Jun 29

Written by: Jayanthi
Friday, June 29, 2007

 

Hillside Children’s Center requires it’s employees to be ‘culturally competent.’  This means that every employee should have a certain number of hours learning about different cultures or cultural related topics each year.  These trainings can happen in the agency or anywhere.  For instance, I have counted cultural programs at local colleges and guided tours in India as cultural trainings.  Though trainings on cultural topics related to clients we serve is more sought after, topics on any culture are welcome.  Though I am doubtful Indians have a presence as a client population at Hillside, and only few Indians work at Hillside, Hillside employees love to learn about Indian culture.  I have presented two previous seminars on Indian culture, and on June 20, 2007, I presented a two hour seminar on Hindu Holidays from different parts of India. 

 

We discussed the holidays based on the Hindu calendar, with the year starting in March, rather than January.  The list of holidays discussed were: Tamil New Year, Akshya Thirithya, Onam, Rakhi, Krishna Jayanthi, Ganesha Chathurthi, Fall Navarathri, Diwali, Karthigai Deepam, Bhogi, Pongal, Maha Shivarathri, Holi, Ugadi/Spring Navarathri, and Ramanavami.  Rarely referring to the website page, I shared stories of how I have celebrated these holidays in India and in Rochester, New York.  I did this to show that these holidays are not so foreign and that there is quite a large Hindu Indian community in Rochester who keeps these traditions alive.  I also created slide shows of Pongal, Onam, Ganesh Chathurthi and Navarathri as celebrated by us at home.  I hope to post these to my site as these holidays arrive.

 

Additionally, I had bought in some Indian cooking utensils that we use at home to make food for the various festivals, such as idli pan, steel plate, puttu kutti, tumbler with small bowl (used to serve tea/coffee in south India), masala dhaba, south Indian coffee filter, and a few other items.  I will not discuss these items here, if you’d like to know more, you can Google them to find out about their uses.

 

My humble helper who aided me in advertising the seminar agency-wide, also provided another level to this presentation- food!  She bought in some potato/califlower parathas and rotis from the Indian store and mango chutney from Wegmans grocery.  We had planned on Indian breakfast items like pongal/sambar, idli/ chutney, upma, potato/puri, but the Indian restaurants in Rochester don’t make these more south Indian choices, and do not make breakfast items!  What a shame!  Breakfast items are so tasty!

 

Since I offered this training through the Learning Institute at Hillside Children’s Center, they provided me some feedback forms.  The seminar was attended by 21 people; I have collected their feedback below.  The first set of questions was graded on a 1-4 scale, 1 being not satisfied, 4 being most satisfied (averages have been calculated):

 

It was well organized	3.809524
It was interesting	3.904762
It was clear	3.809524
Presentation style was a good match for the way I learn	3.809524
I gained new knowledge	3.904762
I gained new understanding	3.857143
I gained new skills (only 18 answered)	2.952381
This was relevant to the work I do (only 15 answered)	2.047619
I learned things I can use at work (only 16 answered)	2.333333
Room/set up was conducive to learning	3.761905
Room/seating was comfortable	3.761905

 

There were few open ended questions also posed to participants, here is there feedback:

 

What parts were valuable?

A Hindu culture exists in Rochester

Enjoyed the opportunity to sample food (8)

PowerPoint presentation (5)

Very interesting (6)

Very informative

Got to learn something completely new (2)

Handouts (2)

Website (2)

Learn about differences in N. and S. India

Cultural diversity within India/Hinduism

Several important things about each holiday (3)

Learning about cooking utensils

Integration of all elements (food/slides/handouts/dialogue/cooking utensils)

Personal experiences

Casual style of presenter

 

What could have been improved

Nothing

More time for questions/interaction (2)

room was cold (2)

Jennifer is a good presenter

More movement

Show videos of celebrations

More than what I expected

Other comments

Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and experiences

Enriches the cultural diversity field

I really like to hear/learn about different cultures (3)

Want a part 3!

 

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback.  I would like to comment on selected feedback:

 

Yes, a Hindu Culture does exist in Rochester.  It is vibrant and full.  There are two Hindu temples in Rochester, in addition to regional Indian cultural clubs who may hold cultural programs on select Hindu holidays. (The secular cultural clubs include, Guajarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and maybe others I am missing.)  There is also an Indian community center on the outskirts of Rochester that host various Indian cultural events related to spirituality and secular.

 

I am deeply humbled that I am considered a casual presenter.  I admit I was not at all nervous to speak. It is on a topic I am comfortable with and enjoy sharing.  Other topics, I may have been more nervous to present. However, I do agree, I should move a bit more and try to schedule it differently to allow more time for interaction and questions and answers.

 

I have to say, I am happy that I can share something that is ‘completely new’ to others.  For me, it is ordinary and usual, but I understand to others it may be exotic and different.  I also am happy for the opportunity to share and that people in the seminar also noted afterward they would not have minded to sit longer and listen to more stories!  I also understand that 2 hours is not enough time to share all that can be shared, and due to scheduling, I was unable to allow enough time for questions and answers.  This is why I am posting this page.  If you have any feedback, or questions you did not get a chance to ask or you thought of afterward, you can e-mail me directly or register into this site and post your comments.  I would post any questions or comments without your name as your question and the answers may be a good learning tool for others.

 

 

Links and additional information:

1.                   Hindu Holidays- This was passed out as a handout.

2.                   Links to articles on Hindu/Indian culture on my website- This was passed out as a handout.

3.                   Hillside Children’s Center.

4.                   Hindu Temple, Rochester, NY.

5.                  Sri Vidya Temple, Rush, NY.

6.                   Indian Community Center, Macedon, NY.

7.                   Thali of India (provided food).

8.                  Hindu Calendar (from my website)

9.                   Presentation on Indian History (2005- Hillside)

10.               Homepage Updates- Additional Files- Recipes, Indian MSW Thesis, Photos, etc

 

Jennifer Kumar is a cross-cultural teacher, trainer and lifestyle adjustment mentor helping people adjust to American and global lifestyles through a variety of methods, including Indian cooking classes. She was educated in India as a social worker and in America as a life coach. Feel free to see her website - Authentic Journeys - Lifestyle and Cultural Transition Services.

 

Other India, America & Cross-Cultural Tutorials/Training you can participate in by reading an article here on this blog!

Create Your Own Indian Inspired Kitchen in America

Going to Lunch with American Colleagues/Coworkers (with text/transcripts)

Kerala Calendar Tutorial

The Kitchen Connection: Bonding with Indian Culture and People through Food

Reading Malayalam is Easy! Reading and Wishing Happy Onam in Malayalam - Video

Responding to American Party Invites (with text/transcripts)

Sorting through Postal Mail  **Audio**

Tips and Etiquette for Attending Varalakshmi Puja at Home or in Temple

What is Black Ice? (Link to YouTube)

What is a midnight snack?

Tips for International Students (on my blog)

Copyright ©2007 Jennifer Jayanthi Kumar

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