Greater Austin Malayalee Association

Volume 5, Issue 5

July 22^th, 2010

ONAM ‘2010
ONAM is here ! When malayalee souls around the world will be filled with the spirit of mirth and love, GAMA is trying to bring the same essence of Onam to Austin on August 28th, 2010. Be part of this annual tradition by welcoming the great king, Mahabali and enjoying the colorful stage performances and ending the night by savoring the grand Onam sadhya (traditional vegetarian feast). GAMA hopes that this annual festival of beauty brings your way, happiness and contentment that stays with you through the days ahead. Reserve your tickets in advance by contacting any GAMA director or webmaster@gama-austin.com
Venue: Klett Performing Arts Center Georgetown Independent School District (GISD) 2211 N Austin Ave, Georgetown, TX 78626 Date/Time: Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 4 pm			Ticket Prices (Members) Advance Purchase Adults (12 and above)- $10 Kids (5 to 11) - $5 Event Day Adults (12 and above)- $20 Kids (5 to 11) - $10		Ticket Prices (Non-Members) Advance Purchase Adults (12 and above) - $15 Kids (5 to 11)- $7 Event Day Adults (12 and above) - $25 Kids (5 to 11)- $15
			Membership can be obtained for $5 per family for the year
GAMA invites volunteers from the community for arranging “Pookkalam” during ONAM 2010 at the venue. Interested parties are requested to contact webmaster@gama-austin.com

Editor’s Desk

	Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise The Rain by Conrad Aiken
		Beloved, let us once more praise the rain. Let us discover some new alphabet, For this, the often praised; and be ourselves, The rain, the chickweed, and the burdock leaf,		The green-white privet flower, the spotted stone, And all that welcomes the rain; the sparrow too,— Who watches with a hard eye from seclusion, Beneath the elm-tree bough, till rain is done.
	GAMA’s July issue also remind you about the upcoming Onam celebrations. The issue also includes exciting articles from our community members and announcement of winners from the Worldcup Soccer Predictions competition. Do send in your articles, be it short stories, features, photographs, paintings, recipes etc to webmaster@gama-austin.com, to be included in the next edition of GAMA Times.

GAMA – World Cup ’10 Predictions

The 2010 World Cup ended in South Africa on July 11^th, with Spain becoming the World Champions of Soccer for the next four years.

The GAMA World Cup Predictions competition had a healthy participation from the community. Many of the participants were at par with ‘Paul the Octopus’ in predicting the game results. At the end, when Spain was crowned the champions, Bijoy James became the winner in our competition with 43 points. There were two contestants in the second spot with 42 points – Jerry Erumathadathil and Ravi-Asha. The prize distribution will be conducted during GAMA’s annual Onam celebrations.

fifa

You can find the competition entries and results at the following link:

http://www.gama-austin.com/GAMA_worldcup_predictions.htm

Get Creative!
Articles from Community Members

	Colors
	GAMA Times reported about Ms. Sreedevi Nair’s painting exhibition in the last newsletter. She had an exhibition of her valued paintings at the 360 gallery of Austin in the month of May. In this exhibition, Ms. Sreedevi Nair displayed landscape oil paintings that reflected Texas scene, portraits in oil and some of her unique study paintings inspired by Mr. Raja Ravi Varma's art style. Born in India, Ms. Sreedevi started showing her talent in drawing when she was 3 years old. She has learned the art of drawing and painting from various local artists and masters since then.
	GAMA Times here presents few snapshots of her recent painting exhibition to share with our readers.
	Sreedevi Nair lives in Austin along with her husband Hem Ramachandran and her children – Nikhil and Neelima.

	My Brush with Wildflowers - By Brian Mathew
	For our freshman year at Lake Travis High School, we had to complete a project where we collected samples of native Texas wildflowers. At first I thought that this would be another boring and tiring project but once I got started with the project, I realized that it was actually interesting. As I traveled through the Texas hill country, not only was it beautiful with all the different colors of Texas native flowers, but it was also fun hiking through the wilderness. I went with a friend in my class to a wooded area close to our house, and we found a wide variety of flowers. We had to collect around 30 samples of flowers and so it took quite a bit of work and patience gathering and processing them. Processing them meant drying each flower between tissue paper, and then placing them underneath heavy books and cataloging each flower. We had to take two to three pictures of each flower. Some flowers were hard to get a good sample, which made it difficult to finish the project. We hiked about three miles through the woody areas, until we had about ten flowers each. I found out there was an abundance of flowers due to the strong rains in the winter, but even so, it wasn’t easy to get all the flowers. To gather the wildflowers, we drove in the Austin, Bee Caves, and Dripping Springs areas. The hill country was covered with vibrant colors but the landscape made it difficult to get them. In Dripping Springs, I found Prairie Verbena, Indian Paintbrushes, Indian blanket, different varieties of sunflowers, and the Texas Bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. Hiking in a forested area, with the colorful backdrop of wildflowers, was a beautiful sight. I was thrilled to see the many different species of native flowers. It was hard work, but overall I think this project was a good experience, because it exposed us to the beauty of nature. Here are some of the Wildflowers that I collected:
	Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchellaI)	Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa)
	Pink Showy Primrose (Oenothera speciosa)	Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis)

Photo of the month

Chimmini Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala – by Sasi Vallikkat

Location: About 30 km from Thrissur town, Thrissur district, Central Kerala.
Best time to visit: November to April.

The dense tropical forests of Chimmini, shelter diverse flora and fauna. The dam across the Chimmini river offers a breathtaking view. This picturesque picnic spot is a favourite haunt of the local people. The Chimmini Wildlife Sanctuary which was established in 1984 lies contiguous with the Peechi - Vazhani sanctuary. The sanctuary is endowed with scenic beauty beyond compare. Living here in joyful abandon are elephants, sambars, gaurs, Malabar squirrels, sloth bears etc.

Getting there:

Nearest railway station: Thrissur, about 30 km.

Nearest airport: Cochin International Airport, about 58 km from Thrissur town.

A chat with Shelly Henry

Shelly Henry is a long time Austin resident and a born Malayalee. Those of you, who know Shelly personally, may be aware of his passion for long distance running. GAMA Times decided to sit with Shelly for a chit-chat and thought his passion could be an inspiration for other community members. Here is an excerpt from a friendly chat with Shelly Henry.

Q: Why do you run and when did you start taking running as a serious passion?

S: It's an interesting story. In 2003 I decided to quit smoking. I wasn't sure what to do after that. So I decided to sign up for marathon training. I registered myself with a local running club. We had training runs on Saturday mornings, usually anywhere between 12 and 20 miles across town. It was a fun group, but the run was hard. I dreaded going to bed on Friday nights. But I pulled through the training for 4 months until the marathon day. On February 25th 2004, I did the longest and hardest 26.2 miles of my life! In 5hrs and 28 min! That day I came home and laid down. Couldn't walk straight for another 3 days. I didn't run again the next week or the week after. Or for the next 2 years. I quit running!

Q: So, when did you start running again?
S: Two years later I decided to lose weight. I lost around 30 lbs. just by controlling the diet. Then I decided to get back into running. This time focusing on short distance races. From there I slowly eased into marathon training again. My next marathon was in Dallas. I finished in 3hr 10 mins.

	Q: How much do you run on a daily or weekly basis? Do you mind sharing your schedule and work out plan? S: Currently, I'm training with a group in Austin. We have 2 speed workouts per week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's done either on a high school track or on the trail. We focus on speed with short distance repeats. Saturday is the day for long runs. It can be anywhere from 12 mi to 22 mi. We sometimes follow the Austin marathon route or any other fun route. On Tuesdays and Fridays I go for a boot camp and do core workout for an hour. I also try to hit the gym, couple of times a week, if I feel ambitious. Then of course, we have the fabulous mallu-soccer on Friday evenings. It's the most fun workout of all!
		Q: Where is your favorite run anywhere in the world and why? S: My favorite run by far was Safaricom marathon in Kenya. The course was through a wildlife preserve which has, among other animals, Lion, Leopard, Black Rhino, Elephant and Cape Buffalo. We had to camp at the site overnight and wake up early in the morning for 26.2 miles of marathon. Throughout the course they had helicopters to watch over the runners. If they spot a dangerous wild animal, they would lower the helicopter to scare them off. It was a very different experience. Of the 1000 odd runners, I was the only one from the Indian sub-continent. The other interesting one was Kawaguchiko marathon in Mt.Fuji, Japan. It was at the foothills of Mt.Fuji. The race was during the blooming season in Japan. There were bright colored flowers on both sides. Truely breathtaking views. Of course, I cannot forget Dallas marathon where I qualified for Boston. On the last 200 meters I could see the clock ticking down and I had to sprint across with whatever energy that was left in me. I finished within the qualifying time but only with less than 19 seconds to spare. That was a great feeling! Q: Did you have any strange or unusual experience during any of these races that you wish to share with our readers? S: It was in Kenya marathon. When I crossed mile 20 I got the worst cramps ever. It started off a spasm on my calf, but, soon spread to all the other muscles. I couldn't run anymore. I was walking and taking breaks. A lot of other runners were going through the same ordeal. It was hot and everyone was getting dehydrated. Then I saw this Kenyan runner passing me. We exchanged hellos and engaged in small talk. I was barely walking at that point. After he said bye and passed me I saw him collapse down. There was no one around. I went up to him and helped him sit up. The nearest aid station was about half a mile behind us. I asked him to hold on and started limping back to get help. That was the hardest half mile that I ever did, especially knowing that I was going away from the finish line! When I got close to the aid tent someone noticed me waving and rushed out to me with first aid. I told them the story and led them to my collapsed friend. Later on they told me that he had to be taken to the ER, but he was doing fine. I couldn't help but imagine - that could have been me.
	Q: How has the running (in races and routine bases) affected your lifestyle and health? S: Running has become a lifestyle choice for me. I feel more energetic throughout the day. Doing any kind of physical activity is more enjoyable now. Also as a side benefit, I get to pig out on an Italian buffet and call it "carb-loading". Q: Do you have any tips or advise for GAMA community members who would be interested in running/racing? S: When I started running, I did not like it at all! But slowly I started enjoying it and now it's a lot of fun. So, even if it feels like hard work in the beginning, hang in there. You'll soon get to enjoy it. Beginner runners usually feel out of breath after a short distance, that's quite normal. Just run slower and stop running before you're really tired. Even if it's 1/2 a mile, it's okay. Also, it's always good to have a goal race. It could be a 5k or a 10k or a half-marathon. That keeps you motivated. Running with a group or just with your friends also helps a lot. Finally, as my coach says, "Run with joy"!
	Shelly is running the Rio De Janeiro City marathon on July 18th. The course goes through Ipanema and Copacabana Beaches and the finish line is below the hill of Christ the Redeemer statue. Go Shelly!

Naattile Varthakal
	MG Radhakrishnan Passes Away Veteran Malayalam music director M.G. Radhakrishnan, passed away at a private hospital on July 2nd following a prolonged illness.		Mr.Radhakrishnan started his career by singing his first song for the Malayalam movie 'Kallichellamma' in 1969. He debuted as a music director with the 1978 movie 'Thampu', which was directed by Aravindan. He has scored music for over 30 Malayalam films in his almost three decade long music career. Most of the films, which had music by M.G. Radhakrishnan became all-time hits of the Malayalam movie industry.		This includes films like Agnidevan, Manichithrathazhu etc. He won Kerala state films award twice in 2001 and 2005 for best music director. He also earned the Asianet film awards for best music director in the same year. He died at 70 and is survived by his wife and a son and daughter.

Cine Trivia
Answers for Cine Trivia Apr 2010 edition: Quiz 1 Answers: a) Thenmavin Kombathu b) Chemmeen c) Rajavinte Makan d) Chandralekha e) Manichitrathazhu f) Kilukkam Winners: Suchitra Hari, Shanty Abraham Quiz 2 Answers: a) Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini b) Sukumari Winners: Suchitra Hari, Sonia Paul, Shanty Abraham, Sarita Warrier		1) Identify these movies?		2)
		2) Recognize the comedians and the movies from which these famous funny dialogues are from. Email your entries to webmaster@gama-austin.com Winners will be announced in the next GAMA newsletter. So Hurry up!