Trip to Recipe For Success!

Today, I went to the Recipe For Success office at 4400 Yupon St. and was quite mesmerized by the quaint look and charm of the place.Tucked in an alley along the Richmond Road, not too far from the downtown area and the museum district, the office of Recipe of Success is an old two-story lemon-yellow colonial style house. Even the bright summer sun did not take away even a ray of its pastel beauty as it stood at the corner plot like a princess in spring. You almost feel you stepped into history. Had I not checked the Google map images, I would have woven through the alley maze expecting to find an office building somewhere! The front office is the living room and you hesitantly enter the inner chambers by the kitchen and pantry. It doesn't seem all about cooking and growing vegetables until you start talking to the coordinators about the curriculum and the structure of the lessons. You may have guessed it already that Recipe For Success is a non-profit organization that is promoting healthy eating habits and rebuilding the lost connection we  had with food coming directly from nature as opposed to the current trend of eating out of packets. I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of students think of an actually existing pizza tree. Healthy eating habits is so vital to the process of the general well being, the sooner the children of this era get it, the better for them. I am happy to even contemplate being a part of this meaningful movement.

The Green mantra has done it again! I feel completely pervaded by it! If you are reading this post at this time, it is also tickling your peripheral system, I can tell. Simply allow your inner nerves to invite the misty green feeling and soak into it. With every passing day, I simply have an increasing feeling of how every aspect of our being is connected. And all the disconnects are because the big picture is missing and we are faking a lot to connect the dots. Today happens to be my 47th birthday and I wish this piece of wisdom had dawned into me at least twenty, if not thirty years ago. My frugally happy life entrenched into writing and reading and my passion to pull others out of the big bus they are riding to nowhere is so deeply connected to my rediscovering myself through selfless prayers of love -- the big picture is coming into focus. The end result is a growing surge of confidence without pride, a smile without the shoving of worries in its lines, of more love exuding unasked! I feel empowered and my breathing is no more like the angry bull exhaling puffs of smoke clouds. I wish the same for you, my friends and well wishers! I hope to continue to see you along the way, helping each other along!

People have asked me, and honestly, I have sometimes asked myself if I ever get tired of being "green", if I have ever become exhausted form following the green rules. I chuckle as I admit that I have. There have been those guilty moments, actually many of them, in my long journey on this path. I have felt exhausted, and not only so, a small baby step can trigger anything in the wide spectrum of reactions ranging from elation of achievement, the perspiring grit of persistence and the slump of a what's-the-use delirium. I have had them all over time. Reaching the pinnacle of a balanced environmentally conscious living is one thing and continuing to live it day in and day out is quite another. Moments come, when the tired ghost of the consumer rises, tickling you to succumb and choose the easy life of the happy-go-lucky urbanite of the use-n-throw era.

I would say, changing your lifestyle around completely towards a compassionate and sustainable way of life takes immense courage and deeper integrity. It is not for the weak hearted, believe me. So, if I am on this path, I will have to equip myself with the attitude of a mountain climber, the cliff hangers that do not let go at the edge of the precipice. I encourage myself to put one step ahead of the other and that is all that matters at that moment.  It helps me to stay focused and to live in the present moment and to live it completely. That is the fuel for my green vehicle! That way, I may slow down at times, but I will never be out of gas!

Dear Greenologicals ( a perfect title for all my logically thinking Greenologics supporters),

I am waking up from a Greenologics Rip van Winklish slumber that lasted several months. Greenologics has stayed permanently imprinted in my brain and it is only the fingers, keyboard and time that haven't found time together to make an input and upload possible. It seems that after considerable pondering, I have finally found my passion! The Dove chocolate of the promise series that I had opened gingerly about three years ago had commanded me with its dark-chocolatey bitter sweetness to "find my passion". The definitive assertion that the tiny silver foil held was undeniable, it was as if there could be no life without any passion. I stared at it with loving intensity and gently smoothed out all the kinks with the wide thumbnail until it shone bright and confident. I took it to school before the winter break and posted it on my window by the computer. It remained a constant companion, sometimes on the CPU that sat solidly under the flat-screen monitor, sometimes on the top right corner of the monitor itself (so I could not deny its presence). I pondered over it as I packed it carefully at the end of each school year for the summer. Out it came in August and found its central place in my cluttered work table.
I guess it takes as many viewings for it to become entrenched in the psyche like a radium needle and begins to take over the thought process. And it is in this rather long drawn process that the habit of believing in it takes birth. A passion in me is born! It has since been nurtured and well taken care of. My passion is in propagating a green, sustainable way of life through my writings, environment education for kids and my sharing of the  philosophy of being able to know your inner true nature through spiritual knowledge and yogic practices. I am ready to perform, to push and reach my goal, one baby step at a time through each day as it comes.Today, I have been inspired to stir up from the long slumber, after reading the natural amble of Virginia Woolf's casual diary writing. The goal is to pour out ceaselessly and not pausing to think of a word during the first draft. This is a challenge and a breeze blended together and shades in between.
I insist that you prod me on if I have been silent for a week.

This is no joke! Seriously, a 50,000 square feet of office space is getting ready to operate completely off the grid, using all that nature has to offer. It is going to be one of the finest showcasing of the Living Building Challenge.

Seattle has been peaking in so many green ways, the list is almost endless. A pristine city with aware citizens is surely making a big difference in cleaning up the carbon soot our consumer society has smothered itself into. While the country is now abuzz with the growing zest for getting LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for building green, a Seattle company surprises the country with its super green initiative in building the least polluting office space to date. The proposed Bulitt Center’s carbon footprint is projected to be exactly half as much of a LEED-certified building! Almost impossible to imagine, the office is integrating all possible energy saving attributes for itself and offering the world a model worth vying to copy, for copying has always been a way of flattery. Earning a full-page attention of the current issue of the Time (July 2, 2012) is testimony to its promise of living off the grid!

The frog does not drink up all the water of the pond in which it lives, says the adage. The Bulitt Center is surely gearing up to be the frog of its kind in the world of architectural splendor to not suck up any drop from its own cozy energy pool of its city. What are you doing about your own house? Any positive changes? Remember, every little counts!!

Dear friends,

As some of you know, I am starting some awareness sessions for children of all ages on some major environmental concerns that are plaguing us today and is going to hurt our children in ways we have not planned (of course!) in spite of all the nurturing that we have done to hone their education and health. On August 14, I am planning a day camp focusing on about 3 to 4 topics which will prompt them to think and behave as lifelong responsible consumers. I and starting out with a lot of hope for a healthy future for the Gen-X. I promise that it will not be a day wasted for your child. They will go home with something new.

Once again, it is not about saving the Earth, but about saving ourselves on the brink of crisis!!

All are welcome, but in order to have a headcount, I would need you to register. Email me if you are interested and I will mail you the packet. The class is free.

Middle School and High School students will have more scope of research and visual/oral presentations to peers and younger audience. Elementary school students will have more hands on and visuals.
Please circulate this to your friends. If your child needs to bring a friend, please have him/her registered as well.

I will post future dates soon. I am not very good at reading silence, so I will really appreciate your email even if you cannot attend this time. Looking forward,

Balaka Ghosal ('Jhuma' to some of my friends!)

HISD Connect - HISD Launches “Green School” Challenge to Reduce Energy Use, Increase Recycling

HISD Connect - HISD Launches “Green School” Challenge to Reduce Energy Use, Increase Recycling