Tis' the season

It was sweetober October! The month started off with a birthday followed by festivals, Navarathri & Deepavali and ended with Halloween! I am not the one to say 'no' to sweets but after devouring all the goodies, handling the guilt part is what I don't like! One plus with October Deepavali is it is still warmer and the fireworks more enjoyable!

One day in a year our household and 'on time' go hand in hand is when the clocks go back for the winter! Or so until last year! Now the kids are adjusting to time changes faster than me! Many a time I have 'polambi-fied' about the day lights saving practice. But if at all the country decides to stop this practice please do not follow Russia's example and stay in summer time foerever! I have come to like the clock change in fall for that one extra hour and I prefer slightly brighter mornings!

P.S. - Even after few days of the time change, not all clocks are adjusted in our house and so everytime I look at the clocks with the wrong time, I get this "OMG" feeling.

Latest favourite melodies

1. (Telugu) Sri Rama Rajyam - Jagadananda

After a long, long time, Ilayaraja & SPB combination! If not for the millenium addition, Shreya Goshal, the song would've been like the IR's golden 80s!! Lovely, lovely song!

2. (Malayalam) Mizhirendilum - Aalilathaliyumai

This Jayachandran gem from the youtube treasure box! Trying my best to learn the tongue twister lyrics! For kannazhagi Kavya(who features in the movie picturisation), I need to do a separate post!

3. (Hindi) Tashan - Falak tak

Aaahh... forgotten how wonderful a singer Udit Narayan is since listening to his tamil songs! Paarka dhaan sagikaley!!

4. (Tamil) Ko - Ennamo Yedho

Still stuck on this song in Tamil.

Any other new/old (listenable) songs out there?

Vadai monster!

Unhealthy was the excuse I used to conveniently escape(most of the time) from making fried foods at home. Also, the left over deep fried oil that I hate to reuse/discard is another bother. And most of all, the perfection that is required for South Indian fried foods like the puffed up poori, crispy pakoda or the vadai with that hole in the center!

Anyway, one day after a stressful vadai episode, I happened to land here which built up my hopes that some day I will get that perfect shaped Vadai. My online quest for a donut maker led me to this(the lazy and stingy metoo!)! And all this resulted in these Vada alphabets!

Reviewers pointed out that the batter needed to be thinner. After years of caution to use less water to make vada batter, I was scared to make it thinner. But it made a fun eat for kids choosing their favourite alphabet/shape!

Ennamo yedho...

Manam oru kurangu.... literally translating, Mind is a monkey!

After roasting 3 hot, hotter, hottest months of summer (same dialogue every summer!), karichu kotti'-fying the weather when atlast (tropical storm)Mr. Lee broke the sun's stong hold and brought in some drizzle, suddenly the gloomy-cloudy weather and approaching fall and winter weather gave me the shudders! Soon I can start complaining about the cool, cold, icy weather!

When cooking for guests I am always jittery about the amount! It's in my genes to cook exactly for n numbers for n number of guests! Unusually my hand became 'dharalam', a couple of guests canceled out and there was quite an amount of left overs during a recent get-together and eating the same for next few meals was no fun! I am going back to my n-n ratio!

After complaining endlessly about kollywood's obsession with running around the trees, unrealistic dishoom dishoom, other commercial ingredients etc., now when realistic movies are taking over, I'm hopelessly digging for chick flicks! Now you know the "ennamo edho" title link! Idhukkaga dhaan indha post-ey! ;)

Tech Takeover

We got a scrabble board game for A1 right on time for the summer vacation. All was well until a cousin introduced us to Word with friends and now all of us are hooked onto it. No set up time, no clean up time and the board game has just joined our "can't throw away - will be of use someday" collection!

Once upon a time, I was the (only)one to surprise, embarrass, torture friends, family, acquaintance with my phone call/email/in person wishes on their special days! With social networking, electronic reminders, now everyone is stealing my thunder! Also, there is hardly any news to exchange these days as it is all posted on the web that I am not able to start any sentence with "theriyuma...."

I bow to the team who uploaded the whole 5 volumes of "Ponniyin Selvan" in tamil on the internet!! Now I join the elite fan club! No doubt that reading the print form wins hands down against the electronic form but I don't know how long I would've had to wait for that to happen.

Like many, Kalki's description of the land and its beauty makes me yearn to visit those places. But I also have to admit that many times I just wanted to skip the descriptions and race through to read what that chapter was leading to! No wonder none stops reading it just once!

I wonder if Kalki named the novel so just because he was the great king Raja Raja Cholan for he hardly qualifies to be the hero! Vandiya devan is a jolly good lovable fellow but it's Aditha Karikalan who really fascinated me! Is Kalki the trendsetter for cinematic situations like the first meeting of Kundavai and Vandiya devan, sidekick Aazhvarkadiyan popping at the right times, twins, look alikes etc.?

Lot of unanswered questions at the end, why? But all said and done, this is my first attempt at a full length novel in senthamizh and my first historical novel. It's helped me get over the mind block I have had against historical novels that I am starting "Sivagamiyin sabadam" next.

aaargh!!

- to find that you share many things in common with the person you dislike!

- that any junk left on the kitchen counter would disappear in seconds while anything remotely healthy will be left to rot!

- that no plans/schedules/routines ever work as per plan/schedule/routine during vacations!

- that compromise and not 'getting even', is the only way forward in life!!

Short and long

I love short stories! In a stage where I don't have the luxury of finishing a book in one sitting, I can take breaks after each story and not break my head about what is going to happen next! Each story in "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri was moving. But the most affecting ones were "Only Goodness" and "Going Ashore". Infact, I was unashamedly hoping for a filmy ending not having the heart to read otherwise! Lahiri's style is easy and smooth and with all her stories based in and around MIT/Cambridge, I felt like returning from a trip to Boston!

After finishing Chitra Divakaruni's "Palace of Illusions", it hit me that this was my first time reading the epic Mahabharata in the print form(except on Amar Chitra katha, maybe!). May be because it is an often repeated story in the childhood. And so far I hadn't heard the story after the end of the war. So, the irony of Duryodhan reaching the heavens after a warrior's death and the Pandavas bearing the brunt of the after-effects of the war was new and shocking. I've always sympathised with Karna, the cursed but all of Kunti's offsprings seem to have suffered all through their life for no fault of theirs(for most part!)!

I also realised how B R Chopra's televised serial is so etched in my mind that the actors of the tele-serial were the ones in my mind all through! Having heard rave reviews about the book, I think I had too high expectations that the first half didn't seem to meet. Especially it was hard to imagine Draupati and Kunti as regular DIL and MIL! But with the start of the war, the pace picked up and it was hard to keep the book down.

P.S. - Recently with all that news about Kalki's "Ponniyin Selvan" being made into a movie by Manirathnam, I felt so bad for not having read the novel. I was so tempted to ask my parents to send me the books atleast in installments. I was astonished when someone told me that there is an English version of the novel and someone else has promised to send me the pdf. I know, it won't be as good as reading the original but something better than nothing. Now that the movie idea is dropped, I hope I get to read it and join the crowd to debate about who should be cast as Vandiya Devan!

Simbly Grand!

Better late than never with my (b)elated wishes to the newly weds! Last week of April was wedding waaram with reel prince Urumiraj, I mean Prithviraj having a hush-hush wedding and the real Prince William having a world wide wedding! With Wedding pictures/videos of celebrities becoming so accessible these days on the internet, it is as if we attended those events personally! Looks like Prince William's role model is his thatha, the grand duke of Edinburgh. From matching matching outfits at the Wedding(not fair that only the bride's gown is talked about) to his decision to not wear a wedding ring. Eppidiyo, nalla irunga pa! And taking about Supri(thvi)yaraj, I was smitten by kanninimaNeele from Anwar recently which made me dig up some old Malayalam movies of Prithviraj. IMO, he has made better choices in Tamil movies! "Pinakkamo" was a visual treat but the movie was a disappointment. "Kaana kannil" and "Picha vecha" have made it to my playlist but true malayalam song fans are appalled at the state of it now!

A good friend called after a very long time. As soon as I answered, she seemed bewildered! She had called me by mistake! Though she talked a while having called, I felt so bad that she hadn't meant to call me, that she has time to call others, that she has other friends now. Though all that applies to me too, it just bothered me the rest of the day. But lately, this kind of mistaken calls and mails are happening too often. Someone left a message on our answering machine who I couldn't recall for a long time. After much racking of brain, I remembered the acquaintance and called back only to find out she had called the wrong no. Another time, a mom of some old classmate of A1's sent me a menu list for a party. Only she had included my mail id by mistake! Suddenly my name seems too common. And in my childhood I was so angry with my parents for giving me such an uncommon name that there was not one store named after me! And is there a chat etiquette? Some people send a "hi" and then disappear. With all the latest mistaken identities, I wonder if they pinged the wrong person!

Till preschool, the parents had the choice to make playdate plans. After entering elementary school, the kids are making plans themselves! Initially, whether the playdate was in our home or not, I called the parent to confirm and verify. But it was always me who was making the calls. Either they seem disinterested or just want to drop off the kid! In a latest incident, I didn't make the call and we found out at the last minute that they didn't even have our address or phone no.!

The news about playback singer Chitra's daughter's accidental death is heart wrenching!

Happy ending, atlast!!!

You D(honi & co) id it, guys!! Cricket World cup champions, after almost 3 decades!! All the entertaining-the-crowd job at home was worth it! When Kapil & co won the world cup I was around the same age as A1 is now and A1 is as puzzled as I was about why and what is/was making all the grown-ups go so crazy!

P.S. - Ellaam seri dhaan, this over generosity of the state governments to shower the players with so much incentives is too much!

Peri(ya)gee Moon

This past weekend's full moon was the special perigee moon The weather unusually cooperative with temperatures in the 70s, the kids enjoying their stay-up-late allowance and oohing & aahing at the yellowish moon rising in the horizon, A2 thinking it was the sun rising again and A1 wondering if it was a comet, it was quite an interesting night. All said and done, I still think, the rising moon seen at the Marina beach in Chennai appears even bigger and more beautiful especially with bgm by Mr.Waves.

P.S. - Boasting about all the technological and other developments in this 21st century, why-o-why do we still have to follow this 19th century practice of "daylights savings"? Can't the clocks be adjusted a half hour instead of going back and forth? Any petitions going around to change this system?

Marriage, children etc.

Inspite of good reviews and friend's recommendation, I started BBB(Band baaja baaraat) with a lot of skepticism what with a disaster like "Tees Maar Khan" and this from my not-so-favorite production house! But it turned out a nice, light hearted, jolly-good timepass movie that I'm always looking for these days! The leads did a great job but somehow I would've liked an even better cast!

Talking of Shaadi(mubarak), in the past few India trips, the kids got to experience the big fat Indian style weddings and A1 especially loves to dress up in traditional pavadai, kaNN mai, flowers etc. She especially loves the oonjal(swing) that she is ready to sacrifice her early morning sleep to be there bright and early, sitting & squeezing the bride! This time Sangeet and Nalangu got added to her favourites. She was curious to know how our Sangeet and Nalangu were and when I answered that we didn't have either in our wedding, pat came her reply, "your wedding mustn't have been fun then, Amma!"

When A1 was a toddler, she often used to say "When I big and you small, I will do this to you". It would include the good ones(like pushing her in the supermarket cart) and bad ones(when I scold her). This kind of thought process in a child surprised me at that time and I even thought it was quite unique! Now A2 says the exact same thing! Sometimes it even includes, "when I big and you are in my tummy..."(So as not to make her feel bad, we tell A2 when she looks at the pictures of me, hubby and A1 prior to her birth and asks where she is, that she was in my tummy then)!

P.S. - As much as it is fun to meet so many long lost friends and relatives at marriages, it is also a sad reminder of the people who are missed including the ones who have passed on, who prefer to remain in hiding, who wants to cut all ties with family etc.!! Sigh!

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!!

WWWs

Wacky has been our weather lately! After scorching-o-scorching summer, last week it felt like we went directly to winter, especially the mornings! The day was starting cold and it felt like we needed the heating on. Then through the day it was becoming cool to pleasant to slightly sticky in the evening that it felt like we needed to turn on the fan!

Weird are the school preachings about good nutrition. After all the talking the talk about the food pyramids and healthy eating and stuff, they burst into parties like Indian movies do with songs - no reason or rhyme! As if they needed more excuse to have treats, 'the student of the week' shares a treat with the class every Friday. There was one such Friday when on top that, 2 other students celebrated their birthdays on the very same day and so A1 came home devouring cakes and cookies and ice creams. Mudiyaleenga!!

Wild are R(gh)ajini fans after Endirun-o-run!! Oops, they did it again!! Even though I am in truce with the edhir-katchi especially after this, it irks why Annathey turned it down and hangs around with KSR!! The greatest success for Rajini is not the box-office success but his ghajini attempt succeeding in roping Ms (forever for Indians) World for his film! Penance in Himalayas does have effect!!

Wasted are Vikram's efforts movie after movie! After getting so much mixed responses to Ravan(an), I decided on the Tamil version just for the sake of Vikram. I realised later that all the people who liked the movie had seen the Hindi version! Incidentally, I unearthed "Kadhal Pagadai" on the internet and finished watching it in record one week! Roughly the theme is same and it felt the serial scored much better!

Easy eggless brownies

Yay! Atlast A1 approved and shared home-made brownies with her school mates!! "Home-made", "from scratch" phrases have had the desired effect on friends and family but to a bunch of goodie eating grade schoolers.... I was nervous!! So, I picked this tried and tested recipe from allrecipes.com. Before google, before food blogs, it was allrecipes.com I depended totally for all my food experiments. Even now, if I have some ingredients I want to use, I simply go to their ingredient search option and find a recipe! With reviews and ratings, it is an awesome site!

I made a few changes to the basic recipe: I used sweetened hot chocolate mix instead of unsweetened cocoa powder and reduced the sugar amount. I reduced the amount of water and added some milk. I also reduced the amount of oil and added a little butter(It is only for kids, no?) I've tried it with reduced oil and apple sauce before too. I just didn't have apple sauce in hand this time.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup water or milk
1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl combine well flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Pour in the water and/or milk, oil and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread in a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven. The top should no longer be shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

(I had made a second batch which I baked in a round pan!)

These brownies are very cakey. For solid brownies, bake another 10 minutes. Don't over bake or they get hard.

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!!

Unf(l)avourable!

Lately, my choices in frozen treat flavours have been disasters(Most of it because of your going overboard being the sneaky chef says hubby)!! With summer temperatures dangerously threatening to hit the 3 digits almost every day this entire season, I am having to give in to the kids' scream for ice cream. And when it comes close to being a daily affair, the health freak in me kicks in!

Frozen yogurt, though doesn't sound as yummilicious as ice cream, at Ikea stores, Sweet tomatoes and Ben & Jerry's have been such a huge success that I was overjoyed to find Yogen Fruz newly opened at the mall food court. Absolutely proud of myself for sneaking frozen yogurt instead of ice cream to my little ones, (I took them the round about way so they wouldn't spot and stop at Dairy queen) ordered 2 vanilla and 1 mint choco chip at Yogen Fruz. One lick and for the first time felt the sourness of yogurt. May be a fruity flavour would've been a better choice. The kids finished all the M&M toppings and donated the rest to me!!

Initially, tubs & buckets of ice cream made me go berserk! After struggling to finish the tubs a couple of times(thankfully I didn't go near the buckets!), realised that the pint sized ones suited our household better. It didn't stay too long in the freezer and it allowed us to try different flavours too.

To compensate for the disaster at the Mall, I went to get Mayfield's Birthday Cake(everyone's favourite) ice cream from the grocery store. Since that flavour was not available I found myself forced to make a choice. After much deliberation, picked the Rocky road(thought for the marshmallows sake A1 would forgive me for choosing an ice cream with nuts) But yet again I found the hard way that I have many more rocky (road) days ahead!

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!

Big Show(s)

Atlast the purpose of getting Vijay TV got served! After indha round andha round-nnu round round-a suthi Super singer Junior got selected!! Alka Ajith deserved to be the winner but seemed like the kids(& the viewers) were drained to the last bit! Shravan, Priyanka and Srinisha were my other favourites! It is amazing to see such talent and zero stage fright in today's kids!

Once upon a time, these once-in-a-blue-moon shows were exciting and interesting. But these days, there seems to be one almost everyday(and is Karthi, the official representative for these Vijay TV functions from the Sivakumar family?). I am glad I can forward, skip, personalise and finish it in 1/2 or 1 hr!

May be I am old fashioned, but seems to me that these Orey the celebrity treatment, grand finale(y) thingy( and I thought the 9PM timing was not suitable for juniors!), beg for votes are a little too much for kiddies? The juniors, suttigals were all nice in the beginning. But now with the kids acting(or trained to?) like adhigaprasangis and with jodi no. 1 juniors, please let kids-b-kids!!

UPDATE

Ok, Vijay awards - check!

Though orey Deja vu! Adhey aattam, pattam, Gopinath(Vijay TV can soon change its name to Gopijay TV!), Kamal, Surya(are they introducing new categories just for Surya?), Sasikumar and Co. But I am not complaining!

Health nut case

I often wonder how & when did this health freaky, green hippy avatar of mine started! Because I was, once upon a time, a normal, regular, veggie-hating, kothavarangai skinny picky eater like most! I was never the foodie in my childhood days, embarrassed my parents everywhere with my very short list of favourite foods(my mom reminds me of this whenever I complain about my kids!). But my mother was never the fretter like me and never let criticisms from others about her kids' poor eating habits bother her too much. She always used to say"ellaam perisaana saapda kathupaanga"!

Learning to enjoy cooking lead to experimenting with varieties. And pregnancy made me a responsible eater. Once given a teeny-tiny chance to these 'counting calories', 'nutrition labels', 'balanced diet' thingies, they cling onto you like leeches for life! "You got to set an example" dangles like Yamadharmarajan's kaththi everytime I eye an extra treat or think of indulging! Right when I am fighting for 50% reservation for the brownies(flour, sugar, rice) at the dinner table, food bloggers are far ahead in their exploration and supremacy over grains like oats and quinoa(to learn to rightly pronounce it is an achievement!) and barley and... Oh, I can't keep up!!

Provision store experiences mostly like this one(from 5.05-6.30), shopping at departmental stores (Kamadenu supermarket, Vitan, Nilgiris) used to be a big bandha. Inge supermarket experience kekkave venaam! But after "Food Inc", its only the ugly, dirty side that is visible through the neat, packed isles. Co-incidentaly there was an episode on Vijay TV's "Neeya Naana" about farming, natural organic vs technology assisted. Everywhere its the farmer who has become the pawn! So, inimey head to the local farmer's market sacrificing Saturday morning sleep-dhaan.

So, for now only veganism is left and with articles like these, I am considering if I should try something like dairy free duesdays/dhursdays (like meat free mondays) and Aththaan is seriously considering cutting off ... no, not dairy, but home internet connection!!