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I live in SE Pennsylvania, USA (immediate suburb north out of Philadelphia).
I was born in Princeton, NJ and grew up in Hopewell, NJ. My family has been in NJ for over 350 years!
I am a thirteenth generation American - few can claim being a truer American, except
for Native Americans, of course. But regardless, the US is a land of immigrants - some people forget that.
I can trace my family's roots back to William (Wilhelmus) Beekman who came to New
Netherlands and specifically New Amsterdam (now known as New York City) back in 1647 along with William Stuyvesant -
who seems to be remembered more in history. The Beekmans were NYC's first brewmeisters amongst other things
(alcohol and my family are inextricably intertwined sadly). So technically, if I cared about such things, I qualify
to be a member of the Dutch Dames, but I've never bothered.
William Beekman was a large landholder in NY (if you live along the Hudson River between
Manhattan and Poughkeepsie, that was once his property!!!) Other things to note about William Beekman: he was
once the Mayor of NYC, Mayor of Kingston, NY and he was also the Governor of Delaware for a short time but quit that position
and returned to NY. I guess he didn't care for Delaware too much. LOL
Unfortunately, my family sided with the British (we were torries - yes embarrassing
fact but it's true) during the Revolutionary War, and my family lost everything right down to the candlesticks apparently.
We seem to have been rebuilding ever since.
There are two streets in NYC's financial district named after my ancestor, William
Street and Beekman Street. They are close to the Twin Towers (or what used to be where the Twin Towers were located).
My ancestors were instrumental in developing NYC, the Hudson Valley and New Jersey - that all used to be owned by my
ancestors. Now I don't even own a postage stamp plot there. I guess that's what we deserve after cheating the
native Americans. So I cannot complain too loudly.
I am still boggled when I do go to NYC. I wonder if I could bring Wilhelmus
Beekman to the 21st century - WHAT WOULD HE THINK OF HIS ISLAND THAT LIES BETWEEN THE EAST AND HUDSON RIVERS? Would
he be proud or cry?
Anyway, we found all this out after my maternal grandmother died. In the
family bible, there was a clipping of my Great Great Aunt Sarah (who lived to be 102) and a bunch of relatives I never knew.
The caption read that they were ancestors of the original Dutch settlers. That piqued our curiosity. My mother
did MOST of the work - though I helped some - and with about 3 years of diligence, she traced our roots to William Beekman
and then from there, over to Europe. My Dutch heritage is why I am now learning a lot about the Nederlands.
I hope to go there one day - preferable during a zebra finch show. I also hope to go to Hungary, which is the rest of
my ethnic makeup. I don't know much about all that though - so it's hard to get too excited about it.
Well back to me, I am married to a NRI (nonresident Indian) who is South Indian in
origin (Tamilian - for those who are curious). His name is PBA Nanda Kumar (and before you ask, Kumar isn't his last
name and even if it were, Kumar is like 'Jones' in India - there are too many - so we probably don't know This Kumar or That
Kumar just because of the last name Kumar). Kumar is actually my husband's middle name. In South India, last names/surnames
are written first, and they are so long that they are typically abbreviated with initials. So PBA is his family/surname
- not Kumar. But INS made him take Kumar. He could have changed it when he became a US citizen, but
he stuck to Kumar (which is a boring and common name if you ask me). Confusing and weird story but cultures are different,
and it's true!
We have a mixed marriage so to speak. Different culture, different
skin tones, different native languages, different religious backgrounds, AND LOTS of confusion. I wouldn't
have it any other way!
He is a Partner for the 10th largest law firm in the world - just made partner
in January 2007 so we are still excited about it - and looking forward to more of his successes. He came to the US in
1992 with a couple hundred dollars in his pocket, one suitcase full of wacky stuff and a J-1 student visa.
After struggling for a few years, he met this crazy American girl (that would be me), and settled permanently in
America. Our marriage is the only love marriage in his family - everyone else's marriage is arranged.
We met at Rutgers, in Ilya Raskin's laboratory where he was a post-doc, and where
I started my Ph.D. (I didn't stay too long in that lab - not my cuppa). My husband also has his Ph.D.
from Delhi University and is author of numerous publications and patents - as well as a contributing author to "Black's
Law Dictionary" IP terminology.
Sadly, we have yet to attain our greatest achievement - children.
Currently, we have none, but it's not because we haven't tried.
My training is varied, I have many years experience as a secretary and in production
typing (that's why I can type 120 wpm). I was an account executuive for a psychological testing firm for a while. I
worked in construction for years, both doing the physical work and also managing an electrical contracting business.
I have Associates Degrees in Plant Biology, Biology and Horticulture. I have
a Bachelor's from Cornell (I still miss that place) in Plant Biology specifically focusing in Plant Breeding. I
worked for 3-4 years in environmental bioremediation (PCB soil contamination) for a company then called Envirogen - not sure
what it's called these days. I left there do get my Ph.D - but that never happened. I have all but my defense
in Plant Molecular Biology.
I left Rutgers due to funding issues, politics (BAD politics I should say).
I went to the wrong lab, while I learned a lot, it was the nail in my scientific career coffin. It left me feeling very
bitter. (While I'll admit I'm strange, I pretty normal compared to most scientists). Plus there was the 1.5 hour
commute each direction to contend with, which I was just SICK of. My sister's house was flooded during Hurricane
Floyd in September 1999 (I was rescued off the roof by the National Guard - thanks guys!), and I lost my housing.
I hated living on campus, and I just wanted to be with my husband. I always say I ALREADYgot the BEST that Rutgers
had to offer - which was my husband. :-)
Meanwhile, my hubby's job had taken him to Philadelphia. So
with all the negative mojo at Rutgers, a project that was going nowhere despite how hard I worked on it and ZERO MENTORING
OR HELPFUL INSIGHT FROM MY ADVISOR, I quit my Ph.D, five years into it. Which in hindsight - wasn't such a bad thing
as I don't think the other graduate student ever got his degree either - he just wasted even more time in that lab (still
no recent scientific publications from that lab - very sad).
I went to another institute where I focued on Molecular Medicine and Cancer Biology.
I volunteered at Thomas Jefferson University for a year or two for Antonio Giordano - one of the world's premier cancer
researchers. He went to Temple University (for reasons that still leave me scratching my head and I think had more to
do with autonomy and intellectual property because they certainly cannot have to do with the science program or facilities
on the main campus - Temple is a liberal arts school afterall), and I followed him to Temple. I miss Thomas Jefferson
a LOT - I really liked working there - great neighborhood, easy to commute to, safe at night, great library, train station
inside and a great place!
I never liked Temple very much. I'm not a city person in general, and
I'm definitely not a NORTH PHILADELPHIA city person. North Philly is consistently rated as one of the top
ten WORST neighborhoods in the US. Beggers. Drunks. People pissing on your car and if you stand still too
long - pissing on you too. People just in your face all the time. ROUGH PEOPLE. Crackheads. Hopeless
alcoholics. Untreated AIDS victims. Homeless people. And there was me, little country girl, waiting
at the train station freezing my butt off in the winter and being eyeballed by the worst undesirables imaginable - actually
I couldn't have even imagined most of them before being in North Philly. It was very unnerving. I tend to work
late and was always frightened when walking alone to the car or the train station. My car was vandalized on two separate
occasions, once they put their feet through the windshield and destroyed the hood - for no reason. Because it was there
I guess - there's NO LOGIC to North Philadelphia - it's a freaking JUNGLE! The campus is surrounded by low income
housing (PHA) or crack houses. It's urban blight at it's worst. The campus is nice - don't get me wrong - but
you don't want to step foot off of it. Even on campus, they tried to steal my bike all the time and keeping it
inside was an issue. It was a daily hassle/headache!
While Antonio Giordano (Sbarro Research Institute - eat more Sbarro pizza - it
funds Antonio's lab) and his lab people were great, Temple University security sucked and our lab was always getting broken
into. Computers and cameras stolen. I NEVER FELT SAFE THERE - ALWAYS LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER. The academics
are not so hot either - but then after going to Cornell, few other schools can be expected to stack up so I don't hold that
against Temple. It's a cheap inner city state-funded school - what to expect? I was a GA for Genetics
for a few semesters - a LOT of work. But fun too. I also taught genetics at Rutgers and also TA'd a class in Issues
and Concepts in Biotechnology - just because I wanted to and was asked to. I also TA's a lab in Plant Tissue Culture
and Biotech - stuff I can do in my sleep.
Back to Temple, despite the fact the autoclave didn't work (never knew if it was going
to blow up or sterilize my media) and in fear for my personal safety on a daily basis, I stayed at this lab because I
really liked the people I worked with, particularly Pier-Paulo Claudio (who is BRILLIANT!) and Guiseppe Russo (who is equally
BRILLIANT and sweet as candy on top of it). I still miss working with both dearly. That is where I
picked up some Italian - it's the prettiest spoken language on earth! Yeah yeah - Antonio - I miss your silly humor
too. LOL
Ultimately, I left Temple due to a serious health complication - my spine
was collapsing and the pain was so bad that I couldn't even walk ten feet anymore. While I have over 350 college
course credits and hundreds of college research credits, I still do not have my Ph.D (how pathetic, right?).
Since December 2002, I've been out
of work due to degenerative spine disease. I had a 360 ALIFT (disk fusion from L4-S1) done in September 2004 by
Thomas Kleeman at New Hampshire Neurospine Institute. He is one of the few surgeons in the US who does this surgery
using a Laparoscopic approach. While at first, the results looked promising, I ended up with a lot more pain again.
This was very disheartening - I had a very serious and risky surgery, only to trade one type of pain in for another!
I had a total breakdown at that point I think. If I could have figured out a way, I had lost so much hope, I would have
killed myself. It was horrible and the worst 2two years of my life. I woke every morning wishing I were dead.
As the result of this heinous experience, I now tend to have a lot of empathy for people suffering from long-term illnesses.
But with time (2.5 years post surgery), I am improving and am now able to function
without severe pain many but not most days. I tried months of Physical Therapy, injections - the pain management
guy wanted to put a morphine pump into my spine - I didn't want it. Finally, I just decided to take the Physical Therapist's
advice - just let it heal on it's own.
The recent trip to India (Nov/Dec 2006), I had a huge healing in a short period of
time. I don't know why. Nanda says it's Lord Venkatesh - I'm not so sure. I did take some antibiotics which destroyed
my intestines (I ended up in the hospital in Hyderabad). I suspect that the antibiotics killed some sort of latent infection
that was causing inflammation. I guess I'll never know. All I know is that slowly, I'm feeling much
better. What a long recovery though - going on three years from the surgery!!!
Nights are still an issue - I have radiating pain from my spine which feels like hot
molten lava burning in my hips. It drives me INSANE and is actually worse in some regards than the pain that the surgery
did cure. Before the surgery, while I couldn't walk, I could lie down or sit and minimize the pain. The current
hip pain is a continuous annoying burning and is not alleviated by position at all. Once it starts, I want to rip
my hair out of my head!!! I assume this is either scar tissue buildup or pain coming from the third disk which was not
fused. The doctor told me when I had the surgery that perhaps I can have a disk replacement on my L3/L4 if it gets worse
rather than fusion. When I had my surgery, they were only doing single level lumbar artificial disk replacement.
So I was not a viable candidate since I had two destroyed lumbar disks and the third one checking out.
Well, when the doctors are telling you to pick out a wheelchair and you can barely
walk, something has to get done! So I did the fusion.
Currently, I am trying to resurrect my career. I don't think I will be
going back to the lab. Too much bending and uncomfortable chairs (lab stools) and standing for me - but I miss the intellectual
stimulation. I'm considering a career as a patent agent and possibly going to law school (UPDATE - I'M
NOW IN DELHI, INDIA ATTENDING LAW SCHOOL - so I guess I made up my mind, and like everything else about me, I'm not approaching
it in an orthodox manner - LOL).
We are currently looking for a gestational surrogate. We have
24 frozen embryos. We don't know what the problem is exactly - why I don't stay pregnant. It could be my eggs,
his sperm, my womb, my immune system (the most likely culprit as I have a host of autoimmune diseases) or some basic
imcompatibility at the genetic level. So far, everything is normal in the tests, but since I'm not staying pregnant
- obviously - EVERYTHING IS NOT NORMAL. Whatever it is, I've lost more pregnancies within the first few weeks of gestation
(they call it spontaneous recurrent abortion) than I care to admit to - you lose count when the number reaches dozens).
Hence the search for a gestational surrogate.
Perhaps you know someone who could help?
My hobbies include: Birds (or course) both finches in my birdroom and birding/bird
ecology, environmental issues (we drive a Prius), politics, gardening and intellectual property specifically issues
relating to the biotech/pharma/life sciences/medical/gene therapy/cancer/stem cell arena. I love genetics
and molecular biology and keep current despite the fact that I no longer work in the field. It moves fast so you
have to try to keep up - though it's hard to. Yes, I get document delivery for those sorts of things - so
I guess I'm still a dweeb/nerd even if I don't wear a pocket protector. LOL. But that's what interests me.
Before my spine blew out, I was into much more active hobbies (skiing, water skiing,
scuba diving, boating, sailing, hiking, backpacking, running, swimming, archery and all kinds of other stuff), but I'm severely
curtailed by that now - though I am back on the nordic track again. YAHOO! I try to walk and cycle, but weight
management remains an issue and living where it's cold 6 months of the year isn't helping. My thyroid is always out
of wack - damned doctors still cannot seem to get it stabilized after ten years. IT'S SO FRUSTRATING. I'm tired
of all the bad things that go along with Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroiditis. But this is the deck I was dealt
in life.
Aside from my annoying health issues, I still adore nature of any
kind and this is perhaps my biggest love in life aside from my husband - who after a bumpy 12 years, I still love most of
all - or at least on some days. Perhaps the thing I miss most is skiiing and hiking. I did some hiking last summer
on a trip to Washington State. I had trouble walking a few miles. I hope that this year I can do a bit better.
My other love is India and the Indian Subcontinent. I've been to Bharat a half
a dozen times and hope to live in India one day and/or become an Indian citizen (UPDATE - I'M NOW LIVING IN INDIA AND HAVE
PIO STATUS). My husband is Sri Vaishnava Iyengar, and we were married in India in a traditional Hindu ceremony. (We
did a justice of the peace ceremony in the US - just us two and the mayor and two people I don't even know who signed as witnesses.)
I was raised Presbyterian, but do not follow the Christian religion. I try to take what's best of all teachings and
apply them to my life. While I'm spiritual, I don't consider myself to be religious.
My mother is still alive and doing well. My father was killed in an auto accident
when I was only 9 mos old. My brother just turned two. My sister wasn't born yet. It happened on my Mother's
21st birthday - I don't make this stuff up - life is stranger than fiction. She remarried, but that didn't work out.
That marriage produced my youngest sister. My stepfather died from a massive coronary when he was only 39. His number
was up.
So I was raised in a single family home back when most kids had TWO parents.
I'm an original latchkey kid and as a result - I'm very independent and rather resourceful.
Despite how important knowledge is to me as an adult, there was zero emphasis
on education as a child. I was told that I'd never even be able to go to college, so in high school, I never bothered
to even try. I was told by the vice principal of my high school (Thanks Mr. Corelli - you were such an inspiration
- NOT!!! Buttwad) that I'd be pregnant as a teenager and that would be my life - white trash blowing out babies
- funny that never seemed to happen. Adults can be so cruel, they don't seem to realize what they say is so hateful
and hurtful. In hindsight, I'd have been better off being pregnant as a teenager, at least I'd have had kids.
Anyway, I was the kid that was underneath a tree reading an encyclopedia. We
had World Book encyclopedias, and I read each one cover-to-cover several times during my childhood. I've
gotten this far in my life (however hard that may be) stricly on my own hard work. I've gotten zero support from
my family, financially or emotionally, which is kind of sad. I often wonder how things might have been had I come
from a family that wanted to excel or a family that placed any emphasis on doing well - but that didn't happen. I've
struggled against inertia and mediocrity my entire life it seems.
Fortunately, I have my husband now. For him, education and knowledge is
paramount. So we see eye-to-eye on that, at least.
My husband is Brahmin and was raised in a very traditional South Indian way, as part
of a huge extended family. His father wanted him to be a priest but as a teenager, my hubby figured out that would never
pay any money. He is one of nine children, his oldest brother died from some sort of tropical fever at the age
of 5 or 6. The other 7 are still alive and doing well. Money was always an issues, so many mouths to feed.
He wanted to do well so that his parents would be well taken care of.
His birth village is Gutala (which I finally got to visit in December 2006), and Devada
is the village where he grew up. Both are located in Andhra Pradesh in some of the most fertile & lush grounds
in India, in the delta of the Godavari River. His family lost all their property due to land reforms - they are still
fighting in court some 40 years later. That's Indian justice for you - slower than frozen molasses!!!
So that is one thing my husband and I have in common - we come from families that ONCE had money and now don't. LOL
He speaks five languages fluently, including Tamil, Telegu, Hindi, Sanskit and English,
and he also speaks some Japanese, Spanish and Russian. I know Tamil but cannot speak it very well because I cannot twist
my tongue properly (very hard language) and can speak some Hindi but very limited. I also know French, a smattering
of Italian and am learning Dutch which I can read and write, but cannot speak at all. These European languages
are infinitely easier languages from my perspective than the Indian ones. I need to learn Hindi better, yaar.
I think Hindi is the prettiest written language of all, but it sounds vulgar to my ear - too nasal and down in the throat.
LOL
My husband hates my birds and we fight over them a lot. But I am stubborn and
refuse to sell them (UPDATE - I SOLD ALL MY BIRDS WHEN I MOVED TO INDIA - AND I'M STILL MISSING THEM DESPERATELY). I
feel so depressed just thinking that someday I might have to sell them, if we spend more time in India or whatever.
So that's me in a nutshell: Birds, Nature, Breeding (everything except for myself),
Science, Intellectual Property, India and of course, my husband. We don't have a very active social life outside of
the law firm since my husband is very busy with his career, and sadly we don't have a family of our own right now.
Oh I suppose I should tell my full name, Prathivadi Bhayankaram Annan Padma Vaishnavi
Christine Anne Cherris Yeoman Kumar. Hopefully I got it all right - it's so long I don't even know how to spell it sometimes.
I tend to abbreviate it as PBAPV Christine ACY Kumar and usually just drop the first five initials all together.
The first five names are Indian origin, the first three being my husband's family name. Padma Vaishnavi are from our
marriage - the priest would not marry us unless I had a proper Indian name. They went back and forth between Padma and
Vaishnavi - so I just took them both and made the decision making process easier. Kumar is now my surname - I took it
since INS forced my husband to take it (INS Yacks). The rest are, of course, western names. My nicknames include
Albert from my childhood, Xris and La Bella. I just go by Christine these days, and only because the Italians
said it so beautifully, I finally fell in love with my own name - or at least when spoken by Italians. Grazie Pierre
Paolo et. al.
Update: October, 2007
The good news is nearly ALL of my spine pain is gone and the night time hip burning
is also mostly gone - Phew. I do still have problems if I have to sit for a long time in uncomfortable chairs - which
means I'm so screwed because DU Law School chairs and benches were designed to be exact replicas of a medieval torture chamber.
That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger I guess...
Now my major challenge is to pick up what's left of the pieces of a life
twice derailed - once due to unexplained infertility and then a second time due to my severe degenerative spine issues.
The doctor told me that my L3/L4 disk was well on it's way to checking out and gave me about a five year warranty on it.
That was over 3 years ago. I don't know if he was right or not, but I hope that I don't have to go through
all those spine problems again. It scares the hell out of me - I barely made it through last time. But of
course if that is what it takes, then I'll go through all that bullshit again. Anything to stay out of a wheelchair
and OFF painkillers.
In many respects, I feel like I'm in a race against time - with myself.
And I'm trying to get in as much as I can while the fun lasts and my spine holds up ~ however long that may be. I know
if my spine goes on me again, I can always return back to what I did between 2002 - 2007 (which was essentially
nothing).
Therefore, I want to make the most of my mobility while I still have it - which
is a huge part of the reason I decided to move to India. Hard for a spoiled American to chose to do something more
radical than to go live in India. I felt like I lost this HUGE chunk of my life and wanted to do something different
for a while.
I'm still busy rehabbing, and I do notice more and more flexibility in my spine every
month - though the muscles are still spazzed some - which is so frustrating. My next major goal (beside purchase
a flat in Delhi & get settled, pass the USPTO bar exam and pass my first semester exams in law school - just
a few things on my inteniary to accomplish) is to get permanent swimming pool access while in India. It not only
helps with my spine/flexibility/stamina and overall health and getting my weight back under control (YES!), but it also goes
a VERYlong way towards stress decompression.
While I love India, let me tell you - it's one thing to visit for a few weeks.
It's quite another thing to actually live there. Most days, it can be frustrating as hell (culture clash,
language barrier and I'm so aggressive most Indians can find me a bit ~ or a lot ~ intimidating) that you really don't
want to be outside my bedroom door when the umpteenth zillionth thing has gone wrong in the typical Indian day - I can
outcuss a truckdriver - LOL. But I must confess, slowly
I'm learning to roll with the punches. If India teaches you anything - it teaches you patience ~ something I'm
typically in very short supply of. I also get by with a little (or a lotta) help from my friends. Fortunately,
I have a lot of very good friends in India as well as around the world.
Christine
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