From & To Sathish #6 - Page 96

The crows sat in a row, some close some far with just enough feather space and with enough privacy spanned by the length of their wings. They sat in silence birds on wire in contemplation, black shapes, dark smudges against the bright hot sun. I looked up at the summer sky and contemplated that they were the only dark things we were going to see until the monsoon clouds come back in a few months time to vie with the blackness of the crows. Down below, I saw my species, touching, nudging, cackling. Much ado about nothing. Insecure about everything and secure about nothing.                              Millions, billions maybe trillions of humans have come and gone. All products of evolution and natural selection. Long ago they came down from the trees to walk upright on ground. But what made them go up or what were they when went up the trees. What are we who are up on top of the food chain or worked our way up the ladder to the top?                                The crows contemplated up above while I contemplated down below wondering what we gained by coming down the trees and what we had lost on the way up the food chain.

What greater teaching can there be, than to simply sit and be as you are, where you are... here,

The birds have vanished into the sky,

and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and I,

until only the mountain remain

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This Bay Area temple is one of the oldest in the US -- and the food is free!

It is Saturday morning at the famed Shiva-Vishnu Temple in Livermore. California. Thousands of devotees arriving in Teslas and Range Rovers throng the shrines dedicated to Shiva, Ganesh and other Hindu gods and goddesses. I, on the other hand, can only think about the free food.

The first time I came to this temple was in 1992, as a newlywed. My husband and I were living in New York City and visiting family in Fremont. Naturally, they wanted to take us to the famous temple, even back then considered grand and what Hindus would call auspicious — as in bringing good things for those who visit. For newlyweds, visiting Hindu temples with relatives is a rite of passage, and so we went along.

I returned to the Bay Area numerous times, always visiting the temple and looking forward to ending each stopover with the sacred food that is served, free of charge, to all who pass through its doors.

On this recent visit, I quickly finish my prayers and head out to the covered courtyard in the back, where two long tables are covered with freshly prepared, aromatic dishes. They are simple and delicious and follow recipes that have been passed down for generations. There is a savory rice dish flavored with tamarind; a lentil-based gravy called sambar; a spicy fried vada, shaped like a doughnut; and a cooling yogurt rice tempered with spices. 

Most of America’s 1,000 or so Hindu temples offer similar sacred foods. Often, though, it is just one dish — a sweet halwa or milky kheer. At the Queens Hindu temple in New York, the canteen food is so good it made the New York Times’ recent list of the best 100 restaurants in the city — but you have to pay for it. The Pittsburgh temple, too, has a kitchen with food for sale. The Livermore temple — its official name is HCCC, or Hindu Community and Cultural Center — is unusual in that the food program is expansive, core to its identity and, most importantly, free.  

Every weekend, a rotating cast of 60 volunteers, many of them high-paid professionals and entrepreneurs, including the “CEO of a $5 billion company,” according to temple President Sailaja Malireddy, volunteer in the spacious kitchens to prepare the food. Often, students come in groups, hungry for a taste of their homeland. Visiting elders, too, come here because they can eat it “without any restrictions,” says San Ramon-based software engineer Balu Krishnaraj, who has been volunteering in the kitchen for 17 years.   

 “I love to feed these elders,” he says. “When they visit from India for a month or so to stay with their children, they have to adjust to American kitchens and worry about spilling turmeric on the counters and such. Many are vegetarian and have diet restrictions — they don’t eat onions or garlic. At the temple, they can enjoy the food that they are used to, without having their kids tell them not to eat sweets or carbs or whatever.”

What makes these dishes special is not just their taste — delicious as they are. It is an idea, core to Hinduism, that feeding people is a form of charity. While most of the devotees here are not lacking in resources, “lots of folks who have been laid off come to the temple to eat and even though we don’t encourage it, they bring containers and take food home,” says Anand Gundu, who works for Oracle and has volunteered in the kitchen for 15 years.  

On the Saturday morning that I visit, the spacious kitchen is humming at 10 a.m. A vat big enough to fit a human is filled with sambar, a yellow-orange gravy bubbling gently with aromas of curry leaves, fenugreek and tamarind. Another holds ghee, used to flavor the dishes. Women dressed in traditional saris stir pots, ladle fried vadas and stir-fry vegetables native to India, like winter melon. The other parts of the kitchen are open to a volunteer pool of about 60 who come on a rotational basis and take care of various aspects of food preparation. 

 “There is one couple who drive a hundred miles every weekend to keep track of the inventory,” says temple food chair Sudha Surapaneni, an IT program manager who owns three restaurants in the Bay Area. She describes other volunteers who come in to cook, cut, grate, grind and clean up the kitchen, often arriving at 10 a.m. and staying until as late as 8:30 p.m.   

The recipes for these dishes are traditional and known to most Indians. In fact, on my visit, the pongal, vada, idli and other dishes tasted exactly like they should — no fusion, no fuss. Surapaneni says they source produce from local farms and milk and rice from Costco, and have suppliers for Indian dals. They get generous donations, too.

“Sometimes people donate their body weight in ingredients — for example, jaggery or lentils,” she says. “We use that.”

The Livermore temple program is mostly funded through ad hoc monetary donations. The temple’s website suggests donations amounting to $251, $501 and reaching up to $10,001. They are often given by families to celebrate a promotion, a birthday or in memory of a relative. In 2023, one family gave $50,000, according to Gundu, who was part of the temple committee last year. He says devotees generated $1.2 million for those donations in 2023. Most of the funds went right back into the program, but some trickled down to local food banks and other charities.  

For Gundu, volunteering at the temple kitchen is a way of connecting with his community.

 “More than the religious aspect, I like the humanitarian aspect [of working in the kitchen],” he says. “Food is a gift from nature and it gives me immense joy to serve food to others — to the interfaith groups that visit the temple, to hungry students.”

With more than 136,000 Indians, nearby Santa Clara County has among the highest concentrations of Indian immigrants in America, according to the Migration Policy Institute. (Alameda County is close behind, with 97,700 Indian immigrants). It is this density of population that fostered the building of the Livermore temple in 1986, although the seeds were planted a decade earlier.

In the late 1970s, a group of homesick Hindus came together, longing for a place to connect. The Livermore temple was formally instituted as a nonprofit in 1977. Soon after, the group began looking for land to build a temple. They bought 4 acres near a lake in the Springtown neighborhood for $60,000, said Muthuraman Iyer, one of the temple’s co-founders, in a newsletter about the history of the temple. Money came pouring in — a weekend fundraiser held at Granada High School raised half a million dollars. 

Today, the temple sits on more than 12 acres of land, purchased over time, and includes an auditorium, a large banqueting area where Hindu marriages are held and the kitchen that feeds some 6,000 visitors every weekend. On festival days, the number rises to 20,000 people. The younger generation is getting involved, too. Back in the kitchen, I spot Chakri Potharajula, a 15-year-old from San Ramon who has been visiting the temple since he was 5. Today is his first morning in the kitchen. He is put to work — chopping tomatoes, cubing winter melons and stirring spices into the dishes.   

 “It’s really cool,” he says. “I used to watch these large containers of food being brought out for us devotees but now I get to see how it is made.”

He’ll be back next weekend — and so will I.    

SF Gate is a newspaper  in the San Francisco Bay area.

Shoba Narayan is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and author of six books, including 2021’s “Food & Faith: A Pilgrim’s Journey Through India.” She splits her time between San Francisco and India.

Backward Walking Is the Best Workout You’re Not Doing

Ive spent my whole life happily walking in one direction: forward. It was, I believed, the only way to go, so I dutifully logged dozens of miles a month looking like every other person out for a morning stroll.

No more. Thanks to TikTok, I discovered a new (to me, at least) spin on walking: backward walking, also known as “retro-walking.” Though it’s trending on social-media platforms right now, physical therapists and fitness trainers have been touting its benefits for years. It’s a low-impact way to burn calories, strengthen your legs, test your coordination, and even improve pain, experts say—all of which lured me onto my quiet, rural street one afternoon to give it a whirl.

After about 50 steps, I realized going in reverse was no walk in the park. It burned. I could feel the switch-up in my lower legs in a way I don’t with ordinary walking unless I’m powering up a hill. There was a mental challenge, too (beyond ignoring the strange looks from my neighbors). I had no idea what was behind me, so I had to engage all my senses to ensure I stayed upright and didn’t trip over any unexpected obstacles—including my walking partner, who was slightly faster and, therefore, a couple steps behind me.

When I told a handful of experts about my surprisingly fun retro-walking expedition, they agreed more people should make it part of their routine. Here’s a look at why.

It’s great for older people

Backward walking is an underrated way to engage your glutes, shins, and the muscles in your feet and ankles, says Joe Meier, a Minnesota-based personal trainer and author of Lift for Life. Plus, it mitigates the impact of each step, reducing the force exerted on the knees and lower back. Part of its appeal, he adds, is that it’s so accessible—and suitable for people of any age and fitness level.

Meier has noticed that older people, in particular, are drawn to backward walking as a no-frills way to spice up their fitness routine. “If you look around a gym that has tons of treadmills, you’ll see at least one or two people walking backward at any given time,” Meier says. “There are always older individuals walking backward on the ground, too, and you can tell someone has told them, ‘Hey, you should try doing this because it’s great for your balance and coordination—just don't trip over anything.’” He points out that many pickleball players have adopted the practice: It can help strengthen their knees and ensure they don’t take a (metaphorical) step back on the courts.

You’ll engage different muscles

Walking backward requires you to stand up straighter than you do when walking forward, Meier says. By reversing your stride, you’ll create a new challenge for the muscles in the abdomen, lower limbs, and back. “You might notice your glute muscles—your big butt muscles—are doing more work,” Meier says. (Author’s note: You’ll definitely notice.) Meanwhile, your calf muscles will need to work opposite of how they usually do. When you walk forward, your calf contracts concentrically, which means the muscle gets shorter, he explains. When you’re going in reverse, your calf muscle contracts the opposite way and gets longer as it bears your body weight. That switch-up can be a valuable way to improve your fitness.

You’ll also be targeting the quad muscles on the front of your thighs. According to one study—yes, scientists have studied this—people who walked backward three times a week for six weeks ended up with improved quadriceps muscle strength, compared to those who walked forward for their exercise. The quads are responsible for knee extension and straightening your leg, Meier explains—so they, too, work differently when you're walking backward. “That’s one of the reasons why people say it helps their knee pain improve,” he says. “You’re essentially strengthening your quads by doing this backward walking trick.”

It can be good for people with injuries

When New York City-based Peloton Tread instructor Marcel Dinkins had patella issues, she took up backward walking. She returned to it recently after tearing her ACL. “You get to push off,” she says, describing the motion required to launch into walking in reverse. “When you have running or knee issues, you usually have a little pain right underneath your patella. Running backward gives you some respite and relief.”’

Retro-walking has a long history of being used in a clinical or rehabilitation sense, says Janet Dufek, a biomechanist and professor in the School of Integrated Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has researched backward walking. One study, for example, found that after a six-week retro-walking program, participants with osteoarthritis in the knee experienced greater reduction in pain and functional disability compared to those who walked in the typical way. Another found that backward walking down a steep slope alleviated symptoms of plantar fasciitis. And in a study led by Dufek, walking backward reduced lower back pain and enhanced function among athletes.

Retro-walking is also used in occupational therapy. Older people might practice walking up to a kitchen sink, for example, and then walking backward away from it. The ability to move in reverse can enhance “practical activities of daily living,” Dufek says.

It could make you more flexible

Many of us sit all day long—which leads to coiled-up, restricted muscles. “Our hip flexors, or the muscles at the front of the thigh and the front of the hip, get tighter,” says Kristyn Holc, a physical therapist with Atlantic Sports Health Physical Therapy in Morristown, N.J. When we walk backward, we’re stretching that tissue—leading to greater flexibility, which is linked to improved physical performance, increased muscle blood flow, and a reduced risk of injuries. “You’ll notice a lot of people, especially as they get older, hinge at the hips—they get a little bit of a bend there,” she says. “That's because their hip flexors are tight. So if we can stretch those out, it helps us be able to get that upright posture.”

Your gait and balance might improve

Elizabeth Stroot, a physical therapist with Core Wellness & Physical Therapy in Alexandria, Va., uses retro-walking to help people normalize their gait pattern, or how they walk. “It’s a way to tap into our neuromuscular programming and get people to work through a little limp or a range-of-motion restriction,” she says. Walking backward for just 20 or 30 feet at a time is often enough to help some patients, she adds.

It can also improve balance control, especially among older adults, who are at a higher risk of falls. That’s because we maintain our balance through three big systems, Holc says: our eyes, our muscles and joints, and the vestibular system, or inner ear. When we walk backward, we can’t see what’s behind us, which means we have to rely on the other two systems instead, sharpening their ability to keep us upright. “You’re having to feel where you are in space, and that information is being sent to the brain,” she says.

But you need to do it safely

Many people experiment with retro-walking on their treadmill, which is free of hazards like rocks, uneven ground, and other people. You don’t even have to turn it on, Dinkins points out: Simply step onto the machine backward, grasp the handrails, and use your own power to move the belt. “If you’re pushing it, you’re going to get more of that resistance,” she says—leading to a better workout. If you do decide to turn on the treadmill, start at a low speed and keep the safety key clipped to you at all times, Dinkins advises.

No treadmill? No problem: Choose a safe spot indoors or outside, like a hallway, walking track, or empty field. Dufek encourages people to partner up: “Two people face each other and hold hands, and one of them walks backward while the other one’s walking forward,” she says. “That person can be the eyes for the other one, so it’s very safe, and then you just switch places.”

No matter where you start backward walking, keep in mind that you won’t go as fast backward as you do going forward. There’s a learning curve, Dufek stresses: “If you can walk 4 miles per hour forward, don’t expect to be able to walk that fast backward,” she says. “At least initially, if you can walk 1 mile per hour backward, you’re in a good place.”

As with any new exercise, ease in gradually. You might walk backward for 5 or 10 minutes three times a week, and then after a few weeks, add 5 more minutes to each session, Dufek suggests. “As your body neurologically learns the movement pattern, you'll be able to walk faster,” she says. “And of course, walking faster burns more calories, and then you can be out in public and get laughed out for even longer. It’s fun.” How’s that for forward progress?

BY Angela Hart, Time, MAY 7, 2024