saree shopping with a friend

I must confess that i am not much of a saree shopper. I would gladly delegate it to anyone who cares to do it. So far it has been my sister who relishes this portfolio and readily plunges into the act with great gusto and i should say with great success.She is our official "saree selector".Amma is also an avid shopper and when we go shopping for silk sarees her eyes have a brightness and eager anticipation.Both of them take very little time for zeroing in on the final selection.
So it was a new experience for me to go saree shopping with a friend, kalpa.She has an amazing taste in buying sarees which i have admired for very nearly 30 years now.So, when she called up to say, that she is in town and would i care to catch up with her while she does her saree shopping in radha silk emporium!I jumped at the offer.
I have admired her ability to buy a whole heap of sarees many years back, gifts for her numerous nieces and other relatives.
So this time i was ready for some good fun and also good learning; yes, the art of saree selection.She was already there when i landed in the shop.I learnt there are these parameters in selecting a saree, after you have zoomed in on the basic choice of kanjeevaram (in chennai you dont shop for anything else!)
length of zari(she wanted a very thin one)
zari has to be authentic and not synthetic
colour has to be bright(not for her pastels, and whites and creams;I dont think they are colours first of all she said)
colour has to be unusual(now, how does one get that, when she must have worn every bright colour made by God and man!)
it has to have blouse attached to the saree
But it should not be an extension of the saree but of a contrast colour and pattern!
It should not have Butta
It should not have checks or stripes(yes, she wanted it plain, but did not say it right away!)
She was faintly interested in embroidered sarees but none of them caught her fancy(failed on any one or more of the earlier stipulations)
she looked at all yelllows, though she said she has worn enough yellows in her life, it was obvious she was partial to them.But none of them made it to even pre selection.
Finally she zeroed in one 4 sarees and was going to select one;
First one was a mustard with black border; too sober, does not make a bold statement she said and out it went.
Second was a very good deep blue with a modern maroon border; she was going back and forth over it and stood in front of all mirrors in the shop.Finally she did not select it as she already has a saree in the same colour and border, but it is a narayanpet saree(what is that again!!)Why should one have two sarees in same colour?
third was what i had heavily recommeded, a sneha colour saree with orange border.She said though it is modern and looks good, did not feel attracted to it in the first instance, so it failed the test.
Last was a deep red colour with a self border in embroidery; she kept looking at it for long and finally decided against it as it is dull(deep red and dull!!)
So after 45 minutes of intense learning, i came out of the shop with her,and i could see that she got as much fun out of not buying as she would have if she had bought one. It is for her an intensely creative process.
Enjoyed myself immensely.This is what we call, learning the fun way!!

Estuary island

"Where else can you find a lake, a river, sea and beach, all in one place", is how this resort was advertised and organisers of the conference fell for it.And i was not unhappy that they did. It was a beaaaaaautiful place.Only way to reach the resort is by water transport.My colleague tells me, that these places were developed in the last couple of years; what used to be a handicap is now converted into their USP!Resort manager and the master chef, while sharing some inside story, did confess that it is an everyday challenge to get food items from the city through canoes and boats.The chef particularly shared his concern, that the specifications of tomato as red, ripe and firm normally is not followed and he does not have the luxury of returning the same!(i should keep this in mind, when the cream of tomato soup is a little weak in colour and consistency )
Just before sunset we were hurriedly ushered into small boats to take us into the estuary and mouth of the river joining the sea. Poovar the river, winds its way into the sea. First time i am seeing the river meet sea(please dont remind about the adyar river)and the entire stretch is crystal clear and inviting. I was warned not to venture very near the river, though.Watching the sunset, and walking along the beach i was thinking of the oft repeated philosophies related to river meeting the sea.The connotation is to the self and life on this earth.
While not yet out of the trance of watching sunset, looked around and a full moon was rising above the siluette of our resort and between the coconut trees.Felt quite mesmerised by the setting. A gentle breeze was blowing, of course.Remembered the poet Bharatiyar. For him, heaven on earth was a moonlit night, coconut trees around, a simple rope cot to sit on and sing a song. I did spot a few hammocks swaying in the wind; could use them if i were to take Bharatiyar litereally!
Had a surfeit of visual feast and a sense of well being that God is in his heaven and all is well with the world.
Later a kathakalai programme was organised on the banks of the river, providing a terrific backdrop. During the programme, a few small boats were coasting along the river which we could not see, but what we could see were the pole heads used by the boatmen suddenly moving. For a moment was duped to thinking that it is also part of the show. In a way it was, but not of the kathakali artiste!
Kathakali is not a dance; it is a dance drama. The artiste and his musical troupe literally brought the 'puthana samharam' as if it happend yesterday.
Another day was a 'kalaripayatu' demonstration. I have always been fascinated by any martial arts show and had a particular soft corner for kalaripayatu.The performers were young men, and the nimbleness of their movements is quite fascinating. Again the backdrop of the sea and beach providing the perfect setting.
This post will not be complete if i do not make a mention of some of the keralite delicacies which the chef proudly dished out(inspite of his constraints, hehe); toran is not a string of decorations but your humble vegetable with coconut, but of course the vegetables were finely and delicately chopped and were a visual treat;appam stew, my all time fav(they actually had botched up this dish on the first day, i was very disappointed and hence went and complained to the manager, and they made amends later);curd which was invariably sour(i should mention here, somehow keralites dont seem to know how to set curd; or how to do it the right way;my recollections of earlier visits to kerala always has sour curd figuring prominently);aval payasam and of course various puddings.
On our return journey my colleagues from kerala who organised the event, did share their concern about the march of tourism and its effect on the pristine pure ecology of kerala.Keralites share a genuine deep fondness for their 'naadu' was reinforced yet another time.

yesudas

Tuned in to dd pothigai first thing in the morning and was pleasantly surprised to find yesudas singing.It has been a very very long time since i listened to him. A really mellifluous voice, just flowing down like a gentle river.He sang a few songs on krishna and they were the best.
Remember many years ago, kumar and me had gone for a live performance of his in krishna gana sabha. The place was overflowing with rasikas and what a performance it was. I knew when the programme started and before long, there was this break for a short while.I came out of a trance as it were.Then next one and a half hours or so.The second half was still better than the first half. Yesudas revels in bhakti and rakthi ragas.So it was an experience.Never have gone for a live concert again of yesudas. Did not want to.
Listened to his songs in tamil and malayalam films, quite a number of times of course and derived a lot of satisfaction.
I was wondering, why more christians have not taken to singing classical carnatic music after yesudas. More than 2/3 decades have past since he blazed into the scene with lot of controversy from christian clerics and his own family/community. One of his sons have taken to concert performance i heard yesudas say in an interview(but not had occasion to listen to the junior)But a larger following of this unique experiment has not taken place.
Remember my brother's teacher in school, also a christian used to learn carnatic music and sing in our navarathiri celebrations. These are exceptions rather than the rule, i guess.

latest buzz word 24/7

Technology has brought a new concept 24/7.I understand there is also a company named as 24/7. Made me wonder, if a company is available on call for 24/7, are they also be available on call for the entire lifetime of the customer?I pose this question as companies have cited the needs of a customer throught the day, all days of the week, as the reason for several initiatives they have taken to make their companies 24/7 compliant!
While pondering over this idea, a recent article I read bolted me out of the blue. Women managers and their special traits was the theme of the article. I am an avid reader of literature on that subject, not for any theoretical curiosity, but for the direct relevance it has for me.The author mentions about the intrinsic management principles being followed by women for centuries.Yes, he talks of the home manager. She is on call and on her job 24/7!And what he did not mention was, that it is also for lifetime!Nobody has devised a special voluntary retirement scheme for her!(She has to devise it herself; her children are the quinessential union leaders, who are opposed to any voluntary retirement scheme!)So shall we say that the concept of 24/7 evolved from our great grand mothers and aunts and they are the real role models to follow when women hold senior positions in organisations?
The author again mentions about the resource optimisation capability of our mothers, acoss various social strata and across generations.Kumar used to mention about an aunt of his, whose husband was laid off from the factory due to lock out;and how they were going through a very rough patch;but as kids they always felt drawn to their house as she will make them all feel wanted and somehow could make very limited resources stretch a long way.
The woman manager trusts but always has a fall back option.She checks and double check on essential issues(your key result areas);she gets into details if there is an issue serious enough and does not delegate what is crucial.She is a very good human relations manager. She is fulcrum on which the entire 24/7 household revolves.
She has long term vision for the household and has the patience and action plan to go through with it for 20/30 years. There is nothing shortsighted; she would not sacrifice short term needs for her long term goals. Health of the family, education and savings are her long term goals. She will be at it 24/7 for lifetime!
She subserves her ego for the longterm growth and viability of the household.I have a friend whose mother typifies a person with zero ego and even at age 82, is on her job , of course now as a mentor , a la narayana swamy style!Her children and grandchildren have a family yahoogroup in her name!A CEO there for you..
Nearer home i have all lady relatives(the senior citizens)who are fantastic CEO's and each of them have their own style but they are 24/7 on their job even now.My aunt has the quality of constantly looking out for aberrations in the daily routine, to give her management feedback(her eyesight and hearing is getting impaired, so she uses this technique more extensively;managers have to learn this quality from her; ability for detail in everyday happenings;yes 24/7).My mother has the long term vision for the family and her hr skills are beyond compare and she leads by compassion and extraordinary goodwill;(yes 24/7)
Any amount of seminars and theories on management will not give me the insight and tools necessary to face everyday issues in office;but what i am able to observe and imbibe from my seniors is invaluable. And maybe it is in my genes and maybe it is an evolved trait of series of generations of women managers (at households)that has made me what i am.Yes 24/7!

say no to forests in temperate zones

Ozone layer is not going to get repaired for another 50 years. The wrong gases from old refrigerators and air conditioners continue to find their way up to the ozone layer and poke holes there. The latest finding is to push the period of repair by another 10 years.
This is old news about the ozone layer.What appears new is that not all forests which are being created aggressively to counter the release of obnoxious gases is considered good.It is a big 'no' to forests in temperate lands.Why so?Forests tend to absorb sunlight and contribute to global warming!whereas farms of corn would reflect the sunlight back into the atmosphere and reduce global warming.
Scientists keep coming up with warnings on climate and many times with prescriptions that are diametrically opposite. While it is easy to rubbish them, on saner thoughts it is clear that climate is a complex phenomenon and they are trying in their own fields to make sense of the unknown.Climate is still like the elephant and all of us including the scienctists are like the blind men who are trying to make sense of what they feel.
I did see the movie 'day after tomorrow' and it was scary.

Melinda is amazed by mothers here

Melinda Gates is truly impressed by the spirit displayed by mothers here. Their tour of interior India and various cities brought her face to face with Indian mothers who put in great efforts to protect their children from diseases.She saw them waiting for hours on end to get their children immunised and also the great distances they travelled on foot in extreme weather conditions to come to the health centre for the vaccine.She makes a point that given a chance and necessary tools, Indian mothers will do anything to lift themselves up and their children.
The indomitable spirit of Indian mothers!
Immunisation is a phenomenon of the last few decades in India and is taken as a public health initiative for the last decade or so. I was not immunised at birth against the dreaded diseases nor was my sister. When my brother was born, mommie had read about the polio and triple vaccine shots. We lived in Tambaram and there was only one place in the entire city of Madras where one could get those shots. It was Spencers in Mount Road. Mommie used to religiously trudge the entire distance with my brother.It was seen as a very stylish act by some senior relatives in the house!She used to get many snide remarks;what was good for all children is not good enough for this kid!
But mommie, being what she is, heard all the remarks and went ahead and did what she thought was the right thing by the child.
We have come a long way in public health in general and immunisation in particular in in India. Polio vaccination has acquired the trappings of a mass movement.So much so, schools have become centres to administer the vaccine I remember once prashant was drafted in to one such project in his school.
In chennai mothers do not need to trudge for more than a few kilometres.We think it is no big deal for a mother to do this for her kid. But then Melinda thinks it is a at effort!

Tagore and Linux

Open source software believes in "knowledge being free".so did Sir Rabindranath Tagore.Hence for a recent Linux users enclave Tagore became the theme and his poem was splashed all across the venue..."where the mind is without fear, the head is held high, where knowledge is free........has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit, into that heaven of freedom my father let my country awake"
Touched my heart. One of my fav poems and every time i read it or remember it, brings a lump in my throat.Isn't this the ULTIMATE freedom one can hope for?How could he have put it so well?When will we be able to say this truly?When will India hold its head high and realise its true potential?
Now some of my wish is getting fulfilled.Instead of India being a nation forgotten,(4 years back in Singapore, I did not see a single word about India or Indian goods in all the 15 days i read the newspapers; and we have here in India, singapore marketing itself all over newspapers) and at worst being mistaken for red Indians.India is now actually being courted by every country!And they are filling up airspace ,tv space and newspaper space with good words about Indians, their workhabit,their expertise in IT, Natural flair of Indians in mathematics,the ability of Indians to think outside the box,their capability to working in teams.The list is endless.I am amazed at this turn of events. Granted the entire exercise is aimed at tapping into our potential as a growing market, but then if it is physical numbers we had them all the time and were told it is a liability!That we have the largest percentage of working population and also largest ratio of population below age 25 and this is anre an attraction for the goods manufacturers. Yes, when the world demography is undergoing significant change, Indian market appears lucrative.And of course outsourcing and cheaper cost of operations is making all global mncs make a beeline to India.
It seems flights from the US to India are running full.We are not seeing very many Indian ministers of central and state cabinets selling India abroad as a good destination. Now the traffic is on the reverse.
India has arrived.Indians can hold their head high.
I was telling kumar the other day , as a country" from a girl's family we have metamorphasised into a boy's family".
Disclaimer:Gender issues not intended,only past social mores are emphasised to make a point!!!

The other "George Washington"

Read this quote in an article."I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which god speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in".And the author of this quote has every reason to make this profound statement.And he used his power of observation to make tremendous improvements in agriculture, which made a significant impact on the lives of a whole lot of people.Can you believe now that 100 years ago, when peanut was produced in plenty, farmers in the US did not know what to do with it?Yes, they did know that it is 'good enough for eating sometime', but nothing beyond that.During GWC's time peanut from a non-crop status became the sixth leading crop in the US and covered 5 million hectares of cultivation.
GWC got to work on this issue and yes, hold your breadth cam out with 325 products from peanuts!Have a problem, give it to me he seems to have said; and he came out with solutions a plenty!(I get problems a plenty most of the time in my office and when i tell them to come with solutions, the tap invariably runs dry;)
And before you ask the next question, he was not interested in patenting his processes or products, though he had them in abundance. "If i know the answer, you can have it for the price of a postage stamp. The Lord charges nothing for knowledge and I will charge you the same".Yes, such a man walked on this planet.
What are his achievements/products by the way.I can go on only if you have the time, for the list is long and varied.
He made the process of extracting rubber from a native Alabama plant
paving blocks from cotton
rubber from sludge
new type of cotton hybrid.
He made improvements to /discovered to the following
Adhesives
axle grease
bleach
buttermilk
cold cream
chilli sauce
flour
fuel briquettes
ink
instant coffee
linoleum
mayonnaise
meat tenderiser
metal polish
non toxic colours
paints
paper
plastic
salad oil
shaving cream
shoe polish
synthetic tapioca
talcum powder
wood stain

And all these achievements from an individual who was orphan at birth.At a period in the US when he could not even seek admission in schools due to his colour.IN college even though he got admission, when the principal saw that he was black, his admission was cancelled!He persevered and was the first afro american student in his college in IOWA. His subject;: agriculture and Mechanica Arts.
Edison invited him to join him ;but GWC preferred to work on his own.Mahatma Gandhi consulted with him on health and agricultural matters.'just the price of a postage stamp!"
George Wahington Carter has this epitaph on his grave:
'He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honour in being helpful to the world'

And should he be called "The other George Washington?"

Storm in a tea cup? No not at all

Yet another storm was brewing in Bay of Bengal for the last few days. It kept us on tender hooks. Never seemed to make up its mind about what to do next.My cousins have caused enough havoc on Tamil Nadu coastal areas this season, it seemed to be thinking.So it has weakened into a deep depression and is slowly moving westward.Likely to cross the coast between chennai and Ongole in the wee hours of tonight/tomorrow morning.In the meanwhile there are heavy showers and office quadrangle is quickly filled up with water upto ankle level.
All of us have got quite fatigued by continuing rain spells.The havoc it causes is not in any way reduced by this mental fatigue.I have kept the TV on Sun News channel permannently in my cabin and on mute mode. Have become quite wary of weather and it shows!First time in my life that i am so much tuned in to the weather on a real time basis.
When we get back home, we discuss the weather, just like the Englishman.Yes, it has also become a topic of conversation when two people meet.It is quite different from the conversation openers "It is very very hot and humid this summer".
Right now I am sitting down and reviewing plans for today eve;a concert which i had planned to go for the last one week.And it is not making me happy.And we need to relook at our plan to go to tirupati tomorrow;there was a news of a breach in a tank in tiruttani which i spotted as a tiny trailer news in sun news.Road traffic to tirupati affected it said. There goes our plans.I had planned to climb up the hill this time and i am disappointed.Such a small programme as picking up an elderly relative in the evening needs to be reviewed due to incessant rains.
It might appear very common to people living in other parts of the country and in the wider world where weather is always an unknown element to be factored in while making any plans. But for me in Chennai, it is a new experience.
I can now empathise with the song ' rain rain go away' which i used to think is a sacrilege to recite!