Break-even

Pongal has just passed with an extended weekend. Convenience takes a front seat when it comes to celebrating a festival, performing a religious ritual or even doing simple things like buying grocery here. There's nothing that is not prevalent here or not available here. For instance, plantain leaves are avaialble here, but there's hardly any practice of kanu on Kanum pongal. Driving winter, bad weather, long drive even to buy a can of milk! And btw, even if I do the kanu on a silver foil, who is going to have it?? Forget about crows, there are no birds AT ALL during winter here!! Going to temple has become a monthly, quarterly activity! Sometimes I wonder how to break-even with what we had learnt and what we are trying to achieve here.. compromising on a lot of things in pretense of leading a life of comfort. These festival days are the break-even points. Atleast the one thing that we haven't been missing so far is good food on special occasions! Sweet and hot Pongal, carrot kheer, Poli, vada, morekuzhambu and more.. Life is complete ;-)

With that Pongal menu, here comes two more songs on my jukebox. Andhi mazhai is an old Tamil song from Kamalhasan's 100th movie.. The other one is a mix of languages.. And not many of us know that the Harris number "Ondra Renda" was only a remake of his own song "Dil ko Tumse Pyaar hua" in the movie "RHTDM" released two years before "Kaaka Kaaka", and that film was also a remake of the movie "Minnale" music scored by his own self.. hee hee! Hope that wasn't confusing! Check out both the versions on my jukebox.

Here's the video of the Hindi song, with some variations w.r.t the Tamil version:

Facebook mania

Cheers to me for writing a new post after a long break... My eyes were misted with the boom and bust created by Facebook and I had completely forgotten to scribble on my Blog! Facebook mania is the talk of the town right now.. But somehow I find myself slithering away from it these days. I thought may be I'm so accustomed to it now that I'm not even realizing how long I'm dawdling on it everyday. However the trend itself has reduced now. The rate of flow of messages and status updates has almost dwindled from what it was when FB just started exploding. All said and done it is indeed overwhelming to see what others are upto and be amused with those old gold faces from your secondary and higher secondary crawling into your pages now and then. And then comes the most interesting part.. "Friends of your Friends" - Wow!! What a mastermind that guy must have had! Nothing critical, nothing crucial.. it is simply interesting to read between their lines and enjoy knowing how those Friends of your Friends are like ;-) sirupillathanam! (childishness!)..

With my spanish-3 getting over, madness starts again.. Winter! dry cold! Not much outings! Boredom slowly creeping in! My Guitar is the only saviour.. Exploring more to compel you! LOL..

Here are two songs that I've uploaded on my Jukebox.. One is an old Tamil song in Rock-n-Roll genre. I love the way LR.Eshwari sings and I've tried the chords myself for the full song. And the other one is from the latest flick "Guzaarish". Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, "Udi" is  a rocking song on screen with Hispanic-Arab mix style of playing Guitar, very tough to play.. I couldn't do much justice to it.. Adding to the beauty of it is Ash dancing in it.. Yes, I like Ash now-a-days :-P

Just be aware and not beware!

A rainy, misty week with a hue of mild sunshine in it, somehow nature seemed to be sad to me. Running into the morning mist to take a flu shot at the state's health and human services department, I was thoroughly enjoying my morning jog being engulfed into the mist.. concurrently stricken by the thought of how Mother nature fidgets in consequence of the deeds of its treacherous children.

It is supposed to be the beginning of Fall here. Summer has not been its usual self. There has been more of rain and humidity than heat this year. There's a busier-than-usual hurricane season projected in Atlantic ocean. Haiti, already devastated and Gulf of Mexico - with a giant oil slick can't handle another hurricane or any natural calamity at this moment. Rising ocean temperatures, ice caps and glaciers melting into salt-water oceans, rising sea levels, changing landscapes, flinching monsoons.. all caused by global warming, global dimming.. These bigger terms of science are still not striking clear enough on us to understand nature as part of our own sphere and NOT as an external or peripheral layer in the space around us, which is trying to threaten us since we have done something wrong. Unfortunately we are more scared than being aware these days. Nature by itself is a beautiful term known for its balancing sense. And we, the human beings are an integral part of it. Whilst we love the cool evening breeze and the magical morning mist, the ice capped mountains and the grassy green plains, let us also be at least aware of even the most diminutive effects that we could be creating on this earth. First and foremost! Not just knowing or being scared, but being aware will itself pave way for resolution.

These small and little things are not humongous tasks to be implemented by us. They are very much doable: 

Conserve power at home! Check the AC temperature inside the home. Be aware that human body is not capable of fighting greater differences in temperature inside and outside the home. Its not even good for health. Use pedestal fans instead of it. Do exercises to keep yourself fit enough to adjust your body temperature.

Reuse and Recycle! Tissue papers! they are not insignificant just because we use it for wiping dirt. Be aware that we could preserve forests by reusing paper at home, educational institutions and job.

Minimize the consumption of natural resources! Save Gas/Petroleum. Carpool or use public transport as much as possible.

Save battery power! Use phones only when it is required. Switch off your laptops or monitors while they are unused, don't keep the television or laptop running some channel while talking to a friend on phone, wash clothes in a lot, dry them outside if possible.

Save water! Don't let the water run while soaping the vessels. Have the same awareness at hotels and other public places as you would have at home wile washing hands. Use the drier to dry your hands instead of using paper towels.

Don't waste food and clothes! It is tough to prepare just enough for everyone when you throw a party, but make sure you don't dump the remaining food into the dumpster. Share it and eat it at a later part of the day. But watch out for the unnecessary number of coke bottles or plastic plates that you may order. Prepare fresh drinks, buy paper plates or at best use your own plates at home. Wear good clothes, but don't wait for it to be torn in order to donate them. Donate regularly any apparatus, tools, books, bags or items that you might have stopped using ages ago.

Don't pollute the environment! Get vehicles inspected regularly, throw trash regularly into the common dumpsters. I have had neighbors who leave the trash outside their entrance and not throw it away for days together! Take responsibility to be aware and also to educate or share the knowledge with such people around. If they repeat it or they don't listen to you, don't hesitate to complaint.

If every individual can take care of what best he or she should do and should NOT do in his home and the surrounding environment and do a bit of possible service through knowledge-sharing, we can definitely set the nature back in its state of equilibrium.

The image here on the top has more suggestions. Pls do share any other useful tips that you know.

An indigenous art

"Uthra! evlavu naazhiya kuptundrukken.. variya illiya chappathi idardhukku!" - Mom used to bawl at nights in her thick voice.. I would be surfing the net while watching a favorite program on TV (the usual Airtel Super Singer.. God! why would they telecast it at 8PM in the night when mom wants to make chappathis!!??). Sheesh! I used to despise it so much when I had to make at least 25 chappathis for all of us in the family while my mom would roll them. I did not learn to roll them until after I went to Bangalore for work. "Hmm.. Its ok, I'll do the rolling part today again", she would initiate the process with her usual satiric comment, everytime indicating that I haven't grasped it yet! And then it would roll on along with the chappathis.. with chapters of My Life being stuffed in them.. "Whatever you will do, if you get married.. however you will learn the nuances of cooking! You know, I started cooking when I was 13 (only) and that too for 50 and 100 people at a time, the whole village would have to be fed on a lot of occasions.." blah blah blah! She is not a mom who would throw tantrums at me all the time, but she wouldn't spare me once I'm inside the kitchen with her. Not to deny that she is fun and very easy to get along with, except for snobs! Btw, all this drama was for receiving a sarcastic comment from my dad on the chappathis that we made!

When I come to think of it today, I wish I get an opportunity to make these wonderful "phula hua" chappathis specially for her, simply to show her how chappathis are actually made, unlike how she used to make.. hee hee!! It is in the needing and the rolling of the dough and has nothing much to be done once it comes on to the tawa. Needless to say.. mellow and melting inside the mouth.. here puffs my flawless chappathi! Its not even required to show it on the flame to get it puffed. Part of my gratitude goes to the room-mate at Bangalore who taught me how to roll a chappathi round and the rest goes to my husband's colleague who gave a demo of the puff. Even after his demo, it still took a while to conceive the mood and consistency of the dough and the synchronization of the mind, heart and hands during the process to evoke this indigenous art in me - The art of making soft and fluffy chappathis! "And I know that mom will only be proud of me" ;-)

Fitness craze!

I'm supposed to be on a summer break now.. Fall classes start next week.. I wanted to do a lot of things this week, but none of them materialized!! Thanks to Mohan sitting at office for more than 16 hours at office! Eahahahaahahaahaaa.. I ended up sitting at home and watching Mega serial on Sun TV!! It had been a long time since I heard those flaring and jarring "ahhhhhh..." chorus as BGM! I guess Radhika never gets old in any of them according to the scripts written..

And wait, this is my 50th post.. Clap for this scribbling, bibbling, nonstop nothing blog.. And thanks to the people who still follow it! You are just incredible!

There have been a lot of happenings recently around me. The one I can possibly discuss here is my weight-reduction program.. Fitness has become more of a terminology in the fashion industry. It has but a lot to do with achieving a sound body and mind. For women like me, actually the best way to reduce weight is jogging.. I had been doing it since couple of months now and I could find amazingly significant changes in specific portions of my body! It feels great to have a fat-free (almost!) body, easy to carry myself, being back to the same kind of sphere when I used to be like this until my college days.. Its the monotonous postures at work or during no work that we gain excess weight. And we can't burn it by simply doing a quarter mile walk or gymming half hour everyday.. That's not even a warm-up! Walking can help if it is at least a 3-mile effort per day. Gymming can help if it is done for an hour on treadmill everyday. But the easiest and the most enjoyable way is to jog! It's the initial phase which is tough and tricky to handle. But once we go into the swing, then the whole world is ours.. And it doesn't have to be 'n' miles.. I did just a mile or 2 per day in the vicinity of my apartment. In just a month, I could see such difference! Also Austin has really beautiful greenery around. If we can't do it here, we'll do it nowhere.. And it is only when we are young, when the body co-operates, we can habituate it. And btw, don't mix this up with my husband's Marathon programs. For him it is a sport.. But he did help me a lot in giving me the initial trigger.

And for a change, I did a couple of bhajans this time. Chk them out on my jukebox.

No sollu..

"Vaazhkai oru sumai aanal No sollu" - nice lyrics.. Here I'm with one of Harris Jayaraj's hits.. The picturisation of the song is so cute. I love the way Tanisha jumps all thru' this song.. Shez another beauty from the legendary Mukherjee family. She doesn't look much like her sis Kajol, who is also my favorite. She has not done many roles after this movie Unnale Unnale.. I hope her career doesn't become short-lived. She's quite bubbly..

Mohan often says that all Harris Jayaraj's songs sound like one and the same.. and all of them sound like choir songs as well. But I kind of like many of them. Of course the rhythms are monotonous.. tunes are good though. 

Chk out my latest attempt on my jukebox.. And here's the original.. for Tanisha! She rocked in the movie..

Ban on Texting

Sharing my experiences here in cartoons.. I've been following someone on my blog who draws real good cartoons, very creative ones. I'm not that creative, but I can kind of draw. And I'm only an amateur in cartooning. So don't expect them to be perfect ;-) I have some funny ones in mind.. Hope I get to do them sooner.. 

The use of mobiles inside the classroom is very offensive and strictly prohibited here. Texting (Sending SMS on phones) while driving is also an offense. Fines could be as high as $500 for using phones while driving. It is true that students have much lesser restrictions here in terms of dressing or carrying oneself. They need not sit erect, respect a professor or keep staring at his lecture all the time, they can eat a snack or drink coke inside the class etc. but arriving to class late, absenteeism, distracting the lecture, usage of phones are absolutely discouraged. I've tried drawing what happened one day in my class, of course adding some masala to it ;-)

Maddy's magic..

Long time.. and I'm back with another mesmerizing number and a cool new template. When I was in the 2nd year of my college, Maddy's "Alaipaayuthe" (Saathiya) hit the theatres like a big bang. I watched it with my friends in the local Vidhya theatre in Tambaram. I used to watch movies in theatre during my school days much more! But this was the only movie that I watched during my college days. I was also then one of those fans in the young girls' club for Maddy! There are a lot of songs where he is so adorable. This song from the movie Run is one among his kind of songs. He can't get more romantic! Beautiful music and a splendid combo of Hariharan singing for Maddy in Vidyasagar's music!

Enjoy watching it here.. and my version is on my jukebox.

Whats goin on??

The frequency of my blogging is coming down drastically and I've been thinking what to do to boost it up. And there's nothing new happening either. It is the change in my class hours which has changed the lifestyle a bit. I (kind of) get up early, bathe, cook food, pack lunch for him, leave by 8.30 or 9 in the morning and get back home around 2-ish right in time for lunch. Assignments have multiplied numerously as we are already into the past imperfect kind of boring stuff in grammar. But there is variety of homework to be done. For each class hour, it looks like we have to practice an hour outside of the class! So I have 3 + 3 = 6 hours occupied thinking and talking español all the time! And then we go for a jog in the evening and come back home for dinner. Cut vegetables for next day, wash vessels.. But I did manage to do some interesting things in between my last post and this one. I watched two Tamil movies, Ravana and Kalavani. 

Ravana - more a commercial movie, typical Maniratnam set-up. I couldn't take the same ol' monotony in the first half, people with guns, heroine kidnapped by an anti-hero guy! One movie where he made viewers asking, "Ok, so?". I somehow felt I can't see Ash anymore on screen.. her actions and emotions are stereotypical! And I hate women crying even on screen! I liked the second half though. Kalavani was a great entertainer in a village backdrop with new "not yet uninteresting" faces, I'm yet to watch the last half hour. I was bored of washing vessels, so I'm writing this now! How I wish the dishwashers here can wash the vessels well by themselves.. Poor invention!!

Fireworks - 4th of July

4th of July - Independence Day here! It was as crowded as when I saw it last year.. The last same I remember playing with crackers is.. mm.. hard to recollect! Good ol' days.. And this is a different kind of fun. After quite a long time, my hubby himself took his tripod out for shooting the event. Colors and flames, Boom! came out the flowers and designs with symmetrical perfection! They all looked like a painting on the sky. On which platform do the makers design these crackers? Sunflowers, Angels, Birds, Elliptical orbits, Circular wheels, Phantoms, Concentric shapes, Stars and Sparklers.. let your imagination flow..