Random..

This is a random post based on the events of this week..

I had been to Bommi's (my father’s house helper) wedding. She has been working in our house for the last 14 +years. I should say she is like my elder sister and very attached to us. Her entire family has helped us in all possible ways- be it during my sister’s full term of pregnancy or taking care of our father’s house after my mother’s demise! A very reliable person with a genuine smile all the time(however overwhelmed she is with work). My heartfelt prayers for a happy married life of her.

Women and shopping go together most of the times..

We like to spend long hours to take a look at different products/varieties available in the market and would like to make an informed decision. I have to accept that I have an amazing patience when it comes to shopping. ;) I prefer to shop alone most of the times , considering the amount of time I take to choose my dresses.

One of the week days, I started early from office and went to “Nalli” stores. I had gone to pick few sarees for my close relatives for different occasions in their families. I was very much reminded of my mother while doing the saree shopping. :(

She loves to take a look at the latest designs/variety be it saree or salwars and would pick always bright colors . The saree will not be very expensive actually and will not take long to do her purchase! As she was very fair, those color combination will go well on her. Even for us, she will never get sober colors. I have changed a little after wedding and tend to buy little sober colors in the name of elegant dressing (thanks to S!?).

When I was in my first job and was not married, we use to shop only for selected occasions like birthday (of our family), wedding anniversary(of parents) and Diwali. We were always asked by Amma to save for the future (for my wedding at that time) and never allowed to splurge on clothes ! :)

Nowadays, I shop for clothes, whenever I feel like and have no specific occasion in mind to buy for. Things have changed, but mother is not around for me to gift.

Vaanamae Ellai(Sky is the limit!)..

I recently got to interact closely with the cook at my father's house. She is a young lady in her late 20's , divorcee with a 13 year old son. Her son is studying in a veda patshala. He lost his eye in a fire cracker accident last Diwali and has got an artificial eye and managing with one eye on all his daily activities..

Inspite of all the hardships she is undergoing, she is very confident and carries herself well and has got a very high self-esteem! I admire this attitude of her( though I do feel at times she splashes money and tries to show off more than her level or capacity!)

I got to know that she has a dream to learn to drive a four wheeler and have her own car! So much of positive attitude and optimism.

I am reminded about the old Tamil movie "Vaanamae Ellai" of K.Balachander released when I was in my primary school. If you understand tamil, you will be able to appreciate this song very much for its lyrics.

To be frank, I am a little down today and not in the best of my moods!! I dont feel like discussing the reason for that here.!

Let's Dream Big- Sky is the limit(Vaanamae Ellai).

Let's not settle with our current state! We are destined for something much better!

Nannari Juice..

We had tried Nannari juice syrup of MTR 777 from a local store. Myself and S very much liked the taste.
Later, I got to see this blog post of Veggie platter with detailed procedure of Nannari lassi. I thought of giving it a try to make nannari syrup, as she made it sound quite simple!

Staying in Chennai, I got hold of the roots from a local medicinal shop(Nattu marundhu kadai) over the weekend. I had made the juice extract in a span of 3 days. We tried to make it like a regular juice, and have not tried the lassi combi mentioned by Veggie Platter.

This refreshing drink can be prepared by adding nannari syrup, lemon juice , water and ice cubes. Its a real thirst quencher. It almost goes with anything - be it Chinese noodles or our traditional rice sevai.

My father and S tried to arrive at the cost involved in making this nannari syrup. The MTR 777 brand of nanarri syrup of 700ml costed 90 bugs. We believe this would be only one-fourth of that or even less!! We are planning to replace the syrup next time with Organic sugar and try to reduce the sugar content by 1:2.5 instead of 1:3 as mentioned in the original receipe..

Going steady in 50's..

This post is about spending 50 years together with a beloved soul partner and making it sound as if marraige and living together is not that difficult. My personal opinion is that the tolerance levels and adjustment factor from the wife's side was on the higher side in those days. I am not sure if they would have really had any arguments with their counterparts for even serious stuff while we young couples fight for silly stuff like shoe to buy or as simple as dinner options etc..

We were part of a surprise get-together for celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of S's aunt and uncle(fondly called by all as Baluappa and Bhunamma). It was natural precious moments to see the trembling hands of S's uncle trying to cut the cake and he getting impatient as the candle light wasn't heeding to his soft blows and then used his hand instead.

In the same lines, I am also remembered of the a big get-together we had for my grandfather(late) and grandmother, who celebrated their 50years of marriage in Tirupathi some years back with special poojas in the temple.

Will we younger generation ever get to celebrate this BIG event in our lives?? I am not trying to be pessimistic. Its considering the fact that we get married only in our 20's or early 30's and considering our stressful lives, the probability is a little less.

Tale of two Laila's..

I am a little late to write about this recent severe cyclonic storm...

Even though, Laila didnt cross Tamilnadu coast, it brought a huge spell of rain in most of the places of Tamilnadu. While we common people, crib about the lousy drainage system provided by our TN govt, what will be the thoughts running in the minds of the kith and kin of the TN CM and his family while using the roads during the rains. Who will they blame???! (Disclaimer: I am not pro or against any political party in TN or India. I am just trying to highlight the public problems and wish at the corner of the heart that some action is taken for that soon)

These rains again expose the poor water drainage system we have in Chennai. I wish our TN Deputy minister who has made frequent trips to Singapore,try to bring in a drainage system in TN as good as the one in Singapore. In addition to adopting the Singapore river model to clean up the polluted Cooum river and also getting inputs to build a Financial district as in Singapore.

The name "Laila" transports my memory back to my final year engineering college days. As I had little bit of face feature resemblance of Laila (Tamil Film Actress), some of my college mates used to address me with that name. Though I was not very happy to be addressed with that name, I very much liked the actress performance in "Ullam Ketkumae" released in 2005.

Akshaya Tritiya

The word "Akshaya" means the never diminishing in Sanskrit and the day is believed to bring good luck and success. It is belived that if you do a charity on this day you will be blessed and will receive blessings many fold. Nowdays jewellers have turned the purity into a marketing gimmick. The day is particularly considered auspicious for starting new ventures. (Source : Wikipedia)

Some more additional information I got are given below
Akshaya Triti1 and Akshaya Triti2(Tamil) . Its informative to read these articles and know the significance of the day.

I am a little late on writing about this day's significance .. It would be nice to do some bit of charity today, Instead of following the mad crowd by standing in front of the jewellery shop to take delivery of our already purchased gold item.

I dont feel good to give money to any begging person in the streets. Rather try to feed needy people. A small act like this will be good for us and the society around. MIL mentioned to buy 1kg Rice , Sugar and Salt and pray in front of GOD and give it to someone and also try to feed someone's stomach. If you dont believe in HIM, you can just do the buy and give part.

From my side, As the vegetable tray of our fridge was almost empty, I tried to feed our building watchman with a simple lemon/curd rice today for lunch. This is the usual routine I try as far as possible, to prepare more quantity than required and give to our building watchman or our helper rather than giving away the left overs to them. You will feel so satisfied to see the person eat the hot food you have prepared and thank you for that. I have purchased Rice/Salt/Sugar. I will try to find someone to give that..

See what you can do to brighten up someone's face..

3B's- Beach..Ball...Bhel

What more fun can you have on a hot sunny Saturday evening than by enjoying an action filled get-together with this 3B Combo... This is quite contrast to last friday when I was down with a terrible back pain. I think my body asked me to slow down a little as I had over done my quota of exercises. But, that Friday helped to recover ,relax myself and be a happy host for a BIG group! Try to see if you can get the exact number of people from the picture below ;)

Yeah, I think this is the first ever dinner we have hosted with soo many people around. Our guests where all my hubby's Aunt , uncle, cousins and their extended families.

It was fun to play cricket in the beach sand and struggle to run from one stump to another followed by a round of bhel puri session and some more running to digest the bhel and make room in the tummy for a sumptous potlock dinner.....

The evening came to an end with me getting an Ace :( ,  after a few rounds of Spade(Card Game) with 11 ppl playing in a single deck of cards !