Homeopathy - A wonder medicine!

A healthy discussion on homeopathy happening in one of the mom's forums.

 Its sad how allopathic medication and our practices have invaded our freedom of thinking and execution of the path of medication we follow. When we give allopathy to our children, we know that the doctor is giving steroids thru nebulisers, we know that the steroids can make our kids obese, we know antibiotics are strong on the little body and we know that vitamin supplements are given alongside to taper down the ill effect of the strong anti biotic, and we know the side effects of such administration too!! (infact, like how disclaimers are telecast on dumb crappy regressive women filled hindi serials) the same warnings and disclaimers are printed on black and white with every antibiotic medicine that comes to us. 

But when the question is about administering homeopathy, people feel the sugar globules which come with the miniscule quantum of medicine mixed in them are what gave diabetes to their kith and kin. Without giving even a bettered eyelid of a thought back to their genetic backgrounds whether anyone in the family already was diabetic, what were the life style practices of the near and dear which could have led the person to get diabetic.. nothing.. It is looked upon as some alienated poison being administered , and people seem to carry a taboo on those practitioners who do not reveal the medicine names on asking. for the simple reason that, they will stop getting even that 20 rupees per dram bottle next time the same ailment happens and its a sure cure and since there's no side effect.. the doctors wont be approached at all once again 

While the same logic of patients to keep coming back is applied by those huge drug houses using larger than life marketing strategies such as developed nations dumping drugs on developing countries through grass root level doctors promoting using medical representatives who woo those doctors with raam jaane kya kya rishwath!! End result.. we still buy those antibiotics since if we dont give the kids that.. life is endangered kind of fear that gets instilled into us...
Chanakya sure said ages ago.. World will listen to the Wise, Wealthy and the Powerful all the time and not 'Just the Wise' How very very true!!

Patch Worked Quilted Reversible Recycled Tote Bags - Jholna Bags

Satthvam's Maiden Effort at making Recycled Jholna Bags (Jholas). 

Made with 4 different duppattas out of this set of duppattas given by the customer to recycle for a christmas bazaar happening in December this year...

 Quilted and Patch worked with some beads for embellishments..

While matching fabrics, took care such that, all the 4 fabrics had a common base colour either orange or red. When it comes to satthvam's products. Utility is of foremost importance.. Hence many creations from clothes, we have made sure are usable as reversibly too!  
This is how the bag looks when you use the reverse side if it :-) 

In this pic you can also see the user friendly carton base which goes inside the jholna bag and sits as the base of the bag. This cloth carton base covered with cloth has a one side open edge where in you can remove the carton manually and wash the piece of cloth in case of stains, dry , put back the carton into its rectangular cloth cover and lo its ready for you to use again!! 

Hope you found this post informative. Do share your feedback and comments. it will help motivate me a great deal to share more such DIY tricks :-) 
Vidya Ramamurthy
Satthvam
Bangalore
9886101278

Modi ji addressing the Indian Americans at the Madison Square Garden

Narendra Modi ji.. What a prudent politician!! 

Am i the only one who felt Gandhiji had reborn?? his soul must have wandered a whole of 2 and half years plus to arrive from the right womb!! What a man! What a movement in himself!! 90 minutes of engaging the audience non-stop confidently in our own swadeshi bhasha!!

What an amazing back end support force he must be having.. I know most of his speeches are impromptu.. but there are these unsung brains behind this great leader!! who might throw in pointers here and there. For instance.. that 100 year effect of Gandhiji returning back to india in 1915 and Modiji's ushering the Indian Americans back home in 2015..brilliant.. brilliant.. absolutely brilliant.. India has arrived and is on a Golden pedastal thanks to the one man! Modi Bhai... We love you!

An Introspection? How rooted are we Indians to our basics, say to start with our mother tongues??

This revelation took me by a jolt. Here I was always talking to my boys in tamil so they dont forget their mother tongue. And i can to some extent be proud that Arjun has picked up and he speaks good tamil back to me! But i seem to have lost it with Nakul the little fellow. I should be a proud mom when i hear a 3.9 yr old talk away in english with no grammar mistakes!.
Amma, I dont want sandwich for snack box today, give me idli and molapodi. Amma pooja aunty says Nakul is the best boy in the town, I tell aher aher.. ( the ha he uses is very sweet!!) I tell aher Arjun is the best brother in the town.. all this in one breath!! 

But wait, this was after i asked him in tamil 'inniki school la nee yenna panne' the answer comes in english. This evening when i was heading to the 'paatu class' introductiong round to the guruji closer home in an apartment complex. As the kids and me looked around to ask directions to someone, a kid asked looking at us are you looking for the music teacher's house am going there too. I ask him for how long have you been going to him,he's all about 8 yrs i could say, he replied from 2 years. I ask him do you love coming to the music class..He smiled and said a yes! I ask him so what do you speak at home. His reply JOLTED me, I speak english aunty but my mother tongue is Telugu!!

Well, Nakul will say the same thing in a few years if i dont address this problem!! I am scared and would want to correct it at bud.. Am going to be constantly telling myself to repeat and repeat myself to nakul in tamil. If i get a response in english , am going to be talking back in tamil and nudge him to do so.. This is going on for the last 10 days.. and for now he says something in english , looks at me, pauses and looks at me questioningly as to why i have not replied then realises that he's not doing something he's got to do and asks amma tamizh la? then i lead him as to how he could say the same thing in tamizh!
This should get better!! Whats your situation!! lets introspect !

My New found love for Quilted Zipper Pouches

Quilted Zipper Pouches will soon see another adjective added to the title 'Patch worked'. 

These pouches went as keepsakes to a friend in Thiruvella, Kerala. These are 3 layered pouches where, the outer layer is interfaced with a canvas sheet or sometimes a bedsheet thats gone unused and sewn together using the criss cross stitch pattern all along the fabric. A 3rd inner lining layer is added so the pouch is sturdy! . You will be seeing a lot of mix and match and patching in these pouches moving forward. Very excited about it!

Being a part of the Desi Quilter's forum on facebook has been of immense inspiration. Indian women are amazingly talented. Thanks to Facebook and other forums, we women have found our calling! You must join the group to see the amount of creativity that flows in each and every member's post in the forum. 

You must necessarily be a quilter to join this group on fb and  strictly restrict your posts to Quilting related ones only. Do check the link here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/233721996728443/. Have fun sewing!

Bekhauf Aazaad hai Jeena mujhe!

Bekhauf Aazaad hai jeena mujhe, Bekhauf Aazaad hai rehna mujhe! - Finished watching Satyameva jayate season 2 first episode. The fight against rape.

What did the hour and half teach me! exactly the words of Svati chakravarthy and the Strong, impressionable Voice of Sona Mohapatra resonates again and again in my ears. There the perspective was rape.

Here , in my post I urge every woman, college... students, girls who just got their first pay cheques, married home makers, single moms, struggling in one form or the other in their lives. Facing humility, facing MCPisms, facing a kind of baandhi ke jaisa jeevan, facing insults, being controlled by the male super power of her life, being told how to lead her life, living a life of fear.

ARM YOURSELF FINANCIALLY! Married homemakers who might have the most loveliest of husbands who sort of are reeling in the pleasure of being a dependant housewives (arise - choose something that could be a hobby which can turn into a small biz and give you a pocket money), girls who got their first pay cheques -DONT SPLURGE IT IN THE MALLS AND END UP with a Zero balance in a week's time.

Arise - For you need to save every rupee you can for an unforeseen tomorrow! When I say unforeseen tomorrow , it could be anything! You know it..you dont know it, you can foresee something thats going to change in your lives.. Arise, get alert and start saving from today!

This post came into my mind instantly when I saw Suzette Jordan , a single mom of 2 kids and Urmila and her husband with 3 kids together in the dias seated next to Aamir khan! my mind chalked down the differences in both urmilas and suzette's social stature! Suzette today has not got justice for her own case. But came out of her cucoon to fight for a colleagues contacts rape case since she is educated, employed and is though financially not sound , but is in a much better strata when compared to urmila to fight for her/others rights!!

Never take a day that goes by easily! Be armed to face the worst!

On Satthvam my Recycle Venture on Facebook

Another loooooooong post alert but am sure at the end of reading it you will feel happy as I share it with you all!
Here's the link to my page https://www.facebook.com/Satthvam
Here are a few pictures of our products

Several unique things happened in the week that went by!



1. Satthvam will start retailing our potlis at a well known mix n match store in the heart of the city! We will use their excess stocks / merchandise and convert the same into potlis and other utilities!

2. The customer who bought the 20 anklet boxes from the ‘stocks available’ album extended her order by couriering a couple of her lovely chikan work duppattas that she did not use to convert them into jewelry potlis and other utility potlis! Work almost complete!

3. A jewelry maker , crochetter, embroidery artist – ordered for earring and necklace potlis, continued her order with asking for 3 vegetable storage bags for the fridge. Did not stop with that , she has sent cartons that she has saved up to make random sized boxes out of them!

4. Through word of mouth this lovely lady who runs a gifting/ printing solutions venture whos husband runs a flour mill came home and I discovered she’s another recycle ‘enthu cutlet’ Antara Mukherji, taking your permission to use your brand name since the adjective fits her perfectly! She pulls out a pouch that she uses which is made out of the boris. And suggests she wants gift envelop covers made out of those flour packaging boris (plastic fibre sacks) and other utility based bags! Trying out a bunch sooner now. I hope my sewing machine gets friendly with the plastic fibre material . That seems to be the only glitch here

5. Finally done with the silk blouse scrap challenge wala order that I messaged about a while ago. The thinnest of the potlis are which my jewelry maker customer’s buyer can atleast re use them to storing a small mirror and ‘face lifters’ . thinnest one measured 2 and half inches width and but long about 6 inches tall !!

6. There was this instant connection with yet another new recycler friend who does similar things that I do with satthvam. Yet she discovered I could sell her some packaging boxes for the recycled bags she couriers outside hyderabad! This time, 20 kellogs boxes , 5 butter carton boxes and 5 rectangular medium sized boxes are going to be couriered to her. The first thing I told her about was the courier cost since to courier kellogs boxes is not a joke! Its always volumetric cost. The response she gave endears me even more closer to my passion! She was bent upon the fact that she HAS to use satthvam’s boxes. I was touched! A similar thing had happened to me from yet another lady who got birthday favor bags of the kellogs 700gms size. I tell people if the courier cost goes beyond 200 bucks I share the overheads ..

7. My soul sister n dear friend Sharmista Shankaranarayana is back from a hiatus to re –running her baby venture Gitali which supports women empowerment by providing a better livelihood to the deserving , multi talented under previleged women who work on different product lines. Satthvam will soon begin a new series of products which shall be retailed with Gitali. The profits there on shall be used to train these women in any additional skill they may require to hone their current hobbies / talents.



Seem to have shared quite a few recyclable ideas myself thru writing this post! You might think I am not being wise by letting go product secrets and giving way for replicas without holding a copy right.

But thats the whole idea! every one must recycle in some way or the other isn't it!! Thats what a recycler is all about. We have a doubled up responsibility. We should not only spread the message about making the world a better place to live in but also do what the Nike tag line says! 'Just do it' ourself too, every day , day in and day out!!

The Bean bag that escaped from Arnab's studio!

(This)Claimer - Thsi article has complete relevance to the happenings in the recent past that which has shaken the bellies , tickled the nerves of aam aadmi of the nation and goose bumped and caused imaginary brain deaths to many a politicians involved in the content discussed in the below referred situation )


News is - A bean bag escaped from Arnab's studio all scratched and hurt and bruised. Minutes after it absconded, sonia's security calls her from the security manning the 10 Janpath abode.

Security to Lady S -  Ma'm, a strange thing we see here, there a errr.. torn bean bag waiting to talk to you desperately

Lady S to Security - Uh! I know I know, what could that be, please bring it in to me! I have stitched up many a bean bags before !

The Bean bag to Lady S - Madam ji, mujhe bachaalo, I have been bruised and beaning (read bleeding) since the time your son gave the hysterical.. oops historical interview seated upon me (which shall be the interivew of the year! )

There was a man next to sonia who watched this quietly and opened his mouth to say something softly taking aside the Lady S, he though was extremely pensive, tensed and shivering inside, his tone was as calm as the sea after a storm.

The calm man to Lady S - Aap kahen tho main apni head gear uspe lapetke bandh kardhoon chedh ko???

Lady S - to the calm man - Arrey Chup kar uske bina Mannequin ko shobha naheen detha. The guy silences away into oblivion. Seeing no help coming its way, the bean bag vanishes into thin air before Lady S could lay her hands upon it.

And today we see the Respected Turbaned community in news flashes in Delhi doing what they Ought to do! Salutes to Shiromani Akalidhal and Sikh Gurudwara!

Arnab Goswami - Rahul Gandhi - Rajini-ism

Pyaare Chote Sarkaar, aap tho Rajnikanth se bhi aage nikle.. you want to bring democracy to a democratic country. You want to do what is already evolving in our society today by itself.. wah kya baath hai! .. you are talking about women empowerment, when power was in your hands what measures helped aarushi and nirbhaya's lives? and you talk about bringing women in the forefront. U did sound like a... bollywood hero who 'runs' (read beats) around the bush! Did'nt it?


I imagined being Arnab at that moment while he was questioning the prince repeatedly, the camera closed up several times on rauls plastic facial expressions. What a feeling to be in Arnab's shoes ..wow! Reminded me of the Shankar directed movie - Mudhalvan in tamil and Nayak in hindi! Arjun sarja / anil kapoor / arnab goswami ..target raghuvaran, rahul varave ille! (Read - Rahul failed to arrive! 99% of the questions he wishy washeed with his bhaashan friendly family genes! LOL) . The prince's mind must have been trying to think and answer like how his mom would do. But severely failed at it .. Not that we had any hopes on you but you still happened to hope'less'ly fail.. Now you get the Rajini-ism here don't you ?  

Vidya Ramamurthy *Almost falls down trying to take a bow for Arnab* jai ho Arnab ji! I hope you go home safe and sound :-P and be back tomorrow on your desk to dig your grey cells on another such nonsense!

Tamil Movie Review

For a change, am compelled to write this tamil movie review! Yeah! It is .

To begin it’s the usual common man vs underworld don’s repetitive formula. Without saying much about the flow of the story, would want to delve into the facts that made me stay gripped watching the movie till the last minute! Ofcourse there’s ...a lot of murder , blood shed and the usual Indian recipe for a movie. To know what makes it a class apart, read on.

It was those post dinner quiet times when kids have gone to bed and I get back to clearing up and closing the kitchen for the day. MIL was switching channels and for a minute or more the song ‘Yele Yele Marudhu’ continued to play. She’s got a classic taste for songs and would stop to watch only those that hit the chord ! So as I guessed it right, it was.. the simple love song shot in the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Now, just a month ago having been to the same temple and adored it to the bottom of my heart. You can imagine the kind of thrill in me to see the same temple, the nataraja mandapam, the sculptures on each pillars, the various nooks and corners of the same place you too had stepped into!

The picturisation was subtle , the hero’s ‘love at first sight’ kinda emotion to a very cute thing for a heroine. The music of the song, the instruments used, the melody made me want to watch the movie more.

So here I am, glad that I did watch it! The story’s script has been handled tenderly and brilliantly. Until I watched it, I could not have told that a boring story line as this could be told so interestingly differently. Now enough of all the adjectives! Vishal’s portrayal in Pandiya Nadu has given more benefits than one to his own personal career I read from many other reviews which is true! He’s done some serious acting here. Bharathiraja having appeared in few of his own films as a cameo, has done full fledged acting for the first time I think!

Again, having met Bharathiraja sir for a brief 3 minutes, running back to my dinner table pulling out my diary , getting back to him who was all smiles at me who happily wrote both in tamil and english and signed in it during our holidaying at Wayanad a year ago added my enthusiasm to pen this review even more

To me, Bharathiraja sir independently is one of the best story tellers in tamil cinema who glorified village life and portrayed to the world to his best possible abilities! No other director gets as much credit as him for this aspect! As an actor to see him in this movie, was such a nostalgia, in my mind I thought of all the numerous stalwarts in tamil cinema ranging from kamal, rajini, radha, sridevi, amala, revathi, suhasini, sivakumar, shivaji ganesan to whom he’s taught them to act in his movies. To watch the same person do the role for a change in front of the camera was a great feeling. All along it made me say, no wonder he acts so well too! He is brilliant in all the emotional scenes the story demands. In fact I soo watched it more to see him in the movie than Vishal I can say.

But Vishal too was good since this was a differently treated script! For it clearly completely portrays the helplessness of a common man when affected by underworld and the hero is shown as an ‘escapist’ for most part of the movie! Which one can relate to a common man quite directly.

Laughed away thru the lyrics of the ‘fy fy’ song In all it’s a completely gripping movie. Not a minute boring! Total paisa vasool .

It squarely reminded me of the Naseeruddin shah starrer ‘A Wednesday’ and I would treat ‘ Pandiya Nadu’ with the same energy I would watch Anbe Sivam and Gandhi!

Women Empowerment and Sugar cane???

Yes ! lets see how and where the link comes through 

And so we bid farewell to the Sankraanti/ pongal festival for a year. There we gave away old clothes on the Boghi day, we thanked the Sun God for a good harvest (sadly.. whatso ever in today’s day of middle men squandering the rightful return a farmer is due to get, that which he does not get! ). We allow you to say and tell ourselves too with your blessings ‘badavaa, naan madugdhange iru’ !!

Kids and elders alike got to relish all the naivedhyas that were shown to you Sun God , just for a minute!! And the family relished all of it. Then we prayed for our brothers, dads and uncles by a small custom thats done in the wee hours of the next morning after Pongal. Feeding food in style to the crows thus!

Wait, now women get our share too! For the festival does leave a residue behind!! Two Long Sugar Canes !! Right! Now in villages and a few houses in cities, there are people who would just chew away the skin and relish a one ft long piece over a family gapshap. But here, what do we women choose to do with them?

Group A - Uh.. how do I cut it, I need the yester year’s aruvaa manai ( the wooden based , curved sickle edge shaped cutter that ended with a coconut grater at the top! )I don’t have it so I will let the maid cut it for me, give her most of it and get my (strong daanth wale ) family members to enjoy them too. Then the scene unfolds where the maid gets to take away one, but within her self, we can feel the maid cursing us for giving that extra job of scraping the skin and cutting them into small pieces. We better pay her an extra buck for, she would just give away that other sugar cane to any friend of hers she’s gonna spot on the road. Am sure she would not want to go thru the hazzle of cutting them all over again for a drunkard husband who just hit her ten days ago for a few hundreds to spill out over his bar sessions!! :-P.

Group B – No time to worry about it, give it away to my maid, not my favourite either. Eeks that mouth ulcer it gives me when I get greedy .. Let me resist!

c. Group C – Ah , that looks so tempting.. all my life my mom / granny / aunt someone did the honors and I was able to relish its taste. I so want all of us to enjoy it the same way too! But the task of cutting them uh!! There goes my motivation down the drain ! What do I do??

Here’s some help for the Group C! and here’s what I do.

1. Take a small part of it for your taste buds to chew and eat. Cutting and peeling them if done the way shown in the picture is no herculian task! For you could proudly treat this spot too where the ‘literal’ Women ‘En’ Power is also Meant to be used ! eh?  All you need to do is keep edging the knife to the top corner of the cut piece and keep slitting it downward at the same time twisting the knife a bit so the peel comes off actually pretty easily . Cutting the juicey stem part comes easy. You could make smaller cubes for your kiddo and teach him how its relished! (for those of you who thought of this process to be a taboo! )

2. Get the rest of the canes to a sugar cane juice cart vendor, take an empty one litre or 2 litres bottle along with you who will add up lime and ginger too in your drink for you with your own sugar canes!! (the bottle better be a wide mouthed one :-P for the vendor is gong to loose patience! )LOL .. He would insist that they not be cut into smaller pieces for its tough for him to get them thru that hand operated machine with those wheels crushing the cane no?!



I know this post is awfully late by a few days.. but yeah ! too early for next year 

My Inspiration to write!

My inspiration to write
It was during my 8th grade when my brother handed me a book of Nancy Drew! I so loved that book . Now, don’t ask me what thuh !! 8th grade and Nancy The Drew eh??! Nooo.. blame it on the ignorance may be ! :-P..
But yeah, to continue about how my love for books began , it was more for the love in my brother’s gesture of getting me a book from our colony’s library just for me to read!! We used to fight like all siblings. That was the first time I got my period and being from a Tam Bram family.. I was outcast for 4 days. Now my brother who was used to us being normal human beings. Our first floor stairway ended in a small room, where I was to sleep alone :-p and no one was to touch me! Love my dad for many reasons and now if I think of those things that he stood guard about, I can only ‘nazar andaaz’ this bit actually. He’s been an amazing source of inspiration for my life! That apart. Talking about my brother, he could not take this different treatment all of a sudden towards me! I remember , each time this had to happen there used to be hulla bulla.
I was not to go to the kitchen.. Mind u not a step inside! When dad vanished into his room. Arvind , my bro..thats what we used to call him at home. Now he’s subbu to the world slowly to us too , so anna used to sneak in pull my hair and run off to his room. Now what can your appa do :-P he did not see, but I touched you , what happened? Mom used to laugh at us saying u both are mad! Few months later, one such time, in front of dad, he touched my hand and said , now what appah? LOL.. Dad was upset and did not know how to react! We sure gave dad a tough time together. Finally the outcastism stopped once anna got married and my life’s God mother came into our family , my Sister in law Priya! Bro stood strong and said this is not going to be continued and we all lived peacefully ever after. My respect for my dad grew double fold after he adapted to the change smoothly! Thank you appa!
That day the 2nd day of the outcastism in my 8th grade was when I actually began reading books after books. Anna, inculcated the reading habit in some way! (not that am a voracious reader now) with 2 kids, cooking and a hobby turned passion turned small biz. The Hotel by Arthur Hayley is on my table for the last one year! That’s a different league but!
My college library was a great source of reading material. I remember every weekend my friend Vinitha and me used to spend long hours choosing books and loved every bit of it!
For a beginner , I should say anna was my inspiration. But creative writing to me hit the chord with Sadiqa Peerboy! Ah! The name itself brings a smile to me. She’s just amazing.. Imagine , she would be given just a quarter or less of a page ka space in Deccan Herald. And she was so current ! She would not leave any social happening, political happening and occurances then and there. So when Janata Dal and the drama went on for months. I feasted on her articles big time! She’s been another major inspiration to me 
Hope to entertain you all the same way!

The Celestial Fight!

And then the day of Pongal dawned as always. There was this lingering confusion still as to what exact time should the pongal be ‘pong’ged!! (the time when the khichdi within the cooker vessel boils and ebbs out of the container). This to be done after surpassing the rahukaala , the yamakantha and the likes. In south indian customs (customsoh ille kashtamso) unable to decide yet.

Now not less than 7 opinions floated about the time of the pongal getting to swell in the cooker. There began the celestial fight between the Sun god and the maaseeka calendar his creation , the humble human being created looking up at the movements of His (Solar) Systems! Call it wrong data entry? Or linguistic differences in notations of times? for tamilians have the festival today and kannidigas do the imaginary rounds tomorrow!

1st opinion said the ‘thai’ maasam begins only at 4pm , but then the rising sun is what is worshipped always so the good time to do the swell is between 1.10pm to 2pm and the likes. (the same story had 2 variations which I did not understand)

2nd opinion said the rahukaala or yamakandam one of the 2 is between 9am to 10.30am so the pongal can ‘pong’ between 10.30am to 11.30am. beyond 11.30am the yamakandam or rahukaala one of the 2 continue over the indian segment of the world. So better pull your sleeves up and finish the swell story by then ha..

3rd opinion said 11.30am to 12.30am is a good time!

4th opinion said something more for sure..by then my grey cells shut down and I had begun forming my own opinion!

Alright! Its algebra! Go girl go! What would you want to do. I tell myself, okay.. if I do the neivedya by 11.30 itself.. I will end up celebrating a ‘Maarghazhi Pongal’ and not a ‘Thai Pongal’. Which to me sounds wrong! Arrey kya basics main goof up math kar..thoda ‘math’ kar, maths!. So timed such that I finished with the pooja decos and got FIL and kids to start with the pooja , flower shower , shloka power and the likes!

Thereby, lord ganesha was invoked first, then the sun god, then came fillers, subramanya shlokas (buy 2 get 1 free haan)! By then I made sure the pongal base rice and moong daal is kept to swell accordingly. The clock read 11.28am the fountain over the whistle less cooker lid happened. Happily all of us told one another ‘ Pongalooo pongal’! and I made sure almost everyone saw the ‘Ponging’ (the sight of which is symbolic of happiness to swell in our lives! Love the logic personally!!

Meanwhile remember! The ‘Thai’ maasam was not to begin until 1.10pm! So I parallely finish up with basic cooking a sabzi and a rasam, what with sakkarai pongal, venn pongal and ulutham vadais in tow, the former two shall suffer a steppy treatment! Then it did, it struck 1.10pm and lo our prasadams were all ready, there happened the dhoopam , deepam, neivedyam and karpoora aarathi. Then the ‘one minute pause’ before the above were relished!

But the fun I get when I see my kids relish the vadai, the sakkarai pongal and the ven pongal soon after they get prepared. Poor Sun God has no say here since he’s just shown the containers with the sweets and savouries. For it’s a herculian task to keep the kids at bay until the mangalaarathi thatte (plate) with the lit karpoora goes down after the vicious circles to the imaginary Sun God brought alive with yours truly’s kolams :-P. I had to keep warning the kids to allow the neivedhyam containers atleast for a minute in the pooja room. A minute celestially is supposed to be thousand years eh! Like always man alters customs to his convenience!

Remember Arjun Sarja’s last dialogue in the movie ‘Mudhalvan’ Enna sir ennayum kolaigaaranaa aakitingale’ :-P

But had the consolation that I did not do a ‘Maargazhi Pongal’ and did the right one instead! Call me dumb head go people go ;-)! 
Jokes apart! These are what make a festival day fun to us isn't it! 

Proud to be an Indian! Jai Ho! 

Pongal / Sankraanthi , the time of the year for a New beginning, A New Harvest, A New perspective!

To me, it turned out to be a new start to my writing skills from where I had almost forgotten that I could write too! Hope you find this piece interesting.

Pongal to us has always been yet another occasion to relish Ven pongal , Ulutham vadai, Sakkarai pongal and Payasams.

But to a million other people living in villages and towns, its the sacred time of harvest – the ‘suggi kaala’ that it is called , truly a time of merriment (suggi), of hope of a new and better life with better revenues at least in this year’s harvests!

My maid who hails from the mandya belt shared a short story of how they celebrate the festival of sankraanti. This could be the best way to start my blogging again after quite a hiatus of not being able to blog so far!

On the eve of sankraanti, the families go to their respective paddy fields and agricultural lands. Each of their farms / lands have anthills for sure itseems! Now the Snake God is worshipped even before the Sun God! Come to think of it , their native wisdom is to be applauded big time. For Snakes mainly feed on rodents, bandicoots, rats, leeches and other insects which are feed on the plants and destroy the crop. So snakes help in keeping the rodent numbers at bay! There by helping the people to yield a good harvest. And hence, the Snake God is given its due respects. The family collects around an anthill where possibly there’s a sure existance of the wriggly wonder. Use blocks / bricks to build a small compound like a structure around the anthill symbolically protecting the anthill from getting destroyed, a way of saying thank you!. And then proceed to making the ‘oppotthu’ , a meal that they make and eat next to the anthil…symbolically saying you helped us get this food today so we thank you to the snake!  So very touching this was!

The main harvest is already under progress , what follows after sankraanti is just like the finishing touch where one good share of the harvest is dedicated to the family deity. The rest split among the joint families and what remains gets to the market!. Be it barley, rice , wheat, maize, ground nuts, coconuts, sugar cane.. and the likes…

My house help lady had a beautiful point to share here. Says she (translated for the readers in english) – ‘See akka, how beautiful is Gods creation and how god balances his creation between animals and us human beings. For when we separate the husk from the main crop , the crop is useful for us human beings and the husk is the main feed for cattle, sheep and other farm animals!.

Personally one rule I follow is to buy my vegetables and fruits from the push cart vegetable vendors who come in tens every day in front of our houses. I REFRAIN from buying veggies and basic fruits from super markets like spencers, food world or reliance ( I don’t have anything against these supermarkets though) I do depend on the supermarkets for a lot of other rare things which one can’t find in a local kiraana shop!

But it is my way of saying thank you and a way of helping the same people from villages that have come to cities to find a living thru selling veggies and fruits. So for festivals again the main vegetable market in our locality, being in koramangala to us it’s the Madiwala market to rescue!

(now why kiraana shop and why not supermarkets for grocery shopping is for another article!!) .

I know am a bit late in posting this as most of you would be amidst festival shopping , if you are yet to do it, do go to the local markets and buy your festival supplies!

HAPPY PONGAL AND HAPPY SANKRANTHI TO ALL MY READERS!