" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=bc3f134ea3&view=att&th=147c738735f746ac&attid=0.3&disp=emb&realattid=ii_hyqcavj23_147c7125b21f0304&zw&atsh=1" alt="" width="342" height="456" /> </div> <p> <img class="aligncenter" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=bc3f134ea3&view=att&th=147c738735f746ac&attid=0.6&disp=emb&realattid=ii_hyqcavdy2_147c7125b21f0304&zw&atsh=1" alt="" width="342" height="456" /> </div> <p> <img class="aligncenter" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=bc3f134ea3&view=att&th=147c738735f746ac&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_hyqcav8a1_147c7125b21f0304&zw&atsh=1" alt="" width="342" height="456" /> </div> </div> <div class="gmail_default"> This was between meeting a group of Santosh&#8217;s friends for Philz coffee and a walk around the Infinite Loop and meeting more of his friends in Zenny, an Ethiopian restaurant in San Jose. [Read More]
ABCD  advaitam  ann arbor  apple headquarters  Apple's Mothership  avatar: the last airbender  bhakti  Bharatnatyam  boating  california  canoe  chinmaya mission  culture  devotion  dvaitam  english  Ethiopian restaurant  faith  Germany  kayak  language  Michigan  Phoenix  raft  regional language  storm  USA  zenny 

SVL 1.4: The Great Outdoors and Indoors

 Posted on July 29, 2015  |  3 minutes  |  626 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

After I wrote to you the previous time, we went out and went to DeeDees, a Gujarati restaurant for dinner. Just near where we parked, I took these pictures. [Read More]
Amici's pizza  Chaathouse  deedees  food  halfmoon bay  learning to drive  lemos farm  Merit Vegetarian Chinese restaurant  minigolf  mountainview  Nirvanah Icecreams  skyline boulevard  swimming  Wholefoods Japanese rolls and Buritos  writing 

The refreshing effect of Om Chanting in Yoga

 Posted on July 28, 2015  |  5 minutes  |  874 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

Om is a syllable, not a word. And though it has a lot of mythical and symbolic importance in the Hindu tradition, it has no single meaning to be pinned down to. [Read More]
acoustics  AUM  breath  chanting  class  cross legged  Deep relaxation technique  DRT  energy  frequency  fresh  lotus posture  lung  meditation  mudra  Om  Padmasana  relaxation  Shavasana  singer  singing  sound  Sukhasana  teacher  tone  vibration  voice  yoga 

The Relevance of Culture

 Posted on July 5, 2015  |  16 minutes  |  3291 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

A conversation with an old friend of mine revealed to me that the word culture is too often associated only with religion and ritualism and dismissed as irrelevant. [Read More]
art  avatar: the last airbender  ayurveda  clothing  cuisine  culture  customs  dance  dean ornish  devdutt patnaik  diet  diseases  food  good and evil  herbal remedies  home remedies  language  lord of the rings  mc donald's  medicinal plants  medicine  meditation  music  mythology  myths that mystify  philosophy  preventive medicine research institute  Religion  ritualism  stories  translation  values  western science  yoga 

Sunnyvale Letters (SVL) 1: Wedding and After

 Posted on June 21, 2015  |  18 minutes  |  3816 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

June 21st 2014 Happy Summer Solstice everyone! 🙂 I woke up at 5am because of jetlag and my husband, Santosh, is still sleeping. I’ve been wanting to write every day of the last month but things have been so busy. [Read More]
bangalore  birds  bison  california  chennai  coimbatore  cousins  elephant  emu  family  friends  honeymoon  kalahasti  langoor  letters  masinagudi  ooty  peacock  sunnyvale  tirumala  tirupati  travel  US visa  wedding 

LOG 4.4: Defense on Monday

 Posted on April 11, 2015  |  3 minutes  |  445 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

11th April 2014 Hello, I submitted my thesis on the 7th of March and my defense is on 14th April, the coming Monday at 11am. I present my studies for half an hour and then face questions from the committee and audience for the next half an hour or so. [Read More]
cat  Germany  Oldenburg  PhD  thesis  travel  wedding 

Feel good links

 Posted on October 21, 2013  |  2 minutes  |  319 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

I’d like to share here some of the interesting links I’ve read recently: This oneis the less covered story about ordinary and good Indian men. After all the nasty stories we’ve read, this comes as a breath of fresh air and points out all the nice qualities Indian man have. [Read More]
acceptance  be the change you want to see  buddhism  community  Dalai Lama  environment  family  gandhi  generosity  good  good men  good people  habit of happiness  happiness  His Holiness The Dalai Lama  kindness  love  man without money  meditation  meditation techniques  money  pro community  simple  tibet 

Come dream with me

 Posted on October 10, 2013  |  10 minutes  |  2056 words  |  Janani Dhinakaran

What does our country really need? We need to make sure every citizen gets enough to eat, clothe themselves and opportunity to enrich themselves using good quality education, and employment. [Read More]
abundance  appreciation  apprival  assembly lines  Attention  basic needs  bike lane  business  capitalism  citizen  clothes  consumerism  contentment  cycles  development  dream  e-waste  eat  education  education system  employment  empowerment  enrichment  family  food  forests  gandhi  grass roots  gratitude  imagine  kindness  livelihood  local products  marketing  materialistic  passion  pedestrian  phone  poverty  public transport  resources  responsibility  rich and famous  schools  self reliance  self sufficient  skill  socialism  strengths  system  training  use  waste  weaknesses