Cricket Match

Personally Cricket is a game of 11 fools all running around one ball ( Only my opinion) . I have just come out of our company cafeteria which has a 49 inch LCD television installed for the entertainment of the employees and today its served its purpose for telecasting an one day cricket between India and Srilanka. Almost one fourth of the company's staff presence was noticed (rest should have the Internet refreshed, i suppose). Its the last stage of 4 balls and 6 runs needed by Sri Lanka. When seeing all faces I felt as though they were given the responsibility to throw the ball. A few minutes of happiness is what everyone received at the last ball of Nehra. But that is a moment to rejoice with others around, I could see men jumping, some clapping, some whistling, different expression around. I was a silent onlooker of these audience around and expecting a six to be hit by the Srilankan guy :)

A Day at Taj West End

Well it was a wonderful opportunity for me to visit a 5 star hotel in Bangalore, which I would not bother to think off in my life. Of course its from my COMPANY!!! Its a wonderful place, and has good ambiance. The arrangement was wonderful, felt like a fairy land place, with lights on the narrow stretch of lane which lead to a tree with lights hanging. Here are some beautiful pic's that I have taken.

Very Bad Habits

Brain Damaging Habits
1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.
2 . Overeating=2 0
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.
3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.
4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.
5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our 20 body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.
6 . Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest.. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells..
7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.
8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effective! ness of the brain as well as damage the brain.
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.
10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain

LIVER damaging habits
1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3 . Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil.
As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is20very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver.
Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.
We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to 's! chedule. '

Saw it again today

What did I see....It found happiness on their faces....whose faces? Its a mother and daughter who was passing by me . The happiness on their faces made me smile. Take a wildest guess how they were travelling. Let me tell you. The Mother was pushing the vegetable cart on which the daughter was sitting (should be around 3 years).
As the road is 5 degrees slanting it was not necessary for the mother to push the cart with all her effort, even though she never pushed the cart would go on its own.
The first day I saw the mother pushing so fast that the daughter siting on this was very exited that she was screaming out loud. Mother seeing her daughter so overjoyed would be overwhelmed with love. It was a moment to capture. The joy in the eyes of the girl and the love in the eyes of the mother. I loved the beautiful scene.
Today, the girl was surrounded by Tomatoes. The mother was pushing the cart but not as fast as earlier, may be she was cautious about the tomatoes, if it roll off.
Its considered granted that if one is finacially sound then happiness is a package that come along with it. I bet you a million dollars that is not the truth. What I have encountered is the proof for this statement to be so not true.
In my opinion, these are priceless moments. One needs to be very thankful for your precious mothers. Hats off to all mothers in the world.
Note: For those who did not understand the kind of cart that i mentioned..check the snap attached. ( courtesy - by another blogger)

My Sonny.

My handsome son...i just love this photo.

Strange Acquaintance

Last week was wonderful. Why ?? I had been to my native again. As usual my place was looking beautiful. The hills green, the rivers rushing, the streams flowing with clean water, the dew drops falling when I walk to my uncle's house. It was like being swinging in natures arms. What made my trip different is that I drove for 200Km in and around town. Earlier I was hesitating to drive, scared of the sharp curves at the base of the hill, and finding another bus exactly opposite the curve is much scarier. But, this time i have overcome the fear. Well, now that my father had the confidence in my driving he would allow me to take the car along with my aunties who are fond of shopping.

One day, I took my auntie's to a Jewellery shop. They wanted to purchase gift to my baby niece. I am not fond of Jewels. I am different when compared to many ladies. That is a different story. Let me tell you who I came across in the shop, it's a lady... I don't know how she looks, approximately how old she would be..nothing. I could listen to her voice because she spoke to me. Wondering how can this happen?? Its a lady in 'Black Parda'. In Kerala, jewellery shops are like vegetable shops for Muslim community people especially during this holy month. I found many ladies in fashionable Parda moving in and out of the shop. I was tempted to wear it, the material stays around them so fine, as though its specially meant to wear by that individual. My son who had accompanied was found of a kid around 5 months old in the shop I was in. He wanted to touch the babies hand. I noticed that this baby was with 'the' lady' in parda. I could only see her eyes which stared in between the rectangular open area above her nose. We went near the baby and my son started to touch the baby. I was hesitant in the beginning as I have not aquatint with any Muslim lady in my native place. She was fine with my son touching. Later she began to speak. We exchanged the kids names and it was a normal chit chat. We were then interrupted by another lady who had accompanied her, she indicated her that the shopping was over and they had to leave. I kept some distance. When the time came to leave, i saw the eyes telling me bye, I understood that because she was nodding her head and I could see the smile in her eyes.

I wonder how will I recognize her next time if she is in front of me. It's an advantage for her as she can choose to speak to me or not as she is hidden behind the 'Parda'.

At Chancery Pavillion

Well here I am having a great opportunity to have dinner with the Vice President of the company. I was excited as I was chosen one among the other 30 members in the whole lot of 1300 employees to be part of the dinner. The venue was the Chancery Pavillion. Reached on time. We are the first ones to be present. It's become a trend that every activity planned on time should be delayed. Its become a part of the Indianism, but I am totally unlike this. I value time and I expect others to do the same. But somehow cannot expect this from the VP right ? He should be an example for the others. But he was a wrong example. Planned to start at 7.00, started only at 8.30. During this time i got time to wonder around this grand 3 star hotel. I could take wonderful pics.

Ones the VIP was present introduction started as usual and until 10.00pm my chance never came up. I had to leave as I was obliged to. I was wondering how I would drive in the empty roads for 15 Kms. I did not have the dinner. I reached home at 11.00 to see my lovely son waiting for me. He is very composed and I took a day to get him back to normal.

We go hunting for something and do not get what we expect but there is always home which will make you forget the bad part of life.

Trip to Guruvayoor

Guruvayoor is the holy city in Kerala, India. It's the place where many devotee's of Lord Krishna come with their humble prayers. We reached there on 8th Aug 2009 and checked in to a nice hotel. The temple is open from Morning 3.30am - 12.00 pm and opens again in the evening at 4.30pm goes on until 12.00am. We decided to visit the temple in the evening and set to explore the city. We went to Mammiyoor Shiva Temple. Unfortunately I was not able to enter the temple because I was not in the attire as per temple instructions . Ladies needs to wear Saree and Men need to wear "Mundu" only, showing their bare cheast. Only my parents could enter and they were very excited after the 'darshan'. Lesson to be learnt when visiting temples in Kerala is that ladies have to wear Saree's else sometime it will turn out to be bad luck



Then we went to "Ana Thavalam" the Elephant Location. Its a first time that I witnessed 58 elephants at one time. I was not allowed to take the camera. So, the sad sight remains with me. The reason I call it sad is because I had to pass by these 'worlds largest animal' who had huge iron chains tied to one leg at the front and one leg at the back. They are in no position to even turn from the position that they were standing. I felt each elephant was telling me to help him , to remove the horrible chains. It was only pain that I found in their eyes. I really would not want to go to that place again. Keralites are known to be elephant lover's but the way this wild animal is tamed is very cruel.



Finally at 4.30pm we stood in the queue to get the sight of the Lord. It took 2 hrs for us to reach the door of the deity and pay are respects. I felt touched by the view.

Changing Culture

Note: The note below is not intended to offend anyone. Its just thoughts which I have scribbled.
Today I had to attend an Marriage engagement. It is not a normal one. What's different? Girl is a Keralite, Boy is a Kannadiga. The normal one for us would be couple's who are part of the same community. Before I go ahead, let me tell you the formality followed in the marriage ceremony
For Engagement
Keralite: No Girl or Boy present during the 'discussion', only relatives (only men) and neighbourhood members..
Kannadiga : Both are present, could be told that its like a mini marriage. Garland is exchanged, only the knot tieing does not happen
For Marriage:
Keralite: Its a maximum 10 min task. All done, have lunch and boy takes the girl to his house. Its his complete responsibility to look after her.
Kannandiga : It's a 3 day trail..Situation from epic's dram's are considered and the men are supposed to enact them. Gifts are supposed to be displayed in front of the purohit and that's how the girl's financial capability are measured. The boy is showered with all the gifts from A-Z from the girls side so that he should be able to take care of the girl. ( Good for him:)). Demands are made ( but its not named as dowry). After the last lunch on the 3rd day, girl is supposed to take the boy to her house, stay for 2 days and then the boy takes her to his home.

Got to know that, in this occasion both the girl's and the boy's house members are not very keen in getting them married. But, what to do? It's the generation NEXT, its their world and they have option to change the routine practice and bring change in the deep rooted culture which was practiced from ages. May be its time for change. We in the intermediate generation need to decide on which to opt. Be a part of the new generation or the old. What happens if we are part of the old ? We will be left behind for sure. What happens if we are part of the new, we will loose the strong culture that we grew up with. I am in a dilemma.
To conclude, let me tell you what happened on this occasion. The boys system of engagement was followed, the girls parents were forced to do the rituals which they had never practiced in their life. The girl had changed her caste to be part of the boys community. That's a great sacrifice. As we say 'Marriage is a compromise", but here the girl before getting married had to low down to the boy's demands, and she has to give up her self esteem ( which is acceptable to her). At least everyone pretended to be happy, and all the other (except the bride and groom to be) wondering how will the marriage happen. I could see the happiest people in that occasion was the Girl and the Boy who in spite of all odds had managed to get the engagement done.

Team Lunch

Today was kind of day-off for me even though I had to come to office. Had to be part of a team lunch. I just want to wonder over the question what is the kind of atmosphere should a get together be like. Keeping in mind that the company is paying for us, does it oblige us to speak only of company stuff and its values or speak something personal and laugh about things that is happening outside the so called office campus.

I am just waiting to relish the prawn's that is be roasted in a barbecue on our table and i find a question put "Any concerns?? How is work??" What a stupid question is that? I had to swallow my prawn without even tasting it..Taking about rating's!! Its just ridiculous. Should one validate ones work performance on this wonderful desk filled with marvelous things to eat. The the mood that I had maintained to have lunch is all gone.

Missed to say Bye Bye

My routine is to pack my son's box and water bottle and wait until the his van arrives in front of the house. I carry him to the van and ensure that he is comfortably sitting and I bid him bye and a flying kiss , to which he is very prompt in responding. He insists that he is acknowledged when he gives his flying kiss and should get one in return. His hands will be stuck to his lips until he looses my view from the van that he is travelling.

Today, I feel uneasy, why?? I did not leave him to the van..I was caught up in some work and his grandfather had to leave him to the van. I was not there to take his flawless flying kiss, the innocent kiss which does not anticipate anything in return.

Here I am at the office thinking about it, yes I could convince myself by telling that I will meet him in the evening, but I am not, cause life is so unpredictable that one does not know what happens the next minute. 6 more hours to meet him.

PS: Family is the best thing that one can have, be it happiness, sadness they are there to standby. Nothing can replace them. I have gone homesick today....God help me :)

Rangoli

I have become a very busy person recently, I even do not have time to read!! I had decided to blog my Morning walk experience, but I find difficulty in finding time to update. Finally in midst of a very busy schedule, i manage to write this. I read a tweet which said, browsing during work hours increases productivity. Its true!!

Well, I everyday encounter this lady between 5.45am - 6.00am (except Sunday's) who is bending and drawing wonderful curves in front of her house. Let me tell you what exactly she is doing - Its a culture here that ladies get up early, get cleaned up, sprinkle water in front of their house ( not with the intention to clean the area) and scout down to draw what is called as "Rangoli". According to my knowledge, the reason for doing this in earlier days was is to offer the rice flour to the ants, so the starving ants are contended. Some animal is happy because of their service, and its in this mannerism. But now its completely changed, the drawing is not done by Rice flour, but my chalk powder, which none of the animals would taste. So, the whole idea behind drawing this is lost.

If there is anyone who could tell me any other story behind this culture do let me know. As usual, couple of snaps here for you.

If there is a will there is a way

Well, there was a desire in me to buy a Tredmill since a long time. And I am a person who do not comprimise on low quality item's, I prefer to always buy things of good brand. It's obvious quality comes with a very good price. I always think twice before I spend a good amount, checking if its a good investment for long term is the first thought. I also take suggesstions from my family. My uncle suggested that it's not worth it, pleasure achieved by walking in the dawn is not similar using a Tredmill, was his statement. He gave an example of his son-in-law who bought one for 35K, used it for one week and now using the treadmill to hang clothes. I finally decided to remove the tred mill from my wishlist and decided to start the morning walk in the neighbouring block.

Its exactly a week that I have spent 30 min everyday walking and I feel great about it. I decided I will not take the excuse of the tredmill for not to go walking. Whoever is reading it- you should spend sometime walking, minimum 30min will do. Result from this effort would be

1. You get a very good sleep at night

2. The extra fat in your body is lost.

3. You get to breath the fresh air

4. Satisfied that I am able to spend sometime for myself

5. In future, I am sure to make friends.

6. You get to sweat, which is very much needed.

7. Get time to think about many thing when I walk.

8. The expected Diabetics disease which is heriditary will take some more time to make home in your body.

I have decided to capture any thing that attracts my eyes in everyday's morning walk. Today, its a temple which I cross by since last 7 days. Its brightly lit when I start my walk and when I finish and return the lights are put down and its more wonderful with the brightness of the morning sun.

"Bookless in Baghdad"

The title of my blog post refers to the name of a Book whose author is Mr.Shashi Tharoor. Currently Mr. Tharror is the Minister of External Affairs in India. He was earlier part of the United Nations. It was a rumor earlier that he would likely be heading the United Nations. But, it did not turn to his favour, his colleague Mr. Ban ki Moon became the UN Secretary General. So, Mr. Tharror returned back to his hometown which is Kerala, India and stood for elections in the capital of Kerala. Kerala is the state with almost 100% literacy. People knowing his capability has willingly cast their votes to him. It so happened that none of the candidates who has stood in Tvm for election earlier has ever got votes more that 1 lakh and 30 thousand. Now, its time for him to show how good he can serve the people who has voted him.

Apart from being an official in UN, he is intrested in writing. He has written few books whose count I do not have. But, I would like to tell about the book I read. Its a non-fiction book, its a collection of all the reviews and the columns that he had contributed to the Newspapers. The book has nothing much to tell about the land Bhagdad, there was a mention of it only in two pages where in he encountered citizens in Baghdad who are book lovers selling their owned books for cheap price in order to survive.

In all the chapters I have come across many new things that I was not aware about. He has completely changed the illusion of US that I had in mind. Initially the chapters are about few famous authors whom he is the regular reader of. It has opened the pandora's box for me with all the famous writers and what their writing is about .

I have made the list of the authors whom Mr.Tharoor has referred in the book and I am targeting to know the authors, meaning to pull them out of their grave. Here is the list of authors

Richmal Crompton - 'William'
Rudyard Kipling
- Kim- The wind done gone
Margaret Mitchell- Gone with the wind
P.G.Wodehouse- Carry On-Jeeves- Sam the sudden- Leave it to Psmith- The heart of the goof
Malcom Muggeridge- Something beautiful for God- Chronicles of wasted time
Roy Jenkins - Biography of Winston Churchill
Le Carre- The night manager- The secret piligrim- Our game- The tailor of Panama
Alexander Pushkin ( Russian)- The captain's daughter- Boris Godenov- The negro of Peter the great
Pablo Neruda (Chiliean)- Twenty love poems and songs of despair- Elementary Odes- Conto general
( Postman - film based on him)
Nirad Chaudhuri- Autobiographer of an unknown Indian
R.K.Narayan- The grandmothers tales

Earlier I used to go to the library and select book from from the set which is kept aside as read by others. Today I picked the book whose author is P H Wodehouse, there were only 8 books of his in the library and and do you believe the book that I borrowed "The eighteen carat kid and other stories" was first borrowed by someone in the year 1987.

Socializing

Today as I was relaxing in my flexible chair in office, I got a invitation from a friend to meet him at his desk . It's not a practice to get an invitation from someone who is sitting 3 bays away from me. Curious what the occasion is, we (along with the others who got the call)  gathered at his desk, he was actually distributing sweets to few selected colleagues ( whom he thinks that he is close or it could be otherwise) . It was a gathering where we were discussing the reason behind distribution of the sweets - he informed that he passed his PMP certification and was overwhelmed to share the happiness with his colleagues. We felt happy for him and we exchanged thought's about the exam and resources that he felt helpful. It was a very nice social gathering.

The reason I am emphasising on such a small instance which usually happens every time is because this is not the style which is followed on our floor often. Colleagues who want to announce the extraordinary happening to them, would just hand over the sweets to the Admin ( who is known by all) and provides the reason and she broadcast to the floor mentioning about the treat and the reason. The next minute, there is a flood of employees flocking round her desk, just grabs the sweets and turns back to their desk. Very few of them know the exact reason for the sweet distribution and when asked if they are aware of the reason, their reply would be that they saw a mail with the subject "Sweets" from the admin. Where is a concept of socializing here? Its like something free is kept at one location and people hang around to hop on it without knowing the reason behind it.

I feel that there is a plunge in the graph of trust as I find many people around me just speaking to one another for the reason that that they are the key member required for their routine work. It's very obvious on their face when they take the strain to move the muscles in their face to give a simple smile. The work life is become too professional that everyone has a reason behind so called 'help' that they do and is completely ignored if there is no expectation from one another.

Practical Test!!

I was busy with the cleaning activity at my home when I saw my son scouting on the floor. Wondering what he is about to do next I went near him. He looked at me pointing a cockroach on the floor and showing the same in his book that he had put beside him. He is pointing and indicating me that cockroach on the floor looks similar to the one in the book. The cockroach was in a bad shape and was struggling to turn so it could run. I think my son had a plan of dissecting it, which I did when I was in my college days. 

So, he is crossing his milestone activity as per calender quite soon. Good. But, I do question how a 2 year old kid grow up to start comparing things around . Its the beautiful mind you see..As always I took a snap of it. The Photo makes me smile.

How Crazy can I be!!

I am referring about a Korean show called "Boys over flowers", I am crazy about watching it. It was broadcasted by the KBS World channel and since a couple of months they have stopped the service through DTH in India because they could not renew their contract with the Indian counterparts due so some financial reason. Not sure of the specifics. Initially when I started to watch it, it was shows about their culture and food. The best part was that it had English sub tittles. Later on I caught up with watching few drama's telecasted, it was nice. I was found of seeing the handsome young sweet looking men and women in the drama's. When I became a regular viewer the broadcast stopped. Then on I was hunting on the net to know what had happened. I got to know the address of Authority who takes decision on such matters and I even wrote a personal letter to him. That was a different thing that I did after a long time (was only e-Mailing people but not posting letter to them) . I took that extra effort in this case. I also e-mailed the same person. There seems to be no change in their decision until now. My first work after coming home is to check if that channel is showing up. Unfortunately no.

Thanks to the Internet, I can watch those episodes online, but its not as same as watching in the television. The same could be downloaded as well, but those are huge files, do not want to do it. Now I am planning to buy it on the net, that's when someone within me is knocking and asking me what the hell is wrong with me. How could I be so taken away with few comedy episodes. My answer to this is that few small things make me happy and If its affordable to buy that happiness i should go ahead. I still have not made up my mind, but I have a convincing answer with me. I sometimes feel that I would get the DVD of those drama's as a gift!!!! Tooo much.

Comparision of two Generations.

Here I am with my son at Dominoz'. Its a dull weather and we just left our house in the hope that in the next 15min it would not rain and we would reach the Pizza center without getting wet. They have launched a new combo offer and we were excited to try it. I had a Pizza until I was satisfied and I am looking at my son, who is holding the pizza slice carefully in his hands and wondering which is the good part to eat. I compare myself to him at his age, the concept of Pizza never existed then. There was only the icecream which was kids favourite and I remember 'Dairy Milk' Chocolates were the famous chocolates, later it was followed with Nestle chocolates, I was also found of Esclairs Lolipops. Cornflakes also did not exist then. All we had was Cakes and Icecream and Popcorns. Popcorns are still famous. My Parents would take us monthly to the chat center and we would enjoy the fast food, but now my son enjoy the Air Condition at Dominoz and loves the ambience. I wonder how the next generation will be. Few snaps that I took when he was enjoying his pizza is here with.

Visit to the Native - Volume 2

I had a great vacation last week and I am very anxious to write it down. I believe my blogs will be my sweet memory after many years pass by. Now, my Vacation was at my Native. I know that I have written lot about my native in my previous blogs, but what I felt this time was very different. I had the best experience when I faced the ocean and when I went sailing in the boat for about 2 hours in the nearby river.

The beach that I visited is the Kapil beach, though not crowded, could anticipate a large crowd in the coming years when I saw Leela group resort construction happening nearby. The beach was very clean and silent. The voice of the waves was overwhelming. I stood carrying my son to wet my legs and when we found a big wave seeming to gulp us we would run away. He would laugh out loud. It was the his first experience, he was enjoying it.

Very house in my place will surely have a river flowing by at least 2 kilometers away from their house. So, I went to explore the river by my husbands house. It is summer and I did not expect the river to gush with water, but I did have a great sight of natures beauty.

I also visited Kiloor and the Anathapuram Temple. It was a wonderful experience. The shrine at the Ananthapur temple is made differently. The guide there told that the shrine was made of 64 ayurvedic items. They prepared the skeleton with small braches of a tree that is considered very holy and on that the body parts was molded . There is a 64 year old crocodile in the lake surrounding the temple, which comes out during the feeding time. The temple is surrounded by water, it was a very good view. There is cave found and its said that this cave will lead to the Padmanabha Temple which is at Trivandrum, miles away from this location.

The reason that I had been was to fulfill my Grandmother wish - it was that ones I had a kid a Thulabaram would be done at the Mundol Temple of the Mother and kid. Unfortunately she is no more, but we wanted to fulfill what she said. Finally after 2 years we booked THE day for the auspicious occasion which happened during this summer. For those who do not know what it means - Basically, we are bribing (that is what I feel) the God telling that you do this for me and I will donate Rice ( could be anything other substance) which weighs greater than ones weight to the temple. When my Grandmother thought about this she did not mention with what substance, it was a problem. But, you do find solution for such issues in our place. They see something called "Rashi", done by the Astrologer, he would confirm telling what substance did the passed away person intend to use for Thulabaram. I felt if funny... What we actually do is, we sit on one plank of a big balance and on the other plank rice is placed until it weighs more than mine and my son's weight. It is told that the person sitting in the balance should be having good thoughts. Just before one sits in the balance, one should immerse in the temple's lake and come wet and sit. This is to tell that he/she is purified. In my case, the lake was dried out, do not know if its acceptable. LOL. There are stories that even when 100kg rice was kept for one person some time back, the balance did not move, because he was not pure at heart. There is another person who has done Thulabaram in Gold, Oh my God!!! It should be the temples lucky day. Unfortunately, I could not take a snap during THE moment, may be next time...