ExPat Interview!!

One of the first (and BEST!) things we did when we first arrived here was to join the "Twin-cities Expatriates Association of Hyderabad and Secunderabad" - thank God they shortened it to TEA !! In addition to hosting a wonderful dinner at the Walden Club in Jubilee Hills each and every Friday night, they host a number of very cool events throughout the year.  It's been a wonderful group to be a part of...and a great place to make new friends and get the latest information on what is going on in Hyderabad and the surrounding area.  I think my favorite thing has been the "Ladies Lunch" on Thursdays at Noon.  Since I usually go, they now just call it simply the "Thursday Lunch Group".  A new restaurant is chosen for every week...and the food and the company are just terrific!!  We've been to brunches, some special events like "food fair" cuisine, a grand opening of our favorite coffee shop - Beyond Coffee - and a couple of nice local eateries.  Last week it was the Waterfront Restaurant overlooking the lake at Hussain Sagar. 

The person most responsible for setting up the Thursday lunches and keeping them going is our new friend Meera Kohli.  Meera is a bit of a local celebrity.  She is a writer for various publications here in town - known for her restaurant reviews and other feature articles (probably why our Thursday group always gets such a warm welcome!

One of the next things she plans to publish will be an interview with Suzanne and me!!  It's only for the TEA TIMES journal....but - still!!  How fun!!  We just finished the questionnaire.  Here it is:

Full name Interviewee: Amy Suzzanne Brubaker

Full name Partner: (The Rev. Canon) Scott E. Kingsbury


When did you come to Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: We arrived around 2:00 A.M. on 3 June 2010

Answer Partner: (Same)


Where did you come from?

Answer Interviewee: Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Answer Partner: We actually live in Pasadena!


What brought you to Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: A great opportunity at my firm (Deloitte) and to be a part of a growing and vibrant tax practice here.

Answer Partner: To continue to be a part of a growing and vibrant marriage!!!


How long will you be here?

Answer Interviewee: At least 22 more months.

Answer Partner: If given the opportunity, I don’t think I’d ever leave!


Name of company/organisation you work for:

Answer Interviewee: Deloitte Tax Services

Answer Partner: Traditional Anglican Church of India


Title / role of job here:

Answer Interviewee: Director, Pacific Southwest Lead Tax Services Expatriate

Answer Partner: Non-parochial Priest in the Diocese of Nandyal (that means I don’t have a parish!)


How have you found working conditions in Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: Very similar to the L.A. office that I cam from.

Answer Partner: My main “job” is “Creating an atmosphere where Suzzanne can succeed.” That is a given, and does not change no matter where we are in the world!


How have you found living conditions in Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: Amazing!

Answer Partner: We love our house and living in the hustle and bustle of our Banjara Hills neighborhood. The place is just so alive!


How have you found life, in general, in Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: (Laughed) REALLY different than my life in L.A.!!

Answer Partner: I just love it. Hyderabad is a very big city, but it has a very small-town feel about it. Everybody seems to be friendly, and everybody seems to know everybody else in one way or another!


What you've liked about being here?

Answer Interviewee: It was a chance for my husband and I to break-free of the normal “go to work, come home, go to a horse-show” life we were living at home

Answer Partner: I like it all!


Amusing things that have happened whilst you've been here

Answer Interviewee: Doing an intense session of yoga (we are total beginners!) - and when I was finished, I just lay on my soaking-wet sticky-mat. I turned to Scott and said: “What the hell happened to my life??”

Answer Partner: N/A


A bit about your background / education / previous employment...?

Answer Interviewee: Born in Detroit, grew up in the Bay Area of Northern California, In Los Angeles I have spent 27-years as a professional CPA. B.A. and M.B.T. (Master of Business Taxation) from the University of Southern California

Answer Partner: Fourth-generation native “Angeleno“, B.A. from CSU, Northridge. Full-time ministry as a Parish and Missionary clergyman in the Southern California area since 1996


A bit about your family/children (if any) etc.


Answer Interviewee: No kids. Just our “daughter”, “Beloved” the Lhasa Apso who came along for the journey.

Answer Partner: N/A


What are your hobbies?

Answer Interviewee: Competitive equestrian / Show Jumping

Answer Partner: Golf


Have you been able to pursue them whilst here?

Answer Interviewee: Yes…and I like it!  But if you come here with expectations of finding the Southern California horse scene here, you will find a world of difference. You have to be O.K. with that in order to fully enjoy the experience…and I’m really beginning to enjoy it!

Answer Partner: Oh, yes! You’ll find me at Boulder Hills CC at least twice a week!


Have you taken up new hobbies / pursuits since coming here?

Answer Interviewee: Yoga and travel

Answer Partner: Yoga and writing a blog to journal our adventures here


What do you miss the most from / about your home country?

Answer Interviewee: My horses!

Answer Partner: My friends. But I do a pretty good job staying in touch with people at home through my blog, Facebook, etc.


In what way has the experience of living in Hyderabad enriched your life (assuming it has!)

Answer Interviewee: I guess the biggest way has been reconnecting with my husband - and just knowing that I could even make such a drastic change and survive!  Being here has also changed my perspective on life in general.

Answer Partner: Too many to list!! The spiritual nature of Indian life can be overwhelming!  I remain open to all of it!


What advice would you give to new expats coming to live / work in Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: Come on!! Don’t hesitate for a moment! Having a spouse who is excited and engaged will make all the difference in the world in your success here!

Answer Partner: Embrace India! Don’t try to duplicate your life at home. Don’t try to change India…that won’t happen. Let India change you! Oh…and be prepared to stand in lines!


What has been most challenging?

Answer Interviewee: My new 5:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. shift at work is just brutal!!

Answer Partner: Not being able to drive!


Message for Hyderabadis...?

Answer Interviewee: Thank you for being so welcoming, kind and patient with us!

Answer Partner: N/A - same.


What you would like changed / begun in Hyderabad?

Answer Interviewee: Show jumping!!

Answer Partner: This is a beautiful city and people need to stop littering!


What you’ve disliked about being here?

Answer Interviewee: Living in fear that some day my husband will attempt to drive here!!

Answer Partner: Not being able to drive!

My daily walks...Photos from "Just Around the Corner"

Here's something just a little different!  A PHOTO Blogspot post!  We found our old little Casio digital camera somewhere deep in our air-shipment boxes, so, Suzanne asked me to charge it up.  It was the same camera that I took to Dublin in 2008, so - I know it worked pretty well.  I charged it and took it along with me for my morning, hour-long, 6:00 A.M., 4 km.-long stroll around Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park (also known as "KBR Park" for obvious reasons!).  I hereby declare that KBR Park is the best walking park...anywhere, ever!  Well...O.K. - so I'm a little biased because the park is so close to our home (it's in the next neighborhood over from ours..that means "right around the corner" for Miss Jane Matt from Baton Rouge, Louisiana...it's called "Jubilee Hills".)  Green Park around Buckingham Palace is pretty cool...and Griffith Park at home has some nice hiking trails, too.  But it's really a beautiful and well-cared-for walk through a garden...and I've only seen the outside "Walk Way".  Soon, Suzanne and I are going to take a day and go exploring in the hear of the park, I hear it's gorgeous inside - and I think I read that there is an old Nizam's palace in the center!  Very cool!

KBR National Park is home to nearly 113 species of birds, 20 species of reptiles, 15 species of butterflies, 20 species of mammals and numerous invertebrates. It serves as an urban refuge for Jungle Cats, Palm Civets, Wild Boars, Hares, Mongooses, Monitor Lizards, Pythons, Cobras and other snakes. (Please don't tell Suzanne this last part!!). No large mammals are present in the national park. I know for a fact there are a at least a couple of musters of peacocks in there, too - - because they are awfully noisy.

Yes, a group of peacocks is called a "muster"!!  Don't ever say that you haven't learned anything from this blog, O.K. !!

Anyway...I think the pictures came out pretty good.  It was a little overcast this morning, which is great lighting for digital photography.  I'm no Ansel Adams - but I like the photos!!

Here is a link to my Facebook Photo Album and those photos...  Enjoy.

Krishna Preaches His First "Sermon"...

Yesterday, our driver/caretaker Radha Krishna and I went back to St. Mary's Catholic Church in Secunderabad.  Krishna had mentioned to me several times (this was to be our third visit in as many weeks) during the week that "he likes St. Mary's very much" and that he really enjoys going to church with me every Sunday.  This might surprise some of my Christian brethren, but - in the most simple but profound ways, Krishna gets it!  He is Hindu by birth and spiritual practice, but I am coming to understand that "Hinduism" is not truly a "religion"...Hinduism is a seriously unique faith in every sense of that term! The most obvious misconception about Hinduism that we from "the West" have... is that we tend to see it as "just another religion".  To be precise, Hinduism is not a "religion", but is is a way of life, a dharma. And dharma does not mean religion. It is the "law that governs all action".  Thus, contrary to popular perception (including my own for most of my life!), Hinduism is not a "religion" in the traditional sense of the term. Out of these common misinterpretations, has come most of the misconceptions that we (including I) have always had about Hinduism.

To be precise, words like "Hindu" or "Hinduism" are actually anachronisms. As a matter of fact, these terms do not even exist in the Indian cultural lexicon. People have coined them, over the many centuries, to suit their needs at different points in human history.  Nowhere in the Vedic (or other so-called "Hindu") scriptures is there any reference to anything called "Hinduism".  "Hinduism" (I find that it still must be used as a "descriptive term" and a point of reference!) does not have any one founder, and it does not have a Bible or a Koran (or a Pope!) to which controversies can be referred for resolution. Consequently, it does not require its adherents to accept any one idea. It is thus "cultural", not "creedal", with a history that is inseparably bound, both to and with, the various peoples with which it is associated.  What we call "Hinduism" is the oldest known spiritual tradition in the world and there is evidence that it flourished long before recorded history in ancient India. The ancient Vedic civilization practiced Hinduism in the Indus Valley over 6,000 years ago and it was already then an old established tradition!!! There is plenty of evidence that its origin goes back into pre-historic times!

Many people mistakenly believe that the fact that there are a "multiplicity of deities" makes Hinduism "polytheistic".  In my studies, I have come to see that such a belief is nothing short of "mistaking the wood for the tree".  The bewildering diversity of Hindu belief - theistic, atheistic and agnostic - rests on a solid unity. "Ekam sath, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti", says the Rig Veda: "The Truth (God, Brahman, etc.) is one", and, as usually happens, religious scholars define this theory in different ways.  I have come to understand that all of the various deities that I see around India are merely tangible expressions of the One God who is beyond human understanding.  As our own St. John Chrysostom says: "A comprehended god is no God!"  It has been said that Christianity's use of the construct we call The Holy Trinity to explain The One True God is quite similar to the Hindu idea of "Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva" (although the more I study, I find that this comparison to be waaaay overly simplistic!)  The devout Sikhs say something similar in the opening verse of their Holy Book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib: "Ek On Kar" - "God is One".  The Jews, also, have their Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!".  A Christian might rightly and accurately say that the biggest difference between our Faith and the others I have mentioned is the Unique Deity of Christ and His Unique Incarnation into human history (there are many others, of course, for perhaps another time!)...but - many of these other views are really intriguing to me... as I am constantly being surrounded by them!

Anyway, let's return to Krishna and our visit to Mass at St. Mary's yesterday!!  We arrived at the Church a little early, on purpose, so that we could get a seat in the center section, (as opposed to last week, when we sat in the side aisle and watched the main Altar on a big-screen T.V.!).  It was drizzling pretty hard when we got out of the car...and the Telugu language Mass was just wrapping up.  We crossed the wet parking lot and entered the side-door into the "narthex" (really just the "back of the Epistle-side aisle"...) and listened to the Communion Hymn being sung as the hundreds of worshippers went forward to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  Unlike the music for the English language Mass, this hymn had a distinctly Indian sound to it, aside from the language.  As we stood there, I heard the word "prema" being sung over and over.  I turned to Krishna who was standing next to me at the back of the nave, and asked him: "Krishna, what is this word, "prema"?  I knew that the title of one of our favorite CD's by Snatam Kaur is called Prem - so I had a pretty good idea what it meant. 

Krishna said, "Sir... "prema" means LOVE."  As it turns out, the true meaning of the Telugu word "prema" is quite close to the Christian idea of "agape love".  "Prema" means the experience of love, deep love. It is the love that you have the courage and wisdom to feel in yourself for yourself...and it is the love that God feels for you.

Anyway....the Mass was wonderful as it usually is  - although the music, once again, was pretty schlocky - the Communion Hymn for the English Mass we attended was - - are you sitting down??  "Blessed Assurance"   A beautiful hymn, no doubt...but I am sure this is the first time I have ever heard it in a Catholic Mass setting!!

On the drive back to home in Banjara Hills, Krishna and I talked about prema and Jesus ... and the Gospel Lesson for the day...(it was the one about Jesus teaching the Lord's Prayer to the Disciples... and how He used the word "Abba" for "Father" - - It was interesting to me when Krishna said that the Hindi word is quite the same: "Abba" - "Daddy".   And we also discussed how God shows His love (His "prema") for us by giving us of His Holy Spirit...)

Anyway, our discussion was finally wrapping up as we were approaching the Q-Mart near our home (we were out of milk!)  All of a sudden, Krishna says: "Sir, I like St. Mary church very much.  Everybody is there...(he paused to search for the correct word) ... together.  I like this.  At temple...rich man he come temple and pujari (the Priest, one who performs puja) he say - 'big man politician he is here now make puja...you...you wait outside'.  And so many people... they wait one hour outside.  I no like this.  At St. Mary church all are together...everyone the same..."

I just sat there in grinning amazement.  "Yes, Krishna...", I said.  "That is what is supposed to happen.  But it is not always that way.  But we try."

"Yes, sir." Krishna nodded in agreement.

"But..." I said, "Jesus said it is more important that His followers be "servants" - servants to everybody.  Just like you Krishna...Jesus says to be a "servant" is a very good thing.  Jesus said that He came to be a servant, just like you, Krishna (I said it again for emphasis!).  And Jesus even proved this when he washed His disciple's feet!"

Krishna smiled.  "Yes, sir."

"So...you see... I am called to be *your* servant, Krishna..."

He looked a little perplexed, still smiling a bit and said "Oh, no sir!!"

I said, "Oh, yes!!  Jesus say: "The first shall be last and the last shall be first"  Today, you are "Krishna-ji"!

He got it!!  He smiled the biggest Krishna-grin of the trip home.  "No, Sir...I am (just) Krishna"

Here ended the lesson.  Krishna had just preached ... and received...his first sermon!