Urad dhal rice and Vegetable cabbage kootu :)

Uradh dhal rice (also called as karrupu uzhundu sadham at home) is a very nutritious food, one that I got to eat very often all my life. Well that is until I have to cook for myself as now.

What started as casual discussion over skype with mummy on how to prepare cabbage kootu soon turned it a cooking lesson through skype.

Uradh dhal rice and Cabbage kootu both came out well and as a bonus, ended up preparing rasam real quick too (it can be made really quick anyways :D ). I added more turmeric and hence the color of the kootu.

Hmmm...Easy and nice things. Protein power :)

Why?

Why?


Why do we grow old? physically and mentally? What is the purpose behind it? If we are going to die anyways, why can't we be the same way and die?we can be babies or stop growing old beyond a certain point - why grow old enough in to dysfunctional bodies and die?


And - why, most important of all, Why? What is the point anyways of this life and all these things? What happens 5000 years from now? I dont even know what happened 5000 years ago. So nobody may know of me. Im sure somebody so long ago had similar thoughts as me, and he would have been gone. And, why am I having the same or similar thoughts again? What are we learning as the whole species then? If we all die or do not pass down the knowledge or even if we pass down knowledge, we go through same or similar things  - why this birth at all?


Is there any other type of birth available at all? Why am I even thinking like this? What is that makes me think like this? Why does that whatever inside me think like this? What is that I want? Even if I want something/anything - it is all from here, in Earth. We are yet to explore and use outer planets, even if we can be. And pollute them as well, who knows. Then we can get what we want from other planets, till then it is all here. So even if I get what I want, got to leave it while going. Then what is the point of wanting it at all?


Is it all the summation of everything and nothing put together? 

Why are we doing so much when we are nothing. When we can't take anything. So should we stop what we are doing or refine what we are doing? What is the point anyways? Then, why?

How globalized are we?

http://www.barackobama.com/live/

Just finished watching obama live on his website. And, I couldn't help wonder at the globalization that has dawned on this world.

To win an election in the state of Illinois, Obama had to bring in China, had to bring in Singapore, had to bring in Germany. You can no longer say that what you want to do is right, just by the virtue of it in politics. You had to quote example and draw attention to the practices in other parts of the world to add virtue and credential to your argument. It also tells me how interlinked all our actions really are in this world, now.

And, boy don't I love it.

Born Indian, worked for Americans while I was in India and working for Americans while Im here in America. Allright, globalization has to be a two way street, how can I be enjoying it an US not enjoying it. They do, not only in terms of quality of work, time and cost. But the two way street of it. Indo US nuclear deal opens up billions of dollars to american firms to build nuclear reactors to India. American firms engage in upgrading Indian military, air-force and navy. Deals running to the tune of billions of dollars.

China's globalization policies may be slightly different in execution but it is all the same story - two street . US companies get quicker product development cycle with less than a quarter of investment to make the product and that is not the only reason they grudgingly shift the jobs. China is the largest investor in US government bonds. China if it can dare, may shall hold US govt for ransom on account of its investments. No - they wont do it for US companies investing in China run its middle class family.

It is the same or similar story all over the world with globalization. It is more dependency amidst nation. The challenge lies in striking the balance. A nation should be self reliant, driven by home grown and outside innovation but be prepared for crisis. If outside driven innovation and money is not there, it should not lose its livelihood. It shall afford to lose its luxury but not its necessity. I think India is on the path of striking that balance but still far fetched. We need more leaders like Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Montek Singh Aluhiwalia, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, APJ Abdul Kalam. I hope I can add more leaders to that list as well.

US has got Obama. And, may be few more whom Im not aware of.

While watching it live, I was waiting for him to quote India. However, he did not. May be he genuinely believes India is not doing any greater harm to US. Or, he is preparing himself for the India State visit.

PS: For erstwhile Imperialistic nations like UK - please innovate or perish even before you can see. You can make tougher immigration laws and close your markets or make them more open and competent enough to enter anywhere else in the world as well.

Time moves on - but I stay still

4:10 Am and, as I listen to the songs that are randomly playing in my playlist,  I hear one familiar song that I have not listened to for a while now. Songs of the movie Kadhal; and just as the first song started playing, I find myself enjoying and appreciating that song the same way as I did it 5 years back. I like it even now.

It just made me think - that much of my preferences have not changed over the years. May be they have grown to be accommodating and but not lost what is inherent to me. I find myself enjoying the same activities that I did long time back, of course, and new experiences are also thrilling but still the old ones are not being replace. hmmm....

I think - Im the same kid-guy-man-person. Now, probably (hopefully) ever. Well, some people will interpret in a different way and say that we should change over time and grow up and play new role and responsibilities. Well, Im playing all those but wish to retain/remain the same way.

hmmm :)

Titanic

Watching Titanic now and I'm not sure the count of the number of times I have watched it before. But every time, I watch it, I want to watch it and fully. Its one of the first movies in my life that has fascinated and impressed me in my forming years, during school. 

What fascinated or interested me was not just the drama in the movie, the wonderful love or the wonderful movie making, which was as wonderful as the love that was showcased in the movie itself. Its the incident itself.

The fact that this was a real incident and this happened in a century that I Was also part of made me empathize with this incident so much. I even had a collection of images, pictures, posters from that movie collected in a small little file pouch that I'm so proud of. I have not seen it in the last few years though, but it should be there, somewhere in my erstwhile table.

Nature and life, gives humans the same lessons, time and again, that we fail to get it also, time and again. However we grow, how much ever advancements we make, ours are all still relatively small compared to whats around us. Trees have been in this land even before us, if Im not wrong. Atmoshphere, air, water. So on. But we need constant reminder that we are not so big and nature has to teach us something catastrophic and take away some of our lives as the cost to make us understand. Alas, we forget it all too soon. 

Titanic too, unfortunately stands testimony to the weakness of human beings. The procedural failures in following the rules and other important things while running the ship and the professed PRIDE on some small things such as class and categorizing people as class. How long do we need to realize that we are all one and the same? Stupid class, color, creed, religion and other separation holds only amongst people, but to nature, all are same. All will have to survive for the fittest. That never takes any criterion - and nature reminds us that we are one and the same, even one among the same with itself too, by all these events. Most of which are caused by our stupidity while some of that are natures fury.

And, coming back to the movie, James cameron's one liner about the movie was - "You remember Titanic? Rome and Juliet are traveling in the Titanic". What a wonderful love story, simple and enjoyable. Most of the time, some real happiness are like that, stupid, simple, enjoyable.

And, oh yeah - one of my most favorite scene in that movie is when the diamond is thrown back in to the sea. The way it spirals and goes down, the blue diamond. It had always fascinated me, don't know why.

Cloud watching

[Well, this has to be the most delayed blog post of mine till date - almost 2 years late]

Cloud watching - wow, what a simple yet fun and pleasurable way to spend some leisure time quiet. Either with oneself or in the company of like minded people.

I had the privilege of such company in the navratri month of 2008 @ ashram, in bangalore. I was with my Ashwin, Vaish and few more at the Radhe kunj place in the ashram and we were sitting in the amphitheatre and just simply watching clouds. We were looking at the clouds and giving names and designs to its pattern in the sky - it was such a simple but wonderful activity to just do that. To see what the natural canvas has for you up in the sky. Seldom do we pay much attention when we look up to sky to notice and start naming patterns and reflect your imagination on the natural canvas.

In my opinion, this is by far one of the best canvas available for a living being and the best entertainment possible for a curious and creative mind. With clouds moving as fast as they are, you are bound to think of innumerable things just by looking up. WOW. I happened to do the same not so long ago at the same place and got reminded of the previous time I did it there. It is such a simple activity and realized that it will enthrall me always in life :)

Disappointed

Ufffffffff - Im, well kinda disappointed.

It wouldn't be surprising for us to know that politicians are involved in corruption and so forth. But selling one's vote to elect Rajya Sabha polls? Yuck - I don't know if there is anything meaner a man can do in life than this one. Some MLAs are offering to sell their vote for 50L or 1 crore or ever 2 crores to elect somebody. And, who are all coming in to RS nowadays? All big industrialists - who knows how many in the past have come to RS through this means?

I hardly see any tall figure as Industrialists - Ratan Tata , surely yes, one of a kind. May be Narayana Murthy. May be Azim Premgi. I couldn't think of others.

If this wasn't enough - Common Wealth Games is heading to a slow disaster and a bigger embarrassment for the nation :(. An event envisioned for 754 crores has shot up budget by 100 times to cost 75 000 crores and above. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. To put things in comparison, the farm loans waived off by Chidambaram was around 60,000 crores to poor farmers. Here we are just organizing a 50 day event or something. Agreed, it is prestige and other things - but at what cost? Has it improve India and her sports talent at grass roots level? NO. Only stadiums are constructed at Delhi and that too new stadiums are leaking. PHEW. And, now there is this great fact of corruption by Kalmadi - in funds. 25000 Pounds have beeen deposited to a one man company in UK for the last 4 years from CWG funds - gosh. IT IS OUR MONEY. And, some selfish beasts are eating on this money.

What worth are receiving medals from these hands?


And - there are these two "Modi"s. One is Lalit. Another is Narendra. Both are good at doing what they like doing. Management and administration. Alas, if you have done a mistake and dont have the courtesy or the guts to accept it and go through some correction, time will catch up with you sooner than later. That is what is happening in both Modi's camp.

Uffff - Im kinda disappointed.

[Still with a smile and enthusiasm coz life is just the summation of these two]

The way life prepares one for death - Wow

[Spoiler Alert - This may have nothing to do with death or that biological process or anything. I just have got the title of blog named that way]


I'm a person who can't give up on things that easily. I think I still have this character/quality in me, however, it has come down to a level that Im so happy/proud of. :-)

Being a kid - I cannot even digest losing my wicket in a game of cricket. When we are playing cricket at my aunt's place, whenever I lose my wicket, I will blame the bat or say the bowler bowled a no ball or it was not out or something. I cannot stand losing my wicket or for that matter of few other things as well.

Alas now, I can willingly come forward and give up on few things coz I know in the end I don't take even a penny back. As the famous line in the bhagwad gita goes "What have you brought for you to lose here? Whatever you have taken, you have taken from here". Practicing or being this way is little hard but not impossible, definitely no and it is true for all of us.

Losing what - the materials that we have around us? The things lost by theft, or lost by repair or lost by tear and wear out. All things kinda go away in time. One strange things happened when I fell down on the road recently  - after I got up (thankfully, Im ok) but I looked at my bike and it was kinda broke. I felt real sad. I felt like oh my bike - the one thing that is for me with me and the one thing that I reckon on. It is you (hehe, bike gets personalization and almost gets called as life-like-the term YOU). And then a day later, I felt - gosh, how attached am I to my bike. Phew, is that good :D but yeah I like it still, but just got realized of my attachment to it and Im sure it will kinda come down (me :( and also :) ).

The larger, greater loss is of people or relation or with human. If the attachment with bike can be so significant for me, what about with people. It will be much more, right? Yes, it is. However, life (time) prepares one so beautifully. Im still amazed at the fact that I didn't shed a tear when my aachi passed away recently. I did a few when my periappa was around - don't know why, may be it was the fact that I saw the person who has got same or more love from my aachi like me.

When I look back, was I prepared to lose my aachi few years back - Im afraid, I dont think so. Am I prepared now, the moment it happened, well - I didnt have a choice :). But, I think I was much better prepared to handle it and move on than I was few years ago and guess it needed 25 years of my life time to prepare me to lose somebody like my aachi :-).

I think that is what is happening in life - you are constantly being prepared for the current and whats next and you are going through each of it - till the point of losing oneself. At this point, I really wonder at the quote I came up 4 or 5 years back - "All your possession in your life, including yourself is an illusion". Im not sure what prompted me to come up with that quote or what inspired me to say that but guess this post resonates something of it.

Symbolism - life is all symbolic

I don't know. I don't know if I agree with rebirth or not. I know that all things on earth has earth on it; simply said, all things have grown from earth. Eating, living and dying. And, upon death, the body again tends to go back to earth in one form or the other. And once back in earth, it again becomes part of the cycle that goes on to become the living organism again.

However, I find myself not in entire knowledge on this coz I don't have any personal experience to substantiate on the rebirth scenario. I don't recollect my past experience so far. It could be coz of the following things:-

1) I don't have the skill to know of those things yet.

2) I'm trying to understand something which cannot be understood but felt or known (Im not sure what Im saying here)

3) May be I'm brand new in this world - with no past exposures - yeyyyy (not sure why am I 'yeyyyying' for)

Guruji says - rebirth is there and happening. Hmmmm..I don't have as much experience as Guruji on things or neither am I close to being enlightened yet to know it all.

When my aachi (paati) was lying with out any movement or breath on 25th of may at 10:30 pm, I resorted to give her breath by blowing air through her mouth and few push and pats on her chest to make her heart beat again. Alas, my struggle didn't result in her coming back to life and looking at her body didnt evoke any great deal of emotions in me coz I knew she is gone. But, when my aunts and other people who came started crying, I realized their love and also the amount of love my aachi commanded. However, when I saw my atthais saying " amma unnai naan inime eppo ma thirumbi parka poren" - I understood what that body there stood for. It stood as symbol of what my aachi is. It is my aachi's body. I have to call it now as "aachi's body" and not as aachi as she was no more. So what are you? Are you the body, mind or soul? Mind is inside the body or is body inside the mind (thinking on the number of times we are thinking of body in mind). I know there is something else apart from these two that makes a person - it can be called as soul, prana, life force or self or whatever and what not.

But, my aachi's body there few days back stood as a symbol of my aachi - and evoked such emotions unseen. And, that makes me realize that all the things in life are symbolic. The statue of god we use to pray - is a symbol or representation of different emotions or avatars. And, even the act of praying is an expression of love and gratitude to all including oneself.

Likewise, all the gestures in life are symbols. The act of hugging a person is a way to bring the two hearts together, symbolizing closeness. The frown on the face symbolizes anger. Even words are a way to symbolize or convey something. Gestures and even the consequent action is also symbolic of something else in life.

And, my aachi (grandma) symbolized something really simple things but that are far greater in life - love, resolve, determination. She is a classy and gutsy woman. GUTSY. I underline it. It is simply stunning to know what she had to go through in life single handedly and what she stood for even till her last days.

Some tit bits about her:

1) She calls paal/pal (milk) as Vella thanni (white water) - coz Thattha name is Palvannanathan. And she like all age old tamil ladies, doesn't want to utter her husband name so calls pal as vella thanni

2) After the death of thattha (at her early age of 33), one fine day, she decided to make herself a mattress by using all the veshti's of thattha. She rolled all the veshtis of thattha and layed one on top of the other and had a separate cloth to cover the bunch of veshtis and got herself a mattress. She slept on this mattress in the floor till she was literally forced to sleep on cot only by doctors few years back.

3) My mom (whatever difference of opinion apart) has such a great level of admiration for her in-law that she had sent a write up about her life,how she struggled and how she got the entire family to survive the hard times to a tamil magazine called, Mangaiyar Mazhar. This was sent few years back. This was her pure admiration of this woman - not coz she was her in-law. Actually, nowadays, in-law and admiration are antonyms :D

4) She was instrumental in many members of her family being in job or getting the first job in the early days of 1970's and 80's.

5) And, she has been with me ever since I was born. My aachi.

Period

Somebody who has been part of my life, my self from my very birth - is no longer there PERIOD

It feels weird for me to even blog now but I have only blog to just scribble.

I guess I will realize the effect of this loss only in days to come.

Some part of me says that this is life

PERIOD

Rested -> Felt like Rusted -> Now, the urge is back. I can sense it

I got rested off late due to changing project requirements and project change. But I guess the rusting started even before the resting.


And - guess this rusting is due to the age old knowledge - lack of activity. Thanks to rusting, I feel the sense of uneasiness in me growing up for a long time now and has reached its culmination. And, I feel, despite the rustiness I would be able to at top of my performance in a very short span of time and notice. I mean it.


However, the afore statement should not be interpreted as an indicator of the way I used my spare time. Well - most of it sort of got whiled away in one activity or other. And, that his in a sort of increased the urge more.


And, I feel I'm ready to do lots of things that I want to do - really lots of things. Work majorly and my interest in the same. I have all the tools, and just waiting to rev it up. Let those times come - and I will post pretty soon on the same as well.

Yeyyy...My family

This is my family.

Well - me and my appa both of us are not Kamal - C'mon, I'm not even making that comparison. May be, in looking good scale, I will back myself up to be up against Punnagi mannan. However, what is unsaid of me is I'm a crazy Thalaivar fan.

But, yeah - my mom is good looking. And - both of them rock in their support towards us, and each other. A fact that got illustrated even by a stand they took last month in support of me. They simply rock coz they don't enforce but suggest and give more than they ask.

And, coming to my sister, with whom I'm currently in a fight - coz she seldom understands (she is half as my age, that explains her level and ability to understand). But similarity can be drawn to this video with her. She also dances Bharatnatyam - and I make fun of her dance. She definitely is more loquacious now, I hope it comes down in future :-D.

But, we (all of us in family) feel good when seeing this song - may be coz of the character identification we unknowingly draw with this song. And, I somehow feel that a family with a bro and sis is actually wonderful coz you get a chance to enjoy (and suffer :D) a myriad range of emotions and battles and happiness.