Nokia 2600c Vs Sony Experia

After a long time I met my college Parthi at the lunch queue in office. He stood behind me and was constantly doing something with his mobile phone. Last time when I saw him, he was having a Nokia some N-series. What he was having now was a device, bit larger than a mobile phone.

On seeing me taking a glimpse of his mobile, he smiled and said "I have bought a new mobile last week."

"What is its brand?", I enquired.

"Sony experia... 23k..." he replied.

I was thinking what that 23k could mean, whether he was referring to its inbuilt or supported memory or its price (about which I never asked). Memory is always expressed in multiples of 2 upto 8 and multiples of 8 beyond that. As he continued to explain about his new Sony Experia, I could understand that he had indeed mentioned the price of his phone.
I would hesitate to buy even a computer for that cost.

We reached the buffet counter, got our food and sat in the available table in cafeteria. He went on to explain about the features of his new phone.

Suddenly he asked "What phone do you have dude...?"

"Nokia 2600c.."

"Oh... come on man, still using the same phone... I remember you showing that to me 4 years back when you bought it... At that time itself, it was an outdated one and its a base model..."

He continued "You know what my Sony Experia has... It has an inbuilt multimedia converter... you just drop a video file into it, it automatically converts into compatible format, and the video is ready to be viewed..."

He never stopped or allowed me to talk, but continued "You know its camera dude... Its 5 megapixel, high definition... You dont need to have another camera for taking a picture..."

When he stopped for taking a breath, I took the chance and asked "Can I take a look at it..." and took my left hand forward so as to take the phone from his hand. He just pulled his hand backward (far enough that I will not be able to grab it, even if I stand) and said "Dude, even I have not explored all of its features... May be I can show you what I know..." and he went on to operate the phone, showing video, playing songs, showing the pics he has shot from it...

At this point, I clearly lost interest in his phone and was plainly nodding my head without taking any effort to understand what he tries to explain.

We finished our lunch, washed hands and went out of the cafeteria, at which point I asked him "Parthi, can you do what I do with my phone..."

He was surprised and gave a big laugh and said "Oh... come on man... yours is a base model... and mine is Sony Experia... Definitely it can do all that your base model Nokia 2600c can do... You will understand only if you have a Sony Experia..."

Having said so, he keenly looked into the display of my phone, to notice what I am going to do and also kept his phone ready in hand to repeat do what I am going to do.

I smiled at him and......... dropped my phone on the floor.

- Pavala.

The (Not So) Dirty Picture

After a long time, yesterday I decided to go and watch a movie in theatre. First I looked for watching "Rockstar", but came to know that it was lifted long back from theatres. So after some research on the net, settled for "The Dirty Picture", mainly because I came to know that it is based on the life history of Silk Sumitha and another reason is Vidhya Balan :-).

Decided to go to the nearby PVR cinemas in Ampa Skywalk for the last show which was to start at 10:30 PM. Started from home at 9:40 PM and reached at 10:00 PM and took a ticket at the counter. "Children learn faster than we think. So do not take them with you for movies rated A", was something I enjoyed reading on a board above the counter. Ticket rate Rs. 120. Costly. They are physically frisking us and checking us.Though they give the reason as for our own safety, they are actually checking whether we are taking any food or beverage(including water) with us. All such items are prohibited, since if we take such items, it will affect the sales at their stalls where the price of the items is atleast 3 times their normal price.
The multiplex is very posh and hi-fi and I started feeling myself as the odd man out, as I am not much used to these multiplexes.

I felt a bit thirsty after entering the mall and since I knew that water will not be available, decided to buy a pepsi and went near the counter. Seeing that the price was Rs. 70, I decided to stay thirsty for the next 3 hours and go home and then have water. The complex was very neat, including the wash rooms. Exactly at 10:25 PM, they let people inside the hall. I went inside the hall, and it was beautifully lit in mild red color tone. The interior was pleasant. But the hall was small with only about 400 or 450 seats. The screen was large. I went and sat in my seat - J-18. Next to me were seated a couple of college students, who didnt knew Hindi. Initially they made a lot of sounds and whistles, but soon they lost track of the movie and started sleeping.

The picture had a linear story line, about the life of a girl from childhood until her death (while she was still in her adulthood). Childhood portion of her was shown in just 2 to 3 minutes and the story jumped straight to her adulthood when she runs away to Chennai to secure a chance in the movies as an actress. So Vidhya Balan started appearing within 4 minutes after the movie started.

No double meaning dialogs, but just straight single meaning ones - she says after showing her photos to an assistant director "Sir, please give me a chance... Do you want to see what is not seen in these pictures...". Through the well-known technique of "adjustments" in the cine-industry she secures a position in the cine-world. Her failed loves makes another part of the story and when her love is about to be successful, she fails in her life. Her adjustments with an aging(or already aged???) top actor occupies the main portion of the story. Finally, like most ladies in the cine-field she gets ruined and goes to the extreme of comiting suicide.

Nashiruddin Shah has played the role of the top actor who exploits her. His introduction was superb. The girl, Silk, goes to a movie and in the intro scene of that movie, the Top Star appears. First a Villan throws 2 one rupee coins into the air and fires 2 bullets from his gun, the bullets hits the coins. Then the Top Star throws a 100 rupee note into the air and fires a bullet from his gun. When the bullet hits it, 100 one-rupee coins fall from it. The whole audience burst into laughter. One can easily understand who that top-star in real world is from this scene.

Though the movie had a sad end, since it was an expected one, it didnt affect me much. Some of the dialogues were nice, if we take them their straight meaning. "Opportunity comes only once, if you dont take it, it will go to someone else". "If you ignore and leave a job half-way, that job will never come to you again"... to give samples.

When the movie ended, it was 1:10AM. Was surprised to find a tea shop open on the road. Had a tea, and walked back home. Suddenly a bike that came from the opposite direction with 2 men slowed down near by and when I looked at them, and found that they were policemen. The policeman in the back seat said to the other "He is coming after seeing the movie". It seemed to convince the other policeman and they went away and I walked home. Good to know that they are people who are awake in the night and going around the city for our safety.

I would suggest a one time watch, but not with family and obviously not with kids.

- Pavala.

Vanavasam & Manavasam

Recently I happened to read the book Vanavasam and its sequel Manavasam, both written by Kannadasan. These two books happen to be a chronological listing of the main events in his life. Both the books made an intresting read, Like many I am also a fan to some of his songs. I do listen to some of the old songs mainly for its lyrics. When I hear some of the old songs I wonder that we know all these words individually, but wonderfully he has joined them to bring out such a nice rhyming songs. To say for example "Muttukal sirikkum nilathil thittikum ninaipai vidhaikkum..."

Definitely he is a gifted Genius. But in this autobiography-Vanavasam he cliams that he got that skill through practice. Its a surprise to know that he has studied only upto 8th and with that he gained to manage such a mastery over Tamil and its grammer and vocabulary. Vanavasam talks about his early life and his political life in DMK party. After reading this book only I came to know that Kannadasan had an active, but unstable and unsuccessful political career. Vanavasam ends once he quits the DMK party. Manavasam start after that and it doesnt end. That is, he didnt complete Manavasam. Among these two, it was Vanavasam that I found more interesting. I was surprised to know the background and early life of some of the political leaders who are top leaders now.

In many places one call can get the feel of reading a third grade cheap books. Especially in those areas where he narrates his visit to prostitution houses along with his friend, both were budding entrants to politics at that time. I have read such situations even in some of the stories of R.K.Narayan. This makes one to come to the conclusion that Men visiting such places has been a common, partially accepted activity in those times. Even in older tamil movies quite often we can come across the dialog "Aambalaigna kalyanathukku munnadi konjam appadi ippadi than iruppanga...".

In his preface the author declares that he has the said the truth throughout the book, but at the same time he admits that he has not revealed many of the incidents that happened in his life, since he feels that it cannot be revealed in public. He claims that the truth is like one being naked and one cannot be nake everywhere. I could understand his reasoning. Even in Gandhi's autobiography too, Gandhiji has mentioned that there are some incidents which only he and God knows and he wishes to keep them within him and God and not reveal to others.

We can understand this to some extent. Being human beings, guided (or rather tied) by social and cultural laws we all will have some part of our lives which only we and God know. Vanavasam starts with Kannadasan as a grown up boy with ambitions to reach the sky and rule the world. Then continues with his early days leaving his native, searching for jobs in Trichy, settling in odd jobs, primarily in the publishing industry which was in its infacy those days. Then moving to Chennai, then to Salem, coming back to Chennai. In all these places and cities he narrates the men he met, ladies he met, and lived with most of those ladies - varying from single night and sometimes upto six months - which is sure will make many jealous :-).

The author claims that the many leaders in political parties didnt practice what they preached - a fact that we can understand by seeing many leaders having more than one wife now. Manavasam describes his political life in Congress and also his abroad visits. Unlike other autobiographies, the script in these books have a different style, partly because it was written by a poet. Each of this book can be read once, and it helps to understand the ups and downs in the life of the gifted Genius - Kannadasan.

- Pavala.

Mankatha Free...

See what and all has to be done to fill up the theatre where Mankatha is put up...

Eight - 8 - Years

With yesterday I completed 8 (actually 8.5) years of experience in IT industry.

- With love, 

-

My new Automatic Watch

My little friend Dhanu used to jump with joy – sitting on his mother’s lap - whenever our bike crosses the Amara stores while going to the nearby park. Even now whenever we visit a park with slide, see-saw, zig-zag, he jumps with the same joy. Today morning, I also wanted to jump with the same joy when I parked our bike in front of the hmt showroom(?!?!?) in nungambakkam. I was literally not on the floor and was almost flying since once of my longtime wish is going to come to true in the next couple of minutes – buying a new mechanical automatic wrist watch. My other wish to have a high end digital watch was satisfied last year, when my sister got me a CASIO databank from US.

While I was studying in school, one of my uncle used to wear a watch which used to run all the time, without any need to key in. It doesn’t have a battery too. I came to know that it was an automatic watch. The words ’21 Jewels’ was written on the dial, while most of the wrist watches during that time used to have ’19 Jewels’. But it has to be worn atleast a couple of hours a day so that it keeps running. While at college, while going with my dad to the nearby weekly market, we found a guy who was selling used winding watches from different brands for a price tag of around Rs. 150. There I found an automatic watch in which the back case was open. For the first time I found that there was something like a pendulum on the rear side of the watch, behing the back cover, which was oscillating/revolving inside when the watch was shaken, from which I understood that this motion is used to wind a spring and this makes the watch automatic. I wanted to get this piece and my dad also went ahead to purchase that. But on knowing that we will buy that watch for sure, the seller immediately rose its price to Rs. 250. Father still went ahead to negotiate the amount. But the salesman’s act made me angry and I immediately dropped the idea and we moved away from that place, though the seller was ready to negotiate the price once he came to know that we are dropping the idea to buy it.

During my stay at US, I came across a Citizen automatic watch, ladies type, in a jewellery shop. I at once bought it for my mom and with utmost happiness I presented it to her. I still remember the extent to which my colleague - who accompanied me to the shop - got surprised when I purchased that watch which was priced around $150. About a year back, when my friend came to know about the existence of watches whose cost might be as high as 8 to 10 K. I even surprised here by showing rado watches which costed around Rs. 2,35,000 by taking her to the rado showroom in the nearby shopping mall. Upon knowing it, she at once resolved to get a costly watch for me, knowing my passion for wrist watches. She fixed the budget at Rs. 10 k.

Yesterday we went to P. Orr & Sons and saw a couple of models, especially Seiko. Upon entering the shop I felt odd, and uncomfortable, since I appeared to be odd man out there. Though she insisted on buying an automated Seiko, I didn’t go for it. I told I don’t want any of those high cost models. They did charm me, but I was not comfortable buying it.

When I browsed the net a couple of days back, I came to know that hmt watches are still in production and sold (only) through their factory outlets and one such outlet near our home was at nungambakkam. After some preliminary investigation on phone, we decided to visit the showroom today morning. Upon entering the showroom, I couldn’t find any watch displayed there and it didn’t look like a watch showroom at all. It looked like a government office with two people sitting behind the tables and doing something. I told the person at the front desk that I need winding watches, including automatic ones. He said he will show them and then only got confidence that its indeed a watch showroom. He opened a cupboard behind him and took a couple of medium sized box from it and took out the watches one by one from it. I just asked him that whether these watches are still in production, in order to confirm that these are not old stocks. He said they are still being manufactured and the company is taking measures(???) to revive the brand again. What I had in mind was to buy a traditional looking simple watch for a reasonable cost. I was surprised to see the HMT-Vijay(which my dad has, but not using now) was still available. I wanted to buy that one, but my friend said, since we already have it, let’s go for another model. Janata, Akash, Kanjan, Aishwarya were some of the models we saw. We also saw HMT Kohinoor, which my grandfather had. But in these watches, the back cover now is push type, instead of the screw type that we find in their vintage counterparts. Among them, when I saw the NASL 11 automatic, I immediately liked and selected it, which was a blend of the traditional and modern ones. The salesman said that this watch had a modern improvised machine in it. Finally I have an automatic watch with me. And the happy news is that my friend assured that the automatic watch for 10K offer is still open.

Here are a few pics of my new watch:

First close all those NCs

All assembled in front of Lord Yama in his durbar for the morning roll call. This was an arrangement made by Yama so that he can keep track of his subjects in his kingdom and identify those who might have escaped to earth(which is worst than this place for some) or to heaven and take the needed steps to bring them back.

"Today we have a visitor" announced Yama to his wards after the roll call.

The crowd started thinking whom it might be.

Yama himself gave it out after a short pause "Lord Hanumaan is visiting us..."

"This is just a courtesy visit..." he added.

Yama's assistants with the help of his wards started making arrangements to welcome Hanumaan.

A prayer session was arranged by Yama himself, wherein everyone will assemble in front of Hanumaan and sing songs praising Hanumaan and chant some slogans in an attempt to please him.(Author's comment - But I dont understand that what is the point in pleasing Hanumaan once you are in hell. May be people in hell can answer).

Hanumaan was punctual and he came flying and arrived at the right time. Yama gave an elaborate welcome and so did his subjects, except one Guy who was standing in one corner of the durbar and watching all these happenings.

Then people started singing and chanting, and Hanumaan was also pleased and seemed to enjoy the situation. He also didn't fail to notice that Guy who didnt participate in anything, but was constantly looking at Hanumaan and his activities. Yama too noticed the Guy and the Guy's activity seemed to irritate him.

After all the prayer was over, Yama called that Guy and asked "Why you didnt participate in any of the prayers... Don't you think that you are insulting our guest..."

"I have a reason for that..." said the Guy.

Hanumaan interruped "Sorry for interrupting... Can you please introduce yourself..." he asked the Guy.

The Guy told his name and continued "Before coming here, I working in the IT industry... earlier as a budding programmer, learning and coding on all latest Java & J2EE technologies... At one point the company thought that I was paid more than what I deliver to them and so they insisted on doing some extra work and sent me for some trainings..."

After a pause he went on "I attended a couple of sessions which they call the Auditor's training..."

Yama, Hanumaan and the people assembled seemed to have got interested in this and the Guy and continued "That was nothing but finding fault in other's work, however good they do it... which we call as Non-Confirmation... NC in short..."

"All that I learnt was that people do mistakes when they work, and its an auditor's job to find that out, report to the top management, and put them in trouble..."

Thus he concluded.

Yama asked "Now tell me, why you didn't give the due respect to our guest, Lord Hanumaan."

From the expressions on Hanumaan's face, one couldn't guess whether he was sad or angry about the Guy's activity.

"I have three observations about Hanumaan. In fact they are NCs... " said the Guy.

"What are they?" Yama asked. Hanumaan was puzzled and gave a suspicious look at the Guy.

The Guy continued, "First, when Lakshman was sick, Hanumaan was sent by Ram to bring the medicinal herbs to cure Lakshman... but what this Hanumaan did... Instead of bringing the medicinal herbs alone, he brought the whole Sanjeevi mountain... This is NC No.1"

"Ok... what else...", this time Hanumaan himself asked.

"Mr.Hanumaan, you brought the Sanjeevi mountain right... Did you replace it back in the same place...? This is NC No. 2"

Hanumaan nodded his head in agreement.

"anything else..." asked Hanumaan.

"Yes... one more... You say that Ram is your Lord and you are his disiple... But he walks with his wife and brother... but you fly to wherever you want to go... This is not agreeable and I would like to raise this as NC No. 3." The Guy concluded.

"I will not pray to Hanumaan until he closes all these NCs..." the Guy declared.

Yama, the crowd and Hanumaan too seemed to agree with the Guy.

Hanumaan had no idea of closing those NCs and started thinking whether there is any way by which he can audit this Guy so that he can come up with more NCs that what the Guy found on him. It seems auditees are alike everywhere...

Note: I became internal auditor in our company recently :)

- Pavala

My Home Theater

My Voting Experience

I started from our home around 2:30 in the afternoon in bike, taking the booth slip and the voter's id. I was informed in home that the bike has to be parked at a distance and then go by walk to the polling booth. I reached the place in 5 minutes, parked the bike near the school-where the booth was- and went inside.

There was only one person standing the queue and for another person the formalities like verifying his identification, applying ink in his left fore-finger was going on. He was a young man, should be doing his first year college, and this should be his first voting experience. He then went to the table where a lady in black-saree was seated, the second polling officer - instead of going to the voting cabin-and told her something.

The second polling officer then told in a loud voice "I do not wish to vote", probably repeating what the guy told to her. All the officers (that's how they call themselves) on election duty sitting there stopped their work abruptly and looked at him. The primary polling officer, a lady in green saree, asked him "Then why did you come here???"

He gave no reply and he again told his stand "I do not wish to vote", without any expression on his face. It was very clear that he lost all his confidence in our democracy. The green saree officer immediately dialed some number on her mobile and started talking to someone - probably her senior officer. Two more officers also started talking to someone on their mobile phones, trying to get instruction on how to handle this.

The do-not-wish-to-vote guy said "I want 49-O slip...". The primary polling officer replied "We do not have 49-O slip". At this point a senior man from the political viewers section(who were seated on the left side in the room) said "There is a rule that 49-O should not be used...". I was wondering whether such a rule existed. Or is he just telling so that the guy will proceed and vote. By this time the queue behind me grew to about 10 people.

The officers finally came to some conclusion based on the response they got from their senior officers that they will get the complete address from the do-not-wish-to-vote guy, and a statement that "I do not wish to vote" which will be endorsed with a signature by him. He did all that left the place with a very sad face. His face showed that he is seriously worried about the future of this country. The second polling officer confirmed with the primary polling officer that there will be a mis-match in the count between the number of entries in her register and the votes registered in the machine.

Then the person standing in front of me caste his vote and then came my turn. Identification was verified, signed in a register and they applied the ink in my left fore-finger. I was a bit happy to see that ink mark in my finger and I primarily came here to get this mark only, rather than to put my vote. Then went to the machine and caste my vote. When I left the machine I also felt a bit sad-though not as sad as the do - not-wish-to-vote guy - when I thought about the future of my country.

- Pavala.

We did our duty... You???

அப்பா அம்மா...

வரைந்து விட்டு தானேஷ் - இது அப்பா, இது அம்மா...

I was so happy to see his creative skills at 3 years...

Biriyani

I do not remember exactly when this elite dish entered my life. All that remember is that I have been eating Biriyani - the queen of all dishes – right from my childhood. What I remember very clearly was that, on 8^th of every month, which happens to be our dad’s salary day, along with other snacks, he used to get Biriyani for us. Most of the time, the Biriyani was got from the “Ibrahim Kadai” - a shop near our home, on his way from office. This Ibrahim Kadai is very famous there and almost everyone passing by the shop for work to the Railway Workshop will have a tea there and then proceed to their work.

My father, being an ardent tea fan used to have tea there atleast 4 times there, once while going for work, once while coming home for lunch, once during returning back to work after lunch and once in the evening while returning back from work. I guess thorough his frequent visits he became close to the “Bhai”, who was the owner of the shop. He was a humble man in his early sixties, sitting in the Kalla, welcoming everyone with a smile. Most of the time he wont be wearing a shirt and will be found only in his lungi.

On Diwali eve, our dinner invariably used to be the “Vaankoli Biriyani”, mostly from the Ibrahim Kadai. One day my father had told the Bhai that his kids wanted him to prepare the Biriyani in home. And Bhai was kind enough that he disclosed the receipe of the Biriyani to my father. One fine day, a sunday, father and mother decided to prepare in home. I still remember all the events that happed on the day. It was more or less a festive day at home. Early in the morning the preparations started. Mom was peeling lots of onions and garlic and taking other things ready. Being the first assistant to my father when he cooks, Mom was getting everything ready. Appa was also helping her then and there. We three, Me and my little sisters, being assistant to the assistant, were helping my mother.

The preparation went on elaborately, spices were ground, rice and meat was cooked, then combined together and mixed. Then it was kept for ‘Dhum’, a process in which red hot coal were placed on top of the lid of the container having the Biriyani. It was getting late and we all were hungry. I , with the help of my sisters, was cutting down the big onions and mixing it with curd, on my mom’s instructions to prepare the “Venkaya pachadi” – a side dish for Biriyani, which later acquired its

North-Indianized name – “Raitha”. Amma also prepared another side dish with Brinjal, the “Saalna”, which used to have a sort of sour taste.

We had the Biriyani in late afternoon and it was the best Biriyani I ever had. Until night I was taking rounds and having the Biriyani again and again. After this, Biriyani was cooked atleast once in 3 three months. Amma also learnt the art of making Biriyani in due course of time. Later when my friend entered my family, she also learnt it from my Amma and in our home now, quite often Biriyani is prepared. But the receipe got from the Ibrahim Kadai Bhai is maintained as a sort of secret within the family, and not dis-closed to anyone even with the extended family.

After moving to Chennai, I had the chance to taste different varieties of Biriyani. I was surprised to find that the Mogul Biriyani has a sweet taste with some sugar content in it. One bad thing I noticed in Chennai is that they cook the base rice with the spices, and have chicken, mutton and egg separately. This base rice then becomes chicken, mutton or egg Biriyani based on what is kept inside that rice and served. This type of Biriyani lacks the taste of the native chicken or mutton Biriyani. Later I came to know that even Fish and Prawn Biriyani existed. My favorite is chicken or mutton Biriyani, with a chicken fry side dish and a boiled egg.

Even now, all the days on which Biriyani is prepared, is a festive day in home. Hope a day comes when I will prepare the Biriyani on my own and give the same happiness to my little friends, as that happened in our during my childhood.

புதிய பழமொழி - எண் 10041

வீணாபோகுதேன்னு குப்பைல போட வேண்டியதை தூக்கி தொப்பைல போட்டேனா, நீ வீணா போய்டுவே....

- பவளா.

என்னோட நண்பி இதை புதிய குறளாக இப்படி மாற்றி உள்ளார்:

வீணாவதை குப்பயிலிடாது தொப்பையில் இட்டால்
நீ வீணாவது உறுதி.

- பவளாவின் நண்பி.

அவங்க ஏன் அப்படி இருக்காங்க???

தாணுவுடன் வாக்கிங் செல்லும் போது, சீரியல் புல்ப்களால் வைக்க பட்டு இருந்த கட்-அவுட்யை பார்த்து கேட்டான்:
"அவங்க கைய ஏன் அப்படி தூக்கி வைச்சு இருக்காங்க???"

இது தான் அந்த கட்-அவுட்...
- Pa

The cup of milk...

My Food

My Dinner Yesterday...


South Indian meals from my office canteen...


North Indian meals from my office canteen...
- Pavala

Marriage-Make Up (Bridal Make-Up)

These days applying make up for the bride has become an inevitable and unavoidable event during marriage - for the obvious reason - many people have to face her and she also has to face many. And we can understand how this situation will be without a 2 or 3 layered coating of make-up. Also one has to remember this make-up or anything is not applied for the Guy, again due to obvious reasons :-).

The event of applying the make-up takes atleast 1/3rd of the total time allocated for the marriage. For a bridal make-up, the make-up lady comes a couple of hours before the marriage along with her acquaintances. I have difficulty in understanding why this lady has applied more make-up to herself than the bride... She will take the bridge along with her for the make-up session. They will lock themselves up inside a room, and we Guys never ever know what happens inside. After a couple of hours when the bride comes out, she will be an entirely different person.

The girl before the make-up may look pretty or average or anywhere in-between. But after the make-up session, they all look alike. I appreciate this uniqueness of the make-up process which brings all the girls to a common platform - pulling-down the good-looking ones, pushing-up the average-looking ones and adjusting the in-between ones. Some men before tying the holy knot get confused whether its the same girl which he saw before in the earlier marriage related events. (Here I would like stress my stand on the point that beauty is a relative term and it always lies on the eyes of the beholder. A girl who appears to be good-looking amidst one set of girls may appear average or below average amidst another set of girls. But I have to agree that to every guy, their special ones always look beautiful and pretty, not matter what :-)...).

Now this event appears to have taken another dimension. Ladies, who will be otherwise mere spectators of the marriage, also started having a make-up session before attending it. Though they may not confront the situation described in the first para of the article!!! May be they think or assume that they also face such a situation in the marriages they attend.

In my grand-mother's days, the bride would have just washed their face and come to the stage. In my mother's days, they would have applied a coat of talcum powder in addition to washing-face. But now... This makes me to think or assume that over the period of time, due to evolution, girls have lost their inherent beauty and because of this they have to augment it with supplements.

- SPGR.

சுனாமீன்

சமீபத்தில் என் குட்டி நண்பன் தாணு தன தாத்தாஉடன் பீச்சிக்கு சென்று இருந்தான்.
அவனது தாத்தா அவனுக்கு மீன் பிரை வாங்கி தந்தார்.
தாணு கேட்டான் "தாத்தா, இது என்ன மீன்...?"
"சங்கரா..." தாத்தா சொன்னார்.
"எனக்கு வேற மீன் வேணும்..."
"என்ன மீன் வேணும்..."
தாணு சொன்னான் "தாத்தா எனக்கு சுனாமீன் தன வேணும்..."
"அது மீன் இல்லை... சுனாமி..."
"ம்ம்ம்... அதன்... அந்த சுனாமீன் தன வேணும்..."
சமீபத்தில் வந்த சுனாமி நியூஸ் எல்லாம் பார்த்துட்டு அது ஒரு ஒரு டைப் மீன் என்று நினைத்து விட்டன போல...

- பவளா

Happy Women's day

I dont know whether being born as a woman is a boon or a curse. But still here goes my wish - Happy Women's Day!!!

- spgr.

Miles to go after I wake up...

After a long time, last week I woke up around 5 AM in the morning. Indeed this is happening after a long time, and I have been trying for this since Jan 1st of this year. With no agenda, I just sat in front of my laptop and started thinking how my various mornings all these years have been.

Without any doubt some of my best mornings were the ones I spent in my native in my maternal grandparents home. It was a village on the Erode-Coimbatore main road. Our grandparents home is just near the main road. As we used to sleep outside the home, for the whole night we used to hear the horn & sounds of the buses and lorries hurrying on the road. My grandmother will be first to wake up around 5, followed by my grandfather. Grandfather will wrap himself around a blanket and walk to the Moopanar tea kadai for his morning tea, which is also near the house around 50 feet on the other side the road. If I wake up early I also used to accompany him to the tea shop. In fact on most of our mornings, we used to wake up hearing the Murugan saamy songs from the Moopanar tea shop.

By now grandmother would have started the process of tea preparation in the make-shift stove made out of 3 stones kept near each other, fuelled by logs. I still remember the tea pot with its dark outer side. I used to go near the stove and watch the preparations. We all will wake up one by one and join for the morning tea chat, sitting on the corridor. Having idli bought from the Idli kara aaya at 7 AM is another memorable event in the morning. That aaya will sell only idlis and the taste of the sambar she gives is so unique, which I have never tasted after that.

Mornings spent in my paternal grandparents also used to equally good, till I was young. There also tea sessions, followed by idli from idli kara aaya. I used to wonder, how here also there is a idli kara aaya. This aaya used to have dosa also along with idli. Around the same time my grandfather would have caught a hen from the flock and started the preparations for the chicken kolambu. If I describe how that hen gets converted to chicken kolambu, then this post will become a very violent one.

Now let me move to our home in Trichy where I grew as a child. How can I forget those sunday mornings which invaribly starts with Rangoli. It is the sound of the Rangoli which normally wakes me up on a typical Sunday. I used to peep out of my blanket to watch the Rangoli, the same old songs again and again. Once Rangoli got over, it will be followed by 2 or 3 cartoon shows(which we used to call Bommai Padam) of Micky Mouse or Donald Duck (or) Charlie Chaplin in the later years. And a typical morning on a sunday will extend till 12 in the afternoon.

It was on one morning that it happend. I was studying in 6th standard and I was studying for the geography annual exam. It was the last exam after which school closes for the summer holidays. I have asked my mother to wake me up at 6 o' clock in the morning since I have to study the pending portions. I had to push so hard in order to finish them. I thought if I had studied the lessons on a daily basis, I would not have to suffer like this. On that early morning, I took an oath that from 7th standard onwards, I will study my lessons daily and will cover up the portions taught in the class on the same day. I followed it and it did wonder. I kept this oath until my PG and reaped the benefits of it.

My hostel days in Coimbatore used to be very different from other ones. I used to wake up as early as 4:30 AM, inspite of going to bed around or after 12 in the mid-night. Lying on the bed I used to recall all that I studied in the night. This will be followed by a quick revision of the previous day's portions. So all mornings during my college days were study mornings.

During my days in US, after the call with offshore call, will be going to bed very late and will be waking up late with sufficient time just to get ready and rush to office. During weekends, my mornings will start around 12:30 PM or later.

After marriage, in my in-laws home, invaribly all my mornings started very very late. And I enjoyed the royal treatment I received there :-). Similar to the mornings in my grandparents native, I also had memorable mornings in my wife's native. Morning started early, followed by a visit to the Periyaaru river with her little brothers for the morning bath. On one such visit, I would have been washed away in the river, since I didnt know swimming. It was her brother who pulled me back to the shore and I shall be grateful to him forever :-). This will be followed by breakfast and coffee, which is combinedly called as 'Kaappi Kudithal' in her native.

After joining for work, until recently my mornings started at 8:00 AM or later. As years have passed, I have become very lazy and seeing the side effects of those now. From 2011, I have decided to wake up early and after lots of efforts, able to wake up at 5:00 AM from last week. I have try waking up even more early in the coming days. The amount of time we get when we wake up early is amazing. With lot of agendas, I have to wake up early from this year.

And miles to go after I wake up,
And miles to go after I wake up.

- SPGR.

I invite Shen and Dhanesh Amma to write about their mornings...

Bonda Koli

For long I had this doubt - Why those white coloured hens are called 'Bonda Koli'. While helping my friend in cooking I just posed this doubt to her.

She told "See, while making bonda sometimes people immerse egg in the bonda flour and and make egg bonda. This bonda is not natural at all(???). From that egg, which is inside the bonda, no Koli will come out. Similarly, in the eggs laid by those Kolis, no Koli will come out and also those Kolis developed using an unusual process and because of this they never reproduce. So they are called as bonda Kolis. "

I was totally confused as it seemed both logical and un-logical. Can someone validate the above statement of my friend and / or call tell why those Kolis are called bonda Kolis???

Also I have one more doubt - Why we have only bonda Kolis? Why not bonda Aadu??? or Bonda Maadu??? Can't we create them using the same un-natural processes??? Please answer...

- Confused Pavala.