Hello and welcome to my blog! Most of this blog contains random musings about life, yoga and food. But the below categories do a pretty good job of summarizing what it’s all about.
Yoga. Daily Ashtanga yoga practice is about as important as brushing my teeth, and I feel the same way if I happen to miss either activity. Through this practice I am constantly learning and gaining self-awareness in a way unparalleled by any other form of meditation. While there’s not much theory to the method—the founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is often quoted for saying “Its 99% practice, and 1 % theory”—I sometimes find myself journaling capaciously as I go deeper in the practice. These moments are sometimes worth sharing.
Food. I love it. Eating. Cooking. And yes, being served.
Muses. What’s life without them? Particularly when you have toddler running around the house.
Music. It inspires every fiber of my being. I love Indian Classical Music, and I learn one of the oldest forms of music called Dhrupad (even though I am very inconsistent and slow student). My Guruji, Ramakant Gundecha, once told me during a lesson that a raga (song) is like a family of notes, and if you leave one note out or introduce another without warning, it’s like dropping a family member or bringing in a guest. In the raga, like the family, dhrupad seeks harmony through working to perfect the swar (pitch) of given notes. It’s a very precise form of music, and it carries over into every part of life.
International Development. I am an international development consultant—passionate about contributing to poverty alleviation through work in governance, education, and solid monitoring and evaluation.
Political Science. I am a PhD in Political Science from American University in Washington, DC (also the city where I live). My past research sought to understand how informal institutions—vote banks, patron-client linkages, social norms, customs, and ethnic politics—influence both democratic institutions and economic development outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries. You’ll find related conversations here, because I’m a firm believer that we cannot begin to understand formal institutions of governance without first having an understanding of the underlying informal institutions and social networks that drive them. I obsess about how political systems work.
So….as you can see…this blog is pretty much all over the map–a fun place to be eclectic.
dhrupadmary 