- A baby lying on its back, throwing up its cute little hands in the air and smiling at you.
- A hot cup of fresh filter coffee at 7:00 on a Sunday morning, with the Newspaper for company.
- Walking in the rain, with a close friend, on a familiar crowded street, sharing a bag of hot pakoras.
- Watching someone make it to a bus, after chasing it some distance.
- Reading “Pass” on a result sheet.
- Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to start on a trip with family or friends; stopping at a road side restaurant at 7:30 for hot idli-sambar and coffee.
- Playing Antakshari at the marriage hall of a cousin’s wedding, the night before the muhurtham.
- Opening gifts.
- The walk back home after a morning jog.
- Sleeping on your bed at home, after being away for a while.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Picture this....
Its raining movies !
Sethu and I have watched so many movies in the last fortnight ! It wouldn't be wrong to say I've watched more English movies in the last few days than I have in my whole lifetime, in fact I've lost count of the number of flicks we've seen. The best ones I thought were - Remember the Titans, an old one, but very good nonetheless, The Terminal for Tom Hanks' brilliant performance and Harold and Kumar - a complete laugh riot !
I also watched and for the first time understood an awesome Tamil movie - Nayagan. With Mani Ratnam calling the shots and Illayaraja scoring the music and Kamal Hassan playing the lead, it cannot be an ordinary movie. It was the most touching movie I saw in a long time. Kamal Hassan is so good as Velu Naayakar that you almost believe you are seeing the man himself in flesh and blood. The story, screenplay and direction are in one word - impeccable. I had heard that Mani Ratnam was a great movie maker, now I saw for myself. Its a 'must see'.
I also watched and for the first time understood an awesome Tamil movie - Nayagan. With Mani Ratnam calling the shots and Illayaraja scoring the music and Kamal Hassan playing the lead, it cannot be an ordinary movie. It was the most touching movie I saw in a long time. Kamal Hassan is so good as Velu Naayakar that you almost believe you are seeing the man himself in flesh and blood. The story, screenplay and direction are in one word - impeccable. I had heard that Mani Ratnam was a great movie maker, now I saw for myself. Its a 'must see'.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Parent Trap (read Net)
I love reading mail, personal mails, not forwards. So what do I do when i haven't got any new mails in my inbox? I shamelessly check Sethu's and my bro's mail !! Not all mails, just the ones that are marked read and are from someone known to me ! (Deepu, urs is the last mailbox i raid, don't worry !)
This morning, I thought i should peep into daddy's mailbox. I created his email id for him, so, I am entitled to see it. Besides, there are only mails from me in there. :-) I logged in and was in for a Big surprise. Firstly, anna has been checking his mails regularly, there was not a single unread mail ! And to think, he asked me when I first arrived here, if he had to connect to the internet before logging into yahoo ! Secondly, I saw a single unread mail which said, "Card Details". I clicked on it and saw that anna had managed to send a card to Sethu for his birthday !! I clicked on the card, and saw that he had done everything perfectly, the card header, footer, message, everything was in place. He had also chosen the date of delivery of the card as 22nd, and not left the default "today" option as is. But there was one small mistake because of which the card would never land in sethu's mailbox. He had missed the "_" in the email id. I will tell him about it and I am sure he will correct the mistake. I just told him yesterday the steps to follow to send a card and he has managed to do it all by himself ! There's just one thing I can say, I am proud of you anna !
This reminds me of something Brinda had told me sometime back.
Brinda's mom too, like my dad knew nothing about computers when Brinda had left for the US. She said, she had just created an e-mail account for her mom and had taught her to chat. During one of her stopovers, she had mailed her mom from the transit lounge in the airport and by the time she had arrived in the US, she had her mom's reply to the mail, in her Inbox; much to her delight !
It's not easy learning stuff at their age, but they do learn. It just makes you realise how much you mean to them !
This morning, I thought i should peep into daddy's mailbox. I created his email id for him, so, I am entitled to see it. Besides, there are only mails from me in there. :-) I logged in and was in for a Big surprise. Firstly, anna has been checking his mails regularly, there was not a single unread mail ! And to think, he asked me when I first arrived here, if he had to connect to the internet before logging into yahoo ! Secondly, I saw a single unread mail which said, "Card Details". I clicked on it and saw that anna had managed to send a card to Sethu for his birthday !! I clicked on the card, and saw that he had done everything perfectly, the card header, footer, message, everything was in place. He had also chosen the date of delivery of the card as 22nd, and not left the default "today" option as is. But there was one small mistake because of which the card would never land in sethu's mailbox. He had missed the "_" in the email id. I will tell him about it and I am sure he will correct the mistake. I just told him yesterday the steps to follow to send a card and he has managed to do it all by himself ! There's just one thing I can say, I am proud of you anna !
This reminds me of something Brinda had told me sometime back.
Brinda's mom too, like my dad knew nothing about computers when Brinda had left for the US. She said, she had just created an e-mail account for her mom and had taught her to chat. During one of her stopovers, she had mailed her mom from the transit lounge in the airport and by the time she had arrived in the US, she had her mom's reply to the mail, in her Inbox; much to her delight !
It's not easy learning stuff at their age, but they do learn. It just makes you realise how much you mean to them !
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Nothing much......
Everytime i read someone's blog, I am tempted to update mine. Nothing much happening here. Just recieved a parcel from Brinda and Rekha. It has quite a few goodies from Bangalore that my daddy dearest has sent for me. Rekha has thoughtfully sent Tirupathi Prasad and a sticker of Lord Venkateshwara, both of which have been forwarded to their rightful place. How I love the Tirupathi Ladoo !
It's 5:00 and i feel like having a cuppa coffee, but i just remembered, I have to fetch the clothes from the laundry...........
It's 5:00 and i feel like having a cuppa coffee, but i just remembered, I have to fetch the clothes from the laundry...........
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Dec 31st 2003
Its already Jan 15th and perhaps too late to give my account of the last year. But, the year was so good, that I simply have to write about it, in spite of myself.
If the way you bring in the year is any indiaction of the things to follow, 2004 sure proved it. For the fist time in my life I attended a New Year party. So what if it was on a cousin's neighbour's terrace and the crowd consisted of schoolkids?? It was great fun!
Every other New year's eve other than this one was spent at home or at a friend's/cousin's place in Bangalore where we would invariably watch TV and convince ourselves that this was what everyone else did too. Oh, how I pitied my poor cousins who lived in smaller cities than Bangalore! If we, living in such a "happening" place, did nothing more than call up a couple of friends at 12:00 to wish them, who, had little to do themselves on that much awaited night than pick up the phone on the first ring; what would these kids do??! I saw what they did on the night of Dec 31st, 2003.
I was in Mysore, as part of a training program and was put up at an uncle's place. It was the 31st of Dec and after having had so many uneventful 'Dec 31st's didn't expect much from this one. My cousins, however, had been busy the whole day, shopping and making arrangements for the "party" which I was to attend too. At 8:30 that evening I went to the neighbur's terrace. My cousins were already there and so were the neighbours kids and most other kids who I had seen play or chat with my cousins. They were early because they were the hosts. I soon realised that we only had hosts, no guests, barring myself and a 12th standard kid who thought it was a hep party and came rather fashionably dressed. Soon, there was no host, no guest and we all mingled freely despite our age differences and kicked off the party. We played games - Dumb Charades, Antakshari, Queen of Sheeba et al. And, What's a party without food and drink? There was plenty of that too, and most of it home made. We had Sandwiches, pakoras, Gulab jamoon and other mouth watering stuff. At 12:00 we cut the cake and music was turned on full blast and we all danced for some time till parents summoned their kids home.
It was 1:00 by the time we got back home and what a time we'd all had! Especially myself, who had expected so little that I was overwhelmed by the experience. I soon understood that the city you lived in didn't matter, what mattered was the willingness and the interest of the people involved to make things happen. What made this party enjoyable and thus successful was, the camaraderie of the kids and their enthusiasm to come together as a team and do something, so that everyone could have a good time come evening. And, how well they managed to accomplish that! 2004 will go down as one of the best years' of my life and this will be the first (literally too) reason for that!
I just read what I've written so far and I see that I have deviated completely from what this post was originally to be about. So much so that I changed the title.
PS: It was originally called "The year that was....".
If the way you bring in the year is any indiaction of the things to follow, 2004 sure proved it. For the fist time in my life I attended a New Year party. So what if it was on a cousin's neighbour's terrace and the crowd consisted of schoolkids?? It was great fun!
Every other New year's eve other than this one was spent at home or at a friend's/cousin's place in Bangalore where we would invariably watch TV and convince ourselves that this was what everyone else did too. Oh, how I pitied my poor cousins who lived in smaller cities than Bangalore! If we, living in such a "happening" place, did nothing more than call up a couple of friends at 12:00 to wish them, who, had little to do themselves on that much awaited night than pick up the phone on the first ring; what would these kids do??! I saw what they did on the night of Dec 31st, 2003.
I was in Mysore, as part of a training program and was put up at an uncle's place. It was the 31st of Dec and after having had so many uneventful 'Dec 31st's didn't expect much from this one. My cousins, however, had been busy the whole day, shopping and making arrangements for the "party" which I was to attend too. At 8:30 that evening I went to the neighbur's terrace. My cousins were already there and so were the neighbours kids and most other kids who I had seen play or chat with my cousins. They were early because they were the hosts. I soon realised that we only had hosts, no guests, barring myself and a 12th standard kid who thought it was a hep party and came rather fashionably dressed. Soon, there was no host, no guest and we all mingled freely despite our age differences and kicked off the party. We played games - Dumb Charades, Antakshari, Queen of Sheeba et al. And, What's a party without food and drink? There was plenty of that too, and most of it home made. We had Sandwiches, pakoras, Gulab jamoon and other mouth watering stuff. At 12:00 we cut the cake and music was turned on full blast and we all danced for some time till parents summoned their kids home.
It was 1:00 by the time we got back home and what a time we'd all had! Especially myself, who had expected so little that I was overwhelmed by the experience. I soon understood that the city you lived in didn't matter, what mattered was the willingness and the interest of the people involved to make things happen. What made this party enjoyable and thus successful was, the camaraderie of the kids and their enthusiasm to come together as a team and do something, so that everyone could have a good time come evening. And, how well they managed to accomplish that! 2004 will go down as one of the best years' of my life and this will be the first (literally too) reason for that!
I just read what I've written so far and I see that I have deviated completely from what this post was originally to be about. So much so that I changed the title.
PS: It was originally called "The year that was....".
Happy Birthday Deepu ! Jan 15th
Everyone reading this, other than sethu and deepu; ( I doubt if anyone else reads this !) wish my dear brother Deepu a Very Very Happy Birthday!! Also wish him health, success and prosperity. He deserves all that !
Have a great year Deeps!
Have a great year Deeps!
Changed the name of my blog
Wondering why u haven't noticed the change? Well, I changed it right back. Last night, just before dozing off, i was thinking of all the interesting people in my life so far who should find a mention in my blog; and suddenly I thought it would be appropriate to re-christen my blog to "Of the people; For the people; By Gowri". After all, its about people that i was going to write and the name fit the bill perfectly. Soon after i woke up this morning, afternoon actually(!) I did what was required. Somehow, when i logged in again to see the new name, it didn't seem quite right. The meaning was alright and i also thought of dedicating a piece to explain the change; but it didn't sound good.
I realised that a wordy title gives away too much about the content to the reader and narrows down the spectrum of subjects for the author. As a result, the reader might not be interested in reading at all after having concluded from the title what to expect and the writer might suspend writing certain articles as they do not do justice to the title.
"Life Is Beautiful" is succint and nice; I'll stick to it. After all, Life Is Beautiful. Touchwood.
I realised that a wordy title gives away too much about the content to the reader and narrows down the spectrum of subjects for the author. As a result, the reader might not be interested in reading at all after having concluded from the title what to expect and the writer might suspend writing certain articles as they do not do justice to the title.
"Life Is Beautiful" is succint and nice; I'll stick to it. After all, Life Is Beautiful. Touchwood.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Thought Provoking
I was reading a blog just now and there was a link in it to a page that had something to do with the rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims. Curiuos and concerned as I was, as it had to do something with helping child victims I followed the link. As i read, i realised what a worthy initiative it was. One had to contribute a mere Rs. 225 to put a kid back to school. The package a kid got would contain everything a child would need to go back to school, starting from a pencil to a school bag. So far so good.
Now i wanted to know how one could contribute and soon enough saw a part of the page dedicated for the purpose. What caught my eye was the last question there, which said, "How many Children would you like to help?" A question fair enough alright, but what was not all right was that the default minimum was 5! As I mentioned earlier, I have the highest regard for the person who took the initiative for such a noble cause, but I am afraid he might be losing a number of prospective donors because of the minimum of 5 children they would have to sponsor. There might be a lot of people, for whom, Rs. 225 towards the cause would not be a burden at all and would be willing to contribute. The compulsion that they must sponsor a minimum of 5 children which would bring the amount to Rs 1125 might hinder many a concerned person from doing his/her bit.
A student who could have easily spared half his pocket money might not be able to do so anymore. A housewife who decided to forgo a few expenses and help might not be able to help anymore.
The needy should not lose help they most definitely deserve because of a dearth of charitable people. So also, the humble but large hearted should not lose an oppurtunity to give because of a hurdle like this.
Now i wanted to know how one could contribute and soon enough saw a part of the page dedicated for the purpose. What caught my eye was the last question there, which said, "How many Children would you like to help?" A question fair enough alright, but what was not all right was that the default minimum was 5! As I mentioned earlier, I have the highest regard for the person who took the initiative for such a noble cause, but I am afraid he might be losing a number of prospective donors because of the minimum of 5 children they would have to sponsor. There might be a lot of people, for whom, Rs. 225 towards the cause would not be a burden at all and would be willing to contribute. The compulsion that they must sponsor a minimum of 5 children which would bring the amount to Rs 1125 might hinder many a concerned person from doing his/her bit.
A student who could have easily spared half his pocket money might not be able to do so anymore. A housewife who decided to forgo a few expenses and help might not be able to help anymore.
The needy should not lose help they most definitely deserve because of a dearth of charitable people. So also, the humble but large hearted should not lose an oppurtunity to give because of a hurdle like this.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
I did it!
Finally! Someplace to put my thoughts other than my head. My husband created my blog today, something he has been wanting me to do from when he was just a friend.
Its 1:00 pm now and we are wondering what to have for lunch. I long to have hot 'tili saaru anna with tuppa'. oh how i loved that when my mom made it for me just after i had recovered from the flu! Its a feast, after having bread and milk for three full days. I remember how i would dream of having Peas Pulav, Nan with Paneer matar when i would be down with fever, and how my mom would promise to take me to Swathi hotel as soon as I recovered. But the day i recovered, i would get hot Upma with ghee for breakfast and Upma for a change would be the most delicious food. In the afternoon it would be 'hand mixed and hand fed' anna-saaru, with a little bit of pickle. Curdrice was forbidden till the next day. Oh how i wish to have all that!
I love to live in the past. whenever i write anything it has to have a bit of the past in it. But I love yesterday more than i do today and i now feel that in a way it means life has been good. We crib about each day being so monotonous and life being so boring, but as we grow old we cherish those very days. why dont we appreciate it while we have it? Beats me!
Its 1:00 pm now and we are wondering what to have for lunch. I long to have hot 'tili saaru anna with tuppa'. oh how i loved that when my mom made it for me just after i had recovered from the flu! Its a feast, after having bread and milk for three full days. I remember how i would dream of having Peas Pulav, Nan with Paneer matar when i would be down with fever, and how my mom would promise to take me to Swathi hotel as soon as I recovered. But the day i recovered, i would get hot Upma with ghee for breakfast and Upma for a change would be the most delicious food. In the afternoon it would be 'hand mixed and hand fed' anna-saaru, with a little bit of pickle. Curdrice was forbidden till the next day. Oh how i wish to have all that!
I love to live in the past. whenever i write anything it has to have a bit of the past in it. But I love yesterday more than i do today and i now feel that in a way it means life has been good. We crib about each day being so monotonous and life being so boring, but as we grow old we cherish those very days. why dont we appreciate it while we have it? Beats me!
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