Sree's Views

Sunday Melody 3 - Voracious Blog Reader

2010-12-20T04:38:00.000+05:30

Sunday Melody 2 - Voracious Blog Reader

2010-12-06T01:53:00.001+05:30

Sunday Melody - Voracious Blog Reader

2010-11-28T23:38:00.000+05:30

I am starting this series called "Sunday Melody". I usually listen to songs a lot. On Sundays, late in the evening around 11 p.m, when everything is quiet, I like listening to melodious songs. These songs are usually melancholic and Nostalgic in nature. Ilayaraja's Music suits the mood very good.

I decided to post this series after getting inspired by "Nostalgic Fridays" by Amutha of Tulipspeaks.com. Hence I dedicate the first post to her.

Bride Search

2010-10-17T22:48:00.003+05:30

This is what I came to know from a Person, who is/whose family is searching for a Bride. They use a popular internet based match searching website. After talking to them, I thought that I should write about this. Afterall, this is not my first encounter with such type of people.

Here are their observations:

* Why don't they respond when they are contacted. They jot down the Profile details etc., and promise to get back. But they never do. If they are not interested, why don't they let us know? When contacted again, they give a curt reply saying "If we didn't call you back, it is understood that we do not have interest in the Profile".

* Why do they not post photos. Nobody is going to morph them and make a salacious picture out of it. Some photos are password protected. The general tendency is that the photos of these people are way less good than the photos of all the other people who have bravely posted their photos.

* Still worse. What is wrong in hiding the name. A lot of profiles have the name "Later", "Will be disclosed later". Can't fathom why.

* The majority of them do not want to search outside Madras/Bangalore/Hyderabad. Some profiles display that they are ready to relocate anywhere. When contacted, they say that they are not willing to relocate. When asked why then have they written something else, they do not give a satisfactory answer.

* All the profiles have a commone line: "Traditional yet modern". Well, whom are you trying to please?

* "Boy with clean habits required". The girl involved would be staying in some xyz city abroad and the majority of the boys/girls abroad are atleast social drinkers. In some cases, the Father of the Bride would have smoking/drinking habits. But he would be very adamant in having a guy who is a teetotaler. [On a personal note, I know a couple of people who live abroad and consume alcohol and are also non-veg eaters. Their matrimonial profile says nothing of these. On the contrary, the profile specifies that they are pure vegetarians and with clean habits. The downside of this is that all the grooms/bridgrooms are categorized as "cannot believe what they say"]

Some requests from the Bridegroom's family:

* If you are a brother or sister of the person involved, please hand over the phone to your parents. Do not deal with the parents of the Bride/Bridegroom yourselves. This way, the elders feel humiliated to talk to younger people, who also cross question them.

* If you have a couple of prospective Bridegrooms to choose from, let them know about it. Making them wait without giving them any reason is not polite.

* Keep your write-up on your profile short and sweet. Nobody has the inclination to read a full page during the initial search.

- - - - -

I hope, I haven't left out any points said by them.

Voracious Blog Reader

Agathin azhagu - Voracious Blog Reader

2010-09-28T02:21:00.002+05:30

Agathin azhagu, mugathil theriyum.

I firmly believe in it.

Voracious Blog Reader

NDTV-Hindu: Voracious Blog Reader

2010-09-19T14:19:00.001+05:30

*) I appreciate how they pronounce the Tamizh words, even though the news is in English.
Of course, some News Anchors deviate from this.

*) I find NDTV-Hindu to be impartial.

*) It's very much Tamizh Nadu.

NDTV live on Internet: http://ndtv-hindu.com/

Voracious Blog Reader

New year - Voracious Blog Reader

2009-04-19T13:33:00.004+05:30

How many of you celebrated the New Year on April 14th?

Did you party on New year's eve?
Did you drink, dance etc.,?
Did you exchange New year wishes?

Who do I vote for? - Voracious Blog Reader

2009-04-13T16:57:00.004+05:30

All the political parties are mediocre. Who do i vote for?

Like Ram Jethmalani said (0:52 to 1: 20), probably I should vote for the party that I least disagree with.

I am really scared of what the Indian Politics is becoming.

Photography ethics - Voracious Blog Reader

2008-04-15T00:36:00.004+05:30

Courtesy: BBC News

The above pictured in the BBC website.

I felt very sad looking at the photo.

The Woman was collecting rice that was spilt on the ground. Its really heart breaking to see somebody lowered to such a state. :(

Whether this Woman is a terrorist, muslim, Iraqi etc., she is a Woman first. She is so caring that she picks up rice for her family.

To top all this, the Photographer thought that it was appropriate to photograph her. Dear Photographer, do the words "Photography ethics" tell you something? Shame on you.

And a soldier is happily posing for the photo withouteven a shade of shame or pity for the women.

Voracious Blog Reader

High Beam - Low Beam -- Voracious Blog Reader

2008-01-08T21:22:00.000+05:30

To people who drive two/four wheelers:

Please know the following when it comes to driving with headlights ON:

Parking light
Low Beam
High Beam

Parking light is usually sufficient if the road is well lit. This is just to indicate the other road users about the vehicle's presence.

The Low beam is used if the road is not well lit. Please make sure that the headlight case is at the right tilt angle.

The High beam is usually used when one travels on highways/long stretches which are usually empty and one travels at high speeds. Thus high beam illuminates a vast stretch of road ahead of us.

High beam does not mean that the beam is more intense than the Low Beam. So avoid using it under city/normal conditions.

High beam really blinds the oncoming person. This can lead to an accident.

When you get your two wheelers serviced, it is usually the case that the headlight case has a wrong tilt angle. Please correct it.

And it wouldn't be wrong if I add a couple of suggestions:

Avoid sounding the horn impatiently.
Do not overtake from the left hand side.
Maintain a distance of atleast one metre between the vehicle ahead of you.

Voracious Blog Reader

Happy New Year - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-12-31T21:15:00.000+05:30

To all those celebrating New Year, unlike me sitting at home and considering 1st of January as just another day:

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I will reply to all your comments to all the previous posts and this one soon.

A special wish to my blog partner Shree: Happy New Year Partner.

Voracious Blog Reader

Psychology...Anybody??? - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-12-10T01:17:00.000+05:30

Hello Everybody!

Assuming that you cycle to work everyday, which of the following option would you choose and why?

1. Downhill

2. Flat road

3. Uphill

There is nothing called "correct" answer here. Its just a matter of preference.

Voracious Blog Reader

Deepavali - Diwali - Suggestions - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-11-04T18:23:00.000+05:30

* Give some crackers/fireworks etc., to the poor kid standing nearby too. He would be overjoyed. Better still ask him to burst it in front of your eyes.

The joy of donating should be felt.

* Please do not create much work for the Watchman/sweepers etc., Collect the Flower pots, sparklers etc., yourself and dispose it in the bin. Your surroundings look clean too.

* Be considerate. Old people/new born babies etc., also live in the neighbourhood. Avoid hydrogen bombs/atom bombs.

* If you are the person who gets enormous amount of sweetboxes, do not munch them all by yourself. Donate them to the needy people around. Let them celebrate too.
[Info: The silver layer spread on sweets are made by beating tiny bits of silver with a hammer. The tiny bits are placed inbetween layers of fresh sheep's underskin.]

Voracious Blog Reader

Peaceful - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-10-28T13:33:00.000+05:30

Ah.....Life without a mobile phone is so peaceful.

I wonder why I need a mobile phone at all.

No more calls during driving, grocery shopping etc.

Soooo peaceful.

:)

Voracious Blog Reader

Please do not waste your food – Voracious Blog Reader

2007-10-16T01:02:00.000+05:30

A simple google search will tell us how people in some of the countries across the world suffer due to lack of food to eat.

Please do not waste your food.

I have seen instances when food was wasted/thrown into the Garbage because:

The food is not warm.
The food doesn't suit their taste buds.

One could be considerate if food was thrown into the bin since it is not edible. But again I would ask:

What lead to this situation?
Is it negligence?
Was the food left in the refrigerator for days together and left to decay?

The amount of food one eats in the developed countries for breakfast, is the food a person eats in Africa for the whole day. [Forgot the magazine, which gave this fact, and hence unable to give reference]

I am sure everyone of us has received the e-mail of a child crawling to a food camp in sudan and a vulture waiting near by to eat the child once it died of starvation. Please think of this when you waste your food. We are blessed to eat a square meal. For those who were lucky enough to escape the gory picture, here it is: (click on image for a enlarged view)

And then, there are these instances were people celebrate their Birthdays where the person is literally bathed in all sort of food items, like in this video below:

I do not want to give him publicity and hence not mentioning his blog here.

Despite our (Sree's and mine) comments mentioning the importance of food, the person never even bothered to reply. The amount of food wasted could have lasted at least two days.

I reiterate: Please do not waste your food.

Voracious Blog Reader

Qualifications - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-10-07T04:44:00.000+05:30

Looking at our politicians in India, I came up with this question:

What are the necessary qualifications to become a politician?

These questions struck my mind when trying to answer the above question:

a) Should one have a good educational upbringing?

b) Should one have good experience in serving the society?

c) A mixture of both? [Is it feasible?]

While there are a minimum set of criteria that are to be met to become a Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer etc., are there any set of rules for a Politician?

I cannot take this answer from you all: He should be a Rowdy and so on and so forth.

Voracious Blog Reader

Just wondering... - Voracious Blog Reader

2007-09-30T17:14:00.000+05:30

Many Indian people living in the western world have a nick name/alternate name since the western world finds it hard to pronounce their names.

Why do they find it hard? Don't we not learn the pronounciation of their names? Why not they then? Probably westerns have a answer to my above questions.

On the othe hand, people come up with their nicknames/alternate names themselves.

I can understand situations like:

" Hi, I am Dhanalakshmi. People call me Dhana".

" Hi my name is Bharath Kumar. People usally call me Bharath".

But why situations like:

" My name is Kamakshi. You can call me kams"

Or

" My name is Krishnamurthy. You can call me kris"

Is it an inferiority complex that leads to suggesting nicknames ourselves? Or is one trying to sound western? Or is one changing their name to be accepted in a group?

For example, in the U.S, the number of Indians living is quite a huge sum. Why then do they name their kids "Laya, kris etc.," trying to hide their race? The name wouldn't stand out if it was a usual name like "Krishnakumari or rajalakshmi" considering the huge population of Indians right?

Do the foreign nationals in India, working on an extended period of a couple of months to a few years, change their names from "Renate" to "Rani" or from "Heinrich" to "rishi"?

Update: Just to maintain the gravitas of my post, did not include the following funny video earlier.

Voracious Blog Reader

Simple and easy methods to prevent environment pollution-voracious blog reader

2007-09-23T18:47:00.000+05:30

Here are some of my suggestions to avoid polluting the environment by going in for natural products:

* Plastics are dangerous. Where ever possible please use cotton bags. Avoid plastic bags. Always have the habit of carrying cotton bags with you. I always tell the shop keepers that I have bought my bag along.

* Go in for coir foot rests for your doorsteps and for cotton ones for bedroom etc.

* As much as possible buy cotton clothing. Kadhi Gramodhya Bhavan is a good place to start.

* The younger generation can make use of the cycle to make small errands. Use a dynamo instead of the battery-type lights.

* Use cotton ropes for putting the clothes out for drying. I agree that nylon ones last longer. But cotton ropes' production does not pollute the environment.

* Please switch off an appliance completely. For example, switch off the main switch of the TV. Leaving it ON does consume power. Though the consumption is small, small droplets of water form a big cloud. Imagine each and every household leaving their TV ON (not to mention the video/DVD players attached to the TV). Lot of power would be consumed then. Unwanted power consumption means wasting the power produced. On the same lines, switch off the lights before retiring to bed at night. I know quite a few people who have the habit of reading a book/magazine and doze off. Unwanted power consumption.

* If one wants to really bring down power consumption, one can go in for "kallore" and "ammi kal". And the food tastes a lot better than the electric mixies and grinders.

Voracious Blog Reader

Happy Birthday Shree

2007-09-19T02:48:00.001+05:30

Hi Shree,

Wishing you a Happy Birthday.

Here is your Birthday card:

http://www54.123greetings.com/card/09/18/14/16/CH10918141644759.html

Eat the whole cake. I do not want even a piece. Its meant for you. Eat'em all please.

Voracious Blog Reader

Quacker :) (by Ananya )

2007-09-17T21:09:00.000+05:30

There is this cartoon which really touched my heart. Its called Oswald.
Oswald is an octopus who lives in a big city with lots of friends. One day , Oswald, his dog Weeny and best friend Daisy go to 'duck pond' to drink some water after a tiring game.

While they drink the water , a mummy duck and her ducklings keep swimming in the water.
They come out and wriggle their feathers to shake off the water . The last duckling does'nt follow its mother and walks in the direction of Oswald saying 'Quack quack' .

Oswald and his friends keep looking out for the source of that noise. They find the baby duckling there. They decide to find its mother and pick it up and go all around the play ground playing on swings , slides and see-saws as they pass. By now , the duckling gets attached to Daisy.

Whereever it goes , it wants Daisy to be with it. Oswald and Daisy keep saying 'Quack quack' all the time thinking that the mother duck might hear them. Finally , they look all around the big city and end up on the pavement near the ice-cream shop. The owner of the shop Mr.Snow hears Oswald saying 'Quack quack' .

He asks Oswald 'what's up?' and Oswald tells all about the duckling and how they have looked all around and that they are tired out. Mr.Snow , suggest that they should go back to the place where they found little duckling. They find it a great idea.

So they go back and look around and dont find mother duck. The duckling gets on to a boat in the water and says 'Quack quack' . So , Daisy suggest that they should get onto the boat and row into the pond.
In the boat Daisy and the duckling whom she has named 'Quacker' start talking in 'Quack' language.

Daisy : Quack quack
Quacker: Quack quack quack
Daisy : Quack quaaaaaackk
Quaker : Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkk

And now they find mother duck swimming into the pond with her little ducklings. Daisy puts Quacker back into the pond and it swims back to its mother while Daisy watches teary eyed .
She says 'Quack' for 'Goodbye' and she gets a reply from Quacker.
'I'll miss you' says Daisy and 'I'll miss u too' says Quacker.

THE END :)

Composed and dictated by Ananya and typed by Sree .

This post is dedicated to all readers who called my posts 'thayir vadai' or 'mokkai' or

'plain boring' ;-).....Sree

Shuklaam Bharadharum vishnum....

2007-09-16T16:26:00.000+05:30

Thanks a lot to Shree (a.k.a Partner) for allowing me to co-author this blog.

When my Partner cuts a cake and celebrates my Birthday, I think I should reciprocate, atleast by writing a few words in praise of her (By the way, everything that can be said about shree will always be praises. she is that kind of a person).

Shree, a great Lawyer in the making, is a wonderful person with a very broad mind. I wish her all the best, with all my heart, in her career and for her upcoming exams.

Shree always wanted me to co-author this blog, which I always politely declined. But I gave in ultimately.

I am happy to be a part of "Sri's Views" and hope to post soon.

Hey Partner, Thank you very much.

Voracious Blog Reader

Hello everyone :)

2007-09-06T19:34:00.000+05:30

First thing ! I apologise.
I should have informed you friends that I wld be taking a break. But was hoping that something would pop up in my little brain and I can put a post about it.But miracles took a break too.
So sorry pals..and please excuse me till the end of this month.
In other words , enjoy your freedom ;)

Second...
Yesterday was my dear partner, Voracious blog reader's birthday :) I missed wishing yesterday.
So I wish V a very happy birthday and many more happy returns of the day :)

Yes...I took my share of the cake ;)

See yaa , friends .

Happy Independence day !

2007-08-15T06:37:00.000+05:30

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30 states , 1618 languages , 6400 castes , 6 religions ,6 ethnic groups , 29 major festivals and one country.Be proud to be an Indian.
Happy Independence day !

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ennssoooiii....a la Lolla Kutty ;-)

2007-08-09T15:02:00.000+05:30

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Enough of Sardar jokes....... ......... .Mallu jokes are here!!!!!!!! !!

1) What is the tax on a Mallu's income called?
IngumDax

2) Where did the Malayali study?
In the ko-liage.

3) Why did the Malayali not go to ko-liage today?
He is very bissi.

4) Why did the Malayali buy an air-ticket?
To go to Thuubai, zimbly to meet his ungle in Gelff.

5) Why do Malayalis go to the Gelff?
To yearn meney.

6) What did the Malayali do when the plane caught fire?
He zimbly jembd out of the vindow.

7) How does a Malayali spell moon?
MOON - Yem Woh yet another Woh and Yen

8) What is Malayali management graduate called?
Yem Bee Yae.

9) What does a Malayali do when he goes to America ?
He changes his name from Karunakaran to Kevin Curren.

10) What does a Malayali use to commute to office everyday?
An Oto

11) Where does he pray?
In a Temble, Charch and a Maask

12) Who is Bruce Lee's best friend ?
A Malaya-Lee of coarse.

13) Name the only part of the werld, where Malayalis dont werk hard?
Kerala.

14) Why is industrial productivity so low in Kerala?
Because 86% of the shift time is spent on lifting,
folding and re-tying the lungi

15) Why did Saddam Hussain attack Kuwait ?
He had a Mallu baby-sitter, who always used to say
'KEEP QUWAIT' 'KEEP QUWAIT'

16) What is the Latest Malayali Punch Line?
"Frem Tea Shops To Koll Cenders, We Are Yevery Where"

17) Why aren't Mals included in hockey and football teams?
Coz Whenever they get a corner, they set up a tea shop.

18) Now pass it on to 5 Mals to get a free sample of kokanet oil.

19) Pass it on 10 Mals to get a free pack of Benana Chibbs.

20) Pass it on to 15 Mals to get a set of BROGUN bones....

My favs are Nos.16 & 17 :))

hey...before u guys start off abt 'tamil accents', listen to this.
This was forwarded by a Telugu friend ;-)

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Schools-Who needs appraisal ?

2007-07-31T09:47:00.000+05:30

Ankur's post on the state of Schools in India prompted me to get my dad's opinion on improving the sitution in the Govt. School.
This is one of his pet topics as he was closely associated with management training for a long time.
So here goes....

Performance appraisal :
1. Scholar's performance
2. Teacher's performance

Of these two I would rather prefer the second as more important in view of the fact that our objective at present is to improve the educational system in institutions esp. Govt. institutions.
While the scholars' performance is being apprised, by various means , and from time to time this system of apprisal is being updated and revised , the performance of the teachers is given scant regard .
Some of the higher institutions such as IIMs do have a performance appraisal system for teachers in the form of feed-back in standardised formats .Even these formats are not tailored to individual subjects but are generic in nature and therefore the efficacy of these formats is doubtful. At the same time the other institutions do not even have such rudimentary feed-backs and tend to shy away from apprisal of any kind.
Therefore if the remuneration of the teachers is linked to performance by some acceptable form - acceptable to both the teachers and the taught - the educational system per se will see some light at the end of the tunnel.
However care has to be taken to fine tune the apprisal system itself periodically. This can come about only if we set up an objective group of persons who have a stake in the system and this can be achieved only by giving wide publicity and inviting comments from the public .

**********
updated

While it is true that the teachers are being increasingly diverted for other 'works', ostensibly for "pulic" purposes, the fact that the education per se is given a go-by and nobody seems to object to this. A typical example is that the teachers were given TARGETS to "catch" victims for sterililization surgeries under the family planning programmes; and so is the case when every election crops up be it the panchayat level or the parliament level. The irony is that the teachers do not seem to protest and seem to be happy to get away from their primary jobs.

In my personal experience I have come across the crass attitudes of the teachers even when they are well and regularly paid. All this is because of the fact that the teachers' performance is not apprised in an objective manner. Nor are they accountable.

I would like to quote an instance that I personaly know. A 400 two-roomed rural school building was built. Although the buildings themselves could be and were built in record time, many were not brought underuse since they were not being taken over by the teachers. The matter required probing so that any changes in design desired by the users could be incorporated. In most of the cases we could find that the teachers were of native of and resided in nearby villages/towns. They were all commuting to their jobs by motor cycles. Consequently a rainy day did not see the teacher at the school. The objection to occupying the buildings was that there were no ramps leading into the class rooms and the teachers insisted that they would only park their mobikes inside the class lest the mobikes be meddled with by the children and surprisingly no sanction was forth coming of construction of the ramps. AND EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE WAS FORGOTTEN. This prolonged for a couple of months and both the construction wing nor the teachers were prepared to bring the stalemate to an end. Seeing the pathetic condition, an innovative solution was found by involving the local villagers who by contribution of material and/ or labour provided ramps to enable their wards to be housed in better class rooms.

Such instances are numerous.
Similar instance can also be quoted from the nation's capital. A group of officers from other states were to be taken around to show the achievements of the Union Territory in school managements. The officers who were to take the guests around Delhi were the ones who were supposed to periodically inspect, supervise and advise. But surprisingly the 'guides' did not know their way around; in one case they even took the officers to a gate of a school which was locked up and the neighbours around on enquiry revealed that the gate had not been opened for almost a decade and that the a small gate from another street was being used.

If such are the approaches to education where are we?

Raasa-Leela - a spiritual message

2007-07-24T23:50:00.000+05:30

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Among all the minature paintings portraying Lord Krishna , the one that I find very captivating is 'Raasa-Leela'.

Its a very attractive one with Krishna and Radha dancing in the middle of a large circle formed by Gopikas dancing with 'her own' Krishna . Personalised service ;)

The picture that comes to our mind when we talk about Lord Krishna is one of a casanova , a jokester or a prankster. On the surface it looks like Krishna is having a whale of a time dancing with all those nubile nymphs. But just a little study unravels the true meaning behind the portrait.

The devotional fervor Krishna created in the gopikas is best explained by the rasa-leela dance, wherein each of hundreds of gopikas perceived Krishna to be dancing with them alone.
As the dance progressed, the gopikas acted and moved in different ways: one sang on a high and another on a lower pitch; a third reclined on the shoulder of Krishna .This diversity of movement points to a significant fact in spiritual life: no two devotees have the same identical journey.

God draws different people in different ways. He is the great loverand for him every human being is precious. He multi-locates himself, leading each devotee according to his/her individual wishes.

The love between Krishna on one hand and all other Gopikas on the other was quite devoid of any physical connotations. . It was the spirutual craving of the individual soul to get united with the Supremo.

There is an inner innocent girl waiting within each of us, desiring to emerge and play with our friendly cowherd in an exchange of love.

I like the painting for its very colorful attractive looks , but somehow this explanation adds to its charm .

And this perspective is more appealing to me than portraying Krishna as a philanderer.

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"Happily Ever After" ..myth or mission ?

2007-07-18T10:56:00.000+05:30

Most of us know the fairy tale where the prince rescues the damsel in distress and they ride off into the sunset to a place called "Happily Ever After." Many of us think, in some way, that there is truth to this insipid tale.

But its just a mirage. We see many marriages fail even before they take off.
We can only analyse the reasons and give solutions to the problems.
We argue that girls should equip themselves with a career and be financially independent.
But sadly , in many cases even though there are no financial worries , the break-up itself takes it toll on the people involved.

Everyone enters into a marriage with expectations about how the marriage will satisfy his or her needs. Problems arise when these expectations go unmet and feelings of disappointment start to seep in.

Therefore, it is very important that one is prepared to face the worst if things go wrong. Why is it assumed that once the marriage is over , everything will fall into place ? It has to be understood that there is many a slip between the lip and the cup and that it can take any route.

A person should be taught to enter the threshold of marriage with an open mind , prepared to face the harsh realities and not to succumb to depression when failure strikes.
It should be taught that its not the be all and end all of life.

What Men Really Mean

2007-07-11T16:49:00.000+05:30

Just so apt :))

"It's a guy thing."
Really means...."There is no rational thought pattern connected with it, and you have no chance at all of making it logical."

"Can I help with dinner?"
Really means...."Why isn't it already on the table?"

"Uh huh," "Sure, honey," or "Yes, dear."
Really means....Absolutely nothing. It's a conditioned response.

"It would take too long to explain."
Really means..."I have no idea how it works.

"We're going to be late."
Really means...."Now I have a legitimate excuse to drive like a maniac."

"Take a break, honey, you're working too hard."
Really means...."I can't hear the game over the vacuum cleaner."

"That's interesting, dear."
Really means...."Are you still talking?"

"It's a really good movie."
Really means...."It's got guns, knives, fast cars, and beautiful women."

"That's women's work."
Really means...."It's difficult, dirty, and thankless."

"You know how bad my memory is."
"Really means.... "I remember the theme song to 'F Troop', the address of the first girl I ever kissed and the Vehicle Identification Numbers of every car I've ever owned, but I forgot your birthday."

"I was just thinking about you, and got you these roses."
Really means.... "The girl selling them on the corner was a real babe."

"Oh, don't fuss. I just cut myself, it's no big deal."
Really means.... "I have actually severed a limb, but will bleed to death before I admit I'm hurt."
"Hey, I've got my reasons for what I'm doing."
Really means.... "...And I sure hope I think of some pretty soon."

"I can't find it."
Really means.... "It didn't fall right into my outstretched hands, so I'm completely clueless."

"What did I do this time?"
Really means.... "What did you catch me at?"

"I heard you."
Really means.... "I haven't the foggiest clue what you just said, and am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you don't spend the next 3 days yelling at me."

"You know I could never love anyone else."
Really means.... "I am used to the way you yell at me, and realize it could be worse."

"You look terrific."
Really means.... "Oh, God, please don't try on one more outfit. I'm starving."

"I'm not lost. I know exactly where we are."
Really means.... "No one will ever see us alive again."

"We share the housework."
Really means.... "I make the messes, she cleans them up."

How'z it :P

The dream life of Ananya

2007-07-05T20:50:00.000+05:30

My dream life is this :) If I live in a hut , this is what my routine would be. I'd wake up in the morning , arrange the previous nights washed dishes , go and sprinkle water all over and put designs (rangoli) then make tea and serve it .I would fetch water from the well and near the well I'd do some gossiping .I'd come back make breakfast serve it and then start cooking the lunch.While the rice is getting cooked , I'd dust , sweep and mop the house. I'd finish the cooking serve it , have it and have a little cat-nap.I'd wake up early and wash the dishes and the clothes , and hang the clothes for drying .Then I wld go , fetch fire wood for a long time, come back and fold the clothes.Arrange the dishes back in their places , start cooking dinner. After serving , I'd wash the dishes and make everybody's beds and go to sleep and relax :)

PS...typed by me while madam dictated. Not one word of the above is mine :)
Ananya is 10 yrs old and is presently in the 6th standard whose dream is a village life :)
She is my 'terror' of a niece ;-)
She insisted on me posting her dream and is looking forward to the comments :))

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Tagged

2007-07-02T15:47:00.000+05:30

I was tagged by Amit to write 8 facts about myself…
Thank you Amit , for tagging me..it really made me think :)

I also thank whoever started this for one thing…..one writes about oneself…if its like ‘get a few to tell u a few facts about u….I’d be torn between telling the truth or saving my face’ :)

These are the rules

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.

3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

I will follow the first three..the last one I cld’nt follow bcos truly I had a hard time coming up with 8 facts about myself ( I was apprehensive if my readers wld think I am pompous , whenever I came up with a fact ;-) )

so guys I have mellowed things a bit

As for my precious goals…I guess I have to come to terms with being single for another 2 lifetimes =)) ( yeah yeah…I am able to hear all u ladies shout ‘it’s a boon !!! ’ :)) got it !! )

So ladies and gentleman…u can unfasten ur seat belts now and recline ur seats and relax ! the flight is going to be a smooth one

1. I like to call myself a simple person with a down to earth attitude. I enjoy a lot of activities and it does’nt matter if its an expensive hobby or just a hay ride in a farm..I am equally happy doing both.

2. I love reading and have a good collection of books. I even collect books which I feel may interest me at a later date.

3. I love discussions and arguments. Even if I don’t know the subject I stay there and make it a point to understand it.

4. If there is one thing I cant stand , its mediocre movies . I cant stand bad movies. I don’t mean I am a Maniratnam fan or am an intellectual , but movies like ‘Veerasamy ‘ and ‘Kabhi alvida na kehna ‘ …pleaseee , torture. But there are some movies like ‘beautiful mind’ and ‘pretty woman’ that I can watch over and over again.

5.Travelling interests me a lot, but I do not like those guided or pre arranged tours by the tour companies. I like to go to a place where I have a local friend and with the help of him/her decide my own places of interest.

6. My weakness is the elderly. I especially love the 70+ and go out of my way to converse with them . I have a liking for all their ‘in those days….” stories .

7. If there is something that makes me nervous , its ‘cooking’ . I get so scared and nervous that it wont turn out well ( and most of the time, it does'nt , atleast that’s how they seem to me :P) .

8. My days are filled with humor , I like to see the lighter side of things and make humor out of even the most mundane of things. I thank my grandfather for this :)

Hey , we have landed safely and I hope it was a smooth flight ! You all get unlimited access to the comment section free , as a bonus for flying with me ;)

Ensooiiiiii , pals :)

I am tagging Ankur , Sowmya , Ravi , Thiru , Sahasra , Jeevan , Adiya and Kamal !

I am warning u guys ! Beware of the fourth rule !!

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Energy and Persistence Conquer all things-B.Franklin

2007-06-27T14:06:00.000+05:30

Just look at the complete concave crater !
How persistent the wind should be !
It reminds me of this quotation by Calvin Coolidge

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The slogan “Press On” has solved and

always will solve the problems of the human race."

Note: This is a rock in Horsley Hills which is situated in the Southern part AP.
A place with wonderful climate and the highlight is there is no other entertainment
except nature walks and bird watching

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Adultery in Indian law

2007-06-16T13:48:00.000+05:30

********************

The debate whether the Law against adultery favors women is an age old one. I have been hearing this argument right from the time I was thrown in the midst of Lawyers.

When I read Prerna's post about it some time ago , I was reminded of Ankur's post on the same subject. And I think they have dicussed the issue very well.

But when I asked a few lawyers their opinion , I got looks that said 'oh !not the same old one' .

Though the debate is an old one , there are many questions still unanswered.

The question that interested me is 'what does the law attempt to achieve by this section'

Adultery is dealt in two ways by Indian Law. Under Penal Law its a criminal offence and in Matrimonial Law it can be used as a ground for divorce and nothing more (though it has a great impact on the wife's right to maintenance ).

Both under Penal law and Matrimonial law, adultery is an offence against marriage.
But the difference between the two is , under Penal Law the adulterer is the accused and
is penalised while the wife (adulteress) goes unpunished.

In the matrimonial court when a petition for divorce is filed on grounds of adultery,
the main relief is sought against the spouse and not against the adulterer though he may
be a party to the proceedings.

And the glaring difference is that in the Penal law the right is conferred only on the husband while in Matrimonial law both the spouses can use adultery as grounds for divorce.

So Matrimonial Law makes complete sense as the discretion of living with the erring
spouse is given to the wronged spouse and relief can be sought using this as grounds.

The futility of the section in Penal Law

What is most significant in the penal offence of adultery is that invariably the husband takes his vengeance against the third person, i.e. the adulterer .

The criminal action is filed not against the wife but against the adulterer. The wife is not guilty of offence, not even as an abettor.

The adulterer is considered 'an outsider to the matrimonial unit who invades the peace
and privacy of the matrimonial unit and poisons the relationship between the two
partners constituting the matrimonial unit.'

Thus it shifts the entire blame on the third person , and in the process the erring wife
goes scott-free . The wronged husband takes it out on the third person and not his wife.

Is'nt this akin to asking a child that has fallen down to hit the floor with all its might
to ease the pain ? The child shifts the blame on to the floor and feels happy that
things are taken care of , till the next time it falls down. It goes on and on until the child
learns to walk properly.

Similarly the Law should not confer this futile right on the husband but expect him
to deal with his marital problems within his home. He has no right to blame a third person
while his wife is part of the scenario. The ultimate shame a husband can face in matrimony is an adulterous wife and blaming it on a third person is like drenching himself in filth.

He can either condone the offence in a spirit of 'forgive and forget' and live together
or seperate by approaching a matrimonial court and snapping the tie by securing divorce.

Adultery under Penal Law should be repealed as being useless , outdated , obsolete and downright illogical.

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The drinks on me tonight !!

2007-06-08T15:01:00.000+05:30

Oh..I love her...

I adore her...

I worship her!!!

Do I or dont I .....propose ?

Will she or wont she...accept ?

hey sweet-heart ...my love :)

I promise to play doll-doll...

will never ask for car-car...

make pasta with play-doh...

clean ur fisher-price kitchen...

play take-away when u dont feel like playing kitchen...

u sit in the car...I push...

u scatter things....I pick after u....

and the ultimate sacrifice for u my dove

we can paint our nursery PINK...so now u know...

how much I love :)

So tell me sweety baby

What kind of fellas do you like

Well here I am sweet lady

You got one here right by your side

You know I might sound crazy

But I think you could be my wife

You've got the lovely pretty smile....

And those eyes that glow at night

oh please please just say u'd be mine :)

Ohhhh...hurray !!

the lady just said YES :))

ahaaa the drinks on me tonight baby

The drinks on me tonight !!

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Touts

2007-06-05T15:09:00.000+05:30

The results for all the entrance exams have been declared and accompanying that all the hype about which coaching centre prepared the winning horses .

Its just funny to note that invariably all the coaching centres claim that the toppers were their 'students' . It is a known fact that these schools and coaching centres contact high performers in 10th class and enroll them free of cost .

The contribution of these coaching centres towards the success of the toppers is minimal and these student would have come out with flying colors even without their help...the performance track of these students speaks volumes.
So , whatever the coaching centres claims should be taken with a generous helping of salt .

...... for richer, for poorer, ...until death do us part

2007-06-02T06:58:00.000+05:30

With double income , nuclear families being the order of the day , one wonders which is the best arrangement for managing the finance of the couples.

Which is the best option...having seperate accounts with one joint account for paying the bills or a common account where all the incomes are pooled and all expenses met from this account ?

It is very common for the wife to manage her 'own' money where a huge dowry is involved . So what are the expenses that she wld use this money for ? What are the expenses her husband is expected to bear ?

What about home-makers ? Does she get to have an equal say in the financial decisions of the family even if she does'nt contribute to the income ?

Invariably , when there is a slightest problem between the couples , this is one of the major complaints..disagreement on how the monies shd be managed and what it is to be spent on. And it mainly involves helping out his /her parents.

Is it so very difficult to draw a budget and fix a range or a max amount that a spouse can spend on their pet interests ? When the couple promises to share their lives....why cant they share a joint account ? why should each expense be appropriated to either of the spouse's account ?

Just wondering ............

Shopping - ' exclusively hers '

2007-05-30T09:16:00.000+05:30

What is it with shopping and happiness? Is retail therapy for real ?

I think it is .I get a great deal of happiness while shopping...be it any place..it need not be any expensive place...even ordinary shops wld do...but the the crowd in the pavement shops is a bit too much to handle .

I feel if there is nothing purchased at the end of the session..it is waste of efforts..again if I have spent too much..I feel guilty. So it has to be in moderation.
Coming back home and looking at the purchases is another pleasure :)

A piece of advice..if there is one species that shd not be taken along while shopping its called 'human male' species . It has the potent ingredient called 'nagging' that can kill any shopping happiness. And just when u think u have found the rt dress and want to try it on...the species goes into the 'hunger mode' and wants lunch at 10:30 AM and all after it has gobbled down a dozen idlies.

If the species also happens to fall under the sub-category 'brother' then beware , it's the deadliest of the strains and may even resort to a volley of expletives in public .

So friends...enjoy shopping..leave the species behind....rt where it belongs...in front of the idiot box :))

btw...this is a 'humor' post :))

An Excerpt

2007-05-26T09:13:00.000+05:30

Ravi in his post about mythological characters had invited readers to share their views on the ones that interest them.
I want to share some excerpts from the comment section of his post. I found r.Prabhu's version of the story I narrated ,very interesting.
I apologise to readers who do not know Tamil. As I am forwarding it from another page I am not taking the liberty of changing it...excuse me , please.

This was my comment to Ravi's post -

"My all time fav is Karna..I have great admiration for him.
enga paati oru kadhai solluvaanga...
oru murai Dhuriyodhananum avanga wifeum dhaanam seidhu kondu irundhaangalaam...kaathala aarambicha dhaanam raathiri aagiyum mudiyalaiyaam....appo Karnan vandhu paathuttu..."what is going on ?" nnu kettaaraam..dhuriyodhanan was very tired and said "enatha seiyaradhu....innum niraiya irukku dhaanam thara..." .
Karnan had a hearty laugh and said...
"dhaanam pannara murai idhudhaana?..ippo paar" and he said that he'd take over :)
Makkal munnaadi vandhu
"Inga paarunga...Yaarukku enna venumo eduthu kondu ponga" nnu sonnaaraam :)
U can imagine what happened next..
So edhavadhu velaiya medhuva seidhukondu irundha my grandma used to say this story :)

@Sree
The story is told a bit differently though, the Dhaanam story.
by r.prabhu

R.prabhu sir..
Andha Dhaanam story unga version solla mudiyumaa?
Adha enga paati thaniya kadhaiya sonnadhu illa...thittum podhu eduthu viduvaanga..so I cld have lost some points. :)
thanks :)
by Sree

@Sree
The story goes like this. Once Krishna was talking to the Pandavas in praise of Karnan, saying that "Karnanai pol yarum dhaanam, dharman seyya mudiyathu, Karnan Dhana Dharmathil Sirandhavan". On hearing that the Pandavas did not like Krishna supporting Karnan and argued with him saying that the eldest of the Pandavas, Yudhistra, was called as Dharmar, not only because of his righteousness, but also for the benefactoring attitude.

Krishna challenged that he can prove Karnan to be more mature and Dhanathil Sirandhavan endru. So he held a competition between the Pandavas and Karnan. The competition was that 2 mountains of gold and silver would be given to both of them and whoever donates the most in a single day, will be termed as "Dhaanathil Sirandhavan".

So on the first day the Pandavas started out. As they dug the mountain and started donating, the mountains began growing as the Pandavas dug it. And there was a long queue to be fed with the donations. They went on until dusk but the mountains kept on growing, and atlast they still had about half of the queue left. Satisfied that they have donate about half of the world world's population, they went to rest. Thinking that Karnan is a single person and he could not achieve this feat that was done by the five mighty persons.

Then the next day Krishna told Karnan that he has to donate as much as he can to as many people in this world. Immediately Karnan fell at Krishna's feet and told "Parandhama, neeyae ulagam, neeyae Paramporul. Ulagathil anaithum neeyae, adhanaal ulagam uyiyum poruttu indha malaigalai unakkae dhaanamaga kodukiraen". Krishna was so pleased at the Karnan's act and praised him and later after Karnan went, he looked at the Pandavas, but they bent down their heads in shame.

And that proved that Karnan was Dhaana, Dharmathil Sirandhavan.

from Sree ......epadee irundhadhu ?

Why Eve was created

2007-05-20T11:53:00.000+05:30

Top Ten Reasons Eve Was Created

10. God was worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden because he would not ask for directions.

9. God knew that one day Adam would require someone to locate and hand him the remote.

8. God knew Adam would never go out and buy himself a new fig leaf when his wore out and would therefore need Eve to buy one for him.

7. God knew Adam would never be able to make a doctor's, dentist, or haircut appointment for himself.

6. God knew Adam would never remember which night to put the garbage on the curb.

5. God knew if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.

4. As the Keeper of the Garden, Adam would never remember where he left his tools.

3. Apparently, Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.

2. As the Bible says, It is not good for man to be alone!

And the #1 reason why God created Eve...

1. When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched his head, and said, "I can do better than that!"

enssooii :))

Surrogacy and the Indian Society

2007-05-18T11:21:00.000+05:30

This article reminded me of a similar one I had done a few days ago
at Sowmya's instigation and encouragement . It was posted in her blog and I am
taking the liberty of posting it here again.
Its a lengthy one and feel free to skip any part that does not interest u :)

Surrogacy and the Indian society
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There are a number of methods available today for handling the issue of infertility .But we will deal only with the practice of using 'Surrogate Mothers' (SM) to address infertility problem in this article.

Let's see who a SM is first .A woman who bears a child for another person, often for pay, either through artificial insemination or by carrying until birth another woman's surgically implanted fertilized egg. One that acts as, serves as, or is a mother substitute.

Surrogate Motherhood is the process by which a woman bears a child for another
couple, typically an infertile couple. There are two kinds of surrogate motherhood. In traditional surrogacy, the mother is artificially inseminated with sperm from the father or with sperm from a donor, if the father is infertile. In gestational surrogacy, sperm is taken from the father (or from a donor) and the egg is taken from the mother, fertilization happens in vitro , and the embryos are then implanted into the surrogate mother's uterus . Thus, the surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child.

In both the above cases , the SM is has a very vital role in bringing the child into this world although , in the first case its more so as she is also the biological mother .But , in both the
cases , her time or right over the baby is very limited.

In a tradition bound , conventional country like India , whether this pracitce will be easily accepted or encouraged is a million dollar question.

There are many facets to this system . The social , psychological and legal position of each person has to be dealt seperately. And it is not something that loses its impact as soon as the hiring couple get their child . Infact its a life long challenge which has to be faced by all parties involved . First the Surrogate Mother : Why would a woman want to bear a child then give it away to someone else?

It has to be one of these reasons.
1. She is poverty stricken and needs the money that the hiring couple pay her.
2. She is a close relative of the infertile couple and desperately wants to help out.
3. She is unusually altruistic and does this as a social service .

The last reason for which a SM bears the child is next to none . The second is a possibility . Here she is treated like a Goddess and her every whim is carried out. She is kept in good cheer and the main advantage is that she can continue being with the child .

But the first and the pathetic reason is the one that pushes unfortunate women to lend their womb . What would the impact be on her during and after the delivery ? A woman needs her partner's support , love and care during her pregnancy . In this case who is her partner ? Her husband who is going to benefit from the income ? or the man whose sperm was used ,
or the husband who is hiring her ? She goes through the gestational period with anxiety , uncertainity and insecurity . The very thought that the child does not belong to her would make her feel alienated to the whole process .

We hear every mother utter these words when asked what was the best moment of her life . She'd prompty say " the moment I saw my little one and her eyes looking into mine " . No mother would want to forget that moment of ecstasy and would cherish it for the rest of her life . Its only this poor woman who is expected to forget that wonderful memory.

Most of the women go through a very dull , irritating and depressive period called "Post Partum blues" after the delivery . This SM would have to go through this plus the actual depression of giving away her child. Her social standing also changes after this .She is seen as a conniving woman who would stop at nothing to make a few extra bucks. She is shunned by the society.

The Hiring couple :
Again the man has a set of problems and the wife another . If the sperm of the husband is used , things would be easy on him .Otherwise the man has to be mature enough to understand that although the child is biologically sired by another man , the child is his for all practical purposes.

The woman has mixed emotions . She feels guilt that she could not bear a child (if she has a problem conceiving ) or feels remorse. But overall she is the lucky woman as she is the one who ultimately has the baby and it must be such a relief to become a mother after a long unfruitful wait .

The child :

The child is separated from the SM soon after she is born. The child develops a bond with the mother while she nurses her but this child completely loses out on it . Otherwise , the child is doted upon by the hiring couple .

The real tough time comes when the child grows up and understands that she has another mother who actually gave birth to her. From various studies , it is seen as a fact that every adopted child is curious about her biological parents at a stage in her life . That wld be a great distraction and the constant nagging by her cld bring unpleasantness in the family.

Also , the child stands apart in the society. She is not accepted as normal and there wld be whisperings and mumblings when the child attends a social gathering and its is not an easy thing for the child to handle .

Anonymous Donor : The man who donates his sperms anonymously has no impact whatsoever and same for the woman who donates her ova .

So among all the parties , the worst affected parties are the SM and the child . The child’s problems are the same as any adopted child’s , and can be dealt with the same way .

But the SM’s is unique and she has to make sure she has appropriate support before choosing surrogacy.

Ethical issues :

A major objection to surrogate motherhood remains a fundamental one -- that procreation is separated from the physical expression of love and from the nurturing during pregnancy. How we understand the nature of parenthood is crucial in taking a moral stand on such scientific intervention. This procedure can be compared to people donating their kidneys to make a neat sum . The SM is more or less forced to let out her womb . what does that make her ?
“A human incubator on hire “ .

Indian Society and Surrogacy

Women’s Position :
As it is , there is gross injustice towards women in Indian society. What with lack of education for women , dowry system , dowry death , domestic violence , not having a say in family planning or contraceptive methods and other pressures forced on a daughter-in-law !

1.This would be used as another way of making money and the woman wld be forced to become a SM by her relatives.
2. Her health would be compromised . Her emotianal needs would be neglected .
3. This may become a practice and the women would be finding herself pregnant every 15 months .

Legal implications :

The motivation of a physician or lawyer who engages the services of a surrogate mother must also not impinge upon the moral position of an infertile couple who are considering this procedure The primary objection to surrogate motherhood is the absence of a legal framework to address its many dimensions. The status of the child as well as of the others involved is at risk until the rights and responsibilities of all parties are legally defined and enforced. What will happen if the surrogate mother wants to keep the baby? Can she be enjoined from doing so by the overriding legal right of the biological father who has contracted with her? Can the father successfully sue her if she absconds with the baby? If she miscarries, is the payment to be prorated? If the father/husband and his wife get divorced or separate, who will be awarded custody of the child? Are they both free to change their minds in that event? What if either becomes widowed? What if the child is less than perfect? Can a biological father (and his wife if
she is a coequal party to the contract) require or prevent an amniocentesis? What if abortion is morally repugnant to the surrogate? If the expectant mother contracts a serious disease or gets a job offer, can she invoke her constitutional right to privacy (to abort)? May she do so despite an existing agreement? Who is responsible if the baby survives an abortion attempt? These are some of the questions that await legal

answers.

The conscientious physician, if he or she is not to be regarded as a mere technician, must be satisfied that these safeguards are in effect before cooperating in the conception of a child in a situation of surrogacy. The legal should be clear about all the possible situations that would arise from this peculiar system of Surrogacy.

Commercialism of Surrogacy :

This is the worst aspect of Surrogacy . India is becoming a fertility tourism spot , where couples come from abroad for surrogacy . There is the risk of the country turning into a major child incubating centre , and our women would be reduced to ever pregnant , depressed , undernourished and mentally unstable lot . The poverty and population does not help the situation one bit . A new breed of pimps and illegal agents would spring up all over the state trying to make quick bucks using needy women. There should be strict laws that prevent women being exploited with the lure of foreign money . At no cost should this be allowed to become a commercial racket.

Social outlook :

Our Indian society is not ready to take this giant leap . We have still not come out of caste system , religious disputes and general diversity . How can it accept a child sired by another man , but being brought up as another one’s. The scenario is worse if the child is born with a donor’s sperm and the ova of the wife . Though , adoption is mentioned in ‘manu’ , it was practiced not to help infertile couple , more to keep the wealth in the family or to carry on the family name.

Even today , people prefer to adopt their own nieces or nephews .The whole idea of Surrogacy is the result of infertile couple not able to accept a child from an adoption agency as their own.
In a country like India , Adoption shd be encouraged and the childless couple should be counseled and made to understand the advantages in adopting a child . they shd be made to understand that their own DNA brings out love and attachment in them , any child that is brought home in due course of time , gets so attached to them that there would not be a difference between their biological child and these adopted children.

There is a funny story in Tom and Jerry series that goes along these lines. All of us know how mean and cruel Tom is . In Tom’s presence an egg rolls out and hatches. Out comes out a cutie pie ducky and looks at Tom and says “momma” which is nothing but “imprinting” which means , the first mother like object a new born baby sees , it assumes to be its mother.

Tom in its usual mean ways , wants to make a meal out of it. Jerry notices this and tries to save the ducky . He drags the little ducky into its hole and shows a picture of a mother duck and a duckling and a cat with its kitten .

Jerry points to the Duck;s picture says “MOMMA”and Shows the cat and says "No ,MOMMA” . The little Ducky says “naa naa “ to the duck and grabs the cat’s picture and droolingly and lovingly says “mmmoooommmaaa” . He goes back to Tom who tries to make a dish out of it..inspite of the little ducky calling it “mommaaa…momaaaa” .At this point I was furious with Tom , for not softening up even towards such tender innocent loving little baby duckling . Eventually , the duckling understand what Tom is upto and decides to please
its mother by jumping into the broth with its parting words …

“is’nt this what u want mommaaa…I’ll jump mommmaaa..
bye maaammaa..but I still love u maaammaaa” with such a cute little pathetic face .

at this point Tom crumbles and grabs the little one….while Jerry rushes in to see what’s happening near the brook. and guess what he finds there… leading the little duckling is Tom shaking its derriere to the musical rhythm of “Quack quack quack ….” So when the meanest of mean …..Tom can be changed with the affection of a baby of another species….why cant we ?

I would like to conclude that this procedure will not be accepted in India as we have still not got over the existing problems and this would be like starting a volley of new ones.

Our society will take atleast another decade to be ready to accept such forward anc complex system . Untill then , blood relatives helping in Surrogacy and adopting a child should be the solution for infertile couples .

May Flower

2007-05-16T06:53:00.000+05:30

This is called the 'May Flower'.
It blooms only in the month of May and
stays fresh for fifteen days in the plant.
The stalk shoots from a bulb and after the
flowering , the bulb rests till the next
flowering season .
I saw it in a friend's place yesterday and when
the hostess told me about this , I thgt I'd put it here.

Bad news :(

2007-05-13T19:03:00.000+05:30

Last week was the worst in my life.

My grandmother passed away on Monday (7th May).

I had done a post about her some time ago .

http://srisviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/watch-out-for-these.html

That is the reason I did not reply to comments promptly.

What is going on ?

2007-05-05T21:15:00.000+05:30

1. Is she being tortured ?
2. Is she being tamed ?
3. Is she being treated ?

Naaaa !! She is being pampered :))

Queen is in the parlour
having a cool apple drink :P

Thank you :)

2007-04-29T12:34:00.000+05:30

This is from my dad...

Hello everybody..
Thanks for agreeing with me in the 'bloggers vs tea-stall assistants' post.
World will be better off if atleast a few of you intelligent people move on to active field to atleast make small changes to inculcate a change in the right direction ; and I did enjoy the various comments. Thanks a lot.

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Thanks to you all for sharing ur thoughts with me.
Have a great day :)
Sree

KIDS QUOTES & PROVERBS

2007-04-29T12:12:00.000+05:30

Never trust a dog to watch your food.
Patrick, age 10

When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don't answer him.
Unknown kid

Never tell your mom her diet's not working.
Michael, 14

Never pee on an electric fence.
Robert, 13

Stay away from prunes.
Randy, 9

Don't pull dad's finger when he tells you to.
Emily, 10

When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair.
Taylia, 11

Never allow your three-year old brother in the same room as your school assignment.
Traci, 14

Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac.
Andrew, 9

Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.
Kyoyo, 9

You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
Armir, 9

Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
Kellie, 11

If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.
Naomi, 15

Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.
Lauren, 9

Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat.
Joel, 10

When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she's on the phone.
Alyesha, 13

Never, ever, try to baptize a cat.
Eileen,9

**************************
First Grade Proverbs

A first grade teacher collected old, well known proverbs. She gave
each kid in her class the first half of a proverb, and had them come
up with the rest. These are great:

As You Shall Make Your Bed So Shall You... Mess It Up.
Better Be Safe Than... Punch A 5th Grader.
Strike While The... Bug Is Close.
It's Always Darkest Before... Daylight Savings Time.
Never Under Estimate The Power Of... Termites.
You Can Lead A Horse To Water But.. How?
Don't Bite The Hand That... Looks Dirty.
No News Is... Impossible.
A Miss Is As Good As A... Mr.
You Can't Teach An Old Dog New... Math.
If You Lie Down With The Dogs, You'll... Stink In The Morning.
Love All, Trust.. Me
The Pen Is Mightier Than The... Pigs.
An Idle Mind Is... The Best Way To Relax.
Where There's Smoke, There's... Pollution.
Happy The Bride Who... Gets All The Presents!
A Penny Saved Is... Not Much.
Two's Company, Three's... The Musketeers.
Don't Put Off Tomorrow What... You Put On To Go To Bed.
Laugh And The Whole World Laughs With You, Cry And... You Have
To Blow Your Nose.
None Are So Blind As... Helen Keller.
Children Should Be Seen And Not... Spanked Or Grounded.
If At First You Don't Succeed... Get New Batteries.
You Get Out Of Something What You... See Pictured On The Box.
When The Blind Leadeth The Blind... Get Out Of The Way.

There Is No Fool Like... Aunt Eddie. :))

bloggers vs tea-stall assistants

2007-04-22T09:21:00.000+05:30

During the recent 'bandh' in TN..the only good thing that happened to me , thanks to our beloved CM , is ..I got to spend a few uninterrupted hours with my father discussing a wide variety of topics.

Since there were no public transport...but the flights were still operating, we had to drop a friend off at the airport .

And the topic we were discussing....yes..u guessed it rt..Politics and atrocities by politicians.

Thoroughly fed up with the situation...I blurrted 'I wish the law was amended to allow only educated citizens , eligible to contest in elections.'

I went on to explain how ,many bloggers keep track of current affairs
and express their views and then again there are the others like me
who promptly start nagging ppl around for more info and start a volley
of comments , discussing and dissecting the subject.

I was sooo angry and said that the intelligent bloggers I see on the net could rule the country in a better way than those stupid politicians . The next instant , my dad put me in my place.

He said "An uneducated tea-stall assistant who expresses his opinion publicly and protests , contributes more towards the running of the Govt. than u bloggers , who keep bashing around ideas till ur interests die a natural death ".

I protested saying that I learnt so many new ideas and am aware of current affairs...and it makes me think...thanks to these bloggers.
But, he did'nt budge an inch and was firm in his opinion.

It made me think though...and for a while as an act of clearing mental cob-webs...I refrained from commenting on similar issues.

Later , I asked him to give me reasons supporting his stance.

Here is what he said

**********************

A single act of kindness is better than the greatest grand intention.

In my perception throwing up any number of problems to thread bare theorital beating , will only create frustration in those who are at the receiving end of the problems.

The only satisfaction the bloggers seem to recieve is that they can call themselves to be aware of problems and let their combined effort at an indepth analysis ; ofcourse no light is seen at the end of the tunnel.

An illiterate tea shop assistant who is able to nibble at any one problem atleast to his ability is far better than half a dozen ppl who discuss and discuss the problem and arrive at a decision as who ought to have tackled the problem.

Normative approaches to problems are never pragmatic and are useless.

A large piece of masonry /debris was lying in the middle of the road , probably fallen from a truck. Everybody driving a vehicle suddenly braked and turned around it , cursed and blamed the authorities only one auto rickshaw driver stopped , pushed the offending piece to the side of the road..

So we have a number of street-bloggers who produce no results but one pragmatic individual who produce results. This seems to be the difference between blogging and practising .

The adage "an ounce of practice is better than a pound of preaching ".

***********************

Well..it defenitely makes me think......
though I can't resist commenting on issues that interests me ,
its done with a tinge of guilt .

Now , my friends , I would like to know ur opinion .

A thing of Beauty is a Joy forever !

2007-04-18T17:52:00.000+05:30

Bala has tagged me to do a post on six things I find beautiful.
And here is the invitation..

"...நான் அழகு சொல்ல அழைக்கும் மூன்று அழகான நண்பர்கள்,
1. அனைவரையும் சிரிக்க சிந்திக்க வைக்கும் Sree..... "

Thanks for the nice way you have put it ,Bala.
(Now you all know why I have copied it here :P )

I understand beauty as something that brings a surge of happiness the minute our brain registers an image.

The indisputable list would be our Mothers ,babies ,our mother-tongue , rivers ,falls , hills , hill stations ,dew-drops ,half-saree clad girls ,handsome men ,an object d'art, flowers ,green fields ,birds ,butterflies ,bees ,teddy bears , an aritists hands at work , our 'Singaara Chennai' and the list would go on...afterall beauty is definitely in the eyes of the beholder.

I was thinking about subtle beauty..something that brings a flutter of elation....that which is not tangible..but leaves a lasting impression.

1. A Sashtiaptha poorthi couple.

I make it a point never to miss a 60th wedding celebrations of elderly couples.
Its sometimes mistaken as the 6oth wedding anniversary..but infact its another wedding ceremony celebrated when the husband turns 60 and he marries his wife all over again.
The very happiness , pride and contentment seen on the faces of the 'to be married couple' cannot be described in words.
The function is celebrated by the offsprings of the couple and its picture perfect with all the grandchildren hovering around them.
This is the celebration of two strangers who were brought together by chance ..lived together..shared good and bad times...raised kids ,fought with each other
..patched-up ...adjusted , sacrificed and finally arrived in life.

2. My friend 'K' at work.

K is a childhood friend and we were in the same class at school . She is an architect working for a reputed building firm now.
A brief intro abt her..she belongs to a traditional tamil family with a political background (they are always traditionally dressed) and was brought up in a complete tamil culture environment. Her attire is the unmistakable saree with her hair braided into a long plait with jasmine flowers and lovely 'jimkis' dangling in her ears.
When she goes to the sites on work....I join her too so that we can chat uninteruptedly during the long drives .
Once in the site , she climbs those make-shift steps not giving a tght to its safety while at the same time rattling off orders to the masons , giving instructions to the supervisors and then , would spread the plan on some crude platform and in a matter of fact tamil tone would reel off a lists of tasks for the workers there. The way she handles the carpenters ( who can give u a run for ur money) is admirable.
I usually wait in the ground floor ( am petrified of unprotected heights) and look in awe at the way she conducts herself.
I see beauty in the contrast. Her gentle looks and her work that involves not so gentle efforts.

3.Men and children at play.

I like to look at men when they are with kids. We see a completely different side to them..their business face is replaced with a softer , carefree look . And god forbid if its the grandfather of the child. He becomes marshmallows in the hands of the naughty little brats.
And that a real beautiful thing .
And usually these men are in such great mood that u can get ur way during that time :P

4.Brides .

Is there anything more beautiful than a bride ? The soft smile , the shy eyes and happiness written all over her face.
Added to that all the finery she wears and the grace with which she carries herself , is something that should not be missed. She basks in the glory of being the center of attraction and is a real-time heroine on her big day.
And in the tamil traditional weddings , the bride's hairdo is a heavy flower arrangement. The way she turns around , moving her shoulders instead of the neck is a real beauty.
Be it a bride of any religion...I think there is a glow in their face.

5. Regional folk dances.

I love those colorful folk dances danced to catchy tunes. The beauty is that its not a solo , and coordination is very important. And since it is in a large group the dancers throw each other meaningful glances as if they are sharing a secret ..giving each other secret smiles . The dance steps are usually repetitive and easy. The costumes are very colorful and accessories are local ones.
They portray a joint celebration and the happiness is passed from one to another and the entire gathering present is exhuberent.( Remember the party scene in 'The runaway bride'..now that's real fun :P )

6. A chef's face while explaining his work.

While ordering at restaurants , if a chef is called to explain how a dish is prepared...the way he (its always a 'he' ..I see lady chefs in TV shows only ) talks about the dish , abt the ingredients and the process ...punctuating it with heavy gestures...is so beautiful.
Its is more beautiful when the chef does not speak any English and has to act it out to explain everything.
A look more beautiful than this is the happy one that he gets when u call him back to pay him a compliment appreciating his culinery skills . I have seen this look on many people's faces when appreciated for some work well done.

Hey Bala...can I have a 'Kosuru' ? please ?
I really think the 'Syam and associates' party that has recently come to power where every member has a 'lucrative' portfolio is a great beauty :)
I really admire the deep friendship and easy comedy that this group possess. I feel their interactions bring out the beauty in blogging :)

One thing I noticed is , almost all male bloggers who have done this post , have mentioned "half-saree, lehanga clad girl" . Oh there is nothing to beat that dress ...esp the 'Pattu Paavadais'.

For my part..I want to say that I miss the 'Lungi' clad men of yore.
Except for the older generation , I only see shorts and sweat pants as casual wear these days . Whatever happened to our checkered 'Sangu Mark' lungis ?

These are a few beautiful things that came to my mind . I am sure there are many more like Surya , Vishaal , Saif , Akshay, Richard Gere, Tom Cruise and
Bruce Willis ;-) :))

I look forward to you ppl sharing what you think is beautiful :)

Wives and Section 375 IPC

2007-04-15T14:58:00.000+05:30

Just a funny post and some of you may need parental permission to read it ;-)

Last week..when a bunch of junior advocates and wannabe advocates were idling at the office , the conversation turned to sec375 IPC.

For the purpose of this post..I will give a brief intro to secs 323,324 ,325,326and sec 375 of The Indian Penal Code .

Sections 323 to 326 deals with causing bodily injuries and the degree varies according to the weapons used and the gravity of the injury.

In Sec.375 ...The main aspects that constitute rape
1. is 'against the will' of the woman
2. and 'without her consent'
3. or fraudulently obtaining consent misleading the woman to believe that she
is his wife
4. with or without her consent when she is under sixteens years of age
5. or with a girl less than the age of fifteen if she is his wife.

It clearly says that the husband is protected from sec375 if she is his lawfully wedded wife (consent is granted) .

Almost all the women felt that the section shd be amended to include wives too . That is, the husband needs the consent of the wife...and it shd not be assumed that the wife has given her consent. Its either the wife be protected by sec375 or the husbands should be excluded from secs 323 to 326 IPC.

And as expected , the argument would be what if the wife agrees and then out of some other spite files a case against her husband...what defense would the husband have..what proof would he produce ? (There were jokes like..he shd keep a stamp paper ready to get her express consent :p :)) ).

Well...lets see the legal implications if the section is amended...the husband is in no better legal position than a man having an affair with any other woman . In affairs, the man is definitely exposed to sec.375 , if the lady decides to give the guy a difficult time . If a man is charged with rape and he claims he had her consent , the onus of proof is on the accused. Ofcourse he can always prove that they were going out together and she was his girl friend etc . But , its a hassle , and a major one.

I remember watching a movie where a high-school girl files a case against her school-mate for rape .She has an affair with him but subsequently breaks up with this guy..after the break-up, one late evening in the school premises he rapes her in his car and his current girl friend sees that. It would be argued in the court that since she previously went out with him , it would not amount to rape. But finally the girl friend becomes a witness and gives evidence that she heard the girl scream , saw the girl protest inside the car and she knew even at that time ,that it was rape.Finally the boy would be convicted . That was one new angle to the whole picture. (I really did'nt pay much attention to the name of the movie..).

Back to our topic..if the section protects wives..many husbands would rather lead a life of celibacy than get into trouble . The argument from the wives is that since they are not protected u/s375 IPC, (as it is now) , the only option for them would be to resort to violence . The sections that protects all from bodily injury are secs 323 to 326 IPC .(Men have no protection under Domestic violence act ).

The demand is if wives are not included in sec375 then husbands shd not be included in sec 323 to 326 (Its only against their wives..its applicable when the offender is anyone other than his wife).

They either get the consent or get beaten up . They have no legal help if they are bashed up by their wives .Ah..what a solution !

But all this would only lead to marital discord. And the next step is usually the family court or some marriage counsellor..and what would the advice be...'Concentrate on some activity that engages you or learn something new'...yeah and in the situation....the wife would opt to go to 'karate' classes and the husband shd attend 'body-building' classes :)

And all would be hunky-dory between them.....the women protects herself and the man can have fun too..whether he has his wife's consent or not.

Now , do you get the point ....that its the height of absurdity to ask for wives to be protected under sec375 IPC ? The very idea behind the institution of marriage fails if this is done . I strongly feel things should be left as it is .

இனிய புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் !

2007-04-13T19:03:00.000+05:30

இந்த இனிய நன்னாளில் உங்கள் எல்லா கனவுகளும் நினைவாக வாழ்த்துக்கள் !

Potpourri

2007-04-12T18:15:00.000+05:30

When I spoke of 'Magizhampoo' in my summer vacation post, I was reminded of some other flowers that have become rare to find these days. All these flowers have such sweet fragrance .

'Kodi Sampangi' is one..these are bell shaped green color flowers and blooms in clusters...the plant as the name suggests ('Kodi' means a creeper) is a creeper with just one hardy twining trunk.The petals have a light yellow tinge and the flowers cannot be tied into a string like jasmines...they have to be threaded using a needle .

'Oosi malli' ('Oosi' means 'needle' and ofcourse Malli is Jasmine) the flower resembles a needle...atleast 2 inches long and has a long stalk too. When in bloom the petals droop down and when stringed together , they look like a bunch of white thread.

'Soundarya Kanakaambaram' ..Oh the color ! Its a deep saffron color and the petals are more sturdy than the regular ones . Even a six inch stringed piece of this flower can add a dash of color and looks attractive.

'Manoranjitham'..Atleast this flower can still to be seen here and there and I know many ppl who loves its fragrance. Intoxicating is what it is.
(Incidentaly , this is close to me bcos I was chosen to be this flower , in a flower dance we did in school when I was in 4th class :P ....now , I dont want anyone associating the tough look of the flower to me being selected ;-) ....just take my word when I say it was random selection :P But I was disappointed during the actual dance as all the 'jasmines' and 'roses' were all decked up with those flowers from head to toe while the teachers had to go from pole to post.. to collect manoranjithams..unfair eh ? :( )

'Changing rose'...this is one magic flower ..it's white in color in the morning and as the day progresses , changes to pink to deep pink ..then majenta and becomes red by the evening...oh what fun it was to watch its color change during classes in school :P

'Paneer Roja' this is dark baby pink in color..if there is something called 'sweet fragrance' it is this. It blooms in clusters of three or four and unlike the regular roses is very delicate and has less petals with a yellow centre ,the pollen very visible. These are not the pink hybrid variety..(hee hee..the petals taste yummy too :P )

'Nagalinga poo' Though I see these in some parks in Chennai , it used to be one of the regular flowers for pooja a few years back .I like to take the little lingam out of the flower after the pooja :P

'Sentu Malli' ...A variety of jasmine that has a deep jasmine scent but looks like a miniature white rose.

'Thaazham poo'.. This is a flower with a peculiar shape and strong fragrance and can diffuse an entire room with its smell. It was used in 'kadambam' previously ...but is missing now. During summer vacations it used to be a ritual to decorate the plaits of little girls with this flower ... it is called 'thazhampoo jadai' .

'Thumba poo'...this plant is a wild one and the flowers were very special for poojas. They look like 'baby's breath'..tiny and sparkling white in color.

A couple of flowers my dad misses.
'Neel Kamal'....My dad claims to have seen Blue lotuses on the Chennai-Kanchipuram highway when he was in his teens. But there is always an argument bet. us about it. I say that there is no blue lotus and he is talking about blue lilies. He is still in search of some place where there is 'Neel kamal'.

'Kadamba poo' ..when he talks about this he always says 'Kandhaa...Kadambaa' and he described the flower to me...a great smelling , ball shaped fuzzy flower that grows on med. height trees. Once when I found a similar tree somewhere , we walked there for half an hour and both of us were very disappointed to see it was a diff. one...but this one was cute too.

Its nice to see the asters , gerberas, tuber-roses, dhalias , chrysanthamums ,
orchids , gladioli , carnations etc (the cut flower ones) stocked up in lots of places....but I miss the flowers I mentioned too .

If you can think of any other flower that is going extinct..please write about it.

Art of War

2007-04-09T11:48:00.000+05:30

There are some books which you can finish within a few days..some you keep by your bedside and keep reading a page or two just before dozing off.
The present one in the second category for me is Art of War by Sun Tzu .
Some parts are beyond my comprehension but some are very interesting.
I found some good advice in these points .

" If not in the interests of the state, do not act. If you cannot succeed, do not use troops. If you are not in danger, do not fight "

" A sovereign cannot raise an army because he is enraged , nor can a general fight because he is resentful.For while an angered man may again be happy , and a resentful man again be pleased , a state that has perished cannot be restored , nor can the dead be brought back to life ."

" Therefore , the enlightened ruler is prudent and the good general is warned against rash action. Thus the state is kept secure and the army preserved. "

like it ?
Have a happy week !

Childhood vacations :)

2007-04-05T19:30:00.000+05:30

Bala has asked me to write about eight summer vacations I have enjoyed..yeah..I enjoy vacations..period..be it summer or any other season :)

I am not writing it chronologically but I will just start from my childhood vacations .

Most of my life was spent at my grandparents place and it was the meeting ground for all of us cousins :)

I am very lucky to have a cousin of my age and we used to be the best of playmates. My cousin L was living in a joint family and so used to visit us only during weekends..(this was our maternal grandma's place ) .

Our grandpa's place was a huge big house surrounded by a well planned garden with lots of trees and we used to treat it like one big play area. L used to come up with novel games that involved mud , clay , water ..everything that my grandma disapproved of ...but very exciting for us kids :)

L's house had a water boiler ( the traditional one made of copper with the chute in the middle where u put the fuel..twigs, coal, dried cow dung mixed with god knows what all stuff). Yeah..u can see these in tea stalls even today :)
L taught me how to prepare 'boiler urundai' (original ones are made with cow dung+ all stuffs mixed and shaped into balls and sun-dried) using clay , mud and water :)

oooohhhh !!! I tell u there is nothing akin to the pleasure of dipping ur hands in cold wet clay and mud mixture. She was a good tutor..taught me how to knead it and make it into perfect spheres. But where we went wrong was the place we chose to dry it....right on the newly painted window sill of my grandparents bedroom :(
Oh that was the greatest crime :( the ball sat there alright...but the muddy water dripped all over the place and created a big mess.

Then she taught me how to do 'patties' (virati) out of the same stuff...haa haaa...this is a great skill where u need to slap the mud mixture real hard on the wall to make it stick. We used up the entire East facing wall to dry our 'patties' .

In the evening when my grandmother opened the windows , one by one the boiler urundais were rolling out :(
I need to tell you that my grandma is skilled in caning and always had a cane handy
:( . Had it not been for my lovely grandpa..we wld have been history by now :) After our chores were over..we'd walk into the hall , on the carpets..with our muddy feet and hands and plop ourselves on the sofa ....I think my grandma became a BP patient because of us :P

Then , once we had entrepreneural ideas and wanted to start our own business. We had abundant goose berries (not the big round ones..these were the small indented Amlas) in the garden and both of us picked them from the ground and took it out near the gate and made piles of those on a neatly spread towel :) we have experience going to fish markets with our ppl and so know how to haggle :) . Believe me...our first venture was a utter flop as not a soul came to buy them...it was our neighbour's ( who happens to be my grandpa's brother) gardener Kannan..again someone whom we know rt from our birth ...who bought some taking pity on us. Later as the sun went up , we gave up, putting our failure down to bad location and donated all the gooseberries to Kannan and closed our business..atleast we had'nt invested much :P

This was the time when we were into games like 7 stones , 5 stones , Paandi (Hopscotch) and lots of games with little shells ( cowrie shells). Evenings would be marked with grandpa taking us to the beach and we would fly kites there.....the kite vendor had to pull the kite up...but later we got the hang of it...and its such a pleasure to do it in the beach even now :)

There was another adventure..where we'd go flower picking :) We used to love 'Magizham poo' I just dont know what its called in English....its a light brown...tiny flower that blooms in a huge tree and it has a natural bore in the center so that it can be threaded and worn as a string. Oh ! Its fragrance is heavenly...in Chennai you can see that tree in woodlands drive-in restaurant right across the the parking lot, adjacent to the play area. Its one huge big tree and luckily the ground below is paved so its easy to pick flowers there :P
L and I used to go to the third house from ours and there were two huge trees there...while we were picking flowers from the pavement...the aunty from the house invited us to pick from inside the house too :P That house had all those fancy accessories like fountains. We gladly obliged and got ourselves wet by going near the fountains and were so happy to come back home and thread the flowers. But it was not a happy ending ...that aunty had to call my grandma praising (?) our flower picking skills and u know what happened after that :(

Then came the phase of moms putting us in several summer classes...out of all the classes I attended , I only learnt swimming and fell for it hook ,line and sinker (literally) :P

Later during teens we were more into reading , watching movies and learning driving . Most of the time we would be together doing our girly girly talks.
My grandpa used to take us fishing regularly...on retrospect I think its to make us help him with winding the reel ... with the knots and run general errands :)
But small games were fun and we have caught little fishes ( koduva) . Sometimes those were used as baits for big games . Big games were nothing but a big bore where u cast the line and wait , wait and wait for the baracuda to come and bite :P

When I was around fifteen my mom wanted me to learn sewing and type-writing...and at the end of two months I had one crooked hanky and a trapezium shaped pillow case to talk of my sewing skills . As for typewriting , I could flawlessly type asdfgf ;lkjhj while use the correct fingers at the same time :))

But our summer vacations had generous sprinklings of card games (rummy) , cycling , visits and travelling :)

I think more than anything its the innocence that really made us enjoy those vacations...no exotic holidays, foreign travels or luxury cruises can bring back those times and that happiness.

Thank you very much Bala...for making me take a trip down memory lane to those wonderful times :)

Ravi , Pegasus , Just Words , Adiya , Harish , Syam (Natamai) and KK !
Would you like to write a post about ur childhood summer vacations ?
It's fun , I promise !!! :)

The Other Side of Parking and Police

2007-04-03T12:26:00.000+05:30

Last week on a weekday I had an unusual experience.

I had to go to a bank on a main road and parking was alloted on one side of the adjecent road. There was a 'No Parking' board on the other side but there were some cars parked there.

Right near the entrance of the A.road , there were a bunch of police men relaxed and settled...sitting in cosy chairs under shady trees and enjoying the gentle afternoon breeze ...looking very much at ease .

Seeing the other cars parked in the opp direction , I too encouraged by another erring driver , parked my car there. But very cleverly :P asked the policemen there , if I could park it in that area.. One of the cops said "Oramaa podumaa" (park it close to the pavement)...and I proudly showed them how close to the pavement the vehicle was and with a big smile of gratitude proceeded to the bank :)

After half an hour when I came back , I saw a rectangular metal frame and a big lock fastened along the driver side wheel :(

Imagine my shock and I turned around to give the policemen an accusing look and only after that did they realise that the car had been locked :(
They were very apologetic and then told me that they were there for the CM's
security and had nothing to do with the traffic (!!!) .
I said "But when I asked you..you never told me" and they said "Its very rare
to lock cars in this road".

But even before I asked them , they called the traffic police who had the key , and asked them to come over. Apparently they were having lunch and I had to wait under the trees :(
They offered me a chair (!) but I preferred to stand there...and was listening to
their conversation about Tamil Nadu politics (very interesting :P) . Then one of
the SIs elaborated an accident that had taken place a few hours before in Ambattur and was very disappointed with the general public. He said that not one person came near the victim and it was only the auto drivers who came to the victim and took him
to the hospital..(but the case was fatal) . The SI was all appreciation for Chennai
auto drivers saying they are the ones who always come to the rescue during crisis.

Then the conversation turned to general cribbing about their odd duty hours , their kids schooling , their respective native places etc. all in their own unique accent .They told me about their kids and what they are planning to study and also
enquired me about my schooling and family.

Meanwhile another person came there asking them "Can I park my car here?"
and there was a chorus of "vendaaaam!!" from all and pointed to me and my car :(
The guy said "I am related to the CM" for which they said "Neenga traffic police
kitta sollidunga" .
Dont know what made me ask that guy if he likes standing under the shady trees in that area :P. He took his car and drove away promptly .

Finally , the traffic police came in their crane like vehicle and the SI requested them to remove the lock and pleaded (yeah..I heard him request) that it was his fault :)

By the end of this half an hour I had seen another side of Chennai police and was quite impressed with their attitude and outlook.Inspite of the inconvienience I felt the experience was worth it .
Once the lock was removed , they gave me a nice send off .

I never dreamt that there'd come a day when a bunch of policemen would be relieved to see me leave :))

BTW...I found this post http://shocking.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/funny-answers-written-by-students/
by Pegasus absolutely hilarious..check it out :)

Moral Policing

2007-03-21T08:20:00.000+05:30

A few weeks back I was was faced with the unfortunate situation of attending the funeral of a girl (V) whom I have known for a very long time.

This was the second funeral I attended where the cause of death was AIDS.
Though , V was suffering for a prolonged period , her death was such a big blow to everyone.

Her father has been working with our family for almost a quater of a century and V used to visit our place frequently when she was young.
She was married eight years ago to a fruit seller , who concealed the fact that he had AIDS and within a year they had a child that passed away when six months old (paediatricians diagnosed it as digestive-disorder ! ) and obviously V was infected.
Two years after the child died it was the unscrupulous rascal's turn to go.

V was cared by all and she was getting medical help at all times. But , she developed severe TB and stopped responding to treatments and was suffering so much that one would feel it 's better she dies.(And that's what her mother was uttering repeatedly during the funeral ). I cannot describe the plight of her parents..and the sight of them during that time.

What did V do to deserve this?..
Life is unfair...and more so for the economically back-ward .

I usually reserve tragic and depressing topics for a select (unfortunate) few friends...so was shying away from posting this incident .
But what prompted me to write now is this news item.

I am not giving a link ,I have just put some excerpts from the article .

**************
BHOPAL, MARCH 16: The Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to end the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP), two years after it was introduced to classes IX and XI, saying “sex education has no place in Indian culture”.

The source said some officials tried to convince the CM about the merits of the programme and why the National AIDS Control Society and Unicef had introduced it in the first place, but Chouhan “avoided any discussion on the issue”.
Batra had advised the CM against sex education in schools, and was in turn told that yoga should be included in curriculum in place of sex education.

Nineteen districts were covered in the first phase of the AEP programme, and 11 more were added in the current year.
“We were planning to cover the remaining 18 districts in the next academic year,” said an official associated with AEP, describing how the directorate was ready with proposal to start Red Ribbon Clubs in schools to create awareness about AIDS.

“The scrapping is not a wise step. In fact, it’s one step backwards,” said Mukesh Sinha, director of MP Voluntary Health Association, and NGO that works in the field of health education.

**************

Where is this country going ? Who are the people who decide our fate ?

And the main reason for banning sex education in MP is

"They felt teachers of co-educational schools would have felt embarrassed while teaching the subject "
(NO!! I did not take this from jokes.com ! )

I ask all these politicians....
"How could you allow 'Anatomy' classes in Medical Schools to continue ?
Dont you have any feelings for the poor teachers there ? "

Ugadi Pachadi

2007-03-20T20:08:00.000+05:30

Hello friends...how did Ugadi go?
Ugadi was to be celebrated on Monday...but since there was an eclipse on that day and it's considered inauspicious...(and since eclipes cannot be
postponed ;-) )...Ugadi was officially postponed to Tuesday !

And for those of us who did not celebrate Ugadi....how many of you'll got Ugadi pachadi ? :P
Well..we got Pachadi from two Telugu families...
Let me give u the contents of that ( of what I could make out )

Pachadi 1. Had Banana puree, Neem flowers (main ingredient ! ) , tamarind extract , raw mango pieces , Jaggery , fried gram dal & coconut scrappings .

Pachadi 2. Had all the above stuff ,plus cashews , green grapes , raisins and
tuitty-fruitty pieces ( the colored candied orange rind that we find in fruit bread ) .

Between the two I liked the first one which is the basic recipe and it had a
mild bitter-sweet taste . It's a mixture of six differnt tastes which is supposed to symbolise the six emotions .
Did any of you get other versions of Ugadi Pachadi ?

Just a Joke :)

2007-03-19T12:17:00.000+05:30

Hello Everyone :)
I should'nt be putting this joke here , in my right mind :)
But , So what.....it's just a joke :)
(Ladies !...take it easy paa...! joke dhaaney ;-) )

" A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband.

Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights.

There is, however, a catch. ... You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. .

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.
*********
The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the love the Lord, and love kids.
*********
The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

" Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
*********
She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead good looking and help with the housework.
"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

*********
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor

and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day! "

//*********
Send this to all men for a good laugh and to all the women who can handle the truth !

********* //...No chance !!! Not an ounce of truth in it :P
...It's all a funny joke :) Lol :P

Happy Ugaadhi !! :)

2007-03-18T08:50:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year To All !!!

For Those of us whose New Year does not fall tommorrow...
Let's Wish We get Ugaadi Pachadi from our Telugu and Kannada
Friends !! :)

Tatkal Scheme in Railway Reservations

2007-03-17T11:24:00.000+05:30

All the details I had written about Tatkal in the comment section of my previous post was given by my dad..
Since the topic of discussion turned to Tatkal , thought I would get more info straight from the horse's mouth.

So, was waiting to catch hold of a TTE ( got the right abbreviation from him...stands for Travelling Ticket Examiner ) ..on the phone to get more details about Tatkal.

Basically it works on the principle of getting your work done at the last moment by shelling down extra bucks.

As I said earlier , it was introduced to help ppl get reservations at short notice..esp to help passengers travel in emergency situations.

There are a few things to be noted.
I think there is a general misconception that Tatkal tickets are premium ones...where one gets a preference over the regular reservation.
But the fact is that Tatkal tickets are reserved to be released only 6 days before the date of departure ( it used to be 24 hrs) .
Incase the general reservations are still available on these 6 days , then Tatkal is not released and one can get the regular ones at regular fares. There is no chance of fraud ( like holding reg. ones and releasing Tatkal as the system is computerised and a special receipt is issued for T.Tickets ) .

There are times when even the regular tickets are not sold out and the remaining seats are alloted by the TTE in the train.

Now coming to the main point ..is it serving the purpose?
well..very marginally as there are a few catches to the scheme...
1.Tatkal tickets can be taken only from point of departure to destination...so one cannot make reservations upto any stations in the middle.
2. Tatkal tickets cannot be cancelled..since its 6 days now, u get only 50% if cancelled before 24hrs of departure.
3. Lot of people dont even know that such a scheme exists.

As it is clear , the purpose of facilitating passengers travelling in emergency situations get reservation ,is not served now, b'cos the time has been extended to 6 days...and so even ppl who can wait for a few days but has more money power avail the scheme.

Releasing the quota before 24 hrs made much more sense.
But it is said that this 6 days system was introduced to deal with the peak summer season .

Lets hope Lallu introduces better schemes and travelling is made smoother and safer in future !!!

How much is OK ?

2007-03-15T08:00:00.000+05:30

While on the topic of Guru,I was wondering if flouting with the law can be avoided in our system.
Giving it a good thought, I sincerely feel that at some point of time , we are forced to be corrupt albeit in a small way.
People argue that we have corruption in the grass-root level..what can we expect from a nation where there is economic disparity of such huge proportions ? We have corruption at all levels....be it grass-root , sub-grass-root and the Guru level corruption.

What would people know of businessmen investing huge sums (borrowed and partner's) and then losing it out in interests....We talk of industrial development....GNP growth etc. etc. , what about that guy who has his life at stake, and is forced to face corruption at every level.
He has to weigh his honesty , commitment and the interests (as compared with the bribe amount ) , then decide as to what has to be done.
I know businessmen who are so honest with the quality of product they deliver
and take pride in doing so but never even bat their eyelids while doling out bribes or contacting politicians to help them out in difficult situations.
They are the very same people who take into consideration the needs of the labourers .

Are'nt we all aware of the fact that with a help of a politician , one can give so
much trouble to a businessman that he would close shop and run for his life ?
What happens during elections ?
Where does all the money come from?
What will the poor guy do..but to shell down amounts to every party than risk closing down his factory and sitting at home wondering what other saleable skill-sets he has to support his family and their life-style.

As for me , I may not want to spoil another's chance directly but if I need a berth in a train , would willingly shell down a couple of hunderd rupees (if demanded ) and take the berth. I am sure , even if there is no one to take the berth , the guy is not going to allot it to me unless I pay. Ofcourse I can shout , call the squad and threaten him....but it all depends on how much time I am willing to spend fighting and then what kind of scene I would have created and what other risks I would be facing.
So most of the times it would be 'GTH' (Go To Hell!) !

The guardians of honesty should also think about the temples in our country...is it a good practice to take a letter from a person in power and go for a 'Special Break Darshan' ? These days I feel sick to visit these corrupt temples because at a personal level I feel its unfair to the other people in the queue. The very look of the priests there makes me so angry that the purpose of visiting a temple fails.

So being corrupt or not is not a measure of a person's value as an individual. Just b'cos he flouts the law out of necessity or b'cos the situation demands , does not make him a dishonest , cunning person.

Mind you, I am not saying there are no bad people out there , I am merely saying that this is not an yard-stick to conclude if a person is good or not !

This guy GURU has my stamp of approval for all that he did in the movie !
Infact I was quite nervous when the judgement was pronounced , would have been very disappointed if he was sent to jail !

I would say 'Guru ! Its good going!' .

Mani Ratnam...The Vanilla Gold of Movies :)

2007-03-13T07:50:00.000+05:30

I watched Guru yesterday (dont ask me in which theatre :P ) and was quite impressed.
Inspite of PK's post reassuring its nothing like 'Iruvar' , I was quite apprehensive. But the movie could hold our attention throughout although it was a long one..!

// Here too, Mani delivers a decent film which does not insult the intelligence of the movie goer.//
PK has aptly said this....there are few movies that do not irritate you..I feel 98% of the regional movies are out to irritate and make a fool of you. But you need to give Mani credit for the respect he has for his audience.

There are a few things in the movie that bothers you , though..
every frame and every little move of Abhishek reminds us of 'Nayakan'....Mani shd have known its too early to repeat the same style . Coming to Madhavan...he pales in Abhishek's presence..makes you wonder if it is intentional . He looked insignificant and the courage displayed in his dialogues do not reflect in his face.

Parinita girl...what's her name..not sure..is such a waste of screen-time and an absolute add-on for the sake of distributors.
There was a time when ppl like us enjoyed even the item songs in Mani's movies..unlike the usual Tamil and Telugu items...but this one did'nt give importance to choreography or dress-sense(!)....maybe it was meant to be so ! He could have done better esp since the setting was Turkey !
About Aishwarya..the less said the better!
Could'nt recognise Mithun until I read PK's post again ! (I felt he was looking familiar ).

Unlike 'Uyira Uyire' , the editing was very good and the sequence took the audience along in a smooth flow.
Like in all biographies , the movie has to have a documentary effect, but Mani has softened the effect (Why do directors like Mani do biographies....cant we be blessed with movies with good story lines from them...all while we are made to endure sub-standard movies from sub-standard directors ).
The crux of the movie..the debate whether Guru flouting the law is justifiable or not ....the opinion is portrayed a la Mani style..in shades of grey ! He again succeeds in raising the question in the minds of the audience.
That's another feather in his cap !
( My views on flouting with the law as Guru did , is reserved for another post).

Overall as PK put it,
" Mani should be credited with getting the best out of all these folks as only he can."

My take : 'Theatre kku poi paaka vendiya padam !'( A movie which deserves to be viewed in the theatres !)

Mind Your Language :)

2007-03-10T19:27:00.000+05:30

Got this by mail from a friend.......

How does an English professor speak English

1.Don't dare to talk in front of my back!

2.Both of you three get out of the class!

3.Why are you so late… say yes or no!

4.Take 5 cm wire of any length! [Best one!!!]

5.I have two daughters. Both of them are girls!!

6.All of u stand in a straight circle

7.Quite… the principal just passed away...

8.Why are you looking at the monkey outside the window when I am here.

Just for laughs :)

Regional views

2007-03-09T07:44:00.000+05:30

Hey I got this as a forward..the second half was the reply of my friend :)
Just a light joke...nothing to hurt anyone :)

This is what I got from a Telugu friend...

What it means to have a TAMIL GIRL friend

Her mother looks down at you because you didn't study in IIT or Madras /Anna University.
Her father starts every conversation with " I say..."
She shudders if you use four letter words.
She shudders when you eat eggs.
She has long hair, neatly oiled and braided.
She uses the word 'Super' as her only superlative.
Her name is another name for a Goddess or a flower.
Her first name is longer than your first name, middle name and surname combined.
When she mixes milk and rice you are never sure whether it is for the Dog or for herself. (That is baaad!)
For weddings, she sports a mini jasmine garden on her head and wears silk saris in the Madras heat without looking too uncomfortable while you are melting in your singlet.
She thinks Arvind Swami is the sexiest man alive.
Her favorite cricketer is Kris Srikanth.
Her favorite food is dosa though she has tried North Indian snack like Chat (pronounced like the slang for ‘conversation’)
She bursts into songs with her cousins in every movie.
She bores you by telling you which raaga each song you hear is based on.
You have to give her jewels, though she has already got plenty of it.
She is more educated than you.
Her father thinks she is much smarter than you.
And he is probably right.
Note: Sorry Tamil friends

I countered it by this...below... : -) hope you enjoy..

What it means to have a UGULET GIRL friend

Her mother looks down at you because you didn't study Engineering or for not having a fake certificate which others can easily identify...
Her father starts every conversation with Dowry??... Is he a Brinjal vendor..?
She shudders if you use FIVE (DOWRY) letter words.
She hates you when you don’t eat GONGURA...and all pickles her mom has given from a 3 yrs back India trip...
She has a capability of turning anything into a pickle…even paper... Andhra style... :-) Your fate to eat it...
She has long hair, neatly oiled and braided not to make, feel her husband admire...but to offer to Tirupathi god.
She uses the word 'Bagundhi' as a standard adjective for anything even to praise you... so no value.
She breaks her first name and keeps a nick name; her last name is usually being horrible to pronounce…everyone confuses which one to use.
When she mixes milk and rice you don’t realize that it would also be like a fire hot...so spicy...Unless u taste it and go to hospital she might have used white chillis. (That is chaala baaad!).
For weddings, she doesn’t sport a mini jasmine garden on her head because she knows well that her hair is going to TIRUPATHI so why jasmine flowers wastely? Correct na…?? and wears basic cotton sari in the Guntur and save something to her dad because of dowry expenses.
She thinks Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh are the sexiest men alive. Otherwise, she knows only about Tamil heroes and movies because approx...200% Tamil movies are dubbed or remade in Telugu rgt?
Her favorite cricketer is Tendulkar...because there is no one from Guntur.
She bores you by telling you how to save $... while sleeping...too… trying to save snore? Lol.
You have to give her American life, Lexus, Acura MDX, Blackberry & always update with...Luxury stuff...so that she will balance the jewels and houses her father gave you..
But she rarely likes to buy those cars...and owns an obsolete Corolla...for her entire US life...
She is rarely educated...knows how to be a best kanjoo in the world...
Her father thinks she is much smarter than You( my telugu friend)...and he is correct... :-)

Happy Women's Day !!!

2007-03-08T11:37:00.000+05:30

Happy Women's Day to all Women bloggers !

Felt like this is the best time to talk about what Women's liberation means in today's world.
Are we liberated ?
Ofcouse we are ! Any woman with a basic education is a liberated person and she can think for herself and can make what she wants out of her life.
Women are gifted with certain qualities that are unique and attractive and it's upto us to be liberated without losing our charm, grace and bewitching looks .
There is a cool factor associated with feminism and I wonder if there is any use in it...is'nt being sweet and charming preferable to being brash?
I love the protective attitude of males and revel in it. Let's not exploit them..but give them an oppurtunity to show that they care :P
Let's don all those colorful clothes and accessories and look our feminine selves.....
I have seen in many situations that just a curteous smile and a polite request from women work wonders...and things are easy that way :)
Girls! Let's stick up for ourselves but in the process let's not lose our gentle nature ! Happy Women's Day !

Watch out for these....

2007-03-06T11:17:00.000+05:30

If you are living with or in close proximity to any septuagenarian (a person in his/her seventies), it is advised that you keep a close watch on their speech and actions to detect Alzheimer's disease or 'Senile-Dementia' at an early stage.

It creeps in such a slow pace which makes detecting very difficult. There are many websites that gives an idea of what symptoms to watch out for, but they just give a general idea and does not talk of signs specific to our life-style.

My grand-mother is a Dementia patient and has been deteriorating slowly for the past 3 or so years. (She was a seven year old when the photograph was taken )
Had we detected certain odd behaviors 5 years ago, we could have delayed the progress considerably.
There were isolated incidents, ones that could easily be brushed aside that we never attached much importance. And brushing aside is what we did ,which turned out to be such a ghastly mistake on our part.

Let me give you a brief idea of the kind of woman my grand-mother is. She is the one I wrote about in one of my earlier posts.
She would run her family so efficiently and also take care of the families of her daughters all at the same time.She would keep track of all that is happening in her daughters' families on a day to day basis.

I have an incident that would sum up her character and the role she played in our lives..
When my brother was in UKG or Ist standard he was asked by the tution teacher a question from Social Studies. When he was asked"Who is the head of the family?"
My brother had thought for a moment and had replied in a conclusive way
"Amamma is the head of the family !"

('Father' was the right answer in the text book..but we'll debate about that later :P )

That is how active she was..involving herself in numerous activities enthusiastically.There is so much to her that I can do a seperate post on the subject.

Around her seventieth year there were some disturbing behavior. Certain things that would not go in sync with her character ,caliber or intelligence.

The earliest was a depressive attitude. She would speak as if there was no hope even in trivial things. We thought she was complaining about her loss of physical strength and put it down to old age.

Then there would be repetitive phrases she would use..it was
"enna maa pannaradhu (What can I do!)" for every question we would pose.

She was a very active person in family functions and was in close contact with all her first ,second ,third and nth cousins.But around this time she would never show any interest in meeting people or attending weddings..this was quite a shock to most of us. My cousin was doing medicine and he was the one who detected that something was amiss. When a phsychiatrist visited her, he diagnosed it as 'Depression' and started treatment.

She was a meticulous person giving a lot of to importance to home decoration (to the extent of digging up the floor to change it with not so much as batting her eyelids).She was one person who took a lot of effort to present herself well. It was next to impossible to find a hair out of place. But she could'nt even do her hair properly and her personal hygiene took a nose-dive.

Routine work was a great challenge to her .She would forget where she kept important things and would search for them over and over .
One day while we were watching a late night movie she told me "Sree...idhu ellam poi dhaaney..ippo Meena thoongittu dhaaney irupaa?" (She was questioning why an actress was in the TV when everyone must be sleeping at that time of the day!) .
I was shocked and did'nt know what to reply.

The next blow was the way she was handling money. She would give a bunch of notes to the cable-guy or the news-paper man and would not wait for the change.
She had a bad bout of sweet-craving and would not keep track of the sweets eaten and this coupled with excess sleeping during day time and wandering in the nights was playing havoc with her overall well-being.

The last knock came when she asked my brother whether he was older or younger than me as she was a walking journal of all our lives and would give details with precision even in her sleep.
Later when we slowly questioned her about who were siblings ,who were cousins and the order of siblings she was not sure of herself.

This was the time my mother decided to change the doctor and after an MRI the doctor gave us the sad news that she was a Dementia patient and that a part of her brain was not getting enough blood supply and he changed the medication.
But even at that time she could carry on her work and was keeping a tab on the house-hold activities.

But slowly deterioration has taken its toll and now she is not able to tell even our names .But surprisingly she remembers her parents and her childhood very well and the moment she sees her father's photograph grabs it and says 'En Naina'('My
Dad'). The doctors say that they go back in time and remember their childhood vividly.

There is no cure for Dementia and the best that can be done is delaying the deterioration , keeping their area accident-proof and spending as much time with them as possible.
Prolonged medication for BP is also a contributing factor to this condition.
Watching TV serials without a break should be discouraged and activities that would exercise the brain like 'sudoku' and reading various subjects should be encouraged.

My message is this. If you spot anything..anything in your parent's or grand-parent's behavior that makes you think "I guess they are getting old"...Dont assume it's old age taking its toll..immediately consult a good Neurologist and get them tested for Dementia. Most of all try spending as much time as possible with them and be part of their world.

A Sequel to my previous post..in Tanglish..

2007-03-02T07:22:00.000+05:30

Ravi in his comments ,reminded me of 'waters in the dark' of which I convieniently forgot in my previous post.

//seeing a huge water body (river, lake or sea) in the night gives me an eeiry feeling// was part of his comment.
I think I can perfectly understand that feeling.

Oru vaati Kumarakom(Kerala) la, the resort had arranged something called 'angling in the night'(andha maari perla edho)..The way it was expalained in the hotel..it sounded like great fun.
Sarinnu..naan soora puli maari..
'Naan thatha voda evalo fishing poyee irukken..hmm aanaa naan ponadhu ellam
'Big game'..idhu enamo small range maari irukku nnu' oru alatal.. (enga thatha naan avaroda pona podhu 14 kgs fishes pidichi irukaaru..naannum adhu kitta poyee tasteaa irukkumaa , fry yaa illa kuzhambaa..nnu paathu irukken..).

'Hey folks..but I know all about baits for little fishes' adhu idhu nnu en 'angling' ariva ellam kaanpichen. Enga thatha small game pogum podhu..bait kku evalo groundnut+ idly+ 'all sorts of other things' paste seidhu ,'urundai' pidichu veyyilla kaaya vechee iruppen!!! (Idly is the binding agent..dont even let me talk about 'all sorts of other things' :) ore Non-veg smell vandhudum :P..enga kootalikku vera pidikaadhu :P)

Oru 9 manikku gumballa kilambinom.
The hotel guy took us to a daaaarkk..marshyyy..bamboo(or something similar) filled area with the help of a lantern..light taa 'ooooshh..ooosh' nu oru sound. That guy made us climb down a slope (appavey enakku idhu saripadumaannu doubt..ovvoru step pum spelt .E.E.R.I.E.), and he took us to a creek..ennamo back waters maari..and there was a kattamaran anchored there..naan lantern a paarthen..kattumaratha paathen..bamboos paathern..pakkathila irukaravanga mogam kooda theriyala...

Kattumaram mela ellam thanni.. anga anga 'algae' .(kamal sonna maari paasam mighundha kattumaram!). Kattumarathukku 'Paasam' irundhu enna use..kooda vandha gumbalukku illaye..Sigh!!!

Boatman na paathu..'ivida enna meen kittu..aaapudum ?' nnu oru malayamil la ketten..
Avar malayalathula ninaichee irupaaru..'adhu theriyadhu aana ,inga irukka meenungalukku innaiki enna kidaikum nnu enakku theriyum' nnu.
Enakku mattum oru 10 minutes aavey visions of 'Anaconda'.Adhula nightla vara scenes...
I could'nt even go near that Kattamaran..Some kind of fear was gripping me.

Enga gumballa kooda yaraiyavadhu sacrifice pannanumna first choice yaarunnu enakku theriyum...adhula mattum difference of opinion varadhu.

"illa..I dont know abt baits for fishes in backwaters( read it "I DONT WANT to be a bait" )..
"You see daa... S ....(engaloda epavaadhu fishing vara en cousin brother..a.k.a 'dhrogee')..
Namba 'low tide high tide' edhuvumey calculate pannama poga maatom illa, sun rise,sun set time kooda paakala ..what say you? " innu ketten.
Avan 'Endee..raathiri 9 manikku rising..setting time avasiyamaa.. idhu ellam oru pozhapaa...irudee innimey neeti muzhakee pesuva illa..' maari oru cheap paarvai vittutu..
'Un ishtam sree...decide pannu' nnan.

Adutha second naan 'about turn!..1.2.3..1 !' nnu baltee.
Aana boat man num hotel aalum..'endha..nyee..entha interest vilichee..ippa ennadayingil..nyan.. innum poyengil lake varum..nannayittu irukkim ' andha maari ore 'nasal' dialogues.
This waters is two to the power of infinity much..'nyaan varalaa' nnu innum koncham nasala sollitten..
Enga gumbalum..'soora puliye jagaa vaangidhichee..namba emmatharam'nu adhungalum 'about turn!'.
Medhuva nadandhu hotel vandhu serndhom..'Emaathitaan daa !' nnu naan sonnadhukku ellarum 'Vaa Vaa unakku nalaikku irukudhu' nnu kannaalaye sollitu poitaanga.

(But the next day turned out to be exhilarating with a speed boat ride in lake 'Vembanadu'. Appo appo 'S' kku edhavadhu pazhee vaangum ennam varudhaannu paarthen..avar Asinodavo..Nayanodavo 'malayaala karai oram'nnu manasula duet la irundhaaru..hee hee naanum indha oru vaati disturb pannala :P).

I did not get to see the same 'angling' creek in day time..had I, probably I would have felt differently..
afterall.. "Naan enga thathavoda evalo Big games poyee iruppen !!! " :)

Here I come...

2007-02-27T08:59:00.000+05:30

Each person has his/her own passion...something they cannot resist..that which pulls them inspite of common-sense saying a big Noo...u can call it a weakness...

I get into that trance when I am near clear waters. Be it a swimming pool..a clear lake..a stream..a pond...even a small tank near a field which is fed with a pump-set.
It need not neccessarily be a deep pool..just a wide tank filled with cool water would do...hmm..but the regular bath tubs are not in the list..they are so narrow and well... restricting I guess.

While riding in a boat (only the speed ones would do) or when I am gazing into flowing waters...I can literally feel a tug..as if mysterious hands are pulling me...its like I cant think clearly and there are two 'me s'....and one of 'me' is already in the water.

(hmm..I find it a great feat to manage just one 'me', imagine handling two :-) ).

Sometimes when I am near 'not so safe' waters like tall falls or swirling rivers ..one of 'me' ( the still sane one..) drags the other one forcibly.

The waters that take the cake are flowing crystal clear streams and deep blue lakes.
The feeling one gets while coming up from the deep is akin to no other feeling...pure bliss..

Well there are only two kinds of water that puts me off..the murky kind and the one with debris.

So..the moment I see water...I say...
"Here I come...."

--A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

2007-02-23T08:36:00.000+05:30

My all time favorite...such moving words..
so much like listening to a melancholy tune...

Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
‘She must weep or she will die.’

Then they praised him, soft and low,
Called him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
‘Sweet my child, I live for thee.’

without using so many words, it portrays the sorrow of the wife..her obstinacy to die..bringing out the love for her hero..
The poet builds the drama, getting us worried about the wife...then finally shows us what makes her break..
The stanza
"Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
‘Sweet my child, I live for thee.’"

is a seperate poem by itself.....
When everything else fails to ivoke a response ,an elderly woman who is portrayed as an expert in understanding emotions...senses the wife's instincts..
'Set his child upon her knee—'
the precious gift he has left her makes her break down!

This is one poem where the poet takes you on an emotional tour !

A Modern Gurukulam

2007-02-21T19:41:00.000+05:30

While everyone is talking about the pros and cons of Indian Education system, the innovative way founded by Shri.Jiddu Krishnamoorthy came to my mind.

I had the great oppurtunity of visiting Rishi Valley School near Madanapalle (AP) many times and its I should say I was very lucky to get a real insight into the system of education followed in the school.

The school looks like a village from a Bharathiraja film and it is said that the great location with majestic hills with a view of plush green valleys was hand-picked by the founder himself . The climate is pleasant throughout the year and a visit to the school is like taking a vacation in some exotic hill station.

The guest houses look like old Madras Bungalows and the dorms are in a similar style giving the entire place an old world charm.
You are surrounded by chirping birds which reminds you that the place is a bird sanctuary and any RVite passing by would stop and answer your queries about the birds.

The two aspects that impressed me are, there are no day scholars in the school (except the kids of the staff ) and so everyone is on equal grounds and the next one is that all the teachers live in the campus .This is a great advantage to the school as they can make a complete impact on the students without any outside influence. No day scholar telling her boarder friends " Hey..I went to a party yesterday and......" ..

What I saw was a homogeneous mix of kids from different regions and from various walks of lives ..you name them...they have them..diff languages..diff religions and diff races and even mixed races.... What a
blend ! It feels wonderful to see all these kids play together in great hrmony.

They have no uniforms, no exams upto 8th standard, have classes like yoga , batik , carpentry , bird-watching and pottery.
Visitors are not allowed to dip their fingers in clay :( while the students there were happily operating the electric wheel and were blissfully making pots and were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
The happiness I could see in their faces... a million pounds cannot bring that. (This promptly sent me to Golden Bridge Pottery in Podicherry to enquire if there are any classes there...but no luck :( )

Although there is no uniform they have an unwritten dress code and wear appropriate clothes for different activities.Instead of exams , they have assignments and projects. I saw a 5th standard child ('fifthie' as they put it ) going around the campus asking other students what brand of shoes they were using and making a pie-chart with all the data collected. What a way to learn...! I mentally yelled at everyone who made me do tonnes of exercises in text books to understand the concept.

The classes are not always conducted in class rooms...one can see groups of student and a teacher seated under trees ,on stone benches or on long steps that are fixed here and there. The teacher would be in the centre while all the students would be seated around him/her in such a relaxed manner (as if they were watching a TV show! ). You can even see a bunch of them sharing the book with the teacher reclining on him/her.
Would you believe me if I tell you one little boy was swinging on a banyan (ariel) root during a class and the teacher was patiently calling out to him repeatedy? What rapport they have ..there is absolutely no fear or false respect in the children's faces. Just open minds and happy learning. I always think that only people who have a passion for children, nature and teaching go to Rishi Valley to teach there. There are many teacher who are RV products themselves.I have also seen some acadamecians who stay in RV for a few months and take pleasure in teaching the kids their subject.

Kids call the lady teachers and staff 'Akka' ..no 'Miss' ,'Ma'am' or 'Miss.Jones' there. They have a unique drawl to their 'Akka' pouring all their love into it. No standing up and bidding 'good morning's..just a 'Hi...Akkaaa.' . Even when I stop to talk to RVites ..their dialogues are always generously sprinkled with 'Akka's.

The library looks so inviting and using the Library is part of the curriculam and each child is expected to share his views in class.
Have you heard of a school which invites a teacher from the UK to tell stories and to teach the nuances of story-telling ? No wonder the kids had such great communication skills.

Importance of recycling and use of biodegradable material is not just a text book topic there and the use of plastic and polythene bags are prohibited.. Beats me how the kids dont complain but follow it in such a positive way.

Wild life preservation, enviromental awareness, appreciation of nature ,
kindness to animals are areas which are concentrated upon.Even the snakes (that are found commonly) are caught and taken away to be left loose in a remote area.

There is a hill called 'Astachal' and everyone gathers there at the same time every evening and in cloud of 'Sambrani' smoke to chase away the mosquitos sit there in absolute silence and watch the sun set. I was reminded of this

"The birds have vanished into the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together , the mountain and me,
until only the mountains remains."

____ Li Po

The education does not stop with the school but also extends to the hostel life.All the snacks the kids bring are collected together and shared equally. I was surpried to see that the living quarters are swept and mopped by the kids themselves . Dignity of labour at work. Most important of all...the boys are included too.I have seen teen-age boys doing the dishes with blaring music in the background and wonder of wonders enjoying the chore.

There is no topic that is taboo and the kids talk about anything under the sun with their teachers , all while walking around the school in the evenings.

Workshops are conducted by experts in the field.For example, Hindustani music by Bombay Jayashree....films by..who else but our ManiRatnam ,wild life conservation by Sekar dataatri are just a few in the long list.

But there are some criticisms about the system too...many ppl say that, these kids are brought up in a simulated environment and hence would find it difficult to face the real world. Well..I personally feel that the kids are fine and have no adjustment problems.After all being street-smart or pushy does not really help in the long run. Kindness, altruism, team spirit, generosity are no trivial traits and they never go unrewarded.

What better way to widen the mind than keeping them happy and making the learning experience a pleasant one..As the saying goes, if no learning is achieved , the teacher has failed more..It makes sense to see if the kids are in a receptive mood before teaching anything..

I sincerely feel that we should have more of these kinds of schools and also the final board exams should be modified to suit these schools.

I remeber reading an interview by actor Nandita Das in which she says her ultimate ambition is to set up a school like Rishi Valley. We need more of such people to better our existing system.

Sweet Granny and Super Sivarathiris..

2007-02-15T17:05:00.000+05:30

This post is similar to the theme movies that our channels telecast to go with the season :)

Tommorrow is Sivarathiri on which day Lord shiva is worshipped even during the night.
One is expected to be awake in the night and an elaborate plan is drawn to keep sleep at bay.
I am wondering how many households are still preparing for it in the traditional style.
It kindles in me memories of Sivarathiris we had celebrated in my grand-parents house as kids.
It used to be a kitty party of sorts.
All my aunts and their families would gather at my grand-mother's place to perform the pooja. So we kids had a good chance to spend an entire day together.

My grand-mother and her team would make a sweet item called "Thiruvadhirai uruvaakali' in bulk and after the morning pooja, used to take our help distributing it in the neighbourhood.
Viradhams were followed and poojas were conducted in timely intervals.
A big gang used to travel together to visit Shivalayams.
Neighbours and relatives would frequent the place and they would sit in batches and plan the agenda for the night.
All kinds of traditional games would come out of their hiding places and the coins were counted and boards were kept ready.

The evening started at around 7:00 PM when all the ladies would gather in a large hall (in my grandparents' place it was the outhouse).
(I always got the impression that they did'nt want to disturb the sleeping men in the main house..but in retrospect, I think that the men must have had their own kind of party!)

The dinner is part of their viradham of not having rice and the usual accompaniments.
(Please dont even think that the viradham as the name suggests had anything to do with fasting...infact its just the opposite :) )
It comprises of all the tiffin items and snacks that one can phathom.
Every relative would get something from her kitchen and it was one great pot-luck event.
Bunches of bananas and grapes, dozens of seasonal fruits would be consumed throughout the night, not to speak of payasams and other sweet-meats !
( If anyone asks me what kind of a viradham it is where you dont eat steamed rice but eat steamed rice batter ....I guess Idlies are light while rice and the side-dishes are heavy provided one eats just a few idlies !)

And the games event would start after the first round of dinner. Although we can see some groups already in progress even before the official trigger is pulled which in this case is my grand-mother sitting down to play.
Here I have to say that my grand-mother's aunt (mother's sister )- (Ranganaaya) who would be quiet during the day time would slowly creep out of her bed and join one of the senior groups.
Had there been a "Dhaayam" event in Olympics..this great-grandma would have bagged the gold.

As told by my mother (from her memories of Sivarathri at her grandma's place), Ranganaaya was part of the 'Bhajana Ghoshtee' that would sing devotional songs throughout the night. She was a great patron of the "Kadha Kaalakshebams" during her prime. Trusted sources even say that she was part of a "kolaatam" team and would dance away to glory, till the break of day. So a generation before my grandma's , kadha kalakshebams, bhajans and dances were the ones that kept them awake on Sivarathiris.

Some of the games that were played were...

Dhaayam: It was the most popular of the lot and it was the first preference to many. There is another side to this preference. It is believed that playing this game of chance brings ill-luck (can be tracked to mythology) and so is SRICTLY prohibited in the house.
The only exceptions to this rule are "Sivarathri" and "Ekadesi" nights when you are allowed to play Dhaayam to your heart's fill.

This game is a more complicated form of today's 'Ludo'. The player or the team that achieves to bring all their coins to a central "Home" first, wins the game.
The main attraction of the game is all the screams and yelling that go with it. You can hear the players shouting "Oru dhaayam daa" or "Oru panandu daaa" as if their very cry would roll the dice to the required sum . And also the opponent shouting the unwanted number to irritate the other person.People would take sides and there would be general cheering going on.

Pallaanguzhi: This is a game which requires a special wooden box with seven cups carved on both the sides along with little shells called "sozhie". The game starts with five shells in each cup on both the sides. The player who is left with less than five shells at the end, loses his game. There is a special game in which upto four playes can play...but I never got the hang of it and so stuck to the original two players game.

Paramapadham: This is nothing but our 'Snake and Ladder' but with a large printed sheet .It has lots of figures printed in it..a few of them quite wierd.It has snakes which roughly translated could range from one inch to 150 feet and the same goes for ladders too.
God help if one is bitten by the big one. This is also an exciting game where there are lots of twists and turns.

There are other games like 'Aadu puli aatam' and 'Sokattaan' and the only thing I know about them are their names.

So the ladies would move from one game to another and there would be general chatter . I would stay awake only till 12:30 or 1:30 AM. So I am not sure if they stay awake all night. I assume that the ladies would also
lightly doze off and then wake up again to resume the games.

What I like best about Sivarathiri is the way my grand-mother and her contemporaries who always appear all grown-up and matter-of-fact let down their guard and get into a carefree mood. It made me realise that there is a playful side to my grandma who does'nt otherwise appear so.

Sivarathiri is one occasion that helped me understand my grandmother and makes me remember her as a sweet, joyous and loving person though she likes to refer to herself as 'strict' .

Happy Sivarathiri to you all !!!

A Declining Passion

2007-02-14T08:09:00.000+05:30

Came across this rhyme in 'Charlie and the Chocolate factory'..
It echos my views on today's book-reading and TV watching habits.

---------------------

Oh,books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago !
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And Children hitting you with sticks -
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.

And once they start - oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowing growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

-------------------------

P.S. My idea of a little heaven..(from the same poem)

"One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wonderous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales! "
_______________________________

The third Gender

2007-02-10T20:24:00.000+05:30

I was witness to a very unpleasant incident a couple of weeks back while I was seated at the front desk of a shop.
A Eunuch had come to the shop asking for some money and the men who were gathered in the vicinity made gestures and uttered words that would make a sailor blush.
I could not help but compare this to balking at a handicapped person or uttering profanities at the so called lower classes.
The former has everybody's sympathy while the latter has legal remedy .

Actually it took me all this time to do this post because I was scrutinising all related (legal) Acts and wanted to see if there is atleast one section under which they can seek remedy.
No points for guessing....the result I came up with is "Zero".
I found some Act that mentioned them and was very hopeful until I understood what it was enacted for.

The 1897 amendment to the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, which was subtitled "An Act for the Registration of Criminal Tribes and Eunuchs". Under this law, the local government was required to keep a register of the names and residences of all eunuchs who were "reasonably suspected of kidnapping or castrating children or committing offences under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code".
Something similar to the rowdy-sheet that the police maintain.
Though further enquiries revealed that this act is not followed in the present day.

If not anything else there should be a law in the country similar to
"The scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes Act" , which protects them and penalises wrong-doers who
"intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a SC or ST in any place within pubic view".
Why can't the eunuchs be placed in a similar category?
Are they not treated with more repulsiveness?
The place with the most scope for abuse is the police station where the police, on a regular basis, violate all canons of civilised behaviour by physically, sexually and verbally abuse and humiliate them.
The discrimination and violence that the Eunuchs face show that it is high time that both the government and the human rights movement in the country begin to take this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Armed with all this information I discussed this with many Junior Advocates (albeit their discomfort discussing this taboo topic) . When I asked why no public interest litigation was filed for them, they did not have one good word for the community. If on the one side people ridicule them , there is another set of people (mostly men) who are petrified of them.
The gist of the discussion was that the Eunuchs are a confused ,
sex-starved ,obsessed and ill-mannered set of people in their opinion.

The police in turn reels off a long list of atrocities that the Eunuchs specialise in.
The law that is used most to threaten the Eunuchs, as well as the homosexual community in India, is Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" even if it is voluntary.
They are actively invloved in brothel-keeping, trafficking, pimping and soliciting which fall under ''The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act ".
So legal system is very apprehensive about giving them protection as this will lead to misuse.
There were many who plainly told me that Eunuchs do not need any protection and if there is any need , it should be the other way round.

So I understood that there are many faces to this problem and there could not be any remedy by just creating a law to protect them.
What needs to be done is effective tackling of the problem from multi-directions. A consolidated effort will be more effective.
There may defenitely be problems faced by the law enforcement authorities from this community. But what can we expect from a community that is shamed , disgraced and most of all shunned from the society for ages.
It is such a pity that they are not accepted by their own families.
They need to be treated as human-beings, be given equal oppurtunities and employment benefits and benefits that handicapped people are entitled to.

The Govt needs to set up schools in each State if not in each district where these people can be taught how to deal with their handicap.
They can be taught to earn a living legally and in a fulfilling manner.
The important aspect is to give them counselling in handling their sexuality.
They need to be taught to dress down, tone down their speech and desist from the common practices like 'clapping'.
They should work towards 'mainstreaming' themselves, and focus on expression of their hidden talents that can contribute to them being accepted as citizens in their own rights.
The NGOs can also conduct work-shops to educate them and bring about awareness in them.

The society in turn needs to be a little more tolerant and understand that its not their fault to be born with such a great handicap.
If the handicapped are facing physical problems these people are facing both physical and psychological problems.
The public cannot be ignorant or insensitive.
Even children need to be educated that there are people with differences and it should not come in the way of their right to be treated with respect.
They need our sympathy and support not ridicule and shame.

Times are changing and with growing education and awareness I am sure it is not a great feat to live in relative harmony and tolerance for different kinds of people with mutual respect and regard.
Afterall have'nt we achieved what had to be done for the physically challenged ?

Well, I for one am very hopeful about the future.

Tall dark handsome...Tamil...

2007-01-24T22:43:00.000+05:30

I am always teased by the telugus and other neighbouring state friends that we tamilians like dark and hunky heros in our movies.
(Telugus think that their 'Chiru' is one handsome smart guy).
They are shocked at Rajinikanth's, Vijaykanth's and all the other dark kanths' and non-kanths' success in Tamilnadu.
Typical kosten is 'epadee sree..u ppl like these guys...they are dark..flabby.....' etc.
This made me think...do we really like dark, a little plumpy guys with an interior part of Tamilnadu accent ?
When I went to North India recently..I kept weighing the looks of average Northie guys against our Tamils.
After thinking a lot I felt the Northie guys looked a tad bit girlie with no mush and a light complexion.
All these coupled with their skinny structure will make them look like lost souls in Tamilnadu.
Bring the image of Rajini and our very own Gaptan....hmm..I prefer that to the 'ayyo paavam' look of the typical northie guys.
Our heros look protective and give us a sense of belonging.
Their language makes us feel at home.
So maybe we can't generalise preferences as it is very regional.
Considering the Hindi movie heroes...I can give 85% marks only to Akshay Kumar and Jackie shroff.
Beats me why the ' Men's fair&lovely ' or whatever it is, is wasting their money on advts here in TN.
Move away Zyeds and Amirs.....we want Vishal and Vijay anyday.

what do I call this ?

2007-01-12T09:43:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we had our usual 9 yr old visitor 'J'.She is soooo fond our little dog that she gets all her clothes for the dog :)
J is such a sweet...well-mannered....cute little thing. Infact I think I have had more well meaning conversations with her than I had had with many of my peers...well..its mostly girlie talks and she wanted to know if what all she heard in school were true.
And I have also played the role of "Naatamai" for all her 'school bus' tiffs.
She was here the day before too and I remembered she telling me that there were lots of relatives at her place and she wanted to be here till late evening..
Our usually happy...bubbly...exhuberant J was very dull and looked like she had cried for a long time. I enquired about her relatives and wanted to know what the occasion was...for which she said " I have a brother and a sister " Believe it or not...these were her exact words.
I had a biiiiig question mark on my face...and J continued.. "yesterday after going from here I was taken to the hospital to see my brother and sister... " It was then that things dawned on me.
She has twin siblings. Then she continued..."but I was very unhappy..
I cried for hours . I never wanted siblings and my parents knew that "
I was speechless.
I could not believe that the child did not know all these months that she was going to be a sister. I asked.."but J ..you must have known all these days...did'nt you see your mom's tummy?"and she said "My mom is always big".
I dont know what to make of this...her parents are educated...her father dotes on her. What were they doing all these months not preparing her for a new arrival into their home and very much into their lives. How is this child going to bond with her siblings...and what about the little ones.. Will they know that they have a sister who does'nt want them..
I dont know what to call these ppl's behavior..inconsiderate....down right cruel.
I really hope that she will start loving the kids and everything will work out for the family!!

"samarthiyam aa iru "

2007-01-10T20:47:00.000+05:30

There is so much talk about street smartness these days...wonder if we are missing out on the meaning.

But I see a lot of ppl behaving very funnily.

Especillay where it comes to giving out information.

Agreed "information is power" ...but does that mean one shd not reveal where her dhupatta was bought.

Girls especially do not want to reveal where a particular dress or sandals or accessory was bought lest the other person becomes a "competitor " . This puts me off.

When there is so much stress on "team spirit" ,Can these petty people be good players?

A commom conversation among friends

"lovely dress paaa....where did u get it...?'

"hmm..haaan....from kalpastree......" everyone around knows its not from there.

Sometimes even I wonder..."ayyo...naan saamarthiyama irukanum.." and mentally prepare myself with mock conversations but as soon I see a bunch of friends, I let my hair down and say..."ayyao...samarthiyam goes to hell...naan enjoy pannidanum".

Dont know if this will help me in the long run..but for today I think I am happier than the "Samaarthiyam"s.

Naanum photo eduppen

2007-01-04T20:54:00.000+05:30

Hello Friends.....Seeing all the photographic blogs here...I wanted to post a picture that I took well...clicked.

All the experts explain how the pictures were taken...light...focus...angle...etc.

Here is mine.......I looked down.....saw if the picture was in the frame...and clicked... Voila!!! This is what I got...er..you got.

Now waiting for your expert comments.

Child labour

2006-12-20T15:38:00.000+05:30

I saw a post in Sreekrishna's blog about child labour.

This is one of the subjects that has been in my mind for a long time.The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (RPT 1986), aims to stop people from employing children below 14 as domestic helps and in the hospitality industry.

Do we really think that the law that prohibits employment for kids who areless than 14 yrs is really doing what has to be done?Enforcing the law may be a success...but is addressing the problemand finding the desired solution a sucess?

This is a social problem that is entwined with so many otherweeds in the society.

Now lets address this from the grass root level

1A. Let us face the truth....these kids are from the lowest strata of the society So where is the food and where are the necessities

1. When a chid enters the world whose responsibility is he/she I have seen umpteen cases where the father absconds as soon the mother becomes pregnant
2. Who has more responsibility...father or Mother Most of the time it is the abadoned mother who lugs the luggage.She is one over-worked exhausted personand educating her kids is the last thing in her mind.

3. What situation are the parents are in They are left with no choice but to let kids go and work if not for money, atleast for their food.

4. What is the Law going to do for the child after it stops the child labour Educate in private schools?

5. I have heard that teachers go from house to house in rural areas and take the kids to school...leading the horse to the water...can they make it drink?

6. Parents are punished....employers are punished....what happens to the child?

7. Which is better child labour or chilld prostitution? Child prostitution is a topic better left undiscussed as it is a classic, fool-proof recepie for giving a lot of us depression with a capital D.

8. What about labour that trains the kids in some skill...so that he/she becomes an entrepreneur later...have'nt innumerable tea-stall owners worked in tea-stalls before?

These are the questions that has to come to ones mind while thinking of child labour.

Lets take education. Are government schools doing justice? Why do the upper-crust employ private teachers to teach Maths and language after school hours? What happens at these expensive, exclusive eminent private schools during school hours...? If such is the case with these highly priced schools..what do we say for Government schools?

8A. What does the Government do for the kids after every erring adult is arrested? They are left with the parents to do what.

The teachers from the school in that area give a strict warning to the parents to send the kids to school. How long does that child go to school?9. The sucess of each child comes from the unit called the family. If not for our parents we would'nt be in a position to think about these unfortunate children. Let us remember that our mothers were always keeping a tab on our studies and activities when we were getting our basic education. Please my friends..visit the nearby slums and see if there are any responisble families?

Show me one man who is not an alcoholic.

Today's position is "your children and my children are playing with our children".

10. So which is the problem we are going to face now?

Now majoirty of these kids are not going to become engineers or easily employable literates. I am not pessimistic, just practical. So how are we going to employ them? Who is going to conduct campus-interviews for them ?( and in which campus)

Instead of alloting huge sums for jail upkeeping is'nt it very important that we alocate money to educate and employ the kids who are employed now . Set up institutions like the christian missionaries do and have a boarding set-up for these kids. Identify the talents in these kids and with the mininum of Govt expense give them vocational training with a skill-set that is immediately employable. I think food industry is one area which needs development and people to work there. Attach these schools to some industry and teach them work.

Let us come to children already in employment.... What should the Govt do? Make the employers prove before an independant efficient body attached to the judiciary that the employment is suited to the child, liked by the child, safe, the needs of the chilld is taken of and there is appropriate compensation that is saved for the child for future self-employment and most important of all there is going to be a permanent future in that particular line of work for the child. Most of all see if the kind of work can be handled by the kids and if there is any learning involved in it.

These may sound like injustice as compared to the affluent children but friends we should accept that in poor countries like ours economic disparity makes all the difference.

Where and to whom a child is born seals the fate of that child.
Last I have to say this about the law "well begun is half done" .

Thanks for showing interest in my thoughts and looking forward to your opinion.

Hey Friends

2006-12-13T06:54:00.000+05:30

his is my first posting...hope things are very interesting here as my friend Karthi told me...Hoping to share lots and lots of ideas with you all.