New Year 2073!

On 8th April 2016 a New Year, called Vikram Samvat, started in India.

This day also marked the beginning of Navaratri, nine nights (days) dedicated to the Divine Mother!

Wish you all a happy New Year!!!!

Happy Makar Sakranti!

Our Sun started its ascent to the North Hemisphere and with it started another New Year!

How to survive in India

or any country for that matter.

How to overcome the negative effects of culture shock

1. Keep an open mind and increase our motivation to learn; Seek to see, hear, learn, understand what we didn’t before;
2. Recognize that we may be experiencing this shock process; Don’t deny it, realistically lower expectations, face it;
3. Expect uncertainty, ambiguity, and strangeness in new environments; Seek to be tolerant and understanding of things that are not clear; Expect to encounter new cultures in unexpected places; Be ready to be more adventurous, ready to encounter newness, explore;
4. Develop social support networks to overcome loneliness; Try to meet new people, develop acquaintances, make new friends; Use social media to stay connected with home, friends (people like me), and reach out to and engage in new networks (people different from me);
5. Try to be non-judgmental, suspend ethnocentrism (withhold own norms); Suspend our insistence that “my way is right” to consider other ways; Broaden your perspective, consider a wider range of options, negotiate; Maintain your own values with grace, but give due respect to others;
6. Maintain a good sense of humor, able to laugh at yourself; Don’t take yourself too seriously, or make other groups the laughing stock; Learn to take things easier, relax, let laughter help release tensions;
7. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Learn through them and treasure them; Let such stories become part of our learning and connecting process.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   In today's world everyone of us faces some cultural shock wherever we go. This tips are a shortcuts how to learn from our experiences.
   
   
   To learn more I would suggest an excellent free online course on Intercultural Communication from where I copied this tips.
   
   
   https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/intercultural-communication
   
   

Happy Diwali!

And again New Year came!

Wishing you all happy and prosperous Diwali!

Sri Ganeshji and Sri Yantra

Nice!

Puja for Navaratri

 Place for puja (worshiping) of divine mother

Today (21.10.2015.) we had beautiful puja for 9 small girls, which represented 9 divine mothers.

14th September - Hindi Diwas

The Constituent Assembly of India had adopted Hindi as the official language of India on 14th September 1949. To show its importance and celebrated its mark of acknowledgement, Hindi Diwas or the day of Hindi language is celebrated on the 14th of September every year.

As per Survey of India in 2001. more than 422 million of people are speaking Hindi. We should be aware that Hindi encompasses many languages within itself. In Rajasthan itself there are more that 30 languages which differ in smaller or bigger degree from Modern Hindi.




I would like to share some links about Hindi languages with you here:

Linguistic Survey of India
Central Hindi Directorate
Why is Hindi Diwas celebrated (English)
Why is Hindi Diwas celebrated (Hindi - Jagran)