Starting Anew

Now a days, my evenings are very dull and lack luster.. Ambili has taken up a job and so our routine voice chat that used to consume my entire time has come to an abrupt end (probably that explains why I'm more verbal these days). As a rule I don't initiate a chat/call with my other friends.. I have a feeling that they will be busy with their life and I shouldn't unnecessarily intrude into their time. Cooking has also come to a standstill after my cousin moved out. It's too boring to cook and eat all alone.. I'm not that much of a TV enthusiast either.. But there are so many things that I like to do. I love to sketch, I like to do handicrafts, I like to read, I like to go out for walks, I love to talk to people, I like to shop, I like to keep my house clean, but the problem is I have lost the zeal to do things that I once loved to do.. It's ages since I have sharpened my pencils, my paints are all dried up, there are so many raw materials(for craft works) lying in my house unattended, I have a pile of books that I want to read, it's long since I have bought a dress for myself, it's years since I have gone for my morning walks(and it shows),my house is cluttered (coz of the numerous things that piled up over the years).. The list is endless.. Result - I have started to feel that "Life is boring" which is a little dangerous.

But,as they say, a problem recognized is a problem half solved. So I intend to do something regarding this. I've even taken a few first steps. I went for my morning walk today. It was a nice feeling and I hope to continue the same. I would even try to go to the badminton courts again.. I want to re-start my cooking so that I will eat properly and avoid the junk foods (hopefully that will improve my health as well). I plan to resume my sketching and craft works.. I have cut the papers already and the stitching kit has come out.. I intend to finish at least one book per week.. In my one room house, there is very less that I can do to reduce the clutter. But I still want to give it a try and have decided to keep all the "not-so-essentials" in the overhead rack. I now need to sort out which all needs to go there..This weekend I'm planning to go and shop for some dresses so that there is something new to look forward to.. I don't know how much I'm going to succeed in these endeavours. With my new work commitments which will start soon, I might even end up with absolutely no time for myself. But whatever it is I would like to give it a try..At least I should be convinced that I have done my best.. Wish Me Luck, Please..

Mangoes, Mangoes and Mangoes

Summer is here and the first thing that comes to my mind apart from the oppressive heat is the sumptuous, succulent MANGOES, aptly named The king of fruits. No other fruit is as delicious and magnificent as mango. There are, I assume, very few who wouldn’t love mangoes. I should say I'm an ardent fan of mangoes (although next only
to Jack fruit) and the sight of juicy, yellow-gold mangoes makes my mouth water. And
the heavenly aroma! No amount of words can describe that…

Mangoes in any form is tasty ,whether it is raw , ripe or in the form of pickles. The
raw ones are used in various curries. The use of tamarind will be replaced by the sour mangoes during this season.. The parippu curry with mango and jack fruit
seeds is one of my favourite. There are different dishes made out of ripe ones as well.. One such is mambazha pulissery which my roomies were very fond of.. My friends granny used to send me dried mango pulp from Andra. Amma used to make manga varattiyathu in a desperate effort to check those ripe mangoes from decaying. There are lots and lots of other dishes as well..

But nothing can beat the smell and flavour of a warm freshly picked mango. It always takes me to my childhood days (I think most of us will have fond memories related to it). There was a giant mango tree in the backyard of our old house which had the sweetest mangoes ever. The branches were so high up that no one could climb it, and we hired someone to harvest the mangoes. One of my favourite pass time was to watch the squirrels and birds that come in as visitors to savour the fruit. Early in the morning, the entire ground will be filled with fallen mangoes.. They were still unbruised and had escaped the birds. The skin was dark green and inside it was golden yellow and pulpy.. ( I was upset for days when I heard that the current occupants had cut down this mango tree. It was as if I had lost someone so close to me..)

My grand mom's place also had many mango trees and one of my earliest memories of my
vacations there, is sitting with my cousins in front of a huge pile to slurp those
juicy delights. First I didn't know how to eat them since it was very juicy and eating them was little tricky. Then one of my cousins showed me the technique and I soon mastered the art. The technique is to squeeze the mango from all sides till it is softened. Then make an incision at the top and suck the juice out before peeling and eating the rest. The experience is nothing short of pure bliss.. By the end of it, juices will be flowing all though our hands, chins, laps and dresses fully stained, and all that's left of those mangoes would be their well licked seeds.. A very messy way of eating, but I guess that's what is different about childhood..

My house also has 4-5 different varieties of mango trees but all of them started bearing fruits after I came to Bangalore. But whenever I go there amma make sure that I get enough and more from each variety to the extend that I skip meals n gulp only mangoes..I can easily eat 3-4 at a time.. ;)

These mangoes become a part of our lives, so much so that the usage of other fruits is next to nil in this season. But the sad part is they will rule the palate only for a few months and then vanish into oblivion.. After that we have to wait again until next summer for a taste of this blissful fruit. So relish when it's here..

Change - The only constant thing

Though we all have heard this phrase time and again, it's difficult for me to accept the situation. Yes I know change is permanent, I know change is constant,I know change is good, but I have realized that I hate change. I hate change to an extreme degree. I hate it when things I liked, felt comfortable with, change on me. Sometimes that change may even be for better, sometimes not, but I still hate the newness of it all. It's like having to move, it may be a great new beginning but I always miss the old one. And inevitably that change is going to force me to adjust and make changes of my own which I will also hate for the mere fact that they are changes..

Bottom line is I'm not that graceful in handling it and so I want everything around me exactly the same way it was.. But Of late there are so many changes happening around me.. From this month onwards, my company changed. I hadn't changed the company for obvious reasons and then one fine day company decided to change itself !!! And here I am with a new ID card ,a new mail ID ,a new profile ,a new work package... The only comfort is that the faces around me are still the same and may be, just may be, I might get to work with some older faces as well..

Last week, I went to my home town and somehow I didn't like the visit, may be coz I saw changes in few things that I was very much used to..Though I had left this place quite some years ago, I still find it very hard in overcoming those feelings of attachments/belongings and that's especially true for temples. I just don't like the temples in Bangalore and so whenever I want to visit one, I long to go back home. So it was really painful when I saw that the temple near to my house - Cherumukku Temple - which I always refer to as my own and is very close to my heart, is getting a new look. It's getting renovated and people are excited about it. But then it is no longer the small, old, serene place which I frequented daily..the old walls that echoed our bhajans are fully gone,a big padippura has come, there are so many other small small changes as well, so much so that I can't identify with it anymore. Same with Vadakkunnathan Temple which was also one of my favorite..It is one of the oldest temples in the state and now they are changing all the wood work.. Some deities are re-arranged.. I just hope they stop it there and don't make it tooo new with some marble floorings or so!! (like the ones in Bangalore)

But I know I have come so far from where I was years ago and that's good, a reminder that I can handle change even though I absolutely do not want to. When I was small I used to think if I get married how I can leave my home and all things that I hold dear and go to an absolutely new place and coz of that I didn't want to get married! But here I am in an absolutely new place just after I finished my studies and the funny thing is though there are many things that I don't like,now Bangalore is more home to me than Thrissur to the extend that when I go back I often refer to my b'lore home as "Home".Or probably it's just that I'm used to Bangalore now ;) But yes even I complain about how Bangalore has changed drastically and I don't like that either. Why can't it be the same old peaceful place with less traffic , less crowd ,and less pollution..

Anyway I know no solutions here, just writing it down.. But just wondering in this world full of inventions and innovations, why can't someone invent something that will reverse all changes or may be we will get a filter where we can choose to take only whatever changes that we want.. I'm waiting for that but until then I can only shout
"STOP! STOP CHANGING! I just got used to this!"

A sweet surprise

Today I was totally surprised to see this message in my flickr album

KeralaNewsHeadlines says:

Congrats!.
This photo has be selected to be featured as the Photo Of The Day at Kerala News Headlines

Thanks a lot :)

THE LAND OF MYSTIC SPLENDOUR

I was on a vacation and this time it was the small but beautiful Sikkim which is situated in the eastern Himalayas. It's a beautiful place not much spoilt by tourism. The higlights of the place are the snow capped mountains, the silent Hills, the lush valleys, fast flowing rivers, the green forests, the wild flowers, different varieties of orchids, the numerous water falls, endless streams singing some natural songs and not to forget the adventurous rafting in the Teesta.. I should say it's a rare and singular experience.

I'll write in detail about the trip later( no guarantee that it will happen ;))

In brief

Hits:
We were very much skeptical about the air Deccan Flight. Though we debated a lot, we had decided to take the risk as the cost of other air lines were almost double. But to our surprise and delight all the four flights were on time and we had an event free travel.

Flower show: Sikkim is famous for it's different varieties of orchids and there was a special flower show going on at that time. We had a real feast with the numerous kinds of orchids :)

Katau: This was not in our itinerary and was suggested by the Sumo driver. It was some 32 kms from Lachung and near the Tibet border. The place was fully covered in snow and not a soul around. We had big fun over here playing with the snow and throwing it at each other.

Rafting : This was one thing all of us were looking forward to and I have to admit it was great fun ;)

Food: The food was excellent and we all devoured like anything. Guess that explains why my weighing machine is showing 2 lines excess even though I'm checking the zero correction desperately ;)

Misses:
Weather was not with us on most of the days. Mostly it was cloudy and misty and some days it even rained heavily. We missed the Khanchendzonga view from Pelling(though one day weather gods were kind enough and we had a nice view from Gangtok

Rhododendrons and primulas: Yumtang Valley is famous for it's picturesque landscape lined with rhododendrons that bloom in different colours. But the flowering is at their best during the month of May and we were little too early :(

Nathula Pass: It is located on the Indo–China border connecting Sikkim with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Here Indian troops and the Red army stand face to face and is the closest an Indian Tourist can travel and may be pose a photo with the Red Army. But the days for tourist visit is restricted and the days permitted to visit Nathula are Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sundays. Unfortunately we were there on a Tuesday :(

Helicopter Ride: This is another great miss. We wanted to experience the same but the travel agent said the capacity is only 5 people and we were 7 of us :(

The travel agent was not very professional and so there were some hitches here and there.

PS: Many friends are asking for the snaps. As always there are umpteen no of them. I will upload at least some of them in flickr or the travel blog. Be patient ;)

An Update: Some snaps are available here . Will post some more soon.. I'm in the process of deleting old snaps from the album so that some more can be posted..

Titbits of News

Today was an eventful day for so many reasons. So just thought I'll mark it before sleeping..

• One of my works saw the print ink for the first time.

Yes it's a unique experience

• Did the first recording of my lifetime.

I was damn nervous and have given the poor editing guys enough work ;)

• Completed 7 years in the same company.

I can very well recollect how I felt on this day 7 years back.I should say the journey was quite long ..

To the first man in my life

Birthdays are a time for celebration. And what better way to celebrate my father’s birthday than by sharing my memories of him-the first man in my life. 

Whenever I see a heartwarming picture of a dad and his little girl, it takes me down the memory lane and brings tears to my eyes. It invokes thoughts of  the countless paths I have walked holding his hands and the countless times he has carried me on his shoulders, gently tucking me to sleep..

We have always shared a special bond, probably because of the huge age difference between us. He never refused me anything and consistently provided everything that I wanted. He is the one who boosted my self-confidence, taught me morals and induced values in me.. I don't know if I can find the right words to describe what he means to me.

My earliest memories of him are of a tall lean figure, always clad in a white full sleeved shirt and a sandalwood thilak on his forehead, who always looked terribly distinguished to my young eyes. Unill I turned 4 , I stayed in my mom's village since she was working there, while he worked in the town which was about 30 kms away. He would visit us during weekends, and the only thing I remember from those years is that he brought lots of goodies to eat and took me for walks to the nearby paddy fields. 

Shortly after, Amma also got a transfer to a school in the town, and that's when I started getting to know him better. His routine involved waking up early(4 am), taking a cold water bath, and then settling into his favorite easy chair in the front verandah with the newspaper.

He was always a cool and friendly person who generally never lost his patience. However, I vividly remember one incident when I received a good spanking.. When I was small, I had a strong fear of darkness. This restricted my free movement after sunset, especially since reaching the light switch was challenging for the four year old me.  Then one day, I had a brainwave and decided to turn on all the lights before it got dark, and promptly went ahead with my project diligently climbing on chairs, windows, and whatever I could to reach the switch.

Upon seeing all the lights on (even though it was still noon), he promptly switched them off. But me being the persistent kind repeated the exercise. This ON-and-OFF routine went on for a while until he eventually switched off the Mains. The next time when I attempted to switch on the lights, nothing happened. I did my investigation and discovered that the big green magic switch is pointing UP instead of down as usual. I climbed the window (It was way too high for a chair) and switched it ON. At this point, he lost his patience and disciplined me until the sticks broke into small pieces and my legs were all swollen. That was the first and last time he ever resorted to physical punishment!

When I was in the 4th grade, Amma got transferred to another district and would only came home on Sundays. For the next three years, it was just the two of us at home. Every day, he would cook rice( as that was the only dish he knew how to make) and pack my lunch box with rice and curds well before I even woke up coz he didn't want to see me struggle..

Every day, he would pick me up from school, just to buy something for me to eat on the way coz he knew I'd be hungry.. He used to get me chocolates without Amma's knowledge (she used to scold coz I made them my main meal and conveniently skipped proper meals). And guess what? He does it even now. He is yet to realize that I have grown up!!

He is the one who taught me to ride a bicycle,  showing me how to stay balanced, look ahead, and find the right speed. He employed the traditional method of holding onto the seat and running behind the bicycle. Although he would be too worn out at the end,  he never expressed it. Finally, when I could ride on my own, I felt so brave and happy...I am forever grateful for that life lesson, especially since it wasn't common for a girl to learn cycling in those days..

I know there were many times when I made  my own decisions, and even though he may have preferred a different path for me (like taking engineering instead of medicine), he never asked me to change it.  I know I have hurt him whenever there were arguments in the family, mostly regarding my marriage which I don't want. However, he has never hurt me back.. I wish I could make him all happy... He really doesn't know how much I desire to.

Now, he is getting older. He is slowly losing his memory,  and doctors say he has a weak pacemaker. Despite that, he is generally healthy. I realise it's now my turn to take care of him, but I'm staying away from home, and I'm not able to do as much as I want to do.. He welcomes visitors and enjoys talking to people , even though he often forgets what he asked. There have been times when I lost my patience, repeating the same things over and over. How I wish I had inherited his patience.. He loves to travel and wants to go out and walk through the familiar streets he frequented before. However, we make him stay at home coz he had blackout on a few occasions, and we are not sure whether he can manage alone..

I know he doesn't know what a blog is and will never read this. So I can safely say what I always wanted to tell, but never did.. I love you very much and will always remain your little girl, no matter how much I grow up.. I want to thank you for what you are because that helped me become what I am. I am really sorry for all the unfulfilled dreams that you have about me..

Accha, I'm Wishing you many, many, many more healthy and happy years of life..

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Eve's Day !!!

Yet another International women's day dawns.. I can see celebrations everywhere.. We are getting so many wishes from everywhere.. We got red roses from the company.. Some malls are giving out special gifts to all women shoppers.. Some company even held a Women's Day exclusive referral scheme to empower women... And the media is checking whether the woman has arrived (were was she before??)

But we are doubtful.. Always woman is revered in text n word,but in deed, she is second class.. Discriminatory treatment towards girl chid still persistents in most places.. Also we can hear never ending stories about domestic violence, eve teasing, sexual harassment,... So for us it's a struggle within - whether to feel proud of being a girl or resent to the fate of belonging to the weaker sex.. Instead of all these noises for just one day, can we hope to get some respect be it in office, home, school, college or any other place? We are not giving the men any fight but only pleading the right to live a life of dignity.. Is that too much to ask for?

PS : This is an impulsive post which is a result of some unpleasant experience that a friend had to face in office from her superior. That was really shocking to all of us. Otherwise I don't have anything against my male counterparts. In fact I have so many nice friends from this community. But a single drop of poison is enough to spoil the entire glass of milk :( Whatever it is, I realise we have a long way to go.. Even today !!

Some meaty issues

Being a vegetarian some questions that I constantly encounter are
"Being a mallu how come you are a vegetarian?"
"How do you manage to survive in different places since you travel a lot"

For the first question the only answer is that it's a matter of choice. Second question probably deserves a little more explanation. The longest I have stayed away from home was in Munich, Germany. I somehow managed breakfast and dinner without much trouble(read as survived on cornflakes/fruits/bread/chocolates/nuts or even cooked if I got some good company). However, for lunch, my only option was company canteen. Every time when it was time for lunch, I used to have a funny feeling, similar to the anxiety you feel during exam days - "what's in store? " or "what's my fate today". Anyway I used to gather all my courage n march to the canteen, enter and stare at the menu:

It would read something like this:

Brathuhn
Eintopf
Eisbein
Karpfen
Kartoffelsalat
Knödel
Matjestopf
Maultaschen
Reibekuchen
Schinken
Schnitzel
Schweinebraten


Spaetzle
Wurst Salad
Brotknodel
RoteKohl
Schnitzel Holstein
Jagerschnitzel
Sauerbraten
Schweinsmedallions mit Sommermajoran
Schweinhaxen
Bratwurst

And the feeling that I would get was, "WOW looks really good. Nice rhyming words!!" How am I supposed to select from this?? The only way out used to be to go by "looks". (If some of you are wondering why couldn't I ask the people serving there, the problem was they spoke only German and my German was too pathetic. Many a times I had attempted, but it confused both the parties. Sometimes, some counterparts would be kind enough to tell me what it contained or what I should avoid. But mostly I had to manage myself). 

Anyway, coming back to choosing 'food' - I couldn't pick any spicy/complicated looking stuff. So, a safe option used to be Potatoes, potatoes n more potatoes (in all forms - fried , deep fried, boiled , steamed , raw , mashed, salted ). Otherwise, a little bit of vegetables which had a natural look (mostly just boiled) or a piece of bread. And then the most delicious part - the desserts. The dessert collection was really impressive and me being a sweet lover used to indulge royally. But even that wasn't really safe as some of them contained alcohol! Luckily I always managed to take the sweet ones ;) (This also explains why I blow up, unlike others who shrink after an abroad trip)

But while travelling around, finding a suitable place to eat out used to be a problem.. Within Germany I could manage somehow since I could ask for "Pommes frites" , "Gemüse Burger" or "vegetarisch Pizza". But in non-German speaking areas, it used to be a "probleme". So, in some places we carried our own food. But again, that was not a pleasant option. I remember how we carried lots of bun n fruits to Sicily(Italy) for all the meals and by the fourth day we were feeling sick even at the sight of it. We were longing to get back to Rome to eat something spicy

But yeh not everything has gone smoothly.. I have had my share of bloopers as well. Once I was picking up chocolates for home. And there I saw these nice looking red and black chocolate bars and in went some 10-20 of them. Actually that was expensive as well but I thought it will be some exotic ones(It was). Once I reached back home I tried one and eek it was bitter n had some funny filling too!!! (Can u guess what it was??). All of them promptly found their way to the waste basket :(

Another incident happened in Paris. Since it's a famous tourist spot, we were so confident that we would be able to find McDonalds or at least some English speaking people. So didn't take any precautions(read as didn't carry any food). Alas we couldn't find either. We were at Notre Dame and too hungry. A survey of the place revealed that almost all shops sold something called a Crepe(A famous French dish. can be considered as a variety of Indian Dosa) in different flavors, but they all contained egg. Somehow that trip was too tiring and JK was not keen on exploring for an alternative. His argument was that since I eat cakes n ice creams that contain egg, I could have this as well.

Next one was in the UK. When I landed there I felt really odd. Suddenly I could understand the language and even read the sign boards around me!!! Yeh everything was in English and I knew that language!!!! May be with that confidence, I went and ordered a veg burger combo in McDonalds. They promptly handed over the bag too. As usual I finished off the French fries and started to attack the burgers. One bite, and hey, something was fishy (or meaty).. I took a closer look. The stuffing inside was a white single piece thingy, deep fried, like a hard dried log. Anyway since I was too hungry I didn't bother to question them(and I'm not sure whether it would have made any impacts too) and so removed the filling and ate the bun.(Reason : Fish is considered vegetarian in many places)

And yet another similar incident happened in Leh. During our trip, we were so used to eating momos and so when we stopped at a daba, P went and ordered a plate of momos. He didn't specify what kind, since by default, they used to give us the veg ones. One bite and Pint realised it was pork. Luckily due to my eating style, I hadn't reached the filling..

May be I'll conclude my post with a cooking blooper. This happened some years ago. 4 of us were staying together, out of which me and another girl were vegetarians. We never used to cook non-veg, and rarely if we cooked egg, it was always the other two who managed it. Then, my other veggie friend got a long term onsite assignment and she decided to convert to non-veg. As a first step, she decided to make egg. Unfortunately, that day the other two non-veg friends had gone out and we both clueless females were trying to make an Omelet. Both of us had only seen the cooked form but had no clue how to make it. We knew what all goes in it, but the big question was whether to deep fry, shallow fry or make it like a dosa!!!! Finally we decided to make it shallow fry (Our theory was it looks oily so there should be a little more oil than dosa kinds). And you can imagine how it would have turned out to be !!! When our other roomies returned they were shocked to see our experiment results. They just couldn't imagine how we managed to spoil a simple omelet like this !!!