Random Thoughts

"Will u Marry me?"

2012-02-23T01:41:00.008-08:00

Recently I did translation for "I love you" in tamil language, that made me wonder how many people use their own language to propose...I love to hear love stories of friends who are married and settled now. Most of them never proposed to each other and at one stage they got married. Some did in English, So far I didnt hear stories with I love you in their language.

Anyway now the trend to follow American culture is prominent in India, and I hear and see lots of shows with a ring and proposing, "Will you marry me?" and the girl give the expression same as the girl who won Miss india, Miss world contest!!!...Even if I see English movies I feel it so odd...Anyway atleast I get it in their culture, they will be in luv, not certain whether they want to spend their life with that person, some might even drift apart after a while..so when the other person pop the question its a surprise for them, or they waited for it too long and felt it that way??!!!...But here after lot of calculation, speculation they choose the person whom they want to love, and they want to marry only that person....and going through these will you marry me? like American culture seems too abnormal...

I really dont get it!

Periya Manni! - My sweet relative

2012-02-02T04:18:00.002-08:00

The best thing I enjoy being in India is short and long visits by relatives. I thoroughly enjoy Rishi getting along and knowing the relatives and having fun with his cousins...One of the visitor is Kashi's Mom's sister - in - law......Gem of a person. I just loved spending time with her and envy her grandkids at times :), made me miss my grandma even more.

She is a classical singer, and enjoys small things and details. One day she asked us, In Bharathanatyam which facial expression you like in the nine emotions - Sringaram (love), Hasya (Humor), Karuna (compassion), Raudra (Anger), Veeram (valor), bhayam (fear), bibhatsa (disgust), adbhuta (wonder), shantam (peaceful)? She paint beautifully...She is 70+, her sense of humor awesome.....she never ever gossip about anyone, even if someone gossip or talk ill about other person, she change the topic beautifully. She just says something totally out of blue and divert the whole thing. I dont know I like everything about her. And I got an opportunity to be with her for sometime. So far that was one of the best thing that has happened.

And I realized we are relative to Mahakavi Bharathi!!. Manni said her close relative got married to Bharathi's Son/daughter, I dont remember now. But all I remember is we r relative to Bharathi!!!!. And related to Thuklak, Enge brahmanan pugaz Cho...

In most of the family there might be some love affair and some of them might not be in touch......Just imagine if we are able to map all the relatives not leaving any branches...Mom side, dad side, in laws etc etc...Wow "yathum ore yavarum kelir (all are our kinsmen no matter where you are)" so true.....Hee hee it was not meant this way...but chalega...so what? I am sure we must be residing next to our neighbour without knowing they are someway related to us or there is a chance we might just cross our relative on the road :)...What is the use of knowing it? It might change the way we behave to the other person may be??!!! If you hate your relatives and love only friends, who knows..your close friend might be your uncle's daughter's husband's wife's uncle's son?????

Can you trust your neighbours?

2012-02-02T02:05:00.000-08:00

Recent news articles made me really sad and worried. 4yr old girl kid raped by a neighbour cum office colleague of the parents. He lured the kid with chocolate and took her to the apartment terrace, raped her and left her there. Parents found her after sometime and rushed to hospital. That guy is a pervert etc yes! I really welcome the judge's statement, ppl who do child abuse should be casterated! buy my question is how can the parent leave a 4yr old kid at home alone? That is what given in the news, kid was alone in the home at that time. This is so common in India, kids play alone in the playarea without any supervision. Kids go in the lift alone without adults, this I experienced in my apt lift. They playfully press all the buttons and living in the 10th floor I get really irritated at times.

I dont understand even educated parents are doing this, then no wonder uneducated parents leaving their kids to play on the main road. I read atleast one story everyweek, kid getting hurt by a lorry or fell in to an open pit near their home????. I am full of complaints and esp nowadays..true! I really get hurt on seeing and reading things which can be easily avoided. Another incident by a neighbour, kidnapped a girl child and she was rescued before she was sacrificed for Tantrik rituals?? (shocking but true still happening in many places). Can you trust your neighbour and send your kid to play out? I dont think so.. I am losing the concept of trusting others.

Another incident a teacher made his class boy to get liquor and asking the girl students to dance for him after closing the doors of his class. Kids complained about it and next day the management came to know about this and took action against the teacher...This guy/teacher has rape case registered on him 2yrs before, how did he get job again????

I feel basic morality of a person is not built properly in India. Schools should play a major role in this for sure. In any era ppl are ready to go to extremes if they can get wealth. But I feel the percentage is now more.

Sometimes before I happened to see a program in DD Podhigai, hats off to them for broadcasting atleast few good programs...its about organ donation. People were discussing about awareness, ppl have awareness about eye donation but not about organ donation. But one of the doctor said, Indians have very big heart they are ready to donate, if you go and ask 200 ppl, 150 will be ready to do it. But do we have the proper facility to even store those organs, how many hospitals do we have with the proper infrastructure?. In chennai only 2 hospitals are there...Other than Chennai, Nellore, Kadaloor etc doesnot have even one?? infrastructure?

If we want to lead a basic proper normal life, we need more volunteers to educate each and every area of India. First I have to find an NGO to involve myself in any of the activities...Its high time to rise and do some change.

Sani dasa?

2011-12-01T01:38:00.000-08:00

Usually I wont plan and do things acc to horoscope, I wont think much about it. But recent happenings made me believe all these. Kashi can analyse one's horoscope well, I do believe horo, I dont hate it anyway. He told me I have this second sanidasa going on (pongu sani i guess), every saturday he used (!! hee hee) to read sani sahasranamam for me and for Rishi. Last few weeks we were quite busy, were going around couldnt do it. Following happenings might be a coincidence??!!...
Almost whatever i touch is not working or may be the workman ship is that bad?!.
1. Wash basin in the hall came off, during heavy rain water flooded in the bedroom..
2. Preeti steele Mixie (brand new just got it 3 months back) was not working.
3. My new tilting grinder - cudnt tilt easily
4. Water is not coming properly regularly (which has become tooo worse for the past few days)
5. Whatever work i try to do, I will end up doing it twice, thrice - went to pay Airtel bill, last time they didnt send the bill so I end up calling twice, thrice and got the amount and paid it online. But in this month's bill they mentioned a late fee. So went there, he agreed to cut down the late fee but asked me to come another day as that day computer was not working!!!
6. To call the technician to repair mixie I end up calling the customer service atleast 5- 10 times or more.. which is anyway normal. But when I called again, technician said, he came and knocked the door and even called my number I didnt pick up!!. But there was no missed call! But he even that one of the lift was not working!

And that day evening:

I went to buy Pizza in the opposite shop just opp to my building. Ordered the Pizza, waiting time 30min or so, i wanted to use the restroom so thought just opp building let me go to my house. So I crossed the road entered the lift, pressed 10. Lift reached 10, stopped there for a min, opened a bit and again got closed went down zoom and stopped, power off.

I tried to press the alarm, which I could hear but no one responded to that alarm sound. Luckily I have my phone, called my uncle and told him to call the security, we dont have intercom (rest of the apt has, that is another story I have been trying to fix it, it didnt work). I told my uncle to ask the neighbour to call the security through intercom....So security finally came but he couldnt figure out in which floor i was in, I also couldnt, as from 10th it went down zoom I dont know where it was, I couldnt press any button too as there was some prob in the power, lights were on and off...

Anyway it was steel door, there was no opening so security knocked the door in each floor finally he said I was in 7th floor!!! and he opened it. He said they were repairing the lift, it was actually not working. I told him why he didnt write a note on the ground floor, how will I know if they were repairing the lift and all of them were doing work in 12th floor?

I saw kids using the lift by themselves without parental supervision. what if something like this happened to them, I had cellphone otherwise I will be struck for long time....

Yesterday, to connect mixie's plug point I removed the speaker's plug point, in the kitchen we have three plug points, one near the water point..so I usually wont use it there, the next one I have my induction stove, this is the only option. I will use it for both my speaker to hear songs and whenever I need for mixie. I didnt see I removed the speaker's wire and put it on the diya!!!!, it got burnt and bursted....

Above all may be my carelessness etc etc...but I have been doing all these for a long time. Anyway started to believe in Sani dasa now. May be this is how our ppl started believe in horo, god etc. They will just rest everything on god and relax and do their work. Lots of series of incidents made me realize if i do the Sani pooja the effect is comparatively less!!..What am I trying to say? may be getting tired of the professionalism in India. It is as simple as that. No work ethics, workmanship they just want only the money.

Cost of living is now tooo high, but for the cost quality of life is not that good. Compromise with what you get in anything and everything :(!

Eco friendly Diwali?

2011-10-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

How feasible it is? I was reading about this Eco friendly Green Diwali, I thought its not that easy to follow. What should be done to have green diwali?

1. Instead of using electric lights for deco, it is good to follow the old tradition lighting clay diyas? (Is the power cut has any effect on upper middle class or rich ppl I dont think so, inverters are there)

2. Either cut down (????!!!) completely crackers which causes Air Pollution, Sound pollution, Smoke or atleast instead of usual crackers use eco friendly crackers - which follow the rules designated by pollution board. "Even the legal system has set norms for the sounds emitting from fire crackers at residential area with 55 dB at day time and 45 dB at night, most of the people do not know that for an average human being, 40 decibels of sound is the upper limit, however the sounds of the fire crackers is more than 145 decibels," says Kuldeep, a student of an engineering college. As per the noise standards for firecrackers notified by the Environment (Protection) Rules, the manufacture, sale or use of firecrackers generating noise level exceeding 125-145 dB shall be prohibited" - TOI..
"Use less crackers than usual during the designated time."

These are the two major things to follow to have green Diwali!.

One of a known friend who is in this Eco friendly team went to a school and told the kids (!!) about crackers how they cause pollution to the atmosphere and to our surroundings, obviously kids didn't understand what is pollution? one of the kid told her, it will produce smoke? oh then I will burst more crackers it will be too much fun right?

But I was wrong, I was talking to a kid in my flat he is may be 11 or 12yrs old ..just asked him casually r u ready for diwali? he said oh yeah but we are not going to burst crackers, we are going to have eco friendly diwali!! I was so surprised, and there was another kid with him, he said we are even going to stick pamphlets in our apartment message board about eco freindly diwali to spread the message, I was so proud and happy on seeing those little kids...They are so clear and ready to sacrifice crackers to reduce pollution. He added, you know, little kids if they burst crackers with their hand, it has all these poisonous material which is not good for them.

So the younger generation is ready to celebrate Eco friendly Diwali! Are we?

Happy Eco friendly Diwali!

First trip in Pune!

2011-09-19T17:10:00.001-07:00

Kashi told me about this trip arranged by his collegues (mostly bachelors). I thought as it was an official trip they will take us to some park or something. I was not ready to go as I want to buy whole lot of things (shoe rack, wall clock, dining table etc etc). First I was hesitant then I thought ok anyway we are going to do this purchase and settling thing forever (hee hee) so decided to go. Even on Friday I am like do we have to go?. Usually for our trip I will be cooking and taking something but this time we just took some idli's, fruits and so (much)me snacks (hee hee !!).

Our first stop was "Balaji temple". They said its the replica of Tirupathi Balaji temple. I guess it is, even they replicated the jarugandi (move, move) near the god :). They didn't say it out loud but the people behind me started moving after a minute, so I was forced to move. Laddu for all, Prasadham and a free meal ticket. Beggers and homeless people should go to these temples and there won't be any in India then. I remembered the movie "boys" where comedy actor senthil was a begger who collects prasadam from temples, he has an assistant (!!) to do this job in the movie. The assistant will say, why should I be your assistant, I can do this on my own. Senthil’s reply was ultimate. No u can't. You don't know at what temple, at what time on what day they will give free meals!!!

After balaji temple we went to Varandha ghat. A magical place. It is beautiful. Green everywhere with water falls in between. Climate was too good. There was this hot onion bajji and wada pav shop. I was telling Kashi that they are so lucky they get to see this beauty everyday. Rishi mingled with the girls and boys from Kashi's office. I was so surprised. Usually he is so shy it takes sometime for him to talk to people. But I guess he is so comfortable with people who have so much positive energy. While going we heard Ring a chikka from Ready, awoh ji pawo ji from bodyguard etc (only those kind of songs). It was real fun!

From there to Shivthargal, there was a beautiful waterfall, we were able to walk behind the falls. Office people wants to experience some running water. So they left. We stayed near a shop as we wanted to feed Rishi. They made some thepla and piping hot kadi, pickle and white rice. But Rishi was running behind chicks and cats and not ready to eat thepla. After this trip he wants to have cat, monkey and a chick as his pet. Whenever I ask him who will take care of them, when they poop and make a mess around the house, his instant reply is "you" :). Some of the wild flowers were really beautiful, have to findout the names of those.

Our trip almost came to an end, we made a final stop near a waterfall. And they all after the running water adventure (two of their shoes went in the water, they ran behind and got it from a shallow water on the other side) went and stand below the falls including Rishi (not me). It was too cold myself and two more didn't want to take chances. But when all men went inside the van and changed their dresses, we got totally wet in the rain. For dinner we went to a restaurant I don't rem the name, some bechara hills or something. Veg was good or I was so hungry had a hearty meal. Rishi was half asleep after he had one Rumali roti, he is totally done for the day. He slept. We reached home around 10.30PM. But the day was well spent. I am glad I didn't miss the chance.

Pictures: Varandha Ghat, Shivthargal, Wild flower in Shivthargal (alt in html didn't work) respectively!

Cherish womenhood!

2011-08-01T05:09:00.000-07:00

This article is making a round...I received the same article from 3 people :)

A recent survey by Nielsen has revealed that Indian women are the most stressed out in the world: 87% of our women feel stressed out most of the time. This statistic alone has caused me to stress out. Even in workaholic America, only 53% women feel stressed.

What are we doing to our women? I'm biased, but Indian women are the most beautiful in the world. As mothers, sisters, daughters, colleagues, wives and girlfriends - we love them. Can you imagine life without the ladies? he gave five suggestions to reduce stress levels!

One, don't ever think you are without power. Give it back to that mother-in-law. Be who you are, not someone she wished you would be. She doesn't like you? That's her problem.

Two, if you are doing a good job at work and your boss doesn't value you - tell him that, or quit. Talented, hard-working people are much in demand.

Three, educate yourself, learn skills, network - figure out ways to be economically independent. So next time your husband tells you that you are not a good enough wife, mother or daughter-in-law, you can tell him to take a hike.

Four, do not ever feel stressed about having a dual responsibility of family and work. It is difficult, but not impossible. The trick is not to expect an A+ in every aspect of your life. You are not taking an exam, and you frankly can't score cent per cent (unless you are in SRCC, of course). It is okay if you don't make four dishes for lunch, one can fill their stomach with one. It is okay if you don't work until midnight and don't get a promotion. Nobody remembers their job designation on their dying day.

Five, most important, don't get competitive with other women. Someone will make a better scrapbook for her school project than you. Another will lose more weight with a better diet. Your neighbour may make a six-dabba tiffin for her husband, you don't - big deal. Do your best, but don't keep looking out for the report card, and definitely don't expect to top the class. There is no ideal woman in this world, and if you strive to become one, there will be only one thing you will achieve for certain - stress.

When I read the article I felt, article is nice, Attitude he is suggesting in Point 1 and 3 is not going to bring any harmony in family life..that will make things worse, Point no 2 no one does that, though we all know we should be self reliant, when you get a good job with good sal its hard to leave it coz of few arguments with the boss :), gudos to who does that! 4 and 5 make little sense to me, but my bro said a good point, Chetan seems to be a male chauvinist, instead of asking men also to pitch in to give women a break, he is suggesting not to overcook and over do things :) (hee hee)......

Overall I dont believe in these surveys, they would've done survey with 100-500 women maybe, and how they answered to the set of questions they have, thats the result...We indian women now have a better life than the previous generation women...stress level is more, yes I feel its mostly because we got machines to do all the work (which is definitely needed though) physical stress (exercise) is less so mental stress is more ;) (who have time to do exercise :)) not because of household work or how MIL treat us, I feel its mostly coz of to earn more money and to have better better best life than the others...what do you say?

Rishi - Highlight of this week

2011-07-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

Lot of questions , Lot of reel stories by him nowadays...
One of the interesting question which I rem:
- Why there is no Stoplight and go light ? (Red and green lights), why america has more stop light and go light? (we were crossing the road with out any light wherever and whenever we want as we have no other option)
First time when I put lot of flowers, he asked me "r u going to marry amma?" (he saw our marriage video a week before maybe thats one of the reason for the above question)

My MIL's place is in Cpt, when my Cosister told him , this is your home too rishi, he asked then why we have to go to Pune?

Reel stories are really fun to hear..you know one time when I was a baby (!!!??), I saw a bike and I know how to ride it, I sat and drive the bike vrooooom vroooooooom (with sooo much expression) and on and on... Imissed taking a video, he is so fond of bikes....as soon as we land on India first thing he said was, I want to get a real blue color bike, and he got a toy blue bike through my cosister's family :)

He luv spiderman recently we let him watch spiderman 1 movie, I thought other than spiderman jumping from one building to another he wont understand anything...after the movie he said, if you get a bite from a spider you will become spiderman, I was so scared Kashi told him no you wont become spider man you will become sick man and it will hurt too much we have to take you to the doctor (what to do? I was scared he will go and show his hand to a spider)

Life with kids is fun...except when they trouble to eat, sleep, take bath.......But from the day he was born, i have become too much addicted to him, my thought process, FB status messages, blogs are all about him , nowadays my world revolve around him....

It happens only in India!

2011-07-23T04:57:00.000-07:00

- Just give a call to the shop, grocery will be delivered to your house
- Same way Milk will be delivered early in the morning
- For ironing they will come and collect the clothes and deliver it at your house...wah wahhh
Nowadays everyone has cellphone, we recently moved to Pune, and Ironing fellow came and asked us whether we have anything..we said no we dont have any right now, ok Chalo saap note my number if you have any give me a call :) awesome!
- Sameway if you know the autowala, get the no he will come or he will send someone to your doorstep!
- I heard in Pune there is a Bookshop if you check their online website and order they will deliver the books and pick them too frm your house....
-Electronic goods or furniture anything and everything door delivery!

- In Road Outside esp during Aadi season, its compulsory to hear songs in loudspeaker in many places of TN...and that too early 4oclock in the morning, Chellatha, Chella mariatha!
- Ambulance has to find its way in the traffic like any other vehicle...
- Its Ok to do Potty and Pee pee on the Roadside or anywhere...
- In bus, ppl will come and hand over there bag like its your duty if you are sitting in the bus :) of course sometimes if you feel like you can make their kids too sit in your lap..not like in US the kid will be yummy cutey pie, you shouldnt touch (bacteria frm your hand will be allover the baby), ofcourse you can try talking to the baby :)
- In Pune link Road 3 horses were standing in the middle of the Road for more than half an hour..i didnt have time to check it afterwards I dont know for how long they were standing how they were removed ..Whether they moved by itself or the owner of the horse moved them finally...same way you can find Cow etc vehicles will move around them on the road :)
-you can go to any house without calling or no need to ask them whether they are free that day, may be it has changed now dont know have to find out!

As of now I know only TN and getting to know Maharashtra, though I cant say it happens all over India, there are lot of amusing things as well as luxury in life haah it happens only in India!

Happy Mothers day!

2011-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Its so nice to see beautiful messages about their mom in Facebook, but how many moms use FB, may be 30-40% or may be I am wrong!.....
I wanted to write in my FB status the following,
"Ma After I became a mom, I love and admire you even more!, and almost each and every minute of the day, I think and wonder I couldnt manage just this one kid, how my mom wouldve done it with 3 kids!"

But my mom for sure is not a computer person she wont read that FB message then for whom I have to write that message, for my friends and other relatives in my list, so I dropped that idea :)..so when I go back to India my first resolution or the top thing in my list is to make my mom and dad addicted to Gmail and FB (hee heeee) may be make them follower of my blog :)

Not only 3 kids she took care of my Chitti's 2 kids as well for a while....not a single day goes without wondering about her :)....
I guess all ladies after marriage they will miss and think, oh i am doing so much work now I shouldve helped my mom (more) when I was with her...

I used to feel cooking is fun before marriage, now I understood why my mom is so tensed in the mornings...
I used to feel shopping is more fun, now I know why my mom preferred to stay at home
I used to feel why she always asking me to keep things in its place, now i know why?
I used to feel why I have to go and learn simple things by myself why cant they just say how to do (how to open a bank account, how to etcs), now I know it taught me to survive in anyplace!

If I ask my mom about something in parenting she is sooo clear in how to handle it, she will give me suggestions and I do know she followed the same with me too, with out reading any books (!!!) they did a great job, we all turned out to be fine...At times I'll have so many confusions in bringing up my one kid esp when he throws such a temper tantrums or do something bad, though I know its normal, this question also will be there, is there anything wrong with my parenting? I guess I am doing a fairly good job, hopefully someday my kid will feel the same way about me in the way I feel about my mom!

My mom is a wonderful personality, whenever I think of my mom I always remember about her farewell party, I wrote about it already, but i cant stop, she won so many hearts in the village where she taught for almost 20 yrs, from the school till outside where we kept the car, it was almost a mile, they stood outside their house and on the road and did aarti etc and praised her from their heart no fake dialogues, they treated her like a queen that day, I dont think any teacher wouldve got such a tremendous farewell party.

I pray to almighty to give her strength, health, peace and happiness now and forever! Hats off to you Mom and dad!

India here I come!

2011-04-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Though I am going to miss few things here,
I love the fact that I am going to meet my family and friends!
I love the fact that Rishi is going to experience his grandparents immense love!
I love the fact that I can finally work cant escape by saying I am in H4 :)
I love the fact that I have to work hard to get that job and to prove myself!
I love the fact that I can show him my village, the duck, the lamb, Pumpset fundu, train from home, lightning bugs in the night, Lilly, Lotus, alamaram, puliyamaram, veppamaram, arasamaram and so on (banyan, Tamarind, Neem, Fig trees):)
I love the fact that I dont have to think twice to join music, painting or for that matter any class!
I love the fact that I can buy and enjoy colorful beautiful indian dresses for each and every occasion!
I love the fact that I can enjoy different varieties of spinach, fresh indian vegetables!
I love the fact that I can enjoy awesome chaats in road side shops ;)
I love the fact that whatever I saw and enjoyed here I can try and implement it in my place!
I love the fact that I am going back to my land, hurrayyyyy!

Sore throat - List of things

2011-04-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Kashi and Rishi were down with throat pain, cough..They dont have running nose or anything thankfully...So every year atleast once for adults, for kids when they go to school almost once every week or every month will get cold or cough..I always wanted to make the list of things I do when they get cough and cold...but never did that. This is just an attempt for that...
So day before yesterday Rishi said he has throat pain, first thing I made this chemomile green tea but not only chemomile was there in that..

1. I put Chemomile, Basil leaves, Fenugreek seeds lil, Cumin, Puthina leaves with water I boiled it and filtered it, with honey I gave him a glass of this.
2. Pepper, Badam, Jaggery or Kalkandu (not equal portions, lil less than the other 2) powdered it in Mixie and just half spoon of this reduces the cough, like gloves they can keep it in mouth
3. Steaming always helps
4. Milk with turmeric (eve), usually I will add lil edible camphor (not the one used for aarti)
5. Cabbage kootu (Cabbage, moong dal or red channa dal, powdered pepper, cumin, coriander seeds (my rasam powder), salt, turmeric boiled in water is kootu), instead of rice cracked wheat or cous cous with this kootu helped him to swallow easily. (Cabbage in any form is good for cold)
6. Almost every one to 2 hr warm water or luke warm water green tea.
7. Luke warm water, lemon, honey tea
8. In new seasons we get Organic throat coat green tea, it tastes exactly like chithrathai, which is very good for cold...
9. As with the throat pain its hard to swallow, kids wont eat much, so mashed potato, soup helped a bit to feed Rishi
10. Yesterday I read this 14 home remedies for sore throat, and I was having sage at home, along with chemomile added sage and made green tea with that..(http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/home-remedies/home-remedies-for-sore-throat.htm)
11. And this has listed some of the home remedies too, http://krsuresh70.blogspot.com/2009/01/medicine.html

In a day he said he doesnot have pain anymore in his throat..But still have to follow the same thing for few more days, even if I go to doctor home care is what is going to play a big role.

One of my friends mom is really good in sharing home remedies, all moms do know home remedies by experience, this mom is no different she knew n number of home remedies, I used to think I should get the info she is sharing and post it in my blog.....I really want to collect the information our older generation know and followed for years and pass it on to the next generation...Eating greens, veggies and fruits for the ailment is better than having lot of antibiotics..

Circle of life!

2011-04-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I used to wonder why we are here? Mostly this is common - Baby - crawl, walk, go to school, college, marriage, kids, again bring up the kid by reading with them till school :), college admission, marriage, grand kids..done...this is one way of living...no big deal, whether you are famous or not! Circle is same almost with everyone with few changes may be (like single life, no kids etc)...for some its Mechanical, for some its colorful and wonderful - Each day is new day! Some are materialistic, Whatever way we take it and do it, why we are here? When I was pondering on these, I happened to read "Many Masters Many lives" it shed a little light! It made sense!

I dont want to analyse whether there is really Masters, do they speak in English?, Reincarnation is it true, Is it really happened, or Brian weiss just wrote this book out of his experience, like many the questions which bothers him came out as a book?

According to this book, by Masters, we are here to learn, to learn to improve ourself....
All are like diamonds, some already learnt the real virtues of life and shining already, some are in the process ...According to me there is no such thing as bad person, people with some negatives and more positives or vice versa :) I am glad ppl around me are too good to be true hee hee....Each person is beautiful in there own way!

In the prev blog I mentioned next one will be about contentment! The topic of contentment started because of this book. So I was telling Kashi, in this life I am here to learn to shed my ego, to learn how to be contented...I am just in the starting phase, may be I will born again and again to improve myself a bit, I wanted to write a review of the book, may be soon I will do it!

Barnes and nobles - Story of the month!

2011-04-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

A very Hungry Caterpillar, read by hurrayyyyyy Eric carle!!!!! awesome!

Organic vs Non organic products

2011-04-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in walmart I was looking at the veggies, there was this organic salad, one family was near me and the guy pointed the same organic spinach salad and said I liked that combo, but I dont care about organic..
I guess most of us dont...Is it really worth buying organic food....I convinced Kashi to buy organic milk, as I found lot of good things about it than Non organic Milk...so Organic milk is rbst free (growth hormone) an injection put to the cows to get more milk which in my opinion not so good for kids...Costco has rbst free non organic milk... the diff b/n organic and non organic milk is, the cow is allowed to graze (to eat grass !!!!), non organic there is chance to be fed by corn, and sometimes they get these ecoli bacteria..not sure abt that..
And they say if the cow is sick they will give antibiotic and wont use that cows milk for a period of time, till the antibiotic in its body dies...(i dont know how feasible that is) but incase of non organic no such thing, so there is a chance that you might end up giving antibiotics thru milk...anyway for me it sounded convincing and made sense so opted for organic milk. And I prefer to buy 2%, somewhere i read cow milk has enough fat and stuff to feed its calf but its too much for human beings.

but for other organic products...I dont mind buying potato, onion, radish, banana etc for which we peel them before cooking or eating..I dont mind using non organic veg and fruits..but some of the fruits like strawberries, grapes, blueberries I prefer to buy organic...as we eat them as is..in these products the difference is the amount of pesticide, for organic products they use natural products to kill pesticides, but they will also use pesticides for some amount, but the amount is greater in non organic products...Thats why our moms usually wash the vegetables, dal before using them...

what is your choice? organic or non organic? and why?

Online story time by BN.com

2011-03-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

One of the fav thing which I am going to miss in US (Beaverton) is libraries and the bookshops around here....Libraries not only has tons of story books for kids (you can take 100 books at a time and renew them 15 days once 4 times, that means 1 month you can have it at your house if no one else requested the same thing), which is more than enough time i guess to read a book, they have lot of activities for kids and adults which i am going to miss for sure, last month they have Dr.seuss party ...PJ story time, family story time, 3D movies, crafts time etc...

I havent been to movie time n craft time as it will be during weekend or during middle of the week, but been there for story time, they will have a theme for this story time, stories, Rhymes and a craft at the end relavant to that theme will be done in that 30min timelimit example if they choose bear, they read
Brown bear Brown bear what do you see?
Polar bear Polar bear what do you do?
Bear orange apple and so on,
rhymes on bear and some of the popular rhymes modified to fit to that theme :-), and in the end we did a paper bear mask. Each week the theme will be different, so it will be interesting and u will want to go back to the library (thats the idea I guess)

Library has a computer system with diff educational games, anyone can access these and kids who dont have the opportunity to have system at home also can enjoy these luxuries...Though I do have a system, I didnt have those kids games and usually I wont allow him to play with the computer. They have book clubs, Basic computer to diff skill lever computer teaching and so on for adults, teens home work helping program, I would like to be part of the team who design the programs in these library (sigh..now i dont have a chance) anyway I am so impressed with their library system. I asked the librarian about their story time themes, she immediately offered me to take a snapshot of that if I want to use it anywhere, which is unlikely and so sweet.

Online story time in barnes and nobles website is a relief...I can view these even from India. Check out this website www.bn.com - kids - Online story time and u can view prev month online story time videos too..Some by the author of the story :-)

An Inspiration Animation

2011-02-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

As soon as u see something the first thing I do (most of them do) is to analyse yourself with what u see, so when I see this, first immediate thought is, what stops my ideas in? doubt? you are still creative but with more doubt...so true...but in my case its more of laziness i would say..i am too lazy I keep postponing it for the next day :-(...

The next thought which came after seeing this, how typical these ppl are, they depicted climbing a tree by a boy, business idea by a man, failed in an exam and crying for that - by a girl..mmmm thought is so inspiring but the depiction is sooo backward??!! or I am too cynical :-)

நன்றே செய் நன்றும் இன்றே செய் இன்றும் இன்னே செய்!

mmm anyway today we had a nice discussion about Contented feeling! What are the pros and cons of having contented feeling in life? mmm will post about it in my next blog..

Highlight of this week..

2011-02-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

Rishi started saying, her instead of "she". why her is wearing a santa claus dress? on seeing one of my friends daughters santa dress...her put the wrong shoes, and I said thats not my shoes, her said oh and put my buzzlight shoes, this episode happened in the school, they have to remove their shoes inside their indoor gym...

Just a min ago I read one of my friends blog, and realized not only my LO all the other kids in his age are going thru this "cry baby phase"..Rishi starts from dawn till dusk..."I dont want to brush, i want to have lot of bacteria, i want my bacteria to have lot of friends" this is one

yesterday when i took him to playarea he wants to wear slippers, it was cold outside, he started crying for that, and finally I gave up and told him he can wear it in the car while getting down in the playarea he has to wear the shoes...he was crying thru out, and near the play area he said, I thought I will give you a present, but you didnt behave well...

He started imagining things...today one scary episode happened in the play area, one of the lil boys leg got stuck in a double seated tricycle...we couldnt get it out...it was so scary...one called the 911...everyone was waiting for them, and they didnt want to do anything to make it worse..I took the tools but its of no use as the baby was crying so much, they didnt want to unscrew that, finally one of the mom, tried and got his leg out.....the kid was fine, he didnt have any fracture or anything.....so I was telling kashi about this episode, rishi said, I rescued the baby, amma got tools, and i got one of the tool and opened it and rescued the baby..My goodness i dont know from where he get this imagination...

Travel essentials for Parents!

2011-01-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

This Travel essential is totally about food. Esp for parents with kids, who are sooooo picky. Though mine is not bad, but I am (he eheeee) I prefer to take Rice cooker if its a long trip or even for a short trip :-)

So in the process, today I tried home made dry Idly mix...It was a Success..So thought of sharing it with all the webbers...just like bloggers, ppl who use web I just coined webbers (hee hee), I thought there is no word like webber but when I google it I found 12,400,000 results..

Anyway the recipe for my patented copyrighted home made Idly mix - dedicated to all Idly lovers all over the world!

Roast urad daal and Fenu greek seeds separately, and grind them, actually what I did is I had roasted powdered fenu greek seeds, so I added that 11/2 spoons with the roasted urad daal.
Idly Rava - 1 cup, Powdered Urad daal mix - 1/2 cup add them together and add required water and salt, Mix it well if you want to add, you can add just lil cooked Rice (as anyway I am going to take Rice cooker I dont have prob with that I guess, or if you dont add it wont make much diff)

Keep it in Microwave for overnight this mix...the usual way..... U can carry this powder version of Idly anywhere with you. I am sure if you have Rice cooker or Microwave u can make Idly with this powder, Idly was real soft...No worries for your 3 yrs breakfast.

y to go thru all these pains u can get Priya Idly mix too...But I tried this method myself and it was successful, it just gave such an immense pleasure like as though I found something which is useful for mankind...I can feel how edison wouldve felt when he found the bulb finally, or the other famous inventors heeee heee, I know lil toooo much.

With rice cooker I can make:
Pongal,
Puliyodharai
Lemon Rice
Kichdi
Cous cous Upma
Pasta
Bisibelabath
Curd Rice
Veg Briyani

Provided - I shud carry few stuffs frm home.....I make some seasoning (Mustard seeds, Urad daal, curry leaves, with turmeric, without turmeric one) at home and carry it if I go by car to short trips....I havent tried the hotplate..But ppl say its very useful too. These not only save money, after 2 days i will get bored of these Pizzas etc..so those times its good. I dont think the above said things r Travel essentials for all the parents, its for me (hee hee)

Ek slokh Ramayanam

2011-01-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

In the process of teaching some slokhas to Rishi, this slokha and the foll song got my attention, lets see he is not opening his mouth though:-)
Aadow raama thapovanaadhi gamanam
Hathvaa mr(u)gam kaanchanam

Vaidaehee haranam jataayu maranam
Sugreeva sambhaashanam vaalee nigrahanam

Samudratharanam lankaapuri dahanam
Paschaath raavana kumbhakarna nidhanam
Ethath Ithi raamaayanam

Good one!..

almost the same lyrics :-)
Maadu Meikum Kanne Nee Poga Vendam Sonnen (2)
Kaichina Palum Tharen
Karkandu Cheeni Tharen
Kaiyil Vennai Urutti Tharen
Veiyyilile Poga Vendam
Maadu Meikum Kanne...

Kaichina Paalum Vendam
Karkandu Cheeni Vendam
Ullasamai Maadu Meithu
Oru Nodiyil Thirumbiduven
Poga Vendum Thaye Thadai Solladhe Neeye

Yamuna Nadhi Karayil Eppozhudum Kalvar Bhayam (2)
Kalvar Vandu Unai Adithal Kalangiduvai Kanmaniye
Maadu Meikum Kanne..

Kalvarukku Kalvarundo Kandadhundo Sollum Amma (2)
Kalvar Vandhu Yenai Adithal Kanda Thundam Aakiduven
Poga Vendum Thaye...

Govardhana Giriyil Ghoramana Mrigangal Undu (2)
Singam Puli Karadi Vandhal Kalangiduvai Kanmaniye
Maadu Meikum Kanne..

Kaatu Mrigangal Ellam Ennai Kandal Odi Varum (2)
Kootamaga Odi Vandal Vettai Aadi Venriduven
Poga Vendum Thaye...

Priyamulla Nanda Gopar Baalan Enge Enru Kettal (2)
Ennavenru Solliduven Yekkamudan Thediduvar
Maadu Meikum Kanne...

Veediyile Baalrudan Pandhu Vilayadugiran (2)
Kanne Enru Nee Kural Koduthal
Oodi Vandu Ninriduven
Poga Vendum Thaye Thadai Solladhe Neeye

Highlight of last week!

2011-01-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

I started to dollar tree to buy few stuffs, beforehand I told Rishi, I am going to buy 2 things frm Dollar tree, Ok rishi
Rishi: can I get one from that? :-) (I started the whole thing to tell him before hand we are not going to buy anything for him)

Yesterday Rishi and Kashi arguing about something...I was in the kitchen, I heard only part of it, its always a struggle to make Rishi to brush his teeth or even make him drink his milk.
Yesterday he does not want to brush his teeth,
Rishi: I dont want to brush my teeth, I want to drink milk first
Kashi: show me one person who drink milk without brushing their teeth.
Rishi: "Me" (we both couldnt control our laugh)

Rishi: Turn your head that side, and dont see me
I know he wants to do something naughty, so he doesnot want me look at him. i asked him what r u going to do?
Rishi: in a husky voice, I am going to heat my bum in the heater.. (I turned on the heater as it was very cold inside the house ;-)

He did lots of funny thing in the past few weeks, I rem only these..Instead of writing it in a journal, I find it easy to write it in my blog for future use (he ehee)

Sleep...Deep Sleep..Sound Sleep!

2011-01-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

So Read 50 page of that sleep article, acc to that article we have REM and Non REM sleep...(Rapid eye movement)...so there is no such thing as deep sound sleep, in REM sleep though the eye movement will be there, brain activity will be less, in Non REM sleep there are 4 stages, first stage is almost similar to REM, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, brain, eye movement everything will be active, brains works more during that sleep...and ppl who are in that state, wont hear outside sound, if you say that is sound sleep..NOOO your brain is soo active, in REM your eye movement will be more...

So usually sleep is a cycle, REM....Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 (NREM)....REMM...Stage 1, 2,3... REMMMM...Stage 1,2...REMMMMMMM..Stage 1...REMMMMMMMMMM
thats the cycle...it changes every some minutes I forgot that...

There was a question to Ramana Mahirishi, What is sleep swamiji?
Ramana: you should raise this question in your sleep?
Person: I cant ask this question when I am asleep?
Ramana: Then that is sleep..

Haah haahaah, I wonder y ppl ask these questions to Rishi's? To test them, let me ask a twisted question, and see how he respond to it? Why they expect they should know all the answers...This question to be directed to scientists, I believe..

Anyway this is what we believe..Sleep is a state where we wont do any activity, we rest, our body takes rest while we sleep or we consider a person is sleeping if he/she is not standing, walking, talking (sleep walk talk is some exceptions), reading, writing, if they dont respond to external sounds we call that as sleep...But in real the brain is so active while you are asleep. What is the use of knowing this, Personally it helped me to understand my sleep pattern, to get better sleep I am doing this, for people who sleep well already I dont think this will be of any interest..

Next step I want to know is in which stage we get dreams, How we get dreams? sometimes we get dreams about something that has happened recently, or about someone we met or thought recently..Sometimes out of blue we dream about something which we never ever have a clue,..weird dreams, pleasant dreams, falling from stairs etc etc...Its so interesting to read or correlate inner meaning of the dreams...quite interesting!

My dad used to say about his interesting dreams at times...He narrates things sooo well, once he said about the places he saw in his dreams, some nice place, after a while he came across the same place which he never saw in person in some book, weird and interesting!

I usually feel so happy when I get these temples dreams, I rem this vivid dream about a temple, I wander around and get in to this temple, it has water below and inside the temple there is a bridge kind of thing, to walk across the water to reach the temple, and about the gods etc...Most of the time we wont remember our dreams, at times I tried to continue some pleasant dreams! mmmm I think I need to engage myself with a real activity! hee heee

Happpy New Year!

2011-01-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New year 2011. Read lots (!!) of things about this new year..There is going to be
1.1.11, and
11.1.11,
1.11.11,
11.11.11 (hee heeeeeeee), good one huh?

anyway Hope this new year will be a stepping stone for India to take a right step to become a developed country - Less pollution, less population, less poverty, more educated people, lots of happiness and joy for everyone!

RT: Saw this weird news in TV recently about mobile germs!!! height of cleanliness!, ppl beware of touching, using others cellphones, there is lot of possibility for you to get infection thru cell phone, hee hee

Anyway Eat well, sleep well, be happy, smile - laugh a lot, live healthy, Have a wonderful year ahead!

why we need sleep?

2010-12-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

The other day I heard about a study, how important sleep is for a human being? I felt what a stupid study, sleep is important, its a well known fact. If you dont sleep you will be so tired the whole day, sleep deprived person will be so cranky, irritated, why they need a study for that. So they took around 30 or 100 ppl and they took photos of them when they had a good night sleep (8hrs sleep) and then they made them not to sleep well for few days, made them sleep deprived and took pictures, and showed it to scientists and common ppl with out telling them what is what, and asked them to show which face of the same person looks happy ..obviously the face which had a good night sleep and everyone figured the same...sleep deprived persons faces were grumpy or its not so good (hee heee)...

But this leads to another query..so yes sleep is more important, how about you just lie down for the whole night without sleep (there was a person in japan or somewhere who said she dont know how to sleep she will go to bed lie down and get up in the morning it seems haa lucky person), get rest how it will be, what sleep does to your body actually..What is sleep? During sleep what happens? Is there any other way we can provide the same rest to the body without sleep? Insomniacs will be so happy if they could find a solution in that way. These actually started because of Kashi's question, credit goes to Kashi...

But now we are in the phase of finding out, figuring out about it, once I read those articles, will post interesting facts about it (hope its interesting lets see)...It leads to few more things, in day today life, I do lot of things, without really thinking much about it, for example food..3 times a day I am eating, but I dont know the exact nutrition facts about the same, I know we should have vitamins, proteins, carbohydrate, fibers everyday, I do know some of the veg, fruits which has these, but not exactly, how much of each is right, how I can incorporate it to my daily needs, there are courses for that, but its simple if I just sit and read and make a chart may be it might take a month or so (its boring if someone does it for me will be nice though:-)), which can be used forever. And it can lead to healthy life.

The other day we were watching this documentary about Christmas tree, everything started just some 100yrs or so before....before that there is no tradition of having tree at home, or decorating it or (kids close your ears)there is no santa ...From St.Nicholas they derived this Santa, a story of a guy who get down in chimney and distribute presents to kids which was a big hit, so slowly they gave shape to that story Santa, reindeers got names, Rudolph came in to light etc.....Interesting to know mmm...How in each culture, each festival, when it all started? I am sure ppl mightve already documented everything...I am sure when I think about something, there are millions of people working about the same, or found results about it already..I think I need another life time to read, to learn, to know lot of things...

63 Nayanmar song

2010-12-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
பாட்டைக் கேட்டுக்கொண்டே, வரிகளைப் பார்ப்போமா?

எடுப்பு
ஆளாவது என்னாளோ சிவமே
அடியார்க்கு அடியார்க்கு அடியனாய் - உன்
அடியார்க்கு அடியார்க்கு அடியனாய் (ஆளாவது...)

தொடுப்பு
கேளாது அளிக்கும் வரமே அண்ட மேலானதற்கும் பரமே
இளம் தாளான கமல முட்புறமே பதம்
ததிக்க தாமென விதித்த தாளமும்
துதிக்க தாமென மதித்து கதிபெற (ஆளாவது...)

முடிப்பு
புன்மை பிறவி போகவேணும் எடுத்தால்
புண்ணிய பிறவியாக வேணும்

இன்னவரில் ஒருவரைப் போலே இணையொன்றும்
இல்லா பதத்திணையாக வேணும்(இன்னவரில்)

1. காழிமணம் சிவபாதமகன் (1), திருநாவரசன் (2), மணிவாசக(3), சுந்தரன்(4) எனும் (இன்னவரில்)

2. சிறுத் தொண்டர்(5), திருநீலகண்ட(ர்)(6), விறன் மீண்ட(ர்)(7), நமி நந்தி(8), தண்டி அடிகளெனும்(9) (இன்னவரில்)

3. ஐயடிகள் காடவர்கோன் (10) ஆனாய(11) கணம் புல்லர்(12) நின்றசீர் நெடுமாற(13)
கணநாத (14) முனையாடுவாரொடு (15) திருநாளைப் போவாரெனும்(16) (இன்னவரில்)

4. மெய்பொருளார் (17) பெருமிழலைக் குறும்பர்(18) ஏனாதிநாத(19) கலிக்கம்பர் (20)
அமர்நீதி(21) நரசிங்க முனையரய (22) சடைய(23) சண்டேச (24) கலிய(25) காரியாரெனும்(26) (இன்னவரில்)

5. மானக்கஞ்சாற(27) நேச(28) பூசலாரொடு(29) வாயிலார்(30)
சோமாசிமாற(31) மங்கையர்க்கரசி(32) குங்கிலியக் கலயார்(33) இளையான்குடி
மாற(34) அரிவாட்டாயரி(35) கூற்றுவர்(36) கோட்புலி(37) சாக்கியர்(38) சத்தியள்(39) - சிறப்
புலியர் (40) செருத்துணையர் (41) புகழ்த்துணையர்(42) குலச்சிறையர்(43) கழற்றறிவர்(44) இயற்பகையரெனும் (45) (இன்னவரில்)

6. திருமூல(46) முருக(47) மூர்த்தி (48) அப்பூதி(49) ருத்தர பசுபதியார்(50) இசைஞானியர்(51)
நீலநக்கர்(52) இடங்கழியர்(53)அதிபத்தர்(54) எறிபத்தர்(55) ஏயர் கோனொடு(56)
நீலகண்ட யாழ்பாண(57) புகழ் சோழ(58) கோட்செங்கட்சோழ(59) கழற்சிங்கர்(60)
காரைக்கால் நகர்மேவு கனியாரொடு(61) கண்ணப்பர்(62) குறிப்புத் தொண்டரெனும்(63) (இன்னவரில்)

இணையொன்றுமில்லா பதத்திணையா வேணும். (ஆளாவது...)
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Note: Thanks to jeevagv's blog...