The story of organic green gram

Stepped into a new neighbourhood shop recently. The name board "Eco-nut" was partly the reason.They had small lattering which said they sell organic food sourced from Kodaikanal.Aha, i told myself, some change from the routine purchases kumar picks up from Nilgiris.I went in and was immediately bowled over by the novelty of foodstuffs stacked up there.The lady who obviously is a owner helped matters along by enquiring if i was a first time customer and mentioning favourably about my saree and my taste!!
The fridge was stacked with all sorts of homemade bread with esoteric names(and shapes too)I picked a couple of them as i had decided to be less partial to rice and more partial to wheat products.Next a dull bottle 'plum jam' caught my attention. plop it went into my basket(it made me believe plum jam is all goodness and wellness of kodai hills brought to arid chennai and the sugar is of course the organic variety!)I picked up brown poha(non polished one) and mango jelly for aunty.I made a beeline for whole moong dal and i visualised soaking it, sprouting it and spreading health all around.
It is the beginning of the story. Soaked it, I did and next day, strained the water and transferred the grains to a caserrole for sprouting.So far so good. Evening i found them sprouted enough and took it for cooking. Made delicious dhal(so i thought). I have dinner early, so when i was particularly looking out for a special native taste, i thought i found it and before long bit into a hard grain. Thought it was an aberration, only to be rudely biting into a few more in my next helping. I brushed it aside as not worthy of my attention(as i was busy watching a weepy serial!).Kumar tasted it and very delicately mentioned not to cook organic moong for him any more; he is not particularly partial to them, he said, of late!I took it not so lightly and wanted to know why he does not care for health foods. To which he said, health is all quite okay except that they tax his teeth a bit too much for his liking.
I am not one to let go of any such incident lightly. Next time i soaked moong again i made sure i soaked it for 24 hours instead of 12 hours. While transferring it to the caserrole i noticed keenly;I found there were quite a good portion of the moong dhal which had refused to budge and stayed almost unsoaked. So these are the culprits i thought; It is a question of non grading of the moong by my Eco nut lady.
I made it a point to give them this feedback from an enlightened customer, to help them on their way.But this time i found her husband at the counter and when i mentioned this sad story, he flatly denied that there is any problem. We eat sprouted moong from the shop regularly, he said.When i persisted, he said, yes, in a cup of moong dhal there could be a few,'very few maam' he added to emphasise.I was shocked, does he tell me that while eating moong dhal, a few hard ones cracking the teeth is okay?
Here i am a customer, who takes the trouble to give feedback and here is this owner guy who is rubbishing it. I told myself, if this is his attitude, i dont expect to see the shop in this address much longer. It has also reduced my passion for organic food i can tell you.
I have had an earlier stint as a trainer and i took my assignemnt of sensitising the staff to customer feedback quite seriously.So much so it has become a part of me; you can take away a training assignment from me, but you cant take away what it did to me!So it was that the trainer in me came to the fore and it told me, there is this whole lot of populace waiting to be trained on how to handle customer feedback;" dont defend; listen and listen keenly and acknowledge that they have an issue; thank them for the time and effort ; and finally do something about the feedback to improve your business".
Tch, tch, wasted opportunity.

world space radio

For a few months now(is it nearly a year i wonder?)there has been a sustained media campaign from 'world space radio' .Initially one ignored it , thinking it is yet another gimmick by a consumer electronics company to offer a slightly differentiated product.(yes, i am a little gadget weary;not that i dont like them, but i am conscious that it puts a strain on maintenance;rather if it breaks down it throws life awry).Of course kumar wanted to have one as the advertisement said that the customer gets an entire channel for old hindi and old tamil songs.Had him hooked. I kept warding off with the usual excuses.
So the time passed by, till my sister got one and kept euologising how great an entertainment it provides. She said, some songs which we have not heard from our college/school days i am able to hear now through world space radio.And all for 2000 rupees only(actually 1999).Hence got one for amma for her birthday courtesy prashant. Now not a day passes without amma saying how she heard jesudas and his film songs; never knew he has sung so many film songs; and today was GNB (amma is a great gnb fan)and an hour and a half of his ragam tanam pallavi.She is now unstoppable.
Now i believed that anybody and everybody knows about this gadget and mentioned so to leela. She was surprised and asked to know what is it.She is also now hooked on to the concept behind this gadget.She said it appears to be the perfect answer to want to listen to songs that she particularly likes!dont ask me how. But her logic is, in a regular radio session, you get to listen to songs which you like and mostly you dont care much for; so also in a casette/cd you buy. There is this option of recording specifically songs you like, but then the pain is too much and the pleasure is diluted by all the effort. So if somebody does a pre selection, then it is good. I am yet to enjoy its benefits, so i listened to her opinion without any wise comment!
Just a while ago my sister called to say how her husband has also become an avid listener of world space radio!!!!

Playing a dual role

Most interesting double role that i can think of is that of mother and daughter. I am playing both the roles for over two decades now and I can share some interesting insights.
You start out continuing to be a spoilt daughter, even after you have become a mother. You demand and get whatever unreasonable demands you make on your mother.First time mothers get some privileges with one's mom.The child is actually your mother's child. You laze around and yes, sleep a lot and generally stuff yourself with delicious 'pathiya sapadu' that mommy dishes out lovingly.You hardly play any role as a mother as you are busy being pampered.Slowly this phase evolves into taking more responsibility as a mom to your kid.You realise a big hike in awareness of each and every one of her actions. You enjoy your mom making connections to your childhood with the newborn kid.
Wait till your daughter starts talking and then the real drama unfolds.She will call a spade a bloody spade and you will be nursing your wounds.How can she talk to me her mother, is a thought that occurs to you. But then you talk to your mother and play act in the same way.It takes a while to understand that you are acting a dual role and what you sow , so you reap!Distintly remember an occasion when my daughter was criticising me that i am not wearing my saree neatly.How can she use that tone and language to me was my thought at that time. Almost a few hours later i land in my mom's place and my opening words are,"why is there a flood in your area, why have you hitched up your saree so high?"Mommy laughs and does not mind this outburst;i learn lesson one that day, when your daughter critises you, take it easy.
Mommy calls you over as she has made your favourite dish; you protest that you are busy and why does she do these things. You immediately recall your conversation with your daughter, when she says she is too busy to sample her favourite dish that you had made lovingly the other day.It is not history repeating itself;it is history playing itself out two parallel acts.
All this has definitely added zest and fun to my role play. It has taken the edge off irritations with your teenage daughter and has added value to the loving care of your mother.You get to value relationships more.
Thank you dear daughter for bringing up mom!

Power of concentration

Steve waugh has written his autobiography which has been published recently.Quite routine for a celebrity to bring out his life story, you may say. Right, but the review had something interesting which caught my attention. Steve Waugh says this about what it takes to be a world class cricketer.... 'For a few seconds everything around me is quiet and still;all i can see is the red ball hurling towards me; i concentrate only on that ball and my entire being is focussed on handling that ball;it is bliss'.Have we not heard the story of Arjuna and how he was able to see only the red beak of the bird and nothing else, when he was asked to train his arrow on that bird?This is exactly what had differentiated and marked him as superior to the other brothers.
The narration was so similar that i was stuck by the same. So it is apparent then and it is obvious now that for anyone to succeed in a particular field, utter and single minded concentration on that particular target is an absolute must .It also calls for unwavering commitment to the object not once but everytime called upon to perform the task.
Blessed are the fellows who have experienced this utter and absolute bliss, pursuing some goal singlemindedly.
It is not easy; but then success never is.

Power of concentration

Steve waugh has written his autobiography which has been published recently.Quite routine for a celebrity to bring out his life story, you may say. Right, but the review had something interesting which caught my attention. Steve Waugh says this about what it takes to be a world class cricketer.... 'For a few seconds everything around me is quiet and still;all i can see is the red ball hurling towards me; i concentrate only on that ball and my entire being is focussed on handling that ball;it is bliss'.Have we not heard the story of Arjuna and how he was able to see only the red beak of the bird and nothing else, when he was asked to train his arrow on that bird?This is exactly what had differentiated and marked him as superior to the other brothers.
The narration was so similar that i was stuck by the same. So it is apparent then and it is obvious now that for anyone to succeed in a particular field, utter and single minded concentration on that particular target is an absolute must .It also calls for unwavering commitment to the object not once but everytime called upon to perform the task.
Blessed are the fellows who have experienced this utter and absolute bliss, pursuing some goal singlemindedly.
It is not easy; but then success never is.

Dot matrix

This post is not about dot matrix printers. It is about the 'kolams'that are drawn in front of households in tamil nadu or rangolis as they are called in other parts of the country. There are several varieties of kolams and the 'pulli' kolam used to be particularly mind boggling.And the dots are joined together in a matrix, hence the terminology 'dot matrix' to depict our good old kolams.
Community newspapers have been spearheading 'kolam drawing competitions' in the neighbourhood areas. Usually they are the kolams which rely heavily on use of colour.Few contestants resort to the dot matrix, as it does not lend itself to many innovative designs by the artist.A recent rangoli contest was open to all irrespective of age or gender and the sponsors were disappointed that not a single male candidate turned up.Their surprise it seems stems from the fact that while typical female bastions of cooking, sewing, washing do have male participants, why not for an artistic endeavour?
I remember a friend who remarked that men will attempt to do any job as long as it gets paid; and when there is a job which does not get paid then it gets assigned to a woman. Hence there are male cooks, male washermen and men tailors;all of them take it as job and get paid for doing the same. But where these jobs have to be done for free(read in a household) then it is the woman who is best at it!
Now, coming back to the main subject of kolams;It is practised quite extensively in tamil nadu.Every festival sees the frontyard of every household decorated with large rangolis with or without dot, with or without colours.Pongal celebrations witnessed a riot of colour in our neighbourhood with larger and larger beautiful designs adorning the streets.I recall the words of a colleague from the north who felt south indians are still preserving Indian culture; when i quipped her why does she say so; she immediately remarked about the rangolis in front of every house.
I know a friend whose mother(well past 80 years)is into drawing kolams in her spare time.Like a school kid she has a stack of 40 page unruled notebooks with her. she draws rangolis in that notebook and readily gives it to any visitor to their house. It is her souveneir to the modern woman!Till the net comes out with rangoli patterns, her simple drawings will elicit appreciation.
When we were children, mother had taught us standard kolam patterns(part of culture training in households)and we had daily practice sessions in the frontyard of our house. A cousin used to be particularly innovative and i used to unabashedly copy her patterns, of course after a gap of a few days!One aunt used to be particularly good in the dot matrix variety and we used to look in awe as a grand pattern will slowly evolve. We used to waste many a paper trying to copy those intricate matrices;till we declared that she was beyond compare!Festival days used to be special as the rangoli patterns have to be particularly large, and depicting the essense of then festival.
When we were in MCC campus, we had a professor of statistics as our neighbour. He used to be fascinated with the kolam patterns , so much so that he spearheaded a new branch of study and research titled 'automata theory'
oh for days of stressfree mornings and drawing of kolams for hours on end!

Smokeless bhogi

It was a pleasure to get up in the morning on Bhogi festival day and actually get to see the sun shining bringhtly on a clear sky. Did not get to smell the nasty odour of rubber tyres burning. Wanted to check it out during my morning walk in our neighbourhood. Saw households have a very tiny pile of a few sticks and dried leaves in front of their houses and a small fire was smouldering. Environment can easily handle these symbolisms of "shedding the old and ringing in the new".
Over the last few weeks there has been a sustained campaign from the government machinery as well the non government organisation (exnora) in various media appealing to the public to avoid burning tyres and other miscellaneous items on the day of Bhogi. Of course there was a 'stick' policy also from the police, where they said they would come down heavily on people indulging in this activity. Commissioner of police also used technolgy in reaching to every mobile subscriber. An sms was sent first thing in the morning alerting the user about the need for a 'smokeless bhogi' and also asking them to contact a given number if they spot others violating this order. Nicely roped in millions of subscribers into the net. Now with the mobile subscriber base enveloping all strata of society, this medium of contacting the public is most welcome.
Some years back, it used to be so bad on Bhogi day, that flights could not take off for a couple of hours in the morning.Chennai used to appear as if transformed to Finland!Visibility on the roads used to be only a few feet and it was risky venturing out in the mornings.
A similar initiative by exnora also brought in perceptible changes in the public domain. During festivals, pumpkin used to be broken right in the middle of the road, to ward off 'evil eyes'. Whether it did that or not, two wheeler riders used to be heavily affected and many an accident used to take place due to skidding.Now it is almost a thing of the past.
Remember Mr Nirmal, founder of Exnora, as Branch manager of IOB in Teynampet when i was working in Teynampet branch of LIC , 1987/88. Innovation and creativity were not buzz words those days. But he was different, and made his branch a drive-in branch for payment of vehicle taxes. Huge placards used to be put up and vehicle owners who were harassed in the last week of feb/march would make a bee line to his branch. How did he manage the parking space, you may ask. His branch was in the DMS compound in Teynampet, which is a huge sprawling campus. So utilised the unique advantage towards customer service.
I was impressed with him then and have been keenly following his sustained effort at garbage separation, water management, ecofriendly initiatives and many more. Had occasion to attend a one day programme of his couple of years back on 7th sense. Could sense his deep commitment and endless drive and enthusiasm.
A single man and his vision can make a difference to a city!

sathabhishekam

Appa has completed 80 years and for the last year have been planning for the year long celebrations.Appa wanted a quiet homely affair and amma wanted a typical one with all relatives invited.It was good fun, going over it on the many occasions that i used to visit them.Slowly appa was veered around to having a purely family function at home.And amma insisted it should be a religious function with full fledged 'homam'.Appa agreed.
I was learning many new facets of life during the last few months. If we blame kids for being wilful and adament, i think authors have not chronicled the capacity of elders to be stubborn. I never knew my parents could be stubborn!All the time proclaiming that they are not!
Their health needed to be taken care of and nurtured. Amma had to have her cataract operation done and that was accomplished.
Vaadyar was called and he fixed the date for the religious function.Armed with a firm date, activites were unleashed all over the globe!Raja and family planned for their trip. Prashant had to arrange for his journey and Yasaswini had to plan for a propah time to ask for leave from boss.
Shopped for a diamond platinum ring as he had sometime back expressed he is partial to the same. There was no exchange of rings!
Took a major decision to have two separate functions, one the religious part and the other a social part.Venue for the evening reception was in a beautiful place identified , courtesy binni. It had an ac hall in one corner of a beautiful garden.It had artifical water falls in another corner and a children's play area in another. In the middle of the garden were lots of granite stools for invitees to sit around informally in small groups.Of course a small platform and a bouffet corner with small tents.Catering by chellappa, who served delicious food(rajnikant's daughter's marriage had chellappa as the caterer, so you get the drift)
Had also done a 'thirumanjanam' in srinvasar temple in Ambattur which appa fancied during my training centre days in that part of the town.And had lunch at a new restaurant in town called ' sanjeevanam'. They serve food in a typical style. starts with four small cups of juices;then salads of various hues; then half boiled vegetables and kootus; then veggies like vazhatandu and vazhapoo, but of course done in a very delicious way(kumar had a good helping not knowing it is vazgatandu!);and then you get red kaikuthal arisi sadam, by which time your stomach is full and satiated.Then aval payasam or rice payasam;and buttermilk.Top it all with honey liberally poured into our hands held out!And beeda of betel leaves and small pieces of carrots and beetroot!
Appa wanted to have a holiday with all his children and their families. Hence a trip to Pondicherry was arranged for two days just before the function.It was a beachside hotel and we simply 'chilled' out on the beach and hotel lawns.As per his desire we had arranged for a van(he did not want us to travel by different cars;it detracts from the full enjoyment, he said)
A few months back,, binni had taken appa and amma to dwaraka. It has been appa's wish for long to visit dwaraka. Twice the trip got cancelled and he was quite despondent. It was a flying visit planned and executed in record time.
Appa had started investing in the stock market at a wrong age of 70. But as it happened he made handsome gains and he thought it proper to book profits and share it with the children during his sathabhishekam.
A wonderful and caring couple, who have been exemplary parents. It was fortunate that we had the chance to have good times with them during this occasion.