By Stephanie Francis, Globe Correspondent

Suzanne Frechette, 51, volunteered with the Coalition for a Better Acre a year before she was offered a job with them as deputy director. 

By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

April 15 2013 – how I looked forward to the day on April 14 2013! It was going to be Marathon Monday and my plans were to sit back at home, relax and enjoy the day as it unfolded.

And you know what? It was also the Bengali New Year. Bengalis – are those who belong to the state of West Bengal in India and even those from Bangladesh. Called “Poila Baisakh” or the first day of the month of Baisakh is celebrated with family, sharing the bounties of harvest, making delicacies to welcome the New Year and seeking blessings from those older.

As immigrants we tend to latch onto festivals that can be celebrated abroad where we live without much effort. Some festivals require complicated rituals which unless you gather resources and material, it is hard to pull it off. But Poila Baisakh is always simple and picking up the phone to call or answer calls and wish is the easiest thing to do. It is such a folksy day (unlike other stern, ritualistic festivals) that welcomes all and it is the inclusive nature of the day that makes me happy and I look forward to it every year. It gives me a chance to carry forward some of my traditions and I surprise myself sometimes at the food I whip up like my mother did. As a child watching her cook and helping her around in the kitchen has paid off although at the time of, it was a chore!

In the news early morning I read that US Secretary of State John Kerry sent his Poila Baisakh wishes to the Bengali speaking people across the world. “On behalf of President Obama, I convey my warm greetings to all Bengali speaking people around the world as you celebrate Poila Baisakh. The American people wish you all happiness and prosperity in the New Year,” he said in a statement. Those words made me feel like it was going to be a beautiful day. Some days are just like that.

As I finished my calls to India by late noon, wishing friends and family I was wondering what would be on our festive dinner menu. It must have been around 3 pm that I switched on the news and all channels on TV had a rider at the bottom of the screen saying “breaking news.” What was so urgent that they had to stop regular programming? Maybe the Marathon runners were being felicitated, I thought. I waited for the sound to come on and that is when I realized how ominous the day had turned into.

I looked aghast at the at the plume of smoke and fire as the “explosions” came on, people running injured and crying, the shock on their faces writ large and the police, EMTs scattered on the screen. It took me back to 9/11 and the subsequent fear, shock and devastation. Why? And why Boston? People from all over the world were participating – what a way to target innocent people! Time stood still and all the festive spirit with which the day started for me had completely diminished.

Again calls poured in from India and rest of the country asking if we were safe – and everyone asked about the eight year old Martin who lost his life and his mother and sister have serious injuries. What has the world come to? Who are the people who thrive on killing a child? And innocent by standers supporting and cheering on the runners – what was their fault? In the years that I have spent in and around Boston and made it my home I have never seen anything as violent, despicable and alarming as this. May be DC because it is the political hot seat, maybe New York because of its financial status but never Boston. I made calls to people I know who work and live around Boston and was relieved to learn they were safe but for some it was quite close. Either they walked down Boylston Street minutes before the explosion or they were stopped by the police much before they reached the finish line.

My day changed. If the New Year begins on such a violent note, what is the rest of the year going to be like? I shudder as I keep my eyes peeled on the news updates. Stories of brave men and women helping those injured pour in. Yes we are in mourning – we have lost people – lives and their being. We have lost a way of living and trusting.

What I am sometimes uncertain about is how as a regular law abiding, hard working immigrant am I supposed to mourn? Is there a template that I could follow so I am recognized as a viable mourner? Am I allowed to be part of a shared sense of loss? I see my colleagues share their experiences as Marathon runners, bystanders and just regular people and then write about how “American” it is to help each other in times of distress. At one go, I am shut off from what is going on.

Did I hear that the devices used were packaged in a pressure cooker? It is as common as an oven or a microwave for an American as a pressure cooker is for many cultures and cooking. It even forms part of wedding trousseau because the cookers are sturdy and last a life time just like silverware and dishes in this country.

At this point I am angry that something so cultural has been usurped for a heinous crime. And I want to reclaim that and much, much more. At the time of writing this piece, no one had been found responsible or at least reported. I hope they do find out and soon because we are hurting and need closure.

Understandably, loss is private, personal but when there is breakdown of the normal, let us recognize that bereavement is across family, community, national boundaries and an essential step in rebuilding our lives.

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.

By Globe Staff

The MSPCA reported a volunteer found “Pete” the Beagle early Friday afternoon on the Nevins Farm property in Methuen after he was stolen sometime Thursday. 

Five-year-old Pete was stolen from the organization’s adoption center minutes before his new adopter was to take him home.

Officials believe the dog was dropped off Friday by whoever stole him Thursday, MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin said.

Mike Keiley, Nevins Farm director, said Pete is unharmed and appears healthy, While he’s trying to find out who dropped him off Friday, he is also contacting the adopters to make arrangements to pick up Pete and take him home.

By Globe Staff

The MSPCA reported Friday that a a five-year-old Beagle named “Pete” was stolen from the organization’s Nevins Farm Adoption Center in Methuen Thursday, minutes before his new adopter was to take him home.

According to MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin, Pete was taken sometime between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Halpin said the dog is mostly white, black, and brown and was last seen wearing a red collar.

The MSPCA has alerted the Methuen Police Department and will engage Granite State Dog Recovery, a volunteer group that uses high-tech equipment and expert search teams to locate lost or stolen animals.

Halpin said Pete has a microchip tracking device and Mike Keiley, MSPCA-Nevins farm director, has reported him stolen to Home Again, the company that manages Pete’s microchip.  The MSPCA will be notified if Pete’s microchip is scanned by a veterinarian or an animal control officer.

There are no leads at this point and the MSPCA is asking for the public’s help in finding Pete.  The MSPCA does not plan to press charges – the person who has him can bring him back no questions asked, so long as he is safe an unharmed, Halpin said.

Anyone with information is asked to e-mail Keiley direction at mkeiley@mspca.org.

By David Nyhan, Globe Staff

The late Globe columnist David Nyhan wrote the following column in 1987. Since then, it has been reprinted in the newspaper and online many times around this time of year. Nyhan died in January 2005.

THE REJECTIONS arrive this time of year in thin, cheap envelopes, some with a crummy window for name and address, as if it were a bill, and none with the thick packet you'd hoped for.

''Dear So-and-so:

''The admissions committee gave full consideration . . . but I regret to inform you we will be unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2012." Lots of applicants, limited number of spaces, blah blah blah, good luck with your undergraduate career. Very truly yours, Assistant Dean Blowhard, rejection writer, Old Overshoe U.

This is the season of college acceptance letters. So it's also the time of rejection. You're in or you're out. Today is the day you learn how life is not like high school. To the Ins, who got where they wanted to go: Congrats, great, good luck, have a nice life, see you later. The rest of this is for the Outs.

You sort of felt it was coming. Your SAT scores weren't the greatest. Your transcript had some holes in it. You wondered what your teachers' recommendations would really say, or imply. And you can't help thinking about that essay you finished at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day you absolutely had to mail in your application, that essay which was, well, a little weird.

Maybe you could have pulled that C in sociology up to a B-minus. Maybe you shouldn't have quit soccer to get a job to pay for your gas. Maybe it was that down period during sophomore year when you had mono and didn't talk to your teachers for three months while you vegged out. What difference does it make what it was? It still hurts.

It hurts where you feel pain most: inside. It's not like the usual heartache that kids have, the kind other people can't see. An alcoholic parent, a secret shame, a gaping wound in the family fabric, these are things one can carry to school and mask with a grin, a wisecrack, a scowl, a just-don't-mess-with-me-today attitude.

But everybody knows where you got in and where you didn't. Sure, the letter comes to the house. But eventually you've still got to face your friends. ''Any mail for me?" is like asking for a knuckle sandwich. Thanks a lot for the kick in the teeth. What a bummer.

How do you tell kids at school? That's the hard part. The squeals in the corridor from the kids who got in someplace desirable. The supercilious puss on the ones who got early acceptance or the girl whose old man has an in at Old Ivy.

There's the class doofus who suddenly becomes the first nerd accepted at Princeton, the 125-pound wrestling jock who, surprise, surprise, got into MIT. But what about you?

You've heard about special treatment for this category or that category, alumni kids on a legacy ticket or affirmative action luckouts or rebounders or oboe players. Maybe they were trying to fill certain slots. But you're not a slot. You're you. They can look at your grades and weigh your scores and see how many years you were in French Club. But they can't look into your head, or into your heart. They can't check out the guts department.

This is the important thing: They didn't reject you. They rejected your resume. They gave some other kid the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that kid deserved a break. Don't you deserve a break? Sure. You'll get one. Maybe this is the reality check you needed. Maybe the school that does take you will be good. Maybe this is the day you start to grow up.

Look at some people who've accomplished a lot and see where they started. Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn't let him play quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do you know that the recently retired chairmen and CEOs of both General Motors and General Electric graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University.

The former minority leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota State. The former speaker of the US House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, went to Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, took a bachelor's degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? He was so slow a learner that they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our hands.

I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let's keep this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also tested HIV positive? ''You've got to have a positive attitude." What happens when you don't keep a positive attitude? Don't ask.

This college thing? What happened is that you rubbed up against the reality of big-time, maybe big-name, institutions. Some they pick, some they don't. You lost. It'll happen again, but let's hope it won't have the awful kick. You'll get tossed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. You won't get the job or the promotion you think you deserve. Some disease may pluck you from life's fast lane and pin you to a bed, a wheelchair, a coffin. That happens.

Bad habits you can change; bad luck is nothing you can do anything about.

Does it mean you're not a good person? People like you, if not your resume. There's no one else that can be you. Plenty of people think you're special now, or will think that, once they get to know you. Because you are.

And the admissions department that said no? Screw them. You've got a life to lead.

By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

As many of my friends and colleagues are celebrating Passover and Easter, I am winding up my celebration of Holi. Depending on the Hindu calendar, this occurs around February of March each year and just the thought of it makes me think of bursts of “gulal” or perfumed colors, food and community.

Several stories accompany this festival and you are free to choose whichever feels comfortable. As far as I am concerned, the more stories there are, the greater the relevance to common life and living. Spring season with the ending of the winter crop in itself calls for celebration in some parts of India and in other parts the harvest comes a month later.

Nevertheless Holi does count as one of those festivals that celebrate the transition of one season to another.

Legend has it that a demon who was granted several wishes including life, created havoc in the human world. He was deemed invincible – he could not be killed by man or animal, at home or outside, neither during the day or at night. He spared no one including his son who was a believer and worshipped the Gods the demon vowed to eliminate. He tried to kill his son several ways – trample him under an elephant, drown him in the ocean but he survived. The demon’s sister Holika who was given the boon that she would not be harmed by fire decided to take the child on her lap and sit on fire. However because the son prayed, he was saved from the fire while Holika perished. And the demon, to complete the story was killed by “Narasimha” an incarnate of the god who was half man, half lion, at dusk on the threshold of the house. So every household today burns scrap paper, wood or waste material a day before Holi - derived from Holika ridding themselves of all evil and purifying the air. The next day – the day of Holi is about exuberant colors, folk music and enhanced interactions in the community celebrating the triumph of good over evil.

Another story is about Krishna who was tired of being asked about his dark complexion when compared to his friends which included Radha. To change things Krishna devised the prank of throwing colors with the intention of changing complexion of his friends, girls included. Folk hymns and songs are composed and sung about Krishana romancing Radha who after initially resisting his advances gives in to his charms. This sounds as harmless and romantic as it can get. Another interpretation is that this story often becomes the sounding off point for what is known as “eve teasing” especially during Holi. Culturally Holi “allows” for what many anthropologists call “anti-structure” that implies role reversals, and the normal is turned on its head. All distinctions of caste, class, creed and gender are thrown to the wayside. Further, approaching another person hitherto unfamiliar and applying color on them is completely permissible during Holi. In an egalitarian world this would have been fine and for the most part it can be. Many incidents have been recorded before and during Holi where women are prone to attacks including groping and smearing colors without their consent. This can be because of ingesting the traditonal “bhang” an intoxicating drink made from cannabis but not necessarily so because offensive behavior is not regulated this day.

Perpetrators get away saying “this is Holi, please don’t take it otherwise.” The fine line between flirtation and sexual abuse diminishes as for many men it provides an easy access to women’s bodies. This behavior takes away from the essence of celebration. In the end many women recede into their homes where they are safer and not partake of the festivities or put up with all the transgressions that tantamount to abuse, which the men can “get away with.”

In the whole scheme of things the divide between women and men celebrating the festival inevitably grows. Nowhere in the texts – religious or otherwise is there mention of limited participation of women during a festival - which is what it has come to in urban India.

Subsequent to the heinous rape and death of a woman in Delhi, a recent survey conducted reveals that 9 out of 10 women feel unsafe in Delhi. The continuing instances of sexual assault on women reflects ingrained patriarchy which is further perpetuated through convenient interpretations of religious texts thus leaving the door wide open for serious lapses. My hope and wish is that the essence of Holi with its vibrant approach envelops everyone irrespective of who or what they are and transition to a more equal and just society.

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.

By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent

Buses will be used in lieu of commuter rail trains on the Lowell line this weekend due to repair work on rail tracks in Somerville, according to the MBTA.

Inbound passengers from Winchester Center, Wedgemere and West Medford stations will be bussed directly to North Station on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24. Passengers from Woburn and points north will take a bus from Anderson/Woburn to North Station, or they may take the train as far as West Medford, if that is their final destination.

Outbound, buses from North Station will take passengers to Winchester Center, Wedgemere West Medford, and Anderson/Woburn. Riders heading further north will take the train from Woburn.

Buses will depart according to the regular weekend train schedule. Arrival times may vary.

Jarret Bencks can be reached at bencks.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @JarretBencks.

By Rajashree Ghosh, Guest Columnist

Conversations sometimes take a turn for the ugly and it comes at moments that leave you quite dumbfounded. A comment about drivers from South Asia by someone I know and think of as intellectually evolved, was by far alarming. What played in my mind was how an intelligent discerning individual can be so determined about labeling and profiling with alacrity and impunity in a sense. But maybe intellect has nothing to do with it. Intellectuals and the lesser achieved all share the same world view –everyone knows what “their” world is all about and how different it is from “our” world. The separation between “us” and “them” takes several forms and stereotyping is one way of reinstating and perpetuating the gap. No wonder being pulled over for “driving while Asian” (DWA) elicits multiple reactions but mostly chuckles and laughter, unfortunately so.

I am quite aware that stereotyping of any community and definitely of South Asians in the United States is common. South Asians are caricatured through convenience store owner Apu in the cartoon series The Simpsons, feted for acing Spelling Bee contests and success in Information Technology, and courted for their wealth given their status as the ethnic group with the highest per capita income in U.S. Sometimes they are also chastised for not being part of the American mainstream. Many of you might be found answering questions about homes in slums because “Slumdog Millionaire” allegedly informed audiences that every Indian habitat is a slum; or if the language you spoke is Hindu (which it couldn’t be because Hinduism is a religion) and the confusing and multitude of media infused images of cows, poverty, Mother Teresa and then there is Kamasutra! Negative images about other cultures that main-stream North Americans are inevitably exposed to inevitably color everyone's personal socialization experience.

As Indians, we always referred to ourselves as Asians from the continent of Asia. Geographical location determined where one belonged. But in the United States, the country we live now in presents the world in different segmented ways. Asians are restricted to people from Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Korea and I am very reluctant to say that race has nothing to do with defining this category. Now we are saddled with the “South” Asian category, which by the way is a 1990s classification designed by the Washington bureaucrats. I along with many from that region who may belong to one of the several countries (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal) feel that we were given this “ours” and whatever it entails. It is by no means a homogeneous group. It may not even be possible to consider the diverse group of people who lived on a large continent and moved to the United States as a coherent unit of “South Asian-Americans” that can be stereotyped as a homogeneous group. But stereotyping still happens.

A demographic snapshot of South Asians in the United States crunched out from the 2010 U.S Census by an NGO group shows the Indian-American population in the U.S (including multiple ethnicities) grew 68 per cent over the 2000-2010 decade from 1.9 million to 3.19 million. Counting single ethnicity (discounting mixed race), the population grew from 1.67 million to 2.84 million in the same period. That made Indian-Americans the third largest Asian-American group in the U.S after Chinese-Americans (3.79 million) and Filipino-Americans (3.42 million), but with a much faster growth rate. People who identified themselves as Indian origin comprise the largest segment of the 3.4 million-strong. Such census data reflect that demographics of ethnic groups and nationalities can be important for stakeholders to undertake advocacy with government entities and make funding requests. State and federal lawmakers can also use the data to deepen engagement with the communities and reflect their concerns in policymaking.

While strength in numbers is a criteria and may also be a reason to be non-judging of a community, the fact is that the awareness of the "other" is limited and even discouraged. I look to India and see if this is specific to the US and it is not. Women from the west are branded as morally loose and sexually promiscuous. Who has not watched Pretty Woman and Basic Instinct! The other is defined as wild, less regulated and dramatically at the opposite end of the permissible behavior among “us.” Within the country looking inward, dark-skinned people are deemed as undesirable and less economically advanced and civilized. Fairness creams are endorsed by popular film actors who have large fan followings. Matrimonial ads ask for fairness as a prerequisite for brides (not necessarily for grooms).

I wonder if education needs to be more global that helps everyone understand the changes going on around them. It is probably not doing a whole lot to meet the requirements of a new world. By developing a prejudiced, short-sighted focus on the world – whatever the boundaries of that world, it is not creating informed citizens who are proud of their role in a pluralistic society because they remain less informed and that colors their perspective.

Rajashree Ghosh is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Waltham.