Briha

 Day before yesterday I was on Thiruvanmiyur route for a play rehearsal scheduled at 6 am. Vatsan as usual presuaded me to take the PTC bus. I agreed because I wanted to soak into Namma Chennai after my five and a half months stint at my daughter's place in Minneapolis. I was also not yet ready for the Ola /Rapido/Uber auto man dialogues. Enga mmae droppu? Extra 20 sethu kuduppeengalaa? Appo Cancel pannidunga. The US return in me was not ready for all this lollu. ( lollu is a word with a lot of feelingsu - you may not find it in any dictionary. Ignore it - its unexplainable) I took the T29C from Mylapore to Thiruvanmiyur. En route I saw many changes. I had left behind a much better Chennai. In these 163 days that I was away, "Take diversion" has become the wordle word  for all Chennaites.  But the real changes came after I crossed the Adyar bridge. My mind went back some 40 years, into a retrospective mode. Rewind!  An 18 year old, young Shyamala, those days better k...

  It is said - Exploring different career options while in class 11 helps one make informed decisions about their future. But not always. A person's  career may take turns and diversions like it's  now in Chennai,  due to the Metro railway construction work. You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails to always reach your destination.  Years 1981 - 82.  I wanted to become an engineer when in class 11. I got hold of some friends in Coimbatore PSG college to get me an application form. I had a fascination for civil engineering just because I had a smart relative who was a successful civil engineer. Since I was good with Mathematics, I thought I too can become a great civil engineer.  Years between 1983 - 88. Then the take diversion, roads closed  happened, I joined Kalakshetra to do a 5 year course in music after class 12.  Everyone said I sing well. I had a good high pitched voice and could imitate great singers t...

 Varalakshmi came home this morning as she does every year. My amma was missed this year also as usual.   With another friend also complaining about her loss last year, it was difficult.  My mother used to come the previous day with fruits and flowers for the pooja from Koyambedu. She would discuss Thazhampoo cost, lotus flower inflation, the price of malli last year. She would do this every year with Vatsan but still get them for my pooja. I would be in the kitchen making vada payasam, meanwhile, she would decorate and keep things ready for the pooja.  Last few years vadhiyaar came home to do the pooja and I would have tears dripping while he tied the thread in my right hand. He might have thought I was missing Vatsan who was away. But I was missing her.  This year was very simple, I did a short pooja, tied the thread myself and chanted Devi mahatmiyam for 2 + hours.   I was going through  an emotional process. From 1989 ever since I started...

 #Steamed foods are many. Ela Ada of Kerala, Banho bo of Vietnam, Corundas from Mexico, Doklas from Gujarath, Momos, Kozhakkatai, honey sponge cake.... and many many more. But.... ************************   Sabka bhap hai IDLI. ************************ Now over to a steaming romantic story ..... This idli plate you see in the picture is an old one. It is a little larger than the normal size, and so was not able to use it.  I think I inherited it from my mother in law's household.  People wanted to do away with idlis quickly in the mornings and opted for 4x4 plates which can be used inside cooker. So I took this idli plate just for keeps. During this lockdown, since Watson had the inclination to eat idlis made in this thattu and I had the time to fulfill his inclination, we started looking out for this plate. We remembered very well that we had it somewhere, but could not go any further on investigating it's where abouts.  After 3 board meetings and 4 discussions...

Our school project day coincides with Chacha Nehru's birthday every year. And if things were normal, by now we would have decided the topic for our project display over hot tea and biscuits staying after school for long meetings. Some times we get to eat samosas and cupcakes if it's someone's birthday. We would have by now given n number of suggestions for the project topic. Once the topic gets decided we in smaller groups would have come up with notes, illustrations pertaining to that particular class level. The fracas over who will do what, some times when an interesting concept overlaps then we want to keep it for our own class. Hence the fracas. Otherwise, we are a group of very accommodating ladies. You must see us after the project. We are like sisters who got lost ( lost and found) in some carnival long ago. laughing, hugging, and congratulating each other on our success. It's a sight to been seen. The emotions are at a peak. How I miss it all now. After the t...

#MIL power Yes it's been a long time since we started interacting on opos theme. Long long ago very long ago RK was thrown out of a group for using too much of PC and his attitude. But we were staunch followers, not knowing the next step, just kept mum. I thought fb was all about these small talks and then vanish off kind of stuff.  Then out of no where, a small group with just  the few us + RK was formed. Those days I would wait to wake up in the morning to try cooking an opos dish, take pictures, write a recipe, post from my pc, take a quick bath, check for CV's and RK's comments. And then my day would start at school. Afternoon, back from school, I would switch on the computer first and then eat a snack. I started using a spoon to eat so that I can use my hands on the mouse to scroll up and down to check posts. It was a craze, once I pmed RK to ask which mobile phone will be good for checking fb posts. As per his suggestion bought a  samsung, dropped it broke it ...