Briha

I have never seen a soft spoken fragile kind of a Punjabi before I met Manju. Manju miss as we all call her in School, shifted to Chennai from Calcutta.  Manju studied in St.Terasa higher secondary school in Kidderpore, Kolkata. She worked in NavaNalanda school in  Kolkata before joining Vidya Mandir. She came to VM in a nice bengal cotton with sleeveless blouse. Tara miss went weak on her legs and gave her a weeks time to make blouses with sleeves.  All of a sudden her blouses had to grow sleeves. Her typical Bengali style  sleeveless days were gone.  Those days readymade blouses were not in vogue. VM was then a very conservative school. Even now while other schools allow teachers to come in salwar suits, VM insists on saree for teachers. No doubt, saree is  an attire that demands respect and represents dignity.  She made a few new blouses and had to pair them with not so matching sarees that she already had in her wardrobe. That was not Manju. She wa...

  An occupational hazard is any condition, circumstance, or factor in the workplace that has the potential to cause harm, injury, or illness to the person working. These risks are inherent to specific jobs and are generally categorized into physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards, though some sources also list safety and work organization hazards. All of this information I got from Google.  Plagarism is an occupational hazard for writers, specially for "chota mota" writers like me. To stay out of trouble, I have given google it's due.  As a teacher, my voice, patently, was getting bad and that was an occupational hazard I had to deal with. The Allopathy doctors said I need to leave teaching. I left those doctors. Finally I learnt to cope with my vocal cords, thanks to one of my student's parent who suggested that I see a particular homeopath. His concoction worked along with some voice exercises. I have never suffered back pain due to note ...

 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...