Newsletter- March 2021
| Presidential Message – V. Balaraman In a blink, a quarter of 2021 has passed. Time seems to be on its steady and unceasing march and we have the choice of either being sidelined or figure out a way to march in unison with it. I am hoping that all of us figure out a way to meaningfully manage our lives as the days move on. Let us celebrate the Women of the world and in our lives as a part of Women’s History month and also pay heed to our food fads as a part of the National Nutrition month. Further, March is typically the month that we celebrate Holi at the temple on the 3rd Sunday. Given the continued restrictions imposed by the City and County of Honolulu, we were unable to secure the park for gathering and will need to forego the in person celebrations for a second year. April is the traditional annual gathering in celebration of the anniversary of pooja being performed at the Wahiawa temple site and we are hoping we would at least have a modified way of going ahead with the event as of now. This April, we will also conduct an electronic election (by Survey Monkey) in keeping with our By-Laws. Since LOTUS does not have defined membership, all of you subscribed to our distribution will receive the invitation to participate and I would appreciate your commitment to this process. This month Dr. Dharm Bhawuk shares a story highlighting his journey from Kathmandu to Honolulu in 1987. I wish all of you a safe rest of the month and even as we deal with the pandemic with ongoing campaign of vaccinations, please continue to observe the simple and easy safety precautions. Until next month…… COMING TO HAWAII – THE FIRST CONSPIRACY – Dr. Dharm P.S.Bhawuk, Professor of Management and Culture and Community Psychology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa How does a guy with a degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Kharagpur, and MBA from University of Hawaii, and a PhD in Organizational Behavior become a priest in Honolulu at the local temple that only meets once a month on third Sundays? Over the years I have shared many stories with family members and friends, and so I started answering that question, and thought I would be done with a few stories. But then layers and layers of stories started to open up. And I cannot help but see an invisible hand at play, which has been hatching a conspiracy for years! The first conspirator was Penny Walker, Director of USEF (United States Education Foundation) in Kathmandu. I had been applying for the Fulbright scholarship to study in the USA every year since 1983 while I worked for Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) as an Instructor Engineer. My job was to train aircraft mechanics, engineers, and pilots about aircraft systems. I was trained as an instructor with Indian Airlines in New Delhi and Hyderabad, the Federal Aviation Training Center in Oklahoma, with Lufthansa in Germany, and Twin Otter in Toronto. No, I did not fly. I taught about aircraft engine and airframe systems. Yes, I know a lot about airplanes; or it may be safer to say, I used to know a lot! I faced the first hurdle in the Engineering Department. My boss, Mr. D R Koirala (yes he was a distant relative of the three Koirala Prime Ministers and the Indian film actress, Manisha Koirala), flattered me by never signing the release document for me, and telling me that unlike other engineers whom he released, I was indispensable. The invisible hand had to move me out of Engineering Department to a new department, the Airlines Training Center, under a new boss, Shambhu P Sharma, who had finally released me. And I applied for the Fulbright scholarship to study for an MBA degree. After going through many rounds of the selection process, the result was announced in the newspaper. I was shocked that I was selected to apply for a fellowship at the East West Center. How did that happen? I never applied to the East-West Center! There were two boxes on the application form, one said Fulbright Scholarship and the other said East-West Center Scholarship. I had checked only the Fulbright Scholarship box. How could I be selected for something I did not even apply for? Sounds like a conspiracy? You bet! Ms. Penny Walker was eager to explain to me what had happened. But honestly, I was angry, and I did not want to put up with her rationalizations — you are a better candidate to compete at the East-West Center, which would allow us to send more students from Nepal to the USA for graduate studies. The Fulbright selection concluded in Nepal, but the East-West Center selection was only a recommendation from USEF Nepal, and the final selection was to take place in Hawaii at the Center, which was not guaranteed since it was an international competition. I did get selected, and came to the East-West Center in August 1987 as a Degree Participant to study at the College of Business of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. If Penny Walker did not conspire to select me for something I had not applied, I would never have become a priest at the Wahiawa temple. Yes, there are many other layers of conspiracy that I need to uncover. Next time I will tell you how the Invisible Hand diverted my flight from Singapore to Honolulu, without which I would never have become a priest. धर्म प्रकाश शर्मा भावुक dharma prakAza zarmA bhAwuk Professor of Management and Culture and Community Psychology 2404 Maile Way Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 USA Work: 808 956 8732 Home: 808 955 2052 Cell: 808 342 2939 Fax: 808 956 2774 Web: http://bhawuk.shidler.hawaii.edu/ Temple Activities – March, 2021 We had wonderful Mahashivratri celebrations at the Temple on March 11th. There was a positive ambience and for the first time in over a year, we had over 15 devotees for the pooja. Considering it was a working day for many, it was still a sizeable crowd and we believe many others came by during the day to get Shiva’s darshan. It was also very noticeable that the weather held during the pooja affording the attendees a wonderful experience. We will have our regular pooja on March 21st at noon presided by Dr. Bhawuk. As suggested by devotees, we have also embarked on twice a month cleaning of the temple premises and we hope that all the devotees visiting the temple will help us keep the sanctum clean by regular clean up after their pooja. It was really wonderful to have the floors around the temple clean after pressure wash just prior to the Shivaratri pooja.  March Calendar Women’s History Month National Nutrition Month March 20 – Parsi New Year March 21 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day March 29 – Holi March 31 – Shivaji Jayanthi |
