Dew

Advices galore.. That's on what I must eat, how well I must take care of myself, what foods are healthy, what foods are a strict 'No'.. all keep coming my way, over the last few months. I am perfectly okay taking it all and following what I can to the best of my ability.. Day before yesterday, as I was enjoying the last of the oranges in my refrigerator, I could not help thinking about many other mothers-to-be in this world who would not be able to afford the cost of high priced fruits and vegetables. Who would advice a poor farmer's wife to have nuts every day and fruits every day and milk every day?? If at all someone does, would he or she also pay for these things, which are almost luxuries in a poor man's hut? Women have given birth to children even before the stream of medicine called Obstetrics was disciplined into Medical studies. May be many things in the past were not right, many facilities that we have today are not there, lot of awareness that is a...

We have heard this word often. Today, I felt the essence of it truly. It is a practice in Indian families to host a ritual called Shrardham in remembrance of close people who have reached God's abode. Ten years ago, the same day, we lost our grandmother. After all the initial mourning and intermediate outbursts that happen when ever we think of her, life kept us busy... I was away every year when my parents conducted the Shrardham for my grandma. This year, fortunately, I am in India and had a chance to see the proceedings and generally participate when required. The grandchildren have a small role to play in the whole ritual and it was nice to be a part of it, especially when my mind was all lost in the thoughts of the past when my grandma was around. After ten years, I mean ten long years, even as I write this post, I am unable to stop the flowing tears.. and I don't intend to... It was like that in the morning as well when the priests were at home. I walked over to the ki...

Now, for those who are new to this term, here is the definition and few notable characteristics!!! Mega Serials are defined as the television plays that have to last at least till your grand daughter's graduation day in business school. Mega Serials are divided into episodes, each one lasting thirty minutes with twenty minutes taken away by the advertisements of the sponsoring companies. Mega Serials usually have good or moderately rated stories to begin with, but the director and the script writer's job is to make sure that the once nice story is twisted and twirled and confused and flopped big time by the end of the fourth year!!!! Mega Serials usually begin with one story and every character in the family will each have a story line, each line with many sub stories. This is the only formula used to gear up interest in the audience. It is possible to wrap up a mega serial as abruptly as you close the door on the face of a less friendly storm. There would be so much h...

I met someone whose name has been on the gossip rounds in the neighbourhood. I knew a little about the gossip and never really had a chance to think about it. Only point I was sure of is that, most people are taking time off from their own idle or seemingly busy lives to talk ill about others just for a change. I stopped on my track when this lady extended flowers to me. I thanked her. Some gestures, no matter what time of the day, from anyone would make you smile at the first thought. I thanked her for being thoughtful. Our talks were on varied subjects initially and then slowly turned towards the essence of the gossip... and it was the first time I had to face such a situation where the subject at least ten years elder to me, knew that she was being talked about and I was being chosen as her confidante. I knew she was talking the truth because there was no defensive tone to her voice and words. At the end of our talk, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes and it totally s...

I have never understood how people spend a lot of time, in fact some spend the whole of their time reading news papers. With nothing better to do yesterday evening, I was sitting in the veranda of my house, fighting the excess heat and battling with the emotions ( political stunts, useless department and other such thoughts come up!!!) that power cuts usually bring on an especially humid afternoon-evening time shift. I was holding a newspaper as a fan for self help with the heat of the summer that is just beginning in South India. After about fifteen minutes of continuous fanning, I got tired of just sitting doing nothing, so decided to glance through the paper. I had just pulled two sheets from yesterday's paper for the purpose, but the idea of reading through that much of text was alarming.. Anyways went on to see the headlines. Not one.. Not even a single news item was pleasant, positive, worth reading, and knowledge driven!!!! Wondering if people are committing crimes and ...

Pournami in Tamil means Full Moon Day. I was coming back from the temple and the power went out as usual. These days, the power cuts in Tamil Nadu is hitting the newspapers every day, so I wont waste my energy on it trying to tell you how I detest the idea of power cuts in the name of power saving when all it takes is just a little effort from whomsoever it concerns to set it right... Anyways... this is too much by itself.. Lots of energy drain ... The full moon day was fast approaching.. Or was it the same evening, am not sure. The moon shone bright and beautiful as I started walking back homeward from the temple. It had been quite a while since I took this route.. but never in so many years on a full moon night when there was no light at all. Cool evening breeze( Early summer evenings are always breezy and nice in my town.. and I guess so in many tropical places..) and the moon lit night sky made the evening a wonderful experience. The roads were not new to me, but those m...

Of late I have begun to notice that there is always a 'My Way' and 'Your Way' of doing things.. And almost always there are people who claim that their way is the 'Right Way'. It is easy to get into big arguments just because of this simple truth : Forcing your way as the right way and interfering into my way. Will people understand??!!!??

There was this cookery show on TV sometime last week. The lady was just summarizing what she just made and the supporting video showed the procedure in parallel to the voice track.. It was easy to understand how to make the dish, this way. Less text and more understanding.. My mind was just  beginning to applaud the sensible framing of the show... but I was quick to take back my views as one of the instructions was too much to take!!!! here it goes : Now, Open the mixer jar like this and add coconut this way..... Don't you think this is too much of a procedural instruction?? And this show was supposed to  be teaching regional specialities.. Now, to cook regional specialities, you definitely need some basic cooking knowledge of dishes of your own region first, is my take.. That aside, even if you are a zero in cooking, you still would know that to grind something in a mixer you need to open the mixer's jar!!! Heights of procedural instruction!!!! Dear TV folks, please ...