Ensoy!

and last but not least,

Kids broken-hearted over school's Valentine's Day candy ban

Orey the outrage(grown-ups more than kids!) over the decision to ban candy this valentine's day at a school in Connecticut! With left over candies from Halloween still lying around and the prospect of more sweet stuff coming home during Easter looming threateningly, this would be a welcome relief if everyone followed suit. And who cares for warnings like this - Cancer 'tidal wave' on horizon, warns WHO

Seri, namakku edhukku vambu! Lets enjoy this 'out of this world' video! 

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!!

MIB @ CIFF!

11/12/13

With cooler weather comes all kinds of fevers - viral, black friday and this year's added special, Sachin retirement fever!

Black friday craze is getting crazier by each passing year. Last year it was slightly promoted to late Thursday and this year the online version started from the start of the Thanksgiving week! Each and every year one or two items will go in my temptation list but by the time I consider and reconsider the item/time everything will pass!

Appappa! Even Sachin wouldn't have imagined this kind of a mega retirement party! Or else he would've decided to retire sooner! ;) Even after the official announcement when the last few matches were referred as his last match in Eden gardens, last match in Wankede I thought he would go around the world playing last Oval test, last Lords test etc. Wonder how his family is going to entertain him now?

Before I got the chance to recommend/suggest books to A1, she has already understood my taste in books and suggests good reads for me from her list! Though it surprised me a little I realised that I neither had access to as many books as her nor were they as many age appropriate books when I was her age. "Out of my mind" by Sharon Draper was one of them and it was moving story of a 10 year old girl with cerebral palsy. Powerful writing, real characters you can identify with woven in an emotional story! For a lighter read, I enjoyed "Eight keys" by Suzanne Lafleur,

Yaar Bharathi - A recent gem I found in youtube mine and on time for the birth anniversary of Bharathiyaar!
Like TTM mentioned in his last comment, youtube has become a video akshayapaatiram! S V Sekhar dramas are going in repeat mode. Haven't found that many Crazy Mohan dramas in there. Another latest favorite is Tamil 70s hits! Most not park-able but honey to the ears! This week I am watching Suhasini's Penn serial!

RIP Manna Dey Saab!

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!

Recycle tragedy!

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?)

(Y)Enge!

Engeyum

Engenge

Enge enadhu

Enge sellum

Enge nimmadhi

and

Behti hawa sa tha woh

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! 

Choice

Choice, such an adorable, favourite word! Be it in exams(especially), in menu, in clothes, in transportation. Though in those good old days, choices ranged from synthetic or pattu for Deepavali, Science or Commerce group in +1, Masala dosai or channa batura, cinema or beach, bus or train, Ilayaraja/SPB or others, Kamal or Rajni. In most cases, with some clear favourites the choice was always easy. Life was too! Nowadays, in the name of choice comes so much confusion. True, variety is the spice of life but which variety of spice to choose is the question!

When I have some time in my hands, I spend or rather waste time wondering which genre books to pick, which blogs to browse, what cuisine to try or what type/language music to listen to. Especially the Indian music industry has grown tremendously in the last decade with so many talented singers, music directors that it has been hard to have any one particular favourite. But for now, Karthik's out of the world voice is my choice!

Kaatril eeram

Vizhigalile

Nee korinal

Ennodu vaa vaa

Iravugalil

Behne de

and
Mokka manusha
(not a melody but chumma for fun! The credit shows Karthik, is it really him or someone else?) ;)

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?

Ada Pongada!!!!

As it is it is sooooo hard to set a good example to follow a healthy life style for the sake of children in this kali kaalam and then comes researches after researchers everyday like these....

Organic - worth the price?

Fat and fit!

And chocolate it is...

P.S. - Coincidentally, I just finished reading the chapter from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" where the State Science Institute issues a vague inconclusive caution about the use of Rearden metal! Enattha...!!!

OMG!

During early childhood, like many others, I have also gone through the terror after swallowing fruit seeds, praying that plants don't grow from my inside and elders laughing & brushing aside that fear altogether.

But now....

Pea plant grows inside man's lung

Oru Pada Paadal - Kovil Pura

On the amazing Amazon found this. I have not seen the picturisation of many 70s, 80s Tamil film songs. Now with Youtube zeeboombaa, that wish gets fulfilled! That's the story behind today's oru pada paadal** - Kovil Pura. Not sure if these are the only 3 songs in the film but all honey! May be this was IR's trial run before "Kaadhal Oviyam". 


Vedam nee


Sangeethamey


Amudhey tamizhey


**In the 80s, during the D(oor)D(arshan)only days, in the weekends, after "desiya nigazhchigal" takes over it was time for Vivid Bharathi station on the radio. After a thodar drama, there will either be audio trailers of new movies or oru pada paadal(all songs from one movie will be played). The radio will remain on or switched off depending on the movie announced!

M&M&Ms

Math(s), Music and Motherhood
- Love, adore, crazy about ....
but untameable, unconquerable and "pidi pada maaten"-able
to me!

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!!

Para(web)sites

Last Saturday was one of my friend's birthday and I meant to send her a wish all weekend, only I never got around to it. On Monday morning I was greeted by a thank you msg from that very same friend on facebook and I was wondering if I sent her the wish after all or does facebook even read my mind?! After probing my facebook page, I realised when I accepted a greeting card from another friend a while back, that greetings app(or whatever!) had got stuck to my page and sends cards on my behalf!! Phew!!

Youtube is my best friend now! Any old, new, in-the-middle song, show or any audio/video of the past, present or future I just go scratch the youtube genie and lo! Recently I found a song so divine that I picked up courage to hit the 'like' button! The next day all our hotmail inboxes had extra junk mails! I was like "How?"(like Varun(Nagesh Kukunoor) says with a stress on the "H" in Hyderabad blues!)!

My latest research... Extroverts have twitter accounts and post one liners all thro' the day. Introverts have blogs and write paragraphs after paragraphs! You ask what about people who tweet as well as blog? I am working on that for my PhD!