Washing machine or lassi maker?

Washing machine as a gadget has become indispensable in many households.My son tells me that nobody nowadays washes clothes the non technology way!If they dont use a washing machine then they give it to the dhobi!But then washing machine is always used for washing clothes, right?
Wrong. It is well documented that across the Punjab rural expanse, washing machines churn loads of lassi to quench the thirst of the millions!Yes, shops and big rural households have found an innovative use for washing machines;to help churn their ubiquitous health drink!When I shared this news with my mother, who has had her share of visiting Punjab in her hey days, she was duly perplexed. How will they wash it clean of all the cream and butter is her worry.I am sure our friends from Punjab would have found an effective way to handle this intractible problem.
Again Godrej is a well known brand in the hair dye market. We know what hair dye is used for. Yes, to dye one's hair, to hide the grey streaks!
Wrong again, godrej hair dye is used to give a sheen to the buffaloes when they are taken to the shandy for sale.They fetch a much better price!I am sure our clever farmer would have recovered the cost of a godrej hair dye many times over!
All of it goes to show that innovation is not only in product designing, positioning and in service delivery. Our farmers and rural janta have shown there is innovation happening everyday in their midst on using a product;and it is totally different from
the usage for which it is designed.
I do recall immediately how when a pc booth was installed in a rural place, it recovered its cost of operation by taking photographs and not by doing any computing!
Profit for the business came from horoscope casting!
Innovation and creativity abounds in a multi cultural society like ours. Give the rural folk a product at competitive prices and they will create an entirely new market for you!

Be lazy to be productive

Have always admired lazy people. How can they be lazy when there is so much to be done?I used to ask myself.For me, action and activity were important ingredients of life. So i have this sneaking admiration for people who are able to laze around for hours and days at a stretch.
I have also believed that lazy people are usually the ones who come out with breakthrough ideas. Let me explain. Normal people go ahead and do a job which requires to be done. That's it ; period. But lazy people would not do something requiring to be done; like our friend in the book "three men in a boat", they like to look at work, and look at people who are working. All the time they are thinking how not to do it and if necessary how to do it with the least effort and energy from their side. So many a time they spend 10 times the normal time required to complete a job,thinking how it is not necessary to do it in the first place.All this thought process does bring out some idea which will be out of the box and which will give a simplistic way of doing it in future.So the extra time they spend in not doing it is actually a productive input for future efficiencies in that work process.
This theory of mine is based on personal experience and hence distilled wisdom!
I read an article recently wherein the secretary department of biotechnology while addressing research scholars in life sciences had this advice.Be lazy to be productive. I sat up and read the entire piece and re read the same once more.He says that productive minds are lazy minds. It means in today's knowledge world, productivity is in the mind and a cluttered and busy and stressed out mind does not spew forth ideas.Knowledge workers should ideally be not clocking in x+10 hours of work a day(x normal working hours).They then become blue collar workers and that is not what they started out to be in the first place.
Yes, I can visualise yoga being a in thing in today's corporate world. Regular breathing exercises,physical exercises in the form of asanas and periods of extended "not doing anything" are what the doctor ordered for calm mind which will enable fertile ideas to germinate.
Knowledge era and work timings to match that.I like it.

Runa Lai's magic

Runa Laila gave a performance in the city yesterday.Was a great fan of her voice and a liveliness that used to ooze out.She was a craze in the 70's among all college goers.
I am not sure that she has given very many live performances in the city in the last decade or two. So when i saw her programme as part of Hindu Friday Review music festival, i was sure i wanted to be there. There was last minute disappointment as all tickets were sold out and i was quite inconsolable. The subject came up during the sidelines of an official meeting and the next thing i knew was i was invited to attend the show and would i be free?
So literally dragged kumar out from his office and we went for the show. It was good fun and lots of entertainment. She has some voice.And she sings it with such ease and carefree abandon. It is as though the tunes are dancing and playing around her.She sang some serious ghazals as she was told that chennai crowd is a serious crowd. But what i saw was there were good number of bengalis and north indians and they preferred the zippy numbers that she has sung in movies of years back.
She and her musical troupe were gelling well and not only that, enjoyed every bit of what they were doing and also doing it together.There will be a small smile curling up one person's lips and before long it will pass by sign and body language to all the others.
"mera babu chain chabeela main tho nachoongi... was the song just before interval. And dama dam masth kalandar was the last song and all of us reluctantly left the hall.
First time i am attending a concert where the audience participation is full and forthright. Clapping happned throughout the concert and continuous dialogue at the end of each song too.Remembered years back when usha uthup hit the stage and she used to dance and sway and exhort the audience to sing and dance with her, I used to be aghast. Concert for me was classical concert where the singer/performer did a very professional and serious job and at best we could send a few slips for our 'man pasand' songs. He may or may not take note of these requests.
Photographers had a tough time getting a good shot as she was all over the stage and at one point came down and mingled with the audience.
It was fun and good times. I would like to attend her concert once again when she is able to come to the city.

white banners

This book made a tremendous impression on me. You have guessed right, I read it during my college days.Since then, I have re read it many times over, fully and in parts. We were four friends and we have discussed it any number of times as THE book which depicts life fully.
The message which left a lasting impression on me was this: when milk is split, it the strong one who gets up and cleans the mess; the weak stick up to their rights.
Have called upon this truism several times and have felt the better for it.
This theme runs throughout the book; it is the strong who dont count when they help others in what ever way is necessary at that time.They do so instinctively and carry on after that without any ego trip.It is the weak who are weak even after receiving necessary help. They develop a convoluted logic which makes them good to receive. They feel it is their right to receive. Or else how it the other person's turn to reach out to him.
As the title goes whenever there is an issue, spread the white banner aloft; with full heart, with the pleasure of having peace and goodness all around.

What would you prefer: a bad driver or a grumpy one

I have lots reverse luck with drivers.Seen quite a few,come and go.
Let me narrate my tale of woe.There was this one driver, it was very long ago I have forgotten his name. He was perennially fond of his native place. At the drop of a hat he used to buzz off;it was some place off Madurai i remember.But he was quite friendly and quite a chatterbox in fact. But then he did not turn up for weeks on end, so we had to look out for a replacement.
Then we had one chap,I think his name was Manohar.He was a good driver, punctual and very courteous to kids and elders and everybody inbetween.I thought i have hit on the right solution in our hunt for the perfect driver. It was too good to last of course. He had an offer to drive a company executive and the package he was offered was too good to refuse!
We had another who did not last long. Perhaps it was due to his extreme passion to use the beach road and no other. I do remember with great amusement once as i was coming back from Ambattur to thiruvanmiyur, the driver wanted to use the beach road!He wanted to head straight east , hit the beach and turn right on to beach road.Very unusual disease to strike a driver...
We had another driver who was actually working part time.He would willingly come anytime of day or night that you send for him. But his weekends used to be precious for him. Nothing will make him leave his home post on sundays!He was extremely fond of all pot holes and bumps on the road. He thought he was in some kind of a race with them.But he enjoyed driving,only for us at the backseat the enjoyment was in equal and opposite direction!
I can remember another driver who had a perennially grumpy face. I recall one of my friends being surprised that i put up with his countenance day in and day out!He oozes castor oil is another remark from another friend.My elderly aunt who was visiting me was surprised to see such an old driver. she believed drivers usually are young and sprighly. He did not inspire much confidence in her though.
I do remember another driver we had, he had all good qualities of being a very good driver;he was punctual, kept his word to come on weekends;knew all the lanes and bylanes and parking lots of Chennai. But then he was partially deaf and would squint dangerously at the windscreen to view the traffic in front at night!
I thought i had seen them and classified all of them;till i had this particular driver. He arrived in a raincoat on a wet day and nonchalantly sat in the driver seat with the dripping raincoat. My car and upholstery are never the same again.
Yes, drivers are necessary for survival, next only to roti kapda aur makan and gaadi.But God is yet to perfect this particular species. I think they are still evolving...

Food process outsourcing

Outsourcing is the mantra in business circles. Surprising thing about this trend is that no management/business guru has predicted this wave.It has just happened....Ho jaata hai.
Outsourcing trend started with medical transcription; graduated to technical books composing.This trend was steady for a long time.
The second wave started with call centres; suddenly our sulekhas and sambamoorthys' became susan and simon. They also learnt new accents;anything to do a makeover to a western backoffice.
The trend is now transforming itself into newer and newer applications. Legal outsourcing is talked about very excitedly in select circles. Outsourcing of interpretation of medical diagnostics has also taken off in a big way.
Outsourcing of personalised tuition started making waves sometime back. Our maths and science teachers were suddenly very much in demand. ie those of them who still have time.I believe most of them are pretty much tied up with coaching classes for entrance tests and board exams.
When I heard about food process outsourcing I was intrigued. What could that be?Powders and pastes of Indian spices has been in the shelves of supermarkets all over the world for quite a while now.Ready to eat foods from ITC and MTR have also made deep foray into the 'foods' market abroad.Then what is this food process outsourcing. It appears that the crucial missing link is the 'indian curry'.The Indian curry paste has acquired a brand name all over the world. It is still seen as a mysterious ingredient which magically transforms an ordinary dish into an extraordinary delicacy.
There are companies which have sprung up which manage to get these curries prepared in great quantities in India with expert chefs; they are then exported to various countries(no not through electronic media!).So what does an Indian family do in say Singapore if they want to savour Indian food without taking all the trouble?They buy this curry paste off the shelf ;have vegetables cooked and add this curry and your indian dish is ready; brings a faint aroma of homefood.
MTRs have packed the entire dish and you need to just microwave it. It is convenient no doubt.ITC has also packaged the entire side dish for chappatis.The garlic/ginger paste fellows have packaged only part of the curry; there is a gap which needs to be filled in and that has proved a hassle.Between these two postions,a good business proposition has been spotted by some enterprising people on this side of the globe.
You might wonder what is the outsourcing here,when the curry paste is prepared here and physically transported.The curry paste is just the medium through which the native knowledge is embedded and transported.
I foresee a very good market for food process outsourcing.The quality of the curry has to be really good; not only that they have to get their logistics and supply chain management in place.after that Indian curry will truly become global.
I predict that it will get so popular, that like the digital divide, the world will be divided into two; ones who has tasted the indian curry and swear by it and those who have'nt.

The great saree debate

Home has become a 'pattimandram' of sorts. Interesting discussions on whether to discard 9 yards saree in favour of a six yards one is on. Actually we have a guest at home ; my aunt who dropped by some days back.She has done the 'brave' act of switching over to wear a six yards saree from a nine yards outfit at the ripe age of 80+. While it has left most of the world unperturbed, the same cannot be said of her sister who lives with us.She is terribly exercised about the whole issue.Everyday I hear them in animated conversation on this topic.As is usual with every argument, both the parties stick to their side.
Now for more insights.
Aunt 2)I had to switch over as i fell sick and could not muster the energy to tie this never ending outfit.
Aunt 1)But you must be feeling very awkward after wearing it in that style for 70 odd years?
Aunt 2)No, 6 yards saree is quite convenient. I recommend that you also switch over.
Aunt 1)I do agree that wearing a nine yards saree is cumbersome, but what about all the 9 yards sarees i have. They will go waste.
Aunt 2)It can be easily solved. I cut away the extra length and gave it to my grandchildren to stich nice skirts with it.
Aunt 1) Did not catch what her sister said and continued to maintain that she does not believe in wasting stuff,so will carry on with the tried and trusted.
Aunt 2)falls silent

Same conversation picks up after a gap of a couple of hours.This time the trigger was a latest movie song sequenceon the tv where the heroine is wearing a 'seemingly' nineyards saree in the most grotesque fashion.

Some time later my parents drop by and that becomes an occasion to raise the 'great saree debate'.
It is good fun and soothing to be with 80+ old ladies!

Heroes and superstars

Shivaji and mgr
kamal hasan and rajnikant
vikram and vijay

Any self respecting person in Tamil Nadu would know what the above pairs of names stand for. Only it was a surprise to me to see vikram and vijay occupying the slot. I have seen anniyan and am quite a convert to vikram's acting and screen presence.He stays in besant nagar where mom stays,She keeps giving bits of news about how he is the same man next door that he was before stardom;that he still stays in a rented apartment; that he is a darling of the local autorickshawallahs and he also helps them a lot.All of which did not diminish his image.
Now we have this comparison;which means vikram has to do take extra effort everytime because that is what the public expect of him. And all the vijay has to be is do the same formula role movie after movie, because he has become a superstar.
And then i got the definition of superstar in tamil filmdom. You dont change your profile;you stick to the tried formula of a do gooder; have a few tricks up your sleeve which the audience expects and give it to them. Never ever try anything different.
Obviously vikram has done the sin of doing different kinds of roles; he was venerated when he was the angry young man taking on the BIG BADDIES in Saamy and another movie(forget the name)But in anniyan he is taking on the common man;so he has left the movie goer confused.
So to thrive in the business, he has to don newer and more challenging roles each time, like his predecessors, shivaji and kamal hasan. Was struck by the comparison and seemingly apt one at that.
Yes, i agree not everyone can do the same thing movie after movie ;unless of course you are the chosen one!

Morning walk in subra avenue

Rediscovered the pleasures of subra colony last few days during my early morning walk. There is greenery all around which we miss out when we dont take leisurely walks.All the houses without exception have flowering plants which are usually meant for the Gods. Pavalamalli for one. It is as though by a hidden decree that all houses have this plant in a corner in the front yard.Now is the season for flowering and you get the heady smell of the flower all along the way. There is a huge bungalow near the colony which is usually deserted. But there is a naga linga tree there and the smell is so strong and distinct, the nose perceives it first and the head automatically turns to look for the unusual tree.The houses also have the nandiya vattai plant, sembaruthi(shoe flower)
and sangu pushpam creeper(blue bels)on the hedges.
You can hear ms subbulakshmi's suprabatham everyday and also sound of bells ringing in the puja room.There is a small vinayaka temple in the edge of the colony and you get vibhuti smell quite distinctly and also get to read the next pooja particulars on the small blackboard;sankata hara chaturthi on 19th saturday i read today.
There are actually wells in the houses and i saw a small pomeranian dog being bathed from well water and towelled affectionately by the child in the house.Must be a very orthodox puppy to want to bathe strictly from well water!
Saw a small girl waiting for the school bus/van. Had a sandwich perched on her hand and she was showing no signs of biting into it. Her father was standing with her and cajoling her to take just one more bite. Mommy was nearby stuffing last minute, homework notebooks, craft notebooks into her bag. Made quite a endearing sight.
Other end of the colony is lined with row houses on poromboke land granted to the washermen. Their backyards which used to be lined with washed clothes strung from one corner to another,have vanished and grotesque matchbox houses are in its place. They have gone in for a slight shift in core competency jobs;from washing to ironing.There are a number of mobile iron vans on the road. I see that the inhabitants have moved up the social scale; the women wear housecoats; they brush their teeth at 8 am;and cajole the kid to take its breakfast before starting off for school.While there could be alternate opinion about the first two observations, pampering the kids to eat is typically an occupation of the affluent sections of society!
There are these colony dogs. Normally i am not too fond of dogs, but these four of five of them have been around for a while.I see them curled up and sleeping near a gate or under a car in the mornings. Obviously they had kept up their night vigil. (When a technician from telephone department walked into our compound, these four five fellows kept up a steady bark and he was actually scared; scared of these 'paavam' characters!I found myself telling them that they are harmless. Just then i realised how i used to hear the same words when i go to some friend's house where they have a dog.It did not please me one bit to hear them say that!)
There are these boys cleaning the cars. I noticed that they take 15 minutes to clean a car and they get paid 300 rupees a month. Not a bad deal. I heard one of them telling the watchman that he is studying in 9th standard. If he can manage 4 cars and spend one hour in the morning, he collects a tidy sum!
I also found that I do have company in some of my neighbours doing their walk inside the colony.Only that we dont know each other well enough to stop and chat;a half smile is all that is transacted!
Lots of avenue trees have come up and I agree with my daughter that the colony can be renamed as subra avenue!

"A bond that heals"

"An entrance fee of Rs 10, a piece of cloth, some eggss and of course a broken bone are all that is required from a patient" says Hindu sunday supplement about Puthur bone setting clinic. In some cases the hospital provides the cloth(but the broken bone HAS to be provided by the patient!)
I have heard about the puthur treatment for mending broken bones. Remember the case of my driver going there to get his bones set in his toes. Had to make a couple of visits and we paid for the journey and some nominal amount for the treatment. But did not think much of it at that time. But when I read this article, it really made me sit up and notice. I also felt very humbled; how much I do not know about the service rendered by so many nameless people in our country;about the herbs giving relief and succour to thousands of our people who would have found it difficult to survive otherwise.
Now move over to Puthur on the chennai tirupati road, 35 km from tirupati.
There are no xray or scanning machines. fracture is assessed by expert hands only.
The hospital is not a super speciality hospital. It is a medium sized room with four beds. Period.
Green herbal paste is applied on the broken part; and a cloth dipped in herbal juice is tied around it. A bamboo stick is placed around the spot and tied with a cloth. Treatment over at the hospital and you are asked to come again for a review.Treatment next time will be applying eggwhite mixed with the herbal juice.Most of the bones set in 45 days time.
Sounds too simplistic; and by the way what is the magical herbal juice consist of.That is the secret;passed on from two generations.
As is usually the case, the original inventor of the "puttur kattu" chanced upon it by accident. Looking at it in another way, it was no accident, but keen observation. Mr Raju had gone to the forest nearby and found a rabbit whose back was broken. He lifted it up and comforted it by placing it in a bed of leaves which he picked up.after a few days he found the rabbit slowly limping back to normal. This was in the year 1881!He did not ignore this observation. He thought the leaves must have medicinal properties. He crushed the leaves and applied the juice on the broken part. the rabbit was cured in a few days.He then tried it on farm animals and later on humans.
Thus the tradition has been passed on strictly within the family to the next generations.
There are no patents or branches or franchisees.
This is where Indians differ from entrepreneurs from other countries. When we discover a new idea/invention, we keep it strictly within the family and dont think of expanding.
Perhaps we may have a next generation of puthur Rajus who have franchise outlets throughout the globe and herbal juice is a patented product!

Creepy crawlies our housemates

Anyone passionate about insects should make a beeline to Tambaram college campus. The place is a veritable storehouse of insects of all hues ,shapes and sizes.Cannot identify them by scientific names;but can stick to general terms.We had glow worm,scorpions, caterpillars, giant ants, toads,lizards, bugs and beetles of numerous varieties.We used to identify scorpions as ones which will sting if it bites you and the harmless varieties. Never used to hassle us any bit.But these huge ants used to make a terrible nuisance of themselves. We used to be barefooted of course and generally loafing around in the garden most of the time. There were these giant ants black in colour, which used to attack our feet and it used to really sting and immediately that place will get swollen up.I used to chase that ant and squash it right there. But then they were not by any stretch endangered species and when i squash one there were millions of others lurking nearby, waiting for their chance!
And caterpillars. My god they were really creepy crawlies. And at the onset of the first showers of the season, used to micraculously erupt from the earth. I am talking about the tiny dark red caterpillars.They used to bunch together in millions and slowly move around like a red rolling rock.There were any number of the common black caterpillars all over the place, we used to ignore them.
And toads. My god they used to be millions of them in all nooks and corners and near the windows.You open a window without thinking and next minute you will hear a sound 'plop'.yes Mr Toad has made a safe landing on the ground. But only after spewing forth a fountain of his own homegrown liquid into the environment.
But then these bugs and beetes of unknown origin used to make a beeline to me while i am fast asleep. They used to leave their tell tale marks on my pretty face!Many a morning i have seen my face in the mirror and looked again as i could not fully comprehend what i saw.It used to be my lips which used to be swollen on one side; or my eyelids which which will be hanging heavily on one side ;and something my face would closely resemble moons surface.Used to be ragged quite a bit, why i am always the chosen one!!
I distinctly recall that no one at home(that includes me) who made a fuss about this;life used to carry on as before the insect bite!

Mommie wielded the bat! and how!!

Mommie was not a 'darkpok' by any stretch of imagination. In an earlier post i had mentioned that we lived in a "forest"(shrubbery actually!).There would have been enough occasions to get frightened by strange noises and sounds. But not mommy!She will be right there in front if we so much as whisper about strange noises.
This occasion was right in the middle of one hot summer afternoon. There I was in our study chatting with a friend who had dropped by.Suddenly spotted a snake curled up on the backrest of a chair in the room.(It was a solid wooden chair , that appa used as his study post;used to called it bug proof chair;he used to be quite proud of it;it is still there in their place, occupying pride of place ;none the worse for wear and tear of 50 odd years) No clue how it was there and we did not notice all that while. Zoom i bolted out of the door with my friend in toe into the garden and stood on top of the high stone slab which used to double up as a board for washing clothes.Scared out of my wits I was.This stone was also at a vantage point to oversee operations in the room!Yes, there was curiosity too!Enters mommy into the room and closes all doors and windows and armed with a cricket bat has a go at the snake!She is on dot but then one snake becomes two!!Other details are hazy, but mommy killed two snakes with one cricket bat!And with no other reinforcements from any of us!
There have been any number of occasions when appa and amma both would have a go at 'peruchalis' which used to sneak in. But then this was 'high drama'.
Heard of brave women of Tamil Nadu from historic novels that they used to attack tigers with a 'muram'(winnow).But then mommy in true Tamil style faced two snakes with a cricket bat and won that round.
What i recall about that episode was, mommy did not stay back to look at the effect her valour had on us. She just got back to her numerous chores in the kitchen without batting an eyelid. That is mommy in her hey days!

Ra ra song

Chandramukhi is a film starring Rajnikant which has made it big in recent times. Was released in July this year. Has had its success in Kannada and Malayalam before the story was picked up by Rajnikant. Simultaneously was released in Telugu also.
Malayalam version Manichitratazhu was a classic and anybody who has a claim to malayalee antecedents would rave about the movie. So much so i bought a dvd of the movie and saw it much to kumar's surprise.
All songs in the movie are big hits and are regularly played in Radio mirchi, Rainbow fm ,all countdowns in the TV channels and also phone in programmes. One song Ra ra.. is a particular hot favourite as it is the climax of the movie.
A newcomer to tamil cinema playback singing has sung this song. Nothing new in that as tamil cinema of late picks up singers across a wide spectrum.Gone are the days of monopoly of p susheela and tm soundararajan. But she is Binni krishnakumar.An unusual name and we thought we have an unusual name in binni ratnakumar in our family!

Scholarships for girls

Girl children are having it good these days.Recently Central board of secondary education has come out with an announcement to make education free for girl children from 6th to 12th standard.But the catch is, not every girl child is eligible for this scholarship. A girl child who is the only child of her parents is eligible for this freeship.
Laudable; But immediately principals of cbse schools have come out with vehement opposition to this scheme.They want various clauses, ifs and buts in the scheme.They have even given a veiled threat that they may have necessarily to convert their schools into state board or matriculation pattern as otherwise it will be a financially non viable proposition to run these schools.
But what was missing was brought out by a reader. He says while it is a good move to foster the need for girls to be educated,what is more urgent is the plight of girl children in larger families. It is such families which are not able to afford to educate all children and invariably girl children get a short shift.
While the recent pronouncement addresses the issue of girl children at the fundamental level and foresses a future scenario, the latter addresses the current need of such families and their girl children.
India is such a vast country with many social structures and belief systems, we will get enough sample for any theory of hypothesis!
There is an alarming adverse sex ratio that shows no sign of abating;It is established without a trace of doubt that educated mothers facilitate sure fire social and economic changes which are desirable.Any attempt to educate girls upto high school, be it from small or large families, is most welcome.

Down memory lane ....Tambaram

Tambaram east , a sleepy suburb with minimal infrastructure was what one remembers of 25 odd years of very formative years spent there.We were not strictly living in tambaram, but inside a 'forest'. Yes, that is how other residents of tambaram used to call us.Did not mind it one bit, as one was very comfortable in the 400 acres of shurrbery that surrounded our home. We used to have our cousins from city come over on weekends just to be able to play cricket!they used to come with the entire kit;a luxurt in those days. But then there was more exercise and excitement, tracing the ball from the shrubs than in actual cricket!My brother was an avid cricketer.When not having the company of his cousin on the odd weekend, he used to have wall practice!there was plenty of wall and plenty of place to throw it and pick it up and most important no glass panes to guard against,of your house or the neighbours!the outerwall used to be well decorated with rust coloured ball marks all over.Very ethnic, only we did not think so at that time!
Seven stones used to be the favourite pasttime when we used to have numerous cousins come over.Enough place to hit the stones and run for it!
Lots and lots of tress around, and of the climbable variety.Mommy was darling herself, she actually used to serve our snacks there. Distinctly remember pakodas, tea being passed over to be taken up on the branches and relished. Of course friends used to insist on using the tree branches as a drawing room to sit and chat and comment on everything under the sun;that we had guava tress, and jaamun and mangoes did not hurt.Plenty of elumichai. Perhaps drinking lime juice regularly throughout the year helped in none of us having running nose and sniffles.The pollution free air, cows milk from well fed and satisfied cows gracing luscious grass grown specifically for them,compulsory exercise of walking or pedalling for 2 km for the corner store for the basic ingredients helped in all of us having robust health. But the constant refrain of our grandmother(a city bred lady!) used to be that we should be given more milk!All of us were uniformly scrawny!No puppy fat and compulsory workouts for the same. no junk food and no free food either!We work for it.
Before you get ideas of horror life, i will finish here, await next post

Barnala paintings anyone?

We have a governor in Tamil Nadu who is also an artist. Yes, he paints, has been doing so since he was a kid. Not with easels and fancy equipment, but with charcoal soot and toothpaste! Now what do you make of this man who at 80, governs the state and in his spare time draws landscapes and portraits , all Indian themes. It obviously is a passion with him.while he was in the prison his wife instead of giving him goodies to eat made it a point to give him painting materials. But little did she realise that he will not have paper/canvas to use them on! while he was struggling with that handicap, one of the jailors asked him if it is really true that he can paint very well. And if yes, would he paint for his son?It was music to his ears, and he readily agreed. And that kept him busy and engaged and happy in his solitary confinement days during the emergency period 1975-77.
It is very rare that you share a passion for an art/cause and you also have your entire family following you in the same path;sons/daughters/daughters-in law and grandchildren!Surjit Singh Barnala's family is one such rarity.They all share a common bond of being partial to the easel!
I was deeply moved when recently i came across a family who share a deep commitment and passion to a cause that an old man held dear all his life. Mr Baba Amte. His passion and commitment to the cause of the leprosy patients is legendary. Wardha is 100 km off Nagpur and this is where he has a huge establishment where it has been possible to make a huge difference to disadvantaged people. Now his two sons are running the show in the same way that baba amte envisioned , his wife continues to be the inspiration and his daughters in law are continuing to live there and contribute to the community project.very rare and I resolved to visit the place very soon.

Return of the Native

I have started disliking the tomatoes that are available in the market these days. They dont have the sour taste that native tomatoes of yesteryears used to have. Hence it is an useless ingredient for the ubiquitous 'tomato rasam'.
Not that this is any recent phenomenon. The invasion of new fangled(used to be called ooty tomatoes and highly sought after 20 years back) tomatoes to the detriment of native varieties of tomatoes is 2 decades old. But then suddenly a feeling of what is not possible strikes you out of the blue.This was such an occasion.Hence when a 'koodakari' brought native tomatoes, I swooped on it and stashed it away from public glare.So they are still around i told myself.
Hence when i was browsing through the papers, there was this mention about the sliding prices of vegetables in the koyambedu market, after diwali and after rains have ceased. My eyes popped out when i glanced at the prices;
Ooty tomato – Rs 6 a kg
Native tomato – Rs 18 a kg
So the humble tomato has emerged rarer and costlier!
Still recall the exclusive ooty tomatos and how they were preferred by all mothers as it was luscious, no seeds, and was good for readymade consumption(apdiye sapadalam). And nattu takali was relegated to the background.Now, what a comeback !

I am prompted to make another comparison. Terelyne fabrics used to be much sought after. They had just been introduced in India. My cousin bought one from his first salary and was showing off to all of us. He said, it does not fade or wrinkle, no need to iron and retains its print and sheen much longer than cotton fabrics.We thought it was a wonder fabric!Now the polyester clothes are passe and the cotton fabric has made a come back and HOW!
Can we say it is a case of "Return of the Native"