First things first.
To the sweetest and most patient woman i know....my paati HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! May you live to blow 1001 candles, and make more kothamalli thogayal (or however its spelt! any spelling suggestions are welcome!), thenga thogayal, arachu vitta sambar and lovely (perungaayam thookal, puli jaasthi) Rasam for me! And may we have more endless discussions on how the urlai (potato) curry could have been roasted more, and how potatoes are getting sweeter by the day :D, and how i refuse to drink milk every night, and how good its supposed to be for my health! Love you!
I had a typical herbivore experience today. My grandmother approched me with something that looked like a petal-less flower in her hand...something she claimed was a lotus a minute before she brought it to me in that poor state of stamen, stigma and stalk! She very skillfully removed a seed-like structure from the centre of the soft, spotted, bulk of the remains of the lotus...and spread her palm out to me...after seeing the questioning look on my face, she said "saapdu ma!"(eat it!) Well, see...am not really used to eating stuff like this :D But i didn't want to refuse to anything on her b'day....and besides, she said its supposed to be good for health, and half of me was curious to see how it felt like to eat a hidden portion of a flower!! So... prayin that nothing happens, i put it in my mouth....and i realised that there couldn't be anything else in the world that would suit the meaning of the word 'tasteless' better! Ignorant as i was, i asked her if i could eat the other parts of the remains... and she gave me a half-frown, half-laugh and said NO! So i started extracting those seed-like un-opened petals... and it was a deligthful experience. We divided the 12-15 seeds between us and ate them...! Maybe that was my grandmom's way of giving me a treat for her birthday! ;-) aww what a royal treat! Ha... vegetarian turns herbivore!
I've heard of people eating rose petals... but lotus un-opened petals that look like seeds?And are hidden in some interior and cannot be found without prior knowledge of their existence?!
I have 2 more papers to go. All till all now have been so miserably pathetic... :(
Am goin crazier everyday... today i called my comb an ass cuz it toppled out of my hand and almost fell inside the toilet! I've started talking even to combs! and i thought it was limited to my football... *sigh*
Yours "exams suck"ly
(actually, that sounds really bad when read aloud...lol)
Signing off....
Nothing is ever so insignificant as to be unimportant. Everything in life matters and ultimately has a place, an impact and a meaning. --Laurens Van Der Post
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Exam Fever...or have i got used to it?
Its exam time. Its been so terrible.... Well, just imagine the only person who mails you is Editor Bob!! ;-) I hope you understood that... and half the time, u end up sleeping on your book...and end up taking 20 minute naps after 5 minute study sessions... well, i could go on forever. But, on the eve of this exam... of my 4th semester....I would like to post something that has remained in my mind despite the amount of time that has run since i read it... It came to me as an sms... and i laughed so much after reading it and remember sending it to my friends after my second sem maths exam...
I guess we all know the famous 'devuda devuda' song from rajnikanth's Chandramukhi... so, the words below, are to be sung in that tune....
To the exams coming up...
Devuda devuda, yezhumalai devuda
Govinda govinda, inniku exam govinda
Yenoda markugal, yelaame muttaigal
Nee vanthu omlett podu da!
Sabhaaaashe!
Its in blue for the exam blues!
Thats it... God save me.
Signing off....
I guess we all know the famous 'devuda devuda' song from rajnikanth's Chandramukhi... so, the words below, are to be sung in that tune....
To the exams coming up...
Devuda devuda, yezhumalai devuda
Govinda govinda, inniku exam govinda
Yenoda markugal, yelaame muttaigal
Nee vanthu omlett podu da!
Sabhaaaashe!
Its in blue for the exam blues!
Thats it... God save me.
Signing off....
Monday, May 15, 2006
The Mango Connection!
Its been happening for 6 days now, if i'm not wrong. It was six days back that a polythene cover of yellow, juicy, yummy fruits were humbly sitting near the dining table at home. Well, the Mangoes. And the only reason i remember that they got home 6 days back, is that i've been cutting one mango every evening for the past six days :D and i cut the last of the lot today! Mangoes are THE issue in summer...the sweetness, and the not-so-sweet-ness and the criticism they receive for being extremes of either of those categories! And then there are the varieties...there are so many of them! I don't think any other part of the world can ever have so many authentic names for their varieties of mangoes...banganapalli, malgova, rumani, alphonso, blahhh!!! And obviously people have their favourites :D With the right amount of sweetness and bitterness and sourness...ok, i'll stop! I really didn't want to do a post on mangoes and all....but some things have been coming to my mind every time i cut a mango, which lead to a series of other thoughts...
When i was cutting out the peel of the first mango, i had this urge to TASTE the mango!! At that very moment...when the oval-ness of the mango filled the inside of my palm, and the fingers of my other hand were engaged in the art of holding a knife...and the small mind that is mine, ran into the ripples of that past. I remember, when we were in kenya, mangoes were a big deal. They wouldn't swarm every street and vegetable shop during the summer. So, whenever mangoes were bought, and my mom decided the auspicious hour to slice them, my brother and i would gather around the table...eyes popping out expectantly, tongues watering (and watever other expression that can be added!) and she'd start peeling...and we'd have this craving to
see if it was the sweet type or the sour type... and we'd pick that first peel, take its inside part...and rip off the little mango that would have come out with the peel with our 4 front teeth...the mousy incisors! ( i didn't have braces then, and i was feeling so bad that i couldn't do it this time! arggh, the things braces do to u...!) And the satisfaction in eating the little mango that sticks to that first peel...aah! :D
Then...there was this time once...when i offered to cut mangoes at a family get-together at an aunt's place. And she obviously obliged, with all the work she had. And i began peeling them...one thing abt my uncle's that i find very cute, is that they cut fruits RELIGIOUSLY everyday...if not all of them, atleast 2 of them...So i started peeling...and one of those 2 uncles came and stood next to me. And he very sweetly criticised the way my peels were very small, in a way that nobody would realise it was criticism... I was just smiling at him, looking at my amateur mango-peeling skills!! And for a demonstration, he picked up the 2nd of the 4 mangoes, and peeled the whole thing in one cut of the knife! Meaning, the whole peel came out as one long stretch of skin...it was beautifully done. Some sort of an art...and i've been practising that method ever since! But am never able to do it fully! The max being 3/4th of the peel.... but thats long enough to satisfy me :D
And small things like this led me to think abt how i used to lick the uncooked contents of a cake...before it was shoved into the oven for baking. Note that the cake at that time contains RAW eggs, and how many ever times my mom would point that out to me, i'd give her one huge grimace for a moment, and then get back to licking it! And i also went back to how we'd always
want to eat the 'roasted' part of the potato curry that sticks to the illipa chatti (kadai) after the curry is cooked and done with!! And, there are alot more.... but, some other time.
I, as of now, live in the not-so-blissful period of what people here like to call 'study holidays' when one is able to do anything but study... And this is not the first time study hols have ben mentioned on this blog...So, i am doing exactly what my previous Study holidays post said i was doing...and for those of you who didn't see it then...'what study holidays can do to you'...
Yours "Mangoes are just about the only good part of summer'ly
Signing off.......
When i was cutting out the peel of the first mango, i had this urge to TASTE the mango!! At that very moment...when the oval-ness of the mango filled the inside of my palm, and the fingers of my other hand were engaged in the art of holding a knife...and the small mind that is mine, ran into the ripples of that past. I remember, when we were in kenya, mangoes were a big deal. They wouldn't swarm every street and vegetable shop during the summer. So, whenever mangoes were bought, and my mom decided the auspicious hour to slice them, my brother and i would gather around the table...eyes popping out expectantly, tongues watering (and watever other expression that can be added!) and she'd start peeling...and we'd have this craving to
see if it was the sweet type or the sour type... and we'd pick that first peel, take its inside part...and rip off the little mango that would have come out with the peel with our 4 front teeth...the mousy incisors! ( i didn't have braces then, and i was feeling so bad that i couldn't do it this time! arggh, the things braces do to u...!) And the satisfaction in eating the little mango that sticks to that first peel...aah! :D
Then...there was this time once...when i offered to cut mangoes at a family get-together at an aunt's place. And she obviously obliged, with all the work she had. And i began peeling them...one thing abt my uncle's that i find very cute, is that they cut fruits RELIGIOUSLY everyday...if not all of them, atleast 2 of them...So i started peeling...and one of those 2 uncles came and stood next to me. And he very sweetly criticised the way my peels were very small, in a way that nobody would realise it was criticism... I was just smiling at him, looking at my amateur mango-peeling skills!! And for a demonstration, he picked up the 2nd of the 4 mangoes, and peeled the whole thing in one cut of the knife! Meaning, the whole peel came out as one long stretch of skin...it was beautifully done. Some sort of an art...and i've been practising that method ever since! But am never able to do it fully! The max being 3/4th of the peel.... but thats long enough to satisfy me :D
And small things like this led me to think abt how i used to lick the uncooked contents of a cake...before it was shoved into the oven for baking. Note that the cake at that time contains RAW eggs, and how many ever times my mom would point that out to me, i'd give her one huge grimace for a moment, and then get back to licking it! And i also went back to how we'd always
want to eat the 'roasted' part of the potato curry that sticks to the illipa chatti (kadai) after the curry is cooked and done with!! And, there are alot more.... but, some other time.
I, as of now, live in the not-so-blissful period of what people here like to call 'study holidays' when one is able to do anything but study... And this is not the first time study hols have ben mentioned on this blog...So, i am doing exactly what my previous Study holidays post said i was doing...and for those of you who didn't see it then...'what study holidays can do to you'...
Yours "Mangoes are just about the only good part of summer'ly
Signing off.......
Monday, May 08, 2006
Nostalgia 2
UPDATE 12/5/06 - To the man of many names... call him Ram, call him shantaram, call him ramji... i still go with the original ;-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY VINAY!!!! Have a blast! And damn you're 20! Nitya'd say "Old age's catching on"! lol... and yes, we await the treat :D Good luck for the year to come...and beyond.
I voted today. I'm so proud of that purple line running across one digit of the index finger of my left hand. I'd like to think it makes a difference. This post is not about poilitics, or voting, or the elections. I just realised that the sentences i've typed are so disconnected. But i like it this way. Because sometimes, things do seem so disconnected....until that 'connection' is made. I'm blabbering. I didn't mean to. I want to stop. But its not stopping. It's just tumbling out of me. My fingers just cant stop typing. aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
Ok, sorry abt that.
Besi. The word synonymous with the 'oh my God i don't know how many people i'm going to bump into this time!' feeling...Beaches can do crazy things to people...or maybe it just depends on the people you go there with. I for one, was among a group of the craziest people i've ever met...the whackiest. And well, ofcourse we cracked up. Alot. We didn't waste more than a minute being awed by the beauty of the water and te beckoning breeze. Our topic of interest shifted to the bill boards of rahul dravid that used to be there a while back and how the present ones make no sense at all. Aah, how important. Our odyssey to reach the edge of the sands and see the water was very expectedly disturbed by a detour taken by 2 among us. A tempting detour indeed. To the hand-operated merry-go-round! My dear pal nitya and I went in search of a dustbin to discard the uncooked contents of a transparent polythene cover while lavanya and nidhee were very busy getting excited to sit on the 'oh-i-am-waiting-to-be-broken' wooden seats of the merry-go-round. And the world became one big circle. Too bored of watching the two merry-go-round-ers scream and laugh and sway, we took to observing our footwear! And Nitya, the architect, decided a photograph of our footwear would do the world good :D
The odyssey continued. Through the sticky sands and non-stop comments. And there was this 'moment' when we reached the waters...somehow, the receding waves always have this particular 'effect' on the mind....like it can hold your attention forever...like you'll never get bored of staring into the abyss...and out of nowhere, the song 'alaipayuthe' plays in the mind...that always happens. But that moment, was short enough...quickly pushed out of the mind by a photography session! And there my metallic smile comes into the picture! Literally metallic... :D We sat, stood, smiled, made faces....and results of such disastrous acts are yet to be seen! The long stretch back to the road leading home had to be taken...
Nitya puts her hand (which it must be noted, is nothing more than the thinnest bone in the world covered by a little flesh) ;-), around my shoulder...like we're going ot have the most senti conversation in whole wild world because we met after so long...u should read this...
Me : Lavanya's going to have two dogs later in life.
Her: ya me too
Me : two?
Her : No, one. Those really furry ones! The lassie types!
Me : *laughter*
Her: But i'm going to have twins
Me : Oh... yeah?
Her : Yeah...before i used to want a boy and a girl. But now, i'm settled for two boys.
Me : *suppressing laughter* (facing difficulty closing mouth cuz of braces!!) ok... then if i have a boy and you have a girl, can we exchange?
Her : Yeah totally!I already have that deal with so many people!
Me : *burst out laughing*
at this juncture, lav and nidhee enter the convo. And i very gracefully explain what we've been discussing....
Nid: But if you exchange, your twins wont be identical anymore!
Nitya: No that deal's only when i have a single child!
Lav : but how can u be sure u'll have twins!
Nid: Oh that's simple. You just have to practice ART.
*all stares and eyebrows raised at the word*
Nid : *quickly realising where devious minds run to* Oh ART is just assisted reproductive techonology!!!!
*burst out laughing again*
There ends the topic of twin babies and the way nidhee always has to prove that she's doing medicine... nj, we understand the insecurity!
Some days just keep you laughing... i was laughing about that conversation even 3 hours after it happened. And about the merry go round, and all the crazy snaps....and the bill boards...and the discarded packet of kadalai...we walked abt 100 metres in search of a dustbin! Nostalgia, yet again. A feeling that's always bitter-sweet. A feeling that sometime's seems to overflow from the mind...pouring into each cell of your body...taking control. *sigh*
Nidhee, nitya, lav - thanx !! Great day!
PS: Am not really in the 'sequel mood' or anything....all '2's comin out... or maybe i am ;-) considering pirates of the carribean 2 is coming out!! wooo hooooo!!!
Yours ' Crazy days end up tickling dormant nostalgia'ly
Signing off........
I voted today. I'm so proud of that purple line running across one digit of the index finger of my left hand. I'd like to think it makes a difference. This post is not about poilitics, or voting, or the elections. I just realised that the sentences i've typed are so disconnected. But i like it this way. Because sometimes, things do seem so disconnected....until that 'connection' is made. I'm blabbering. I didn't mean to. I want to stop. But its not stopping. It's just tumbling out of me. My fingers just cant stop typing. aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
Ok, sorry abt that.
Besi. The word synonymous with the 'oh my God i don't know how many people i'm going to bump into this time!' feeling...Beaches can do crazy things to people...or maybe it just depends on the people you go there with. I for one, was among a group of the craziest people i've ever met...the whackiest. And well, ofcourse we cracked up. Alot. We didn't waste more than a minute being awed by the beauty of the water and te beckoning breeze. Our topic of interest shifted to the bill boards of rahul dravid that used to be there a while back and how the present ones make no sense at all. Aah, how important. Our odyssey to reach the edge of the sands and see the water was very expectedly disturbed by a detour taken by 2 among us. A tempting detour indeed. To the hand-operated merry-go-round! My dear pal nitya and I went in search of a dustbin to discard the uncooked contents of a transparent polythene cover while lavanya and nidhee were very busy getting excited to sit on the 'oh-i-am-waiting-to-be-broken' wooden seats of the merry-go-round. And the world became one big circle. Too bored of watching the two merry-go-round-ers scream and laugh and sway, we took to observing our footwear! And Nitya, the architect, decided a photograph of our footwear would do the world good :D
The odyssey continued. Through the sticky sands and non-stop comments. And there was this 'moment' when we reached the waters...somehow, the receding waves always have this particular 'effect' on the mind....like it can hold your attention forever...like you'll never get bored of staring into the abyss...and out of nowhere, the song 'alaipayuthe' plays in the mind...that always happens. But that moment, was short enough...quickly pushed out of the mind by a photography session! And there my metallic smile comes into the picture! Literally metallic... :D We sat, stood, smiled, made faces....and results of such disastrous acts are yet to be seen! The long stretch back to the road leading home had to be taken...
Nitya puts her hand (which it must be noted, is nothing more than the thinnest bone in the world covered by a little flesh) ;-), around my shoulder...like we're going ot have the most senti conversation in whole wild world because we met after so long...u should read this...
Me : Lavanya's going to have two dogs later in life.
Her: ya me too
Me : two?
Her : No, one. Those really furry ones! The lassie types!
Me : *laughter*
Her: But i'm going to have twins
Me : Oh... yeah?
Her : Yeah...before i used to want a boy and a girl. But now, i'm settled for two boys.
Me : *suppressing laughter* (facing difficulty closing mouth cuz of braces!!) ok... then if i have a boy and you have a girl, can we exchange?
Her : Yeah totally!I already have that deal with so many people!
Me : *burst out laughing*
at this juncture, lav and nidhee enter the convo. And i very gracefully explain what we've been discussing....
Nid: But if you exchange, your twins wont be identical anymore!
Nitya: No that deal's only when i have a single child!
Lav : but how can u be sure u'll have twins!
Nid: Oh that's simple. You just have to practice ART.
*all stares and eyebrows raised at the word*
Nid : *quickly realising where devious minds run to* Oh ART is just assisted reproductive techonology!!!!
*burst out laughing again*
There ends the topic of twin babies and the way nidhee always has to prove that she's doing medicine... nj, we understand the insecurity!
Some days just keep you laughing... i was laughing about that conversation even 3 hours after it happened. And about the merry go round, and all the crazy snaps....and the bill boards...and the discarded packet of kadalai...we walked abt 100 metres in search of a dustbin! Nostalgia, yet again. A feeling that's always bitter-sweet. A feeling that sometime's seems to overflow from the mind...pouring into each cell of your body...taking control. *sigh*
Nidhee, nitya, lav - thanx !! Great day!
PS: Am not really in the 'sequel mood' or anything....all '2's comin out... or maybe i am ;-) considering pirates of the carribean 2 is coming out!! wooo hooooo!!!
Yours ' Crazy days end up tickling dormant nostalgia'ly
Signing off........
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Somethings 2
(update below)
Some words are just meant to be frozen in time....in the mind. There wouldn't be a meaning to this blog if i didn't put this up... (though am sure most of u wud prefer to continue commenting on the prev post after wat nil started!)
Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.
Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.
In the end, that's all there is : Love and its duty, sorrow and its truth.
In the end, that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn.
--Gregory David Roberts ( in Shantaram)
UPDATE 6/5/06 : Happy birthday Anu!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May u live to blow a 1001 candles and bug your great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren!! May the best come your way this year...good luck. Have a rocking day!
UPDATE 2 : The pallis (geckos/lizards) in chennai have become so fearless these days....they walk right across the floor when you're walking....argh! Bloody reptiles....they look terrible without the tails! not like they look great otherwise....but still!
Signing off.....
Some words are just meant to be frozen in time....in the mind. There wouldn't be a meaning to this blog if i didn't put this up... (though am sure most of u wud prefer to continue commenting on the prev post after wat nil started!)
Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.
Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.
In the end, that's all there is : Love and its duty, sorrow and its truth.
In the end, that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn.
--Gregory David Roberts ( in Shantaram)
UPDATE 6/5/06 : Happy birthday Anu!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May u live to blow a 1001 candles and bug your great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren!! May the best come your way this year...good luck. Have a rocking day!
UPDATE 2 : The pallis (geckos/lizards) in chennai have become so fearless these days....they walk right across the floor when you're walking....argh! Bloody reptiles....they look terrible without the tails! not like they look great otherwise....but still!
Signing off.....
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