the prez and af

i must confess i like the new prez. like his choice of words. he speaks a whole lot of sense and it seems it's coming from the heart. like that. cant help make comparisons with the prev prez. whenever that guy zpoke, it was as if he didn't know what he was saying.

i am all for anyone who's interested in promoting world peace, not just their own selfish interests. we have had enough of tu tu main main for ages and for no purpose.

the other big news of the week. it's baffling. a plane vanishes. they think find the debris. now they say the debris belonged to a ship. so, where's the plane?

where could it have vanished? with all the modern equipment that we have, how come we are not able to trace where the plane is? it's also very weird and strange. reminds me of the bbc serial primeval and 'temporal anomalies' - where you move from one age to another through some 'anomaly' - crazy it sounds but that may explain how a plane and 200+ people can just vanish.

unless it's lying at the bottom of the ocean floor. bless their souls and i hope it was as less painful as it could be.

new relatives

we were visiitng friends over the weekend. they had a baby recently. my friend's parents had come over to support their daughter.

when you meet parents - they are always curious about where you come from, your grandparents, your parents. nothing new here. in an hour, my friend's mother had dug out relations from both sides and established that we were related - distantly!

the world's such a small place. apparently they visited our village many times because her brother was married to some second cousin (third cousin?) - a family who were neighbours to my grandparents.

if this was a movie, i bet they would have shown that we met. there would be flashback. my friend and I would be little girls playing in a home mandap totally oblivious of the fact that we would meet some decades later!

my friend wanted to find how we were related. i wasn't so sure i wanted to know. i have classmates - one who is an aunt to another - well, why bother finding out such things? such relationships should be left alone!

she persisted - thankfully we are just cousins (well, you know cousins 'sister') - bet i was glad!

now, i have relatives in town.

then and now

was watching the spell bee competition last night. cool it was! all those indian boys and girls! totally smart and totally confident on an international stage!

looking at them i was wondering what was i like when i was their age? 13! apart from reading P&P a hundred times and being a raving fan of the brooding darcy!

all i did at that age was read. that was my only interest and hobby and whatever you want to call it.

tried to learn carnatic music but it only resulted in a cacaphony and i wasn't inspired to continue. at school, we were taught hymns and carols and all those dainty english songs - those were fun. esp. when you sang in a group and didn't have to worry too much about sruti and swarasthanams and what not.

when i tried water colors, the colors would all get mixed up (maybe bcos of more water than the paint?) and you wouldn't know what from what.

never had the patience to sit and do learn the creative stuff ... maybe it was just me! i know so many of my classmates who were and are still so multi-talented! how do they do it?

elections, north and south

The election results are here. Haven't followed the elections at all - Wonder why! so this is no expert political analysis.
But I am happy with the results - more of a gut reaction with a little bit of logic -
Am very happy MMS is going to be the PM. Thank God! at least we'll have a sensible and stable guy who cares for the country! Sincerely didn't want MW or LKA -
Could swallow BJP as long as ABV was there.

And am very glad that chances of a hung parliament are newar zero and that MMS can use his time to do more than

Of course, never had much sympathy for the dynastic rule. But had to give it to SG and RG. That they are not acting like power hungry people and I am glad RG is not going to be made PM and will at the most end up as a Cabinet minister and learn his way through. I am totally impressed by that and cant help giving SG credit for that.

Coming to North and South, not talking about the country. Saw a BBC 4 hour miniseries, a period romance, based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. Excellent cast, excellent acting, haunting music - and of course, I have to say Richard Armitage, who played the male lead, is worth drooling over! Anyone who hasn't outgrown romances must watch this!

my first love

When I was 7 years old we moved back to dgp from mas. My dad was doing his phd at iitm and we were there for about 3 years.

It must have been Aug-Sep when we reached dgp. Having lived there before, had very vague memories. While in mas, I learned Tamil. Speaking only. Writing - I was a disappointment to my teacher. I dont know how many times she must have taught me the alphabet!

In dgp, it was all new. A new language, a new culture. Didn't have any friends - the first few months. It was until school started in Jan. Maybe not even then. The language was quite a barrier and it wasn't until many weeks passed that someone would talk or even acknowledge a stranger's presence.

It was during this time - between Sep and Jan that discovered my first love. My uncle who had completed his bachelors in the college and had moved out just as we came in. He had left some of his unwanted stuff in a small suitcase. All that I remember was some books - A Tale of Two Cities, Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I dont even remember if they were abridged or unabridged versions. The last two did not appeal that much to me because of the small print. Somehow the first one fascinated me - perhaps the print was slightly larger and I must have felt I could read it.

Thus began my journey into the world of books. It was fascinating. Dont think I understood every word of the book but I did manage to get the horror of the french revolution and the guillotine and the sacrifice of Sidney Carter.

Since then I must have read whatever I laid my hands on - Amar Chitra Kathas, Comics, Chandamamas, Tintin, Asterix, Enid Blytons, Hardy Boys, ....

My favorite author was of course Enid Blyton. They were a delight and joyfully devoured every time. And I love the smell of books, esp. when they are no longer new ... mmmm!

Coming back to now, I still read a lot. And I love the libraries in this country. Something I missed when we were in Swiss. At least in India there are plenty of bookstores you could go to and just hang around. Swiss - not many English bookstore. The library had a small collection of English books - old ones that too. Everything else is in German. No wonder, I was only too glad to move out of the country when S got an offer here.

When we move back to India, that's what I will miss. The easy and free access to tons of books! And DVDs:)

jinku kinva maru

We are celebrating Republic Day this Sunday. There is a cultural program presented by the locak community. The Indian community has grown in number and many of them learn music from the two teachers in this area.

Previously, there would be two occasions when these programs were held. 1. For Thyagaraja Aradhana in May 2. Dussehera in Sep/Oct.

Whoever is interested can participate and the numbers have been growing. Last year, there were enough participants for the program to last almost 4-5 hours. These "participants" are a good mixture of children and adults and are the students of the two teachers and any others who know Carnatic music.

This year, a similar program is being held for Republic Day. The Mumbai event has raised the patriotic fervour of the desi community and people are energized and enthu. 150 children+adults are participating. Quite a number.

Our group is singing one devotional song and one patriotic song. The patriotic song is a Marathi song - Jinku Kinva Maru (our teacher is a Marathi who learnt Carnatic music). It's a cool song. Remember having heard it before though I just cant recall where and when. Maybe on Doordarshan when programs and themes on national unity and patriotism were aired.

Now, have to find a saree/dress that matches the Indian flag colors ...


माणुसकीच्या शत्रुऊसंगे युद्ध आमुचे सरू
जिंकू किंवा मरू

लढतिल सैनिक , लढू नागरिक
लढतिल महिला, लढतिल बालक
शर्थ लढ्याची करू, जिंकू किंवा मरू

देश आमुचा शिवरायाचा, झाशीवाल्या रणराणीचाशिर
तळहाती धरू, जिंकू किंवा मरू

हानी होवो कितीहि भयंकर, पिढ्या-पिढ्या हे चालो संगर
अंती विजयि ठरू, जिंकू किंवा मरू

pesto with gusto!

I love cooking. I enjoy food. A lethal combination. It wasn't always like this. There was a time when I believed solving physics problems to be much easier than cooking food. How does one know how much salt or chilli or spice to add or in which order?

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I learned cooking during my first job - out of sheer need... since then I have overcome my dislike for sambar and rasam (the staple diet in the hostel mess) and also for idli (our common lunch item when in school).

These days I eat about anything and everything as long as it is vegetarian. As I said I enjoy cooking but there are days ... like the weekend.

During the week, it is easier. I decide the menu upfront and then go make the dishes. Done.
have no idea what happens when weekend arrives. The fridge is full of vegetable but my head is empty of any ideas. I just dont want to cook. I wish there were angels who would make lovely food and serve it. What dreams!

My husband loves cooking and he enjoys food. That makes it two of us. But the weekend problem does not get solved. The options are
1. Go out and eat
2. Open the freezer and take out some frozen curries and parathas
3. Hope and pray somebody would invite you for dinner or lunch
4. Make your own

Indian restaurants in this area are not great. I get the feeling they take out frozen stuff and heat it and serve us. Italian - am tired of the pasta and pizza. Plus, I want fibre and dont prefer the white flour, well maida ot the tons of cheese they put. Chinese - we there are a couple of places and my liking varies from time to time. Sometimes I like to go - sometimes I feel the smells are too strong. Thai - we love Thai food and there is one place out here and it is not great. Option 1 gets ruled out.

My husband loves to stock up the freezer. Says it is for the rainy day. For an emergency. Initially, I scoffed at the idea but over time I have realized the benefits. The frozen stuff is actually much better than the restaurant food the Indian places serve. When you are too lazy to cook this does serve as a good alternative. So I dont complain too much and in fact have become a partner in crime. We both buy frozen stuff now when we go to NJ. The prices are nearly double in this place as far as Indian is concerned.

Well, it is not always that prayers are answered. There are those occasions when someone invites us and we have a great time ...

But then there are those other times ... when nobody is holding out invitations and we just have tomake our own food and eat it.

S makes good pesto sauce. He would brag about it but I never believed him. He even grows basil in a small pot at home. He has made tomato pasta sauce many a time and it is great. Pasta - I am not very fond of. A few weeks back he wanted to make pesto sauce and pasta and I reluctantly agreed.

The pesto sauce was so amazing - it has since become a craving. The following week we got whole wheat pasta instead. This seemed like a good idea. Saturday evenings with pesto. But I had to do something about the pasta. And then I remembered the Mediterranean sandwich - the one with roasted veggies and pesto sauce and feta cheese.

So this week, when I went for my weekly groceries I went and got the basil+pine nuts, feta cheese, zucchini, rainbow peppers, eggplant and whole wheat bread. I sure compliment and praise S for his culinary skills and his great pesto sauce ... it's like a dream I tell him. Out of the world!

Well, for some weeks, till I get bored of the pesto, our Saturday evening dinners are an easy guess...pesto with gusto!