Guest Speaker: Mr. Tiwari


(from India)


Students' names in Hindi (Sanskrit), written by Mr. Tiwari



Mr. Tiwari – Guest Speaker from India (Jan. 12, 2001)
Report by Renae S.
He can speak Hindi. He taught us to greet him by saying, “Namaste.” You hold your hands together and make a little bow when you meet or leave. The greeting means, “I pay respect to you.” A younger person says it first, then the older person.

He said that when it is day here, it is night in India. If it’s 1:30pm here, it is 3:00am there. He had an American watch and an India watch that he got when he went to India.

He talked about the caste system. He belonged to the Brahman class, which is like the priestly class. He said if he learned a lot in this life, the next life would be easier.

He said southern India has a different language than in the north. There is more than a 100 different languages; there are 10 main languages. He said to learn as much as you can. In India if you don’t know a certain language you may not be safe in that part of the country.

The dress is different in each part of India. Where he is from the dress is called a sari. He brought dolls with the different types of clothes.

He spoke about religion. Hinduism is the most common religion, about 70% - 80% of the people. There’s about 15% Muslim, and about 3% Christian. Religion is very important because most people’s lives revolve around religion. Hindu people believe there is a supreme god and people (gods and goddesses) who help the supreme god. Rama is also a god.

Hindu belief is very different; they don’t care who you pray to. He said, “When you pray it always goes to the supreme god.” They don’t believe there is one powerful god; they believe in gods and goddesses. He told us he has 3 daughters. He raised them to believe there is nobody that is the most powerful person, that women are as important as men.

He brought a piece of clothing from where he is from. He brought a piece of cloth (tapestry) with writing and a picture on it. He read some of the writing, which was written in Hindi.

He taught us how to say the numbers in Hindi. We compared the way Russians, Spanish, and Americans count to the way the words are pronounced in India.

He brought a brass bowl which was handpainted. He also brought a basket which you can carry on your head. It was made from reeds. It probably took about 8 hours to make it. It would be a job for patient people.

He brought a statue of a flamingo feeding its young, which was made out of a water buffalo horn.

He brought a brass statue with an elephant with tigers attacking it.

He brought a vase made out of brass which is colored then engraved. He also brought a bigger brass vase.

He brought shoes that a bride wears. He brought some glass bangles bracelets. They believe bracelets started in India.

He said 70% of people live on farms. There are a lot of people. India women wear a lot of colorful clothes.

He also brought a cloth with a goddess on it. He said it was Lakshma, wife of Vishnu.

He also brought a flag of India. The 1st color on the flag is Hindi (orange), the 2nd color is neutral, and the 3rd represents the Muslim people (green). In the center is the wheel of life.

He brought a handmade bedsheet. He brought another one with colorful flowers and animals on it.

He also brought money. He said 50 rupees is equal to $1.00 American dollar. Someone asked about sports. He said there is soccer, cricket, field hockey, and volleyball (from most popular to least).

Some asked about food. India has a lot of spicy food. A lot of spices come from India. Spices tend to make food last longer. Someone asked if there is a McDonald’s in India, and he said there is, but they don’t serve beef because the cow is sacred in India.

He also brought a hat. And a snake statue. He brought an instrument that charms the snake (cobra), and a basket from which the snake arises when it is charmed by the flute-like wooden instrument.



Mr. Tiwari, our visitor from India
Report by Samantha H.
We took an imaginary trip to India. Instead of saying good morning, you bow and say “Namaste.” When you say a name you say their last name, then add a “gi”. Names are spelt different, and their language is different.

He lives in mid-India. He said there are different clothes for the parts of India. Much brass work. Water buffalo horn work. Money is different. 50 rupees = $1 American dollar.

He showed us tapestry, blankets, silk sari; baskets to carry goods for selling and for carrying supplies.

He told us about different jobs. He’s an engineer. 70% of the people still work on farms. India builds most of our software.

We learned that India is the biggest democracy in the world because there is 1 billion people there. However, he felt that America had the best democracy.

Religion is a way of life. The biggest religion is Hinduism, then Muslim, then Buddhist, and Christian. Hindu’s beliefs: no creator; all part of god. No sinner. Everyone is divine. Reincarnation – soul never dies. Always part of god. All equal. Gods and goddesses; goddesses are equal to gods. Everyone has their own path. Don’t force anyone to be like them. One tapestry he showed us had a goddess with 4 hands. You’ve never seen their gods or goddesses, but you believe.

He emphasized several times that if it’s day here, then it’s night there; and if it’s night here, it’s day there.

Cars are getting more popular now. India has 3 times more people than here in America.

When married they put a dot on a woman’s forehead to show she is married.

Someone asked a question about death and coffins. He said death is a celebration of birth. Soul goes back to God after death. Body is just a temple for soul. So they burn the body and the clothes, and throw the ashes into a river.



Guest Speaker, Mr. Tiwari (a Brahman)
Report by Melissa L.

Mr. Tiwari taught us how to say “Namaste” when greeting someone and when leaving. Namaste with a little bow means, “I bow in front of you.”

He got 2 masters degrees after he came to America from India. He came to the United States when he was 20, and he is now 60.

He told us a story of how he once helped a lady with the groceries. She said he was a good person, even though he wasn’t Christian. He is Hindu. He said, “You don’t have to be Christian to be good.”

He told us what it meant to be a Hindu. They believe there is a supreme God and others who help him. They pray to gods and goddesses. Hindu people believe it doesn’t matter to whom you pray; it will go to the supreme God. Hindu (75% of people in India) believe there is no powerful god who makes things happen. Women, men all equal in spirit. Everyone is equal. Just because someone is a woman doesn’t mean she is less than a man.

People have their own paths.

He told us about democracy in India. India has an election for government. He showed us a flag of India. He taught us to count in Hindi. It was neat because some of the words sounded alike in different languages, like Russian and Spanish were somewhat similar to Hindi.

He showed us many things he brought from India: brass bowl, basket, brass elephant sculture, brass vase, bride’s shoes, glass bangles, and hand woven tapestry.

India used to be the spice capital of the world. In hot climate there are more spices; their staple diet is rice and beans.

He showed us a snake charmer’s basket, flute or pipe, and a snake figure. Snakes don’t have ears, but they feel the vibrations. That is why they move back and forth when the snake charmer plays his flute.



India Notes
By Levi Y.

Sari – clothing.
Namaste – greeting (“I bow in front of you”). To greet parents in India you first touch their feet, then touch your forehead. It’s a sign of respect. Rupee – money.

Time: 12:00 p.m. in USA – 1:30 a.m. in India.

Population: 1 billion people (1,000,000,000).

Government: biggest democracy in the world.

Religion: biggest religion in India = Hinduism; biggest religion in USA = Christian. Belief: in Hinduism everyone is divine, sinless, all part of god. Women/men equal. Hindu’s don’t spread their religion. Hindu believes that when you die you go to god. They cremate the body. There is an altar at each home to pray to. They have temples instead of churches. In their religion, you go to the temple, pray, and leave; no congregation.

Mathematics: India created the number zero. Numbers zero through ten. He wrote the numbers in Hindi on the board.

Alphabet: He wrote some Hindi letters on the board. He wrote his name in Hindi.



India Notes
By Justin H.

- Namaste = show respect (Hindu)
- India – many different cultures & langauges
- India has a lot of hand work
- Rupees = money used in India
- Basket used to carry things; carry on head to market
- Jobs in India: 70% farm work; biggest producer in software, teacher, engineers, salespeople, etc.
- India is the biggest democracy in the world.
- Religion in India: (1) Hinduism, (2) Muslim, (3) Buddhism, (4) Christian
- Hindu belief: everyone is part of God, no sinner, everyone is divine – believe in reincarnation – soul never dies – no creator, soul never dies; women are goddess, men are gods.
- Hinduism: show respect to everyone.
- India used to be peaceful; separated from everyone by Himalayas and ocean, was hard to travel through
- Snakecharmer – played and snake comes out of basket (cobra)

- Children in cities dress like American children
- Cars are getting more common in India
- Schools are very crowded – children sit on pillows instead of at desk
- Celebration when baby is born
- Death-part: soul goes to God; body is just to carry soul while you’re alive; get rid of body (ashes) at bank of river (Ganges or Indus).
- Indian homes all have altars to pray, bow, meditate.
- Churches aren’t big – no services – just a place to pray (between you and your God).



His Name is Tiwari
By Olga B.

A man came in and showed us things from India. He told us a little bit of the religion. And where India is. He told us it’s morning here and night there. He told us about the caste system. He told us how his life was. About different gods and language in India. And a whole bunch of stuff.

We learned a little of Hindi language, like hello (“Namaste”). He showed us dolls with Indian clothes (south, east, west, and north Indian dolls). He showed us some material.

He talked about numbers, and he showed us the language.

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Students' names in Sanskrit