The "no honey- no sugar" sweet

My genius mom today made a sweet in 5 minutes which was damn delicious. It all started like this.... she everyday offers some nuts, dates, fig  and raisins to MAA and gives me the prasad to eat. I, the lazy one, bunk it many times and so nuts and dry fruits got accumulated. She kept scolding me for piling it up.... but then She - the genius thought of an alternative.

She ground all the dryfruits and nuts in the mixie along with a little "pottu kadalai" & made balls of it. It looked appealing and tasted Yummy tooo....Hmmm...

When i become disobedient and ignore the good things....MAA always knows how to make me do things the right way...thats because SHE loves me. My mom is no lesser in this, sometimes.

I just recalled something i read in "Amarakavyam"... " When FATHER wants something to happen, HE creates a situation..." How true... How true!!!!

Jara- old age

I was travelling to chennai in pallavan express in second sitting. A old man got in at srirangam. Some young boy came left his bag along with him. The man was very tired. He seemed ill. He frequently visited the toilet in the train. We the co-passengers realized that he had continuous dysentry. In few more hours, he seemed very weak. His dress started smelling. Any question we ask him, he replied in a very detached way. We enquired him where he is going in chennai... who would receive him at chennai. No idea!! He was silent. He seemed very determined not to say anything.

His bag had one bed sheet, few books, one more dhoti.

At Egmore, he said he will go all by himself and requested to get an auto. We did. He just told the automan something. He had no energy to smile at us. But he definetely did not want to tell us anything.

Dont know what happened to him. He very much looked like a disowned, orphaned father, who was unwilling to speak against his own children. This we inferred from tit- bits of conversation, we tried to have with him.

While disowning parents is increasing on one side, there are also cases of rich parents withall money, medical facilities but no one to talk to them or listen to them in the old age.  Old people need our time, few kind words more than money. Give them some, in turn, we will get lots of unexpected wise thoughts and blessings, which are priceless.

Respect old age.

सुख और दुख

भग़वान दुख देता है शिक्शा के लिये और सुख देता है परिक्श के लिये!

These lines, I heard once in this Ramananda sagar serial, "Ramayan".

It says it all!!


P.S: I used http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/devanagari.htm for devanagari script. It did not have the alphabet 'ksha'!

அவள் அறக்கருணையும் மறக்கருணையும்!

This is just to share what I read recently.

Sharath Chandra Chattopadhyaya, a celebrated Bengali Novelist (then an unknown young man) accompanied Swami Ramakrishnanda ( one of the 16 monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) on his walk. He asked lot of questions to Swami who answered to him patiently and succinctly. Sharat's conversation with swami is recorded in "The story of a Dedicated life."

Here is a small portion of their conversation:

Sharath: "If GOD always thinks of the welfare of human beings, why then have they so much misery?"

Swami: "GOD is all-auspicious and all-powerful. Whatever he does is always for the good of all beings.Our parents wish for the welfare of their children, but they are not all-powerful. Endowed with these two qualities, if GOD allots sorrows and suffering to anyone then know for certain that it is His Blessing in disguise. What we call as misery is in fact His kindness. We forget God in our greed for transient pleasures. So He makes us remember Him by these little miseries. His kindness is expressed through both favourable and unfavourable circumstances. When He adorns our coveted playhouse of life with wife, wealth, friends, fame and so on- it is the PLEASANT kindness of God. But when He takes them away one after the another, makes us shed tears and drags forcible towards Him- it is His UNPLEASANT kindness."

Similar to this, I have heard from my mother about Kunthi stuti, where one day it seems she prayed to the Lord, "Krishna, give me lot of miseries, because it is at all those times that you were with us."

I am just wondering "Do any of us have the guts to repeat that prayer"???!!!!!

I want it ever'GREEN'!

If I am arrogant,

please correct me,

but don't abandon me

If I am boastful,

Please subdue me

but don’t boycott me

If I am lazy,

Please enliven me

but don’t leave me

If I am foolish,

please bear with me

and don’t forsake me

Scold me,

Haul me over the coals

But please don't walk out of my life

If the ‘Green’ goes off, then what will remain here...Oh Mother!

If your Big Beautiful eyes do not cast your care on me, who else will!

Letter to my liver!

My dear Liver,

You have been such a loyal friend to me from the time I was born. You have been playing so many roles in my life  for almost 3 decades now. While I was sitting happily and enjoying all the tasty foods available, you were toiling behind metabolising them, and made sure that I am energetic. Not only that, you made sure you did your detoxification function effectively so that there was no toxic accumulation inside me.

You were such a nice friend to me that, you did not expect anything back from me. It was such uncondition al love that you kept doing your duty even when I did not appreciate your role. You continued your tasks even when I overloaded you. A simple thanks would be a gross understatement to you. You deserve more.

Now although we are of same age, because of your over working, you seem to be tired now. I can see that you have slowed down....I can see that you are confused these days. I can see that instead of burning the calories you are accumulating them! It's ok, it happens. Now it is my turn to be concerned towards you.

I promise you I will not overburden you here afterwards. I will give you regular boosters like lemon and pepper.I will give you comforters like apple, orange and other healthy vegetables.
I will help you achieve your goals with the right kind of exercises.
I will free you off your metabolic activities by evening, so that you peacefully do your other jobs, after sunset.

I am sure, with this mutual concern we have for each other, we will go long way together.

Come, bounce back to good spirits!

Yours
Thankful friend 

Modi- the alternative Perspective

If you are also, like me, pissed off with the media's brainwash on the Narendra Modi's PMship and 'the 2002', here have a look at this analysis, I came across.
It is really interesting to look at the perspective that is being constantly shrouded!

http://guruprasad.net/posts/modi-phenomenon-propaganda-or-reality/

http://guruprasad.net/posts/part-2-modi-phenomenon-propaganda-or-reality/

http://guruprasad.net/posts/part-3-modi-phenomenon-propaganda-or-reality/

The above blogger has really done a good case-study and has impressively brought the Modi phenomenon to light.

I really wish that everyone looks at this alternative perspective also before the 2014 elections to understand the Modi phenomenon.

                            (This page is scanned from last week's issue of Vijayabharatham)

Kolu at Akhilandeswari temple last month!

This post had been lying in my draft for a long time now.  A new tradition of Kolu started at Akilandeshwari temple started this year, like the one at Meenakshi temple (although, the kolu is huge at Meenakshi temple).

Better late than Never!

To some Diwali means festival of lights and crackers, to some it also means festival of sweets. All these years that's what Diwali meant to me also. Additionally, it was also meant to show off my new dress to friends. But this year, Diwali became a festival of learning for me! I know its too late to learn these basic things....but I am glad atleast now I wanted to learn these. I learnt to make Badushah (Its called Balushahi in the North), Ashoka Halwa, Murukku and mixture. I also made my  favourite recipe- the Chocolate. Wow, it was very exciting to see that they all came out reasonably well..!

Spent two days relishing all these sweets and sharing them with friends and family! Besides these, I also had the usual dose of Medu vadai, Thayir Vadai, Suhyam.....and the ladoos, adhirasams and gulab jamoons that our neighbours shared with us! Ended the day with that traditional Diwali Legyam (a digestive medicine)! Never knew that I had such great appetite !

Cheers and good going Lals!
Now back to gym!

Sweet Tips!

Its Diwali time! I am all excited.......because this time I am all set to make sweets and savouries for the first time. I have requested my Mom to guide me through the procedures. (If I am successful in my attempts I shall upload this blog with some of those pictures) Chitthi has sent some very interesting tips for making sweets from  'Dinamani Kadhir'.
I thought I will share it with everyone.

Wow! The thought of all sweets is mouth watering- the best part of Diwali!
Well, I am not only preparing myself for making some sweets, but also preparing myself for pouncing on them -yes, I am regularly hitting the gym and dieting for the past 2 weeks so that I am ready for that HIGH CALORIE RICH FOOD !!!!

Chaos at home

There is some repair work going on inside our home, because of which we are forced to totally vacate 2 rooms of the house for the workers to work there. So now the living space left for us is the hall and a kitchen. And that hall also looks like this. (Look at this picture of the state of our hall today).

Poor mom!! She has just a couch to sit, read or even lie down!

In short, my home today looks like a platform in a railway station with so many people loitering around, with so much of dust, with so much of stuff piled up in one place and more so to see my mom lying down in the couch at one corner. This reminds me of the night I spent with my friends in the Amritsar railway station a year ago. Cannot forget that crazy night and fun filled times we had together. My heart yearns for more such moments!

This post is from a corner of this hall !

Out of the blue!

Nothing can match the standard of lyrics and the music of songs from old, black and white tamil movies, for sure. However, in the recent years, there have been some nice songs that touched my heart. And most of them have been from Bollywood. Songs like khwaja mere khwaja, Kal ho na ho, Maula mere, Noor-e-khuda etc. I have generally seen that most hindi movies have one such touching song with rich lyrics and soul-touching music. When on one end, I have enjoyed it, I always used to wonder, 'Why there are not that many such songs in Tamil movies today?!' Honestly, I have not felt so touched with any song in tamil, like the ones from bollywood, I have mentioned here.

However, this song which I came across recently touched my heart so much. Click the link to listen to it. Ennena seidhom ingae from the movie 'Mayakkam Enna'

Did not expect such a song from a 'Danush-type movie'!!!!!!!

Relationships......

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG ARE:

1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch....)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT


How many ever times I read this, I feel so good. When I see any two people with such strong relationship, I feel great and inspired. That tells me that it is not just theory, but can be practiced.

Main nahin maakhan kayo........

I love this Surdas bhajan "Main nahin makhan khayo"!
When Yashoda Maa catches Little Krishna red-handed, when he is stealing butter, she asks Krishna, "why did you steal the butter and eat?", Krishna says, "Maiya Main nahin Maakhan Khayo...." (Maa, I did not eat the butter) and little Krishna establishes that he did not eat the butter.
He justifies his point by giving explanations:
First he says,
1) I return after grazing the cows only late in evening, where is the time for eating Butter?
When Maa does not agree to this argument, he says
2) I am such a small boy, I have small hands, and you have hung the butter at such high place, how can I take and eat butter from there?
When Maa does not agree to this also,
3)He says, the Gopis are keen in complaining about Him to her and so they deliberately applied butter on his face so that he is caught.
Then, he tries other smart tactics....
4)Little krishna tries to flatter his Maa by his sweet words.
Now also Yashoda Maa is unhappy.
5)So now, Little Krishna shows a little anger and says "tomorrow onwards I will not go for grazing the cows"
Then also when Maa shows anger,
6)He says something which no mother can listen...He says "You are my step-mother, which is why you are blaming me like this."

Now, Maa is unable to listen to such big words just for a butter, so she says, "Kanhaiya, Te nahin maakhan kayo" (Krishna, you did not eat the butter.)

Now that Maa has accepted and Krishna won the argument, He again now says, "Maiya...Mai ne hi Maakhan kayo." (Maa, I only ate the butter).
Surdas ji's play with words (Main Nahin & Mai Ne Hi) is the speciality of this bhajan!

Listen to this bhajan rendered by Anup jalota: Surdas bhajan- Main nahin maakhan kayo

Sometimes HIS ways are so strange that, first He makes you deny certain thing, then He makes you agree with the same thing that too by making you give up your arguments, ego etc. Then He again tells you, "Oh, forget it, you don't have to agree to it"and makes you deny it again!!!!" STRANGE ARE HIS WAYS! But I strongly believe there are strong and valid reasons to HIS ways. 

Malarum ninaivugal!

I had to drop my mother in the temple and go to Ganapathi nagar yesterday. I went through Vibhuthi street. Sometimes, it is really amazing that a road, a board can just rekindle the past so much. As I crossed the 'Parthasarathy hotel' and the house next to it, memories poured in. I wanted to stop and take a photo of it with my mobile camera, for this blog. But vehicles behind were honking. So had to move on.

But those were days which I don't think will ever come back in life. Days when I studied with my brother together the whole day, where we charted out plans for the day, for the week and for the semester.......! How hard we worked, but still with so much joy. Oh, nostalgic!

Happy Teachers day!

September 5 of every year is a remarkable day, I never forget. It is a day, when I take time to thank all those who chiselled me to whatever I am today - MY TEACHERS!

The most important teacher and the best one I want to thank today is MY LIFE, MY EXPERIENCE! I have never seen a better teacher than her. Why Her, why not Him? Well, I have a reason to give my EXPERIENCE a feminine gender. That's because I mostly relate the EXPERIENCE to my MOTHER,because

-She makes sure I remember her wherever I go, whether she scolds me or she hugs me.
-Her thought gives me pleasant feelings, most of the times.
-She teaches me even the simplest thing of life.
And most importantly, 
-She teaches me, many times, the harsh way, because, she wants me to learn it, come what may and that's it!(and she knows those lessons stay longer than the sweet ones.)

I had wonderful experiences in the past years, and, especially in the recent years, when, my learning curve had been the steepest. I have interacted with so many people around, which in turn, has helped me understand my own self in a better way.

When I came across a silent person, I realized, how talkative I am!
& when I met a talkative person, I realized how much time I waste!

When I spoke with an argumentative person, I realized, what a critic I am!
& when some one criticized me, I realized how sensitive I am!

When I interacted with intelligent people, I realized how dumb I am!
& when I met dumb people, I realized how lucky I am!

When I met boastful people, I realized how simple I am,
 but when I met the real simple people, I realized how 'small' I am!

When I dashed with an angry person, I realized how arrogant I am!
& when I came across an arrogant person, I realized how impatient I am!

When I spent time with my friends and kins, I realized what a loving person I am,
but, When I met the real loving one, I was ashamed to know how selfish I am!

The lesson goes on....It never ends and is never going to..!

I am enjoying the lessons! Sometimes , I learn them quickly, sometimes I take a lot of time, sometimes I keep struggling with the hope that I will learn it soon and sometimes I am adamant not to learn it.  But, Life and experience are not that lenient teachers who will excuse me if I am lazy to take the lessons....So I know they are not going to let me move ahead until I learn it !

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY DEAR LIFE! KEEP MENTOR-ING ME LIKE THIS FOREVER!

My vote for alcohol prohibition!

A call from the wife of a young man, whom we know very well for a long time, has disturbed me a little. He has come up in his life with financial help from some elders in the society and most importantly through his sincerity and hardwork. But he has not yet reached any great heights. He is just in the steps to success. He still has the small struggles of life and I have always thought he has been gracefully handling it. Now this lady calls us one night and complains that her husband drinks alcohol with his friends often and she is scared! Her panicky complaint stopped suddenly and then the phone was switched off for the rest of the night! We could easily guess what must have happened there. We were shocked because this person was from a very poor background a decade ago, who would not even take tea / coffee unnecessarily. Even if we offered he would refuse. We have always seen him as a teetotaller! But this call shook me! Why does he not realize that this could ruin his life. His children are small, they are yet to complete their education and live their life. How can he be so irresponsible!

As a neuroscience graduate, I know the neurobiology behind alcoholism. It would start ruling a person. Its difficult to control (although not impossible). Now if he is going to lose all the money at the TASMAC, how is he going to run his family...and his business itself depends on being alert and sane! How will he do that carefully??!

Tamilnadu is a state that has a history of a very long term alcohol prohibition. It is said to have had prohibition from 1937-1971!  Whoever had been key to legalising alcohol again is solely responsible for ruining so many families!!!Once indiscipline creeps in, we all know how difficult it is to set it right again.And now that there is TASMAC, a government company that has monopoly over alcohol sales, the government is fetching lot of revenue from it.

If a nation is going to depend on its running on the revenue collected by ruining so many lives, what kind of nation is it!! I don't see it as anything different from a  mother selling her daughter off for lot of money, to run her family in a better way?Will this ever change? Will there be a prohibition again?

This is just a useless outburst that is an outcome of seeing a well-disciplined boy's family in the ladder of success, destroying themselves knowingly! Although I know it is a futile rambling, I also do not know what to do!!

But I am an insignificant person, who can still say, "I do not know what to do?" But how can some famous writers be so dumb.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-underage-optimist/entry/saying-cheers-in-gujarat
When I read this article, I could not disagree more. When he says, there is no point in a law which everybody breaks, I am startled! There are people who break the law and do prostitution, there are people who break the law and indulge in drug abuse. So are you saying that all these should be legalised to prevent people from breaking law. Don't you think a simple man who earns his daily wages, will go for it only when there is availability readily and he is someone who will not fight through to fetch it at any cost. Law breakers are generally those wealthy lot, who can spend money to fetch it and enjoy! If you can't do some good to the society with your writing, its acceptable. But please do not create waves that will negatively impact the society. There are lots of people who respect your writing and so kindly try to use this huge responsibility properly!

I know for sure that this young man am talking about would not have become an alcoholic, if it was not readily available! And, I am sure, every Indian would have witnessed a story like this....a family like this!

I vote for complete prohibition of alcohol!

NB: This is not any kind of campaigning. It is just about my views!

The Twins' birthday

Everyone's house will have Vella seedai, Kara seedai, murrukku, thattai and butter. So I thought He and She will be bored of that traditional food !

Nothing can beat a black and white movie for its quality!

I watched this black and white tamil movie "நத்தையில் முத்து" today. I have watched this movie earlier with my parents, here and there. But this time I watched it alone, completely. I listened to every dialogue in the movie.
I must say for a movie made in 1973, it holds true even today. The way the writer conveys his message of how the economy of the country is affected because of laziness, internal fights and how these politicians use this "Divide and Rule" so effectively and take advantage out of this, is so true even today.

There is this song in the middle of the movie "ஆடு ராட்டே, இந்த நாடு படும் பாடை பாத்து ஆடு ராட்டே ". This mind-blowing, meaningful song I feel, conveys everything that the writer wants to convey in this movie.

The plot revolves around a foreign returned Brahmin boy with broad minded outlook who marries a poor, Harijan girl against the wishes of his mother. The mutual sacrifices they make for each other strengthens their relationship. The girl through her beautiful, unassuming, compassionate character soon wins the heart of her orthodox mother in law.

With this as the main story, the way the writer touches so many wonderful subjects in this movie is awesome.
 - He sarcastically points to the plight of today's politics and beautifully explains the value of being self dependent, which could in turn improve the economy of the country!
 - Then and there he exhibits his respect for the Ramayana!
 - Every line in the movie is so piercing.
 - The "Thathuva padalgal" and the Ram Naam in the picture are so soul touching.

A beautiful beginning, meaningful going and a 'visionary' ending.

Apart from the messages conveyed in the movie, the soothing title music (the characteristic of most of black and white movie), the versatile acting of 'Kalaimamani' Varalakshmi and apt expressions of the actors Muthuraman, S V Subbiah and not to mention the excellent story and direction by K S Gopalakrishnan is worth the 3 hours. No wonder he is called the "இயக்குனர் திலகம்". (இப்பவும் இருக்காங்களே இயக்குனர் தங்கம், தகரம், சிகரம் எல்லாம்......தரமான சிந்தனையே இல்லாம ! )

One has to watch this movie to appreciate it.
Here: Nathayil Muthu Full picture (Click here to watch)

P.S: This is not an intended 'Movie Review'. It is just about my likes. 

Give way for ambulance please....!

108 is a great service! Life saving project!

Years ago, one of my relatives, died in an accident. Also I have heard my Uncle's friend died in an accident ages ago. Probably these people would have been saved if there was an 108 service then. From anywhere you call they will be there within 18 minutes. Many people have died in accidents because of excessive bleeding. If they had reached hospital on time, their lives could have been saved. There are so many other emergencies too that require timely attention.

Everyday when I go out, I see atleast one ambulance making that loud siren. "Give way to ambulance" is a rule. It is sad to see when ambulance is stuck in a traffic! I am just wondering the plight of those inside the ambulance at that moment.

Getting stuck in unavoidable traffic on one side, yesterday, when I heard an ambulance behind our car, I moved aside towards left, but to my surprise, there was another car that overtook me on my right!!! What a disgusting, shameful act! Some months ago, when I heard "Suki" sivam talk on a program, I heard him say that, "Today people are selfish to that extent that when an ambulance is heard, they want to hasten in front of it, and use the clear passage that the siren creates." I saw that yesterday. I witnessed this once in Bangalore also. To all those who irresponsibly do not give way for ambulance, listen...."Think how you would feel if one of your close ones is inside that ambulance. A Life could be saved if you are not so selfish. Every second could be precious for the life."

So please GIVE WAY TO AMBULANCE !

Note: Dial 108 in any emergency - be it a fire, crime or accident. It is a 24x7 FREE emergency service functioning in many states in India. They would ask for basic information like
1. The place where you are calling from
2.Type of emergency
3.Number of people injured
4.Caller's name and number

Anyone can call 108 from the place of accident and it is not necessary that the person affected should only call.

Let us help save a life with whatever best we can do.