Last Sunday as our family was spending a lazy afternoon in the living room, we chanced upon an interesting documentary on PBS. We were actually watching the previous show, a documentary about America’s Civil Rights Movement (itself a very interesting documentary), but when I saw the next documentary, I couldn’t help but watch it. The title was “The Rape of Europa”–a reference to the rape of the woman Europa by Zeus, disguised as a bull, in Greek mythology–also very apt considering its subject: the systematic plunder of the Nazis of Europe’s art treasures.

I didn’t even catch all of it, but what struck me the most was the systematic way that the Nazis did it. One thing I recall from it was when Hitler visited Italy upon the invitation of Mussolini, and was very impressed with Renaissance artwork such as those by Leonardo da Vinci. Upon returning to Germany, Hitler decided to make his hometown in Austria the site of what would be the world’s foremost cultural site, home of the largest collection of art and cultural pieces. Plans were drawn up and a very detailed list of artworks to be included was prepared. This is the scary part: in addition to the names of the artworks, the location of these artworks were also listed. These locations reflected the countries that Hitler invaded, BEFORE they were invaded. In other words, you can make the case that the reason those countries were invaded was to plunder their artworks!
Poland, one of the hardest hit of the artwork plunder, has a catalog of the missing treasures. They list 59,000 missing pieces, and these are just the one they can identify. Of the most important pieces was a painting by Raphael, owned by a Polish nobleman. Its estimated value today is at least 100 million dollars. Someday they hope to find it again, once the children, or grandchildren, of the current owners decide to sell them without knowing the story behind the painting.

Lent is one of the most important and widely-observed seasons in the Philippines. I would say that next to Christmas, Lent is the next biggest religious practice that Filipinos are known for. A lot has to do with the customs that we inherited from the Spaniards. Starting from Ash Wednesday when ashes are put in Catholics foreheads (to remind us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return), all the way to Easter Sunday when Jesus Christ is resurrected from the dead.

Holy Week–the week that starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday–traditionally holds fond memories for me, just like other Filipinos, while growing up. When I was young, Holy Week meant eating nothing but fish and seafood for the whole week (until Saturday). It also meant, from time to time, outings with the whole family because this coincided with summer vacation for school and a whole week off (if you took Monday and Tuesday off) from work. If you stayed home, Friday to Saturday would be spent not watching TV because nothing would be on except for The Ten Commandments and other religious movies.

Easter Sunday though is when everything goes back to “normal” and the whole of Christendom celebrates Christ’s triumph over death.

Last weekend I read this interesting article about the Philippines. It was about karaoke–a favorite pastime in the Philippines–and how deadly it can be. As you know, there are as many karaoke bars in the Philippines as there are Starbucks in the US. Actually, maybe more. And over the years, there has been one song that Filipinos consider to be the “national anthem” of songs: “My Way” (Frank Sinatra’s version). As it turns out, this song is so sacred that anyone who sings it out of tune is putting their life in danger.

If I were back home and reading it in a local newspaper, I wouldn’t have given it much thought. I would probably smile at the silliness, shrug and move to the next column. But having lived in the United States for almost a decade and absorbed some of its cultural persona, I can now absolutely understand why this sort of news would be considered weird or ridiculous.

Let me try my best to explain: Music is a big part of life in the Philippines. Filipinos growing up in the Philippines have imbibed music into their lives, whether consciously or unconsciously. From the time Filipinos are born (lullabies), to childhood (children play songs), to teens (boyfriend/girlfriend theme songs), to marriage (wedding songs), to the time they are laid to rest (funeral songs), music is a part of their daily lives.

Most households will have at least one musical instrument. A family may be poor and may have to find ways to provide for the next meal, but most probably they will have an old guitar in their home.

Music, along with humor, is what allows Filipinos to temporarily escape their daily predicaments and feel good about themselves and the world in general. So if you ever find yourself in a karaoke bar in the Philippines and plan on singing My Way, you better have the voice to back it up. If not, I really hope for your sake that you know karate.

Last Friday our family went to The Palace Theater in Albany to watch “Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up”. This was a show featuring the most popular and recognizable muppets in Sesame Street, like Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and of course Elmo. Over the last decade or so, Elmo has sort of dominated the Sesame Street landscape by virtue of being the most popular among pre-school kids; thus the subtitle “When Elmo Grows Up”.

This wasn’t always the case. First of all, Sesame Street is a relatively old show–it celebrated its 40th anniversary recently. Elmo wasn’t introduced until 1979, after kids my generation have already outgrown Sesame Street and so have never been acquainted with the red muppet until we finally met him (up close and personal) as parents. And so watching kids go ga-ga over Elmo, while our own favorites growing up–Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover–are relegated to the background, I can’t help but feel a Sesame Street generation gap.

Some parents my age actually are not that fond of Elmo. Their biggest complaint is that because Elmo refers to himself in the third person (”Elmo wants to know, don’t you?”), their kids have picked up on it and are now speaking in the third person. I can certainly see how frustrating/irritating that can be as a parent. After teaching your child how to properly speak and formulate sentences, here comes a muppet that ruins everything just from 30 minutes of exposure.

Well, good thing our son hasn’t picked up on the habit yet. Later maybe, but if he does, that’s it with watching Elmo

Today, being January 25th, should have been a typical winter day. By “typical”, I mean it should have been maybe in the 20s or 30s throughout the day, maybe even snowing. However, Mother Nature threw us a curveball and gave us a 55-degree day in the heart of winter. It felt like spring, and with all the rain, it reminded me of Manila.

Rains are a big part of life in Manila. Growing up in the Philippines, you learn to live with rainy weather at an early age. As kids, we would go outside to play when it rained very hard. I remember me and my brothers would play with mud and create makeshift dams on the side of the roads where the water flowed (the culverts). These were way before the so-called acid rains, of course.

Along with the rains come also the floods. The Philippines being a tropical country gets about 30 typhoons a year. That meant that as a student, you were assured of at least a few days of no classes because of typhoons. It was good if they declared schools closed in the morning, because you wouldn’t have to get up early. But sometimes the storms would hit in the middle of the day and you would already be in school. One time my brother picked me up from school and we had to wade through knee-high water in the streets. You weren’t a full-fledged graduate until you experienced this at least once in your student life.

Seeing as how it’s another New Year (2009 went by so fast!), I thought I’d write about some Filipino customs that we practice in the Philippines during New Year’s eve. I think a lot of it came from other countries like China and Spain, so it would be interesting to know if something similar exists in Mexico or India.

Firecrackers

No New Year’s eve is complete in a Filipino home without firecrackers. It is a custom we got from the Chinese that is supposed to scare away the bad spirits for the coming year.

Money in Your Wallet

We were told to make sure we have money in our wallets before the new year arrives, so that we are sure we will have enough money for the coming year.

Round Fruits on the Table

Always part of the New Year’s eve feast are round fruits, preferable seven different kinds (like oranges, grapes, apples, etc.). The round shape is supposed to symbolize financial blessings for the coming year as well.

Keeping Lights and Windows Open

We made sure all lights and windows in the house were open, in order to “welcome” the good blessings for the coming year.

Jumping at Midnight

As kids, we were told to jump up and down at the stroke of midnight. This was supposed to make us grow higher in the coming year. (didn’t really work for me )

And of course, being surrounded by loved ones at the stroke of midnight. We have a saying that whatever you were doing at the stroke of midnight, that will be what you will be doing for the rest of the new year. So if you are caught eating at midnight–well, you have a lot of exercising to do

After back-to-back spectacular knockouts this year against bigger fighters–Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto–Manny “Pac-man” Pacquiao had cemented his status as the current Pound-for-Pound (PFP) king. Since the previous PFP king, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, had come out of retirement after Pacquiao forced Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya into retirement (one in, one out), many have been clamoring for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown (as I mentioned in one of my previous posts).

The week after the fight with Cotto, talks had already started between the two camps. For a while everything was surprisingly smooth sailing. Surprising, because in the world of boxing–especially the more famous fighters–egos tend to get in the way of arranging a fight. Even the order of the names in the billing (Pacquiao-Mayweather or Mayweather-Pacquiao?) can make or break a fight. A date for the fight, March 13, had been firmed up, even though the venue has yet to be decided. MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which has hosted a lot of the two fighters’ previous bouts, seem to be favored, even though other venues in places like Texas, California and New York City have bidded for the fight, knowing how potentially big the fight will be.

Well, lately the negotiations have run into a snag, because now the Mayweather camp is asking for Olympic-style blood-testing in addition to the standard urine testing by the Nevada State Commission. Pacquiao is ok with doing the blood test three times: in January, 30 days before the fight, and right after the fight. Mayweather wants it random, which might mean up to a few days before the fight. Pacquiao does not want this because he believes it will weaken him (physically and psychologically) for the fight. Many believe this is all a smokescreen, and that the fight will eventually push through. However, they think the Mayweather camp is using this to affect Pacquiao mentally and to plant the idea into fans of the possibility that Pacquiao might be doping. This back-and-forth has been serious enough that now Pacquiao is threatening to sue Mayweather. To paraphrase his latest statement, “enough talk, let’s fight!”

“Paluwagan” is a Tagalog word that roughly translates to “loosening”, and is the word that is used to describe a type of money pooling that is similarly practiced in Mexico and India. In its simplest form, a group of people give equal amounts of money to a pool on a periodic basis, from which each individual takes turns getting paid. In the Philippines, this is usually done in offices and other workplaces, where each participant’s contribution coincides with the company’s pay periods. A lot of times this is also done in places where small businesses are located, such as wet markets. A designated collector goes around and collects the money from each participant, and is also the one responsible to give the money to that period’s recipient.

Why is this done? Most frequently, if helps people make big purchases that they otherwise will not be able to afford. Of course, they can save the money on their own, but taking part in the paluwagan will force them to save because they are obligated to pay. For some people, it is easy to save for a big purchase because they have the discipline to put aside the money and not touch it (i.e., delayed gratification). For others though, this is very difficult because they may be easily tempted to spend the money on something they want, even though they should be saving it (i.e, instant gratification).

In our workplace, we are starting the New Year with a paluwagan of our own, but one with a twist. Since not everybody can afford the same amount of contribution, we have devised three separate groups, so that those who can only afford one can join just one, and those who can afford more can join all three. I think this will be an interesting experience

Pacquiao demolishes Cotto (photo shamelessly linked from pacquiao-vs-cotto.blogspot.com)

Last Saturday, November 14, was another memorable day for Filipinos worldwide. It was the day when world-famous pound-for-pound king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao was to fight Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico for the World Boxing Organization Welterweight title.

For Cotto, this was an important fight because if he beats Pacquiao, he will gain more respect in the boxing world and this will open new doors for him into much bigger (and more profitable) fights.

For Pacquiao, this was way more than important. No less than boxing history was at stake. If he wins the fight, he will be the only fighter in boxing history–regardless of weight class–to have won boxing titles in seven different weight divisions. No other boxer, not Ali, not Sugar Ray Leonard, not even Oscar De La Hoya–to whom Pacquiao currently shares the record at six–has accomplished this.

A lot of people were favoring Cotto before the fight because he was a natural welterweight. They were saying that since Pacquiao had gained weight going into the welterweight class, he will not be as fast or as powerful as he was in the lighter divisions.

What actually happened during the fight was a different story.

Cotto was connecting with his jabs from the start of the first round through the middle of the second round. It would seem that Pacquiao would have his hands full with the fight. But then during an exchange of punches between the two fighters, Pacquiao unloaded a series of quick blows that sent Cotto to his knees.

This happened again in the fourth round, and after that it was basically a slow but steady demolition of Cotto at the hands of Pacquiao. At one point during the ninth round, Cotto was getting so much beating that his wife (who was watching from ringside) covered her eyes and left the arena after the round. At the end of the tenth round, Cotto’s father tried to convince his son to quit, but he wouldn’t. At the end of the 11th round, Cotto himself was telling his corner that he wants to quit, but now his trainer wouldn’t let him. Mercifully, during the 12th and final round, referee Kenny Bayless had the common sense to stop the fight when Pacquiao (again) had Cotto against the ropes with a barrage of head and body blows.

And so history was made that night, with Pacquiao’s victory over Miguel Cotto via technical knockout.

What’s next for Pacquiao? Well, A LOT of people are clamoring for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight next. If this happens, this is sure to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, fights ever in boxing history.

Vijayawada is third big city in A.P, India after Hyderabad and Vizag and it is in Krishna district. My native place Penamaluru is 10 miles from center of this place and is almost joined with in the city, but not part of the city because of political reasons. When I was a student I used to be proud of Vijayawada. Actually I brought up in small village in Khammam district and my parents lives in Khammam district. If any body asks about my town I used to say that my native place is Vijayawada, but parents living in different place, of course now my parents living in my native place now, but I am not that much proud now.

Facts of Vijayawada:
1) It is third big city in A.P now, 15 years back it was 2nd big city
2) It is located in center of A.P with strong economical/political/educational history
3) One of big river Krishna runs through city
4) It comes under Krishna district, well known for ecologically significant wet lands
5) It is one of the busiest and largest railway junction in world
6) It is major trading and business center and it is laso called as “The Business Capital of Andhra Pradesh”
7) It is very famous for educational institutions
It is very famous for auto body building

It is truth that Vijaywada/Krishna district influences or plays significant role in economical/political development of A.P.

Will be continues later…