Attending a Hindu Ganesh Puja with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Attending a Hindu Ganesh Puja with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One day as I was going through Florence’s weekly parent papers from her Waldorf School, I found an invitation to a Ganesh Puja. 

I knew the children were studying mythology and world religions at school and this optional activity supported that.  I was happy someone invited us to their home to participate in this activity.  I wanted to go, and my husband agreed that it would be a good introduction to the culture of India.

I liked getting the invitation, but it took some time to decipher.  It read as follows:

-       You are cordially invited for Ganesh Puja and Resurgence (Visarjan)

-       4 pm

-       Puja, Bhajans, and Potluck

We were to give our RSVP to the school office.

I asked Florence about Ganesh, the elephant god.

“We have been writing stories about him and drawing pictures of him,” she said.

“Typical Waldorf,” I thought to myself.

“He helps people get their dreams,” she continued.

After that comment, I looked up Ganesh in one of my mythology dictionaries and saw that he was described as “the remover of obstacles.”

I closed the book and talked with Florence.  “Your mom and dad are your Ganeshas.  We’ll do all we can to help you get your dreams,” I said.

“How would you like to eat at an Indian restaurant before we go to the Ganesh Puja?” I asked.

Florence knew the restaurant I was talking about and wanted to go, because I did lunches there with my writing group.  (I love chicken vindaloo, naan bread, spinach saag, and eggplant bartha.)

When we went to the Indian restaurant, I felt like I was Indiana Jones on an icon hunt.  I did not have to look very long to find a Ganesh decoration that I had overlooked on my previous visits.  Right at the entrance, the restaurant had a large stained glass window with Ganesh in it.

I showed Florence the stained glass window and said, “Look how Ganesh is dancing on the rat’s back.  The rat stands for your enemies,” I said.

“It does not,” Florence snapped.  “It stands for evil – bad stuff.”

I laughed and said with an increasingly high-pitched voice, “Mom is mean, scary, and heinous just like the Wicked Witch!”

“You are.  Be nice.  We’re in a restaurant,” Florence said as we were shown to our table.

Florence ate tandoori chicken that had been baked in a clay oven and naan bread.  She drank a sweet mango laasi made with yogurt and mangos.  Ganesh mom, me, had her usual order with nimbu pani to drink.  Nimbu pani is a sweet soda with spices sprinkled on top.

I asked Florence what the words on our Ganesh Puja invitation meant.

“Pujas are prayer rituals,” she said.  “We made clay Ganesh elephants to throw in the Carmel River as part of the puja,” she continued.

“Mud in the pebble stream,” I thought of our drought-stricken river.

“What are bhajans?”  I asked as I got another mango laasi for Florence.

“They are songs.  They tell about Hindu gods.  Our teacher sings them in Sanskrit and no one understands them,” she said.

I wanted Florence to learn about world religions and mythology to be a world citizen, but I also wanted to know exactly what went on in the classroom, too.  I was going to look at her drawings and “textbooks” that she wrote herself after that.  I trusted her teacher (he had a master's degree from Stanford), but I have always believed that parents should do things outside of class to support the curriculum.

We finished our Ksatriya caste warrior-king meals with rice pudding and got ready for the Ganesh Puja the next day.  We arrived at the appointed hour at a private home in Carmel.

We took off our shoes in the entry hall.  We looked at framed photos all around the house of bare feet in silver trays of water with flower petals strewn on them.  An altar with statues and flowers had been set up.

The puja began at 4 pm.  We sat on the floor and bhajans were said in Sanskrit.  The bhajans lasted two hours.

At the end of the bhajans, our host told us Ganesh broke off one of his tusks so that humans could write.  Writing and literature are still very important in the culture of India; I loved knowing the origins of Indian literary culture.  After a question-and-answer period, we set out for the Carmel River to toss in the Ganesh clay figurines.

I was thankful for the opportunity to be part of a home-based religious ceremony.  I wanted to know more about India, because I knew it was becoming the world’s most populous country.  I wished the Indian community would do cultural festivals at Monterey’s Wharf like the Greeks, Turks, and Italians, so I could learn more about the dancing, art, food, and music of the country. 

Most of all, I wanted adults to have the opportunity to learn about other cultures and not just children.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting Lake Tahoe (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Lake Tahoe (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent and I celebrated our anniversary in Lake Tahoe, California in 2008.  We went outside the resort’s ski season in July and took our daughter Florence along with us.  We were all suffering from lack of sleep due to smoke from fires in Big Sur, outside Monterey where we lived.  We looked forward to a small break.

The arrival over the mountains into Lake Tahoe is stunning.  The road in sits high above the lake and pine trees climb the mountainside up to the road.  The forest made me think of Germany’s Black Forest.  Some parts of the mountains were gray and had no trees or were scorched from forest fires.

We stayed in a condominium that looked like a Swiss chalet with a pool for summer use.  Our condo had three bedrooms, two baths including a Jacuzzi, a well-equipped kitchen, a dining room, a big living room with a fireplace, and three television sets.  There were many entertainment options just in the condo.

The adorable Swiss-style condominium encouraged us to try the Swiss Chalet Restaurant in town.  When we visited, it had been in business for more than fifty years.  The restaurant fits in perfectly with pine trees.  The restaurant had an off-center, angled roof and stone brick walls.

The restaurant’s interior was a treat for the eyes as well.  It was decorated with blond-wood planters of live pink flowers and white tablecloths with red napkins.  One wall had an alpine horn on it.  Cowbells hung from the ceiling, and there was a beautiful collection of beer steins in the corner.

We started dinner with a salad that had tarragon dressing.  It was not winter, but Laurent and I shared a cheese fondue, because we both love that dish.

Florence did not like anything on the menu.  I talked with the waiter, and the chef arranged to serve Florence sautéed chicken breast with mushroom sauce.  The chicken breast came with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives.  She loved it, and I thought it was like the meals I made at home on the weekends.

German music played during our meal.  We took a walk after our dinner and checked out restaurant possibilities for the next day.  Florence ate an ice cream while we took our walk and thoroughly enjoyed being on vacation.

Back in the condominium, Florence watched movies, Laurent did Sudoku puzzles and word puzzles, and I finished my “Italian in 40 Lessons” book.

The next day we set out for a trip to Reno, Nevada.  As soon as you pass the Nevada border casinos appear along with nightclubs advertising tribute artist and tribute band entertainment.

We withdrew money from an ATM in a casino in Reno and left with our money intact.  We ate at a Chinese restaurant in Reno.  When we walked in, I said, “Feng Shui is at work here.”  There were stone fu dogs at the entrance, mirrors, calming music, a tinkling fountain with goldfish in the basin, and light pink upholstery chairs in the restaurant. 

Feng-shui refers to “wind and water” and governs placement of buildings and interior decoration in China.  Since moving to California, I said I feng-shui-ed my house rather than cleaned it for optimal creative output.  That philosophy was a way to give me the élan I needed to clean house.

We started our Chinese meal with egg rolls.  Florence ate broccoli chicken, which she loves.  Laurent and I had sautéed seafood.  People stared at us for using chopsticks to eat.  I taught Florence to use Chinese and Japanese chopsticks when she was very little.  I always thought teaching people to use chopsticks would be a good way to get new and repeat customers into a Chinese restaurant.

After a tour around Reno, we went back to Lake Tahoe over the desert side of the mountains to the tree-lined side of mountains in California. 

“All the rain falls as it goes up the mountains on the side where the trees are so there’s none left on this side,” I said to Florence as I had her look at the sparse vegetation around us in Nevada.  The French educator François Fénelon (1651 – 1715) would have loved how I used our car trip over the mountains as a teaching moment.

We drove around a large portion of Lake Tahoe when we got back into town.  We took pictures at Emerald Bay and drove past the Tellac and Ehrman mansions.  We drove as far as “Homeward.” 

Florence said, “I’ve seen enough pine trees.”  I was starting to feel the same way, too.  Laurent wanted to rent a kayak, but decided against it when he saw all the motorboats on the Lake.

Back at the condo, Laurent took Florence swimming at the condo.  I began working on the “German in 40 Lessons.”  I had no idea I would live in Germany one day.  I just wanted to learn the language for what the French call “cultural baggage.”

After recreation hour, we drove to Tep’s Villa Roma for dinner – another restaurant of longstanding in Lake Tahoe.  We ate a sumptuous meal beginning with salads, antipasti, and minestrone soup.  Florence ate a steak with sautéed mushrooms.  I had pasta à la carbonara made with butter, cream and bacon.  That was richer than the way I made it at home.  I felt like going skiing after eating that pasta to burn calories.  We just had coffee instead of the lovely desserts that Tep’s also serves. 

The following day we drove to the French bakery we saw in town the day before.  We bought croissants and baguettes and spoke French with the French owner of the bakery.  He was happy that we planned to come back to Lake Tahoe.  We stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the condo, so I could buy Mexican chocolate with vanilla and cinnamon in it to make cocoa.

The croissants and the Mexican cocoa were a sweet finish for our trip to Lake Tahoe and tasted wonderful in the mountain air.

By Ruth Paget -Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting Old West Days in San Juan Bautista (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Old West Days in San Juan Bautista (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

San Juan Bautista is about 35 minutes outside of Monterey in California’s San Benito County.  Many people go to San Juan Bautista to see the bell tower at the San Juan Bautista Mission where Alfred Hitchcock filmed a scary scene from his movie Psycho.

The day my family set out for San Juan Bautista, the town was holding its Living History Day with re-enactments and activities for children.

We started our visit in San Juan Bautista Mission’s garden.  The brightly-colored tile benches with arabesque inlays against a white background are like something you would see in Andalusia (modern-day southern Spain).  There is a large rose garden, which smells wonderful in the heat.  Intertwined cactus plants invite painful touches.

Inside the Mission’s church, workers were preparing for a wedding, so we were able to see the whole church decorated with white garlands on the pews.  The lady at the store said they had two weddings and a baptism scheduled.  You can triple book when you have a community, who will ensure that the decorations will be nice for everyone.

We went to the museum to see the stagecoaches and blacksmithing materials.  The pony carriages were on break, so we went to the Plaza Hotel where they were holding Western dance lessons upstairs.  We were invited to dance by a “dance master.”  Only Florence and I took up the dance offer.

The first dance we did was called the “chinchu.”  The word meant “bed bug” in Spanish.  The dance originated in Watsonville, California – a Scottish town.  The dance master said it was a sort of Scottish jig.

“It goes like this,” the dance master started.  “First, you point your toes in four different directions and then you slide twice in the same direction.  After that, you point you toes on the other foot and slide twice in the other direction.  Then, you do the waltz and start again” were the instructions.

For the next dance, the dance master put a hat on me to designate me as a man and introduced Florence as a “bitty lady.”  The dance we did was called A Circle Waltz where you walked into the circle and had the women pass in front of you to get a new partner.  Four women passed in front and then you walked in two times before you did the waltz

The ballroom where we were dancing was huge.  It covered the entire top floor of a three-wing building.  We danced for a good hour.  Florence loved it, because everyone told her she was pretty.  She got twirled around a few times, too, by men in cowboy hats.

Meanwhile, I had to try leading as a man in waltz steps and got “Oh Dear” remarks for stepping on feet.  Florence ran back to me at the end of the dance to try on the top hat.

We lured Florence away from the grown-ups’ play with a pony carriage ride.   The carriage was like a stagecoach with open sides.  We circled the square in front of the Mission and waved at people.

On the way back to the car, I asked Florence what she liked best about the day.  She said she liked the Mission garden and the horse carriage ride.  I told her I liked the Western dances.  We both agreed that the bed bug dance was hard to do.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting the Tech Museum in San Jose (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Tech Museum in San Jose (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


One of the advantages of going to graduate school in California’s Silicon Valley was that I learned where all of San José’s parking garages were downtown and their opening hours.

People might snicker at that comment, but parking can be a utopic dream if you arrive late in the day to San José.  There are public transportation options available where you can park outside the city and commute in to visit the Tech Museum.  You should plan to use them, if you cannot get into the city early.

Once the parking issue is out of the way, the Tech Museum of Innovation offers interactive exhibits around the themes of Body Metrics, Social Robots, The Tech Studio, Tech Silicon Valley Innovation Gallery, Tech and Biotech Gallery, Tech Exploration Gallery, and Tech Test Zone Gallery.

The Tech Museum was set up differently when my husband Laurent, daughter Florence, and I visited in 2003 due to different technologies that had been developed at the time.  However, our experience of how the Tech Museum engages visitors still gives a good picture of what a visit there will be like.

We began our visit by making webpages at one of the exhibits.  Then, Laurent and Florence had fun in the virtual room dodging shooting rays of light.  “Enter the video game,” I thought to myself.

We all made audio recordings, did an animation, got our pictures taken and doctored them with funny ears (Photoshop prototype?), and made a video with waves crashing in the ocean.  We printed out our work, which I later saved in family journals.

The next exhibits we visited were in the Earth Sciences and Space rooms.  They had an earthquake simulator exhibit where you could stand in a space and experience the magnitude of recent earthquakes.  Florence operated an underwater camera, got moved around in a “space chair,” and pretended she was operating a submarine with a simulator machine.

At noon, we walked across the street to an Italian restaurant.  Laurent and Florence ate pizza with chocolate mousse as dessert.  I had lasagna and a Caesar salad.  You can find almost any kind of restaurant in San José, which has attracted the world’s brightest to work in the city.

After lunch, we went back to the Tech Museum and did the “Innovation Silicon Valley and Beyond” exhibits.  We played with electricity exhibits.  We made circuits that lit up lights and made fans turn.  We measured static electricity, looked at microchips under a microscope, and looked at a computer wafer-making machine.

I liked “Life Tech: The Human Exhibit” as well.  I read about the human genome project and thought of how it could be used and misused.  A thermal video camera showed that Laurent and I both had cold noses.  (Our noses showed up as black blobs on a video screen.)  Laurent and Florence did a simulated wheelchair race as well as a simulated bobsled run her.  All the simulation exhibits ran using radio frequency identification (RFID).  I like the exhibit on how ultrasounds work, too.

We stopped in the store before we left.  Laurent bought an electricity kit that he was going to show Florence how to use.  He also bought a book of solutions to worst case scenarios, including how to deal with abduction by extraterrestrials.

I laughed when I saw that and looked for a solution to dealing with Hal, artificial intelligence gone bad.  I bought a book for Florence on how to solve algebra word problems.

Florence got some books on earthquakes and software; she liked the webpages exhibit and RFID operated ones.  I told her math was the language of science and that software lets you communicate with other people.  The Tech Museum of Innovation makes both of those subjects exciting; that alone is worth the price of admission.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie