The Pleasanton
Public Library and the East Bay Marathi Mandal won a
$25,000.00 Cultural Crossroads grant from the California State Library
Fund offered under the Library Services and Technology Act. This grant
is part of the state library's initiative to encourage libraries to
partner with community organizations to explore the state's cultural
diversity. The East Bay Marathi Mandal is our partner for this
grant and has a website at
www.ebmm.org where you can learn more about their mission.
The goal of
Pleasanton's grant is to promote understanding and celebrate the
diversity in the Pleasanton community. Our grant logo is "Fusion
Pleasanton", and we will be examining the many ways that the Indian community has enriched Pleasanton. Desi is slang for a
person of Indian origin, and desh is slang for the land of India. We
will be exploring "The Makings of a Spicy Desi/Spicy Desh!"
throughout the school year.
"Fusion
Pleasanton: Spicy Desi/Spicy Desh" programs include the following:
September 9th,
Saturday 3:30 - 7pm:
The Exotic Spices of India: The Makings of an Authentic Spicy Desi!
A
food festival
held on the library's front lawn, with food writers Laxmi Hiremath
and Lachu Moorjani in discussion about the unique use of spices
and regional variations in Indian cuisine. Samples of food from
different states of India will be available for purchase and tasting.
October 22nd,
Sunday 2 - 3pm:
The Indian Immigrant Woman In America. A panel discussion of the joys
and frustrations of being a South Asian woman in America. Arranged
marriage, career challenges, surviving our children's American
adolescence, opportunities, isolation and complications resulting from
immigration. Featured speakers include author Padma Shandas,
Maitri director Sarah Khan and medical researcher Sunita Puri.
October 28,
Saturday 3:30 - 7pm.
Growing Up Bi-Cultural
A program for
teens only that begins with a frank and open teen panel discussion on
growing up bi-cultural in America led by author Mitali Perkins
and finishes with a Bollywood dance lesson and pizza party.
Explore what it means to grow up with a foot in two cultures.
February 11,
Sunday, 2pm.
Indian Fashion
Beginning with a
parade of traditional bride and groom costumes from all regions of India
and continuing with a look at how Indian traditional decorative motifs
and styles are influencing Western fashion. This fashion party will
finish with haute couture by Swati Kapoor on the runway. Don't
miss this!
March Date TBD:
Concert of Fusion Jazz by George Brooks A stunning display of
east/west jazz utilizing traditional Indian instruments. George Brooks
is a Berkeley-based jazz artist who has performed and recorded with some
of great Indian artists including Zakir Hussain, Fareed Haque
and Hariprasad Chaurasia. He will introduce and discuss
traditional Indian instruments, demonstrate, and then explore the
relationship between jazz and Indian classical music. see
www.georgebrooks.com. He will be accompanied by
Jeff Whittier
a Basuri player also Peter Block accomplished East/West fusion
artist on Guitar.
Anil Datar
on Tabla.
April 2007,
date to be announced.
The Romance of Bollywood Film
Dr. Vamsee
Juluri
will be the keynote speaker for our Hindi Film Festival. Dr.
Juluri is a professor at San Francisco University and a published expert
on the Indian Film Industry. He will discuss the raging popularity of
the Bollywood film, to be followed by a showing of recommended films.
Film schedule to be set.
May, date to be
set.
Shailja Patel, s spoken word theater artist, will perform her
unique blend of storytelling on the African/Indian immigrant experience.
See her website at
www.shailja.com. She uses saris to shape her storytelling. "Each
sari is woven of economic, cultural, political and personal history. As
I unwind it on stage, I unleash voices of women from Afghanistan, Kenya,
Korea, India, Iraq, to tell of their lives in the bootprint of Empire."
There will be an
author panel discussion with Samina Ali and Sandip Roy
(date not set-we're hoping to entice more authors to participate.)
Ms.
Krishnaswamy
author of “Closet Ghosts” children’s book has agreed to join the
panel.
There will be
ongoing Monday evening story times in Hindi and other Indian languages
once a month for preschool children, beginning October 2nd
through June 4th.
An adult seminar
series of informative and interesting topics will be run on the fourth
Thursday evening each month from January 25 through May 24, including
subjects: India's Contributions to Astronomy, The Tech-Boom of
Bangalore, Ancient Culture/Ancient Medicine, Architecture and Temples of
India, India's Natural Beauty, Travel and Adventure.
More interesting
seminars and sessions in planning stage.
Support and
join the festivities. Enjoy and invite friends to this year long gala of
Makings of an Spicy Desi.
