My all time favourite story...

"Once upon a time in an island there lived all the feelings and emotions : Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to them that the island would sink! So all of them constructed boats and left, except for Love.

Love wanted to hold out there until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love, in a boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?"

Richness answered, "Sorry Love, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat and so there is no place here for you."

Love next asked Vanity who was also sailing by. 

Vanity was also ready with the same answer. "I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat."

Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, take me along with you."

"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!", sadness said in a sullen voice.

Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so preoccupied with her happiness that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder figure. An overjoyed Love jumped up into the boat. When they arrived at a dry land, Love got down and  the elder went her own way. In the overwhelming joy, Love forgot to ask who that caring elder figure was.

Realizing how much He owed to the 'elder', Love asked Knowledge, another elder there, "Who is the one who helped me?"

Knowledge answered, "It was Time." 

"Time?" thought Love. Then, as if reading the face of Love, Knowledge smiled and answered, "Yes, Time...only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

My motivation to do physical exercise

Till few months back I was very motivated to do physical exercise and I used to hit the gym regularly. But of late because of lot of travelling (or whatever excuses!), had slackened a bit. Now it is getting difficult to fall into that routine.

I know exercising prevents most of the health problems, I also have experienced that if I regularly do it most of my health complaints also stay far off. I also know that this rigorous physical activity for an hour or two makes me feel fresh for the rest of the day. Moreover, I have witnessed so many publications stating the importance of Exercising in preventing age related neurodegenerative disorders....!
Despite knowing all this, ooooof...this procrastination.....!!

But now I am getting into this routine again.....and  I am amused to see what is driving me!!! It is this...

A decade back or even later than that, if someone on the road or someone in the train or temple would address me as "papa" , I used to be furious....I used to keep telling my mom,"Why do they call me papa? I am so grown up"...and all that...

But now...
When someone addresses me as "papa" in the temple or in train, I feel tickled and delighted! Ironically, I am definitely older than what I was a decade ago....But I feel excited now because, it reconfirms my illusion that I am still young and more than all that it motivates me to exercise so that I stay young for some more years......

What a motivation!!! Cheers!

Beyond imperfections!

I like this song for its lyric and music.
Listen to it here: Angadi theru - music by G V Prakash
This is a beautiful song because its about looking beyond imperfections...
I guess many wonders in human relationships work only because of such a perspective!

Happy Friendship day!

There were times when I used to think that in any relationship, there should be reciprocation, otherwise there is no point in continuing such a relation..., but at that time, you popped up and said "no......even if you don't give me, I am here to give you because I care for you"!

I wish I would never forget this precious lesson that I learnt from you ever.

This picture just reminds me of you Neha!  It just reminds me of that soup you made for me and delivered it at my room when I was ill, inspite of the fact that I was angry with you!
I miss those days of our togetherness!

Happy friendship day dear friend!
Although I have many more friends, I think you are the one who influenced me the most, especially because of your patience. And I think you don't even know it :-)!

But now if you ask me, to describe one such characteristic of every friend I have, I can't.....because if I investigate too much, I just end up realizing that I don't have to have a reason to like someone....I just love my friends because they make me happier by just being there! And yes, with every friend, the best part is the fight we had..!
Don't you too think so friends...;-)?!

Thank you all, for making this life a better one!

Happy Friend's day!

Ah! after all the time's not lost!

"On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. 
But it is never lost, my lord. 
Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands.

Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness.

I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. 
In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers."

~Gitanjali (poem 81)

Taste of Tagore

Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! 
I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust.

It may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a -touch of pain  from thy hand and pluck it.I fear lest the day end before I am aware,and the time of offering go by.

Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint,use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time.

~ Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali (Poem 6)

P.S: Thanks Maya, for this gift. 

I never thought I would ever read Tagore!

Amma's recipe!

I had always been interested in cooking. But I always liked to cook something special...as in, I like to make chocolates, paal payasam, pavakkai stuffed with paneer.....etc. The traditional sambar- rasam cooking never interested me.But of late, I have been realizing the importance of this traditional cooking!

I learnt from Amma to make Pitla ( I see it as a variant of sambar)! I was surprised that my first experiment was almost perfect. Here is the glimpse of the pitla I made.

Here is the recipe. Try if interested.

A)On a kadai, add a table spoon of oil, add 1 table spoon of kadalai paruppu (Bengal Gram/ Channa dal) and 1/2 table spoon of ulutham paruppu (Black gram, Urad dal)and saute till golden brown. Add a handful of Dania seeds and saute till golden brown. Add 7-8 red chillies (or as required) and saute till the red chillies fry a little. Add 1/2 tsp of pepper corns (Milagu) and add 6-7 tablespoons of grated coconut 
(half of a coconut will make it tastier) and saute till golden brown. Let this mixture cool and grind it to paste along with a very little amount of jaggery (just about half a teaspoon) and set aside.

B)Take tamarind (about lemon sized) and prepare extract in water and set aside.

C)Take a small cup of Thuvaram paruppu (Thoor dal) and pressure cook it in a cooker and set aside.

D)Take a kadai, add a table spoon of oil, add the cut Brinjal (1/2 tp 3/4 Kgs), add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder, and required amount of salt. and saute for few minutes until the brinjal becomes softer. Add the tamarind extract (from B) and leave it on low flame until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off  (This step took a long time, actually!). Then add the paste (from A) to the above and allow it to boil for few minutes. Then add the Dal (from C) and allow the whole mix to boil for few minutes...Pitla is ready! Switch off the flame.

Add cut corainder leaves (kothamalli thazhai) and curry leaves to the above. Add perungayam (Heeng/ Asoefitida) over the pitla.

E)in a separate smaller kadai, add a teaspoon of ghee for mustard seasoning. Pour this over the pitla such that it touches the Asoefitida (perungayam) sprinkled on the pitla.

Hot, tasty, fragrant Pitla ready! Aaha!