Golu 2012 - The Sundal'O Sundal Times

Navaratri wins hands down for my most favourite festival ever. It promises good food, enough holidays, pretty dresses, noisy (okay, and nice) people coming over and gorgeous golu. We always aim to have the best golu in town. That is how the theory of continuous improvement was taught to us. My mother and her team (me, the brother, household helps aka multitalented divas) wholeheartedly aim to get more besh-besh than the previous year. We start the planning process so early that we can plan a wedding in free time.True story.

Golu 2012. This is only a part of it. We had other arrangements around the living room. 

My mother’s ever growing appetite for pudhu-pudhu ideas never helped. There was a time she insisted on getting the entire ramayanam and we played along too. We went ahead and bought a couple of sets to support the idea. That is how the ravanan durbar happened. Another year, we were high on ramyanam and hanuman came home lifting sanjeevani et all. Over the nine days, loads of loud talking happened on how the next year would be and we conveniently ( thank god!) packed the ideas along with bommais into dabbas.

Golu 2010. The first one, I ever missed.

Don’t blame us. The truth is, golu is more than just an arrangement of dolls.  It is the stage Shakespeare spoke about; except this one is at a tambrahm’s place with extravagant amounts of sundal, filter cofeee and lambodara. Times like those, I realise there is a director Shankar inside every one of us.  When I was about eight, my mother got into this huge mission to dress me up every evening in a different costume. (did anyone think of a Shankar padam song, now. Comment it out, please) Me, being the chamathu ponnu and the narcissistic camera obsessed poser gave her the least trouble and was very happy to parade around. The idea was to have guests sit for “golu shows” with me and my cousin sing, dance or say suklambaradhaaram.

Golu 2011. This picture is my favourite. One of the kids :(

After some dog years went by, we went the intellectual way. Do not mistake me for the inquisitive child, I was more of the i-ask-tough-questions-terrorise-juniors kinds. We had laminated sheets talking puranams installed near dolls and made any brat below my waist length to answer questions. Once, me and my brother awarded one pattani to a child for pronouncing “dhritarashtra” correctly.

I tell ya, we really did it!

With all the emphasis on innovation, the families also get creative with sundals. Someone served sweet corn and peas sundal and another wrapped sundals in news paper for a beach effect ( please do facepalm and say ada, raama). My mom’s motto of devotion, prayer is clearly not cooking a dish so we do not have daily sundals at my place. However, thanks to crusading maamis and home-hopping, there is never a dearth of it during the season. I absolutely suck at this ritual of visiting homes during golu. I know it is all fun to drape in shiny stuff, but when you do the same thing for nine days, every year for twenty years, it totally fizzles out. Especially, when they serve oosi pona sundal or payasam-style tea. Me and my brother devised a ritual to behave at a golu such that everyone is happy.

·    Stare at the golu for two minutes.

·    Make a mental note of the pramadham features and try very hard to find ways to get it done in next golu. (brother skips this step)

·    Compliment loudly on something normal. Mostly stuff like..oh maami, the thoranam is just perfect or these dasavatharams are so lakshnam. (brother usually over acts for extra sundal here)

·    Evaluate sundal; this is an expert process of tossing exactly three lentils and analysing the kara-saram levels. If it meets expectations, continue with rest. If not, politely ask maami for plastic cover and dump sundal with a sheepish smile. Everyone assumes you are packing it home and is happy.

·    Get into vehement protests to the oru paatu paaden ma..and start intently concentrating on the sundal or the park. Here, I wish to record that I have NEVER sang at a golu. Even during my paatu class days. Thank you.

·    Get the pink plastic dabba or the 10,000 km well-travelled pachai blouse bit and make exit. Oh, don’t forget to take some kumkumam.

The ritual worked perfectly for us, with minor deviations when one golu had a PS2 set up and another gifted geometry boxes.

This post will end with one of my favourite pictures of the season. The brother with his shiny new SLR has taken fantastic photos. This is a small sitting area in the living room, now refurbished into a mini krishna-leelai set. There is also a raavana’s durbar to the far left. I had to miss posting pictures of the national integration set, the village and the dessert because this post has become super long!

I hope you are all having a fantastic navaratri there. Mine is mostly office, home with strangely, some sundal for lunch boxes. Have a festive time, and look all pretty. I am only a little homesick. Curable with copious amounts of payasam-tea.

Note: If you are interested to know the spiritual significance of Navratri, please read this post by Chitvish.

P.S : I had italicised with an idea to provide a glossary. Now, I fear that will run to a post. So feel free to ask ( and not assume) if you do not get a word. I appreciate it, truly.

Longest

The journey back home after leaving a loved one at airport is the longest.

Clicked on reaching Langkawi. The mom leaves home today.

India Trip, FRIENDS and some pics!

I really hope some of you missed me. Let me assume at least half a dozen of you kept checking this page ( yea right, who am I kidding). The India trip was as always, awesome. I came back sulking and carrying loads of pieces of home. At times, I wonder when I will ever grow up to leaving home in grace. Gah!

On a totally unrelated note, I just got done with watching all 10 seasons of FRIENDS for the second time. I literally went from the first episode and thanks to it, my sanity is still around. Less than a year ago, I had never watched this show and took every possible opportunity to claim how I never did. So, how ya doin’ ?

There has been a crazy post of mine in drafts. I am spending this useful Sunday to revamp it and publish it. Before that, I will leave the post with some home pics.

Good Morning, Chennai

Morning walkers. Besant Nagar, Chennai

                                                        

The beauty of Varkala

Bajjis, anyone?

                                                        

104 Amar Chitra Katha Books now!

Thursday Thirteen - India Trip To-Do list

I am going home. After 8 months. It does not count that my folks visited me over x'mas. They really did not bring the Marina beach with them, you know.

I am sitting at the terminal waiting for the gates to open ( I am so boring, I come early to airports) as I ramble this list off my phone, from my heart.

This list is certainly subject to a lot of change; and don't kill me if I don't end up doing one of these. Me and my disclaimers! Here you go :)

1. Visit a sunrise at a beach. I am positive I won't travel to marina for this; but so have to try and go to Bessy,at least. Done. Went crazy with clicking.

2. Buy some sarees. I am not a huge fan of it, but of late started to have a huge crush. I am going to fulfil my family's dreams by buying all I can before this crush wilts away too. Done. Got a beige on pink tassar silk for Vishu.

3. My bestest friend has a baby girl. I last met the baby as a just born and chickened out to touch her. So so excited to hold her. Done.She was happy with me. Did not cry.

4. Get my brother to start a blog/web page. He does not need a push, but a kick to get things done. WIP. He is a lazy ass.

5. Have a cooking date with Chitramma. I am so excited about this! Done. We chatted for long and ate Mango Rasmalai.

6. Street shop at Pondy Bazaar and buy some really cheap earrings. Done.I bought stuff for 400 rupess off platforms. Might proud of it.

7.Meet folks/friends I have not met in previous trips. I am pathetic in the keeping in touch business. Mid way. I still had three dinners to go.

8. Check the guava trees I planted years back. Yes. Yes. They are so beautiful now.

9. Bully the brother to create a header for my blog. It's not without a reason he works in design. WIP. Anything with the brother will be.

10. Get a good hair massage and a facial done. Big time wish. Done. Amma did both. Her wondrous hands.

11. Steal the brother's Nikon and go mad experimenting with my unbaked photography knowledge. Done. I clicked even the Hindu newspaper in various angles.

12. Try really hard to make a trip to sowcarpet. Absolutely no time. Next time wish!

13. Go on my Scotty over Anna Flyover! Was not allowed to touch my scooty. WTH!

Did I tell you I am going to a wedding at Varkala? Kerala is my most favourite place to go after chennai. Everything about that place makes me want to buy a small piece of land there and eat a mini sadhya meal everyday. I am sneaking in a trip for templing around trichy. All this and more in a work/vacation trip.

Typing from an airplane is more awesome than I thought it would be! Here it goes online; from the air!

Update: I am home, waiting for lunch to reach my plate. I am super overwhelmed to see comments waiting for me! This is a surprise trip and when I told mom I blogged about it; she has started to subscribe to my blog! Yay!

Bombay Cafe Review - Bollywood Inspired Indian Place

The day you walk out of a MRT station, and just bump into a fun person to be with. And that fun, enthu cutlet agrees to come out for dinner. The day cannot be too wrong, can it ?

Before ideas fly by, I met Revathi at Little India last evening and we both were bored. She claimed to be hungry as well. I do not mind eating as long as there is boredom and company. Hunger is kind of not my consideration for good food.

We walked to Bombay Cafe. It is a very famous place, and not one you can miss; but I had never been there earlier. The place is bollywood inspired. It has posters, neon lighted posters and pink furniture. There, I said it. Yes, it is in pink. Go and see for yourself if you do not believe me.

The menu is very impressive. It has got pictures that will make you hungry and a wide range of stuff to order. We could not have tried all varieties. Here is their complete menu.

We ordered a Gobi Manchurian (dry) for starters. It was crispy yet soft on the interior, and very peppry spicy. One word - Must try!

 Like any self respecting Indian, I love Indian inspired chinese food. I heard Indian Wok above also serves tasty food. There is a good choice of sizzlers choices for maincourse. We ordered the Kebab Platter Sizzler.

The paneer is probably in house done, it was amazingly soft. Though they could have gone a little easy on those colours. No, I did not do bad contrast correction - it was that orange looking. The sizzler comes on a jeera rice bed, along with rotis. There was some more gobi, some vegetable kebab and a potato - besan based kebab ( for want of a better description).I took a snap with the rotis, but it looks all steamy with the sizzler smoke.

We had lemon based drinks - a soda and a shikanjvi ( a lemon drink with loads of chat masala and amchur). They had a impressive dessert menu, falooda et all. Next time :)

Over all, Bombay Cafe is a good place to go with a group, catch up with some tasty food. The place is smoky and noisy. Also, it is pink. So if these turn off your appetite, visit Indian Wok. Heard it is more of a fine dining place. The sizzler is a huge serving. So, do not get over ambitious and order way to much.

A meal for two, with drinks costs 40- 45 dollars.

Also, if you are in SG and looking for good Indian valentine's day meals - check this dinner at Annalakshmi.

A huge thanks to Revathi for mast company, and to Chandru for promptly sending the Annalakshmi picture!

Brownies Anyone ? - The Brownie Factory Review

I love Brownies.

I love anything that is nutty.

I am tempted to add a smiley to the title.

Image Courtesy here
The Brownie Factory is small in size but very generous in choices. They offer over 20 types of brownies to choose from and it is not easy to pick one at all. Conveniently, they have placards on the best sellers ( from 1 to 5) and offer the new ones with a note too.

I have personally tried their Fudgy Gooey Chocolate Brownie, The Triple Chocolate Brownie, The Vegan Nutty Brownie, The Salted Caramel Brownie and the The Caramel Pecan Brownie ( most favourite!)They also have convenient packages for you to gift or for a birthday.

The prices range from 3 dollars to close to 5 dollars. If I am not too wrong, the most expensive one was a cheesecake brownie at some 4 dollars odd. They are a perfect fix for a sweet carving, or for a not so awesome day at work. They also offer some icecream choices, which I haven't tried.

Triple Chocolate Brownie is one of their best sellers and it can be safe bet for anyone who wants to try for a first time. It has a crumby texture unlike a brownie and is with apt sweetness. Made a mental note to try their peppermint brownie sometime too. It has this pretty green with chocolate stripes. They have seasonal specials - for CNY they have mandarin orange brownie and some blondies as well.

Visit them at 1 Raffles Place, OUB Centre ( open till 8PM). This place is right next to a Swiss Bake and is opposite to a BodyShop store. They should consider renaming 1 Raffles Place to 1 Evil Place !

All pictures clicked and edited with Instagram. Pardon the poor lighting.

P.S : I hope you got the clue about gift boxes. I travel via Raffles Place twice a day.
P.P.S : The Salted Caramel Brownie is actually nice. I was just grumpy when I wrote this post.

Five reasons why travelling should be my To – Do in 2012

This part of the post is the TO – DO in 2011. December is going to be pretty awesome,packed and fun. For the first time, my family is visiting me here and I havecharted a TEN day Singapore (with a two day KL - Genting) trip for them. Before you pounce and comment on the lack ofstuff to do here for eight days, let me assure you – my schedule for them is pretty packed.

It is the first out-of-home long vacation for both, so I am really going to stop my nutcase antics, be responsible and act grown up with amma. But not to the absolute extent that she thinks I am ready for…you know what…

I have a strange and raising love for hearing stories and wish to travel across countries, meeting people and listening to stories. And someday, I want to learn photography so well that I can capture all my stories into pictures.

For now, I am not yet really there. One thing, I can certainly do is to blog about it. That is for 2011.

The plan for 2012 includes mostly SE Asia – Langkawi, Nikoi Islands, Sabah (or some partof western Malaysia), Cameron Highlands, Nepal and Kerala (mostly Cochin, or Wayanad). I would love to add Bali or Phuket, but really not too sure!

Apart from a multitude of reasons, this is why I MUST do all this in 2012 :

·   It is the last year. Sincerely hope, you all know the world is ending in 2012.

·   It is not exactly costing me a lot. It does cost, but thankfully affordable.

·   These places are great culture/food spots. Read my low profile stories on Thirucherai and Kumbakonam.I am sure; Langkawi will be a better story. Trust me, on this!

·   It is my futile hope that someone somewhere will see me moving around with a book,pen and crazy clothes and offer me a job in TLC Asia. Okay, just kidding. 

·   I want to be photographed in short hair. That lame, I am. I have got my first after-ten-years old short hair do now. Also, want to track the hair length in pictures :)

·   Because 2011, is ending on a great note. I am at Siem Reap, Cambodia as this post goes up live.

I wrote six. Okay, I am now lazy to change the title. Sorry!

Note to the world : I do not believe in buying you back a souvenir, but yea – leave a comment if you need me to own something. And yes, if you know of a great thing I MUST do in any of these places, let me know!

Note to self: Come back and read this post, every month in 2012.

Namma Chennai Rocks - Thursday Thirteen # 2

13 reasons why Madras aka Chennai rocks!

Having lived all my life ( barring the pre-KG years ) in Chennai, it is no surprise I am in love with it. I have travelled and lived for short durations in other main metros, but somehow the quintessential charm of the city fails to be replicated.

I rarely hate cities. I loved the bustling Hyderabad, the antique vintage charms of Calcutta and the smart chic Delhi I met. Trichy, Coimbotre are simply the most heart warming places for me to visit. The former because of my childhood love, and the later because of Isha, friends and simplicity. Ah, and the food in both places :)

Now on Chennai - the autos, the maniac driving and sticky sweat included(absolutely in my own perspective, I will try not to repeat food often)

1. The People and Jobs. We are a very cultural,educated lot. I say that, with a certain sense of pride. From the auto annae, the keerai kaari and the cobbler - everyone has an opinion on politics. People may not be the best to you, but we love our place. I have hardly heard of people from chennai migrating for jobs, except for a promotion or if they work with Google :) There are so many jobs available. Especially, on an entry level.

2. Beaches. I am a sucker at beaches. I love the winds, the sand and the messiness. Irrespective of whatever happens ( rains, sun or tsunami ), I love the beach. Had I been raised in Trichy or even Singapore, I would have missed this. No, Singapore does not have chennai or even remotely close beaches. Marina is now photogenic after the makeover. Elliots has long been my favourite kadalai beach for knowing the hep and cool chennai. We have one more beach, the Thiruvanmiyur one for amateur '8' design car rounds. Beat that, 3 beaches!

3. Food. Name it, we have it. I am not elaborating more on this. Tried the woodfired pizzas at Blur, or the Paneer Kheema dosais ? Yumville! Like every other Indian city, the street food in Chennai is brilliant. Thanks to migratory folks, we have bajjis, sundal and chaat sitting on the same counter. The under-rated son-papris and the over-rated milagai bajjis, we have it all.

4. Tanglish The most elite convent educated girls speak it here. We love our tamil. We love english. So we kalakify it and serve it with a smile. It works like a charm if you want to do shopping in chennai.

5. Pondy Bazar. A reason for anyone to visit my city atleast once. It should be a part of the tourism programmes there. The sheer colours and variety will bowl you over. To me, reminds of college time kurta walks and earring bargains.

6. Sowcarpet. If you have been raised in chennai and never gone shopping ( alone!) to Sowcarpet, you have missed it. The murukku sandwiches, the golas, designer sarees and awesome jewellery. Its our own mini version of Paris for fashion and Italy for food. And its an inspiring place for any juvenile entrepreneur (like me!)

7. Hop-On - Hop-Off buses. I am not sure if any other Indian city has this service. But chennai's AC Hop-On Hop-Off bus services are by far the best ways to go on ECR, if you do not have a car. Great views, and an excellent suspension on these buses.

8.Music Season . I am internally weeping at missing this. The smells, sights, colours and the sheer love for art my city has. The silk cotton crowds, beaded jewellery and south indain chic. The steaming coffees, kasi halwas and vazhaipoo vadais - A feast to all six senses. A place for celebrity spotting - do not be surprised if you find an yesteryear heroine (or a still-young Shobana) sitting next to you :)

9. Satyam Cinemas. Name me a place that offers an equivalent movie experience, steaming dosas on a bar stool and an unparalleled, creamy cold coffee. Simply the best place to watch movies. Even better than IMAX, trust me.

10. The Scene Colleges Stella, Ethi and MOP. Yeah, we are that awesome that we ought to be on this list. The tip of tongue tamil, the kurta-jean costume and the scooty whizzing around Nungambakkam. A treat. MOP is the best, though :P

11. Mount Road. We have one major road that connects you from one end to another - quite literally. Like the PIE here. And if you miss a right,you dont have to go all the way to another corner to get back, like in Banglore.

12. Traditional'a Moderna ? Have a vazhai elai sapadu and shop for ESPRIT clothes. Smoke on a hookah and head off to AF for a play. Nibble on a frankie and shop at Sundari Silks. Chennai is somewhere in between. It does not have the ultra cool post 11PM places to hang out and has a sense of laid back attitude in almost everything, but it suits fine for us. It is safe, spread out well, relatively organised (area wise) and has a blend of tanjavur to mexican food :)

13. We do know Hindi Chennai has got mostly a settled down crowd. The natives do not know hindi. We never had a need to know, because our marwari seths speak tamil. When someone says, abbey yaar, autowalahs do not speak hindi, I am fumed. Why would they expect a native nagapatinam born, educated chennai living autoguy to speak hindi? Walk into Tidel or Ascendas. I bet, 1/5 are from the aloo land.

This post has re-kindled so many happy memories. There is one more point, a very personal one that did not make it to the list. Chennai is the closest city to reach from Singapore. Takes me only 3.5 hours :) and we have budget flights that take for less than 100 dollars. Beat that!

Okay, I am in glee. This post was published on the most amazing fan page "I love Chennai "on Facebook. It is right here and no wonder, I am jumping up and down because of it :)

The Noises from Window

I live in an amazing apartment that has a view which can send a chemist to write poems. This picture was taken a few months back by my then roomie, a self-taught photographer, the computer software writer, and a walking body shop advert. With such a view to wake up almost every morning it would be gross injustice if I don’t blog about it.



And yet, the inclination to blog came in a step-up conversation (quite literally, on the steps from the bus stand to valley) with the next block model, info - techie Nadia. Considering this place is home only for another fortnight, I am tempted to write this.

I am no poetess so this is not a poem. And there are no men, or bad people so it is not one of my “I will crib, it’s my blog” posts too. I hear noises from the window. The beautiful window and the out of notes noises. Of course, jazzed with humor for you.

Noise from the Window – 1
Random chatters in mandarin, hinglish, tanglish and screams, squeals always in mandarin. To me honestly – mandarin, cantanese, chinese sound the same. I can vaguely distinguish bahasa, but I don’t hear much of it here. We have amazing experiences of hearing a language and I have played this little game with myself to guess what it is. After a minute of intent listening ( read : turning off laptop volume, stopping dreaming and listening), I realize it is a faint mix of tamil and english with a garnish of Malayalam in it. I have no offences, but this game is very time consuming. Especially if it is an Indian language.

Noise from the Window – 2
Loud Vehicles, not like the ones in this pic. The yellow fellow seems to be a quiet little thing, but actually there is a lot of vehicle noise here. It starts by 6 am ( thank for not asking when I woke up so early), and goes on at least till about 11 pm. Its 2.52 am now, and I hear a car speed by. Got no clue on who goes around in this forest area, but yea we hear noises.

Noises from the Window – 3
This one is a Sunday special. Thts when NTU decides to mow the lawns. Honestly, almost every day is like a post 11am wake up here. So, a 8 am manual mowing noise uproar is criminal. It hurts kids. I am hurt with it.

Noises from the Window – 4
Fights – all types of them. I know how chinese couple fight and make up, I know that indian girl who walks in tall skirts with her flowery guy ( intentionally messed up) and talks in coconut languages. And of course, the friendly Big Indian fight. Actually, we are not fighting. Just talking. Mostly on how the chicken gravy was uncooked at Can 1. It just sounds talibanish.


This is where He does the jing chak( Nunchaku) thing!

Noises from the Window – 5
Numchuks. It was about three months ago when I first heard this on one of my night alones here. It scared the wits out of me. I heard the sounds, and immediately asked Aunty Google - “ whts a jingchak” and got some quirky results. Two dinners later, as I was rambling on it – a friend LOL’ed and said thts a “nunchaku”. Whatever. We do not like the jing chak sound it makes. Not even if Bruce Lee used it, or it is the Kung Fu thing. Did I mention, I have a thing for Kung Fu..more on it, later.


Noise from the Window – 6
This could land me in trouble if the girls one floor below get to know I am sitting above their head and hearing their sagas. I better, not write on it.

And you thought, I live in a tranquil place, din’t you?




Photos from Revathi Kanduri and the Idea from Nadia, both linked on this post.

Drink of Colours - A Sherbet experience at Kumbakonam

As mentioned in my earlier post, here is the add on to it! This is also from the same trip. We visited a temple town called as Thirucherai, where the presiding deity is Saranatha Perumal with his consort Saranayaki. This was excerpts from my small tete-a-tete with the sherbet seller there!

Meet Mr. Vasu from Thirucherai

This frail looking young (!) man has been making mocktails at Thirucherai for only 40 years now. Have a look at his colourful conoctions!

Whenever I travel South, I try and whip up as much as I can of these tasty drinks. The different varieties are mostly Nannari Sherbet, Rose Sherbet, Lassi, Neer More, Chilli More, Paneeer Soda, Masala Soda! Vasu's shop sells only the sherbets and more varieties. I always bring back a bottle of Nannari or Rose from Kumbakonam, and treasure it with drinking only a glass a day. I dont offer this to guests as well. It is highly probable that I am not a big fan of aerated drinks, and prefer the natural ones because I have travelled and drunk some of the most tastiest conoctions ever made in this country!

I seem to have a tongue for drinks. Whenever the new name of a drink, preferably made my human hands is announced - I end up drinking it. I dont have water at hotels, but the drinks that I have even in the most obscure places seem to have caused no harm to me. And no, my systems are not the stong bear-it-all types.

Getting back to Vasu, he has 3 children. His youngest son is in college, and the first two daughters have been married off to Chidambaram and Nagapattinam. He is the sole earning member, and all the money that went to the books, jewels and all that jazz was earned by making these delicious drinks! He had his shop at the Thirucherai bus stop, which was removed due to a political party's demand and then he had to station it opposite to the temple.

This trip was in April. Thanks to the heat and the kathiri veyil, we ended up having 7 glasses ( 4 of sherbet and 3 neermore -we were 4 people). He charged us Rs. 35 totally. I dont know what kind of a calculation that was, but it was just that!

Recently, in June I visited Madurai - Alagar Koil. Sad, but there a paneer soda costs Rs. 10 and I was offered colour soda ( read as Pepsi) at most places I asked for Soda. My dear old Soda is slowly dying. I wish one of these MNC's take it up and revive the tasty drink. It wont be all that tough and many like me would have the pride of sharing the taste with their kids!

Misty Dew and Munnar

Chilling breeze
Cardamom air
Piping Hot Chai
Rained Grass
Long Roads
Clean Breath
Gushing Waters
Foggy Sun
Lovely Hosts
Aromatic Streets
Hairpin Bends

And I want to buy a house there, to sit on a porch with my kid and count stars.

Of all the other wonderful stuff, I loved, loved the homestay where we lived for three days. Aranyaka is owned and run by the gorgeous Poornima Arun and they have the most amazing in-house chef. Let everything else go, I fall for the puttu and kadala curry, any day. (sorry, we were gluttons and gobbled breakfast - so no pic!)

The super enthu me, in front of our home  - sigh, only three days! 

 The super wonderful hosts who managed to get a cake for my bro! Poornima got it all the way from Cochin, talk about customer service!

Yes my dearos, thats hot dinner served some 5000 feet above sea level. Piping hot. Picked from the resort. Pardon the dirty table, okay?

By the way, amma asked the cook there for the gorgeous rasam served and got the recipe. We still fondly call it the Munaar Rasam :)

P.S : Post updated in 2012 to link Aranyaka. They are a huge RESORT now! WOW!

Serial Lighted Gods - Meet the artist at Kumbakonam

I am so fond of people, as I am of places. I can be a professional people watcher, but am sure no one would bother to pay a penny for it so I limit my musings to people who I come across.Guess, it is a skill passed on by generations, that I end up having a mini interview with every single person - more so if I find them interesting and doing the not-so ordinary things. On my recent trip to the land of temples - Kumbakonam and Trichy, I managed to meet so many lovely people. It is always a pleasure to know about the kind of life we do not lead, and we probably will never lead.

Meet Mari - The Man Who Brightens Siva and Jayalalitha

Mari is from Nagapattinam. He is 70 years old and has never been to school. His family art and business has been making these giant illuminated God's and Goddesses. He gives the deepam that glows amdist crowded roads.He makes the Mariamman who stands tall in the neighbourhood koil. Ironically, he is also behind the Jayalalaitha who drives the chariot. For those who have not seen these huge illuminated displays, this is how it looks like.

Now to the analytics of this business - it costs him INR 12,000 to do a display along with lighting for one figure. This is bound to increase when he does like the one in picture. To be honest, I never really thought this would involve so much money! Anyways, pardon my ignorance!. It is done using bamboo sticks that are soaked in water for 24 hours and then wound together using wires, vazhai naaru ( banana fibre) and then wired with small bulbs. He mostly does it on contracts for the local sound suppliers. Now, thats the word for the guys who rent out audio facilities, shamiana and other such jil jaal for local events. The rent ranges between INR 5000 - INR 15000 for a night. Now, that's a lot of business!

Mari is the last surviving member in the family who knows this art. His children are employed in service sector and one is working with TCS. Impressive to know! Mari has come all the way from Nagapattinam to Kumbakonam for doing this Mariamman, because there is no one else in the vicinity who can do it. You never know, he may possibly be the only one in the state who does it. I met him at Ramaswamy Temple ( the place is taken on rent to do it, because it requires a huge spread of space) during my recent trip to Kumbakonam

It is wonderful, impressive and at the same time surprising when I come across a person like him who is not willing to let go of his tradition and art even at the ripe old age of 60. Kudos to people like this!

In the life of a Prostitute

After I decided to blog back, I have been thinking on what I should possibly right. A lot many things have happened in the recent few months, that am finding it hard to begin with. I was recently a part of the International Film Festival, organised by InKo Centre at Satyam Cinemas.

It was a visual treat and a platter offered for thought. Most films revolved around women and portrayed, what can be called as bold indulgence of thoughts. They were subtle, strong and splendid in their own might.

To mention in particular, there was a film titled - "In the Flesh" directed by Bishakha Datta. This 53 minute feature film speaks about prostitutes and their lives. Since knowledge, for reasons unknown and unexplored, the life of a prostitute has always fascinated me.

The endurance she carries herself with, the embodiment of her complete womanhood and the plight of her daily wages - everything about her has always been a matter of awe to me. I have always read their stories, wanted to know how their life would be inside those dingy rooms and red lipsticks.It may be because of this, that I sought to watch many movies that have spoken about it.( Some I could remember - Appu, Laaga Chuneri Mein Daag, Kanavu Mei Pada Vendum,Sringaram,Arengtram etc). With the same sense of amazement, i watched this film.

In the Flesh is a movie with a difference. It makes you travel with them. You see them forcing men to use condoms. You see them coax and sweet talk. You see them spread handkerchiefs and entertain clients. You see them speak with that aura of confidence over gender issues. You see a lady buy wine and dance around with her girl friends. You see a 60 year old, tie a bunch of keys to her saree pallu and wade of men who try to misbehave with her. You see the reality of pathetic their life is and how they still manage to smile and make merry. You see a enuch stand up and say I am a prostitute, and I like being this way.

And you dont forget the lady who says she does social service by being a prostitute. This film is a real realistic film. It shows you how difficult life can be. It shows you how insignificant we are in this sphere. It instills in me a new found respect for this clan of women who we have long neglected and long forgotten.

They have always been the epitome of what I can proudly call as feminism, in my sense. The sense in which there is no second thoughts of truly being a woman. A sense in which life is made a breeze although tornadoes continue to slash. A sense in which all said and done, slept and gone - you tend to respect the woman in her. Salutes to all those ladies out there, who have dared to do things no one else can and continue to do so.

P.S - This post, in no means is trying to promote prostitution or degrade culture. It is a clear expression of my feelings, after being through certain thought processes. All those who feel I am not "cultural" enough, please stay different. After all, opinions are meant to differ.