Pongal Holiday :)

From: Tina

Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:02 PM

Subject: Pongal Holiday :)

Hey Guys,
Happy Pongal , Makar Sankrant and Lodhi to all… Hope you all had a good time.

Yesterday was a holiday, so we made a late plan to go for lunch at a resort type place little bit off city limits.
So me being the person supposedly being staying in HYD for a long time was asked to give some directions :) (I know …not a good suggestion)
Somehow we got to the main road and then I knew it was straight down..
As we neared the destination, friend asked “Is it real far cause we do not have much petrol and we might need to fill the tank”
I was like not sure , I know it is straight down this road but not sure how far. Thinking to myself what if we had to turn at the previous junction.
Then as we crossed the junction I slowly mentioned that maybe it would be a good idea to stop and ask as I am not sure how far or till where we should go.
Then I proceeded to call and ask my colleague who had been to this place.
V got down to ask the auto waala. “Bhaiyya ____ yeh jagah kaha hai, kitnee door hai pata hai”
Auto waala looking as if he has come from Mars… “ Just do about turn and look at the other side of the road..Thats the place.”
Eureka. We were right in front of the place and looking for it :)


When I called my colleague for the directions to this place.
The phone rang for quite a while and then finally when I had almost thought he is not going to pick up, my colleague picked up..
Then very softly, “ Hi Tina, aaj office hai kya”
Me very exuberantly replied, “ Happy Pongal, You thought I called to come for office” ( Generally I am the one to pass on any sad news like that to my team.)
“Nahi… You know this place _____ . I just wanted to know where this particular place is?”
Then he replied in his normal voice with a gusto explained to me where the place. Fortunately we were right in front of it on the other side of the road.


After a holiday we all came to work today with quick wishes to everyone and went ahead to check emails and continue with project work.
For some reason I guess there are very less people around and time slowly dragged till it was time for lunch.
At Lunch, we were discussing how everyone spend the single holiday as out station candidates could not go home.
One by one every one mentioning that ‘I did this’ and ‘I went there’ etc.
That had C(guy) going with friends for a get together.
Su(guy) going through the after effects of a hospital visit but had his mom here for festivities.
Su1(second guy) njoiiing hostel special foods with a movie in theatre.
Sr(another guy) say that he too went for a movie but spend quite a while in the morning flying kites. Also noting that this time quite a few kites doting the SECUNDERABAD skyline till late evening.
That’s when S(Gal) bragged that ‘Yea we too went to the terrace and flew some kites with roomies. It was nice. We were able to even cut a couple of kites”
Sr replied “Cut with what..Blade kya”
The whole table erupted with laughter :)
With S(Gal) replying “ Nahi with another kite ”
Hope you all had a good time and yea ‘Til gud ghya gog god bola’
Cya,

Tina.

Domestic Musings

Dear wife
I have forgotten my mobile at home :).
Please pay electricity bill, the amount is Rs.XXX/-
Take care,
========================================

From a wife who eventually figured out :)

Dear Husband,
Thought so.. :) Good luck with being cell less :)
The electricity bill is not reflecting online. Will pay the same next week.
Regards,

Should blog more often...

When I started blogging I thought of updating it regularly..
Initial tempo remained but then steadily the pace diminished...
Not that there wasn't anything more to say ..just that lack of connectivity to blog was one of the major reasons..
Then came too much of tasks on the work front and blogging got backseat...
Though random thoughts did flow in occasionally ..wrote them down but bundled them to friends as emails :)
These whenever possible did upload it to the blog as some resemblance of updating the blog.
Unfortunately they have been far between..
Not that I have not been reading blogs. Keep updating myself on the blogs I follow and also on the food blogs around. But chances of updating by blog just kind of fizzled out..
The day is spiced with some or the other happening but by the time you come to putting in paper you get engrossed in work. It just remains from being shared via blog..

But now have decided to update blog whenever possible. As rather than uploading from email or directly blogging is less time consuming. Lets see how far it goes..

Did came across another good blog BoHeMiAn RhApSoDy. Wow good work.. Going through some of the posts just reminded me of some of the thoughts I had ...Will keep checking and like Chandu will try to find time to update my blog..

So long lets see how far it goes :)

Of Shock Treatments...

From: Tina

Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:29 PM

Subject: Of Shock Treatments...

I think it began as a normal day…. I did get out from the left side of the bed.
But I don’t know whether there was anything different in the day… No trailer there …

It went right I guess with getting ready for work.. having breakfast sitting on the table.
As usually breakfast is done in combo with dressing up.
So I felt it was a nice morning where I have 2-3 minutes to spare ..chewing breakfast instead of gulping it down.

Took the bag, the cell and fortunately no umbrella. As anyways I guess the rains are gone.
Reached station with enough time to cross over to other platform using the overhead connecting bridge as compared to running over the tracks..

I guess the train is late…
A wonderful sunny morning…..Oops I said it too fast.

Met one of my colleagues at the station. She was not feeling well and hence was in this train having missed the earlier one.
Then with sore throat she asked whether I went to ATM last night..

I was like “No..Why “ …Seems like all the gang went to our local ATM to withdrawn money at midnight as they heard the bank has crashed.
There were a lot of crowd. Only for the fact that there were no shops opened, ppl were roaming as though it was 9 in the night instead of 12 in the mid night.
She was wondering how come I had not heard about it …

Wow I said had no idea about it … And for me no option as I have only a single bank so agar woh gaya toh gaya :)

Though I convinced her in order to alleviate her feelings that there is no need to panic as it is a big bank with so many ppl’s salaries, etc
So there is no need to worry… but in my mind I was like “Wow Lehman ke baad yeh…”
Anyways things were fine and no need to create unnecessary tension as by then train arrived.

As usual at the entrance of the ladies platform there were few students debating whether to get down at this station or the next one.
All were standing at the entrance.. I don’t understand why do ppl create unnecessary hindrance especially at the door.
Not allowing ppl to get out nor ppl to get in. Somehow with pleas falling at deaf ears I squeezed through the middle rod of the door and felt something different.

Probably for the fact that my head hit somebody’s elbow or hand.
I looked at my bag in order to get that in front of me and then saw….

If there is a sub conscious mind working then I guess after this moment it was the sub conscious that was working as I guess I was pretty numb consciously.

What I saw was that the pocket flap which contained my cell phone empty.
Generally if I am wearing jeans, pants or coat with pockets, the cell phone resides there. For a brief moment felt maybe it is in the pocket.
But no I remembered putting in that pocket of the bag designed to hold the cell.

Then I saw at the entrance a thin boy roughly reaching a bit above my knees, standing at a door. I do not know what came over me but went and caught hold of his arm.
But they were empty. In my head I am chastising myself saying that it is not right to blame somebody even if it is a boy like this for no proof. I was going to give up when I just noticed his pant pocket and thought anyways have shamed myself. Checked and took out my cell from his pocket.

And the compartment entrance was like “OOOhhhhh”

I was still numb I guess with the cell in my hand and the little boy ran out from there….With the train starting it’s run.

All this happened in span of less than a minute but I guess it was subconsciously taken care of :)

Lucky for me that somehow I realized it. Not that it was Nokia N series or Samsung latest, but mera chota sa pyara cell phone with lots of contact details for which I had no backup.

But mostly we are not so lucky… I realized that I need to be more careful with my stuff especially while travelling in train.
And you need to be alert in an event of distraction as there are people waiting for those kind of moments.
And sometimes our misplaced sympathies are not worth it for people who do not care about the same.

If in doubt better clear it without being rude or hurtful though you might end up looking sheepish in case it is not right. Better wrong than sorry.

And yes the female students courtesy whom I got distracted and hurt my head, decided to get down in the next station.
A few seconds after getting my conscious brain on track, I gave them a piece of my mind for creating public nuisance.

So long I guess I am still numb… but good part is that the cell is there with me and instead of a “Lost cell – Give me your numbers mail” , I am just sending you the write up of the electrifying experience.

Ciao,

Tina :)

Onam Aashamsagal

From: Tina

Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:10 PM

Subject: Onam Aashamsagal
There are very few festivals which are celebrated by all…. As in it is not confined to a particular religion or area…
Generally any festival is marked by a particular religion and hence people of that religion practice or celebrate it with religious fervor and all other communities partake or join them in the celebrations.

But some very few festivals transcend religious boundaries…

Ganesh Chaturthi being one of them …Atleast that’s what Bal Gangadhar Tilak expected before commercialization kicked in.

In Kerala , among a couple of festivals, Onam has a prime spot in terms of celebrations.
For any person of any religion, Onam holds a key spot of celebration.

So you will find a cultural harmony in Onam celebration where Hindu’s Muslim’s and Christian’s partake in the joy and festivity of Onam.

ONAM AASHAMSAGAL ( literally translated : Onam best wishes…) …

Here’s wishing all of you a hearty Onam best wishes or phonetically O-nam Aa –sham- sa- gal.

For more details about the origin of Onam and additional details do refer to this piece in wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam.

“
Onam ഓണം, the foremost festival among the cultural repertoire of Malayalees, falls in the harvest season of August- September. The festival is primarily celebrated in Kerala, a state in India, by people across all caste and religions. Chingam or Bhadrapada, the first month of the calendar ushers in Onam, the national festival of Kerala. After the rain drenched Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month of plenty. Additional Details here and here
”

Also check out how Kerala gears up for Onam at here and here. I especially found this statement pretty true

“
During the Onam season, domestic tourists outnumber foreign tourists simply because a large number of Malayalis settled outside the state
make it a point to come back to celebrate the festival,
”

Although Onam has its origins in mythology, as a festival it is really removed from religious leanings.

In Kerala, Onam marks a start of festivity period, or a period where the festivals just start to kick in…
Onam – Ramzan - Dusshera – Diwali – X’mas. And finally the new year.

In Kerala, most houses still celebrate Onam with the traditional Onapookkalam.


Onapookkalam (translated means Pictures from Flowers) is a flower decoration more like Rangoli with flowers.








Thiruvathira kali



This is an extremely popular folk dance performed by maidens of Kerala wearing traditional set sari..
It is a group dance and mainly performed on the occasion of Onam.
Then watching thiruvathira kali also formed another Onam specialty though now I guess it is just in gatherings, Malayalam Samajam get-together and movies .

Vallamkali (Vallam meaning Boat)

Another occurrence synonymous with Onam is Vallamkali (the snake boat race).
For Vallamkali, there are many tournaments and people gear up to see snake boats gliding over water.

But the main highlight of Onam being the Ona Sadya… Sadya meaning feast. More info or at least for visual treat check Sadya@wiki

Though if you are more enterprising then I would suggest this food blog link detailing the Ona Sadya and ways to get to eating it..
There is a saying that “ On Onam, no man should go hungry even if you are hungry or not in good financial position the rest of the year.

As tomorrow is Onam, here’s wishing all of you a wonderful and food laden Onam.. Happy Onam or rather Onam Aashamsagal.