Kanden Seethaiyai!!!

I am a big fan of old S V Sekhar comedy dramas. Such a huge fan that I use many of his drama dialogues in everyday conversation. Comedy relief is especially the need of the hour!! Listen to his "Aayiram udai vaangiya aboorva sigamani" to find that the current political situation in TN is not all that different!

Listening to SVS drama cassettes on tape recorder was an entertaining passtime in the early 90s. It all started off with "Ellarum Vaanga". Logic less mindless laugh riot! "Periya Thambi", "Kadhule Poo", "Oru sondha veedu vaadagai veedagirathu", "Mahabharathil Mangatha" are my favourites. I think I can confidently say I've listened to all of his dramas now. I'm not sure of the chronological order but dramas with SVS & Sunda combination are the most enjoyable.

Now with youtube genie, I've also found video of some of his dramas. Looks like these are recently recorded ones. While trying to match those familiar voices with faces, I couldn't find the lead female character of the old dramas. The lady who lent her beautiful & awesome voice to characters Narasamma alias Seetha in "Ellarum Vaanga", Viji in "Kaatule Mazhai", Champa Devi in "Mahabharathathil Mangatha" was nowhere to be found!

After exhausting all full length dramas, I started on his TV serials. While listening to one of the episode called "Priyamulla Philomina" in "Nam Kudumban", I heard that lady voice again as "Philomina"! After finding the video of the episode, kanden Seethaiyai!!! I felt so overjoyed as if I found a long lost friend!

Any one knows the name of this actress??

Chennaiiii....

My hometown, then called Madras, was a seedha-saadha yet another metro city of India until I lived there. Ippo, already hot, hot Chennai is orey the super mega hot Chennaiii-thaan featuring in one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2015! Nowadays I introduce myself as from the land of the Chennai super kings(Dhoni tweeting in Tamil!!) to non-Tamils and some Pakis even surprised me that they knew Chennai because of Chennai Express!!

Spent the summer vacation visiting a lot of places in India this time experiencing almost all kinds of weather - sweltering heat, monsoon, cool and chilly. Traffic, crowd and an upcoming metro rail is the common factor in all cities. The highlight of the trip was celebrating anniversary, birthday, rakhi and friendship day with kith and kin!

More malls and multi storied chains stores in Chennai now but our traditional trip to Landmark book store was a big flop. First got disappointed to find the Nungambakkam branch closed and the branches in Spencer plaza and City central malls had hardly any collection. Surprisingly the Kotturpuram library has been well maintained facility-wise though next time I should consider volunteering at the children's department to organize the books.

Lulu Mall

God's own counrty's newest attraction Lulu mall is so fantastic that A2 commented "I don't know if I am in India or US, Amma!" Fresh and extra green from all the monsoon rains, the scenery of Kerala from a moving train is awesome-o-awesome! Namooru Bengaluru's Cantonment station poratti pottu-fied me this time. Missed a train(did not know that that train won't stop there!), sat waiting 20 mins in a train that was supposed to stop only 2 mins there unable to get down since the pick up person was waiting at the next station!

Mysore Palace

Brindavan Gardens

Musical fountains

And as always tried to eat as much good food as I could to sustain until the next trip. Cream center in Chennai got our vote as it satisfied both the kids and grown ups. Lakshmi Shankar Mess in Coimbatore with its local and organic food scored big. Didn't have enough energy or enthu' or room to try out all that at Eat street in Bangalore, After all that extravagant food, back home, the cereal boxes mocked at me, 'hehe... welcome back!" :-(

Bye 13, Hello 14!

New research! Tirupathi trip, child birth and disney world during Christmas have a lot in common. Humongous pre and post planning, wait in queue/labour and the 3 seconds bliss moment - getting Venkatachalapathy darshan, looking and holding your baby for the first time and seeing the lighted Magic kingdom castle with your kids' faces all lit up respectively!

People who are guilty about not having done enough workout during the year should make a trip to Orlando, FL. The whole year's worth of workout can be done in a few days! Even my toe nails were aching after a couple of days of theme park walking! How much ever I try and avoid not to get sucked in to the Disney mania, summa solla koodathu, the ticket is worth just for Mission space and Soaring in Epcot! Like the Princess in Arabian tales Thousand and one nights, we leave some theme parks every trip to explore for next time thereby not closing the account with Disney.

Theme park tickets - $$$$
Hotel/food - $$$
Wear summer clothes in winter - Priceless!!

Evergreen

Caught in the (inter)net!

Earth life "may have come from Mars" - Ada, didn't I have a similar thought process sometime back?!! The mystery of life on earth is getting mysterious by the day, year, decade, century! For a change, while churning youtube, the recommendations spit out some interesting videos. So, loosely tying the knots, the pushpaka vimanas must've transported people onto earth! My earthling theory is getting super exciting, illey? ;-)

Fiat - premier padmini black and yellow taxis will be off the roads of Mumbai because of a government ban of vehicles older than 20 years-aamey! It kindled(got to use ipad, kindle etc. appappo nowadays) some old memories and took me down memory lane. For the 80s Madras-wasis, an occational auto trip was a luxury! In the then Bombay, autos were only allowed from Chembur and beyond. So, a taxi ride was sure from Dadar railway station after a long distance train ride(double damaka)! I used to envy those lucky kids who came to school in taxi after missing the school bus! But the most attoozhyam by parent folks were to take a taxi after buying vegetables at wholesale vegetable market!

Light refreshments!

IPL started with the usual pompousness and had a rather anti-climax! Inspite of my efforts, I just got sucked into the IPL quicksand! With every household suffering hours of power cut in TN and through out India(and some getting to enjoy it for the first time!), cricketers and spectators sweating it out in flood light matches, ennatha solla? Whatever the significance of 108, 1008, almost all TV shows, music competitions, cricket matches in India have that many rounds to reach a semi-final round! Good summer vacation entertainer for the kids!

"Ennach..." everytime reminds me of Vijay Sethupathi's dialogue in "Naduvule konjam pakkatha kaanom" whenever I start to say it now! Really? It is based on real life incident? Unbelievable!! A little dragging but a nice entertainer! Kudos to the NKPK team for believing in their script(Enna theiriyum oru song kooda sorugaamey!)! The climax was fantastic! Another entry in my light entertainer category is "Marina", especially the Sivakarthikeyan comedy scenes! ROTFL in that birthday gift scene!!

Watched the annual Vijay awards. Annathey Kamal has become their aasthana Chief guest! Chevaliar Sivaji award for SRK, really? Varalakshmi Sarathkumar for debut female actor, really? Google, google best song, really? But the nomination list for best debut director, director, screenplay showed a real tough competition and reflected the healthy trend in Tamil cinema now! With Gopinath(paavam Maddy, he was just a oppukku chappani) in his sundara tamil and the awards themselves are exclusively for Tamil movies, why-o-why do they still cling on with the "the nominees are" accented voice over!

Consultations from teachers and librarians about checking out books from teen section for my voracious Tween reader, resulted in my trying out some books (though I could never keep up with her)! It started off with "Matched" which was a page turner but the subsequent parts were super boring. "Saraswati's way" was too much even for me to handle!

For some light listening....

Moongil thottam
Innum konja neram
(Sounds similar?)

Revival

Yesterday was one of my friend's daughter's birthday but my friend was busy with her younger one's activities that the older one got upset! Quite a familiar situation in most households including ours! In all this tug-of-war, my other child, my blog is the easily sacrifice-able!

After many attempts to watch a meteor shower, atlast hit jackpot in December with the Gemind meteor shower! Though the happiness was short lived with all the horrible events in the following days! And I thought seeing shooting stars was good luck! 

It is 200 years since the publishing of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice! With the way, A1 devours books, though she is still stuck on mystery and magic, I am sure the day is not far away when both can discuss Darcy and Elizabeth! 

Hinglish Vinglish dekha but paarkanam Tanglish Vinglish! As part of vacation homework(!), A2 had to watch  "Children of heaven"!  It indeed was wonderful movie and true to the words of her teacher, "it beautifully emphasizes on sibling relationship, sharing, goal setting + determination and (above all) cherishing the little things in life"! IMO, It was a bit too much for 4-5 yr olds but it touched & affected me and A1. The movie helps with the things I am struggling to teach my kids in the land of plenty! A1's only peeve was the subtle ending! 

Expectations!

Even if 'millions' and 'kodis' are getting seepattu-fying in all of the available media in today's world, everyone's "if only I had a million dollars/oru kodi rupees" is a big dream. For a Math project, when A1 had to pretend to spend a million dollars, I didn't think it would be too hard. But with parents like us, poor thing, she was buying $10 tops, $20 bags and stuff. Even after buying a house, a car, TV, iPad, kindle and other basic necessities(!) she was struggling to spend the entire amount! Guess, dreams may be hard to handle in reality!

A very good friend of mine has this bad habit, punctuality! She is always on time or before time everywhere! When she was carrying her second child, I consoled myself, once the baby arrives, then she will become like me. But now that the baby is born, even now she is on time or before time. Enna manushanga pa! 

In this brammanda Universe, are we just an accidental speck of dust or are we the unique special living creature?

Mar(s)ch madness

Some days turn out better unplanned(those days are very rare with me around!). We were headed to the museum and landed at the planetarium. Even more surprising, we were on time for the Mars quest show! Not too fascinating to a 4 year old and the big sis had 1001 questions throughout the show but best part was the news that Mars, Venus and Jupiter are visible in the night sky this month. All this happened a day before the clocks sprang forward and so got to see and wonder at the mysterious sky with all her diamonds!

The Mars show was about past(how ancient cultures saw the red planet), present(the information we have now with all those satellites) and future(the day man hopes to touch the Mars surface!). That water flowed on the planet long ago and that Carbon dioxide makes up its atmosphere now led my imaginations go wild. May be Mars was an earth like planet before and (Ma(rtia)n-made or whatever) climate changes has turned Mars into what it is today? Anyway, with no oxygen and only CO2 in the red planet, every Mars bound astronaut should take a potted plant(which will take in CO2 and give back oxygen) in addition to the oxygen tank with them when they land there! Eppadi ipdi, illey? :)

On an unrelated(to Mars) and related(to madness) note:

Already good, kind and gentle people go levels after levels of self improvement courses

Already health conscious, fit people exercise more, eat healthy etc.

Already intelligent people read more and store more in their brain

AK turned AK47!!

Footie!

While going through old photos, A1 spotted A2's first day of school picture and exclaimed to me, "You made her wear this shoe with this dress, Amma?"! Thankfully, she didn't go too much further with the photos or she would've found out that I had dressed her up the exact same way on her first day of school!!!

Eons back I was also footwear fashion conscious micro-mini Imelda Marcos of my time with half a dozen pairs of variety footwear, each one for a different purpose(A buckled one for running & catching( a bus!), a hawaii chappal for around the corner(potti) shops, rubber ones for wading thro' the monsoon rainwater, slip-on for a bandha look, a regular one for the traditional outfits etc etc.).

The roadside shops of Pondy bazaar/Ranganathan st. used to be a favourite haunt. The cheaper ones worked for me as it wouldn't last long so I can go get another pair! Though a customary trip to the cobbler for mending the shoes step was done first. Are there cobblers anymore in Chennai? They have been saviours many a time! Their skill have always been a fascinating sight. At times I've felt tempted to try my hand at it too!

Inspite of all the varieties, I had never worn/owned a pair of sneakers before coming here. So, my first purchase of a sports shoe was a big deal and walking in it felt like Neil Armstrong's moon walk! Though after the initial honeymoon, the lace tying became a big nuisance(especially for a person like me who is always running late, rushing out the door)! Until a friend taught me the trick to use the shoes like a slip-on with the lace tied!

With all these varieties for different seasons like flip flops, sandals, slip ons, sneakers, boots, A2 is always so confused at the time of going out as to which pair she should be wearing. One day when I cautioned her against running on the sloped cement driveway, she said, "don't worry, Amma! I am only wearing my running shoes!"

Inspite of learning it the hard way many times that ordering shoes and clothes online is not a good idea, I still get tempted and succumb! But with kids so choosy("ellaam onna maadhiriye" everyone conveniently points the finger at me!), browsing and ordering stuff on the internet seemed better than wading thro' the stores and malls in the busy holiday season. In a latest case. saving a trip and pe... er.. gas didn't happen as we got shoes each leg different size!!

Collec-tion

Inception - What an imagination! Though in another couple or so viewings I hope I will get the concepts of the movie. I wonder if and how the director managed to make the artists understand his script or did they just sign on the dotted line knowing Mr. Nolan! DiCaprio reminded me of Ajit(adikka varadeenga!) If only Ajit went the DiCaprio way to pick & do movies! Arthur(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) looked so familiar but just couldn't place him until I read his profile. Though Aththan kept saying "Aamir maadhiri irukkaana!"

Imagination - In A1's early years, I could not understand why imaginitive play was made such a deal for children here. In school, they again feed & grow their imagination skills in their reading and writing. I guess, this kind of letting them go wild with their imaginative mind results in extra ordinary novels & movies. Me too trying soooo hard to be atleast an aadha, iththunoondu Rowling but mmmhmm.. !!

Celebration - After a decade, got to plan India trip around Deepavali time combining a family wedding. Kids who had only seen July 4th fireworks and some sparklers here, were astounded to see changu chakrams, flower pots and numerous other varieties that they can hold and light themselves. We flew on the Deepavali day from C - C and the view of the fire crack(er)ling sky was an awesome sight!

Disruption - Snow has been wrecking havoc and following us everywhere this winter. We got stranded during the unexpected snow in London and just when we got home and got settled, it snowed in Atlanta bringing the city to a standstill!! We moved south just to escape from this snowy weather and now it chases us all around. I wonder if we had extended our stay in India if it might've snowed there too!!

Shooting star!

I read about the Perseid meteor shower and thought, "ok, let's welcome Friday the 13th in ishtyle!" Even though the meteor shower was visible since early dawn today and even though I was woken up around 2.30 AM, the lazy me took over and convinced me that tomorrow is the bigger/better show! Right now the night sky is cloudy (punishment for my laziness!) Will the clouds clear by midnight? Will my internal alarm wake me up on time tomorrow morning too?

Every time I read about any celestial spectacles, I make big plans but then go back to complaining how it's either too bright/late or too cold for sky watching here!! Like the waves in the sea, the stars in the sky and gazing at the night sky is very soothing! Just reminds me of those childhood mottai maadi days! That also reminds me of those silly teenage years when spotting a shooting star and making a wish was such a big deal!

And talking of shooting stars will definitely bring up Tintin! Oh, I didn't know this was in the making!!

Celebrity Watch!

Guess who?

A friend had sent a youtube link of her kids video. A1, who has so far watched TV shows, movie songs on youtube saw this video and excalimed, "Ammaaa... they are on YOUTUBE!!!" So, we made her a celebrity too!! ;) Talking of celebrities, have you met your favourite celebrity and how did you react? When A1 recently met the family band "Laughing Pizza" for real, she was all dumbstruck and tongue tied!

After the initial excitement of air travel waned and become an ordeal, the one and only tiny flicker I have each time every time, I am about to fly is, "will I spot a celebrity?" Though the "celebrity" for us is either a movie artist or a sportsperson where sports limits to cricket and/or tennis. So, Kenyan marathon runner or even a Dutch footballer won't count!

One of my mother's friend is related to Vani Ganapathy, Kamalhaasan's ex-wife and my mom tells me that we have spotted Kamal & Vani in weddings during their happily married years. Though being very young at that time, I hardly remember the events. But for a very long time, I used to boast to friends about my meeting with Kamal(depending on my mood & imagination level it ranged from shaking hands to riding in his shoulders!)!! So, you can imagine who would have been the saddest person when the two divorced!!

At the peak of my 'cinema payithiam' days, one day, on my way home with a cousin, saw a crowd outside a bungalow. We learnt of a cinema shooting and my cousin was telling me that the house was called Singapore house and it was often let out for cinema shooting. I was bent upon waiting outside to see which actor/actress were inside while my cousin was getting thoroughly embarrassed hanging around there. All that I can remember now is Actor Suresh coming to the balcony to give darshan and we(much to my cousin's relief) taking off after seeing Director Natraj(Moondram Pirai villain!)!

Several years later, I had now jumped fence when it came to running behind cinema stars. At school, we were taken to watch a stupid movie called "Engalayum Vaazhavidungal", supposedly a children's movie, at Nagesh theatre. Thoroughly disappointed by the movie we were all waiting for our school bus when we heard about Anandbabu(Nagesh's son) coming into the complex. Within minutes, 3/4 of the crowd ran to see him and some even returned with autographs. We were a few girls who felt embarrassed by our classmates behaviour and later had a big fight with those who went 'running to see Anandbabu'!!

After some years in the foreign countries, with most faces looking alike, while struggling to spot neighbours at the grocery store, Aththaan and me exchange conversations like, "That Guy browsing at the laptop at the far end.. doesn't he look like John Cusack?" or "Look, look that man in the speeding convertible... he is definitely Harrison Ford!" More pathetic is when I go to famous stadiums, I won't know whether to admire the grounds or celebrities or enjoy the picnic/specialty food!!

Anyway, during one of my air travel ordeal, before A2 was born, it was just me & A1 and I was eagerly waiting to see who was going to occupy the last seat in the 3 seater row. My mind floating high up flashing scenes from 'Dil chahta hai', 'Ninaithale inikkum' and the likes... 'thud' came crashing to the ground when the empty seat was occupied by my ex-company's ex-VP!

P. S. - A1 is at crossroads now...

In Music

She is too old for Dora

too young for Hanna Montana

just right Amul chocolatey suggestions for a 8 yr old please!

Engalukkum snow varum....

Every winter, A1's wish for shoan (the way A1 called snow when she started talking) will come true atleast once even here in the south. This year after all the record breaking snow in the east, even we got slum(the way A2 calls snow now!) decent enough to take pictures!

Amarikan Inglipish!

Recently I met an old acquaintance and when I went up to her and said, "remember me? we used to meet at our daughters' football practice sessions"? She had a big question mark in her face, "football practice... oh, soccer practice, you mean?" Can I get anymore superbowled!!!

I've always admired people who become Roman as soon as their feet touch Rome! Amongst friends who in just 3 months of landing in foreign shores could talk about cabs & cardigans in ishtyle, here I am, a thirundhadha case, even after a decade, still filling petrol, eating and feeding biscuits instead of cookies/crackers, getting rose/violet colour outfits! Recently, A1 added a new word, comforter, in her vocabulary cos' we still refer to hers as 'blankie'(btw, a diploma course is required to understand bed linens)!

Some words like 'trash', 'elevator', 'bell pepper' didn't seem that hard to get used to. But words like schedule, bath etc. confuses my brain and the outcome will definitely be the Indian way to Americans and vice versa! Same with direct, vitamins etc. And bike, scooter, jeep are quite deeply etched that the substitution is still a WIP. Apartment was easy but when I had to answer which floor, I always wished I lived in the top most as I bungled with all others. Shortened versions are to make life easy. But I kashtapattu, vedhanapattu, thindadi, theruporukki somehow manage to say 'condomonium' in full cos' a couple of times, my mouth(with help from brain or not, I know not) mysteriously adds a 'm' to the end to its short form!!

Recently a desi asked me if & how I pronounced my name Americanized. After reading thro' this post, you might've guessed that like the Doordarshan TV times palmolive shaving advt. dhadiwala(beard) guy, my answer was "who, me?" ;)

Okieee!!

One of A1's friend's mom happened to tell me that on a discussion about idlis, A1 remarked, "My mom makes the best idlis"! No doubt I came back home all smiling ear to ear and thinking, not all hard work goes unnoticed, unrewarded. While I was sharing this proud moment with hubby, A1 appeared from nowhere and said, "I didn't say that. I just said my mom makes idlis too"!!

(okie, okie... aall iz well, aall iz well)

From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I go to sleep, my mind transistor always remains on(especially with all my favourite radio stations vanishing one by one(thendral.com, aahaafm etc.)) with some song playing all day and some are picked up by the mouth! Now that A2 is old enough to have ideas and opinions and realised the utility of the mouth other than eating & crying, uses it to command "Amma, no paat!"

(okie, okie... aall iz well, aall iz well)

Atthaan is orey the narcissist these days, all the time only I-phone, I-pod, I-app... But I dare not open my mouth about it or orders will be placed on the I-net for me too and/or the chotoos(I-yo!)

Gone too soon!

The only news that penetrated and made us to pause during our vacation was the passing away of Michael Jackson. This past weekend, the news of his fans all over the world performing his songs to commemorate his 51st birthday took me down memory lane too.

My interest for western music started (& faded) with his rise(& fall!). In the late 80s and early 90s, 3 of us friends used to sit glued to the radio sets (rarely together but mostly in our own homes) on Saturday nights to listen to the one and only western music program on Madras B and discuss the songs the following sunday morning. It used to be a competition to learn the lyrics of the songs! MJ's was a particular favourite. Screaming 'Ambey... Ambey' for 'Bad' or feeling goosebumps listening to 'Man in the mirror' or giggling to the 'Girl is mine' seems like yesterday! When cable TV entered and brought MTV home, watching the videos of Thriller, The smooth criminal, Black or white were so awesome!

A (US return)friend of mine in college sort of gave me the idea that MJ wasn't as popular in the US as in India. So, the first time in the US, when someone asked me whose or what kind of music I liked, I wasn't sure whether to say Michael Jackson or not. Then he himself added, "George Michael? My sister used to be crazy about him"! I was about to blurt, 'George Michael, Michael Jackson, I guess all Michaels' and gulped it at the last minute and saved my face for the person talking to me was a Michael too!!

Like most celebrities, once again, in the manipulation contest between the media and the celebrity, the media wins!

RIP, Moonwalker!

P.S. - And bye, bye Chandrayaan! Some consolation!

Senti-mental!

Summer holidays meant going to paatti/thatha veedu for most Indian kids. Guess, the desis are continuing and saving the tradition now! We made our 'thaai manney vanakkam' trip this summer. It was A2's first trip to India and my first time with 2 kids on the mega flight experience(not bad at all!).

The last couple of months just zipped past packing & unpacking from one place to another, attending several functions(thoroughly enjoyed vazhai ilai kalyana saapadu!) etc. that after my return I had to go thro' the photos to realise what really happened! None of the usual NRI stuff like cinema theatre visit, shopping or sight-seeing this time b'cos of clingy A2! A1 went on an amusement park-adanam in every place with whoever available!!

Atlast people have started to get bored of mega serials and now it is Music/dance shows that rule India. Aaha, enna timing that I got to witness the mega final of Super singer 08 and Surya's sashtanga namaskaram to Kamal in vijay awards!!! And what 'phonnu, cell phonnu, blue toothu, black berry, blue berry.... idellaam dupe... SMS dhaan top!! Chiyaan, nee asathu ba!!

I guess, it's quite common in most house-holds that the porandha veedu and pugundha veedu have totally different lifestyles / pazhakka-vazhakkams! Every trip some stuff gets left behind in India, mostly accidentally & some purposely! It was so funny that on one side, I can dig into all those treasures and more while in the other, even if I came back missing my flight, the stuff would've been donated! Now back home, to deal with all my household collection mountain, I am wondering if I should go my usual 50-50 method of holding onto some as memorobilia and trashing the rest. But now the problem is that there is adidhadi as to which is memorobilia/trash & to who!

Vattam, Maavattam!

The Appas, Ammas, Athais, Mamas of desis who come to visit the states spend most of their time converting $ into Rs or vice versa. But as a pudhu ponnu in the states, I appavi-ly use to exclaim, "haiyo, tape recorder 55 dhaana! Vangidalamley?" much to the horror of Hd! Then came the icing, sales tax! Especially with all prices ending with a .99, the final payment always seem a mockery! To my knowledge, I always remember paying either the MRP or sticker or the kadakaran sollara price at stores in India. Or if one is really lucky with no 'no bargain' signs, can even come out of the store with a big grin having saved Rs. 2!! Here in the States, if one is lucky enough to live in a no sales tax state or even in the vicinity of such states then orey the alattals dhaan!! To save 5%, we used to drive 50+ miles in the North East! 

It was a revelation that not just the tax, driving rules, immunizations, speed limits and many other things varied from state to state. And when we moved here, it went another step further,  the county level! With our city lying across 3 counties, it took me a while to understand the county level rules, tax(take the right turn and save 1% sales tax!), school systems etc. Anyway, all this build-up is for my latest bungle. 

As a pudhu ponnu in the states knowing nothing about the big deal about long weekends and the mandatory big plans for trips that one has to make and with an absent-minded professor hubby who might thankfully remember on Sunday evening that the following Monday is a holiday, I took over the holiday planning committee chair(wo)man post. All was well until this past President's day long weekend. With hubby having a holiday, relatives' kids having a holiday, Balavihar on holiday and even the stock market enjoying a holiday, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine A1's school district county would be sincerely working on President's day! Now hereafter, every holiday I will be subjected to the "Are you sure its a holiday for me today?" 

Digital(l) age!

Ever since I heard/saw in the news about television broadcasting in the US going all digital from February next, it's been unbelievable that there are television antennas in this part of the world and that there are users too!! It looks like eons now those good(!) old days in the then, Madras with most houses showing off (multiple, sometimes!) antennas which was crows' kuttichuvar' for their daily discussions. There had been numerous times when we had to dance with those antennas moving it in different directions to get some decent audio or grainy video.

For me, digital age started with those Rs. 35 digital watches. Aaah, those were the days! Now almost every room in our house has a clock with digital display like clock radios, cooking range, cable box etc. that sometimes I doubt my clock reading skills from dial clocks!

When my husband bought his first digital camera, I thought it was an unnecessary expenditure(little did I know, mega pixel count was in competition with mega serials!). Although I agree that digital cameras help us record every smile, every step, every milestone of our little ones, it is no match to looking at a physical photo album. And with the numerous pictures sitting in supposedly organised, appropriately named folders, it's become so tedious to find 1-2 specific ones from the chakravyugam! I fondly remember those 24-36 film roll camera days when finishing a film roll was a big task followed by the wait for the prints('aanandha avasthai'!). The look on our faces at the photo lab - priceless(can be 'Salangai oli' Jayapradha style or that podi payal style!)!