Food Photography

There was a time when I was scolded, whenever I took or attempted to took photo of the food items on my plate. Gone are those days. Food Photography is on the main stream now. In my mobile I can see a special settings "Food" in its camera. 

So, whenever there was a plate full of colorful items in front of me, I never missed to take photo of it. Sharing here, some of them. Each of the plate has many memories behind it. So, I am convinced that, food photos are another way to carry the memories with us. 

Samosa, Sweet bun with butter, Sweet bun with Jam - A Chennai special items, available in most of the bakeries in Chennai. Makes a good tea time snack. Used to be our frequent even tea time snack.

Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Gravy, Egg, Raitha - Our Favorite special Combo prepared on Special Occasions, and definitely at-least once in our trips to native.  

Hot Mutton Soup, with added Pepper. 

Even after reaching native to attend a wedding in Kerala, we couldn't attend the wedding, due to Corona Phase - II confusions, where they demanded a Corona Negative Certificate to cross the Border and enter Kerala. Thus, we missed the wedding feast too. Thought we will miss the "Maru-Veedu" function and the "Maru-Veedu Saapaadu" too. As Expected the "Maru-Veedu function" was cancelled, as it scheduled on a full lockdown Sunday. But the Groom was kind enough to pack the food and door delivered to all the relatives in native. Thus, we still enjoyed the "Maru-Veedu Saapaadu". Vegetable Biriyani, Mixed Veg Curry, Raitha, Pappadam, Pineapple jam. The combo also had Curd rice and Paayasam, that are not featured here. Tasted Pineapple Jam, as a side dish to Vegetable Biriyani, and it was divine. 

Nanjil special Kappa with Onion pakoda, as Evening Tea snack. 

Poori-Masala : Almost Everyone's Favorite Breakfast.

Rice with Chicken Kulambu, Chicken Fry and Boiled Egg. This lunch attains its special status as a Non-Veg dish that was made on a Full Lockdown day, with no shops open. A home grown Hen, sacrificed its life to make this happen :-).

Nanjil Special Thala Vaalai Ilai Saapaadu - Rice with daal (Ghee added), Avial, Carrot poriyal, Onion-Potato Curry, Tomato pickle, Inji Pachadi, with Pappad. Sambhar, Rasam, Two varieties of Payasam, Butter milk, Curd will follow. Makes a satifying feasty lunch. 

Virudhunagar Bun-Parotta, now available in Trichy. We got this from a small shop in Trichy. Crispy, tasty, oily, and with a Non-Veg Chaalna, it had a divine taste. Don't ask me whether its a healthy dish... We all know the answer... :-)... But can be had once in a while... :-)...

Virudhunagar Bun-Parotta, soaked in Chaalna.

A 15th Wedding Anniversay Special Heart-Shaped Omlette, spcially made by my friend, and Gifted to me.

Another photo of the 15th Wedding Anniversary Special Omlette.

After a long time, we had dosa with Fish Curry and Fish Fry. Freshly caught fishes, that we bought within minutes of Catching them in river Kauvery, near Mayanoor Thaduppu Anai (Karur-Trichy Road). The taste of crispy Dosa with Fish Curry is Ultimate, and it becomes divine when a piece of Fish Fry is folded into the Dosa soaked in Fish Curry.

Rice with Chicken Kulambu. Lucky to get a full leg piece :-).

My All-time favorite Tomato Rice, with Egg Omletter, Samsa and Mango pickle.

Mutta-Parotta, Parotta, Dosa with Chaalna.

Horizontal view of Mutta-Parotta, Parotta, Dosa with Chaalna.

- SPGR.

Book Fair Visit

 Before exchanging our "Super Splendor" bike for new one, I wanted to have a long drive with my friend. So, we started out in an afternoon, and the idea was to go on the GST road upto Perungalathur. It was a pleasure to drive my drive, especially with my friend behind. The Perungalathur area has changed a lot. I had come to this place twice earlier, for a happy joy ride. Once when my sister got a baby, when my friend's sister got a baby. On both the occations, my extreme happiness made me to take my bike that was parked in my office parking lot, and to go on for a long ride. I came upto Perungalathur, and bought sweets in a sweet shop near the Perungalathur bus stand, and distributed them in office, on both the occasions. There were only a few shops in that place in those days.

But in our today's trip, I found lots and lots of shops, the area has grown big and posh. After crossing the Perungalathur area, took a U-turn and turned back. On the way back home, my friend wanted to visit the "Book Fair" that was put up near the Tambaram Railway station. She had noticed the Book Fair during the on journey. It was a small book fair, including old and new books. Most of the old books were available at half the price. 

I thought my friend will just browse the books and select one or two for purchasing. But she went on to check book after book, and almost saw all of the books present there. Finally we selected 3 tamil novels. 

They were - 

1. Vellai Nirathil or Poonai (By Lakshmi)

 2. Idaiveligal Thodarkindrana (By Vaasanthi) and 

3. Soorya Vervai (By Melanmai Ponnusamy). 

We also took Mom's advice over phone for selecting the books. We also decided to have another trip with our little friends on Saturday. On Saturday we all went in our car, and reached the venue around 2:45 PM. We were there almost till 4:30 PM, and we selected a lot of books, including tamil novels, english novels and books for kids. Again this time, we were constantly consulting Amma for her inputs to select books of Tamil authors. We all had a happy time there and we all were busy selecting books. Kids were running up and down, selecting various books for them. 

Below is the list of books we purchased on that day.

1. Puzzle Train

2. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

3. The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain

4. Detective Stories - Sherlock Holmes

5. Vikramaditya's Throne - A collection of 32 Moral Stories (For my little friends cousin sister)

6. Brave Little Train

7. Fire Engine Flynn

8. Might Mac

9. Jokes & Riddles

10. The Sleeping Beauty

11. Prayachitham - La Sa Ramamirtham

12. Vanitha - Lakshmi

13. Vaani - Ramanichandran

14. Pavalamalli - Lakshmi

15. Kadasi Vari - Vaasanthi

16. En Veedu - Lakshmi

17. Thulasi - La Sa Ramairtham

18. Manjal Veyil Maalai Nee - Kaanchana Jeyathilagar

19. Porkasu Thottam - Indira Soundararajan

20. Andharangam Alarugirathu - Rajendra Kumar

21. Kathoram Oru Kavithai - Anuradha Ramanan

22. Nadhasura Osaiyile - Ramanichandran

23. Thulli Varuguthu Vel - Indira Soundararajan

24. Nesam Marakavillai Nenjam - Ramanichanran

25. Azhagana Kathaigal - Anoothama

- SPGR.

28-Feb-2021.

 

Ramani - 40

 

1. Friendly.

2. Caring.

3. Talented.

The above three are the primary qualities of my friend.

4. 007 - Was her Employee number. But she is a fan of Sherlock Holmes.

5. Became a watch enthusiast - A habit that she caught from me.

6. Not a movie buff, but wishes to know the story of all movies.

7. Believes that black-colored sweets are also sweet.

8. Fitness Enthusiast - A habit that she caught from me.

9. Good at programming - Something that I had noticed even while at college, tough she underestimates herself on this.

10. A story teller - Good at narrating stories of her childhood.

11. Fitness Trainer for kids - Guides our little friends on fitness.

12 .A to getter  As evident when she made our little friends into CBSE schools and making the dream of having our own home come true.

13. An achiever - Achieves everything that she sets her mind on.

14. A good cook - The first difference that I noticed after my wedding was that the food I ate became very tasty - probably because that was different from what I ate until that time.

15. A poet - Has written many poems, reading which, made even me to understand poetry.

16. A Rule-Creator - She became the reason for the birth of many rules in her office, like, no one should use knife in office, after she cut finger(a minor cut), when she attempted to cut apply in office. Another famous E-Mail from her Manager took rounds, asking people to reduce the amount of time spent on personal calls.

17. A good host - In college events.

18. A classical dancer.

19. A caring Mm - A lovable and caring Mom.

20. A combination of friendly and strict Mom.

21. Hard-Worker - Has spent endless hours to create many works of art.

22. A studious and talented person - As evident from being a Gold medalist and topper in both UG & PG. 

23. A bold person - As evident from all her actions. 

24. A right hand watch wearer.

25. Fond of costumes - Wishes to wear a variety of dresses - the style in which she drapes traditional saree in un-matching.

26. Learnt cursive writing with determination.

27. Learnt car driving with determination and able to drive on highway.

28. Leant playing flute - caught from me.

29. Video game player - But came out of that as her friend doesn't like it. 

30. Learnt Hindi along with her little friends, knowing when her Dad got surprised, as asked her "Do you know Hindi?".

31. Artwork Expert - Lot of Artzooka items in our home. 

32. Interested in nature, especially birds. I got to know the name of many birds from her.

33. Interested in taking and preserving hard-copies of photos.

34. Coin collector - Has a good collection of Local and International coins.

35. Stamp collector - Which she had done in her childhood.

36. An expert in cooking Biriyani - Leant form my Mom.

37. A writer - As evident form her blog posts and the stories that she attempted to write.

38. Interested in knitting - Has woven many woolen caps and items.

39. A Director - A skill that she developed, and directed our dance videos.

40. A firm believer of "Right is right, even is one person does it, Wrong is wrong, even if everyone does it."

        ***HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM - LOVING AND CARING*** Dhanesh

        ***HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM - LIVE HAPPILY *** Deepak

Happy Birthday to my Dear... Life is Beautiful, with you, because of you... 

--- Yours Every Loving...

--- Pavala...

2020 Diwali Release Movies

 This year we watched 2 of the Diwali release movies - Mookuthi Amman and Soorarai Potru - thanks to the O.T.T platforms. Both were interesting for their segment of audiences. 

Mookuthi Amman

Mookuthi Amman:

Mookuthi Amman, is a God movie of a different kind. Upon watching this movie, I understood one God (Goddess here) can become jealous of another God. The movie is more about God Vs Godman. In reality Godman become God themselves. One can realize that at one point of time, Siradi Saibaba should have been a Godman, with some good qualities. Thus we can come to conclusion that, with time, Godman become God themselves. We can even see statues of the prominent disciples of Saibaba, and they also are worshipped as God. 

The movie is all about who wins at the end: God or Godman, leading to an obvious ending. The best thing about the movie is that they shown the Greeneries of Nagercoil in its full. Many parts of it being shot in Vellimalai and Vattakottai. 

Being the son-in-law of Nagercoil, and a person who likes the city a lot, I know its landscapes and greeneries very well. Earlier I thought that the story will revolve around Mookuthi Amman, the Goddesss in the famous Kanniyakumari Amman temple, and the areas around the temple and Kanniyakumari beach. 

RJ Balaji keeps on talking, but think its needed for the role he's portraying, a Local TV reporter & the first son of a family with only younger sisters. As it happens to every Guy in such a setting - no one in the family listens to him or minds his words ;-).

Vellimalai is shown in full length and breadth. Also Vattakottai, which is shown as the Godman's ashram. The performance of the Godman is fantastic. 

The movie is worth a watch. Kids too enjoyed. My little friend Deepak initially was scared to watch God movie, as he felt that God will look similar to Ghost as shown in Ghost movies. I told him that God will be beautiful and will come in a three-layered make-up, and it did :-). The Goddess was beautiful indeed. 

Thank God, none in the movie spoke Nagercoil slang, which made the movie completely understandable to me, else I would have needed my friend's service to translate it to neutral Tamil :-). 

Capt. R. Gopinath

Soorarai Potru:

Story of R. Gopinath, founder of Deccan Airlines. Anyone with Entrepreneurial apatite will like this kind of movie. Suriya was the only disturbing factor as far as I was concerned, as I am not a fan of him and avoid watching his movies. But still went ahead due to its story, though my friend also hesitated to watch his movie. 

A kind of movie that drives one emotionally, and hence keeps us tied to it till the end. The hero, from a normal background faces lots of hurdles, financial hardships, betrayals, opposition from the powerful elite lobby and inactions from the Govt machinery. At every step, he never loses hope, keeps banging until the door opens for him. 

Finally, things happen as expected. Hard, constant, continuous, un-ceasing work never goes un-rewarded. The movie is a good entertainer - but for Suriya. But, however hard I try, I have to agree that his presence made me uncomfortable and it was not an enjoyable experience for me. 

Getting to know about Capt. R. Gopinath, he had achieved when was 52, holding onto the Entrepreneurial dream until 52 is something I admired, since that's an age, at which people in India, resolve to their fate. 

- Pavala.

Hand-Writing of My Friend

 Fourteen years back, in the initial days of our marriage, my friend was surprised to see my hand-writing. My normal way of writing is Cursive Writing. 

[Pic: My Cursive Writing (from my exercise workbook)]

She was happy to see my hand-writing wanted to write like that and challenged that she write like that in 21 days. I told her that I have been writing like that almost for 25 years. But still I have to agree that it took me just a week to learn that when I was in 3rd standard. So, it may be possible for her. I wished her all good luck. She wrote in a long size note for a week or so and stopped. We forgot the whole chapter after that. 

[Pic: My friend's Old Hand-writing]

In the lock-down, my friend and my little-friends were improving many of their skills and acquiring new skills. When my friend saw our little-friends Cursive hand-writing, her interest in Cursive writing got rekindled. She took an old four line note and started practicing, including both small and capital letters. She came to me whenever she had doubt. So, 14-years after her initial attempt, she started re-attempted it seriously. 

She kept on practicing, day-in and day-out. In the mean time, I taught her the basics of Cursive writing, like the letters can either lean to the right, or it can remain straight. But it should not lean to the left. Leaning to the left is not cursive writing. Cursive writing originated in the days of dip pens, and this kind of writing, helped to write without lifting the pen from the paper, between each dip. It normally leans to the right, in a similar way a person leans to his write while running. I re-iterated the fact that Cursive letters should never lean to the left, as leaning to the left will actually slow down the speed of writing. 

[Pic: Her practiced Cursive writing]

Her hard-work finally won. She was able to write in Cursive with speed and accuracy. Congrats to her, that she won in her challenge after 14-years. 

Below, I proudly present her Cursive Hand-Writing. 

[Pic: Her Cursive writing]

- Pavala.

9.6.2020